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Tuesday, August 1, 2023

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2022 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury. - Marcus Aurelius

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Les Woodland's book Paris-Roubaix: The Inside Story - All the bumps of cycling's cobbled classic is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• July 29 - August 4: Tour of Poland
• July 31 - August 2: Tour de l'Ain

Upcoming racing:

• August 5 - 13: World Road Championships
• August 9 - 20: Volta a Portugal
• August 26 - Sept 17: Vuelta a España

Latest completed racing:

• July 30: Circuito de Getxo
• July 29: Clásica de San Sebastián
• July 26 - 27: Vuelta a Castilla y Leon
• July 22 - 26: Tour de Wallonie
• July 1 - 23: Tour de France
• July 2 - 6: Österreich Rundfahrt-Tour of Austria
• January - June 26: National Championships
• June 11 - 18: Tour de Suisse

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Tour of Poland stage three team reports

We posted the report from stage winner Rafal Majka's UAE Team Emirates with the results.

Here's the report from third-place Michal Kwiatkowski's Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Michal Kwiatkowski continued his momentum to sprint to a superb third on a short, sharp, uphill finish on stage three of Tour de Pologne.

Kwiatkowski was ideally positioned up much of the climb, before placing third on the line as Rafał Majka (UAE Team Emirates) took the win.

Kwiatkowski was right there as Rafal Majka took the win.

Two consecutive third places sees Kwiatkowski in fourth place overall, 12 seconds behind Mohorić and just two seconds from the podium.

Earlier, the Grenadiers were ideally positioned in the peloton as a break of four went up the road.

With some technical descending just before the foot of the climb, the team hit the front with Thymen Arensman and Laurens De Plus keeping Kwiatkowski at the front and out of trouble.

In the final run up to Duszniki-Zdrój, Geraint Thomas drove the pace, before Pavel Sivakov unleashed a huge turn, dragging the peloton up to the final few hundred metres.

‘Kwiato’ launched his sprint with around 200 metres to go, and despite fighting to the line, was not quite able to get by Majka for the win, ultimately finishing third.

Here's the report from fourth-place Ilan Van Wilder's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

The two longest climbs at this year’s Tour de Pologne – Przelecz and Zieleniec – featured on the 163.3km stage three between Walbrzych and Duszniki-Zdroj, but they didn’t have an impact on the fight for victory, which unfolded in the last 300 meters of the short but steep uphill finish more suited to those having some punch.

For the second consecutive day, Ilan Van Wilder was there for Soudal Quick-Step, concluding in the same time as winner Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates), just outside the podium. It was the Belgian’s eleventh top 10 finish of the season, and a result that helped him keep his place in the first five of the general classification ahead of what should be a much calmer stage four, at the end of which the sprinters should be in the spotlight.

Ilan Van Wilder racing in stage 20 of the 2023 Giro d'Italia. Sirotti photo

“Today it was important to be in the top 10-15, both on the last downhill and at the start of the climb, and thanks to the team I was in a good position. But then, in the closing kilometer, everybody began attacking and I found myself a bit stuck and couldn’t really go when I wanted to. On the other hand, fourth and the fact that I came with the others without losing any time is a good result”, said Ilan after the stage.

Here’s the stage three report from fifth-place Oscar Onley’s Team dsm-firmenich:

Team dsm-firmenich have delivered another very solid performance in stage 3 of the Tour de Pologne on Monday, where Oscar Onley finished off the excellent teamwork by crossing the finish line in a strong fifth place.

Rolling out from Wałbrzych on Monday, the peloton awaited another hilly stage after Sunday’s punchy uphill finish to Karpacz which saw Oscar Onley finishing 4th. Max Poole and Tobias Lund Andresen initially managed to jump into a break of around 18 riders, but were brought back quickly. Then, a four-man breakaway left the peloton on the first climb of the day, while – behind in the peloton – Team dsm-firmenich continued to work well together, helping climbers Max Poole and Oscar Onley out of trouble. The leaders of the stage got some space in the race, to a maximum lead of around five minutes, but saw their advantage disappear quickly towards the end of the race. On the last climb of the day – the Zieleniec – the speed in the peloton was upped once again after which one rider after the break of the day had to surrender, at twenty kilometres to the finish.

This also saw the peloton being thinned heavily, whilst Lorenzo Milesi, Poole and Onley still held on. After a challenging descent, there was one last punchy climb left with gradients of around ten percent to the finish in Duszniki-Zdrój, in which Onley showed himself emphatically. The young Briton was able to keep up with some of the world’s best climbers and eventually crossed the line in fifth.

With the team’s strong result again, Onley continues to compete for the top spots in the General Classification; in a very solid seventh place, following yellow jersey wearer Mohoric in only twenty seconds.

After the stage, Onley commented: “The boys were really committed for me today, covering moves in the beginning and before setting me up well for the final. Max and Lorenzo did a big effort to position me into the final kilometre. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake there which prevented me from going for a better result, but I’m happy with my form just now”.

Team dsm-firmenich coach Pim Ligthart added: “I think this was a good day. At the beginning of the stage we looked for a big break to put Max in and we shortly succeeded with Tobias and Max, but unfortunately were brought back. Then we focused on getting Oscar in the final as fit as possible and positioning him there. Max did the final push really well, but the others also did a really good job earlier in the day. I saw a very strong team today and fifth on the finish is not bad. We hope for more, but after three days in Poland we have a positive feeling”.

And here’s the report from Team Jumbo-Visma:

Team Jumbo-Visma was riding up front in the third stage of the Tour de Pologne, but could not play a significant role in the final. As the previous day, Sam Oomen rode strongly and finished in the reduced peloton.

Sam Oomen winning a stage in the 2016 Tour de l'Ain.

After the tough final of stage two, the riders again faced a high-altitude stage in the southwest of Poland. The stage started around noon with two category climbs. Mick van Dijke was alert and reacted immediately to the first breakaway attempt. "We had discussed before that we wanted to be in the break with Tobias Foss, Koen Bouwman or myself. It wasn't easy, but in the end, I was up front for the team”, Van Dijke said.

The 23-year-old rider and his three companions could gain four minutes on the peloton, but their attempt failed twenty kilometres from the finish. "Of course, you never know how things will go during a breakaway. At first, it looked like we would get some space, but then the peloton picked up the pace. It was a bit of a gamble on our part. Still, it was a good day”, the Dutchman said.

Van Dijke spoke of the effort he had put in with his next goals in mind. "The time between the Tour de Pologne and the world championships is short. It is nice to be able to test the legs again. They are starting to feel better, which gives me confidence. In the end, it was an excellent long training session today.”

Sam Oomen finished between the classification riders in the tough final and moved to nineteenth place in the general classification. After two days of climbing, another sprint stage is scheduled for tomorrow.

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