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Monday, July 1, 2024

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2023 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say. - Will Durant

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Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Giro d'Italia, A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy, Vol 2: 1971 - 2011 is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• June 29 - July 21: Tour de France

Upcoming racing:

• July 27 - August 11: Olympic cycling

Latest completed racing:

• June 9 - 26: Many National Championships
• June 15 - 18: La Route d'Occitanie Cancelled because security forces busy with Olympics
• June 9 - 16: Tour de Suisse
• June 12 - 16: Baloise Belgium Tour
• June 2 - 9: Critérium du Dauphiné
• June 5 - 9: ZLM Tour
• June 7: GP Canton Aargau
• June 2: Brussels Cycling Classic

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Tour de France stage 2 reports

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

Here's the Tour report from new Yellow Jersey Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates:

At the end of the second stage of the Tour De France, 199.2km from Cesenatico to Bologna, Tadej Pogačar leads the General Classification, thus claiming the Yellow Jersey.

Tadej Pogacar will start stage three in yellow. Sirotti photo

From the very first kilometers, the stage saw a breakaway gradually gaining significant minutes, reaching up to a 9-minute advantage over the main group.

The San Luca GPM, 1.9km at an average gradient of 10.6%, tackled twice by the riders, was as expected the turning point of the day.

On the second ascent, at 12.6 km from the finish line, there was a winning attack from Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) on the breakaway group, pulling away from everyone to win the stage solo. Shortly after, Pogačar’s attack stirred the waters in the main group, with only Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma Lease a Bike) able to stay on his wheel, with the two gradually gaining precious seconds on the chasers.

The two took turns on the front for the last kilometers while the remaining breakaway riders crossed the finish line one by one. Caught by a strong final counterattack from Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Carapaz (EF Education – EasyPost), the Slovenian rider from UAE Team Emirates finished the stage in 14th position but claimed the overall lead thanks to his fourth-place finish yesterday.

Pogačar: “In the final circuit I felt super good and the pace was super high already the first time up San Luca because of how the Visma team pulled. Then, the second time, we decided to try so I could test myself a bit.

"Jonas Vingegaard was really quickly on my wheel. I’m not surprised of his level. We cooperated well together, but Remco and Richard did it too and came back to our wheel at the very end.

"The whole circuit in Bologna was super crowded, and the climb was insane! Really unbelievable. It’s the cycling we should all love.

"Am I going to keep the yellow jersey for long? Well, I prefer to take it day by day and stick to the original plan.”

Tomorrow is the first stage suited for sprinters, with the last segment on Italian territory taking the riders 230.8km from Piacenza to Turin.

Here’s the Tour report from stage two winner Kévin Vauquelin's Team Arkea-B&B Hotels:

On his second day of racing in the Tour de France, 23-year-old Kévin Vauquelin won the second stage of the Grande Boucle, which finished in Bologna.

Kévin Vauquelin
“It’s incredible! Saturday was a difficult day for me. I was at the bottom of the bucket. I wasn’t doing well in the Tour of Switzerland. I’ve had a lot of disappointments in recent weeks, and to manage to win today… Wow! I’m happy, it’s the perfect day. From the blackboard. I’d like to thank Cristián Rodríguez (4th in the stage). This success is also his because he led the breakaway and was in control. When the three of us went out with Nelson Oliveira and Jonas Abrahamsen, I knew that I had the advantage of being more plunchy than them in the climb. I was familiar with the San Luca climb, having ridden it in the Giro dell’Emilia. It’s a climb I really like (laughs)! I believed in it late on, but I was wary. I gave it my all right up to the end. My dream was already to take part in the Tour de France. Today, I’m delighted to win this race on the second day of my first participation. I’ve also won the first stage of the Tour de France for the ARKEA-B&B HOTELS team, and I’m proud and happy to be able to offer this first bouquet to the team and its General Manager, Emmanuel Hubert. This success is the crowning achievement of everyone’s hard work, from the staff to the riders, whom I would like to thank.”

Kévin Vauquelin wins stage two.

