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Monday, May 30, 2022

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2021 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty.' - Theodore Roosevelt


Tour de France: 2021

Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2021: The Little Cannibal Dominates is available in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

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Giro d'Italia Stage 21 team reports

We posted the report from Giro winner Jai Hindley's Team Bora-hansgrohe with the results.

Here’s the report from GC second place Richard Carapaz’s Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Richard Carapaz completed a set of Grand Tour podiums for the INEOS Grenadiers as he confirmed second place overall at the Giro d'Italia.

The Ecuadorian finished strongly with the 10th fastest time in the concluding Verona time trial, securing his overall position after a hard-fought three weeks.

Richard Carapaz finishing his stage 21 time trial. Sirotti photo

A 1:25 advantage to leader Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) proved to be unassailable across the short, 17.4km finale. In the end the Australian took an impressive victory by 1:18 after a decisive attack on Saturday's final mountain test.

Carapaz had held the maglia rosa for six days and was supported by his Grenadiers teammates. Jonathan Castroviejo, Salvatore Puccio, Ben Swift, Jhonatan Narvaez, Pavel Sivakov and Ben Tulett all completed their Grand Tours in Verona, with Tulett setting a superb fifth fastest time. Richie Porte was sadly unable to make the finish after falling ill, but played a key role in the mountains of his final Grand Tour.

Richard Carapaz:
"I’m pretty happy in the end, it’s been a hard Giro and I’m satisfied with the result. Yesterday, I had a bad day, it wasn’t the best day on the bike, and I think in the end it was the strongest who won. The Giro is a race that I have always really liked, I’m not sure if I’ll return next year yet, but for sure one day.

"The result was a good result in the end, it was a spot on the podium that I fought for, I’m content with second place, it’s still a great result for me, and above all for the team as well. We always want to win, but this is the situation that we’ve found ourselves in, I think that I’ve shown myself to be at a good level over the last couple years, and one day I’ll return to the Giro.

"In the end I have good memories from this race, I feel like a lot has happened during it, it’s been a beautiful experience to wear the pink jersey again. It reminded me of my time in pink back in 2019, it’s always a special experience to wear the jersey."

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Here's the report from GC third-place Mikel Landa's Team Bahrain Victorious:

Mikel Landa did enough to secure 3rd in the GC on the final ITT in Verona, as Bahrain Victorious defended the best team prize. After a hard week of racing, Landa sat 26 seconds behind second-place Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and didn’t have the legs to close it further after his efforts atop Marmolada. Pello Bilbao also put on an impressive fight in the GC, finishing in the top 5, battling through bruises after a crash on stage 9.

Landa has now made the podium twice at the Giro and is happy with the overall performance at the Giro: “Today I had a big margin in the time trial and in the beginning I thought I could try something to gain time to second place, but the efforts of yesterday.

Mikel finished in third place. Sirotti photo

"It’s been a special Giro. We have been waiting for the last week, and it’s been hard to make big gaps until the last day. This is my second podium here at the Giro. The first was a bit unexpected, but now I know I can keep up with the strongest guys. We had a great team here, and it shows by winning the best team classification and Pello finishing in the top 5 in GC.”

Bahrain Victorious won the Team Classification.

Bahrain Victorious has now won the last 3 team classifications in Grand Tours with strength in depth across the team. Performance Director Vladimir Miholjević commented on the overall team performance: “I’m super happy and proud. It’s actually our 6th Grand Tour podium in 6 years of existence as a team. This one was really special as the team was on a level, and we were the best team in the race. We came here with a goal to win the Giro, and we won as a team and 3rd and 5th in the GC. We also came 12th with Santiago, who also won a stage, which is nice as he is a young guy, just 22 years old. We are already looking forward, and we want to win a Grand Tour. This team is made to win a Grand Tour, and we are close”.


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Here's the report from GC fourth-place Vincenzo Nibali's Team Astana Qazaqstan:

The Astana Qazaqstan Team leader Vincenzo Nibali took a nice fourth place in the final General Classification of the 105th edition of the Giro d’Italia, which has concluded today in Verona with an individual time trial.

Not bad, fourth place. Sirotti photo

“The final day was a tough one and I just tried to do my best on this last day in Verona. I knew the route and I just pushed as hard as possible. I tried to get a regular pace from the start and to keep it to the finish, still trying to manage with my gap to Pello Bilbao and Jan Hirt. Well, it was not easy at all and after finish I feel really tired. But, at the same time the arrival to Arena of Verona was very emotional one and I live some great moments right now feeling a great support from all the people around.

" I am happy to be here, to finish this race with a nice result, fourth place in the overall standings, and I can say that I am quite happy with it. It was a tough and beautiful Giro d’Italia, I tried to live it day by day with support of the team and all fans, who was cheering for me at the start, during every stage and at the finish. Now it is time for some rest and recovery because the season is not finished yet and there are some more goals ahead in the following months”, said Vincenzo Nibali.


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And here’s the final Giro report from sixth place Jan Hirt’s Team Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert

At the end of the 17.4 kilometer individual time trial through the streets of Verona this Sunday, team Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux concluded its second Giro d’Italia in its history.

Czech rider Jan Hirt and Italian rider Domenico Pozzovivo respectively finished in sixth and eighth position in the general classification, enabling the Belgian team to end with two riders in the top ten of the final classification.

Jan Hirt ended up sixth in the GC. Sirotti photo

It is the first time that the team is represented in the top ten in a Grand Tour. The most recent reference result was the eleventh place of Odd Christian Eiking in the Vuelta 2021.

In addition to these performances, the team directed by Valerio Piva and Steven De Neef leaves with two stage victories, six podium finishes and twelve times top ten achieved by five different riders and a fourth place in the team classification.

At the age of 31, Jan Hirt ends a Grand Tour in the top ten for the first time in his career. Exactly one week after the victory of Biniam Girmay in Jesi, the Czech climber won the queen stage in the Alps, in which the mythical Passo del Mortirolo had to be covered.

Italian 39 year old Domenico Pozzovivo finished in the top ten of the Giro for the seventh time in his career. The Italian rider is the oldest rider in the top ten of the Giro since Giovanni Rossignoli in 1924.

Belgian rider Aimé De Gendt concluded his first Tour of Italy, just like Hungarian rider Barnabás Peák, who participated in a three week race for the first time.

Estonian rider Rein Taaramäe and Italian rider Lorenzo Rota attacked multiple times and both took a stage podium, on the Etna and in Genova respectively.

“It was a dream to win a stage in the Giro. I didn't only make this dream come true, I also finished sixth in the general classification. I rode the race of my life, that's for sure! I was very concentrated for this time trial. Thanks to my good performance, I finish this Giro only 26 seconds down on fourth place. Not many Czech riders achieved this before me, so I hope that I inspired some compatriots to start riding a bike. Last year, I rediscovered my love for cycling within Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert and that's the key to my success. It is important to be surrounded by the right people. A good and nice environment facilitates the road to success. I don't dare to think about the next step, about what I'm capable of, but those 26 seconds motivate me a lot to come back for more next season!” - Jan Hirt

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