Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, October 3, 2023
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. - Euripides
Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2019: A Year of New Faces is available in both Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- Oct 3: Tre Valli Varesine
- Oct 3: Binche-Chimay-Binche
- Oct 3: Múnsterland Giro
Upcoming racing:
- Oct 5: Gran Piemonte
- Oct 5: Paris-Gien-Bourges
- Oct 7: Il Lombardia
- Oct 8: Paris-Tours
- Oct 11: Giro del Veneto
Latest completed racing:
- Oct 2: Coppa Bernocchi
- Sept 23 - Sept 30: Tour de Langkawi
- Sept 30: Giro dell'Emilia
- Sept 30: GP Cerami
- Sept 28: Coppa Agostoni
- Sept 20 - 24: Tour of Luxembourg
- August 26 - Sept 17: Vuelta a España
- Sept 17: Trofeo Matteoti
- Sept 16: Super 8 Classic
- Sept 16: Memorial Marco Pantani
- Sept 15: Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
- Sept 14: Coppa Sabatini
Here's the team's news
Only two weeks separate us from the end of our season, and the Soudal Quick-Step boys are determined to make the most of every opportunity. One of these will be the Münsterland Giro – an event where we triumphed on three occasions – and which should once again come down to a bunch sprint, on paper at least.
Tim Merlier, who has won eleven races so far this year and has recently finished runner-up at the first edition of the Gravel European Championships, will be our squad’s main card in Germany, where he will count on French ITT Champion Rémi Cavagna, Josef Cerny, Lars Craps from the feeder team, Jannik Steimle, Bert Van Lerberghe and Stan Van Tricht.
Tim Merlier winning stage one of the 2023 Tour of Poland.
“Münsterland Giro is an event we like, and we can be in for a very hard race, due to the rain and winds. Normally, it’s a bunch sprint there, but we need to wait and see how things go. If it’s a mass gallop, then Tim will try to be there with Bert as his lead-out man, so we’re pretty confident in our chances”, said sports director Geert Van Bondt.
Tre Valli Varesine, one of the many one-day races making up the Italian Autumn calendar, brings a hilly circuit comprising two demanding climbs, Morazzone and Via Sacco. Soudal Quick-Step will tackle it with Julian Alaphilippe, Jan Hirt, James Knox, Ilan Van Wilder, Mauri Vansevenant and Louis Vervaeke, who will be joined by Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team’s William Junior Lecerf, victorious last Sunday at the U23 Il Lombardia.
“The team showed a lot of grinta at the Coppa Bernocchi, and this is something we will carry into Tuesday’s Tre Valli Varesine. The parcours isn’t easy, but we have a good team and we will once again try to be in the mix at the right moment”, explained Davide Bramati.
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Last but not least, Binche-Chimay-Binche will be an emotional race for the Wolfpack family, as it will mark the last outing of Fabio Jakobsen in the Soudal Quick-Step jersey. A pro since 2018, the Dutchman has and will forever have a special connection with our team – no matter where the road will take us and him in the years to come – for which he won a total of 44 races, including six Grand Tour stages and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
Jakobsen will be joined for the Belgian race by Tour de France stage victor Kasper Asgreen, Yves Lampaert, Michael Mørkøv, Casper Pedersen, Florian Sénéchal and Ethan Vernon – all motivated to go for a good result in the race known for its short cobblestone sectors and spectacular final kilometer.
“Binche-Chimay-Binche will be a very demanding race. We can expect rain and winds, meaning we could have echelons at some point. The really narrow roads on the circuit and the finish line on the cobblestones will make it tricky, so you need a lot of power to be there and in contention for the victory. We go there determined to do a good race and show the Wolfpack spirit”, added sports director Tom Steels.
Tuesday’s races will be the last appearance in a Soudal Quick-Step jersey also for Rémi Cavagna, Michael Mørkøv, Florian Sénéchal, Jannik Steimle, Stan Van Tricht and Ethan Vernon.
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The team sent me this schedule:
Visit Friesland Elfstedenrace: OCT 04
Roy Curvers - Team dsm-firmenich coach:
"The Elfstedenrace is a relatively new race on the cycling calendar, but with a name that sounds familiar to Dutch people because of the epic speed skating version. The race is around 200 kilometres and passes several historic villages in the province of Friesland. On those flat and open roads, the wind will definitely play a significant role, so we need to be cautious and try to be in the first echelon with as many riders as possible. In case the wind is calmer, this race is likely to end in a bunch sprint, and we'll make a good plan to set up Sam as our finisher."
