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Monday, April 8, 2024

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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man. - Heraclitus

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Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, Vol 1: 1903 - 1975 is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Upcoming racing:

• April 10: De Brabantse Pijl

Latest completed racing:

• April 7: Paris-Roubaix
• April 6: Women's Paris-Roubaix
• April 1 - 6: Tour of the Basque Country/Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco
• April 2 - 5: Region Pays de la Loire Tour
• 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

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Paris-Roubaix reports

We posted the race organizer's report with the results.

Here's the report from third-place Mads Pedersen's Team Lidl-Trek:

Mads Pedersen showed off the grit & the guts that have been his signature this season and took third at Paris-Roubaix, his best ever finish at the Hell of the North. He snagged the podium that barely eluded him 2023, and completed a classics campaign that was perhaps only bettered by the riders who edged him out on Sunday.

Mathieu van der Poel would not be denied. He went solo with roughly 59 kilometers and 12 cobbled sectors to go, and would ultimately win by three minutes over Pedersen and second-place Jasper Philipsen. If anyone was going to catch him, it was Pedersen, who quickly struck up a chase that only a select group of riders could follow. For the rest of the race, Pedersen was joined primarily by Philipsen, fourth-place Nils Politt, and fifth-place Stefan Küng.

Lidl-Trek rider Mads Pedersen in the Arenberg sector. Sirotti photo

“It was a good race,” Pedersen said. “I believe Mathieu is out of the league, he was basically riding his own race. And then with Jasper in the wheel into the last 15k, he’s hard to beat in a normal sprint, and then in a sprint where he can sit a bit in the wheel for quite some time, it was mission impossible almost. So just to be on the podium, I’m super happy to take another step up.”

Pedersen did the lion’s share of the work, with Philipsen — both the group’s best sprinter, and having his teammate solo up the road — lacking any motivation to ride up front. With 12 kilometers to go, Philipsen briefly attempted to go solo, but Pedersen reeled him back while dropping Küng.

Pedersen led the trio into the Roubaix Velodrome, with Politt on his wheel and Philipsen in slingshot position in third. Politt opened the sprint. Pedersen mirrored the move. And Philipsen made his way around their right shoulders for second as Pedersen edged out Politt by a bike length.

After the race, Pedersen gave all credit to Van der Poel for giving an all-time great performance in the win. Still, Lidl-Trek could have had a better chance at challenging the Dutchman if not for some poor luck.

Pedersen suffered a puncture with roughly 90 kilometers to go, and Mathias Vacek had to give a big effort to help bring Pedersen back to the group. Jonathan Milan was also forced to abandon the race due to a crash. The Italian rider has had an excellent debut season with Lidl-Trek, and could have been a helpful lieutenant for Pedersen in the closing kilometers, not to mention another big sprinter to challenge Philipsen. Lidl-Trek was also missing Jasper Stuyven and Alex Kirsch, two of the team’s strongest classics specialists, due to a crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen.

“We had to spend a few bullets to come back,” Pedersen said. “But on the other hand, if you take the whole race, the puncture came in a good moment. We managed to come back. Vacek was there straight away to close the gap. So shit happens. It’s almost impossible not to have a puncture in this race. So I’m happy that I made it back and I could be on the podium.

“I had to spend my teammates chasing and they did an incredible job. And the other teams were with numbers, and it was a bit difficult to cover everything. But I think in the end I managed quite OK.”

Pedersen had dreams of winning Paris-Roubaix. But outnumbered by the Alpecin-Deceuninck duo and forced to exhaust himself even to be in podium contention, he can leave the Roubaix showers head held high about an unbelievable effort at cycling’s most fabled one-day race.

One day earlier, Pedersen’s Lidl-Trek teammate Elisa Balsamo took second place at Paris-Roubaix Femmes, marking the third time in four editions of the race that Lidl-Trek has stood on the podium (Lizzie Deignan won in 2021, and Elisa Longo Borghini won in 2022). The squad displayed its top-to-bottom strength this weekend, creating lots of optimism for the future of its young new title sponsorship era.

“I think we are happy with how everything is going with the women’s team, with our team, with the Devo team. It’s nice how Lidl-Trek is growing, and to see the talents also winning the race, we know we have a good future ahead of us.”

