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Monday, June 12, 2023

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2022 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia

Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none. - Thomas Jefferson

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Bill & Carol McGann’s book The Story of the Tour de France, 2022: The Fastest Tour Ever is available as in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• June 11 - 18: Tour de Suisse

Upcoming racing:

• July 14 - 18: Baloise Belgium Tour
• June 19 - 16: National Championships
• July 1 - 24: Tour de France

Latest completed racing:

• June 4 - 11: Critérium du Dauphiné
• June 7 - 11: ZLM Tour
• June 4: Brussels Cycling Classic
• June 2: Giro dell'Appennino
• May 26 - 29: Tour of Norway
• May 6 - 29: Giro d'Italia
• May 16 - 21: 4 Jours du Dunkerque
• May 21: Rund um Köln
• May 20: Veenendaal - Veenendaal Classic
• May 7: Tro-Bro Léon
• May 6: GP du Morbihan
• May 1: Eschborn-Frankfurt

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Critérium du Dauphiné stage eight final reports

We posted the report from race winner Jonas Vingegaad's Team Jumbo-Visma with the results.

Here's the stage eight report from the race organizer:

Giulio Ciccone (Trek Segafredo) capped off the Critérium du Dauphiné 2023 with a one-man show on the 8th and final stage, packed with gruelling ascents all the way to the finish on the slopes leading to La Bastille Fort. The Italian climber was the last survivor from a breakaway also featuring Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step). On his birthday, the French star gave everything to take a second win this week and move up in the overall standings. But only Ciccone could resist Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), who dropped all his rivals to take the 2nd place of the stage, ahead of Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), and seal his overall victory, ahead of Yates as well. As he gets ready to defend his victory in the Tour de France, Vingegaard is the 2nd Danish rider to win the Critérium du Dauphiné, after Jakob Fuglsang in 2017 and 2019.

Jonas Vingegaard gets to take home the yellow jersey.

The final challenges of the Critérium du Dauphiné inspire the attackers, furthermore with an uphill start favouring a flurry of attacks. With the polka-dot jersey he claimed on the day before, Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) is extremely active. The Belgian baroudeur launches the first move of the day with two companions at km 2.5. And he relentlessly works to make the break.

At the bottom of the first ascent of the day, the cat-2 Côte de Pinet (summit at km 15.1), 10 riders lead the way, including David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ). Trek-Segafredo are not happy with this move. They chase the attackers and Giulio Ciccone gets on the move… with Campenaerts following him.

Alaphilippe is kept under control
Clément Champoussin (Arkéa Samsic) and Franck Bonnamour (AG2R Citroën) join them at km 13. And then Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) and David de la Cruz (Astana Qazaqstan) at km 15. The battle for the break keeps going until Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) and Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) make it a 9-man group at km 36.

As Julian Alaphilippe only trails by 3’48’’ (7th) in the general classification, Jumbo-Visma control the gap. The attackers enjoy their maximum lead (2’50’’) at the bottom of the HC climb to Col du Granier (summit at km 105.1).

Castroviejo chases, Ciccone attacks
Alaphilippe accelerates again on this main ascent. Ciccone, Benoot and Champoussin join him at the front. In the peloton, Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) sets off in pursuit. At the summit, the Spaniard trails by 55’’ and the peloton by 1’20’’.

Castroviejo joins the leaders towards the summit of the Col du Cucheron (km 123.1). But he can’t react when Ciccone sets off on the cat-1 ascent of Col de Porte. The Italian climber drops everyone with 20 kilometres to go. Behind him, UAE Team Emirates try to set Adam Yates for the win.

Vingegaard is the strongest, again
Ciccone reaches Grenoble and faces the final 1.9 km (average gradient: 14.2%) with a lead of 55’’ on the bunch. Vingegaard attacks inside the last kilometre. Nobody can match his pace but Ciccone holds on for the stage win with a gap of 23’’.

Vingegaard secures the overall victory ahead of Yates (+2’23’’). Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën) completes the GC podium (+2’56’’) ahead of his Australian compatriots Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe, +3’16’’) and Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious, +3’47’’). The stage is set for the Tour de France.

Here's the Dauphiné report from GC second place Adam Yates UAE Team Emirates:

Adam Yates finished off a successful week in France at the Criterium du Dauphine with 2nd place overall.

The British rider showed a fine pair of climbing legs to take 3rd on the final stage in Grenoble behind stage winner Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) while Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) took the overall title.

Adam Yates finishing stage eight. Sirotti photo

The week was a notable one for the Emirati squad with Mikkel Bjerg claiming his first professional victory in the time-trial on stage 3 and wearing the yellow jersey for the following stage.

