Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Monday, February 19, 2024
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
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Current racing:
- February 19 - 25: UAE Tour
Upcoming racing:
- February 24: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
- February 24: Faun Ardeche Classic
Latest completed racing:
- February 14 - 18: Volta ao Algarve
- February 17 - 18: Tour de Alpes-Maritimes
- February 14 - 18: Vuelta Andalucia - Ruta del Sol
- February 16: Classic Var
- February 10 - 14: Tour of Oman
- Feb 8 - 11: Tour de la Provence
- February 12: Clasica Jaén - Paraiso Interior
- February 11: Clasica de Almeria
- February 10: Vuelta a Murcia
We posted the report from final GC winner Remco Evenepoel's Team Soudal Quick-Step with the results.
Here's the Algarve report from stage five winner Daniel Martinez's Team Bora-hansgrohe:
The queen stage was déjà vu from the first mountain-top finish in the Algarve. Once again, Remco Evenepoel and Dani Martínez battled it out over the final metres - and once again Martínez took the win. BORA - hansgrohe returns home from the Volta ao Algarve with two stage victories, the KOM classification and second place in the GC.
Daniel Martinez wins stage five.
The final stage of the Volta ao Algarve was highly competitive. It took 65 kilometres until a breakaway group formed. 20 riders, including Max Schachmann as a tactical option from BORA - hansgrohe, went clear. But even after that, the peloton refused to settle. With 40 kilometres to go, Wout van Aert attacked from the peloton and quickly caught up with the leaders. But thanks to a great chase, all the escapees were caught again by the final climb. The last steep metres were characterised by many attacks - only Dani Martínez was able to follow Remco Evenepoel's decisive attempt.
From the finish line:
Dani Martínez: "This was definitely the hardest stage of the Volta ao Algarve. There were a lot of attacks today. I knew that there was still a long way to go until the finale and I stayed calm. Also, I have to say the team did a great job. I finished second here two years ago, and to win again now is really something special for me."
DS Christian Pömer: "We knew that today's stage would be raced like a classic. We concentrated completely on winning the stage with Dani and that was pure tactics. A huge compliment to Jordi and Marco, who sacrificed themselves early in the chase. That paved the way to the stage win. In the finale, we were able to rely on Max and Bob to close the gap. Dani still had Sergio at his side on the final climb. That's exactly the way we want to race: ride as a unit and go for the win. That worked out brilliantly."
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And here's the Algarve Tour report from third-place Jan Tratnik's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Jan Tratnik has defended his third place in the general classification in the final stage of the Volta ao Algarve. Wout van Aert and Sepp Kuss also performed well, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively, in the final classification. Remco Evenepoel won the Portuguese stage race.
Jan Tratnik racing in the 2022 Tour of Flanders. Sirotti photo
With five categorised climbs, it was a challenging stage for the riders. The classification riders were particularly looking forward to the Alto do Malhão, a steep 2.5-kilometre wall with a gradient of almost 10 percent. This highlight had to be climbed twice, with the final summit being the finish line. Before the Alto do Malhão, Van Aert was the first to take the lead, with the help of Per Strand Hagenes - who was in the traditional early breakaway.
Together with Gijs Leemreize and Ben Healy, the 29-year-old Belgian started the final climb with a small lead. With two kilometres to go, the brave attack failed, and the small peloton, including Tratnik and Kuss, caught the lead group. The two riders in the yellow-black formation rode with the best to the summit but were denied the stage win. Daniel Felipe Martínez was the first to cross the line.
Tratnik was pleased with the way the team rode. "We tried to make the race attractive. Van Aert did a fantastic job today and got far, but unfortunately, he got caught just before the end. Kuss and I were comfortable in the peloton because of his attack. It was up to the other teams to clinch Van Aert. We did a fantastic job as a team today, and I am happy with my result in the final classification.”
"I was hoping to get closer to the stage win during my attack”, Van Aert said. "At one point, it looked good, but I also felt that Healy was a bit better. When the bunch had us in sight, I dropped out, hoping to do something for my teammates. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. Overall, we are very happy with our race this week. We won a stage and are on the podium in the general classification. This gives us confidence for the coming weeks.”
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And here's the Volta ao Algarve report from Team dsm-firmenich-PostNL:
The final day of racing at Volta ao Algarve saw a fierce afternoon of action under the Portuguese sun, with Team dsm-firmenich PostNL’s Gijs Leemreize riding brilliantly to make the day’s breakaway of 20 which finally went clear after 50 kilometres of hard racing. The group managed to build on its gap and increase it to over three minutes at its maximum, but the peloton always kept a close eye on them. Behind a strong counter attack was launched by Healy and Van Aert, with the duo bridging to the break, before pushing on.