More from Mads Pedersen
On how to beat Mathieu Van der Poel: “I don’t know, man. Like this guy is just a superstar in cycling, and he’s just better than the rest of us. But clearly not as good as him.”

On the reaction from the peloton when Van der Poel attacked: “I think when Mathieu went, everyone wanted to follow him. But clearly we weren’t able to do that. So it is what it is. He was so strong today, and he was almost playing with us.

“[I tried] to get in the wheel and it was not possible. And after that, [I tried] to organize a group who will try to get him back. And then at one point, he was just gaining time, so then we were racing for second.

“Everyone is committed and going flat out. Maybe you have a puncture or whatever, so you never know, the race is not over when he leaves. But today it was.”

On tactics in the closing kilometers: “We were still going all out. Philipsen went on the sector after Carrefour, and there Küng got dropped, so we were only three guys left. And from there, Jasper also wanted to pull. But at that moment, I also knew that Jasper is a tough tough guy to beat, and he also had a few kilometers in the wheel where we were pulling. So [we] kind of settled in to sprint for third. But I also knew that Nils, he was on the limit, but so was I. But I trusted my sprint enough to know that it was possible to beat Nils.”

On sprinting against Jasper Philipsen: “For me it’s hard to beat Jasper in a normal race in a sprint, so magic should happen if I should beat him in a sprint like this today. So I’m happy.”

On losing Jonathan Milan: “I’m pretty sure it would have changed a lot. It would have been nice to be one more guy deeper into the final. So when Johnny, he crashed early in the race, it was really shit for us. And of course then it was a pain in the ass. But we can’t change it. I haven’t talked with him yet. I just hope he’s okay.”

On what he’s going to do now: “Tonight, we’re gonna celebrate a good classics season with the team. And tomorrow it’s time to go home. I didn’t see my wife a lot since January. So it’s time to see my family and have a bit of rest.

“And then the next race will be different.”

Reaction from DS Grégory Rast:
On his evaluation of the race: “We had basically only Mads left for the final, so this was the biggest challenge for us. And I think when the race opened, Mads also had a flat tire and needed to chase back. We had a little bit of bad luck with flat tires today, and that there were only two guys with Mads, but these two guys did great — Edward Theuns and Mathias Vacek.

“But of course, they played with us. They always had one guy there when we needed to chase. The others, they don’t want to really chase. When Mads had a flat tire, I think Vacek brought him back very, very strong. But I think in the end, Mads, he missed a little bit when Mathieu was going from the efforts he needed to do before. And this was the moment we lost the race. But I think he did an unbelievable race to finish on the podium.”

Here's the Paris-Roubaix report from fourth-place Nils Politt's UAE Team Emirates:

UAE Team Emirates finished off the cobbled classics campaign on a high note with Nils Politt taking 4th place at Paris-Roubaix in France today.

After the exhibition performance from Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck) who won by three minutes in the Velodrome of Roubaix, it was Politt who arrived next in a select group containing Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek) who took the podium spots in the three-way sprint.

Nils Politt (white jersey, on the right) finishes fourth. Sirotti phto

Politt had been present at the front all-day alongside Tim Wellens who made a strong debut at the ‘Hell of the North’. The German went clear in the lead alongside Stefan Kung (Groupama FDJ) and Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin Deceuninck) with -80km but were hauled back shortly before Van Der Poel made his winning move at -60km.

Politt: “The feeling on the bike was quite good today. When van der Poel went, Alpecin blocked a bit behind and it was very hard to take him back as we could see. I was in a strong group with two strong sprinters so I had to settle for 4th place unfortunately. I think as a team we can be happy with our performance during these classics. Now I’ll take a break and look ahead to the next races.”

Fifth-place Stefan Küng's Team Groupama-FDJ posted this Paris-Roubaix report:

The cobbled Classics campaign came to an end on Sunday, with the Queen of them all. After being successful in recent years in Paris-Roubaix, the Groupama-FDJ cycling hoped for the same this season. After 259 kilometres, including 55,7 on the cobbles, it definitely was, placing both Stefan Küng and Laurence Pithie in the top-10. On the velodrome, the Swiss rider took fifth place, his third top-5 in a row in the Hell of the North. For his first participation, the New Zealander grabbed an astonishing seventh place, while a crash took him out of the fight for the podium. Mathieu van der Poel won this 2024 edition, the fastest in history.

