Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, January 29, 2022
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2021 Tour de France | 2021 Giro d'Italia
Why is it that when we talk to God we're said to be praying but when God talks to us we're schizophrenic? - Lily Tomlin
Plato's dialogue Crito is available as an audiobook here. For the Kindle eBook version, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- Jan 23 - 29 Santos Festival of Cycling
- Jan 26 - 29, 2022: Challenge Illes Balears
Upcoming racing:
- Jan 30 - Feb 6, 2022:
Vuelta a San JuanCancelled - Jan 30: GP Cycliste la Marseillaise
- Feb 1 -5: Saudi Tour
- Feb 2 - 6: Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- Feb 2 - 6: Etoile de Bessèges
- Feb 12, 2022: Gavere Cyclocross
Latest completed racing:
- Jan 22, 2022: Flandriencross
- Jan 1, 2022: GP Sven Nys Cross
- Dec 30: Azencross
- Dec 29:
DiegemcrossCancelled - Dec 27: Heusden Zolder Cyclocross
- Dec 19: Namur Cyclocross
- Dec 11: Ethiascross-Essen
We posted the report from winner Tim Wellen's Lotto Soudal team with the results.
Here's the report from second-place Alejandro Valverde's Team Movistar:
The Movistar Team continue to offer some great performances in their maiden races of the 2022 season. A third consecutive day in the spotlight for the Blues at the Challenge Mallorca saw them coming close to their first win of the year at the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana, a mountainous course with the Puig Major (Cat-1) KOM as key point, as Alejandro Valverde took 2nd place.
Here's winner Tim Wellens. Valverde is on the right.
The Spanish ‘Campionissimo’ battled ‘mano a mano’ together with Enric Mas -in the Artà native’s first 2022 outing on his home roads- against big names of the peloton, completing the main climb of the day inside a seven-man group with Goossens (IWG), Buchmann (BOH), McNulty (UAD), Clarke (IPT) and Tim Wellens (LTS). The Belgian would beat – into a controversial finish which required further revision from the race jury – ‘Bala’ at the tricky finishing straight.
Some good moves, both in the Puig Major and the ascent and descent of the Coll de Sa Batalla, were launched by an in-form Valverde and Mas -7th today, named Most Active-, looking good thus far in this early stage. Both will feature again on Saturday’s final hilly course of this year’s Challenge, with a tough uphill finish in the Port d’Andratx after 170km and five categorized climbs.
REACTION / Alejandro Valverde:
“I’ve got to stay happy with this result. The team was phenomenal these two days, fantastic – we were a bit unlucky with the crash from Gregor (Mühlberger – went down on the downhill of the Coll de Sóller, still managed to finish – ed.), yet both Enric, myself and the rest of the team did quite well. Second day of racing, second close call – can’t ask for more at this point, to be honest.
“Wellens apologized, he said sorry to me when he climbed onto the podium – there might be a reason for that. He really changed his trajectory from right to left. I was riding alongside him, and if I had been able to continue, I had some room to go, but as soon as he saw me progressing, we went further left and I had to stop pedaling. The race jury decided he was the winner, so there’s nothing more to say. Just congratulations to him on the victory.”
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Here's the report from fourth-place Brandon McNulty's UAE-Team Emirates:
Brandon McNulty continued his fine run of form to take 4th place at the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana (158.9km).
After a first season victory taken in sensational solo fashion through McNulty at the Trofeo Calvia, the 23-year old formed part of a 7-rider group which went clear over the final climb of the Coll Puig Major at -30km from the line.
Brandon McNulty winning the Trofeo Calvia a couple of days before.
Belgian Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) was fastest of the group, with McNulty a few bike lengths behind in 4th.
McNulty : “ I had good legs on the last climb and was able to make the front group with the best climbers but in the final I just missed the punch I needed in the sprint. It was a tricky run in to the finish and still early in the year so I can’t complain, the speed will come, but I’m still happy with 4th place today.”
Tomorrow the racing at the Mallorca Challenge continues with the Trofeo Pollença – Port d’ Andratx (170km).
Fifth-place Kobe Goossens' Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert team posted this report:
One day after the first victory of the season thanks to Biniam Girmay in the Trofeo Alcudia, the men directed by Aike Visbeek and Pieter Vanspeybrouck were again in the mix for the win in the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana (1.1, 28/01), the third of five one day races of the Mallorca Challenge. Just like on Wednesday in the Trofeo Calvia in which he obtained a seventh place, Belgian climber Kobe Goossens distinguished himself on a particularly hilly parcours in the Mallorcan mountain range. He finished fifth in a sprint with eight strong riders in Lloseta.
