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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Monday, January 15, 2024

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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia

Life is a song, sing it. Life is a game, play it. Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a sacrifice, offer it. Life is love, enjoy it. - Sai Baba

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:

• Jan 12-21: Santos Tour Down Under

Upcoming racing:

• Jan 20: Clasica Comunitat Valenciana
• Jan 24-28: Challenge Illes Balears-Volta Ciclista a Mallorca
• Jan 28: GP d'Ouverture-La Marseillaise
• Jan 28: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
• Jan 30 - Feb 3: Saudi Tour

Latest completed racing:

• Jan 1: GP Sven Nys
• Dec 29: Exact Cross Loenhout-Azencross
• Dec 28: Superprestige Diegem
• Dec 27: Superprestige Heusden Zolder
• Dec 26: World Cup Gaver Cyclocross
• Dec 17: World Cup Namur Cyclocross

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

Here's the report from stage and final GC winner Sarah Gigante's Team AG Insurance-Soudal:

In a breathtaking race, Sarah Gigante from AG Insurance-Soudal has won the third and final stage of the Santos Tour Down Under at Willunga Hill. This triumphant solo finish over a distance of 93.4 kilometers from Wakefield Street in Adelaide to Brookman Road on Willunga Hill not only secured Sarah the stage win, but also the coveted overall classification of the Santos Tour Down Under in Adelaide.

Sarah Gigante wins stage three. Photo: Sprint Cycling

The stage, which started at the City of Adelaide Tour Village in Victoria Square, Tarntanyangga, led the riders through local favorite spots. Featuring a challenging climb at Windy Point near Belair and moving through Coromandel Valley and Kangarilla towards the Fleurieu coast, the stage culminated in an exciting climax at Willunga Hill.

Team Sports Director Servais could not hide his pride: “I am speechless. It's fantastic how we have started this season. Sarah,just wants to race and is so motivated -  we have a real asset. This is not just a victory for her, but for the entire team. Despite the difficulties with crosswinds and positioning, the team has continuously supported her. It's a victory of the whole team.”

Sarah herself was overwhelmed by her performance: “Huge thanks to my team. They worked incredibly hard for me today. The last three years since my last victory here felt like a series of setbacks. The switch to AG Insurance – Soudal and the support of the team means everything to me. Willunga Hill suits me incredibly well, and thanks to the incredible efforts of my teammates, I was able to win this stage. I am enormously grateful to them.”

Here's the report from fourth-place Amanda Spratt's Team Lidl-Trek:

The Australian rider Amanda Spratt, and three-time winner of the race, was left feeling “disappointed” at the end of the first WorldTour race of the year after the Team left everything out on the roads of South Australia in pursuit of victory.

Amanda Spratt finishes fourth. Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images

Lidl-Trek was looking to play to the strengths of the Team and capitalise on the crosswinds and weaken the field in the lead up to the bottom of the iconic Santos Tour Down Under climb.

However, the gusts proved not to be strong enough in the most exposed sections of the road and the intended damage didn’t occur which eventually meant that the stage win and overall title came down to a head-to-head-to-head battle of climbers on Willunga Hill.

The ultimate winner, Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance – Soudal Team) went early and quickly drew out a select group including Spratty, who was able to stick on the wheel of her fellow Aussie until another stinging attack with two kilometers to go.

Spratty dug deep with podium places up for grabs but, in the end, she was forced to settled for fourth both on Stage 3 and on the final General Classification, a result that has made her even more motivated for the Cadel Evans Road Race coming up in a week’s time.

Spratty's Side of the Story...
"I do feel a bit disappointed because I was obviously chasing the win here and at fourth, even a podium finish would have been nice at the end. I didn't quite get there and I mainly feel disappointed for the Team and the fact I couldn't get that result for them and reward all of their hard work, which I really want to thank them for. They supported me so well over all three stages.

Today, we tried to do something in the crosswinds and it was so close to working. It was almost splitting but it just wasn't in our favor at the end. They then set me up brilliantly into Willunga. I finished empty, I really couldn't have done any more and I don't think as a Team we could have either. Maybe I could have changed how I raced the last couple of hundred meters but not many regrets. Sometimes you just have to say someone was stronger and I think Sarah proved that today by riding everyone off her wheel in the headwind on a climb.

Willunga is only a three-kilometer-long climb but you also have a pretty hard three kilometer run into it so you are kind of already on your limit and then it's unrelenting. You don't have any moment where it backs off, there are no hairpins where you can ease off and it's hard to split the climb up into segments."

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

Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women had a sound final stage of the Tour Down Under. Maud Oudeman and Rosita Reijnhout finished the day in the top ten.

The third stage took the riders from Adelaide to the top of Willunga Hill in the scorching heat. The peloton faced two climbs in less than 100 kilometres: Windy Point and the Willunga Hill finish.

The race heated up in the final kilometres, and many riders had to let go. The mainly young riders of Team Visma | Lease a Bike, with Oudeman and Reijnhout in the lead, worked hard. In a small group, Oudeman and Reijnhout finished eighth and ninth, respectively, on the Australian hill, behind winner Sarah Gigante.

"We are happy with these results”, sports director Jos van Emden said. "In my opinion, we could have done even better. With a little more careful racing, we could have finished in the top ten. Nevertheless, we are very proud of the girls. We were racing with a very young team, and they proved themselves and showed that there was still room for improvement.”

Van Emden reflected on his first race as team leader of Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women. "I enjoyed it. The race was full of good moments. Rutger Tijssen did a great job guiding me and trying to teach me a few things. I hope the girls like how I work, but I am confident. I loved coming to Australia as a pro, so it's cool to start my career as a sports director here. A good working method starts with having fun, and the team and I certainly had that. Now it's a matter of continuing to develop”, the 38-year-old former rider said.

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