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Monday, April 1, 2024
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
Above anything else, I hate to lose. - Jackie Robinson
Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Giro d'Italia, A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy, Vol 2: 1971 - 2011 is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
Upcoming racing:
- April 2 - 5: Region Pays de la Loire Tour
- April 3: Scheldeprijs
- April 7: Paris-Roubaix
Latest completed racing:
- March 31: Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders)
- March 30: Gran Premio Miguel Indurain
- March 30: Volta Limburg Classic
- March 29: Route Adélie de Vitré
- March 27: Dwars door Vlaanderen
- March 27: Paris-Camembert Lepetit
- March 18 - 24: Volta a Catalunya
- March 24: Ghent - Wevelgem
- March 24: La Roue Tourangelle
- March 19 - 23: Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali
- March 22: E3 Saxo Bank Classic
- March 20: Classic Brugge - De Panne
- March 16: Milano - Sanremo
- March 16: Classic Loire Atlantique
- March 15: Brendene Koksijde Classic
- March 14: GP de Denain
We posted the report from the race organizer with the results.
Here's the post from second-place Luca Mozzato's Team Arkea-B&B Hotels:
Luca Mozzato, 2nd in the Tour of Flanders, takes the 1st podium in a Monument in the history of the Arkea-B&B Hotels team.
Luca Mozzato takes second after Michael Matthews is relegated. Sirotti photo
Luca Mozzato:
“It’s a result that exceeds my expectations. If someone had said to me this morning, ‘you’re going to be in the top 20’, I’d have been happy, and ‘in the top 10’ I’d have signed up straight away. But on the podium… I think I made the effort at the right time. Everyone wanted to anticipate Van der Poel’s attack. In my head, the objective was to get over as many climbs as possible in the first group by smoothing out my efforts. And that paid off in the final, because in the last 30 or 40 kilometres, I was in pretty good shape. It was a race where everyone finished ‘cooked’. We were lucky to catch Bettiol and Teuns in the final sprint and I’m very happy with 2nd place.”
Emmanuel Hubert, General Manager:
“We need to immortalise this moment! This first podium on a monument, it has value. The Tour of Flanders is one of the most beautiful classics in the world. For Luca, 2nd place is a very fine performance. He’s a brave man, a rider who ‘does the job’ as it should be done. He knows how to exploit everything to the millimetre. More generally, this performance also shows that the Arkea-B&B Hotels team is capable of competing at the highest level.”
Sébastien Hinault, sports director:
“It’s a great joy! A podium on a Monument… When you start, you always hope for it. But to actually achieve it… It was a really great day, which started well with David Dekker in the breakaway. The more we progressed in the race, the more we saw that our two Italians, Luca Mozzato and Vincenzo Albanese, were doing well. Unfortunately Albanese crashed on the descent of the Koppenberg and we could have had a 2nd rider in the chasing group in the final. Everyone rode behind the chasing duo. Luca did a sprint like he knows how. He gave us a real treat”.
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Third-place Nils Politt's UAE Team Emirates posted this Flanders report:
UAE Team Emirates put three riders in the top 5 of the Tour of Flanders by obtaining the 3rd, 4th and the 5th places with Nils Politt, Mikkel Bjerg and Antonio Morgado.
The riders crest the Old Kwaremont. Sirotti photo
The race, which started from Antwerp and finished under the rain in Oudenaarde (270,8 km) was dominated by Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck): the World Champion jumped on the leading duo of Pedersen (Lidl-Treck) and Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) on the Oude Kwaremont at 56 km to go, then a group of 20 riders took the lead of the race before Van der Poel pushed hard on the Koppenberg at -45 km.
No one could join the Dutchman who celebrated his 3rd victory in the “Ronde”.
Behind the World Champion a very interesting battle for the podium saw various protagonists. Alberto Bettiol (Ef-EasyPost) and Dylan Teuns (Israel-Pemier Tech) formed a duo that seemed destined to reach the final straight in Oudenaarde, but behind them UAE Team Emirates could rely on four riders for the chase: Tim Wellens, Nils Politt, Mikkel Bjerg and the debutant Antonio Morgado.
