Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Friday, June 17, 2022
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2021 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia
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Current racing:
- June 12 - 19: Tour de Suisse
- June 15 - 19: Tour of Belgium
- June 16 - 19: La Route d'Occitanie
Upcoming racing:
- June 22: Halle Ingooigem
- July 1 - July 24: Tour de France
Latest completed racing:
- June 5 - 12: Critérium du Dauphiné
- June 8 - 12: ZLM Tour
- June 10: GP Kanton Aargau
- June 5: Brussels Cycling Classic
- June 2: Giro dell'Appennino
- May 6 - 29: Giro d'Italia
We posted the report from the race organizer with the results.
Here’s the report from stage winner and new GC leader Aleksandr Vlasov’s Team Bora-hansgrohe
In yet again high temperatures, the riders set off on the 190 km long route between Ambri and Novazzano. The final 75 km presented some short but steep climbs before the final uphill to the finish. Early on, the peloton let a five-man breakaway go and the lead soon stretched to over seven minutes.
After the last of the escapees was caught about 15km from the line, there were several attacks on the final round of the Pedrinate climb and the peloton was reduced to about 15 riders, including Aleks Vlasov, Maximilian Schachmann, Felix Grossschartner and Sergio Higuita. Max and Aleks were particularly active and tried to counter the attacks from this group. In the end, the duo managed to make it into a reduced leading group, which ultimately decided the victory among themselves.
About 500m before the finish Max launched his sprint, but wasn’t able to get away and so then rode the lead-out for Aleks. Managing to sprint past Fuglsang and win the stage in Novazano, he also took the yellow jersey of the race leader. BORA-hansgrohe placed four riders in the top-10 today with Aleks, Felix, Sergio and Max.
Aleksandr Vlasov takes the stage. Sirotti photo
From the Finish Line
"It was a tough race especially on the circuit. We tried to be always well positioned in the peloton and when the group of favourites became smaller, we still had four riders at the front. This allowed me to save a bit more energy for the finale. Many thanks to my teammates because they did a really strong job in these difficult weather conditions. In terms of the GC, we still have some important and difficult days ahead of us, but we will try to defend the jersey until the end. The fact that I also took the jersey today means more work for the team, but we have many strong riders here and we will give it our all." - Aleksandr Vlasov
"We left it relatively open today because we couldn’t predict beforehand who would cope best and how, on this circuit, which was very technical and was raced in extremely hot temperatures of almost 40 degrees. The guys ultimately did a great job. In the end, we still had all six riders with us up to 20 kilometres from the finish, which also speaks of the incredible team strength we have here. In the end they took turns attacking. Max tried ahead of the finale, but was caught again. And then Aleks went on to win the sprint out of the small group with the help of Max, with Sergio and Felix also being at the front. So it couldn't have gone any better. Now we are in the yellow jersey, three days before the end of one of the biggest stage races on the calendar and that makes us very proud. We will give everything to win the Tour de Suisse." - Jens Zemke, Sports Director
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Here’s the Swiss Tour report from GC third-place Geraint Thomas’ Team INEOS Grenadiers:
Geraint Thomas retained third place overall at the Tour de Suisse after an exciting battle amongst the GC contenders on stage five.
The circuit-based finale saw the Grenadiers hit the front to help string out the bunch, before a series of attacks enlivened the finale.
Thomas found himself in a five-way battle for the stage victory in Novazzano, taking fourth and narrowly missing out on both bonus seconds and the race lead.
Geraint Thomas can be seen in the sprint, wearing white-framed sunglasses. Sirotti photo
The Welshman remains third overall, seven seconds off stage winner and new race leader Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe).
Tom Pidcock was one of the first to attack, going clear briefly alongside Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe). He went on to finish 16th on the stage. Dani Martinez also came back to the front late on before finishing 20th.
The team began the day down a rider as Adam Yates was forced to pull out from the race following a positive lateral flow test.
Thursday also saw the start of La Route d'Occitanie. Elia Viviani sprinted to third place on the opening stage, with the bunch kick won by Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ). The sprint ensured GC leader Carlos Rodriguez finished safely in the bunch.
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And here’s the Swiss Tour report from Remco Evenepoel’s Team Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl:
Thursday afternoon, the peloton took in some of the roads used in 2009 at the World Championships in Mendrisio, and that, combined with the blazing heat, made for a tough stage that widened the gaps between the general classification favourites, which at the start of the day were minimal.
A debutant at the Tour de Suisse, Remco Evenepoel had difficulties on the second ascent of the Pedrinate (2.4km, 8.7%), losing some 15-odd seconds, but with the help of his Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl teammates he made it back to the depleted peloton that was gradually raising the tempo. Unfortunately, the next time they tackled that climb, the Belgian struggled again due to the high temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius on the gruelling gradients, and despite giving his best to limit the losses, he concluded two minutes behind Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-hansgrohe), who took the win from a reduced group.
Remco Evenepoel before the stage start. Sirotti photo
“I would have preferred to not lose time today, but they rode really fast and with this heat, if then you get overheated or you feel a bit not in the game for a second then you pay for that. There are still two totally different stages coming and an individual time trial, two minutes isn’t positive but I wouldn’t say it’s completely over for a nice GC.”
“Today I had a half off-day, and hopefully tomorrow and the day after things will be better. On the climbs they went really full gas and I just didn’t have that today. Ilan and Fausto did a perfect job to bring me back just before the descent, but I had difficulties and got dropped again on that short and explosive ascent. Two minutes is a lot, but I will keep fighting in the next days”, an upbeat Remco explained after the stage.
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We posted the report from second-place Danny Van Poppel’s Team Bora-hansgrohe with the results.
Here’s the report from GC leader Mads Pedersen’s Team Trek-Segafredo:
Mads Pedersen and his teammates successfully defended the leader’s jersey in Stage 2 at the Baloise Belgium Tour with third place in a punchy finish. While Mads couldn’t repeat his Stage 1 win, he was satisfied with the result and team effort ahead of a key time trial Friday.
Jasper Philipsen winning stage one. Pedersen can be seen to the left, in the leader's blue jersey.
The race required less from Trek-Segafredo with an easier parcours than the challenging terrain of Stage 1. Still, when Mads punctured with 30 kilometers remaining, the Team was ready, and quickly had the race leader back into business.
“I punctured, but it was in quite a good place, and we had time enough to come back. And the guys were there straight away and towed me back to the front,” said Mads.
The principal job of the day was getting Mads into the best position for a tricky finale with a sharp rise to the line. Usually, a perfect finish for the Dane, but today Jasper Philipsen played it better.
Mads explained: “It was all about being in good position for the last corner. It was really hectic with around 1k to go, and we got split up a bit, so it was not an ideal sprint today. It was a tough sprint, and Jasper (Philipsen) is superfast, so I knew it would be difficult to make another win today. I am pretty satisfied with the 3rd place, and we keep the leader’s jersey. Everyone did a good job, from Jakob (Egholm) pulling from the beginning to all the guys helping in the lead-out, so in general a nice day.”
With his third place, Mads added a four-second time bonus and ensured the blue jersey remains on his shoulders, at least into the critical time trial tomorrow. Whether Mads will still have the blue jersey after the race of truth will be determined in an 11.8-kilometer test, a course similar to the Grand Depart in Copenhagen that Pedersen would so love to win.
“Of course, I have to try and do a good TT tomorrow,” said Mads, who already had Stage 3 red-circled. “Now it’s also about keeping the leader’s jersey, and it’s a good preparation for the Tour, so full gas tomorrow. And then we will see how (the rest of the race) goes.”
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