Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Thursday, April 4, 2024

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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia

I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. - Isaac Newton

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Marcus Aurelius' Meditations is available in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• April 1 - 6: Tour of the Basque Country/Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco
• April 2 - 5: Region Pays de la Loire Tour

Upcoming racing:

• April 7: Paris-Roubaix
• April 10: De Brabantse Pijl

Latest completed racing:

• April 3: Scheldeprijs
• 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

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Paris-Roubaix route modification

The race organizer posted this short note:

Modification of the approach of the Trouée d'Arenberg - April 3 rd 2024 - 18:04

For safety reasons and following a request from the C.P.A. (Cyclistes Professionnels Associés) association, the Paris-Roubaix organisation is modifying the approach to the Trouée d'Arenberg.

The route will take a chicane just before the entrance to the sector in order to slow the speed at which the riders enter the sector and limit the risk of crashes on the cobbles.

Here's the 2024 Paris-Roubaix site with a map of the course.

Scheldeprijs reports

We posted the report from race winner Tim Merlier's Team Soudal Quick-Step with the results.

Here's the report from third-place Dylan Groenewegen's Team Jayco AlUla:

Dylan Groenewegen stepped onto the podium at Scheldeprijs after a strong sprint to third place in a frenzied finish in Belgium.

The Team Jayco AlUla rider was guided into a strong position by teammate Luka Mezgec, despite a disrupted effort by the team in a chaotic final few kilometres to the 190km race.

The final pull from Mezgec teed up Groenewegen for the dash for the line, but the Dutchman was unable to reel in Tim Merlier who got the jump on his rivals. The result sees Groenewegen go one better than his fourth place finish in 2023 as he wraps up his spring campaign with a podium finish.

Tim Merlier wins. Dylan Groenewegen is on the right.

Dylan Groenwegen:
“Of course it was hectic, but that’s always sprinting. In the end I think the result was really clear, Merlier did a really good job, he also had a flat tyre and came back and did a really good sprint.

"I was a little bit too early in the wind I think, but in the end we did a job, we had some chain problems in the last kilometre with my lead out, but we found a solution and I think it’s a correct podium with first, second and third.”

Here's the Scheldeprijs report from Cees Bol's Team Astana Qazaqstan:

The rider of Astana Qazaqstan Team Cees Bol rode strong to a fourth place at the Belgian one-day race Scheldepreijs.

After an unfortunate encounter with a spectator at Ronde van Vlaanderen which forced Cees to withdraw from the race on Sunday, the Dutchman demonstrated his good shape today. Cees finished fourth the 205-kilometer Scheldepreijs, also known as the unofficial sprinter’s World Championships.

“Good day. We had two parts of the race, the first part was in the Netherlands with the Dutch weather, Dutch winds and we were always in a good position in the first echelon. When the whole race went together for a bunch sprint, everyone worked hard to put me in a good position. Super happy, super good to see our light blue jersey riding strong together in front. In the final sprint I was fourth… It is a satisfying result, but mostly we should be all proud and happy with the whole team performance today”, – said Cees Bol about today’s race.

Région Pays de la Loire Tour stage 2 reports

We posted the report from winner Ewan Costiou's Team Arkéa-B&B Hotels with the results.

Here's the report from Team Groupama-FDJ:

“Serious” things started this Wednesday towards Saumur on the Région Pays de la Loire Region Tour. On the explosive final circuit of stage 2, the race’s favourites came into action and Sam Watson managed to follow the different moves in the last two laps. The British rider, however, was trapped like most of his competitors by Ewen Costiou’s attack in the last kilometre. The Frenchman claimed victory, and Marc Sarreau eventually took seventh place within a small bunch.

Ewan Costiou took a solo victory in stage two. Getty pictures.

From Châteaubriant, the peloton was heading east over 130 kilometers on Wednesday to reach Saumur. There, a seven-kilometre circuit featuring the Rue Chèvre climb (400m at 11%) had to be done four times, and a three-man break was able to approach this final in the front. Forty kilometers from the finish, Kristian Sbaragli, Joes Oosterlinck and Matisse Julien still had a two-minute gap over a full bunch.

