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Wednesday, July 19, 2023

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2022 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia

It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up. - Muhammad Ali

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Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, Vol 1: 1903 - 1975 is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• July 1 - 24: Tour de France

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• July 22 - 26: Tour de Wallonie

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• July 2 - 6: Österreich Rundfahrt-Tour of Austria
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• 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 16 reports

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

Here's the report from stage winner and GC leader Jonas Vingegaard's Team Jumbo-Visma:

Jonas Vingegaard has won the 16th stage of the Tour de France. The Dane of Team Jumbo-Visma rode a blistering time trial, beating Tadej Pogacar by over a minute and a half. Wout van Aert finished a respectable third.

Jonas Vingegaard on his way to an impressive stage win. Sirotti photo

After Dylan van Baarle had put in a solid time trial on behalf of the yellow and black team, it was Van Aert's turn. The 28-year-old Belgian dropped back a little on the flat but more than made up for it in the final kilometres. Van Aert rode an excellent race and was allowed to sit in the hot sea wint.

When Van Aert crossed the finish line, Vingegaard was the last to start the race against the clock. The yellow jersey was off to a fast start and was 16 seconds ahead of Pogacar at the first checkpoint. Vingegaard further extended his lead on the first climb and on the descent, before going into the final climb with half a minute advantage. Only to extend his lead even further. In the general classification, the gap to Pogacar has increased to one minute 48 seconds.

"I felt fantastic, but I also surprised myself a bit”, Vingegaard. "This was the best time trial I have ever done. It started with the flat part and the first climb, where I went as fast as possible. After that, I hoped to recover on the descent and go all out on the final climb. It went incredibly well. The team also did a fantastic job guiding me through the day. I thank them from the bottom of my heart.”

Vingegaard could not believe his results. "I started to have doubts and thought my Garmin was broken. I had great legs. Now it's all about making a good plan for tomorrow. I expect attacks on my yellow jersey during the queen stage.”

"What Jonas demonstrated today is astounding”, Van Aert said. The Belgian time trial champion rated his time trial well but saw teammate Vingegaard go almost three minutes faster. "I'm happy with my performance. I hoped to have a bit more left in the last part because that was where it got tricky. On the climb, I was able to make up time for some of the riders who started faster. That makes me happy, but two riders stand out.”

Van Aert labeled today’s outcome a big step in the right direction. However, the Belgian remains wary. "The fact that Jonas won makes it a fantastic day for us. But we have to keep our heads up. There are still some tough days ahead. Anything can happen. The Tour is not decided until we get to Paris.”

Here’s the report from second-place Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates:

Stage 16 of the Tour de France was the long awaited ITT on 22,4 km from Passy to Comblou with a hilly course and two short but steep climbs.

The race against the clock broke the close margin which was kept until today between Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), with the Danish rider putting in a superb performance, winning the stage in 32’36”, 1’38” less than the UAE Team Emirates’ rider.

Tadej Pogacar changed bikes before riding the day's climb to the finish. Sirotti photo.

Now in the GC, Vingegaard holds an advantage of 1’48” on Pogačar.
The current podium is completed by Adam Yates, who was 7th in the time trial (+3’12”) and on GC has a gap of 8’52” to the yellow jersey.

Pogacar: “I didn’t feel the best in the second part but I still went pretty solid. It’s a big gap now and of course I was hoping for the gap to be less and I was hoping even to be in yellow today, but this is how it went. I gave it all. I hope for tomorrow and next stages to have good legs again and keep on fighting with the team to do our best. The next stages will be very hard and anything can happen.”

Stage 17 will be 165,7 km from Saint Gervais Mont Blanc to Courchevel, with two 1st category climbs in the first half of the course (Col de Saises and Cormet Dr Roselend), one 2nd category Kom after 100 km km the stage and the Col de Loze (HC climb) with summit at 6 km to the arrival.

Here's the report from Remi Cavagna's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Rémi Cavagna confirmed his credentials as one of the best time trialists in the race, finishing sixth in the demanding 22.4km test against the clock which kicked off the third week of the Grande Boucle. Taking place between Passy and Combleux, the stage was a hilly one and to spice everything up, it featured the famous Côte de Domancy (2.5km, 9.4%), where Bernard Hinault attacked on his way to victory at the 1980 World Championships.

