Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Sunday, April 21, 2024
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. - George Bernard Shaw
Stoic philosopher Epictetus' Golden Sayings is available in both audiobook & Kindle eBook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- April 21: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- April 21 - 28: Tour of Turkey
Upcoming racing:
- 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
Here’s the team’s news:
Julian Alaphilippe makes his first outing in nine years at the prestigious Swiss race, which will take place between 23-28 April.
The last World Tour event of the month, the 77th Tour de Romandie gets underway on Tuesday with a short prologue around Payerne and continues with a hilly stage finishing in Fribourg, the charming town founded almost nine centuries ago. The first proper test for the climbers will come one day later, on the summit finish of Les Marécottes, but the general classification could be in for some more changes just twenty-four hours later.
A 15.5km individual time trial held on the rolling roads of Oron promises to spice up the fight between the yellow jersey contenders just before the second uphill finish of the race, Leysin, coming after a day peppered with five classified climbs. The race concluded on Sunday, in Vernier, where a relentless up-and-down course without a single meter of flat could make for an action-packed day.
Julian Alaphilippe will be at the start of the Tour de Romandie for just the second time in his career, following the 2015 edition, which he raced as a second-year pro. The two-time World Champion – who is slated to make his Giro d’Italia debut next month – will be joined on the Soudal Quick-Step team by Kasper Asgreen, Mattia Cattaneo, last year’s Romandie prologue winner Josef Cerny, Fausto Masnada – who finished third overall here in 2021, neo-pro Pepijn Reinderink, and Ilan Van Wilder.
Josef Cerny on his way to winnng the 2023 Romandie Tour prologue. Sirotti photo
“We go to the Tour de Romandie with a strong team, confident and motivated to do a solid race. Our roster comprises a couple of time trial specialists, so we hope for some good results on those stages. We also have Ilan, who will be our GC leader. He can rely on the likes of Julian and Fausto for the hard stages, and hopefully, be in the mix for a strong overall result”, said sports director Dries Devenyns.
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Here’s the team’s update:
The Tour de Romandie is Team Visma | Lease a Bike's final preparation before the Giro d'Italia. The yellow and black squad aims for stage wins at the Swiss stage race, which starts on 23 April and finishes on 28 April. Koen Bouwman is using the race to get in shape for the Giro.
Bouwman has just returned from an altitude training camp in Tenerife, where he spent the last three weeks with his teammates. While on the Canary Islands, he was informed that he would replace Wilco Kelderman at the Giro. "It's a pity for Wilco that he did not recover in time, but for me, it is a great opportunity to return to Italy. The Giro is one of the most beautiful races I've ever raced. I look forward to racing there again."
Koen Bouwman after winning the 2024 Coppi e Bartali race. Sirotti photo
Bouwman is confident that the six-day stage race will give him the fitness he needs for the season's first grand tour. "Originally, this race would have been one of my bigger goals, but now that I am riding the Giro, we have changed my training schedule", the Dutchman says.
Bouwman predicts that breakaways will have little chance at the 77th edition of the Tour de Romandie. This year's edition features two chronos, two flatter stages and two stages with uphill finishes. "It'll be nice if we can battle for stage wins. With Tim van Dijke, we have a fast man for the hills, and we will also see if we can ride a good classification with Jan Tratnik."
For Bouwman, it will be his first race since winning the Coppi e Bartali. The Dutchman won the third stage and secured the overall classification. "It's a great feeling to win a race. In today's cycling, the prizes are shared by a small group, so it is good to win a race yourself", says Bouwman, who has his sights set on the race in Romandie. "I'm ready to race again."
In addition to Bouwman, Van Dijke and Tratnik, Team Visma | Lease a Bike's squad includes Bart Lemmen, Robert Gesink, Johannes Staune-Mittet and Julien Vermote.
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Here’s the team’s news:
Maxim Van Gils and Andreas Kron ready for Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Andreas Kron is feeling well: "I hope to get some good results with the team. Yesterday during the recon we passed on the place where I crashed last year, we kind of laughed about it, I hope this year to finish the race in a better way."
