Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, July 27, 2024
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing. - Socrates
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:
- July 27 - August 4: Olympic cycling
Upcoming racing:
- July 29: Clasica San Sebastian
- July 29 - August 4: Tour of Poland
Latest completed racing:
- July 22 - 26: Tour de Wallonie
- 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
We posted the report from stage winner Sam Watson's Team Groupama-FDJ with the results.
Here's the report from team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Per Strand Hagenes finished fifth in the final stage of Tour de Wallonie. The 21-year-old Norwegian from Team Visma | Lease a Bike clung on for a long time on the Mur de Thuïn, but could not keep stage winner Samuel Watson from victory. With four top-ten finishes, Team Visma | Lease a Bike returned home with a good feeling.
The stage race concluded with a tricky stage that ended with four local laps. A large group managed to break away from the peloton early in the stage, but never got much space. After the last remaining escapees were caught, the battle for the stage win was set to begin. Watson attacked on the steep final climb and crossed the line solo. Hagenes finished shortly behind in fifth place.
Sam Watson wins Tour de Wallonie stage five.
"I have mixed feelings about today", sports director Maarten Wynants said. "We wanted to make the race hard and be with it if a group got away. In the end, 16 men attacked and we were not among them. That was not good." In the final, Mick van Dijke sacrificed his chances for Hagenes. "That was well done. The boys did everything they could to put Per in a good situation. Per probably did the same effort as the winner, but he had to come from too far away."
According to Wynants, the past week has been a good learning experience. "Our goal was to win a stage and we didn't succeed. Still, with three top-five finishes and Per's eighth place in the queen stage, we can look back on this race with satisfaction. The guys did well, especially when you consider that we only had four riders left after Loe van Belle crashed out."
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Here’s the team’s news release:
24-year-old Kazakh cyclist Yevgeniy Fedorov will continue to compete with Astana Qazaqstan Team. The rider has signed a new contract with the team for the next two seasons (2025 and 2026).
The U23 World Champion (2022) and champion of the Summer Asian Games (2023) in the road race, Fedorov performed at a high level this year in one of the world’s most prestigious classic races Paris-Roubaix, finishing in 14th place, a record for Kazakh riders. Additionally, Fedorov won the Asian Championship in the individual time trial for the third consecutive time.
Yevgeniy Fedorov
Fedorov participated in the Tour de France, contributing to Mark Cavendish’s historic 35th stage victory on the 5th stage of the French Grand Tour. Unfortunately, due to illness, the Kazakh rider had to leave the Tour de France early.
After recovering from the sickness, Yevgeniy Fedorov is now in Paris, where he will represent Kazakhstan tomorrow in the individual time trial of 32.4 km.
“I am already in Paris and preparing to start the individual time trial tomorrow, on Saturday. This is a very important and responsible start for me, and I want to represent Kazakhstan with dignity. After the time trial, together with Alexey Lutsenko, I will also compete in the road race. This season has been mixed for me. On the one hand, there were certain successes, such as in Paris-Roubaix or at the Asian Championship. On the other hand, due to sickness, I couldn’t recover in time for some important starts or had to withdraw, as happened in the Tour de France. After the Tour and before Paris, I raced the Vuelta a Castilla y León to check my readiness. I feel good, so I am looking forward to tomorrow’s start. I am very happy to have extended my contract with Astana Qazaqstan Team, and I feel that in this team I can gain even more experience, become stronger, and achieve significant results. The first years in the WorldTour were tough and uneven, primarily due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic. But I hope that gradually I will reach a high level that will allow me to compete for victories in big races. And I feel that I can do this in my team”, – said Yevgeniy Fedorov.
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“Yevgeniy has everything necessary to achieve great results in the highest-level races. And we saw this year in Paris-Roubaix, where he is progressing season by season. Next year, he can make a big step forward in this classic, as well as in other races. It is not easy for all young riders to unlock their potential in the WorldTour, especially when factors such as sicknesses and injuries come into play. But I am confident that perseverance and hard work will eventually lead to success. I am glad that we have extended the contract with Yevgeniy, and in the next two years, we will continue to work to help him fully realize his potential. For now, all attention is on the Olympic Games in Paris, where Yevgeniy Fedorov will compete tomorrow. Both our riders, Fedorov and Alexey Lutsenko, are currently in good shape and ready to fight. I wish the team great success and good luck at the Olympics, and I hope that we can achieve our goals”, – said Alexandr Vinokurov, General Manager of Astana Qazaqstan Team.
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Here's the report from Hirschi's UAE Team Emirates:
Marc Hirschi put in a stinging attack in the final kilometre of stage 2 at the Czech Tour to seal victory and the yellow jersey.
Marc Hirschi before the start of the second stage of the 2024 Tour of Switzerland. Sirotti photo
The Swiss puncheur bided his time on the summit finish of Pustevny, hitting out from a reduced group to haul back an earlier attack by Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-firmatech) in the finale and taking an emphatic win, the 16th of his career.
Diego Ulissi was close behind in 2nd place at 11” with Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) rounding out the podium at 14”.
Hirschi:”It was super hard because also the break didn’t go until 70km of racing and then it was a hard climb which we did twice. But I had super good legs and I could make the difference in the last km. The idea was to keep it all together for me and Ulissi and wait on the climb until the end and wait to see if the legs were good. Tomorrow the final is longer and maybe doesn’t suit me as well as today but we will try and defend the jersey.”
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