Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Thursday, February 1, 2024
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. - Saint Augustine
Bill & Carol McGann’s book The Story of the Tour de France, 2022: The Fastest Tour Ever is available in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- Jan 30-Feb 3: AlUla Tour (formerly Saudi Tour)
- Jan 31 - Feb 4: Etoile de Besseges
- Jan 31 - Feb 4: Volta a La Comunitat Valenciana
Upcoming racing:
- Feb 8 - 11: Tour de la Provence
Latest completed racing:
- Jan 24-28: Challenge Vuelta Ciclista a Mallorca
- Jan 28: GP d'Ouverture-La Marseillaise
- Jan 28: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
- Jan 12-21: Santos Tour Down Under
- Jan 20: Clasica Comunitat Valenciana
- Jan 1: GP Sven Nys
- Dec 29: Exact Cross Loenhout-Azencross
- Dec 28: Superprestige Diegem
We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here’s the report from second-place Henok Mulubrhan’s Team Astana Qazaqstan:
The African champion Henok Mulubrhan brought the first podium place in 2024 to Astana Qazaqstan Team, finishing second in Stage Two of the AlUla Tour in Saudi Arabia.
Soren Waerenskjold wins stage two. Photo: ASO/Pauline Ballet
The stage ended on the top of a 3-km-long uncategorized climb at the point of 1000 meters above the sea level. Nicolas Vinokurov and Alessandro Romele brought Mulubrhan to a good position with some 2 km to go, while later in the sprint from a reduced peloton Henok launched a powerful sprint to finish second.
“Actually, I am happy with my performance today. Well, I’d like to take a win, however a podium place today after such a tough stage is a nice thing too. Indeed, it was a hard day on the road because of the wind and tension in the peloton all the way from start to finish, also the final accent was pretty fast and tough. But I want to thank all my team for a great support during the whole day. The guys did an amazing job right from the start. In every moment of the stage, I was well protected in the peloton, my teammates fully controlled the situation, helping me to save some energy and also to keep my position in the front. It was a good day for us and now I am looking forward to the next days here at the AlUla Tour”, – said Henok Mulubrhan.
After two days Henok Mulubrhan moved up to the third place in the General Classification of the race.
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Here’s the report from third-place Nils Eekhoff’s Team dsm-firmenich-PostNL:
After Tuesday’s brilliant opening stage where Team dsm-firmenich PostNL took victory with Casper van Uden, the team were out to defend and honour the jersey on stage two. Controlling the day from the off through the potentially treacherous desert winds, the team worked well to position and set up Nils Eekhoff and Van Uden, with the duo sprinting to the line for a double top five finish on the day.
Rolling out from AlUla Winter Park the bunch were faced with the longest stage of the race and an almost 200 kilometre route through the desert awaited them, with a dragging climb in the finale. It was a steady start to the day with a break of five escaping and the team took control at the front with Enzo Leijnse doing an exceptional job setting the pace at the head of the bunch. There was some nervousness in the air with potential crosswinds sections but the team were alert to the danger and made sure they were always on the right side of any splits.
Nothing serious materialised and the splits were undone as the peloton headed towards the climb in the finale. Working well as a group the team held their position at the front as the bunch thinned down. Towards and over the top of the ascent the attacks started to fly but Eekhoff and Van Uden dug in to follow the very best, setting up a fast finale. Eekhoff hit the front in the final few hundred metres with Van Uden in tow, both giving their all to the line, with Eekhoff holding on for third while Van Uden took fifth; cementing another good day out for the team at AlUla Tour.
Speaking after the stage Eekhoff said: “It was a long day out with some nerves for echelons. We managed the day well with the team and were always positioned the way we wanted. Enzo did a great job controlling the break during the day. The guys delivered me and Casper in a great position up the climb, forward but out of the wind. After the attacks from some GC riders, which we were able to follow in the bunch, we set our focus for the sprint with Casper. We followed UNO-X for a bit and I then tried to launch Casper at around 450 metres to go but unfortunately Casper wasn’t able to launch his sprint. We are happy to be in the mix again though and are looking forward to continuing this the coming days.”
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Roy Curvers added: “It was a day with some wind in the dessert a hard final in the end. Enzo did a great job in the chase the whole day to defend the leader’s jersey for us. In the final the guys did a good job putting Nils and Casper in position on the last climb. In the end Nils lead out Casper but unfortunately the climb took too much out of his legs. All in all it was great to see we went all-in for the win today once again, and it was the legs that decided the end result so we are satisfied with that. We’ll go for it once more tomorrow.”
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And here's the AlUla Tour stage two report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:
Stage 2 of the Saudi race was also the longest one in the history of this race, almost 200 kilometers from Winter Park to the Sharaan Nature Reserve. The course came with a sting in the tail, a short climb just before the flat final kilometer which the sprinters had a chance of surviving depending on the tempo pushed there.
But long before that, crosswinds spiced up the stage, splitting the peloton into four different groups and spreading chaos after just two hours of racing. After a wild chase, things came back together, and Soudal Quick-Step – who was prominent in the echelons – remained at the head of the bunch, driving the tempo with Ayco Bastiaens, who helped bring back the escapees.
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Things remained quiet until the final three kilometers, when the road began going up and a flurry of attacks made it clear it wouldn’t be the sprinters’ day. Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) took the win from a small group, while Jordi Warlop finished sixth. Despite not featuring in the finale, Tim Merlier remains well placed in the general classification, just eight seconds off the lead with three days remaining at the Alula Tour.
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