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Monday, August 26, 2024

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

Promises are like crying babies in a theater, they should be carried out at once. - Norman Vincent Peale

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Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Giro d'Italia, A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy, Vol 1: 1909 - 1970 is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• August 17 - Sept 8: Vuelta a España
  

Upcoming racing:

• August 28 - September 1: Renewi Tour

Latest completed racing:

• August 25: Bretagne Classic Ouest-France
• August 20 - 23: Tour du Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine
• 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

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Vuelta a España stage nine reports

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

Stage winner Adam Yates' UAE Team Emirates posted this report:

After a disappointing 24 hours for the team, which saw the withdrawal of João Almeida from the Vuelta España, Adam Yates bounced back in strong fashion to lift the team with a significant victory on the queen stage from Motril to Granada (178.5km).

Adam Yates wins Vuelta stage 9. Sirotti photo

Yates entered a sizeable breakaway which went away in the early stages as they left the port of Motril with teammates Marc Soler and Jay Vine joining him to reinforce the assault by the Emirati squad. The British climber took flight solo at -60km to the line on the Hazallanas climb and managed to extend his advantage on the steep gradients.

Arriving solo to the city of Granada Yates had plenty of time to celebrate as he took out a lead of 3’45” on most of his GC rivals to move himself back into the picture in the hunt for the red jersey which continues to be worn by Ben O’ Connor (Decathlon-AG2R) who leads with an advantage of 5’30” over Yates who jumps up to 7th place.

Yates: “I never suffered like this before. It was so hot out there. From the last climb I was cramping and I didn’t know if I could go. I’ve had a lot of bad luck in Grand Tours over the years and I really didn’t know if I could make it, but I’m just so happy I could finally win another Grand Tour stage. It was all about the stage. I was just going full gas. We really had nothing to lose. I just suffered all the way to the line.”

Here's the report from fourth-place Mikel Landa's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Mikel Landa will enter the first rest day of his home Grand Tour sitting in fifth overall after an insanely hard stage nine, which featured Alto de El Pulche and a double ascent of Alto de Hazallanas. Both climbs featured stinging double-digit ramps that wreaked havoc in the peloton, who got reduced to around 15 men by the time they crested Hazallanas for the first time, trailing the breakaway by almost seven minutes and without a team properly controlling this margin.

Team Soudal Quick-Step before the stage start. Sirotti photo

So hard – in part, also because of the weather – was this 178.5km stage to Granada that, unlike Saturday, the decisive attacks missed almost completely, the selection being made instead only by the change of pace on the last hurdle of the day. Briefly distanced at one point, Mikel Landa kept his calm and soon found his rhythm, displaying his indomitable spirit as he rejoined the favourites’ group, who were doing their best to tame the savage gradients and reduce the gap to lone leader Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates).

What they couldn’t do on the climb was possible on the long descent, where the GC men worked well together and cut their deficit to less than four minutes by the time they arrived at the finish. There, Landa still had something left to produce a solid sprint that almost netted him third place after almost five exhausting hours in the saddle. This helped Mikel cement his position in the standings, where he was already sitting fifth overall after Saturday’s fine outing on Cazorla.

“I am content with the fact I could stay in the main group. At the finish, I even tried to take some bonus seconds, but O’Connor was a bit faster. Nevertheless, it was a good day in some hard conditions, and to be able to defend my GC place gives me a good feeling as it’s something that I will carry into the second week of the race”, explained Mikel in Granada.

Here's the Vuelta report from seventh-place Carlos Rodriguez's Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Carlos Rodriguez sprinted to seventh place on stage nine of La Vuelta, after another searing day in southern Spain.

The day was on from the flag drop, with Oscar Rodriguez getting into the stage’s 26 man breakaway. The first of a trio of Category One climbs were taken at a high pace, and the peloton was down to just the GC riders, including Carlos, as they crested the summit.

The front of the day's early break.

Unfortunately, Josh Tarling slipped out on a technical descent, and, while he was initially able to carry on, the Welshman would abandon a few kilometres later.

Back in the GC group and Oscar would drop back to help close the gap to Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) - who had gone solo from nearly 60 kilometres out, and was quickly making up ground overall.

A crash from a competitor at the foot of the final climb threatened to derail Carlos’ day, but a poised reaction saw the local Grenadier back in the GC group quickly after being forced almost to a standstill. Over the top of the climb and just a handful of riders remained as they chased down Yates. The Brit would take the stage after an impressive solo ride.

As they entered the finale, Carlos put in a strong sprint to come home seventh on the stage, moving himself up to ninth overall as the peloton rolls into the first rest day.

