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Friday, July 1, 2022
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2021 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia
Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven't committed. - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
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Current racing:
- July 1 - July 24: Tour de France
Upcoming racing:
- July 2 - 6:
Tour of AustriaCancelled - July 23 - 27: Tour de Wallonie
Latest completed racing:
- Late June: National Championships week
- June 22:
Halle IngooigemCancelled - June 12 - 19: Tour de Suisse
- June 15 - 19: Tour of Belgium
- June 16 - 19: La Route d'Occitanie
- June 5 - 12: Critérium du Dauphiné
The Guardian posted this news:
The Tour de France starts in Copenhagen on Friday with a cloud hanging over it after the Bahrain Victorious team, winners of three stages in last year’s race, was subjected to a second police raid in a week.
The team’s hotel in Brøndby was searched at dawn on Thursday morning by Danish police officers as part of an investigation by French prosecutors. It was the second search of the team’s riders and staff in a week and follows an initial search and investigation that began during the latter stages of last year’s race.
Team Bahrain Victorious at Wednesday's teams presentation ceremony. Sirotti photo
The team’s official pre-race press conference on Thursday lunchtime lasted only eight minutes after riders and staff refused to answer questions about the police investigation.
However, in a statement issued on Thursday the team said: “Following the police search into some staff and riders’ homes on Monday, the Team Bahrain Victorious hotel was searched by Danish police at the request of the French prosecutors this morning (Thursday) at 5:30 am.
“The officers searched all team vehicles, staff and riders’ rooms. The team fully cooperated with all the officers’ requests, and the search was completed within two hours. No items were seized from the team.”
Since the first police raids in Pau during the 2021 Tour, the team have maintained their innocence. Raids on team hotels in the modern Tour are not unprecedented and there has been intermittent police involvement over the past two decades or so, the most renowned being the tsunami of searches and detentions during the 1998 Tour’s infamous Festina affair.
You can read the entire Guardian story here.
Team Bahrain Victorious posted this short note about the incident:
Following the police search into some staff and riders’ homes on Monday, the Team Bahrain Victorious hotel was searched by Danish Police at the request of the French Prosecutors this morning at 5:30 am.
The officers searched all team vehicles, staff and riders’ rooms. The team fully cooperated with all the officers’ requests, and the search was completed within two hours. No items were seized from the team.
Following the police search, the team is now looking forward to focusing on the world’s biggest and best cycling race, Tour de France.
The team will make no further comment on the subject.
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CNN posted this news:
The woman suspected of fatally shooting elite cyclist Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson in Texas has been captured in Costa Rica, the US Marshals Office said Thursday.
Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, 34, was found Wednesday at a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach in Provincia de Puntarenas, the Marshals Office said in a news release. She will be deported and returned to the US, the agency said.
Armstrong was wanted for the May 11 shooting of Wilson, who had previously dated Armstrong’s boyfriend – 35-year-old professional cyclist Colin Strickland – in what investigators believe may have been a violent act of romantic jealousy.
On May 17, police issued a homicide warrant for Armstrong. The affidavit mentions details such as video showing a vehicle similar to hers near the Austin, Texas, home Wilson was staying in shortly before her body was found.
On May 18, Armstrong used a fraudulent passport to board a flight from Newark Liberty International Airport to San Jose, Costa Rica, the US Marshals said.
Wilson, 25, was a gifted multi-sport athlete. She was a standout skier in her younger years before shifting to cycling.
“In alpine skiing, Moriah rose to the level of a nationally ranked junior skier, placing 3rd in the 2013 U.S. Junior National Championship Downhill event,” her obituary states.
Wilson was also the captain of her high school soccer team, according to her Dartmouth athletic profile. After college, she moved away from skiing toward competitive biking.
Wilson particularly excelled at “gravel racing,” a relatively new category of cycling that some consider a hybrid of road cycling and mountain biking.
A profile in VeloNews published the day she died referred to her as “the winningest woman in the American off-road scene.”
You can read the entire story here.
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Here’s the team’s update:
At four o'clock this Friday, the 109th edition of the biggest cycle race in the world starts in the Danish capital Copenhagen. Team Jumbo-Visma appears at the start of La Grande Boucle with a strong and balanced team.
The Grand Départ in Denmark promises to be a spectacle. The riders will start on the opening day with a 13.2 km time trial through the streets of the Scandinavian country's biggest city. Stages two and three will also take the riders through Danish territory. After the first rest day and the move to France, the riders can expect a cobbled stage in the north of France, some hilly stages and a stage to La Planche des Belles Filles in the first week.
"I am looking forward to starting in Denmark", Wout van Aert says. "The opening time trial is one of my main goals. It's a technical course with several turns, especially at the end. Normally that should suit me. Besides the first yellow jersey, I also want to fight for the green jersey in Paris. The team gives me that space. In the first week, I see several opportunities, both for winning a stage and gathering points. Over the past few years I have proven that I can perform well in several disciplines. Of course I will also do my bit to achieve the team's big goal."
Van Aert refers to Team Jumbo-Visma's yellow dream. With Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard, the team has two other top riders for the general classification. "It's itching every year when this race is about to start", Roglic says. "We start with a strong team in which every rider has his specific qualities. In the first week, we will immediately face several challenging stages. Surviving them without damage is crucial. We will be well prepared at the start."
Primoz Roglic & Jonas Vingegaard finish the final stage of the 2022 Dauphiné together. ASO photo
Vingegaard will start his second Tour in his home country. "It's extra special for me that the Tour starts in Denmark. This year I will come to this race in a totally different role. I don't see that as an extra burden on my shoulders. A lot of stressful things can happen in the first week. I am convinced that with this team, we can get through it without any problems."