Yates will now turn his focus to preparations for the next big goal of the team , the Tour de France.

Yates: “We knew Vingegaard was strong but we gave it a try to do something. It’s been a good week, we’ve rode really well as a team and it’s good for building confidence before the Tour. Now we’ll have a bit of rest and try and come back stronger."

Meanwhile in Switzerland Juan Ayuso was 10th in the opening time trial of the Tour de Suisse at Einsiedeln(12.7km).

The day was won by Stefan Kung (Groupama FDJ) but Ayuso’s strong ride sets him up well for a good GC result in the week ahead.

And here's the Dauphiné report from stage winner Giulio Ciccone's Team Trek-Segafredo:

Showtime by Giulio Ciccone on the final day of the Critérium du Dauphiné. “It’s been a hard few weeks, but I knew what I’ve done so far in the season was still there”

It didn’t take too long for Ciccone to get back on track. If Dauphiné was, by intention, the race to get some feedback on the road to the Tour de France, after more than a month away from racing… well, here it is.

Giulio won the final stage of the French race with a show of strength, as he already did earlier in the season at Volta Valenciana and Volta Catalunya. Today, he faced the challenge of getting in the breakaway with riders like Alaphilippe and Benoot (just to name a couple). Climb after climb, Ciccone made his performance stronger and stronger. The leaders’ group, behind him, never let up, leaving a maximum advantage of only 2’30”.

Giulio Ciccone wins stage eight. Sirotti photo

Kilometer after kilometer, the breakaway lost protagonists and actors, until the moment, at 25km to go, when Giulio broke the tie and went on a solo mission. A challenge of one against all: Vingegaard, Yates, O’Connor, Hindley. Despite their efforts, Cicco kept the distance and the last ramp up to Grenoble La Bastille (2km at an average of 14%) was the springboard to the finish line, where he celebrated his third win of the season and winning, in addition, the mountain jersey.

Ciccone is there and now, for him, comes the wedding with Annabruna, before the Italian Championships and the appointment for the second Grande Boucle of his career.

The win in Cicco’s words:
" The final 500 meters of today’s stage were really long but, you know, with all the people there it was really nice. Also, when I looked behind and saw I was still in front with a good gap I just went full gas straight and I’m really happy.

"It was really difficult all day because the guys behind kept the gap really small. For the head, it was not easy from the start to the finish. The feeling was like I was doing one TT. I took some risks in the last downhill and on the final climb I just pushed full gas knowing that the finish line was just there.

"This year, the Giro was in my program and then I got covid just before. I had to skip that and then had about 10 days off the bike. My condition was not 100 percent, but I started here with the Tour in my mind and this week, I could see I was getting better and better. This win is a good final point.

"The mountain jersey is really nice. It’s one of my favourite jerseys. To be honest, this week, I never thought about it. Also today, Campenaerts was with us in the breakaway and took his points. I just followed. My thought was only about the stage.

"The Tour de France is now really close but before that I get married next week and this is a gift for my future wife. My goal is always the same. I really would like to win one stage in the Tour and I really like this jersey so we go there and stay focused and see day by day."

And here's the Critérium du Dauphiné final report from GC fourth-place Jai Hindley's Team Bora-hansgrohe:

The Critérium du Dauphiné concluded today with a tough 157 km stage in Grenoble. After five categorised climbs and almost 4000m of altitude gain, ramps up to 30% awaited the riders on the final ascent to La Bastille. Giulio Ciccone took the stage win as the last man standing from today’s breakaway. Jai Hindley reached the bottom of the final climb in the yellow jersey group and ultimately crossed the finish line in 6th. Hindley concludes the 8-day Critérium du Dauphiné in 4th overall.

Jai Hindley finishes stage seven. Sirotti photo

“It was a tough day to finish a tough week of racing here at the Dauphine! I’m really proud of how we worked as a team, the guys were very strong all week. A big thanks to them! Unfortunately I couldn’t take a podium in the end but overall I’m happy with my race. Looking at the Tour de France I am where I wanted to be at the moment, with still a few weeks to go. I’m heading back to an altitude camp before I take a few days of rest at home ahead of the Grand Départ in Bilbao.” Jai Hindley

“Of course we would have liked to be on the podium in the end, but Vingegaard, Yates and O’Connor were simply stronger and absolutely deserved to finish on the podium at the end of the Dauphiné. The guys rode a strong race all week, especially since, with the exception of Jai Hindley and Emanuel Buchmann, we came here with the sprinter group. The plan was to finish the race in the top-5 and get a stage win. Even if we didn't win the stage, we're very satisfied overall.“ Bernhard Eisel, Sports Director

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