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Friday, July 19, 2024

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. - T. S. Eliot

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Bill & Carol McGann’s book The Story of the 2023 Tour de France, 2023: The Viking Again Conquers the Tour is available in both Kindle eBook & 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 18 reports

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

Here's the stage 18 report from stage winner Victor Campenaerts' Team Lotto Dstny:

Victor Campenaerts has won stage 18 of the Tour de France. Campenaerts made his move on the first climb of the day and managed to keep his breakaway companions Vercher and Kwiatkowski behind at the finish line. "This is the best day of my career."

"If I can win a stage, it will be stage 18." That was Victor Campenaerts' prediction back in December already. And look: six months later, he did it. Between Gap and Barcelonnette, Vocsnor showed incredible strength. Campenaerts broke away on the Col du Festre, the first climb of the day, initially with several other riders. But on the Côte de Saint-Apollinaire, the leading group started to fall apart.

With 40 kilometers to go, only Victor Campenaerts, Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies), and Michał Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers) remained. "I knew this was my only option to win a stage, I was already focused on it before the season began. I was highly motivated: I warmed up on the rollers before the stage, my bike was perfectly tuned. I even had special time trial tires put on. This had to be the day. Riding in a breakaway with Kwiatkowski is an honor in itself, but we worked very well together, the three of us."

Victor Campenaerts wins stage 18. Sirotti photo

Campenaerts is extremely happy with his victory. "A true pro must ride the Tour de France, finish the Tour de France, and win a stage in the Tour de France. That is everyone's dream, and now, here in Barcelonnette, I can make it come true. It’s unbelievable. I’ve had the full support of my team over the past weeks. I went on a nine-week high-altitude training camp to prepare. All that time, my girlfriend, heavily pregnant, was by my side. While the rest of the team prepared for this Tour in the Dauphiné or the Tour of Switzerland, we were in the hospital in Spain for the birth of our son. That week was supposed to be a heavy training week for me. 'See what you can do,' my coach said. But I was tireless. Since Gustaaf was born, I’ve been riding on clouds."

"This is the highlight of my career, and I’m very happy to share it with this team. A young team, with little experience. But we are showing ourselves here. With Arnaud De Lie in almost every sprint, with a beautiful time trial. The atmosphere within the team is fantastic, and you can be sure that we are going to celebrate tonight."

Here's the Tour report from third-place Michal Kwiatkowski's Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Michał Kwiatkowski sprinted to third place on stage 18 of the Tour de France, after a combative and active display from the day’s breakaway.

The breakaway trio on their way to conquering the stage. ASO photo

The stage would once again be ridden at a fierce pace, with Geraint Thomas and Kwiato ably placing themselves in a move of nearly forty riders that would quickly establish a large gap of the peloton.

The early stages would see G active in marking moves, ensuring no one got up the road without a Grenadier present.

With 62 kilometres to go, Kwiatkowski would launch the first of his attacks to thin the group, before attacking again with 40 kilometres remaining.

The Pole would eventually see himself in a group of three with a 15 second lead on the chasing group. With strong rotation between the trio, the gap would quickly expand to 45 seconds, ahead of the final kilometres.

Under the Flamme Rouge and the two-time Tour stage winner would shut down an attack from breakaway companion Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies), before leading out the sprint, eventually finishing in third on the day.

In the overall standings, all of the GC contenders would come home on the same time ahead of a couple of tough mountain stages.

Here's the stage 18 report from Wout van Aert's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Bart Lemmen and Wout van Aert both finished in the top ten in the 18th Tour stage. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders finished sixth and ninth after a day in the breakaway. The stage win in Barcelonnette was for Victor Campenaerts. With a tough final weekend ahead, the classification riders experienced a quiet stage.

Wout van Aert heads to the start of stage 18. Sirotti photo

The peloton set off in Gap for a 180-kilometre ride towards the finish in Barcelonnette. The hilly course once again aroused the interest of the breakaway riders. After the start signal, it was again a battle to get into the breakaway. On the first climb of the day - the Col du Festre - a large front group of 36 riders, including Wout van Aert and Bart Lemmen, was formed.

The breakaway then worked together down the following climbs. An alert Lemmen responded to several attacks along the way. In the end, Campenaerts, Matteo Vercher and Michal Kwiatkowski managed to break away from the rest on the final climb. Lemmen was part of the chasing group, which just failed to join the three leaders. The trio eventually battled for the stage win. Lemmen finished in fine sixth place. Van Aert finished ninth shortly afterwards.

“I felt very good, but the last hour I was suffering tremendously”, Tour debutant Lemmen said afterwards. “Because of all the work on the road I was drained. I kept cheering myself up to keep going. When the group was still complete, I reacted to all attacks to play the team game in service of Wout. Later I found myself in an advantageous position. Unfortunately we couldn't join the leading group, but I enjoyed this stage.”

Van Aert again showed himself at the head of the race. “I could not react when Kwiatkowski accelerated. He was riding very hard. I gambled for a moment by not reacting to Campenaerts' acceleration. In hindsight, I missed a place in the right breakaway there. After that it was a long chase. My compliments to the three leaders who managed to stay in front. Bart was also very strong today. It's nice for him to get a top-ten place in the Tour”, the Belgian said.

The riders are preparing for a tough final weekend in the south. The classification riders experienced a relatively quiet day in the peloton, which crossed the line more than ten minutes behind the stage winner.

And here's the Tour de France stage 18 report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Barcelonnette, a small town lying in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, returned at the Tour de France after almost half a century, this time as a finish for stage 18, which started from Gap and took in five classified climbs. It was another route perfect for a breakaway, and when a massive 36-man group took off it soon became clear they would fight for the win.

The action at the front began with 40 kilometers to go, as several riders tried to go clear on the up-and-down roads that were perfect for these kinds of moves. With the peloton more than 12 minutes behind, the escapees had plenty of time for a cat-and-mouse game that eventually led to three riders going clear, and from that small group, Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) took the victory.

Remco Evenepoel and Mikel Landa – together with their Soudal Quick-Step teammates – arrived home together with the bunch, and the Belgian took again to the podium to receive his 17th white jersey. Remco will sport it on Friday’s leg-sapping stage to Isola 2000, which will include a trip up the Cime de la Bonette, the third-highest paved road in Europe, at 2802 meters.

Remco Evenepoel remains the owner of the white jersey. Sirotti photo

“The start was a bit intense, but overall, it was a pretty easy stage. We still had to remain focused because there were some tricky descents and the rough roads. We stayed out of trouble and can be content with our day. Now we’ll see what we can do on Friday, where the gradients won’t be as difficult as in the Pyrenees, but the altitude could lead to somefireworks”, said Evenepoel after the stage.

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