The duo were caught when the sprint for second place began. Politt was very well led out but a change of direction caused him to be boxed on the fence on the right side of the road, so he crossed the line in 4th position, behind Luca Mozzato (Arkea-B&B) and Michael Matthews (Jayco-Alula).
Matthews was later relegated which meant Politt stepped up to the podium (3rd).
The successful day for UAE Team Emirates was completed by the 4th place of Bjerg and the 5th by Morgado, in addition to the 12th of Wellens.
Politt: “I was already at the team bus and then the call came saying I was third. I’m super happy with this result, being on the podium of the Tour of Flanders is something special, this is my second time on a podium of a Monumentum after the one at the Paris-Roubaix.
"We deserved this result as a team because we rode very well today, with 4 riders in the top 12.
"For what concerns the sprint, I can say I was coming with speed and I had to brake a little bit. The commissaires took this decision, I feel also sorry for Matthews.”
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Here’s the report from sixth-place Magnus Sheffield’s INEOS Grenadiers:
Magnus Sheffield claimed a hard-fought sixth place at a memorable edition of the Tour of Flanders.
The American secured his first-ever top 10 in a Monument Classic with a gutsy performance across an epic 270.8 kilometres.
Sheffield weathered a number of attacks and splits in the front group, before finishing strongly over the final passes of the iconic Kwaremont and Paterberg climbs. The Grenadier found himself in a chase group battling for second place on the run into Oudenaarde. Despite taking seventh over the line, he was elevated to sixth place following the relegation of Michael Matthews (Team Jayco AlUla).
The riders sprinting for second place. Sirotti photo
Josh Tarling impressed once again on his Flanders debut, finishing 17th in the next group home after rebounding from an earlier crash. Ben Turner had led the race up the Paterberg for the first time, but in the closing stages would lose time on the treacherous Koppenberg – with a number of riders forced to dismount on the steep, wet ramps.
it was on this same climb that Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) launched his winning move. The Dutchman quickly opened up a gap, which he held to the finish with a margin of one minute and two seconds.
The Grenadiers combined well as a team during the day, placing five riders in the lead peloton heading into the final 60 kilometres, including Laurens De Plus, who was also making his Flanders debut.
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Eighth-place Dylan Teuns’ Team Israel-Premier Tech posted this report:
When Sports Director Sep Vanmarcke stood at the front of the Israel – Premier Tech bus this morning ahead of the Ronde van Vlaanderen start, he had one piece of advice; “Race with your heart, not your head.” Dylan Teuns did just that.
Teuns was on the brink of a maiden podium finish alongside former winner Alberto Bettiol when the duo, who were gunning for the two steps below winner Mathieu van der Poel, were heartbreakingly caught inside the final hundred meters. Teuns would finish in eighth place, followed closely by rookie Riley Sheehan, who dug deep to finish one minute later with an impressive 13th place.
Dylan Teuns in 2023. Sirotti photo
Emotions were understandably high after the finish with an immensely disappointed Teuns saying “I’m super disappointed actually. It was a dream for me when I was a kid to be on the podium. It’s sad that it didn’t happen today.” Nonetheless, Teuns can take confidence from the race where he was arguably one of the strongest on the day and showed his best legs in a long time.
“I still had doubts this morning about my stomach, if it would stand up so long with such an intense race. I managed it well over the last week. I’m super happy with how I’m on the bike, how my shape is. I need to be confident for the next races. In a Monument, if you can be that far in the final, then you can be really happy with your shape. It’s just an enormous disappointment to be not on that podium today.”
While pre-race favourite Van der Poel lived up to expectations, the 2024 edition of Ronde van Vlaanderen still provided plenty of surprises, with the sight of the peloton having to walk their bikes up the Koppenberg due to the slippery cobbles one of the highlights.
“A few times when there were key moments, I was not in a good position or caught up behind a crash,” explained Teuns. “But earlier in the race, with 120 kilometers or so to go, when the big dogs were going, I could manage to keep myself more and more in front and be up there in the right positions. And then on the Koppenberg, I had no other chance than to stop and get off the bike and start running. I’d never seen that before in another race.”
