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Wednesday, May 10, 2023

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2022 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia

The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play. - Arnold J. Toynbee

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Plato's dialogue Crito is available both in audiobook and Kindle eBook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• May 6 - 29: Giro d'Italia

Upcoming racing:

• May 16 - 21: 4 Jours du Dunkerque

Latest completed racing:

• May 7: Tro-Bro Léon
• May 6: GP du Morbihan
• May 1: Eschborn-Frankfurt
• April 25 - 30: Tour de Romandie
• April 28 - 30: Vuelta Asturias
• April 23: Liege-Bastogne-Liege
• April 17 - 21: Tour of the Alps
• April 19: La Fleche Wallone

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Giro d'Italia stage four team race reports

We posted the report from new GC leader Andreas Leknessund's Team DSM with the results.

Here's the report from stage winner Aurélien Paret-Peintre's Team Ag2r-Citroën:

Aurélien Paret-Peintre:
"It's a dream day. The most beautiful victory of my career. I fought for a long time to be in the breakaway and I succeeded. On the last climb I hung on. I knew I could beat him in a sprint. Everyone was aware that the breakaway today would certainly play for the win. I had to stay with it. I'm now third overall but I'm not making any big plans. I prepared well for the Giro with an excellent training course in Etna with Mikaël Cherel. This work is bearing fruit.

"We'll have to recover now. The Giro is a race that fits the team well. We still have a lot of opportunities to win other stages."

Stage winner Aurélien Paret-Peintre enjoys his win. Sirotti photo

Didier Jannel:
"It's a step that we had checked off before the start. But we still had to do it. Aurélien managed to do it with panache and a good physical shape. It took a lot to get into the breakaway, helped by his teammates. He then showed composure and serenity to manage the stage.

The day had started badly with Paul's withdrawal. This victory does the AG2R CITROËN team a lot of good.

The news:
Paul Lapeira, ill, was forced to abandon during the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia.

"Paul Lapeira has been suffering from a flu-like syndrome since the third stage of the Giro d'Italia, which forced him to abandon in the first kilometers of the fourth stage. He will take a rest period when he returns to France, before resuming training," said Dr. Cyril Barthomeuf, AG2R CITROËN team doctor.

The 22-year-old rider was racing in his first grand tour. He escaped on the second stage and won the best climber's jersey, which he wore for one day.

The number: 3
The Giro victory is the second success of the season for Aurélien Paret-Peintre and the third of his career. This season, he also won the third stage of the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var in February.

This is the fourth victory for the AG2R CITROËN team this season.

Nans Peters won the Trofeo Laigueglia.

Dorian Godon raised his arms in the Flèche Brabançonne.

Clément Venturi also won the title of French cyclo-cross champion.

Here’s the report from Remco Evenepoel’s Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Rain and cold temperatures, chaos and confusions, and a change at the top of the general classification in Lago Laceno – in short, an eventful day spent by the Corsa Rosa in southern Italy. At the end of it, Remco Evenepoel traded the maglia rosa for the rainbow jersey, which he will sport for the first time since his monumental Liège–Bastogne–Liège win during Wednesday’s hilly stage 5 to Salerno.

Remco Evenepoel in pink during stage four. Sirotti photo

The first 80 kilometers of racing had everything, except a breakaway. Attacks came thick and fast from the beginning, but the peloton reacted to all of these moves before splitting at one point, which brought a bit of panic – only for a short moment though, as a regrouping took place. Our squad kept a close eye on things and after the first classified climb of the stage, emerged at the front of the peloton to set the tempo behind an eight-man breakaway.

The first rider to put his name on the winners’ list at this edition, Remco was protected by his teammates, who did a spectacular job behind the escapees, all the way until mid-way up Colle Molella (9.6km, 6.2%). In part thanks to this strong effort, things remained calm on that ascent, while at the front the remaining breakaway riders had their battle for the win, which went to Aurelien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroen). The main bunch arrived around two minutes behind new GC leader Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM), and Evenepoel was there, safely tucked in the group that numbered only 20-odd riders.

“I’m not sad about not having the pink jersey anymore. On Wednesday I will wear the rainbow jersey, which is more than fine with me. I’m only 20-30 seconds behind in the standings, so things are good. Today was a hard stage, very hectic and with a high average speed especially in the first part, but the team did a solid job, while I had a good feeling the entire time, and I’m satisfied with that”, said Remco, who sits second in the overall ranking.

Here’s the Giro stage four report from Primoz Roglic’s Team Jumbo-Visma:

Team Jumbo-Visma has made it through the challenging fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia. The first mountain stage was ridden at a fast pace in rainy conditions. Koen Bouwman sprinted to seventh place. Primoz Roglic and Sepp Kuss finished in the same group.

Primoz Roglic leading a group on a descent in stage four. Sirotti photo

In Lago Laceno, Aurélien Paret-Peintre defeated the leading group to claim the day's victory. Andreas Leknessund, also in the day's breakaway, is the new holder of the pink leader's jersey. Roglic is now fifth in the general classification.

The fact that the breakaway riders were fighting for the day's victory and the pink jersey was a real scenario before the stage, said Bouwman. "You could win the stage and the pink jersey today if you were in the lead. There was a lot of hustle and bustle because a lot of riders wanted to be there. It was a typical difficult Giro stage."

"At the same time, it was a super beautiful stage", the 2022 Giro mountain jersey winner continued. "The entire stage was grueling for everyone. In the final, Sepp and I were still good with Primoz, so we can be happy. Primoz felt good, but it was mainly about getting through the day well. We have shown that we are ready for what is to come."

Sports director Marc Reef agreed. "The anticipated battle for the day's breakaway did take place. We kept our distance, yet we kept going. We kept Primoz in the front all the time."

On the final climb of the Colle Molella, there was no attack from the GC group. "All the teams riding for the classification were happy with the situation. It served as a test to see how good everyone is as well. We were well represented in the big group with Koen, Sepp and Primoz. Together, we showed that we are in good shape. We have every reason to be confident going into the forthcoming mountain stages", said Reef.

Michel Hessmann crashed on the descent of the day's first categorised climb but was able to continue his way quickly.

And here’s the Giro report from Team INEOS Grenadiers:

The INEOS Grenadiers came through the first proper mountain test of the Giro d'Italia as the breakaway stayed clear on stage four.

The team paced the day's final climb to retain a strong position on the run-in, with Geraint Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart remaining inside the top 10 overall.

Geraint Thomas time trialing in stage one. Sirotti photo

With the day's break going on to contest the stage, there was movement on the GC, with Thomas now sixth and Geoghegan Hart ninth overall. Norwegian Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) is the new race leader after finishing second on the day behind Aurelien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroen Team).

Laurens De Plus again put in a strong turn over the top of the climb, with the team keeping the tempo high into the finish, with Thymen Arensman leading the reduced peloton into the final kilometre.

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