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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, January 17, 2024

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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia

God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers. - Rudyard Kipling

Les Woodland's book Cycling’s 50 Craziest Stories 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

Here's the report from stage winner Sam Welsford's Team Bora-hansgrohe:

The 2024 World Tour season kicked off with the Tour Down Under, and the first stage in the Adelaide Hills was destined for the sprinters. BORA-hansgrohe, who lined up with sprinter Sam Welsford, always had the race well under control, and after 144 kilometers it came down to the expected bunch sprint. After a strong lead-out from Danny van Poppel, Sam launched his sprint and took the first victory of the season for the team from Raubling. The Australian rider will wear the leader's jersey on tomorrow's second stage.

Sam Welsford wins Tour Down Under stage one. Sirotti photo

From the Finish Line:
"This was crazy! I'm lost for words. It was quite hairy down the hill and there were some crashes and near misses, but the boys kept calm and did an amazing job. It’s a dream come true - it's the first race of the season and my first win with the team. The boys backed me one hundred per cent and winning here is really special. The team here is probably the strongest on paper with our lead out, and it all paid off today. The guys rode at the front at the beginning of the race to not allow a breakaway to escape too far, and then I had the perfect lead-out. This is a massive team win and I am really stoked for them." - Sam Welsford

Here's the Tour Down Under report from second-place Phil Bauhaus' Team Bahrain Victorious:

Phil Bauhaus put in a solid sprint on the opening stage of the WorldTour 2024 season at the Santos Tour Down Under finishing second. The German rider positioned himself well and profited from the acceleration of the Bora-Hansgrohe lead-out train, beating a number of the favourites to the line, but could not catch the eventual stage winner Sam Welsford (Bora – Hansgrohe).

The peloton drives for the line. Sirotti photo

Bauhaus commented, “It is the best result I can do. I feel I am the strongest to be honest. It is a good result to start the season. I am happy with the legs. I definitely have the legs to win, but it’s professional sport, you can’t always win so it’s good to be second. I had a good winter with good training. In the past years I was always good in Australia. There are a few chances left for sprinters, so I hope maybe I can win one.”

“Jack is our GC guy, I really appreciate that someone like him was doing the lead-out for me. Also Fran and Cameron did really well. In the last km I was on my own. Maybe I hesitated to go on Sam’s wheel, thinking Caleb was also good. I came close, which gave me a lot of confidence in the next sprint. I want to pay my teammates back with hopefully one win this week.”

Team Bahrain Victorious looked to protect Jack Haig and Phil Bauhaus today, especially on the last climb onto Mengler’s Hill, just 13.5km to the finish, which was the crucial part of the day. Bauhaus ended up tackling it perfectly and remained well-placed in the bunch to conquer the victory.

The plan for the team today was to get Haig and Bauhaus onto the last climb, Mengler’s Hill, in a good position to give Bauhaus the chance to take on the sprint.

“It was a really tricky day.” commented Sports Director Neil Stephens “Træen hit the deck, and still he got back in the bunch, dedicated himself with this possibly a broken arm. Another crash happened on the descent with Buratti, who is one of our key riders in the lead-out train. But the other guys did really well, especially Jack Haig. Of course, he was here for GC but is also an integral part of the team. He did really well today and a really good lead-out as well. We will see how things go with Torstein in the hospital.” 

Stage 2 will be another day on the circuit, highlighting the challenging Fox Creek Climb (1.6km, max 17.8%). This short yet intense ascent is poised to serve as a launch pad for punchy riders fighting for victory in Lobethal. It will be somewhat unpredictable considering the steep finale with obstacles within 5km to the finish.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike posted this Tour Down Under stage one report:

Team Visma | Lease a Bike has finished the first stage of the Tour Down Under without any problems. In sweltering conditions, the yellow-black formation brought leader Milan Vader safely across the line. Sam Welsford sprinted to take the day's victory.

Visma | Lease a Bike rider Robert Gesink signs in before the stage start. Sirotti photo

The first road race of the new year took place in and around Tanunda on a 144-kilometre course. It soon became clear that the stage would end in a bunch sprint after the climbs of Menglers Hill failed to make any difference.

The wind proved treacherous in the final kilometers, but Team Visma | Lease a Bike came through the day unscathed. "That was the most important thing”, sports director Addy Engels said. "It was a nervous ride. The wind picked up a lot and even got a bit tricky. You could see that everyone was on their toes. With forty degrees, it was also super hot today.”

With Bart Lemmen, Loe van Belle and Johannes Staune-Mittet, Team Visma | Lease a Bike had some new riders at the start. "They made a good impression on me. They are in good shape and have a lot of power. That's always good."

