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Friday, August 23, 2024
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
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Current racing:
- August 17 - Sept 8: Vuelta a España
- August 20 - 23: Tour du Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine
Upcoming racing:
- August 25: Bretagne Classic Ouest-France
Latest completed racing:
- August 12 - 18: Tour of Poland
- August 14 - 18: PostNord Denmark Rundt
- August 13 - 16: Tour du Limousin
- August 11: La Polynormande
- August 10: Clasica San Sebastian
- August 5 - 9: Vuelta a Burgos
- August 4 - 7: Arctic Race of Norway
- July 27 - August 4: Olympic cycling
We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from stage winner Ben O'Conner's Team Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale:
Ben O'Connor:
"I felt like I was all alone in the world today. When the first group left, I was a bit disappointed not to be there, because it was a good opportunity. But when the race started again, I slipped into the breakaway. I felt it was a day full of great opportunities, and I had the feeling all along that I could win the stage. It was special to dominate like that, and I loved every moment of it. Before La Vuelta, I was looking at the list of winners of three Grand Tours, and I'm proud to add my name to that list. Wearing this red jersey is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I'm going to savor every moment."
Ben O'Connor wins Vuelta stage 6. Sirotti photo
Stéphane Goubert:
"It's been a great stage and a great team, the collective has been up to scratch and Ben (O'Connor) has been on top of it all. Today he was untouchable, it was really great Ben. He managed to get into the breakaway just when the peloton needed a breather, which enabled them to get ahead. The front group wasn't getting on very well, so Ben wanted to accelerate and went off on his own, pedaling away, having worn down his rivals one after the other. He joins a very select group of stage winners in the three Grand Tours. On top of that, he takes the leader's jersey, which is a reward for the whole team. Now it's up to us to do everything we can to defend it.
The news
The overall team ranking:
After the sixth stage of the Vuelta and Ben O'Connor's winning breakaway that awarded him the red leader's jersey, also the first leader's jersey for the team on the Vuelta. The whole team was rewarded by taking the lead in the team classification.
Clément Berthet fourth of the stage:
Clément Berthet, who rode alongside Ben O'Connor in the day's breakaway, fought hard right to the end, finishing in a fine fourth place to move up to eleventh overall. Felix Gall remains in the top 10 overall, in ninth place.
A successful day at the Tour du Poitou-Charentes:
The team also performed well on the roads of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes, with Larry Warbasse taking fifth place in the time trial and overall. Arthur Blaise, who started at the beginning of the day, held the lead for a long time before finishing in sixth place.
The number: 3
Like the number of stage wins in a Grand Tour for Ben O'connor. After the Giro d'Italia in 2020 and the Tour de France in 2021, Ben enters the closed circle of triple stage winners in the three Grand Tours with his victory at the summit of the Alto de las Abejas in the Vuelta.
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Here's the Vuelta report from second-place Marco Frigo's Team Israel-Premier Tech:
Marco Frigo put on an incredible performance on the hard, hot, and hilly stage 6 of the Vuelta a España, finishing in second place after a long day in the breakaway.
This is Frigo’s second podium finish in a Grand Tour stage but the best of his promising career to date; he previously finished third on stage 15 of last year’s Giro d’Italia in Bergamo.
Marco Frigo finishes second in Vuelta stage 6.
“We raced full gas today. On the flat, it was fast, fast, fast, and then we hit the first climb,” Frigo explained.
“I stayed at the front as much as possible, but I missed the attack of Ben O’Connor [stage winner]. It’s a pity; otherwise, I think it could have been different. Anyway, it was a good day.”
In the final 30 km, Frigo went solo in a last attempt to catch the leading rider, O’Connor. Unfortunately, the 24-year-old Italian crashed on one of the descents. He managed to get back up quickly, but the stage win slipped away, and he had to settle for second place.
He added: “In the end, O’Connor won by four minutes—he was really strong, so chapeau to him. You never know if you don’t try. I’m happy with today!”
In the general classification, George Bennett is now the best IPT rider, finishing with the other GC favorites on the day – together with Michael Woods. Unfortunately, Matthew Riccitello suffered a crash. An update on the American will be given after further checkups.
On Friday, La Vuelta continues with a stage that looks to suit the fast and punchy riders.
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Here's the Vuelta stage 6 report from sixth-place Gijs Leemreize's Team dsm-firmenich PostNL:
With confidence amongst the team high after Wednesday’s sprint success with Pavel Bittner, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL once again set about animating a stage that on paper looked perfect for the breakaway. However, due to its nature and every team wanting to be in the move, then the racing was hard from the flag drops with lots of attacks. The team tried to get multiple riders in the move but only got Gijs Leemreize in an initial large group of 33. However, some teams closed things down a bit and on the opening categorised climb Max Poole launched an attack and bridged across. Yet, the peloton also wasn’t happy with the composition of that move and once again shut things down.
