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Thursday, January 5, 2023
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2022 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia
Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it. - Robert Frost
Les Woodland's book Tour de France: The Inside Story - Making the World's Greatest Bicycle Race is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Upcoming racing
- Jan 14 - 22: Schwalbe Classic & Tour Down Under
- Jan 22 - 29: Vuelta a San Juan
- Jan 25 - 29: Challenge Illes Balears-Volta Ciclista a Mallorca
- Jan 28 & 29: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
Latest completed racing:
- Jan 1: GP Sven Nys Cyclocross
- Dec 30: Azencross-Loenhout
- Dec 28: Diegem Cyclocross
- Dec 27: Heusden-Zolder Cyclocross
- Dec 26: Gavere Cyclocross
- Dec 10: Exact Cross Essen
- Dec 4: Scheldecross Antwerp
The peloton of the 110th edition of the Tour de France will include 22 teams at the start in the Basque country on 1st July 2023.
18 UCI WorldTeams and 4 UCI ProTeams, with one unprecedented participation (Uno-X).
Details of the selection:
18 teams UCI WorldTeams:
AG2R Citroën Team (Fra)
Alpecin Deceuninck (Bel)
Astana Qazaqstan Team (Kaz)
Bora-Hansgrohe (Ger)
EF Education-Easypost (Usa)
Groupama-FDJ (Fra)
Ineos Grenadiers (Gbr)
Intermarché-Circus-Wanty (Bel)
Jumbo-Visma (Ned)
Movistar Team (Esp)
Soudal Quick-Step (Bel)
Team Arkea-Samsic (Fra)
Team Bahrain Victorious (Brn)
Team Cofidis (Fra)
Team DSM (Ned)
Team Jayco AlUla (Aus)
Trek-Segafredo (Usa)
UAE Team Emirates (Uae)
4 teams UCI Proteams:
The two teams qualified by right:
Lotto dstny (Bel)
TotalEnergies (Fra)
The two teams invited by the organiser:
Israel-Premier Tech (Isr)
Uno-X Pro Cycling Team (Nor)
The team sent me this news:
Uno-X Pro Cycling Team is invited to the Tour de France in 2023. A first in the history of sports! Never before has a Norwegian-Danish team competed in this iconic cycling race.
“We are extremely proud, humble, and grateful for the invitation. Tour de France is the ultimate dream, and just being a part of this is a victory for the team,” says Jens Haugland, General Manager of Uno-X Pro Cycling Team.
Haugland emphasises that the team is very ambitious.
“We will be well prepared for this year’s edition. One of our long-term goals is to be able to fight for the top positions in Tour de France in the future. We see no reason to think that this isn’t possible,” he continues.
ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A NAME PARTNER
Tour de France is one of the world’s greatest sporting events. The three-week cycling happening is broadcast to about 190 countries, and more than 150 million people follow it. Haugland points out that the exposure of Tour de France participation is enormous and proclaims that Uno-X is searching for a future partner that can help strengthening the project even more.
“We are looking for a partner with matching values and a willingness to go big; someone who shares our enthusiasm for cycling and sustainable mobility,” says Haugland.
Uno-X Mobility has built Uno-X Pro Cycling Team from the ground up. The team was established in 2016, and today it comprises a women’s team, and men’s team, and a development team. The women’s team participated in the Tour de France Femmes in 2022 and will return to the event this year.
REITAN’S FORMULA FOR SUCCESS
Adhering to REITAN’s company philosophy, Uno-X has secured a strong market position in both Norway and Denmark. Simple and effective quality solutions is the base, also for the newly introduced concepts, ultrafast EV charging, and Nordic Swan ecolabelled car washers.
Uno-X Pro Cycling Team is developed, step by step, applying the same philosophy and value set as the other companies within Reitan Retail, informs Vegar Kulset, CEO of Uno-X Mobility.
“Parallel with our belief in keeping things simple and efficient, we recognize the power and joys of dreaming big. Dreams do not always come true, but with our cycling ambassadors now going to the Tour de France – both the women and men – we showcase what can happen when we dare dreaming big and combine it with long-term, hard work,” he says.
Ole Robert Reitan, CEO of Reitan Retail, which Uno-X Mobility is a part of, says he looks forward to this year’s cycling season even more than he usually does.
“The way Uno-X Mobility has managed to develop a world class team that now will be competing in the Tour de France in 2023, for both men and women, impresses me. I look forward to the coming cycling season with enormous anticipation,” says Ole Robert Reitan.