A more challenging stage awaits the riders tomorrow, Engels predicted. "Quite early on, we'll come to a lap that we'll do three times. There is a tricky climb, and the last summit is eight kilometers from the finish. Our first goal is to get through the day well and then make sure Milan is in a good position when the climb starts.”

And here’s the Tour Down Under stage one report from Team Groupama-FDJ:

On Tuesday, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team kicked off the 2024 season, also the twenty-eighth of its history, on the other side of the globe as usual, on the Tour Down Under. This first official day of racing of the year did not however prove successful for Jussi Veikkanen’s men, and especially for Laurence Pithie, who was unable to take part in the mass sprint as he had planned. The young New Zealander finished just outside the top-20 while Sam Welsford stormed to the stage win. In Lobethal on Wednesday, the scenario could be more open.

The peloton rounds a corner in the first stage. Sirotti photo

The Australian campaign officially started on January 16. It will end in about twelve days with the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race, with the new Surf Classic (January 25) in-between. In total, the riders should spend almost three weeks in Australia to launch the year 2024. “We arrived exactly one week before Saturday’s criterium,” said Jussi Veikkanen. “It was rather mild the first day, we did not experience extreme heat, and acclimatization went quite well. Laurence and Reuben joined us a few days later, as they were already “on site”. We did great training, sometimes up to five hours, we took advantage of the weather and did a recon of the stages given that several riders have never done this race.” Last Saturday, the whole bunch had the opportunity to test itself for the first time on the unofficial Down Under Classic, with an hour of racing in the streets of Adelaide. “We had some regrets because the breakaway made it to the end,” added Jussi. “Laurence felt pretty good and finished second in the peloton sprint (8th in the race, editor’s note).”

Ignatas Konovalovas, however, was unable to start the criterium, nor was he able to line up this Tuesday for the first stage of the Tour Down Under. “For his last year among the pros, he wanted to enjoy Australia and he was really motivated,” said Jussi. “Unfortunately, after a few days here, he felt severe back pain which prevented him from riding. Until the last moment, we hoped that it would improve but that didn’t happen and we were forced to give up. For the moment, however, he is staying with us because we also have races next week and you never know.”

The Groupama-FDJ cycling team therefore found itself down to six men for the opening of the WorldTour calendar, on a circuit of about fifty kilometres around Tanunda that had to be covered three times and without any major obstacle. The peloton also took the opportunity to block the race right away and compete for the first bonus sprint, after twenty-four kilometres. The breakaway only went after that point, with Louis Barré and Georg Zimmermann taking the lead. Yet, their gap never exceeded three minutes and their attempt ended almost sixty kilometres from the finish.

The bunch sprint scenario proved even more obvious. “We knew the route, the place, and we knew very well what was ahead of us,” explained Jussi. “At the briefing last night, the spirits were high, we were all motivated, and with the focus to detail as usual. The idea was to support Laurence as best as possible to allow him to sprint. As the day progressed, the guys came down to the car and told us that they weren’t feeling great. It was super-hot, around 38° degrees, but we’re not going to find any excuses. Everyone was in the same situation.” The young “Kiwi” also experienced an incident one lap from the end. “He suffered a small crash, but nothing serious,” added Jussi. We changed his front wheel, but he wasn’t affected and that did not bother him in the final.”

The team’s sprinter was also well supported by Clément Davy, Reuben Thompson and Enzo Paleni, but after the last ascent of Menglers Hill, fourteen kilometres from the finish, the Groupama-FDJ’s rider struggled to find their way through. Laurence Pithie briefly came back up with six kilometres to go, but he was then passed again by the different lead-out trains. “We put in place the best possible plan with the riders we had, but we couldn’t execute it,” confessed Jussi. “We were not up to it today. We were not able to bring Laurence back up as planned so that he could be there to sprint. We had good hopes after the criterium, so the result was not what we expected. We will discuss together, make a plan for tomorrow, go for a new challenge, but we surely have regrets about today.”

Unable to find an open way in the final, Laurence Pithie eventually placed twenty-second on the day while Sam Welsford took the stage win. Tomorrow, the final will be slightly harder. “It’s a bit of an unknown,” concluded Jussi. “We’ll do three laps again, and the last climb (1.6 m at 7.5%) is about ten kilometres from the finish. We did a recon of it, but we need to see how the race will unfold. First, we hope that Rudy will be with the best for the overall, which is our second goal. If it goes our way, we also hope that Laurence will be there to sprint. The bunch will definitely reduce, but how much?”

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