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Saturday, April 20, 2024
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
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Upcoming racing:
- April 21: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- April 21 - 28: Tour of Turkey
- April 23 - 28: Tour de Romandie
- April 26 - 28: Vuelta Asturias
Latest completed racing:
- April 15 - 19: Tour of the Alps
- April 17: La Flèche Wallone
- April 14: Amstel Gold Race
- April 14: Tour du Doubs
- April 10: De Brabantse Pijl
- 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
We posted the report from GC winner Juan Pedro Lopez's Team Lidl Trek with the results.
Here's the report from 5th-place Romain Bardet's Team dsm-firmenich PostNL:
After yesterday’s queen stage, today’s final stage offered the last opportunity to shake up the GC at the end of a tough week of racing in the Alps. Throughout the day, Chris Hamilton, Gijs Leemreize and Romain Bardet all went on the attack for Team dsm-firmenich PostNL, but everything was brought back together in the end. In the final, Romain tried to get clear several times and caused some splits within the last ten kilometres, but his efforts were not rewarded and everything came down to a reduced bunch sprint. Giving it all to the line, Romain sprinted to a fine fourth place on the day. After some nice teamwork throughout the week, Romain finished fifth in the GC – only six seconds away from the podium.
Aurélian Paret-Pientre winning the final stage.
Speaking after the stage Bardet expressed: “We wanted to make the race hard on today’s final stage and did a good job with that. I tried to make some moves in the final, but it was hard to really shake up things in GC. Overall it was a positive week for us and this was a good sign towards the coming races, even though we didn’t get the result we were coming for.”
And here's The Alps Tour final report from Oscar Rodriguez's Team INEOS Grenadiers:
Oscar Rodriguez sprinted to seventh place on the final day at the Tour of the Alps, as stage five came down to a select bunch kick.
The Spaniard rode well in the closing stages to claw his way back to the GC group, setting the tempo on the front briefly. before securing a strong finish into Levico Terme.
The peloton early in the stage.
The final day featured two ascents of the Palu' del Fersina climb, with Geraint Thomas launching clear with 58km to go. The move, half way up the first climb, drew out two more breakaway companions, with the trio cresting the climb with a slender advantage over a reduced peloton.
Caught at the foot of the second ascent, Thomas slotted back into the group, and would eventually finish 17th on the stage. That result saw the Welshman finish an eventual 13th overall after five tough days of racing.
Juanpe Lopez (Lidl-Trek) rode well on the final day to confirm the race win, while Aurelien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R) won the sprint for the stage victory.
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Here's the update fron Team Bahrain Victorious:
‘Les Classiques Ardennaises’ come to a close on Sunday with Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the oldest of cycling’s ‘Monuments’. Unlike the three already been raced this year (Milano-Sanremo, Ronde van Vlaanderen & Paris-Roubaix), this final test of the Spring one-day season is suited to climbers and even Grand Tour specialists, which always leads to a high quality & varied startlist.
CONTENDERS
Team Bahrain Victorious are in Belgium with an incredibly strong line-up, and high hopes of a top result. Leading, will be Pello Bilbao and Santiago Buitrago, both of whom are here for the third time. Santi was on the podium last year after a heroic effort chasing runaway winner Remco Evenepoel on the final two climbs.
Remco Evenepoel winning in 2023.
With the 2022 World Champion still out following his crash at Itzulia, the burden of ‘favourites’ now falls on his successor, Mathieu van der Poel (ADC), who has already taken E3, Flanders & Roubaix in the past month, double Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE), and last year’s runner-up Tom Pidcock (IGD) who was victorious at Amstel Gold Race a week ago.
Bilbao already has 13 top ten results this year, and is in ever-better shape heading towards the Tour de France in July.
This season, Buitrago has won the Youth Classification at the Volta Valenciana, a stage at Paris-Nice, and was fifth at Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, as well as finishing third here 12 months ago. ‘La Doyenne’ has a special place in the Colombian’s cycling heart:
“Liège is emotional for me: it’s my first monument of the year and has been marked out as an objective to equal what I did here last year. So I’m super motivated.
"We have a really good team, with Wout Poels coming, and Antonio Tiberi. They’re going to work so well, and I think that Pello and I can do great things together in the finale too.
"My preparation has been great for Liège, but the route is really tough, plus there are guys like Pogačar & van der Poel, so we will need be alert all the time, looking out for long-range moves. I am genuinely confident; I really believe we can get on that podium again”
Both Poels and Tiberi finished in the top six overall at the Tour of the Alps this week, with the Italian taking the White Jersey.
Wout won Liège in 2016, is the last dutch winner, and starts for an 11th time. Antonio makes his debut.