Here's the Vuelta stage nine report from Team dsm-firmenich PostNL:

Stage 9 at La Vuelta presented another opportunity for the climbers to show their strength in the mountains with three difficult mountain ascents in the second half of the 178.5 kilometre stage. Despite the ascents coming later in the day, the fireworks kicked off early with a large and powerful breakaway of 26 riders forming which eventually included Max Poole and Gijs Leemreize but only after they had to put in a big effort to bridge across having initially missed the move.

The peloton racing across southern Spain. Sirotti photo

Both crossed the gap and were present heading into the first of the three climbs, but the relentless pace set on the front of the break saw first Leemreize then eventually Poole lose contact with the small group left at the front before the top of the climb. From here it was damage limitation as the breakaway pushed on for the stage win and the GC favourites battled it out behind. The team set about conserving energy and getting home safely ahead of tomorrow’s rest day, before then looking ahead to the next week of racing.

After the stage, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Phil West said: “We had quite a tough start to the stage already with a fair bit of climbing – even if the profile didn’t look so much, the altitude was high. There was quite a bit of action here and in the end we were OK, but initially we were a little bit late in the move. But after jumping at last minute we made it over with Gijs and Max.

“They immediately got a good gap of almost five minutes into the first climb and we were in a good position, but as expected UAE pushed the tempo and although we were in the right spot, we ran out of legs. We can be happy that we were in the right place at the right time. That’s just a reflection of the level today. We now look ahead to the opportunities to come in the race with clearer goals ahead of us now.”

And here's the Vuelta report from Sepp Kuss' Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Sepp Kuss finished the extremely tough ninth stage in the Tour of Spain in fifteenth place. The 29-year-old American had to give in several minutes to the other classification riders at the finish line. Green jersey wearer Wout van Aert showed himself in the breakaway. The win was for Adam Yates.

The first week of the Vuelta a España had its climax with the 178-kilometre stage between Motril and Granada. In again hot conditions, the peloton rode three first-category climbs, including the double climb of the steep Alto de Hazallanas. 

Right after the start, Van Aert was part of the early breakaway consisting of 26 riders. The wearer of the green points jersey was joined at the front by some strong climbers, including later stage winner Yates. On the first categorised climb of the day, the 29-year-old Belgian had to let go. Yates started a long solo towards the finish not much later. 

“I tried to be in the breakaway in order to be of service to Sepp later in the stage”, Van Aert responded. “Unfortunately, I wasn't able to follow the pace for long. Yates' teammates in the breakaway rode strongly. Chapeau that they were able to finish it. I am now looking forward to tomorrow's rest day. Today's and yesterday's stages were very tough.” 

Wout van Aert racing in stage 9. Sirotti photo

In the group of favourites, Kuss had to let go some of the other GC riders on the final climb. “As expected, this was a difficult day”, Kuss said afterwards. “I couldn't immediately assess how my feeling was today. The heat played its role from the start. On the final climb, I decided to choose my own pace. Looking back, I'm satisfied that I managed to limit the damage again.” 

“The form is there and I also feel good. Right now there are a lot of riders in excellent shape. I am now trying to focus on my own performance. There are still two long weeks to come in this Vuelta. We will see what those can offer”, the American concluded.

Bretagne Classic Ouest-France reports

We posted the report from second-place Paul Magnier's Team Soudal Quick-Step with the results.

Here's the report from winner Marc Hirschi's UAE Team Emirates:

In France Marc Hirschi took another important victory at the Bretagne Classic, his second consecutive win in a one-day World Tour classic following his triumph at the San Sebastian Classic just two weeks ago.

The Swiss talent arrived solo to the line just metres ahead of the chasing peloton who could not close the gap to the flying puncheur.

Marc Hirschi wins in Plouay.

Hirschi: “It was a super hard race in the last 60km. There was a lot of strong riders which made it hard to get away. On the last kick I knew I couldn’t arrive in the group as there were some strong sprinters there. In the end I was very happy to win by just a few seconds. I was so close I didn’t know if I would make it or not. I was on the limit and tried many attacks and went full gas. Now I’ll do some races in Italy and Luxembourg in preparation for the World Championships in Zurich.”

Here's the report from Romain Grégoire's Team Groupama-FDJ:

A year after Valentin Madouas’ victory on home soil, in Plouay, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team naturally had great ambitions for the Bretagne Classic. Unfortunately, the race scenario did not go its way. Although Romain Grégoire made a great attack for fifteen kilometres in the final, it was Marc Hirschi who took the win on the line, just ahead of the peloton. Within it, Thibaud Gruel secured a remarkable eighth place for his first Classic at WorldTour level.

