Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain. - Robert Frost
Les Woodland's book Paris-Roubaix: The Inside Story - All the bumps of cycling's cobbled classic is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Upcoming racing:
- Feb 8 - 11: Tour de la Provence
- February 9: Muscat Classic
- February 10: Vuelta a Murcia
- February 10 - 14: Tour of Oman
- February 11: Clasica de Almeria
Latest completed racing:
- Jan 31 - Feb 4: Etoile de Besseges
- Jan 31 - Feb 4: Volta a La Comunitat Valenciana
- Jan 30-Feb 3: AlUla Tour (formerly Saudi Tour)
- Jan 24-28: Challenge Vuelta Ciclista a Mallorca
The team sent me this schedule:
UAE Tour Women
FEB 08 - 11
Albert Timmer - Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach:
"With Charlotte out of the race due to sickness, we will take a more opportunistic approach to the three sprint chances available at UAE Tour and still continue our focus on doing a good lead out in those moments. There are opportunities where the wind can play a big role, so we want to be sharp all day, with good teamwork. For the mountain top finish on Jebel Hafeet we will look after Pfeiffer, Becky, and Elise as our cards to play for the final climb."
Line-up:
Rachele Barbieri (ITA)
Pfeiffer Georgi (GBR)
Daniek Hengeveld (NED)
Becky Storrie (GBR)
Elise Uijen (NED)
Muscat Classic
FEB 09
Matt Winston - Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach:
"It will be the first race of the season for most of our line-up and we are excited to get back to racing. The parcours of the Muscat Classic is quite challenging and selective and we will look after Warren as our finisher, with Frank as good support for when the race kicks off."
Warren Barguil wins the 2022 GP Miguel Indurain.
Line-up:
Tobias Lund Andresen (DEN)
Warren Barguil (FRA)
Fabio Jakobsen (NED)
Tim Naberman (NED)
Timo Roosen (NED)
Julius van den Berg (NED)
Frank van den Broek (NED)
Tour of Oman
FEB 10 - 14
Matt Winston - Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach:
"We come to the Tour of Oman hopefully with a good day of racing in the legs from the Muscat classic the day before. The opening day on paper looks like a sprint day, so the full focus will be on Fabio as our finisher. It will be the first opportunity for him to sprint in our team colours so we have to make sure, it will be a sprint that day. The rest of the stages will have uphill finishes, where we will look towards Warren and Frank as our finishers and cards to play in the final. The main goal of this week will be to set the foundations for the season with good teamwork, ride with each other in a good way, and ultimately to set the tone for the rest of the season."
Line-up:
Tobias Lund Andresen (DEN)
Warren Barguil (FRA)
Fabio Jakobsen (NED)
Tim Naberman (NED)
Timo Roosen (NED)
Julius van den Berg (NED)
Frank van den Broek (NED)
Figueira Champions Classic
FEB 11
Pim Ligthart - Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach:
"With our good season start in Australia and AlUla Tour, we will look to keep the momentum going in Portugal. At the Figueira Champion classic we can expect a hard and tricky race. The crucial point will be to come over the last climb in a good way. If we manage to still have numbers there, we can play our cards in the final. This is a good opportunity for us to put in the good foundations for more upcoming races in Portugal, where we will look to put our team colours on display."
Line-up:
Pavel Bittner (CZE)
John Degenkolb (GER)
Nils Eekhoff (NED)
Niklas Märkl (GER)
Martijn Tusveld (NED)
Casper van Uden (NED)
Bram Welten (NED)
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Ciccone’s Team Lidl-Trek posted this update:
A perineal cyst forced Giulio Ciccone to interrupt his preparation for his season debut. Due to severe inflammation, the rider underwent surgery yesterday, Monday 5th February, to remove the cyst. Doctors have imposed a four-week stop from any on-bike training, depending also on post-operative developments. The rehabilitation phase will follow.
Giulio Ciccone after stage 21 of the 2023 Tour de France, where he won the climber's classification. Sirotti photo
Ciccone, therefore, will not take part in the altitude training camp on Teide as planned and, considering the length of the stop, his season debut (initially planned for Tirreno-Adriatico) and further race schedule for spring is on standby. Further updates will be provided in the coming weeks.
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Here’s the team’s news:
After a strong start to the 2024 season, winning Tour Down Under overall with Stevie Williams, Israel – Premier Tech is now ready to take on its first race in Europe this year, lining up for Tour de la Provence.
The French stage race starts out on Thursday with a flat prologue in Marseille, setting the tone for the general classification. The following day looks to be a day for the sprinters before the undulating third stage, finishing with an uphill sprint in Manosque. The final day of racing is another chance for the fast guys to shine.
“As our first race in Europe, this will be a good test for the riders”, sports director Steve Bauer tells. “Winning a stage is always a goal and we have a good group of fast finishers in the roster including Pickrell, Hofstetter, Van Asbroeck and Sheehan. A top-notch prologue, time bonuses and consistent four days of racing will be important in order to get the best GC result as we expect this race to be very close”.
Neo-pro Riley Sheehan, who amazed the cycling world by winning Paris-Tours last year as stagiaire for IPT, is eager to start his first real season with the team.
Riley Sheehan winning 2023 Paris-Tours. ASO photo
“I feel very excited to start off the season at Tour de la Provence with IPT,” he says. “It has been a very successful start to the year with Stevie and the team’s win in Tour Down Under and I look forward to giving the best possible effort in keeping that momentum going with our first European race of the year.”
“It looks like this race could play out several ways depending on the prologue and how the winds blow the following days, but all the stages excite me. It will be a great way to get back into racing shape and I believe we can pull off a good result everyday with this team.”
IPT at the Tour de la Provence
Rider roster: Marco Frigo (ITA), Hugo Hofstetter (FRA), Mason Hollyman (GBR), Riley Pickrell (CAN), Nadav Raisberg (ISR), Riley Sheehan (USA), Tom Van Asbroeck (BEL)
Sports Directors: Steve Bauer, Oscar Guerrero
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Champoussin’s Team Arkea-B&B Hotels posted this:
The Tour de la Provence, which returns to the French professional racing calendar, will feature a less hilly route than in the past.
Clément Champoussin:
“I’ve never raced the Tour de la Provence, and I’m very happy to discover this event, which is back on the professional racing calendar. I live not very far from the stages where the race will take place. So I know the roads because I used to race on them when I was younger. I enjoy racing at the start of the season on the roads of my region, and I’m really happy to be able to discover the Tour de la Provence this year."
Clément Champoussin wins stage four of the 2023 Arctic Race of Norway.
Yvon Ledanois, Sport director:
“I’d like to pay tribute to the organisers for putting their race back on the professional calendar after a season’s absence. The Tour de la Provence is an important event for the teams as they balance out the start of their season. Clearly, as in the past, we would have preferred to have a hard stage that would have made the difference, but as we often say, “it’s up to the riders to make the race”, and to make it difficult with the route that the organisers offer them. The Tour de la Provence is a very fine event, and it’s up to us to make sure that this competition, which isn’t ‘difficult’ on paper this year, becomes ‘difficult’ on the day."
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