Four difficult climbs on the parcours of 158 kilometer, the Coll de Femenies, Coll de Orient, Coll de Soller and Coll de Puig Major offered the eight riders the possibility to distance their competitors. Just like on Wednesday, Goossens raced alongside Tim Wellens (Lotto), Alejandro Valverde and others towards the top of the Puig Major 33 kilometer before the finish line.
The gap to the first chasers never ceased to grow during the downhill towards the finish and despite several attacks, the eight sprinted for the victory. With his fifth place, the 25 year old took his best result in a one day race, improving his performance from two days before. His teammate Jan Bakelants finished in the first chasing group in sixteenth place.
“Of course it is nice to achieve a good result, but I’m especially proud that I was able to compete with the top riders both on Wednesday and today. It is the first time that I was able to follow them on longer climbs and this gives me a lot of confidence. Taking up a role as a team leader was also pretty new to me. When six riders do all they can to bring you in the best possible conditions to the foot of the climbs, this really gives you a boost. It is very nice to have the confidence of experienced guys like Alexander Kristoff, Jan Bakelants or Adrien Petit. So I’m eager to repeat this tomorrow and to work for the sprinters on Sunday!” - Kobe Goossens
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Here’s the team’s update:
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl is set to race for the first time in the team’s 20-year history in Saudi Arabia. After a one-year hiatus, the Saudi Tour is back and will take place on a star-shaped course showcasing AlUla, one of the oldest cities in the Arabian Peninsula. Historically located at the crossroads of the Silk Road and the Incense Route, AlUla is also home to Hegra, the first UNESCO Heritage Site in the country.
Consisting of five stages, the second edition of the Saudi Tour will see the sprinters fight for victory on more than one occasion, but despite the numerous opportunities, the general classification will be out of reach for them, and that’s because of the presence of the difficult Harrat Uwayrid climb (4km and a 22% maximum gradient), which will make its appearance inside the final ten kilometers of stage 4.
Andrea Bagioli, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad champion Davide Ballerini, “El Tractor” Tim Declercq, Iljo Keisse – who is starting his final pro season – Vuelta a España stage winner Florian Sénéchal, Jannik Steimle and Bert Van Lerberghe will make up our squad for the five-day race, which starts next week.
Davide Ballerini (shown winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2021) will ride the Saudi Tour. Sirotti photo
“It’s the team’s first race of the year and the first time we are riding this stage. We go there with a strong team, capable of getting good results. Davide is capable of being up there in the bunch sprints, while Andrea can do something on the hard penultimate stage. We won’t hide the fact that we’d like to kick off our season with a victory, but it remains to be seen how things will unfold”, said Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl sports director Wilfried Peeters.
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This update came from Vader’s Team Jumbo-Visma:
Team Jumbo-Visma will start the road season in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. The Spanish stage race, also known as the Tour of Valencia, will take place from 2 to 6 February. Milan Vader (25) will be riding his first race in the colours of Team Jumbo-Visma. It is his debut as a (professional) road cyclist.
Vader has excelled in mountain biking until now. He is wary of having high expectations in his first period as a road cyclist. “I’ll try to go into the races without expectations as I did during the past training camps. I will keep my eyes and ears open. If something doesn’t work out, there is still time to learn. If you work hard enough, you will get there. Of course I know how to ride a bike, but there’s a lot more to it than that.”
The man from the Dutch Province of Zeeland has already experienced his teammates being there for him whenever he has questions. “The atmosphere is excellent. I come from a team with six riders, so there is quite a lot of personal contact. This team is much bigger, yet everyone is in touch with each other a lot. It’s super fun and the atmosphere is more familiar than I had expected. The training camps I have already been to were excellent experiences”, Vader says about his first months with the team. “And the team’s professionalism goes one step further than I was used to.”
He sees it as an exciting challenge to alternate between the mountain bike and the road bike. “They are different sports. On the road, you need a different physical condition. That’s why we chose to divide my season into blocks. I bring my steering skills from mountain biking to the road and my explosiveness can also be an asset.”
Team Jumbo-Visma has a reputation to uphold in Valencia. In recent years the team was successful with sprint victories of Danny Van Poppel and Dylan Groenewegen. This year the eyes are on David Dekker in the sprint. Will he ensure the team’s first success of the season after Rohan Dennis’s victory in the Australian time trial championship?
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