"The weather during La Flèche Wallonne was crazy. But that's also part of racing, sometimes the weather is with us and sometimes not. You saw the dark clouds coming and thanks to our teammates Maxim and myself were prepared for it, we already had our rain jacket before it started raining." Unfortunately Kron had a puncture the second last time going to the Mur de Huy. "I never made it back to the front unfortunately. I was disappointed, as it was a bad moment to have a puncture, but that's how it is and now I'm looking forward to Sunday."
Andreas Kron winning stage two of the 2023 Vuelta a España. Sirotti photo
"Our objective for Sunday is the podium. The strategy depends on how the race goes and the weather. Hopefully we can play our cards." Also Maxim Van Gils, who was third at La Flèche Wallonne, is confident. "We need to get as fresh as possible in the finale, I expect the race to break open quite soon as last year. Anticipating before the big explosion is also possible. If you can start La Redoute with a small advantage it can help to make sure you are up there after La Redoute. The best feeling is to put your hands up in the air, Sunday is a super big race and not easy but we will go for it."
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Here's the team's post:
Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège promises to be one of the hardest races of the year
It always is. Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the doyenne of the monuments—the oldest of cycling’s great classics.
Kim Cadzow, Clara Emond, Veronica Ewers, Clara Koppenburg, Lizzie Stannard, and Magdeleine Vallieres will race for EF Education-Cannondale.
Richard Carapaz, Ben Healy, Mikkel Honoré, Archie Ryan, James Shaw, Harry Sweeny, and Rigoberto Urán will ride for EF Education-EasyPost.
The Liège-Bastogne-Liège course is legendary. First raced in 1892, it runs between Liège, a post-industrial city on the banks of the Meuse, and Bastogne, a gray-slate town nestled deep in the Ardennes, passing over the low forested mountains that run up and down the province of Wallonie, Belgium. The men race 254.5 kilometers, starting and finishing in Liège, while the women go straight to the hardest climbs on the 152.9-km run from Bastogne to Liège. The grand finale includes famous hills such as the Côte de Wanne, Côte de Stockeu, Col du Rosier, Côte de la Redoute, Côte des Forges, and Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons. Often terribly steep, these roads wind through woods on gritty asphalt, reaching high plateaus above the treeline. On Sunday, a freezing wind will be howling across the fields and meadows. Racing in the Ardennes is not for the faint-hearted.
“Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a real monument for the sport,” says Olympic champion Richard Carapaz. “It is so difficult due to the length and the amount of climbing. The best teams come with their best riders and that’s what makes it so beautiful.”
That is what Kim Cadzow loves about it.
“Racing in the Ardennes is some of the hardest racing that there is,” she says. “There is a lot of climbing. There are a lot of punchy riders and that just makes it so challenging to race here. You never really know what is going to happen at the bottom of any of the climbs and even on the flats, it is this constant race, this constant battle for position. The weather can just make it crazy.”
Ben Healy thrives in the Ardennes. Last year, the Irish champion finished fourth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège after lighting up the finale with a number of huge attacks.
Ben Healy winning the 2023 GP Larciano.
“It is hard, long, and normally cold, so only for the tough riders in the peloton,” Ben says.
Clara Emond made her WorldTour debut at Liège-Bastogne-Liège last year and was shocked by how rough it was in the bunch. She has since learned how to use her elbows in the pack and gained a lot of confidence. Clara is excited to show what she can do on the climbs at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
“It is going to be a really hard race,” Clara says. “And if the weather is like it was at Flèche Wallonne, it is going to be even harder. The climbs are super short but there are so many of them that it is going to be a really reduced peloton really fast. It is going to be a super selective race. The run-ins to the climbs are like bunch sprints and then we have to go up them. I feel fit. I think I am going to be good. If we race well as a team and we are able to really be in the race and be actors in it and be aggressive and make different moves, we will be happy.”
After his strong ride at Liège-Bastogne-Liège last year, Ben Healy is ready to race for the top step on the podium.
“Our ambition is to win the race, as simple as that,” Ben says.
Richie Carapaz is game. He went on the attack at Flèche-Wallonne on Wednesday and wants to do the same at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
“We are a very good team,” he says. “Riders like Rigo and Harry and James bring a lot of experience. Ben feels very good. It’s going to be a very hard race. Our ambition is to win!”
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