Line-up:
Alberto Dainese (ITA)
Alex Edmondson (AUS)
Axel Källberg (FIN)
Enzo Leijnse (NED)
Niklas Märkl (GER)
Tim Naberman (NED)
Sam Welsford (AUS)
Gran Piemonte: OCT 05
Pim Ligthart - Team dsm-firmenich coach:
"The parcours of this year's edition of Gran Piemonte is relatively short - but with a really hard final - as the guys will ride 152 kilometres in total from Borgofranco d'Ivrea to Favria. We'll race aggressively to be straight in the race and with Matt and Frank we have two guys who see a parcours that suit them well and we will look for options in the hilly finale towards the finish."
Line-up:
Patrick Bevin (NZL)
Romain Combaud (FRA)
Matt Dinham (AUS)
Sean Flynn (GBR)
Jonas Iversby Hvideberg (NOR)
Florian Stork (GER)
Frank van den Broek (NED)
Il Lombardia: Oct 07
Pim Ligthart - Team dsm-firmenich coach:
"The last monument of the season, Il Lombardia will bring us from Como to Bergamo over 238 kilometres, which include 4,646 elevation metres. It's a beautiful yet challenging parcours and we want to finish the season in a good way with a nice result at 'the race of the falling leaves'. Romain is our finisher in Lombardia and we have a strong line-up with some experienced and younger guys to support him in the best way possible."
Romain Bardet before the start of the 2023 Tour de France. Sirotti photo
Line-up:
Romain Bardet (FRA)
Matt Dinham (AUS)
Chris Hamilton (AUS)
Oscar Onley (GBR)
Max Poole (GBR)
Florian Stork (GER)
Kevin Vermaerke (USA)
Paris - Tours Elite: OCT 08
Christian Guiberteau - Team dsm-firmenich coach
"Paris-Tours is the classic end of the French cycling season and is a really important race in France. From Paris, it’s a long way to Tours, which we can divide into two parts. In the first part, it’s important to show good team work and to be in front, as the roads are mostly flat and open which - depending on the weather situation - can result in echelons. Then, we come to more gravel sections where we have more cards to play with this line-up. For sure, we think about John, but the parcours also really suit guys like Nils, Pavel and Sean."
Line-up:
Pavel Bittner (CZE)
John Degenkolb (GER)
Alex Edmondson (AUS)
Nils Eekhoff (NED)
Sean Flynn (GBR)
Frank van den Broek (NED)
Casper van Uden (NED)
Paris - Tours Espoirs: OCT 08
Bennie Lambregts - Team dsm-firmenich coach
"The last race of Development Team dsm-firmenich's season, we want to end the season well at Paris-Tours Espoirs. It's a great race which - in the last years - was decided on the gravel sections. So we have to position ourselves well there and show good teamwork to get a nice team result. I'm confident we can achieve this goal, as we have a strong line-up here and the guys are all motivated."
Line-up:
Pat Eddy (AUS)
Axel Källberg (FIN)
Enzo Leijnse (NED)
Frank Ragilo (EST)
Adam Seeman (CZE)
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We psoted the report from winner Wout van Aert's Team Jumbo-Visma with the results.
Here's the report from fifth-place Marc Hirschi's UAE Team Emirates:
Marc Hirschi continued his impressive run of form, with 4th place at the Coppa Bernocchi in Legnano, Italy today.
The Swiss champion entered the race-winning move of ten riders which moved away inside -40km to go, before sprinting to 4th spot behind Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) who took home the victory.
Wout van Aert was the winner of the 2023 Coppa Bernocchi. Sirotti photo
The undulating classic from Parabiago to Legnano (186.65km) forms part of the ‘Trittico Lombardo’ which concludes tomorrow.
Hirschi: “I’ve done this race already 3 times so I knew it wasn’t an easy one. In the final 40km there was a really high pace and I ended up in the final group which sprinted for the win. I hoped to be able to attack near the end but Jumbo really controlled it for Van Aert which made it very hard to move. Maybe I could have gotten closer in the sprint but it was quite hard to to come around. We look ahead to the races in the next days.”
Tomorrow the racing in Italy continues with Tre Valli Varesine where Tadej Pogačar will aim to defend his title from last year.
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