Digging deep, it was only Leemreize from the original break who could follow and the trio charged towards the final climb. Unfortunately, the bunch had also done the same and ultimately caught Leemreize back in sight of the flamme rouge, where the young Dutchman fought hard to the line to take 12th place on the stage.
Leemreize expressed: “The goal for us was to be in the break with as many possible riders as we could . That was the plan of almost every team though, so the jumping and attacking took quite long. We were in all the big groups and in the end I was in the right one with around 20 riders. At one point Van Aert and Healy jumped to our break. I was able to follow them and hoped for the stage win for a second, but on the final climb the GC group came back and I just couldn’t follow anymore.”
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We psoted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from team Groupama-FDJ:
The second stage of the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes towards Vence was expected to be more selective than the day before. It was indeed, but probably not enough to benefit the Groupama-FDJ riders. A sprint of about twenty riders concluded the day, and Romain Grégoire fought hard to take fifth place. Overall, the young Frenchman eventually got seventh place, and Quentin Pacher ninth place, both ten seconds behind the final winner Benoît Cosnefroy.
Benoît Cosnefroy wins stage two and the final GC
Although the elevation gain was slightly lower than that of the previous day, stage 2 of the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes included bigger climbs throughout its route. The Col d’Èze and the Col de Châteauneuf featured in the first fifty kilometers, while the Montée de la Sine appeared as the decisive climb, since its summit was located only three kilometres from the finish line. The terrain could therefore, theoretically, make for a hard race. “I surely expected more action in the col d’Èze and col de Châteauneuf,” yet said Benoît Vaugrenard. “In the end, everyone was watching each other, and no one really wanted to pull. It was weird.”
After the day’s two biggest climbs, the peloton was still quite big behind a breakaway made up of Maxime Jarnet (Van Rysel-Roubaix), Noah Detalle (Bingoal-WB), Axel Narbonne-Zuccarelli, Melvin Crommelinck (Nice Métropole Côte d’Azur) and Matteo Milan (Lidl-Trek Future Racing). The Groupama-FDJ cycling team focused on tackling the various downhills in good position, then the attacks followed one another on the Carros climb, fifty kilometers from the finish. It didn’t, however, create any big damage.
Eventually, a few offensives managed to open a gap on the following plateau. Around ten men, including Lars van den Berg, broke away from the bunch and caught the breakaway. In the back, the pack then stopped chasing for several minutes. “When Lars went away, it became very tactical,” Benoît added. “We knew it before coming, and we had to play smart.” In the long, slightly downhill road leading to the final climb of the day, the peloton eventually resumed the chase and caught most of the leading riders. Only Ewen Costiou and Steffen De Schuyteneer kept a small gap of one minute fifteen kilometers from the finish.
The Frenchman then tackled the steady Montée de la Sine (3.6 km at 5.3%) twenty seconds ahead of the peloton, where Romain Grégoire tried to make a push. The young man accelerated a few times, Kevin Geniets and Quentin Pacher also followed counterattacks, but no gap was made. Costiou was caught, but then took advantage of some hesitation in the peloton to pass the summit in the lead. Shortly after, Romain Grégoire still bridged across, but with a group of about twenty riders in his wheel.
On the flat, last three kilometers, a few riders tried to anticipate, but a sprint did decide the day’s outcome. Initially in a good position on the right of the road, Romain Grégoire and Quentin Pacher got overwhelmed by a wave coming from the left, and from which came the winner Benoît Cosnefroy. Romain Grégoire finally took fifth place. “I am obviously disappointed and frustrated,” he said. “I didn’t expect a race like this at all this morning. We’re not used to racing like juniors. In the end, it comes down to small details and it didn’t really go our way. That said, I don’t see what else we could have done tactically. There wasn’t much more we could do given the race scenario. We just had to be patient and have the kick and/or the luck to win.” “There were still a lot of riders in the final, given that there wasn’t a lot of racing prior, compared to other years,” noted Benoît. “We were there, but it was still a high level, and it was difficult to make any gaps. Today, you needed to have a good sprint. We’re still disappointed because we didn’t come here to take a top 10.”
At the end of the two days of racing, Romain Grégoire and Quentin Pacher respectively took seventh and ninth places overall, ten seconds behind the stage and GC winner Benoît Cosnefroy. Just like Kevin Geniets, twelfth of the final ranking.
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