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Here’s the team’s announcement:
After claiming two emotional stage wins at the 2022 Tour de France, Israel – Premier Tech is set to return for the team’s fourth participation this year having been granted a wildcard invitation from the A.S.O.
From making history in 2020 as the first Israeli team to race the Tour de France, where Guy Niv had the honor of being the first Israeli rider to line up, to two stage wins in 2022, Israel – Premier Tech is hungry for more success at this year’s race says IPT owner Sylvan Adams.
Simon Clarke just wins 2022 Tour de France stage five. Sirotti photo
“We are looking forward to racing in the sport’s most important and difficult race, the Tour de France, this July. We hope to build on our success of last summer where we won two stages, including one of the most difficult on the mythical cobbles of the Paris-Roubaix course. Israel – Premier Tech was one of only six teams that won at least two stages at last year’s race, and we will be hunting for more success in the 2023 edition. We will be dangerous and strong, I promise, and hope to bring winning joy to our many fans around the world, and especially in Israel,” says Adams.
The Tour de France invitation, and IPT’s participation at WorldTour stage races and one-day races, confirms that the team’s season will remain largely unchanged in 2023. General Manager Kjell Carlström thanked the A.S.O for awarding one of the two remaining wildcard invitations to IPT.
“After racing our best ever Tour de France in 2022, we are thrilled to return to the race this year for our fourth participation. With each participation, we have grown as a team and watching Simon Clarke and Hugo Houle claim two emotional stage victories last year was an absolute highlight of our team’s eight-year history. We are hungry for more and we will be lining up at this year’s Tour de France racing for victories and making our fans and partners proud to support IPT. I also want to thank A.S.O for inviting us back to the race, in what will undoubtedly be one of our big objectives of the season,” explains Carlström.”
While winning a Tour de France stage is a dream come true no matter the circumstances, few victories in 2022 were as memorable as the stage wins of Simon Clarke and Hugo Houle. Whether it was Clarke’s win on stage 5, having started the year without a team before bouncing back to claim the biggest win of his career on the mythical cobbles of Roubaix, or Hugo Houle’s emotional win on stage 16 dedicated to his late brother Pierrik, IPT’s maiden Tour de France wins are ones that won’t be forgotten.
For Clarke and Houle, the news of IPT’s invitation is a huge source of motivation as the new season gets underway.
“It’s great that the we have been confirmed to race this year’s Tour de France. It’s really important not only for the team, but also for us as riders to have the opportunity to participate. Without an automatic invitation, the news of a wildcard invitation is great for us. Everyone, from management to the riders, is super excited to be back there heading to the Basque Country in the first week of July for another lap of France,” says Clarke.
“It’s super important to have this invitation to the Tour de France, one of the most important races of the year, and really great to start the year with this news. It’s a race I enjoy, especially last year with the success I had, so this gives me a lot of motivation to go back and be there for a fifth time in my career. A big thanks to A.S.O for giving us this opportunity and recognising what we achieved last year. It will be one of my main focuses of the season to make the team and to perform well and show everyone that we deserve this invitation,” adds Houle.
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The team sent me this announcement
Franck Bonnamour:
"It is a great pride to join the AG2R CITROËN team for the next two seasons. It was a goal in my career to join a World Tour team. So to be able to do so, in a French structure, is a great achievement and a huge source of motivation. I liked Vincent Lavenu's speech. It's a team that matches my qualities and my personality and that puts its riders in a very good position to progress with state-of-the-art equipment and a team that listens to me.
Franck Bonnamour wins the 2022 Polynormande
"It's a group I know well, especially Benoît Cosnefroy with whom I was in the French team when he became U23 world champion in 2017. I can't wait to be part of this team and to contribute to its success.
"I'm really looking forward to sharing my first outings with my new teammates during our training camp in Spain (from January 10 to 20 in La Nucia).
I spent a studious and meticulous winter to be at the rendezvous from the first races of the season because I come out of a year that left me hungry despite my victory in the Polynormande. I want to do even better in 2023. The objective will be to be at the rendezvous on the most beautiful races of the international calendar and to also discover new events of the World Tour calendar by putting myself at the service of my leaders. The challenge is exciting! I'm hungry for victory."
Vincent Lavenu:
"It is a real pleasure to see Franck join our AG2R CITROËN team. He is a rider that we have been following for a few years already and the end of the B&B Hotels team hastened his arrival in our structure.
"After the recruitment of three neo-pros from our training program, the arrival of Franck will allow us to count on an experienced rider , capable of playing on all terrains. He proved it in the past, notably by being elected super-combative of the Tour de France 2021, he is full of talent. He has a speed that allows him to play his card in small groups, he climbs quite well, he is at ease in the classics and has the ideal state of mind to blend in with our team. He will be a precious support for our leaders.