In week two, the peloton heads for the French Alps, with the queen stage towards Alpe d'Huez as the absolute highlight. Team Jumbo-Visma recently stayed in Tignes to prepare some stages down to the last detail. "We have had a good last training block. At the start, our leaders will be totally ready", team leader Grischa Niermann says. The German doesn't hide that his team has the necessary ambitions for the French three-week race. "Winning the yellow and green jersey. With such a strong team, we should be able to compete on several fronts", Niermann says confidently.
"Primoz and I are very good friends. The last few weeks in Tignes, we spent a lot of time together", Vingegaard says. "We also did a lot together off the bike. Our families get along very well. We enjoy our time together. That chemistry ensures that we can also work well together in the race."
Roglic confirms the close bond between him and his Danish co-captain. "Jonas and I make each other a lot stronger. With that and the fact that we have six other strong riders in the race, we will confidently start the Tour. From the beginning, it is all about one thing: the race."
For the final week, several Pyrenees stages are on the programme. They will include finishes on top of the Hautacam and the Peyragudes. On day twenty, a time trial of more than forty kilometres awaits the riders. "Course knowledge is fundamental. We already started exploring some stages in December", says Niermann. "We are not afraid of any damage or breakdowns along the way. With the preparation we have had, we believe in our own abilities. We will see where we stand in the final week. We need everyone in the team to achieve the team's goals."
Van Aert, Roglic and Vingegaard agree. "The team's goals are clear. When we use the qualities of each individual together, we have a chance to reach those goals. We have a good plan. Hopefully we can achieve the successes we want. We are ready to challenge the competition."
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Here’s the interview the team posted:
The world’s biggest cycling race is about to get underway. This Friday, in Copenhagen, eight riders from the Groupama-FDJ cycling team will tackle the Tour de France with a big goal in mind. Marc Madiot tells us all about it, while setting the outlines for the weeks to come and sharing his major source of concern.
Marc, what is your main feeling a few hours before the start of the Tour?
My main feeling is the hope to see my eight riders at the start without troubles! The Covid is back, and it is very worrying. This is surely the most important concern as we speak. We are ready to race, but we aren’t sure of anything. We had the feeling of slowly returning to quieter times, but since the Tour de Suisse, everything has started again. We put the masks back on, even though we hadn’t really put them away… We have to apply social distancing again. We are back to square one. For now, I’m not looking too far ahead. We have substitutes, if necessary, but they can be just as positive as the eight starters. We cross our fingers.
What are the team’s ambitions approaching this Tour?
We start with David Gaudu as the lone leader. The team will be supporting him on all the first stages, and we will see where we are at the end of the first week. As long as he’ll be in the mix, hopefully for long, the whole team will be by his side, including Thibaut and Stefan. Making David the leader was the natural next step, especially since Thibaut felt less capable of fighting on the cobbles or in the echelons than in the past. Everything happened naturally. David was ready to take on this role. Better, he claimed it.
David Gaudu after winning stage 3 of this year's Dauphiné. Sirotti photo
So the goal is rather the general classification than the stage wins?
For now, we’re focused on that. I want the guys to fight for it, and the common thread is indeed the GC with David Gaudu. We will then take stock day after day. Besides that, one goal does not cancel the other out. If we’ve decided to set ourselves this goal, it is also because we are convinced that we have the means to achieve it. Potentially, we have guys who can play up front, so it would be silly not to try. We put ourselves in this situation because we really believe in it. David did a good Dauphiné, he was eighth in the Vuelta, eleventh in the Tour last year despite a hard day, and thirteenth when Thibaut was in a position to win. We know we can be competitive. David has recovery and climbing abilities well above average. In my opinion, David Gaudu is totally able to do something similar to what Ben O’Connor did last year. That’s the goal, it is clear, then we will see what happens.
What does “being competitive” means for you?
This means being as close to the podium as possible. We know that 2-3 riders are potentially a step above everyone else, but behind them, a group of ten riders can claim the podium, or be very close to it. We are part of this group. The goal of being on the podium remains possible. We don’t know how the first week will go, or what will happen from a health point of view. If all goes well, I don’t see why we couldn’t be in the mix. The first week of the Tour is often decisive, and it will surely be so for all teams this year. Whoever you are, you don’t know how you’re going to get out of all this, and the Covid will undoubtedly play its part in this Tour de France.
How did you build the team around David?
We selected guys capable of supporting him on all terrains, especially to protect him from the wind over the first eight days. Then, when the mountain comes, we should have the means as well, with Michael Storer and Thibaut Pinot in particular. It was not easy to build the team for the Tour, but it is actually better when it is complicated. This means that we have several cards in hand and many good possible options. It’s not ideal when you have no options and when you’re just happy to have eight guys at the start. I prefer to be in the situation of having more potential candidates than places available. On paper, it is certainly one of the best teams we have ever lined up, but we will have to overcome the obstacles and confirm it on the road.
What will Thibaut’s role be?
He will be there to work for David as long as David will be in the game and close in GC. If it is tighter at the top of the rankings, we’ll remain united around David. If the gaps widen and David is sixth at five minutes, it might not be the same thing. Thibaut Pinot’s evolution in this Tour will depend on this. Like Michael, Thibaut totally reassured us in recent weeks. He showed on the Tour de Suisse that he could be up there. Michael Storer is also on the rising curve, and Stefan Küng will definitely be up and running. The mountain will not be the same as in Switzerland (smiles), but we obviously expect a lot from him during the first week. He will be decisive, and he also recently gave good signs. In general, we are on the right track, we are satisfied with the current dynamic. It must keep on going on the Tour.
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