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Tuesday, October 18, 2022
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2021 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia
I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm. - Calvin Coolidge
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.
Current racing:
- Oct 11 - 18: Tour de Langkawi
Upcoming racing
Latest completed racing:
- Oct 16: Japan Cup
- Oct 16: Veneto Classic
- Oct 16: Chrono des Nations
- Oct 12: Giro del Veneto
- Oct 9: Paris-Tours
- Oct 8: Il Lombardia
- Oct 6: Gran Piemonte
- Oct 6: Paris-Bourges
We posted the report from the race organizer with the results.
Here's the report from George Bennett's UAE Team Emirates:
With 8th place at the at the finish of the 7th stage, George Bennett leaps into the top 10 of the overall classification at the Tour de Langkawi, settling in 4th place at 1'50" from the race leader Ivan Sosa (Movistar).
Today’s stage should have ended with the ascent of Gunung Raya but, due to a landslide in the area , the organizers decided to run the race on the route originally intended for the 8th day (107.1 km with departure and arrival in Kuah).
The two laps of the final circuit split the main group, from which Sjoerd Bax (Alpecin-Deceuninck) emerged victorious, with the future UAE Team Emirates rider linking up with Willie Smit (China Glory) and Adrià Moreno ( Burgos-BH) and then beating them in the sprint.
Sjoerd Bax wins stage seven.
Behind the trio, a group of 5 riders reached the finish line, including George Bennett, 8th on the day.
The New Zealander has jumped 7 positions in the overall standings and now sits just 3″ of the final podium (Uno-X’s Torstein Traeen is 1’47” behind Sosa).
The same finish as today, with the addition of a lap of the final circuit, will be the setting for the 8th and final stage of the Tour de Langkawi
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We started a 2023 Giro page here.
2022 King of the Mountains Koen Bouwman's Team Jumbo Visma posted this:
“I get very excited when I look at the Giro course of the upcoming edition”, Koen Bouwman says from Milan. The most recent mountain jersey winner was present at the unveiling of the 2023 Giro d'Italia route. On the podium, the two-time stage winner discussed the new course, which appears to be quite challenging.
Koen Bouwman in his Giro KOM jersey at the end of the 2022 Giro d'Italia. Sirotti photo
The cyclists are in for a demanding and challenging stage schedule with three time trials and 51,300 altitude metres. He was recognised as the Giro’s top climber with Jai Hindley and Arnaud Démare, the sprint and final classification winners. “It was great fun to experience this once”, Bouwman said.
The climber revealed on the podium that he is already anticipating the thirteenth stage in case he participates next year. “The stage has more than 5000 altitude metres. You pass the Gran San Bernardo that day. My cycling career began there in 2015 when I won a stage in the U23 category. Riding over it again would be incredible, and winning there would be a dream come true."
The rider of Team Jumbo-Visma has been at the start of the Italian grand tour in the past five editions. "In the end, the team chooses where I start, but when I consider the upcoming edition's course, I am incredibly excited. The Giro is notoriously challenging, and I predict that next year will be even more so because of the time trial kilometres and the challenging peaks. But because it will be very tough, there will also be enough days for breakaways”, Bouwman predicts.
The Dutchman triumphed in two stages and the mountains classification this year. When asked if his victory on the stage to Potenza, which he achieved alongside his teammate Tom Dumoulin, was his best day on the bike, Bouwman replied confidently. “Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful. A little boy's dream is to triumph in a competitive race. I managed to do that in 2017 in the Dauphiné during my second season with the pros. It changed my objectives, and I now also desire to prevail in a grand tour. It is unforgettable if you go on to win two stages and become the first Dutchman ever to capture the Giro's mountain jersey. Even now, I must change my objectives because it won't be simple to match that. To do it once more would be a dream. Maybe in 2023, who knows?”
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Here’s the team’s announcement:
Pierre Gautherat:
“Going professional is a dream come true, especially in a French UCI WorldTeam like the AG2R CITROËN TEAM. After having been two years (2020 and 2021) in the AG2R CITROËN U19 TEAM, and after a year with the amateurs, which I finished off as a stagiaire with the AG2R CITROËN TEAM, this is a great achievement. But it’s only one step and I hope to achieve more childhood dreams such as winning big races and participating in the Tour de France.
"My time as a stagiaire in the team went very well. I was able to participate in some great events and the work I did for the collective means I have already passed a milestone. These benchmarks that I’ve hit this season will save me time for next year.
"The Flandrian classics are what I dream about. Learning alongside riders like Greg Van Avermaet and Oliver Naesen is great for me. In recent weeks, I have seen that we have very good conditions to progress and that the atmosphere in the team is very good.
"In 2023, I will have two objectives: to continue to learn and progress but also to finish my diploma (BTS Électrotechnique). This is important to me and I am lucky to be very well supported by my school to carry out this double project.”
Vincent Lavenu:
“We have been following Pierre for a few years and in particular during his two seasons with the AG2R CITROËN U19 TEAM. He is a rider who has shown great capacities and an impressive precocity on the physical level despite his young age. His internship with the AG2R CITROËN TEAM proved that he had moved up a level from his first year in the Juniors.
"Adding to this the outstanding mindset he has shown with the team in recent weeks, Pierre convinced us to give him a chance in 2023.
"Like Bastien Tronchon, he will have an adapted and well thought-out program at the start of the season in order to allow him to complete his studies. It is essential to finish the double project that has been initiated by our training system.”
In brief:
10th in the Primus Classic (1.Pro) in 2022
Winner four times in the National Elite in 2022 (licensed with SCO Dijon)
Silver medalist in the French Championships as a Junior in 2021
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VeloNews posted this report
Ex-pro Mario Cipollini was sentenced to a three-year jail term and received an 85,000 euro fine on domestic abuse charges, an Italian court ruled Monday.
Cipollini in his glory days, at the 1997 Tour de France. Sirotti photo
Italian media reported that the sentence against the former world champion included charges of ill-treatment, injury, and threats to his ex-wife Sabrina Landucci and her current partner Silvio Giusti.
“I’m happy, justice has been done. They were difficult moments but now I can see some light,” Sabrina Landucci, Cipollini’s ex wife, was quoted by Corriere della Sera. She is the sister of Marco Landucci, former Inter and Fiorentina goalkeeper and a coach at the Juventus soccer team.
You can read the entire story here.
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