Teuns parting words after the finish left nothing open to interpretation. “I’m still coming back. I want that spot on the podium.”
While Teuns wasn’t present at the front of the race in the first half, IPT was with Krists Neilands and Tom Van Asbroeck showing great form to maintain a good position in the first key moments of the race. Alongside Sheehan, Corbin Strong also made his Ronde van Vlaanderen debut with another solid performance, including an attack from the reduced peloton as they entered the business end of the race.
Paris-Tours winner Sheehan continued to impress all day, managing to come back again and again to just miss out on the top-ten in his debut participation.
“Chaotic and insane are the words I would use to describe the race. First off, it feels amazing just to finish it and it’s really cool to see the progress come together,” added Sheehan. “I knew I had good legs but it was a bit of a mystery how I would go and the distance was a question mark. I definitely gave it my best shot and set myself no limits. It was just a fight to stay on the bike and push the pedals down. For sure, it gives me confidence ahead of Paris – Roubaix. It’s a different beast for sure but it will be nice to not go up so many bergs.”
Unfortunately, Canadians Guillaume Boivin and Hugo Houle were both forced to abandon after separate crashes. An update on their conditions will be provided once they have been examined by the medical team.
Here’s the Flanders report from ninth-place Alberto Bettiol’s Team EF Education-EasyPost:
Alberto Bettiol stood on the pedals, returned to the saddle, and stood again, cranking a huge gear down the finishing straight of the Ronde van Vlaanderen with all of the strength he had left.
Alberto Bettiol before the start of this year's Dwars door Vlaanderen. Sirotti photo
The podium was right there in front of him. The former Tour of Flanders champ had come from behind in his favorite race, fighting his way back to the front after a crash. A huge pull from his teammate Marijn van den Berg brought him back in the game just after the last ascent of the Oude Kwaremont. On the Paterberg, Alberto churned up to the contenders, parting a roaring sea of Lion of Flanders flags, and then took off in pursuit of the leader, Mathieu van der Poel (ADC).
Racing in second and third place on the road, he traded turns with Dylan Teuns (PRT) until the last few hundred meters, where the chasers caught them and sprinted past. Alberto finished the 2024 edition of De Ronde in ninth. He is heartbroken but proud of his performance.
“This is cycling,” he said at the end. “I had a lot of bad luck today. I crashed on the Kwaremont the second time and had to wait, but I am really happy with my teammates. They helped me all day. There was no way to beat Van der Poel today, but a podium would have been a good one. Sorry, for Dylan Theuns as well. We rode really well together and maybe deserved a better result, but it is what it is.”
The Italian cobbled classics star will now turn his focus to Paris-Roubaix, where he will make his debut next week.
“Next Sunday, there is another opportunity and we will go for that,” Alberto said.
Watch out. With more luck and today’s legs, Alberto will contend for the podium at the fearsome French monument.
Here’s the report from Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Team Visma | Lease a Bike put up a fight in the Tour of Flanders to get a good result. The team took the initiative at certain moments in the race, but the absence of Wout van Aert, Christophe Laporte and Jan Tratnik made itself felt. Tiesj Benoot finished fifteenth.
Tiesj Benoot at the race's starting ceremonies. Sirotti photo
For much of the race, the riders of Team Visma | Lease a Bike were well in front. Matteo Jorgensen saw himself flanked well into the race by teammates Benoot, Dylan van Baarle and Tim van Dijke. With about sixty kilometers remaining, it became a man-on-man battle, with the final decision on the Koppenberg.
There almost the entire, by now considerably reduced, peloton had to set foot on ground. Only Van der Poel, Jorgensen and Mads Pedersen arrived at the top of the Flemish cobbled hill riding. Van der Poel created a gap, with Jorgenson as the first pursuer. The American did all he could, but was not able to close the gap. In the end, Jorgenson was outpaced by the chasers, including Benoot.
