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Friday, July 26, 2024

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

Love is all, it gives all, and it takes all. - Soren Kierkegaard

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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:

• July 22 - 26: Tour de Wallonie
  

Upcoming racing:

• July 27 - August 4: Olympic cycling
• July 29: Clasica San Sebastian
• July 29 - August 4: Tour of Poland

Latest completed racing:

• July 23: Vuelta a Castilla y Leon
• June 29 - July 21: Tour de France
• 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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First, a bit of catching up.

Cofidis team equipment controversy

After the Tour de France finished Cofidis rider Guillaume Martin complained that the team would have done better if if they had bikes and equipment as good as the other teams. He complained that the Look bike the team was issued was too heavy. Martin was the highest finishing Cofidis rider. He was 13th, at 43min 49sec.

Guillame Martin racing in stage 17 of the 2023 Tour de France. Sirotti photo

Here is the statement the team issued in response:

Following statements made in the press over the last few hours about the weight of Guillaume Martin's bike at the end of a testing stage, the Cofidis team would like to clarify the characteristics of the equipment used by its teams.

"State-of-the-art equipment developed by our partners' engineers"

The bikes used by all the riders were designed in conjunction with our performance department and our partners' design and research departments. Some of our riders played an active role in the design process, contributing their expertise and feedback to ensure that the team had access to high-tech equipment. The weight of the bikes is an important consideration, but it is not the only factor affecting performance. The bike used by Guillaume Martin has been fitted with specific equipment to ensure that it weighs no more than 7.4kg, which is slightly less than the average weight of the best riders in the peloton. With the LOOK 795 Blade RS frames, our riders benefit from cutting-edge equipment developed by our partners' engineers, offering a stiffness/aerodynamics/weight ratio that has been approved by our riders for over a year. We are convinced that this performance has enabled us and will enable us to compete with our rivals. We have also won the 2023 Tour de France, the 2023 Vuelta and the 2024 Giro with this same bike, and have just finished once again as the highest-placed French rider overall in the 2024 Tour de France. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our partners, and in particular the LOOK Cycle and CORIMA brands, for their confidence and the involvement of their teams, who work alongside us to develop the best equipment for our riders.

Tour de Wallonie stage four team reports

We posted the report from fifth-place Mick van Dijke's Team Visma | Lease a Bike with the results.

Here's the report from team Groupama-FDJ:

In Herve, on Thursday, stage 4 of the Tour de Wallonie concluded with a hectic sprint. Around sixty riders were present in the slightly uphill finish, and Paul Penhoët did not have the legs to fight for victory. Sam Watson tried to anticipate three kilometres from the finish, then Lewis Askey joined in the sprint. The latter, however, was slowed down by a crash and had to settle for ninth place. Rudy Molard remains ninth overall before the last stage.

Matteo Trentin wins stage four.

This Thursday, the Tour de Wallonie started from the hometown of Philippe Gilbert, Verviers, and was due to join Herve, not far away from there. However, nearly 190 kilometres were on the menu, with a twisty route which included the iconic côte de la Redoute. Generally speaking, the stage had less difficulties than the day before, but it still featured about 2700 metres of elevation. “The plan for today was to sprint with Paul,” explained William Green. “Although there was the côte de la Redoute, we thought that the race would be quite controlled, especially by Tudor. Eventually, a rider in the breakaway was only three minutes down on GC, and for this reason, Israel-Premier Tech rode until côte de la Redoute.” Within the bunch, a few attacks occurred, but everything got back together about fifty kilometres from the finish. “After that, no team wanted to take control for the sprint, so we took control,” added William. “This was a very good breakaway of five riders, and Thibaud Gruel did some great work chasing, and then Cyril Barthe as well.”

In the lead, Lorenzo Milesi, Michael Gogl, Liam Slock, Cole Kessler and William Blume Levy gradually lost time in the various uphill sections, but they still had a lead of almost thirty seconds with ten kilometres to go. “We managed to catch the last breakaway rider three kilometres from the finish,” said William. “We had to use riders there, but if you want to win, we have to take control.” The peloton then tackled the day’s last slopes, not very steep but still challenging enough. Per Strand Hagenes made an attack, and Sam Watson was quick to react. “It was a strong move,” claimed William. “After the Côte de la Redoute, it was a very hard chase, and I think there were very tired legs in the peloton, so we thought some moves could go on this climb. Sam was present and he made it across towards the end of the climb. It was a good move, and for sure there was a possibility to win from this move. However, the cohesion at the front was not very good, and Sam probably contributed to this lack of cohesion.” A few metres ahead of the pack, the Briton and the other three leading riders were then caught 500 metres from the finish.

From then on, a sprint was expected. “I think everyone in the peloton was a bit on the limit, Paul still focused to make a nice sprint, but he didn’t have the legs he had on stages one and two,” concluded William. “So, in the last two kilometers, Lewis took the initiative to sprint. He was in perfect position, just behind Jordi Meeus but Meeus crashed and unfortunately that upset Lewis’ sprint. Ninth was the best he could do. Without this crash, I’m sure he would have been close to the podium. To be honest, it’s a disappointing day, especially after we took control, but there was some really good teamwork during the stage.” Rudy Molard kept ninth place overall, while an uphill finish in Thuin will be on the menu tomorrow.

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