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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Friday, September 30, 2022

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2021 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia

Do not blow your own trumpets nor, which is the same thing, ask other people to blow them. No trumpeter ever rose to be a general. - Edward Everett Hale

David L. Stanley's masterful telling of his bout with skin cancer Melanoma: It Started with a Freckle is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Upcoming racing:

• Oct 1: Giro dell'Emilia
• Oct 3: Sparkassen Münsterland Giro

Latest completed racing:

• Sept 29: Coppa Agostoni
• Sept 18 - 25: World Road Championships
• Sept 13 - 17: Tour de Luxembourg
• Sept 17: Primus Classic
• Sept 17: Memorial Marco Pantani (cancelled)
• Sept 16: Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
• Sept 15: Coppa Sabatini
• Sept 14: GP de Wallonie
• Sept 14: Giro della Toscana

The team sent me this announcement:

The collaboration between Lotto Soudal and CEO John Lelangue will end after this season. That decision was taken in mutual agreement.

John Lelangue joined the team in 2018. With him, Lotto Soudal made a clear choice for youth and several young talents made their way to the pros successfully. With 25 victories, 2022 has been the most successful during John Lelangue’s period at the team. Lotto Soudal wishes to express its gratitude for all John Lelangue’s work and the way he has led the team.

Lotto Soudal is going to have to find a new boss. Sirotti photo.

“It was John Lelangue his own decision to leave the team and we do so on the best of terms”, says Jannie Haek, CEO of main sponsor and team owner the National Lottery. Lotto Soudal’s board of directors is busy in the search for a successor and hopes to present one as soon as possible.

[Ed: Lotto Soudal has not been particularly successful under Lelangue's management and is currently ranked 19th, putting it in jeopardy of losing its World Tour license. The top 18 qualify automatically]

Here’s the team’s news:

Legnano, the site of the Lombard League’s improbable, but at the same time, resounding and game-changing victory over Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his imperial army in 1176, will once again host the start and finish of the Coppa Bernocchi. The main difficulty of the 190.7km race will be the Morazzone climb, which will be part of the tough 16.7km Valle Olona circuit – offering opportunities to the attackers – that the peloton will tackle seven times, before a long descent to the finish.

Having won the race last year, when Remco Evenepoel dropped all his opponents in the rain after a whole day in the break, the Wolfpack will return at the start having bib number one in its ranks and the ambition of going again for a good result, with a team consisting of Andrea Bagioli, Davide Ballerini, Mikkel Honoré, James Knox, Mauro Schmid, Mauri Vansevenant and Louis Vervaeke.

Remco Evenepoel winning the 2021 Coppa Bernocchi. Sirotti photo.

“We like racing in Italy, we took a fine win last year here and we’d like to do it again, but we know it won’t be easy. At the same time, we have a good squad with several cards to play – riders who had strong results this year for the team – and we are confident and prepared to give everything as we enter the last week of our season”, said Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl sports director Davide Bramati.

We posted the report from fourth-place Davide Formolo's UAE Team Emirates with the results.

Here's the team's short update:

The climbers of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert showed themselves in the Coppa Agostoni this Thursday, as soon as the early breakaway was caught. The made the peloton explode with different accelerations in the fourth and last lap on the circuit, which preceded the 30 flat kilometers towards Lissone.

Belgian rider Laurens Huys first attacked on his own on the Lissolo climb, followed by a peloton of around thirty riders. He was then joined by his teammate Domenico Pozzovivo and Davide Formolo, the new leading duo.

After the downhill they were joined by seven others, who collaborated well and managed to resist to the return of their competitors. In the end, the 39 year old Italian rider took fifth place, Kobe Goossens finished just outside the top ten.

Sjoerd Bax wins the 2022 Coppa Agostoni. Sirotti photo

Here’s the team’s report:

Jonas Vingegaard has won the third stage of the CRO Race. After his teammates had dominated the race the entire day, the Dane from Team Jumbo-Visma was the best on the challenging last slope in Primosten.

Jonas Vingegaard at the 2022 Drome Classic. Sirotti photo

A depleted group led by Team Jumbo-Visma set course for the final climb. It contained some steep and unpaved sections which resembled a goat trail.

"The finish was very tricky”, Vingegaard said. "The surface was bumpy, which made it hard to dance on the pedals. That forced me to sit on the saddle to make the jump to the head of the race."

The Tour winner did not relinquish the leading position and pushed his wheel over the line first. "I am thrilled with this victory. The legs were good. We determined the course of the race as a team. I'm grateful to my teammates for the work they did today. We worked hard for it. We still have a few treacherous stages left, so I'm not too concerned with the final classification yet. But I will do my best to make the most of it. The form is good”, Vingegaard said after his sixth season victory.

In doing so, the 25-year-old Dane felt he has made strides compared to previous racing years. "In previous seasons, I struggled to race at my best level, even in the final part of the season. With this victory, I reaffirm to myself that I am capable of doing so. It provides confidence for future races”, Vingegaard concluded after securing Team Jumbo-Visma's 45th season victory.

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