“There was wind on the forecast again today”, said William Green. “There were short sections of crosswinds in the first half of the race, then it was more exposed for long periods in the second half, and the team did a very good job protecting Sam prior to the finishing circuit”. “Not much happened until we got there,” said Sam. “It was a super easy day, but the boys did again a fantastic job. I was in front every time I needed to be because of them.” The riders got to the finish line for the first time with thirty kilometres to go, and the gap quickly went down on the first two laps and first two climbs.

Always on the watch, Sam Watson came into action twelve kilometres from the finish. “The race really kicked off with two laps to go, when Cosnefroy went, and I was directly in his wheel,” said the Briton. “Sam was very present, and he went clear with a small group of riders,” added William. After the summit, nine men entered the leading group, which took a gap of about fifteen seconds over the rest of the bunch. However, this margin was almost closed before the last time up the Rue Chèvre hill, where the action picked up again. “It went full gas on the last climb,” said the young Englishman. “I was distanced just before the summit, but I managed to come back.”

Three kilometers from the finish, eight men came together to compete for victory, a few seconds ahead of the peloton. “He was in a group with very fast sprinters like Van den Berg and Coquard, and some GC contenders had missed it like Ben Healy,” said William. “I told Sam to keep working off the group, so that he could at least have an advantage over the riders who weren’t in the front group. Unfortunately, we made some tactical errors in the last kilometres. We hesitated, Arkéa-B&B took advantage and they attacked in the last kilometre with Ewen Costiou.”

The latter immediately went clear, no one followed his attack, and he claimed victory at the finish. “A few moments of hesitation cost me the win, or at least a good result,” said Sam. “We also got caught just before the last corner, I was caught up in the barriers and I couldn’t sprint”. A bunch of around thirty men bridged across and Marc Sarreau, after opening his sprint from a long distance, obtained seventh place. “For Marc to finish seventh on such a circuit today was really promising”, said William. “He was really strong yesterday and did a lot of work for the team, so to come seventh today was really good for him. Morale is still high, and we’re confident in Sam, we saw what he did on the climb. With some tactical improvements, he’s going to be in the hunt for a win for sure”. “if we keep riding like this, hopefully something good will come out of it”, concluded Sam, now eighth overall, sixteen seconds behind the new leader Ewen Costiou.

Sportive director Merijn Zeeman leaves Team Visma | Lease a Bike at end of season

Here’s the team’s announcement:

Merijn Zeeman, active for the team since 2012 and sportive director of Team Visma | Lease a Bike since 2017, is leaving the team at the end of this season. After almost 13 years of being jointly responsible for the successful rebuilding of the team, Zeeman is now opting for a new step in his career.

Merijn Zeeman: "This is a difficult decision, which I also take with pain in my heart. Precisely because I have this great organization so close to my heart. We have come a long way and together we have made sure that we have become one of the most successful teams in recent years. I am incredibly proud of that. Our culture with our people and our innovative approach has created an amazing development in which we were able to write history together, with the success in 2023 as the absolute highlight. Team Visma | Lease a Bike is my family, which I have lovingly put my heart and soul into for 13 years.

"But I also believe that it is good for everyone's development to look for new challenges and stimuli over time. Continuing my career at football club AZ is my next step and I dare to take that step because I leave our strong professional organization, led by my good friend Richard Plugge, in the capable hands of my colleagues. But first we want to write history together, also in 2024. We are fully engaged in that with a very nice start to the year, and we want to follow that up strongly in the coming months."

Richard Plugge, CEO of Team Visma | Lease a Bike: "First of all, I am extremely sorry that Merijn, friend and dear colleague, is leaving our organization. I understand his rationale and respect his difficult decision. We have built the team together, supported by a strong and loyal group of people, and Merijn has been of inestimable value with his vision and leadership qualities. With his ideas, drive and knowledge he and the right people around him have taken the sport in general and our team in particular to a higher level. For that we are enormously grateful to him! We have created a very robust professional organization with a well thought-out performance program based on a culture of broad involvement and a high degree of individual ownership. Always and in every area based on the idea that no individual is more important than the collective. Merijn's departure hurts on the one hand, but at the same time we have great confidence in our organization, which is solid as a rock. In the coming months we will clarify how our organization will be further structured towards the future and, as always, we will start internally. Of course we will also do everything together to make 2024 a successful year. We are now looking forward to that even more."

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