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Sunday, July 21, 2024

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. – James Baldwin

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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 20 reports

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

Here's the stage 20 report from second-place Jonas Vingegaard's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Jonas Vingegaard has once again shown that he is an absolute fighter. The Dane showed his good legs in the final mountain stage of the Tour de France and rode a strong final climb. Vingegaard finished second behind stage winner Tadej Pogacar.

Jonas Vingegaard leading Tadej Pogacar up stage 20's final climb. Sirotti photo

In a relatively short stage, Team Visma | Lease a Bike was very active from the start. Wilco Kelderman once again slipped into the breakaway of the day after Matteo Jorgenson, among others, tried his luck in the opening stage. Later, Jan Tratnik also joined Kelderman. On the final climb Kelderman stayed ahead for a long time, together with Richard Carapaz and Enric Mas, among others.

Remco Evenepoel attacked on the final climb to the top of the Col de la Couillole. Vingegaard parried seemingly easily, after which the Dane himself went into battle. At that point, only Pogacar was able to follow. Vingegaard maintained a high pace, gaining meter by meter on rival Evenepoel. Under Vingegaard's regime, the last remaining breakaway riders also got caught. In the last few hundred meters it appeared that Vingegaard had shot his powder. Pogacar sprinted to the stage win.

“It was a tough and hot day,” Vingegaard said afterwards. “I felt better today than yesterday. Then I had one of my worst days ever. I felt good when Remco attacked. I thought to myself that now it was my time. I rode after that mainly to secure second place. Remco is the best time trialist in the world, so it's definitely not over yet. I'm glad I was able to take almost a minute today.”

Vingegaard did regret just missing the stage win. “Tadej was in the wheel a little more today. I think I would have done the same thing if I were in his shoes. I'm happy with how I rode today, and that I was able to recover myself from the lesser days. To bounce back this way, that makes me feel fulfilled. The legs were really much better. I rode around all day with confidence. Tomorrow I will give everything again in the final time trial,” Vingegaard concluded with motivation.

Here’s the report from third-place Richard Carapaz’s Team EF Education-EasyPost:

Richard Carapaz is the King of the Mountains at the 2024 Tour de France.

The Olympic champion from Ecuador confirmed his final victory in the Tour’s climbers’ competition with another heroic performance off the front of France’s great race. After wearing the yellow jersey early in the Tour and winning stage 17, Richie will pull on the famous polka dot jersey tomorrow on the final Tour de France podium, thanks to a gritty performance driven by his teammates on today’s final road stage through the Alps.

Richard Carapaz climbing to stage 20's hilltop finish. Sirotti photo

Stage 20 took the Tour de France from Nice’s Old Port down the Promenade des Anglais and straight into the mountains, with the Col de Braus, Col de Turini, and Col de la Colmiane on course before the final climb up to the finish at the summit of the Col de la Couillole.

With points on offer for the first riders to cross the tops of each of the mountains, Richie had to get ahead of the race to solidify his lead in the competition. As soon as the peloton hit the base of the first climb, Neilson Powless did a huge turn for Richie to get him into the breakaway and pull it away from the peloton.

Once the group was away, Richie bided his time, knowing he had to manage his effort across the whole distance of the stage. If the group could hit the last mountain with enough of an advantage he wanted to have a go for the stage win.

He crossed the summit of the Col de Turini in first place on the road and then did the same on the Col de la Colmiane; the polka-dot jersey was his. With his victory in the King of the Mountains competition sewn up, Richie focused on the Col de la Couillole.

The yellow jersey group was chasing hard behind them. The breakaway hit the base of the final climb with two-and-a-half minutes’ advantage. Richie answered the first attacks and then put in his own dig. Only one rider could go with his explosive effort. The two traded turns up the climb, trying heroically to hold off their chasers. When the yellow jersey group got to within a few seconds, Richie launched again, throwing all of his effort into the pedals to try and shake them. When they caught him, he gritted his teeth and jumped on the wheel, only getting dropped by the top two riders in the race when they accelerated in the final kilometer. He finished third on the stage and was rewarded at the finish with the King of the Mountains jersey, which he will wear in the Tour’s final time trial tomorrow and on the final podium in Nice.

Richard Carapaz:
"The truth is I’m super excited. It was a really, really, really hard day. I had good luck to place myself well and I earned more points and I’m just really happy.

"For me, it’s been a Tour that was growing little by little, day by day, and this is the best I’ve felt and it’s ended great. It’s a positive result for me. To bring this wonderful jersey home is the best."

Ben Healy:
"It’s been a pretty tough final week for me. I’ve been fighting a bit of sickness. Yesterday was probably one of the worst days I’ve ever had on a bike. I was really questioning whether to even start today, but I just wanted to try and help Richie with the polka dots if I could. I didn’t know if I would finish frankly, but the body came around a bit. I made it to the line, so hopefully I can have a bit of an easier day tomorrow.

"We are 100 percent happy with our Tour de France. If you had told us before the Tour that we’d leave the Tour with these results, we’d have taken that.

