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Thursday, July 11, 2024

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

There never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword. - Ulysses S. Grant

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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 11 reports

We posted the report from the race organizer with the results.

Here's the Tour stage 11 report from winner Jonas Vingegaard's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Jonas Vingegaard has won the 11th stage of the Tour de France. The two-time Tour winner was the fastest in a sprint-a-deux with Tadej Pogacar after a gruelling mountain stage. It is the fourth stage win ever for Vingegaard, who won for the first time since his crash in Itzulia Basque Country in early April. "This is an emotional win for me.”

Jonas Vingegaard wins stage 11. Sirotti photo

"This win means a lot to me”, an emotional Vingegaard said afterwards. "Everything I went through in the past few months is now coming back. The period after my crash in Itzulia Basque Country was tough. It's a victory for my family. They have always been by my side."

The 211-kilometre 11th stage in the Tour de France took the peloton from Évaux-les-Bains to Le Lioran. After a hilly opening stage, the riders were presented with four categorised climbs in the final 60 kilometres. On the Puy Mary, the group of favourites, including Vingegaard, grabbed the last remaining escapees. On the steep flanks, Pogacar attacked. Vingegaard reached the foot of the next climb, the Col de Pertus, half a minute behind the classification leader. Together with Primoz Roglic, the Dane started the chase.

On that Col de Pertus, Vingegaard, who had meanwhile left Roglic behind, came closer to Pogacar. In the final metres of the climb, Vingegaard joined the Slovenian. The two then rode together towards the finish in Le Lioran. After a true battle, Vingegaard eventually proved to have the fastest legs in the sprint. He won his fourth Tour stage ever.

"I couldn't follow Pogacar's attack on the Puy Mary, although I certainly didn't have a big gap up top”, Vingegaard said. “I that I just had to keep fighting and find my own pace. On the descent, he managed to gain some time, so I wasn't expecting to be able to come back. It ended up being a narrow sprint, but I immediately felt the victory was mine. Three months ago I could not have imagined this." 

Sports director Frans Maassen: "After the Puy Mary, it looked like we were going to have to limit the damage, but he did it. This win will definitely be among his best ever. The moment he joined Pogacar was actually a victory in itself, but he has exceeded it. Everything remains playable in GC. They are evenly matched, they proved that again today. We will keep fighting until Nice.”

Here's the Tour report from third-place Remco Evenepoel's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Remco Evenepoel showed grit, determination and a fantastic never-say-die attitude on what went down as the most explosive stage of the race so far, a 211km trek through the Massif Central which ended up having a bigger impact on the general classification that the mythical Col du Galibier, one week ago.

After five hours of breathless racing, gruelling gradients, more than 4000 vertical meters and insane speeds, Soudal Quick-Step’s leader demonstrated calmness, pulling off a massive performance. Evenepoel, who is racing his maiden Tour de France, was distanced on Pas de Peyrol – the hardest climb of the day, averaging 8.1% over 3.8 kilometers – but never gave up and recovered well on the descent and the remaining two climbs, where he joined Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

Despite trailing by around 50 seconds going into the final 15 kilometers, Remco rode his own pace that allowed him not only to increase the gap over the first chasing group, but also to mount a remarkable recovery on the roads to Le Lioran. On the last climb, the 24-year-old custodian of the white jersey managed to claw back time on his way to an impressive third place, just 25 seconds down on Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), who took the stage win after outsprinting Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).

Remco Evenepoel finishes third in stage 11. Sirotti photo

“Everybody knows the first two guys are on another level, so I’m satisfied with today. It was very fast and explosive from the start, a relentless stage from kilometer zero all the way until the finish. Maybe I wasn’t quite at my best, because I struggled a bit when the attacks came with 30 kilometers to go, but I didn’t panic and just rode my own rhythm.”

“It was hard out there, but I continued pushing and believing, trying my best to make up ground. I didn’t lose too much time today, so I need to be content with how things turned out. I also took time on the other guys and increased my margin in the general classification while retaining second place, so I can say it was a good stage. We need to remain focused, continue to do our best and build on these very good results”, said Remco after taking his 36th white jersey in a Grand Tour.

Here's the Tour report from fourth place Primoz Roglic's Team Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe:

Many had expected the coming weekend in the Pyrenees to be a time for big attacks in the classification. But today's 11th stage through the Massif Central was already a tough one. 211 kilometers - and thus the second longest day of the Tour de France - and no less than 4,350 meters of climbing were on the agenda.

The finale in particular, with four categorized mountains, was a real challenge for the favourites. The preliminary decision was made on the third-to-last climb, the Puy Mary. The leading group had melted down to ten riders. Shortly before the summit, on the steepest section, the yellow jersey wearer attacked and went solo on the last 30 kilometers. Primož Roglič initially led the chase. On the next climb, Vingegaard broke away from Roglič - but Evenepoel joined him. A duo at the front, a duo a few seconds behind and with a clear gap to all the chasers. This situation would determine the final kilometers.

There were scary moments on the descent to the finish: Primož Roglič crashed in a hairpin bend, was quickly back on his bike and crossed the finish line in fourth place. Thanks to the three-kilometer rule that applied on stage 11, Roglič was classified by the jury with the same time as Evenepoel.

Primoz Roglic finishes stage 11. Sirotti photo

Today marked the start of the second half of the Tour de France. The four favorites have now clearly pulled away from the chasers - the gap between Primož Roglič and 5th place is already more than two minutess.

Giulio Ciccone's Team Lidl-Trek posted this Tour report:

The Italian sprinted to a top five finish at the end of the an intense day of racing that saw the GC contenders going head to head.

At the start of the day, this stage was earmarked as one for the breakaway riders but Giulio Ciccone was primed and ready to go for Stage 11 of the Tour de France IF the General Classification riders decided they wanted to race for the victory.

Giulio Ciccone earlier this year at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Sirotti photo

Lidl-Trek were key players in the fast and furious fight to form a breakaway with Toms Skujins and Julien Bernard both in various attacks and the Frenchman eventually getting into the most successful move of the day. However, the peloton, led by UAE Team Emirates, was not willing to allow any group to gain a potentially race winning advantage.

The yellow jersey of Tadej Pogacar attacked on the Puy Mary-Pas de Peyrol and what was left of the main bunch was quickly spread out across the road. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma – Lease-a-Bike) was the only rider to be able to bridge to the yellow jersey and went on to take the stage win while, behind another battle played out.

Ciccone looked strong and managed his effort well to stay with the third group on the road before unleashing a sprint of his own in the closing meters to take fifth on the line, a result which also sees him move up into the top ten overall.

Giulio’s Reaction:
" It was a crazy start, really fast and we pushed hard to have someone in the breakaway but then we saw straight away that today was not a day for that. It was clear that UAE really wanted to win the stage. My job was just to follow and I think, today, was a good day for me, my feelings were better than the first week, the shape is there and so I am confident for the rest of the Tour.

"We know that, especially for me, it is sometimes impossible to do that tempo with those two [Vingegaard and Pocagar] so I knew that, in that moment, I needed to manage my effort and do my best with my values and that’s it. For sure though, with the feelings that are there, I am excited to race and to see what will happen in the rest of the mountains.

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