Sports Director Roman Kreuziger has the experience of 12 Liège participations, and is buoyed by the strength of our roster:
“With Tadej & Mathieu here, no-one is considering us as top contenders, but our line-up is strong. Having said that, if we are to achieve our goals we will need to race as a team and be ready to follow any strong move from as early as 150km.
"We will have to see how much Wout & Antonio have left in the tank after their efforts at TotA, but traditionally guys can perform well coming straight from there; as Santi did last year for example.
"Like everyone, Pello suffered in the cold on Wednesday, but this is a parcours better suited to him, he’s confident, in great shape, and the forecast is considerably better, thank goodness!”
COURSE
The only significant change in the route from 2023 comes between kilometres 46 & 93, where the Côte de Bonnereu replaces Roche-en-Ardennes, but that is unlikely to have much of an impact. After reaching Bastogne, the peloton will skirt the edge of the Luxembourgeois border on their way back to the Quai des Ardennes. It’s after circling Vielsalm that the serious business will be done, as the race moves into its second phase. Before that, the key will be to prevent the other big teams dominating either the breakaway or positioning.
Kilometres 151-220 are crucial, containing seven ascents, each of which requires those with realistic hopes to be in the front 20 or so, as tight turns and narrow roads will cause the ‘accordion effect’ to spit riders out of the back continually. Kreuziger expands:
“The first thing to know is that it will be raced hard all the way from Bastogne at km 109. Then from km 151-159 they will put the hammer down. By the time you get to Haute-Levée riders will know if they have it in them or not this year.
"And you have to be honest, with yourself and your teammates.”
If phase two was pivotal, the last 35km will be decisive, as the big guns make their moves, starting with the infamous La Redoute where Evenepoel has attacked to win the last two editions.
CLIMBS
With 4266 vertical metres and 11 climbs on the menu, L-B-L is not a course for the faint-hearted. The Bonnereu (2.4km @5.7%) and Côte de Saint-Roch (1km @11.2%) come in the first half of the 254.5km and will provide ample opportunity for a breakaway to form and get away. But it’s within the final 100km that the real battle begins, with nine steep tests before eight kilometres downhill to the finish.
After 160km there comes a run of five climbs in quick succession: the Côte de Mont-le-Soie (1.7km @7.9%), Côte de Wanne (3.6km @5.1%), Col de Stockeu (1km @12.5%), and Côte de la Haute-Levée (2.2km @7.5%). The Stockeu contains the steepest gradients of the day, and the Col du Rosier (4.4km @5.9%) is the longest.
After the Côte de Desnié (1.6km @8.1%), there is a treacherous descent to the foot of the Côte de la Redoute (1.6km @9.4%).
The sparklers will have been lit long before, but expect the real fireworks to go off here.
That leaves the Col des Forges (1.3km @7.8%), and last (but certainly not least), the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons (1.3km @11.0%), a brutal way to end this marathon day in the saddle which is expected to last over six hours.
CO-WORKERS
With four potential leaders in the Bahrain team, their three teammates on Sunday will be even more vital than usual early on. Dušan Rajović, Łukasz Wiśniowski and Yuki Arashiro have been solid and dependable in the classics so far, and will need to be even more so, shadowing Pello & Santi especially.
Their sole responsibility is to deliver our leaders to the key points of the race’s first two phases, at the head of the bunch.
After that, it’s all about who has the best legs.
CONFIDENCE
To win La Doyenne is an extremely tall order, especially given its prestige and the presence of some of the best riders in the world. Kreuziger is both optimistic and realistic:
“I would love to see one of our guys on the podium again, and for sure another top 5 is achievable. So far in the Ardennes we have come 16th, 9th & 5th in that order, so I am hoping we can keep climbing up the ranking and surprise a few people on Sunday”
That positivity is not without grounds: In the seven editions of Liège-Bastogne-Liège since the inception of the team, we have been in the top ten every year, and in the top five, four times. Could the 110th running of this, the most revered of pro-cycling’s one-day races, be our most successful yet?
Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2024 begins at 10:10 on Sunday, and is scheduled to finish between 16:10 & 16:46
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Here's the Liège-Bastogne-Liège news from Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates:
UAE Team Emirates heads into the famous Liege-Bastogne-Liege hungry for more monument success. Talisman Tadej Pogačar returns to lead the team on the back of a successful start to the 2024 season for the Slovenian, with the team aiming to round off their impressive 2024 spring classics campaign with a big win in Belgium.
Tadej Pogacar winning this year's Strade Bianche. Sirotti photo
Known as ‘La Doyenne’, the hills of Belgium will provide the toughest of tests for those brave enough to risk defeat in the quest for victory. Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the oldest monument on the calendar is known for its brutal hills and drama filled races. It’s a challenge that Pogačar will relish, with podium success in 2020 and then going one better and securing victory in 2021.