"Personally, I’m really happy with the level that I’ve reached, barring a bit of sickness in this last week. I’m really happy with what I’ve done."

Rui Costa:
" I feel tired, but I am happy for Richard. He took the jersey. That was super important for us and everyone involved with the team. It was a nice finish as well. We had the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, won a stage, and won the King of the Mountains jersey. It’s amazing. For us, these results are super important. They are the result of the best teamwork, for sure."

Here's the Tour stage 20 report from fourth-place Remco Evenepoel's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Remco Evenepoel all but won the white jersey after the final mountain showdown of the Tour de France, which took place on Col de la Couillole, a hard first-category climb that many of the riders knew from its previous appearances in Paris-Nice and the Classic Alpes-Maritimes.

The short stage 20 was bananas from the off, the many attacks that came on the Col de Braus, the first ascent of the day leaving only 15 riders in the yellow jersey group. For a couple of moments there, it looked likely that they would go all the way to the line in this formation, but eventually the pace relented, which allowed the chasers to come back.

The many skirmishes that came before the top led to a breakaway being established before Col de Turini, the iconic ascent made famous not by the Tour de France’s previous visits, but by its presence on the course of the legendary Monte Carlo Rally. Their maximum gap hit five minutes, but it began tumbling down as soon as the Soudal Quick-Step boys picked up the pace Col de La Colmiane.

Gianni Moscon and Ilan Van Wilder emptied the tank, slashing the margin to three minutes, before Jan Hirt took over and further reduced the gap separating the bunch from the remaining escapees. When Mikel Landa – a runner-up earlier this season at the Volta a Catalunya – rode to the front of the group and set a ferocious tempo, that advantage crumbled to just one minute and paved the way for Remco’s attack. The white jersey made an important selection with eight kilometers to go, as only the two other riders on the podium could join him, but he didn’t stop there, accelerating again.

Remco Evenepoel on the final climb. Sirotti photo

It was a pair of attacks which illustrated the admirable fighting spirit of the Belgian and his endless determination to do his best regardless of the scenario, a gutsy display that netted him fourth behind stage winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) ahead of Sunday’s challenging individual time trial from Monte Carlo to Nice which Remco will tackle with a lot of confidence: “I am content. I tried to put pressure on Jonas and don’t have any regrets after today. The team did an incredible job and I want to thank them for that. I did my best and I will try to do the same on what will be a hard final day of Le Tour. I know the roads from Paris-Nice and the recon I did and I am prepared to go all-in and fight for the stage victory.”

And here's the Tour de France stage 20 report from Romain Bardet's Team dsm-firmenich PostNL:

The penultimate stage at the Tour de France saw the peloton take on a short but explosive route in and around the Nice area, where Romain Bardet dazzled and delighted the crowds on the final open-road stage of his Tour de France career. Fighting until the very end in a fashion that was a parallel of his career so far, Bardet crossed the line atop Col de la Couillole in a strong tenth place.

Romain Bardet riding to tenth in the stage. Sirotti photo

From the start on Saturday the pace was fierce with multiple attacks and groups all over the road on the first ascent of Col de Braus. Things regrouped somewhat over the top and Bardet, who had battled to return to the reduced yellow jersey group, went on the attack alongside some others on the following descent. Getting clear, a good group of ten eventually formed out front and their advantage grew to over four minutes as they tackled the Col du Turini. However, on the lower slopes of the next climb the peloton upped the pace and started to cut into the lead, and cresting Col de La Colmiane it hovered at around three minutes. A fast descent followed before Bardet and his fellow escapees were faced with the last ascent of the day; the challenging 15-kilometre-long Col de la Couillole.

As the gradients started to bite and the kilometres ticked by, the break began to disintegrate with Bardet hanging tough as the group reduced to around six riders, before Carapaz and Mas launched a stinging attack. Bardet dug deep, gathering his strength to almost make it back to them, but he had to succumb and ride at his own tempo as the third rider on the road. In the meantime, an infernal pace was set in the ever-reducing yellow jersey group, which drastically cut into the gap of the leaders and Bardet, before the attacks started. Just inside five kilometres to go, Bardet was passed by Pogacar and Vingegaard as he continued to battle up the climb. Not giving in, he pushed all the way to the finish where he was met with rapturous applause from adoring fans, waving as he crossed the line for a very commendable and hard-fought tenth place.

Speaking after the finish an emotional and exhausted Bardet said: “It was pretty special out there today. I was thinking of my wife and child all of the time while I was riding. I think today was a good summary of my career as a whole: never giving up through the ups and downs. I really did my best today and left it all on the road. I wanted to try one last time at the Tour de France and this was it. When I came over the line and saw everyone here, it feels special to me, and now I really feel like my time at the race is finished.”

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Matt Winston added: “It was a crazy hard start today, and Romain did a super job to get in the break. He rode a smart race out front and came into the final in a good way. From there it was a battle on that final climb to try and make it. Romain dug as deep as he could and gave everything, to take a solid top ten finish in the end. He can be really proud of the grit and effort that he showed out there today.”

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