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Friday, July 14, 2023

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2022 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia

The moving finger writes, and having written moves on. Nor all thy piety nor all thy wit, can cancel half a line of it. - Omar Khayyam

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Current racing:

• July 1 - 24: Tour de France

Upcoming racing:

• July 22 - 26: Tour de Wallonie

Latest completed racing:

• July 2 - 6: Österreich Rundfahrt-Tour of Austria
• January - June 26: National Championships
• June 11 - 18: Tour de Suisse
• June 14 - 18: Baloise Belgium Tour
• June 15 - 18: Route d'Occitanie
• June 4 - 11: Critérium du Dauphiné
• June 7 - 11: ZLM Tour
• June 4: Brussels Cycling Classic

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Tour de France stage 12 reports

We posted the race organizer's report with the results.

Here’s the report from GC leader Jonas Vingegaard’s Team Jumbo-Visma:

Team Jumbo-Visma attacked in the twelfth stage of the Tour de France. Tiesj Benoot was very strong and finished fourth behind stage winner Ion Izagirre. Jonas Vingegaard's yellow jersey was never in danger.

Early in the break's life.

It rained attacks from the start in Roanne. The Dutch squad was alert, and Wout van Aert and Wilco Kelderman tried to join the early breakaway. After eighty kilometres, Benoot escaped with thirteen riders. After a strong race, the Belgian had to acknowledge Izagirre’s superiority.

"I felt I was one of the strongest riders in the lead group, but it was difficult to make the difference. When our lead was more than four minutes, I knew someone from the breakaway would win. In the end, Cofidis did a good job with Izagirre”, said Benoot, who crossed the line a minute later in fourth place. "Today, finishing higher than fourth place was feasible, but of course, you need a bit of luck.”

"The goal before the race was to have someone in the breakaway, also for the bonus seconds in the final. We achieved that today”, the 29-year-old rider said.

Grischa Niermann was pleased with the performance of his riders on the hilly stage. "We had everything under control. Sepp and Dylan were a bit behind initially, due to a crash. The rest of the guys around Jonas rode an excellent stage.”

"With the peloton remaining calm, Tiesj was able to take his chance today”, the sports director continued. "He looked strong, but unfortunately, he couldn't win the stage. It's a shame because we always race for the win, but we also know that our main goal is to defend the yellow jersey with Jonas. We did that well today.”

Vingegaard is already looking forward to tomorrow's finish on the Grand Colombier. "I've done this climb before. Like today, it's going to be a tough race, and I'm looking forward to it".

Here's the report from GC third place Jai Hindley's Team Bora-hansgrohe:

Another unpredictable stage ahead of the big mountains of the Alps saw a spectacular race. On an undulating parcours, attacks flew from the start and while it took 90km before a breakaway was established, the bunch was split into several groups. Jai Hindley was always part of the yellow jersey group while some other GC contenders were caught on the back foot. After the break went clear, the race calmed down a little and the bunch regrouped. In the end Ion Izaguirre took the win from the break while Jai finished safely in the bunch to head into the Alps in 3rd place overall.

The Yellow Jersey group finishes. Sirotti photo

“The race was incredibly fast today. At some point I thought this could have been the last day of the Tour. It wasn’t that hot, but the pace was relentless. After two hours of racing, the average speed was at 47km/h including 1500m of climbing. Nils had an exceptional day and was always with Jai which was very important. Emu had to stop behind a crash and found himself in the second bunch. But he came back later, and, in the end, we had good support for Jai. A day like this costs a lot of energy, but also nerves for us in the car.” – Rolf Aldag, Sports Director

Here’s the report from breakaway rider Andrey Amador’s Team EF Education-EasyPost:

Going into stage 12 of the Tour de France, we knew there was a great chance that the break would stay away to the finish. The route ducked and dived up and down through sun-baked vineyards from Roanne all the way to Belleville-en-Beaujolais. The stage would be very hard for any team to control. We wanted to send our fast finishers Magnus Cort and Alberto Bettiol up the road. But then, they got caught behind a crash in the chaos of the first hour, and our hopes fell on Andrey Amador.

The Costa Rican workhorse had made the split. He rode off the front with a very powerful group. Andrey rode with courage and intelligence until the final climb, but couldn’t match with the best when they attacked uphill.

Once the break had gone, Andrey’s teammates focused on saving their strength.

Tomorrow is Bastille Day in France and Neilson Powless will wear the Tour’s polka-dotted climber’s jersey into the Jura. After a fast, flat start out of Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne, Stage 13 will finish on the summit of the Grand Colombier, one of the hardest mountains in this year’s race.

Andrey Amador has been racing professionally for a while. Here he is in the 2013 Tour de France. Sirotti photo

Andrey Amador:
It was a really hard day. It was full gas from the start. We knew it would be an important day. The breakaway would arrive at the finish. Everyone knew that. I think we need to be happy. We tried it. This is the most important. I think we have more options. We go day by day.

It was a strong breakaway. I tried with Van der Poel in the first downhill, maybe to win a few seconds ahead of the next climb. And maybe we gained 20 to 30 seconds on the climbers. Hand-to-hand, it would have been difficult. But Van der Poel attacked me and I was alone and in the last 500 meters of the second climb, I got dropped by the others. But I tried. I think my only option today was to get ahead on the downhill and to have some seconds for the last climb, but I couldn’t. I tried, but when you don’t have the legs, you don’t have the legs.

And here's the report from Julian Alaphilippe's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Fifteen years ago, Belleville-en-Beaujolais hosted the finish of a Tour de France stage that ended with the breakaway taking the spoils. Now, the small town in the Rhône department returned at the race and just like in 2008, the escapees fought for victory over a 169km course featuring five classified climbs.

Despite the slight headwind at the start, the peloton rode at a ferocious pace as many riders tried to jump up the road and book a place in the breakaway. The peloton was soon split into several groups, but Julian Alaphilippe remained well positioned at all times, as more men tried to edge away on the first climb of the day and the subsequent descent. It took around 80 kilometers for the tempo to relent and a group to establish a gap, and Soudal Quick-Step’s two-time World Champion made sure of joining it after initially missing out on the move.

Julian Alaphilippe before the start of stage one. Sirotti photo

The Frenchman remained there, helping the group take their gap to four minutes, until the penultimate ascent, when he got distanced by the climbers who tried to make the race as hard as possible. From the small group that emerged in the front, Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) attacked with 30 kilometers to go and soloed to victory.

“The goal of our team was to be in the break with someone. Because of a crash, the bunch splintered leaving only 30-40 riders in the front, and we continued to race full gas. Then Julian managed to go in the break, but it was hard for him after all the efforts he had made in the first part of the stage. We still miss a win, but we are motivated to keep trying”, said Rémi Cavagna, our first man home Thursday afternoon.

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