Remi Cavagna near the end of his ride.

The French ITT Champion was among the riders to start in the first part of the day and produced a superb ride that saw him set the fastest time at all three checkpoints, including over the top of the Domancy, before stopping the clock in 35:42, thanks to an average speed of 37.64km/h. In the final hour of the race, Cavagna moved down the ranking once the overall contenders began coming home one by one, but even so he finished the stage won by Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) as the best placed of the non-GC riders.

“Today wasn’t easy and I can’t say the time trial suited me, but I gave everything and I am not disappointed. It was nice to ride it in the French colours, the fans were amazing in the way they encouraged me on the climbs. I started fast, and made sure of keeping something for the last climb, but it was hard there. Top 10 from this field is a good result. Now I will continue to help the team in the remaining stages”, Rémi explained after his day in Sallanches.

And here’s the report from David Gaudu’s Team Groupama-FDJ:

In the aftermath of the second rest day, David Gaudu did not experience any setback on Tuesday in the only individual time trial of the Tour de France. Quite the opposite. Over the hilly twenty-two kilometres between Passy and Combloux, the Frenchman even matched some of the favourites and eventually claimed an excellent tenth place at the finish.

He remains ninth in the general classification, more than seventeen minutes behind the winner of stage 16 and yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard. On Wednesday, the riders will tackle the “queen stage” of the Tour.

It looks like David Gaudu has switched to a climbing bike for the final kilometers. Sirotti photo.

On Tuesday, in Haute-Savoie, the Tour de France 2023 entered the third and final week. It all restarted with a time trial, the only one on the menu in this 110th edition. A bit more than twenty-two kilometres made up this unusual race against the clock. “It was quite a hard time trial,” confirmed David Han, one of the team’s coaches. “There was a first climb almost right away, a long very fast descent, a bit of flat then the Domancy climb and finally three kilometers at 5% to join the finish line. It was not a course for specialists, nor for pure climbers, but somewhere in-between”. Shortly after 1:30 p.m., Olivier Le Gac was the first team rider to tackle this course, before Lars van den Berg and Quentin Pacher did the same.

Two hours later, the former double European champion Stefan Küng also got underway and made a very good start, even setting the fastest time in the first intermediate. The Swiss man, however, struggled on the last third of the race. “At the beginning, I felt good, then it let me go”, he said. “I felt the fatigue of this Tour”. At the finish, Stefan Küng therefore took provisional fifth place, fifty-two seconds behind leader Rémi Cavagna.

Later on, Kevin Geniets also covered the course before Thibaut Pinot and David Gaudu set off. Ninth overall at the start of the time trial, the Groupama-FDJ leader immediately showed he was in the mix as he placed himself in the top-10 at all intermediate checkpoints. In the Domancy climb, the Breton even gained a few places and eventually crossed the finish line in provisional fifth position. After the finish of the last competitors, and the crushing victory of Jonas Vingegaard, the French climber secured tenth in the stage. “I felt quite good, and I wanted to do a good time trial,” he commented. “When we did the recon, I knew it suited me well. I managed my effort well, and in the end, the crowd helped me to give it my all”.

“David keeps on going with the team’s goal, which is to continue to fight every day until the end”, added his coach, David Han. “The goal for him was to do it full gas and we are very satisfied. I think it’s one of his best time trials. He had never done a top-10 in the WorldTour in a time trial, and at this level, it’s quite a performance. He is also sixth among the favorites. As for the others, they used the time trial to get the engine going again. It was important in anticipation of tomorrow so as not to switch off the body for two days in a row”.

Tenth in the stage, 3’31 from the yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard, David Gaudu retained his ninth place overall. He is now more than a quarter of an hour from the Dane as the big alpine stage featuring more than 5,000 meters of climbing is looming. “The third week is usually my best one”, David said. “Today was a good time trial, but it was only a thirty-minute effort. Tomorrow is the queen stage of the Tour de France, and we’ll need to have the legs because there can be some damage”. “I was thinking more about the mountains than about today”, said Thibaut Pinot. “It was a good effort to unblock the legs. Tomorrow and Saturday, it could just as well be for the GC riders as for the breakaway… We’ll see, but we’ll have to be as strong as possible”.

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