"This was a very tough edition of the Tour of Flanders," Benoot commented. "The legs felt pretty good. Unfortunately, I had to deal with some mechanical bad luck. On the Oude Kwaremont I made a mistake which caused my rear derailleur to take a hit. I was able to change it a while later. In the finale I unfortunately had a flat tire. Maybe otherwise I could have fought for a place on the podium, but that's how it is. It was a very hard day. We tried as a team, but unfortunately the competition proved too strong today."
"This was one of my toughest days ever on the bike," Jorgenson said. "I did everything I could to win the race. I knew I had to follow Van der Poel and gave it my all to be on his wheel. Unfortunately, I had to let him go. I went full to close the gap, but it just didn't work. Then it was all over for me. Van der Poel rode very smart and strong today. He is definitely the deserved winner. We fought as a team and did our best. I'm proud of that fighting spirit."
Sports director Grischa Niermann gave his view after the race. "We had a plan beforehand, and I think the guys executed it well. We went down fighting. Matteo proved very strong on the Koppenberg and almost got to Van der Poel's wheel, but unfortunately he had to pay for his effort moments later. Matteo doesn't have many 270-kilometer races in his legs, so it makes sense the tank eventually ran out. Anyway, it was a learning day for him. We had hoped to create a nice situation in the race, we did our best for that. It's not the result we came here for, but we leave the battlefield with our heads held high anyway," the German concluded.
Team Soudal Quick-Step posted this:
A course of 270.8 kilometers, 17 hills and seven cobblestone sectors were the main ingredients of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, which got off to a fast start. Bert Van Lerberghe was among the early attackers, and the Belgian – one of the best lead-out men in the peloton – earned a place in the breakaway that went up to open a four-minute on the peloton. Van Lerberghe, who made his eighth appearance in De Ronde, was one of the group’s “engines”, contributing to the pace-setting without sparring any energy.
The 31-year-old ended up spending 160 kilometers at the front of the race, before the favourites decided to show their intentions and ramp up the pace, just as the rain began and the temperatures dropped, making an already hard course very treacherous for the last two hours of the race. Soudal Quick-Step tried several times to shake up the race, one by one Julian Alaphilippe, Kasper Asgreen and Tim Merlier going on the attack, but the peloton remained attentive and didn’t allow them to gain a gap bigger of ten seconds.
Julian Alaphilippe, shown at the teams presentation ceremony, finished 70th. Sirotti photo
The second Monument of the season was decided on one of the steepest climbs of the day, the Koppenberg, where Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) broke clear and remained alone until the finish, where he took the victory. Yves Lampaert concluded the fastest De Ronde edition of all time as the best Soudal Quick-Step rider in 18th place, after a strong effort and display that at the end of the day augured well for next week’s Paris-Roubaix.
And finally, here's the Tour of Flanders report from Team Groupama-FDJ:
The Groupama-FDJ cycling team approached the second Monument of the season, the Tour of Flanders, with high ambitions on Sunday. Unfortunately, the racing events and the riders’ physical condition didn’t allow them to achieve their major objectives. Stefan Küng crashed at the decisive moment, Laurence Pithie came too short despite being up there during the first big moves, and Valentin Madouas had to settle in a group behind the strongest men in the race. The French champion eventually crossed the line in sixteenth position.
Stefan Küng at the riders presentation. Sirotti photo
While Paris-Roubaix will mark the end of the cobbled Classics next week, the “Flemish” campaign was set to come to an end this Sunday with the most beautiful, the greatest, and the most iconic of them all. From Antwerp to Oudenaarde, over 270 kilometers, the 108th Tour of Flanders concentrated the riders’ dreams and the public’s passion. To conquer the second Monument of the season, it was necessary to overcome seventeen climbs, including the Oude Kwaremont three times, the Paterberg twice, but also the terrifying Koppenberg, as well as seven cobbled sectors.