Yvon Ledanois, sports director
“This victory is a real satisfaction because the riders were involved and respected the instructions and the message that had been given. It was a great day, and now the Tour de France has only just begun. We all need to stay involved, staff and riders alike.”

Didier Rous, sports manager
“Yvon Ledanois and Sébastien Hinault and I told the riders this morning not to dwell on the negative message sent out the day before on the first stage. We reminded them that although we had suffered in the early stages, we had to keep looking ahead because the race was still long and the breakaways at the start of the Grand Tours often had a chance of going all the way. Kévin won solo with style but his victory was a collective one. We mustn’t forget the work done behind the scenes by everyone, especially the staff who work behind the scenes. Tonight, it was the work of an entire group united and wanting to go in the same direction that paid off. Kévin was very strong today, but Cristián was very important in our quest for victory. It’s a victory for the whole ARKEA-B&B HOTELS team. I’m not forgetting that this is only the second day of the Tour de France. We still have many stages to go. We’re going to enjoy this success for a while, but from Monday, on the third stage, we’ll be focusing on the race again, because there are other great things to do”.

Emmanuel Hubert, General Manager
“Winning the Tour de France is really satisfying and a great moment to experience. Thanks to Kévin Vauquelin, a young rider in the making, the ARKEA-B&B HOTELS team has won its first stage in the Tour de France, and quite simply in a Grand Tour. Kévin still has some work to do, because he’s not yet where we want to be together. Winning the Tour is never easy, but tonight we can all say that together, staff and riders, with Kévin at the end, we have opened a new page in the history of the ARKEA-B&B HOTELS team.”

Here's the Tour report from third-place Quentin Pacher's Team Groupama-FDJ:

Towards Bologna, on Sunday, in stage 2 of the 2024 Tour de France, Quentin Pacher believed that it could be his day. After making it into the day’s breakaway, which was free to fight for victory, the 32-year-old puncher tried to play his cards as best he could on the finishing circuit including the San Luca climb. However, he was trapped on a flat section, about twenty kilometres from the finish, and was then unable to challenge Kévin Vauquelin for the win. Combative as usual, he still fought hard to take third place, his best career result on the Tour.

The peloton early in the stage.

One couldn’t have a conservative approach this Sunday leaving Cesenatico. On stage two of the Tour de France, the fight for the breakaway proved quite short. It only took five kilometres for eleven men to hit the front, and Quentin Pacher was one of them, after standing out among the day’s first attackers. As the bunch didn’t show a will to properly chase, the leading group gradually took time as it headed towards Bologna, over 200 kilometres and across six climbs.

Alongside the Groupama-FDJ rider, there were Kévin Vauquelin, Cristian Rodriguez, Mike Teunissen, Hugo Houle, Bram Welten, Jonas Abrahamsen, Harold Tejada, Nelson Oliveira, Jordan Jegat and Axel Laurance. “They worked together well all the time,” explained Frédéric Guesdon, present in the car behind the breakaway. “They understood that we had to get along to make it, and that’s what they did.” Although their gap went up and down, it still approached the symbolic ten-minute bar with sixty kilometres to go. However, the peloton paced up in the first two climbs of the final, and even became a threat to the breakaway at some point.

At the first time on the finish line in Bologna, before the two climbs of San Luca (1.9 km at 10.4%), the gap was indeed reduced to four minutes. The fight in the breakaway therefore began shortly after. “It was the win or nothing,” claimed Quentin. “I went up quite fast on the first climb of the Basilica. With the two Arkéa-B&B Hotels and this large group, I was a little afraid of the transition part between the two climbs. I preferred to make a first selection and find myself in a smaller group that works together.”

The first climb ruled out four riders at the front, but only temporarily. The breakaway of ten reformed on the descent, where some accelerations took place. “What I had imagined happened,” Quentin added. “In the transition portion, we started to look at each other, then there were some attacks and we got trapped.” After following a first acceleration from Oliveira, then closing another attack from Teunissen, Quentin Pacher was unable to catch the Portuguese’s wheel when the latter went away with Vauquelin and Abrahamsen twenty-two kilometres from the line.