Stefan Küng finishes fifth. Sirotti photo

The riders were set to tackle the Hell of the North shortly after 11 a.m., this Sunday, April 7, for the 121st edition of the French Monument. Nearly 260 kilometers (without the neutral) but above all twenty-nine cobbled sectors including the legendary and terrifying Arenberg, Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l’Arbre awaited them. Before that, almost a hundred kilometres on asphalt had to be covered, but they also proved quite intense. The breakaway struggled to establish while Clément Davy was caught in a crash after forty kilometres. Seven men eventually managed to get a head start on the peloton, but their gap was barely more than a minute when they tackled the first sector in Troisvilles. “With the tailwind, we knew that the start was going to be very fast and that the pace was going to be high all day,” said Frédéric Guesdon. “On the other hand, we were surprised to see many splits already in the first sectors. The race opened up very early.”

After barely three sectors, a bunch of around forty riders broke away from the rest of the competition. “The guys did their work to position our leaders in the first sectors,” added Frédéric. “This is what allowed them to be in front. We had our three best cards with Stefan, Laurence, and Lewis. It was almost perfect. Then, we just had to safely reach Arenberg, then we knew it would come down to the legs”.

The first group was even reduced to around thirty riders before reaching the famous Trouée d’Arenberg, 95 kilometres from the finish. Lewis Askey did his best to position his teammates before the chicane which was set up before the sector, allowing Stefan Küng and Laurence Pithie to start the Trouée in the very first positions. Mathieu van der Poel launched his first offensive right after, and the Groupama-FDJ leaders lost a few meters before bridging across in the following kilometers. Barely back, Laurence Pithie tried to accelerate. It proved unsuccessful, but Stefan Küng managed to take the lead with Nils Politt and Gianni Vermeersch just after.

“The goal was to read the race as best as possible, which is never easy,” said Frédéric. “We had to follow the moves, without making the effort too soon. The ideal was to go with riders from Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek so that they wouldn’t pull behind. When Stefan went, it wasn’t a bad move, but there was no Lidl-Trek, and they were the ones who took control behind”. With the sole support of Politt in the front, the Swiss rider took a forty-second lead at best, but their attempt ended with 68 kilometres to go, after almost twenty kilometres of effort. “I went on the attack early, maybe too early, but you never know,” Stefan said. “I certainly left some energy there which I missed at the end.”

However, the first group was only made of twenty men or so, including the two Groupama-FDJ’s riders, as they approached Orchies. After another selection from the back, things became clearer at the front with sixty kilometres from the finish, in the day’s sixteenth sector. The world champion made a strong attack and immediately got clear. “We weren’t far away with Pedersen when he accelerated, but we couldn’t follow, and then he continued to gain time while we were pulling,” Stefan testified. “There was nothing to do against him.” The gap with the Dutchman quickly became too big, and the fight for the podium started in the Mons-en-Pévèle sector, with 48 kilometres to go. Five men then managed to break away, including Pedersen, Philipsen, Politt… and Frédéric Guesdon’s two protégés. “When I saw Stefan and the three others in front in Mons-en-Pévèle, I knew I had to get there as soon as possible, so then we could play a little bit,” said Laurence Pithie. The five men worked together, with the exception of Philipsen, to stay away from the other chasers. The gap to the next group was clearly made with about thirty kilometres to go, but a few moments later, the situation completely changed for Groupama-FDJ.

Entering the Templeuve sector, Laurence Pithie crashed while leading the group. “I came too fast in a gravel corner,” he explained. “I misjudged it, and it took me out of the group. It was a silly mistake that ruined my race. I got back and went full gas trying to come back, but with Pedersen and Politt taking turns in front, it was hard. The plan was to have numbers in front, and we executed it. Unfortunately, we were never got to play our cards because of my crash.”

Although quickly back in the saddle, the New Zealander couldn’t come back and was actually joined by Vermeersch a bit behind. “We believed in the podium, but we lost a good card when Laurence fell,” confirmed Frédéric. “Then, the podium was still doable, but with fast riders like Philipsen and Pedersen, Stefan had to drop them. Unfortunately, the opposite happened.” In the Carrefour de l’Arbre’s sector, eleven kilometres from the finish, the time trial specialist’s hopes disappeared. “I was completely empty in the end, I couldn’t follow anymore,” he confessed. “It is a bit of a shame. It was a hard blow, but I told myself I hadn’t done all that for nothing.” All alone in the last ten kilometres, Stefan Küng came back close to the trio as he approached the Roubaix velodrome, before securing a very solid fifth place. “It’s certainly not a podium, but it’s still a top-5 and I gave my best,” he added.

