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Monday, February 26, 2024
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
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Upcoming racing:
- February 27: Le Samyn
- February 28: Trofeo Laigueglia
- March 2: Strade Bianche
Latest completed racing:
- February 19 - 25: UAE Tour
- February 22 - 25: O Gran Camiño
- February 25: Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne
- February 25: Faun-Drôme Classic
- February 24: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
- February 24: Faun Ardeche Classic
- February 14 - 18: Volta ao Algarve
- February 17 - 18: Tour de Alpes-Maritimes
We posted the report from winner Wout van Aert's Team Visma | Lease a Bike with the results.
Here's the report from Luke Lamperti's Team Soudal Quick-Step:
Luke Lamperti made his Classics debut, and the 21-year-old American didn’t disappoint, finishing in the top ten the fastest edition of Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, which took place over a distance of 196.4 kilometers and saw the peloton average a stunning 45.14km/h, despite the more than a dozen hills spread over the route.
There was a lot of nervousness in the bunch Sunday afternoon, which resulted in a number of crashes that left only 50-odd riders at the front with 100 kilometers to go. Lamperti was there together with his Soudal Quick-Step teammates Julian Alaphilippe and Yves Lampaert, but when the race exploded on Le Bourliquet, he got distanced.
Instead of panicking, Luke remained calm and rode his own pace, and this ended up being the best decision, as the group he found himself into soon caught those ahead and started to chase the three leaders. Making the catch would have always been an almost impossible task, and despite their best efforts, the trio stayed away and Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) took the victory in Kuurne, but the peloton managed to reduce the gap and conclude around one minute and a half behind them.
Wout van Aert wins Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne
A big crash happened on the final corner of the race, but Luke escaped it and could show his fast turn of legs in a reduced sprint, taking an impressive seventh place and making it for the sixth year in a row that our team places a rider in the top ten at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. It was another strong result that said a lot about the potential of Lamperti – who delivered the best result for the US in 13 years at this race – after his podiums in Mallorca and Oman.
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And here's the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne report from Laurence Pithie's Team Groupama-FDJ:
For just a hundred metres, the day’s outcome could have been much different. On Sunday, the opening weekend in Belgium continued and concluded with Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, and Laurence Pithie made quite an impression for his return to Europe. The New Zealander first found himself in front when the race opened up halfway through. He even followed the trio who fought for victory for a while before he got dropped on one of the last climbs of the course. Then caught in between, the young man kept on going for almost sixty kilometers to score a nice result, but the peloton decided otherwise. Lewis Askey was unable to compete in the sprint due to a crash in the last corner, and the Groupama-FDJ team was therefore unable to complete this great day with a result.
After a dynamic first Flemish act on the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, some riders were ready to go for it again on Sunday on Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, traditionally more suited to the sprinters. As a result, Stefan Küng also left his place in the team to Laurence Pithie, returning from a successful start to the season on the other side of the world. Although the second round of the opening weekend is often more controlled due to the last flat sixty kilometers, this 76th edition offered an almost constant fight.
Laurence Pithie winning the 2023 Cholet Pays Loire.
First, there was one for the breakaway, which only established itself after seventy kilometres of racing. Luca Mozzato, Dries De Bondt, Fran Miholjevic, Luke Rowe and Jasper De Buyst were then able to get a small margin of two minutes, but the peloton did not slow down too much, and also experienced a several crashes in the first series of bergs at the halfway point. Before entering the second sequence, starting from the Hameau de Papins, a first bunch even got away with Laurence Pithie, Sam Watson and Clément Russo. On the next hill, that of Le Bourliquet, the breakaway was caught, and the Visma-Lease Bike really opened up the race.
At the end of the climb, there were only around fifteen men in the lead, and the New Zealander from Groupama-FDJ was up there. “I had really good positioning,” said Laurence. “The boys kept me in front into the bottom of the climbs. When Visma-Lease a Bike accelerated, I was able to follow. Then, on the steep cobbled climb, when Van Aert went, I had the legs to follow as well.”
With 86 kilometres to go, in the Mont Saint-Laurence, the “Kiwi” therefore broke away with the Belgian rider, Oier Lazkano and Tim Wellens. The quartet’s gap was thirty seconds when passing the Kruisberg and Hotond, then even reached one minute at the bottom of the côte de Trieu, penultimate climb of the course. Unfortunately, on these slopes hitting more than 10%, the Groupama-FDJ rider was distanced following another attack from Wout van Aert. “I went super deep to stay with Wout in Saint-Laurent,” he explained. “I was definitely suffering with the accelerations on this climb, so I tried to play my cards right, save energy where I could and recover a little bit. But at the end, I just didn’t have the legs when Wout accelerated on the next climb, and I got stuck in the middle of no man’s land”.
One hundred metres from the top of the côte de Trieu, meaning seventy kilometres from the finish, Laurence Pithie had to let his three rivals go. Although he then remained at fifteen seconds for a few kilometers, he was ultimately forced to manage his effort and wait for the next chasing group. The latter, made up of Matej Mohoric and Matteo Jorgenson, caught him fifty-five kilometers from the finish. The leading trio quickly appeared out of reach, but for more than an hour, the New Zealander kept on pushing in the second group to stay away from the rest of the field.