"Even if he joins a World Tour team for the first time in his career, Franck has already proven that he is capable of competing with the best riders in the international peloton. His arrival is great news for us.:
Franck Bonnamour in brief:
Born on June 20, 1995 (27 years old) in Lannion (Côtes d'Armor)
Win list: La Polynormande 2022, super-combative of the Tour de France 2021. 2nd in Paris-Tours 2021, 2nd in Tour du Limousin 2021. Junior European Champion 2013.
The number: 4
Franck Bonnamour is the fourth recruit of the AG2R CITROËN team for the 2023 season after Pierre Gautherat, Alex Baudin and Bastien Tronchon.
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The team sent me this news release:
Team Jayco AlUla is pleased to confirm its return to Australia for the busy summer of racing which started on January 1st, 2023, at the annual Citroën Bay Crits in Geelong. Ruby Roseman-Gannon got the ball rolling early by claiming her second consecutive overall win at the three-day event.
The focus now moves on to the next races, as the squad brings impressive men’s and women’s team line-ups, ready to challenge for more victories in front of Australian fans at the Federation University Australian Championships, Santos Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
We'll start our 2023 race coverage with the Schwalbe Classic in Adelaide on January 14.
Michael Matthews:
“This year I decided to head back to Australia and get the season started there, it has been a long time since I’ve raced the Australian Summer, so I am just really excited for it. It is of course important racing for us as an Australian team, so to be returning with the team line-up that we have, which is super strong, it is going to be really fun.
"We have a big block starting with the Australian championships and after a few years where TDU and CEGORR couldn’t be on or at WorldTour level, we are so grateful the racing has returned to the highest level and have the opportunity to race in front of our passionate home fans.
"I am expecting everyone to be in really good shape for the TDU, a lot of our riders want to return to their home country and really show what they have got, everyone is going to bring their A game."
After a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the peloton will see Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and the Santos Tour Down Under returning to UCI WorldTour status and for the first time in history, the women’s event elevated to UCI Women’s WorldTour level.
With this, the motivation is higher than ever within the well-rounded women’s team, which will include three new Australian faces - Georgie Howe, Amber Pate and Alyssa Polites. For the Santos Tour Down Under, the team will head to Adelaide looking to try and clinch the overall title for the fifth time, following on from the squad's overall wins from 2016 through to 2019, inclusive.
Alex Manly:
“I am super excited to race the Santos Tour Down Under this year and for me personally, it is really special as the race is in my hometown of Adelaide. I have been a part of the event over the years and have witnessed its growth. So to see it now elevated to UCI WorldTour level for 2023 it is really something special.
"As a team we have won the overall title four times and last year when the event was named the ‘Santos Festival of Cycling’ as a domestic event, we helped Ruby to take the overall title, a stage win and also Georgia won the criterium, so we return with so much motivation to try and keep winning in Adelaide.
"It is really nice lining-up with an all-Australian team, as this is the event where we have been exposed to the best cyclists in the world. It’s ignited the professional dream in many riders. We’ve got three new Aussie talents joining the team, all great assets in their own right. It will be a great place for us to start building some confidence and growing together.
"We know it is going to be an extremely high level of racing and a very challenging course, but we know what to expect and we are coming in very well prepared. Hopefully the home advantage will help.”
After dazzling the local home fans at the Road World Championships in September where he picked up two medals, Matthews will headline the men’s line-up throughout the Australian summer of racing alongside 2018 Vuelta a España champion, Briton Simon Yates.
The remainder of the men’s squad will be built from Australian riders all looking to start the 2023 season off with a bang on home soil, and like the women's team, the men's squad will welcome a trio of Australian riders, with Chris Harper, Blake Quick and Rudy Porter all making their debut for Team Jayco AlUla.
Santos Tour Down Under – Women (15th to 17th Jan)
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race – Women (28th Jan)
- Alex Manly
- Amber Pate
- Alyssa Polites (Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race only)
- Georgia Baker (Santos Tour Down Under only)
- Georgie Howe
- Jess Allen
- Ruby Roseman-Gannon
Santos Tour Down Under – Men (17th – 22nd Jan)
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race – Men (28th Jan)
- Luke Durbridge
- Lucas Hamilton
- Chris Harper
- Michael Hepburn (Santos Tour Down Under only)
- Kelland O’Brien (Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race only)
- Campbell Stewart
- Michael Matthews
- Simon Yates
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