A few seconds later, his young teammate Laurence Pithie finished in seventh position, just behind Vermeersch, with a bitter feeling. “When I look back on it, I will be happy with seventh, but I think I could have fought for the podium,” he explained. “I had very good legs, and for now, it’s just disappointing.” “We were hoping for a very good result from Stefan because it’s a race that suits him, we knew he was in good shape and it was very open behind Van der Poel,” added Frédéric. “However, I wouldn’t have bet on Laurence’s seventh place. He amazes me from race to race. It was his first Roubaix among the pros, and he was there in the final. And if he hadn’t crashed, the podium was on the line. For us, it’s a satisfying Paris-Roubaix. Until then, we had a good Classics campaign without convincing results. It’s good to finish on a high note, especially on Paris-Roubaix, which is a Monument that really matters to us. Putting two men in the top-10 is perfect.”

And here's the Paris-Roubaix report from Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

In Paris-Roubaix, Tim and Mick van Dijke managed to achieve a fine place of honour. The young twin brothers from Team Visma | Lease a Bike finished sixteenth and nineteenth. Along the way, neo pro Per Strand Hagenes also showed his worth by being part of the leading group for a long time. The win was for Mathieu van der Poel.

After the start in Compiègne, Hagenes, who in 2021 finished third in the junior Paris-Roubaix, immediately joined the battle for a spot in the early breakaway. The 20-year-old Norwegian ended up in the lead with eight fellow escapees. The nine reached the first cobbled sections of the day with a small lead. Spurred on by Mathieu van der Poel's team, among others, their lead was quickly wiped out. Meanwhile, Christophe Laporte suffered a puncture on the first cobbled section. The European champion never made it back to the front.

The peloton on the first cobbled sector, Troisville a Inchy. Sirotti photo

After some changes of pace in the peloton, a large leading group of around 25 riders emerged. Tim and Mick van Dijke accompanied teammate Hagenes at the front of the race. The Norwegian then positioned the duo perfectly ahead of the Trouée d'Arenberg, where favourites Van der Poel and Mads Pedersen attacked. Mick van Dijke was able to follow, while his brother had to deal with a puncture. Developments then followed in quick succession. Mick van Dijke crashed and had to change bikes.

Some 60 kilometres from the finish, Van der Poel proved too strong for the opposition. Behind him, Tim Van Dijke battled for a top ten spot. With an all-or-nothing effort, he accelerated on the Roubaix velodrome, claiming eighth place. However, the 24-year-old Dutchman was dropped to 16th place afterwards by the jury after crossing the blue line on the track. An exhausted Hagenes and Mick van Dijke, reached the finish line in a chasing group.

"I am proud of what we achieved today," Tim van Dijke said afterwards. "We had a lot of bad luck the past weeks. Normally I ride as a domestique for leaders like Wout van Aert, Christophe Laporte and Dylan van Baarle. Today I got the chance to ride for myself. I was quite nervous, so maybe I didn't always take the best decisions. But in hindsight I had a great day."

"It was a quite unreal and emotional to ride with my brother in the leading group of Paris-Roubaix. Both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are among my favourite races. Last week I was already feeling good, so I'm happy to confirm that feeling. One day I hope to compete for the win here," said Tim van Dijke. "As kids, we dreamed of moments like this. What happened today has yet to sink in," brother Mick van Dijke added.

Sportive director Merijn Zeeman saw the young Team Visma | Lease a Bike talents rise to the occasion. "We started this race with the idea of giving our young riders Tim, Mick and Per the chance to show themselves. Of course that was not what we had planned at the beginning of this season, but everyone knows what happened to us recently. Talent development is very important to us and it is good to see that our young talents stepped up today. Along the way, they did a brilliant job. We did not get the results we had hoped for during the cobbled monuments, but the reasons are clear. However, thanks to our young talents, we can still end this period with our heads held high. The future doesn't look bad."

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