For a long time, this attempt seemed to succeed, but with about twenty kilometres to go, a huge peloton appeared less than a minute behind. Considering the many teams working in the back and the energy already spent at the front, the duel eventually and logically turned in favor of the pack, which caught Laurence Pithie about five kilometres from the line. “Laurence did a great ride, and just missed a little something to go with the three who made it to the end,” said Frédéric Guesdon. “There were one or two hills too many, but what he showed is already very good given that it was his first race in Europe and that he’s not used to the Classics either”. In the end, Wout van Aert won among the leading trio, while the sprint was not successful either for Groupama-FDJ since Lewis Askey hit the ground in the last corner and was therefore unable to defend his chances.
Despite being at the front throughout the second half of the race, the team couldn’t leave Belgium with a convincing result. “We didn’t live up to our ambitions yesterday, but it was much better today,” said Frédéric. “When the race really got hard, the guys were at the front. It’s a shame that there isn’t a nice result at the end, because we’re still racing for that. It’s a bit frustrating, because we’re eventually concluding this Belgian weekend without results, and it’s a group and a team that loves these races. Still, it’s encouraging.” “It would have been nice to hold on and try to go for that fourth place, but it was a good day out,” said Laurence. “I’m happy with it. I can’t be too disappointed with how I rode today. I just missed a little bit to follow the best guys, but it’s coming. The level is here, so race by race it will get better. Just to be there is a good step in the right direction. I came here with good form, and I really want to do well on these Classics. It’s a positive day. On to the next one!"
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We posted the report from winner Lennert Van Eetvelt's Team Lotto Dstny with the results.
Here's the report from Pello Bilbao's Team Bahrain Victorious:
On the final stage of the UAE Tour, which marked his 34th Birthday, Pello Bilbao provided the perfect gift to himself to get onto the podium, placing 2nd on the stage and claiming 3rd in the GC.
At the start of the day, Bilbao sat in 5th place overall some 22 seconds behind the race leader Jay Vine (UAE Emirates). After last year, where Bilbao was knocked off the podium on the final day, the Basque rider was motivated to not lose out this year on the iconic Hafeet climb which averages out at 6% for 10.8km with sections that peak at 11% gradients.
Unlike previous years, strong winds and sandy skies meant the peloton needed to remain vigilant for the 150km before the climb to ensure no GC men could take advantage of echelons during the stage. In the first few km an early break of four riders formed and were given a gap of 8 minutes by the peloton, with ourselves, UAE and Decathlon keeping the gap within reach before the foot of Jebel Hafeet.
One hundred kilometers into the race, echelons started and Bilbao was caught out losing 14 seconds to the first peloton group, meaning TBV had to work hard to bridge the gap and bring it all back together.
By the foot of the climb, it was all back together with only one rider from the break away still out in front with a gap of over a minute. At that point Torstein went on the front and put in a tremendous effort to bridge the gap for the GC hopefuls, managing to catch the final breakaway rider at around 5km from the finish. From then on, it was one of the most exciting battles on Hafeet with plenty of attacks and counter attacks. At 3km to go Bilbao launched his attack, but was left to work out on his own and Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny) perfectly timed his move, riding away from Bilbao and O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R) to win the stage. With second place to fight for, Bilbao was the strongest from the riders to take second on the stage and move up to third overall.
It was Lennert Van Eetvelt who got away and won the stage and the 2024 UAE Tour.
Pello Bilbao commented:” It was a really strange day, super intense racing, and maybe I was too excited in the last climb. I was feeling really strong, I wanted to go for the victory, for my Birthday for my teammates. They did an incredible job today. I destroyed all the team just to save my a**, just to try and comeback, they did an incredible job. I wanted to dedicate the victory today for them, to my kid and also for me on my birthday. But it was not possible, no, I raced with my heart and not so much with my head. In the end, in the critical moment, I couldn’t follow the best wheel. I just needed to be focussed, stay second in the stage, take the bonus and fight for the options of the podium.
"Okay, after an intense seven days of racing, we are on the podium. Yesterday was also a good stage with Phil. So it’s not bad, no?. I’m happy with the attitude the team showed during all the race and especially today they were incredible. I enjoyed racing here once again and I hope the spectators also enjoyed the intense race.”
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We posted the report from winner Marc Hirschi's UAE Team Emirates with the results.
Here's the report from third-place Maxim Van Gils' Team Lotto Dstny:
After the Ardèche Classic yesterday the riders had to tackle quite some climbs today in the Drôme Classic, with start and finish in Étoile-sur-Rhône.
With 50 kilometers to go the early breakaway was caught. Ayuso and Skjelmose let the race explode on the Col de la Grande Limite. Maxim Van Gils succeeded to join them after the descent, followed by three other riders, among them also the winner Marc Hirschi.
The 2024 Faun Drôme Classic podium, from left: Juan Ayuso (2nd), Marc Hirschi (1st) & Maxim Van Gils (3rd). Sirotti photo
In the final 5km Hirschi launched his decisive attack towards the victory. Maxim Van Gils sprinted to a podium spot. "I felt better than yesterday. On the climb where Skjelmose and Ayuso attacked, I wasn't in the wheel, fortunately I could come back in the descent. The cooperation in the group went well, but in the finale I was stuck in between Hirschi and Ayuso. We kept working well together, and I still took the third spot. I would have loved to win, but the result and legs give me confidence for the next appointments."
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