Difficulties were only expected from mid-race, and a breakaway of eight including Bert Van Lerberghe, Luke Durbridge, Elmar Reinders, Damien Touzé, Lionel Taminiaux, Stanislaw Aniolkowski, David Dekker and Jelle Vermoote first opened the way with a four-minute lead. In the first “bergs”, and particularly approaching them, the tension very much increased in the peloton, the first splits occurred, and the first attacks went. Laurence Pithie proved particularly attentive and followed some accelerations at the top of Molenberg. Yet, shortly before the Berendries, a solid group of attackers notably made of Mads Pedersen, Dylan Van Baarle, Tiesj Benoot and Nils Politt forced the peloton into a hard chase.
Mathieu van der Poel, followed by Laurence Pithie, eventually closed this breakaway back himself in the Valkenberg, with the exception of Pedersen and his teammate Vermeersch.
The duo kept on going despite a large peloton, while Stefan Küng’s race took a completely different turn with 82 kilometres to go. “A rider from Astana hit a spectator and it was impossible to avoid him,” explained the Swiss man. “I found myself caught in a crash and I didn’t see it coming.” While Laurence Pithie and Valentin Madouas kept their position in the main pack, Stefan Küng was forced into a tough chase. Thanks to the help of Lewis Askey then Fabian Lienhard, he finally came back before heading to the Oude Kwaremont for the second time of the day. The Groupama-FDJ leaders all tried to position themselves for this crucial moment when, as expected, the favorites came into play. Mathieu van der Poel started the attacks, but Laurence Pithie made a strong effort to follow and reach the top with only five riders, while the breakaway was caught. Valentin came back shortly after, before heading towards the Paterberg, while Stefan Küng paid off for his previous efforts. “I started Oude Kwaremont a bit far behind, and I had to put my foot on the ground twice,” he said. “At the top, I think I wasn’t that far from the leading men, but I couldn’t benefit from drafting anymore and my race ended there.”
“Stefan’s race ended with the fall,” confirmed Frédéric. “When he came back, the race was already on. The race is hard enough without any setbacks, but when you have a crash, a knee pain and that you’re not in the right timing, it’s really difficult to have any impact.” Groupama-FDJ therefore lost one of its three cards, and the following climb of Paterberg proved tough for its two other candidates. Laurence Pithie fought as best he could while Valentin Madouas, too far behind at the bottom, entered a second group. The positions were quite the same tackling the terrible Koppenberg right after. Mathieu van der Poel then went away for good, while behind him, almost all of the riders got stopped due to the slope and the slippery cobblestones.
“A rider put his feet on the ground, and so everyone did, before running alongside their bikes,” explained Valentin, who was almost back on the first chasers. “This is the first time this has happened to me in a race. With the rain, we weren’t moving forward at all on the cobbles.” Around ten riders eventually completed the Koppenberg before the French champion, who was pushed back to a third group with around twenty men.
In trouble in the past two climbs, Laurence Pithie came back alongside his teammate, but when a big push in the final Oude Kwaremont/Paterberg sequence made it possible again to aim for the podium, the Groupama -FDJ men didn’t manage to keep up. Valentin Madouas found himself in a fourth group, more than thirty seconds behind his closest rivals. While Mathieu van der Poel took his third win on the “Ronde”, the French champion therefore had to settle for sixteenth place at the finish.
“It was a really hard race, and the conditions made it even harder”, he said. “I suffered from the rain physically speaking. The result reflects the level I had today. There are no excuses. I gave everything I had today.” “Valentin thought he was better physically speaking, but he was a bit under some others,” said Frédéric. “When you are not 100% in this kind of race, especially for him who tends to ride conservatively, it is difficult to be in front. Laurence came a bit short in the end, but we expected that a little after Gent-Wevelgem. He still had a very good first Tour of Flanders. Then, there is Stefan’s crash, but we started with three leaders precisely to have other options in case one of them had issues. The result is therefore still very disappointing, and it was a difficult day for us.”
The Classics group now hopes to finish on a high note next weekend on the Hell of the North. “We would have preferred to get to Paris-Roubaix with better results, but perhaps this Tour of Flanders will be forgotten next Sunday by a very good result in Roubaix,” added Frédéric. “It’s totally possible.” “I was ruled out of the race without being able to play my cards today,” Stefan added. “We just need to switch mentally and now focus on Paris-Roubaix.”
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