The distance of the Bretagne Classic, this Sunday, was quite similar to that of last year, on the bumpy roads around Plouay. However, one clear difference was to be noted. “Compared to previous years, there were no gravel sectors and we thought that it would be more packed and that it could come to a sprint,” explained Benoît Vaugrenard. Only two men took part in the day’s breakaway, Silvan Dillier and Christopher Juul-Jensen, and the peloton let the gap pass the ten-minute mark before gradually coming back in the second half of the course. “For us, the goal was to open the race from quite far back,” added Benoît. “We wanted to go for it from km 190 and that’s about the time we suffered a crash. We lost Sam, and Romain was delayed for the second time.”

“I was caught in two small crashes,” explained the young man. “On the first one, I just put my foot down. On the second one, I went over the bike, but without too much damage because I landed on the grass.” However, he was forced to chase twice to get back to a peloton where the action wasn’t frenetic. “The race was a bit blocked, there weren’t that many moves,” said Benoît. “The breakaway was caught early, we thought it would open up the race again, but there were still far too many domestiques.”

Entering the last fifty kilometres, a few attacks did occur, but this never created real differences. “It’s not really the race we were hoping for,” confirmed Romain. “But without the gravel sectors, with perfect weather and a very homogeneous peloton, the race was made easier and didn’t do the damage we wanted.” Yet, the former European junior champion did give it a try. “We refocused as we wanted on the two climbs preceding the finishing circuit, and in particular the Côte de Marta, where Romain attacked,” said Benoît. “But once again, no one followed. It’s a shame nobody went with him.” “I had to try on the most difficult climb of the day, about thirty kilometres from the finish,” explained the young man. “Unfortunately, I found myself all alone and I didn’t really believe in it. I was hoping to get a bit of support to get to the finish.”

However, no one was able to really go clear from the peloton, and Romain Grégoire then led the way alone for about fifteen kilometres, with a gap of 20 seconds at best. His attempt was eventually neutralized fifteen kilometres from the finish, and the peloton came together for the finishing circuit.

A strong acceleration split up the pack on the penultimate climb, but it was on the final one that Marc Hirschi was able to break away solo. The peloton got back together behind him but was unable to catch the Swiss man, who won with a lead of a few metres. Behind him, Thibaud Gruel got involved in the mix. “I was still going pretty well on the climbs in the final,” he said. “When it got hard, I was pretty much in front and there were still three of us in the main group. I tried to position myself as best I could to get a result in the sprint, but I was a bit boxed in. I was coming in with speed from behind, but I didn’t really find the opening to pass and do a bit better than eighth.” “It still saved the day because we didn’t really have a sprinter,” said Benoît. “Thibaud took the initiative to sprint and chapeau to him. That’s great to see from a young rider. This eighth place is the day’s satisfaction, and we could see that Thibaud is doing very well in this kind of race. It wasn’t an easy task to be there after 260 km. It’s very promising for the coming years”. “I was a little frustrated when I crossed the line, but it was my first WorldTour Classic today, so coming away with a top-10, that’s not too bad,” smiled Thibaud.

Despite a decent result, Groupama-FDJ left Brittany on Sunday with a bit of frustration. “We are disappointed with the race scenario, which did not go our way,” concluded Benoît. “Romain showed that he’s in good shape, that he’s one of the strongest, but we can’t be satisfied with that. We want to get results.” “In the end, we can’t regret the approach,” added Romain. “We just can’t choose the race scenario alone, and today the group finish was almost inevitable. We really did what we could.”

And here's the Bretagne Classic report from Team Arkea-B&B Hotels:

The Bretagne Classic ended with a massive sprint in Plouay. Clément Venturini finished 9th.

Clément Venturini:
I achieved a top 10 in the World Tour, but I still have a little bitter feeling. The sprint, here, is always special in any case, and I don't feel like I was able to do it fully. I moved to the right of the road precisely so as not to find myself boxed in, but I wasn't able to produce the effort that would have allowed me to be higher in the ranking. Afterwards, I am also aware that there are riders who would have liked to be in my place, who are fifteenth and who also had the means to achieve a top 10 in this magnificent Breton World Tour classic. I was able to measure in this long and difficult competition that during the climbs, I was always there, vigilant, never in great difficulty. It is proof that I am in good shape. I hope that this bodes well for the end of this good season.

Just before the race began.

Yvon Ledanois - Sports Director:
The sprinting teams competing in this Bretagne Classic wanted this event to end in a sprint. And they did everything they could to make this scenario happen. The riders from the Arkea-B&B Hotels team tried to be offensive. The goal in the final was to protect Clément Venturini and put him in the best possible position for the sprint. He finished in the top 10 and this rewarded the work done by all his teammates. We always hope for a little more, and that’s my state of mind, but sometimes you also have to be satisfied with what you have. We all know that the sprint is always special, and complicated in Plouay, but Clément could have finished fourth or fourteenth. Top ten shows that the Arkea-B&B Hotels team is there. It’s important to be present in Brittany.

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