Eventually the race winning break went clear, with Leemreize once again representing Team dsm-firmenich PostNL out front but this time in a group of 13. Working well initially to extend their gap, the cooperation in the group began to dwindle and things became tactical, with Leemreize managing to forge on with eventual stage winner O’Connor at around 50 kilometres to go. The duo worked well together and coming onto the penultimate climb they held an almost 50 second advantage over a chasing trio, but towards the top O’Connor upped the pace once more and Leemreize had to let go of the wheels, riding his own pace. Continuing to push to the line, Leemreize cruelly just missed out on a stage podium spot in the final few hundred metres, with the group behind catching him after he suffered from a hunger knock in the closing kilometres.
Florian Lipowitz leads in the group with 6th-place Gijs Leemreize. Sirotti photo
Leemreize said: “Everyone knew that today was a potential breakaway day, so it was full gas racing from the beginning. The others did a good job following the moves. At one point I jumped with two others and a big group came across. On the first climb Max also jumped across with some other strong climbers, but the peloton closed the gap. Towards the top I jumped again and this time it was the definitive break. When the cooperation in the group got less, I managed to get a gap with O’Connor. He was to strong, so in the end I had to fight for second. Unfortunately, I didn’t eat enough and had a big bonk in the last kilometres so in the end the chasing group just caught me before the line, so I had to settle for sixth.”
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Phil West added: “We started with the goal to try and search for an opportunity with the breakaway and ideally get in a move with a couple of guys from us. It proved every bit the scramble we thought it might. We did end up in the front group with Max and Gijs, but I think that group was too big and in the end it got rode down by the bunch. The break that did go, then really went at a bit of a random moment. It wasn’t the outcome we were hoping for and we aimed to have more guys in the move to play our options. Fortunately, we had Gijs in there at that point, and he was able to go late and deep into the final and take a solid sixth place. It also looks like Max is starting to recover from his crash so hopefully he continues in a good way before the next mountains. In general, we have some good points to take from today but also things for us to work on as the Vuelta goes on if we want to keep in the fight for results.”
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Here's the Vuelta report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:
The day started out at La Vuelta with Mikel Landa on the podium, where he received the solidarity jersey, awarded each day to a rider for sportsmanship, and continued with T-Rex Quick-Step going on the attack from the gun, when Mauri Vansevenant and Louis Vervaeke joined a strong 33-man group.
Mikel Landa signs autographs before the stage start. Sirotti photo
It came as no surprise that this breakaway didn’t have success, as the collaboration lacked there in many moments, so soon after, on the long Puerto del Boyar, another group emerged after this one was overhauled by the peloton. This time, only a dozen riders found themselves at the front, including the always determined Mauri, who impressed with the incredible amount of work he put in the group.
By the time they entered the last 70 kilometers of the day, the escapees had five minutes on a somewhat lethargic bunch, who wasn’t too keen on chasing. In the meantime, attacks began coming from the leading group, which fragmented before the penultimate ascent, leaving every rider for himself out there. Mauri did his best to follow, producing a strong effort on the sweltering roads of Andalusia despite riding alone a good chunk of the stage, and concluded seventh – behind winner Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R) – for his fifth top ten in a Grand Tour stage.
“The whole day was full gas from the start, we didn’t have a moment of respite and rode at an incredible speed despite the tough conditions. I had very good legs, but it was hard and I was running low on energy at one point. But I am satisfied with my ride and I hope I can do more in the next weeks of the race”, Mauri said after stage six, which his T-Rex Quick-Step teammate Mikel Landa finished together with the rest of the GC favourites.
And here's the Vuelta report from Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Team Visma | Lease a Bike did not compete for the stage win in the sixth stage of the Vuelta a España. The victory went to Ben O’Connor, who was allowed to break away by the peloton.
In the flat opening phase, the pace was high. There were numerous attacks from the peloton, leading to more than thirty riders attempting to escape. Eventually, the field regrouped, and a breakaway of thirteen riders was granted permission to go ahead. Wout van Aert attempted to bridge the gap to the breakaway group, but the peloton did not allow it.
At the summit of the Alto de las Abejas, Australian rider O’Connor claimed the stage victory and the red jersey. Six minutes later, the first peloton, including Sepp Kuss and Cian Uijtdebroeks, crossed the finish line. Van Aert’s green jersey was not at risk today.
“It was a real battle to get into the breakaway today,” Kuss observed from the front row. “The opening phase was particularly tough. The pace was high, and it was once again quite warm. Eventually, a group of thirteen riders got away after an earlier group was reeled back in. The course was very technical, with several tricky moments here and there. Ben rode exceptionally well today. He didn’t get the win handed to him; he truly earned it.”
Wout van Aert remains the points classification leader. Sirotti photo
After the race, Van Aert admitted that the idea of joining the breakaway had crossed his mind. “I definitely wanted to try. Unfortunately, it’s always easier said than done. The race really exploded on one of the climbs, which made it difficult for me. I decided not to exhaust all my energy, keeping in mind what’s still to come in the next two weeks. Today’s stage involved a lot of twists and turns, making it easier for a select group than for the peloton. It was tough to take control. Tomorrow, Team Visma | Lease a Bike will have another chance,” the Belgian points jersey holder concluded with determination.
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