While the peloton slowed down a little, thus ensuring a victory for the breakaway, Quentin Pacher suffered from a lack of collaboration behind the leading trio. “We quickly understood that it was over,” Frédéric said. “They got along well up front, and with thirty seconds of a gap at the bottom of the last climb on a rider like Vauquelin, we knew it was going to be difficult to come back.” “We caught the two who were dropped, but Kevin was too strong,” added Quentin, followed by Tejada and Rodriguez in the chase. The leading man always kept a lead of around forty seconds and was therefore able to claim victory in Bologna. Behind Abrahamsen, second in the stage after having anticipated the sprint, Quentin Pacher still beat the rest of the chasers for third place.

“The physical condition is there, we now have to do something with it,” he added. “You have to make choices during the race. Sometimes you make the right ones, sometimes not. I made the right choices at the beginning, then I didn’t make the right one for a split second and that ruined my chances”. “Physically, I think he was capable of doing even better,” concluded Frédéric. “Third in a stage of the Tour is a good result, but we may not often have such opportunities, so we are obviously a bit disappointed when we miss out on winning.”

Behind Quentin Pacher, author of his best career result on the Tour, Romain Grégoire also showed some great things among the favorites and took sixteenth place. As for Valentin Madouas, he will wear the best climber’s jersey by proxy on Monday, in the longest stage of the Tour (230 kilometers), made for sprinters.

And here's the Tour stage two report from Jonas Vingegaard's Team Visa | Lease a Bike:

Jonas Vingegaard finished 13th in the second Tour de France stage. The 27-year-old defending champion reached the finish line in an elite group after he followed an earlier attack by Tadej Pogacar on the steep Côte de San Luca. The stage win in Bologna was for Kévin Vauquelin.

With the 200-kilometre stage between Cesenatico and Bologna, another tough stage was on the cards. In the finale, the riders had to climb the steep Côte de San Luca twice. The peloton again allowed a large breakaway group up front. The 11 escapees would fight for the stage win today. The Frenchman Vauquelin eventually rode solo to victory.

Richard Carapaz leads in the group with the GC contenders, including Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel. Sirotti photo

At 85 kilometres from the line, Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson were involved in a crash in the peloton. The two Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders were able to continue their way immediately. Both Van Aert and Jorgenson still provided important work for team leader Vingegaard towards the decisive double climb of the Côte de San Luca.

It was waiting until the second climb of the short but steep slope for a first attack from the classification riders. Pogacar accelerated firmly from the reduced peloton. Only Vingegaard was able to follow the Slovenian. The two then started the descent together. Just before the finish they were joined by Remco Evenepoel and Richard Carapaz. Vingegaard eventually finished thirteenth. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider is now third in the general classification, in the same time as Evenepoel, Carapaz and new leader Pogacar.

"It's a small victory for me that I was able to follow Pogacar”, Vingegaard responded afterwards. "Beforehand, I thought this stage would be one where I might lose time on the competition. The steep climbs in the final stage were not my specialty, but I felt good. Pogacar and me immediately decided to work together until the finish. The first two stages went better than expected. I doubted myself. It was difficult to predict how I was going to feel after such a short preparation. I am very happy to be able to say that I am at level again. Hopefully this is the start of a great three weeks."

Jorgenson looks back on his leader's performance with pride. "It was impressive how Jonas rode”, the 24-year-old American said. "I am very proud of him. I noticed that his self-belief grew. However, it was a stage that didn't suit him as much on paper. Still, he managed to defend well. It was a good day for the team. It was an unfortunate crash, but I feel fine."

Sports director Grischa Niermann remains calm. "Jonas is showing he is fine, but the Tour is three weeks. Another tough stage awaits the day after tomorrow, so it will be a matter of waiting to see how Jonas digests all those stages. We will see it day by day, but we can certainly be happy with what we saw today. This was one of the best scenarios for us. Beforehand, we feared this stage, given Pogacar's explosiveness. Jonas managed to follow him well. That's a good outcome for us."

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