Pogačar is no stranger to brutal one-day races, with such mammoth challenges often producing some of the most memorable racing we’ve ever seen in professional cycling from the Slovenian. UAE Team Emirates’ leader already boasts an incredible one-day resume, with spectacular victories across Amstel-Gold, Tour of Flanders, and Strade Bianche to name a few. He will be ably supported by a strong line-up on Sunday with Marc Hirschi entering the race in stellar form and veteran Diego Ulissi bringing valuable experience.
Tadej Pogačar: “I’m extremely excited for Sunday. I know firsthand how hard it is to win this race, winning by a few centimeters in 2021 and narrowly missing out by a few centimeters in 2020. I’m very proud of the team’s performances so far this season. We worked very hard together in Milan-San-Remo and Strade Bianche, and that same unity and resilience will be needed this weekend.”
UAE Team Emirates will face a stern challenge in Belgium, led by world champion Mathieu van der Poel, who has so far dominated spring racing. Van der Poel will be looking to add to his two monument wins already this season in the form of Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.
Tom Pidcock of INEOS Grenadiers will be aiming to have a big say on the outcome of the race, fresh from a mighty fine victory in Amstel Gold last weekend. The flying Englishman has had a strong start to the year, with two top 20 finishes in monument races to go alongside his 4th placed finish at Strade Bianche.
The race itself, with its identifiable arrowhead-shaped route, will see the riders compete over 259 kilometers. The peloton will head south of Liege with the climbing coming thick and fast for the riders. After passing through Bastogne with more than 100km of racing already in the legs the peloton will traverse through a succession of short steep hills. The final 30 kilometers will see the riders tackle the unforgiving Cote de la Roudoute, which will provide a platform for aggressive climbers, like Tadej Pogačar, to put in an attack. The final chapter of this ferocious race will see the riders tackle two more climbs before going full gas downhill to the finish line, where another close finish seems inevitable.
In what has proved to be an outstanding start to the 2024 season for UAE Team Emirates, Tadej Pogačar will be looking to further cement his place amongst cycling immortality and secure yet another Monument victory.
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And here's the Liège-Bastogne-Liège preview from Simon Yates' Team Jayco AlUla:
2024 AlUla Tour winner Simon Yates returns to racing at the fourth Monument of the season Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, alongside in-form Australian Michael Matthews ready to tackle ‘La Doyenne’.
With the brutally undulating terrain, twists, and turns along the 254.5km route, culminating with an iconic series of climbs including the Côte de la Redoute and Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, it’s a race with all the right ingredients for the duo.
Alongside Yates and Matthews will be young Italian neo-pro David de Pretto, who is enjoying a consistent and strong start to his professional career having notched up multiple top-5 placings in almost all the races he has started, including recently at his first WorldTour stage race, Itzulia Basque Country.
Simon Yates in stage 13 of the 2023 Tour de France. Sirotti photo
The 21-year-old will have a lot of experience beside him in the Team Jayco AlUla line-up with the likes of Swiss talent Mauro Schmid and former Italian champion Filippo Zana. Rounding out the balanced seven-rider squad will be Danish neo-pro Anders Foldager and Dutch domestique Jan Maas, with the squad aiming high to deliver a podium result in the gruelling one-day race.
Team Jayco AlUla line-up:
Michael Matthews
David de Pretto
Anders Foldager
Jan Maas
Mauro Schmid
Simon Yates
Filippo Zana
Simon Yates:
“Liege is always a great race to be on the start line at, it’s an iconic race and I have only raced in two times in my career. The weather has turned quite wet and cold as we saw in Fleche Wallonne, so that can affect the race quite a lot. I’m looking forward to getting back into racing, it is a long and hard race, and we know it is going to be tough. The team we have is good, these guys have been racing a lot recently. We are motivated and so we will see what we can do on Sunday.”
Valerio Piva – Sport Director:
“Liege is of course always a hard race, that is why it is one of the classic cycling Monuments. It is good for us to have Simon Yates coming in, he has a lot of experience and if he has good legs on the day we know it’s a race he could do well in. We also know that Matthews has been in good form the last weeks and is a strong option for us on Sunday. For the other riders like young De Pretto, has been racing very well all season, he’s very young and motivated and will learn a lot in the race with the other guys we have in the team.
"The course is similar to previous years, those final climbs are decisive and as we saw with Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday, the weather can really affect the race, so we will see on Sunday how epic it will be.”
"Climbs are decisive and as we saw with Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday, the weather can really affect the race, so we will see on Sunday how epic it will be.”
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