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Wednesday, June 5, 2024

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2023 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

There is no great genius without some touch of madness. - Aristotle

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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:

• June 2 - 9: Critérium du Dauphiné
• June 5 - 9: ZLM Tour

Upcoming racing:

• June 7: GP Canton Aargau
• June 9 - 16: Tour de Suisse
• June 12 - 16: Baloise Belgium Tour
• June 15 - 18: La Route d'Occitanie Cancelled because security forces busy with Olympics
• June 21 - 26: Many National Championships
• July 1 - 23: Tour de France
• July 27 - August 11: Olympic cycling

Latest completed racing:

• June 2: Brussels Cycling Classic
• May 29: Circuit Franco-Belge
• May 4 - 26: Giro d'Italia
• May 23 - 26: Tour of Norway
• May 26: Rund um Köln
• May 14 - 19: 4 Days of Dunkirk
• May 18: Veenendaal - Veenendaal Classic
• May 11: Tour du Finistère
• May 5: Tro-Bro Léon
• May 4: GP du Morbihan
• May 1: Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt

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Critérium du Dauphiné stage three reports

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

Here's the report from stage winner Derek Gee's Team Israel-Premier Tech:

Shout it from the rooftops: Derek Gee is a race winner. After those famous near misses, particularly during last year’s Giro d’Italia, the Canadian rider finished a brilliant Israel – Premier Tech performance to win stage three of the Critérium du Dauphiné in Les Estables on Tuesday.

Gee‘s second reward for this unforgettable day was the race leader’s yellow jersey, which he’ll wear in Wednesday’s individual time trial.

Derek Gee will ride stage four in yellow. Sirotti photo

“This is definitely on a different level,” says Gee. “It’s unbelievably special to win here. I’ve been waiting for a win in Europe. I’ve come second several times. It was nice to finish it off. A massive part of it was Krists Neilands attacking with one kilometer to go and I was in a good position and it was strung out. I wasn’t planning on going there but as soon as he came back, there was a bit of a lull and I had to take advantage of it.”

IPT’s 16th victory of 2024 was the least the team deserved for its strong start to this prestigious race, which is one of the two key warm-up events for the Tour de France. Dylan Teuns placed sixth in Monday’s second stage after his teammates worked throughout to close down the day’s breakaway group. Today, Neilands’ blistering acceleration under the flamme rouge put other teams on the back foot, before Gee launched his counter move seconds after his teammate was caught.

Romain Grégoire (GFC) was the only rider who could follow Gee; the Frenchman briefly looked like he was going to claim the victory. But Gee, whose determination and character won over so many fans in that breakthrough Giro performance last year, sprinted past him 150 meters from the line and held on for an unforgettable win. To make it extra special, his fiancée Ruby greeted him for the celebrations.

Gee says: “The goal coming into the race wasn’t necessarily for me to win a stage. We were going for Dylan [Teuns] most of the day, it was a good finish for him, but he made the call on the final climb saying ‘boys if you have the legs, go for it’ and we took it up. I’m really happy to come away with it.”

Before today, Gee’s two previous wins on the road were in the Canadian Time Trial Championships in 2022 and 2023. Because of this victory, he’ll swap his national skinsuit for a yellow one in tomorrow’s 34.4-kilometer test between Saint-Germain-Laval and Neulise. “Wearing the yellow jersey is pretty special,” he adds. “That’s going to be quite a feeling I think.”

Sports Director Daryl Impey adds: “It was an amazing ride by all the guys! A great team victory, finished off by Derek. It’s only day three out of eight, but we’re not done yet and we’re hungry for more at this Dauphiné.”

Here's the report from second-place Romain Gregoire's Team Groupama-FDJ:

His revenge was almost perfect. After he was left disappointed with his sprint on Monday, Romain Grégoire came very close to victory this Tuesday on stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné. While his teammate Rémy Rochas spent the day in the breakaway, the 21-year-old Frenchman came into action in the last kilometre, as he followed and countered Derek Gee’s attack. However, he was unable to drop the Canadian, who managed to overtake him in a final effort. The puncher from Groupama-FDJ therefore took second place, three seconds ahead of the rest of the bunch. He is now third overall and best young rider. On Wednesday, a very important time trial will be on the menu.

Romain Gregoire finishes second to winner Derek Gee. Sirotti photo

Heading towards Les Estables, the riders faced another hilly profile on Tuesday on the Critérium du Dauphiné. Like the day before, the punchers were expected at the end of the 181 kilometers of racing, but unlike the day before, the breakaway did not go from kilometre 0 but after almost forty minutes of a fierce fight. “The stage looked like yesterday’s one, and since the breakaway almost made it on Monday, it obviously gave some ideas to some riders,” explained Rémy Rochas. “Harry Sweeny went at one point, and I thought it would be better to go straight away, and then see if it came back from behind.”

However, only Nicolas Prodhomme followed the move, and they were eventually only three at the head of the race. “We expected the race to be fast at the start and we knew that Uno-X was going to control, but it took a while for the break to go,” summarized Benoît. “Then, we had more of a conservative approach while keeping Romain and David safe.” At the front, Rémy Rochas and his two companions, however, never got more than three minutes of a lead over a vigilant peloton. Fifty kilometres from the finish, starting a long uphill section, their gap was even reduced to a minute. “It was a bit complicated with just three men, so they decided to slow down a little to encourage other teams to attack behind, which is what happened,” added Benoît. “Valentin came out, but a bit too late behind Juul-Jensen and it proved difficult for him.”

After some ten kilometres of chasing, the French champion got back to the peloton, while Rémy Rochas was distanced from the breakaway twenty-three kilometres from the finish, shortly before the descent that led to the bottom of the climb final. “I’m in rather good shape, but I’ve had a little muscle pain since yesterday and I had a little stomachache today,” he explained. “I was empty in the end.” “We then got back to a fairly classic scenario, the peloton rode hard, and everything came back together,” added Benoît.

The breakaway was caught just after the three-kilometre banner in the climb of Les Estables (3.8 km at 4.8%), and a few moments later, Kevin Geniets brought Romain Grégoire back to the front. “I didn’t feel super good today,” said the young man. “The long, thirty-kilometre slight uphill drag really hurt the legs. I told the guys, who were trying to position me, but they gave me confidence right away, put me in the right conditions, told me to keep believing and they were right. Once you feel the finish line getting closer and you enter the last kilometers, your legs kind of unlock.”

The former European world champion fought to stay at the front of the peloton and was therefore ready to react in the last kilometre while a reduced bunch sprint seemed to be looming. “I didn’t expect someone to go with 500 metres to go,” he said. “But when I saw the way Derek Gee attacked, I didn’t hesitate at all. I went straight away. I may have gotten too excited as I passed him with 300 metres to go. I thought he was done, so I tried to go, but he had a second bullet. I didn’t think about anything, I was trying to give everything until the line, but it wasn’t enough, once again. He also rode perfectly, taking back my wheel and passing me at the last moment. It’s frustrating.”

In the last fifty metres, Romain Grégoire indeed realized the win wasn’t going to be his while the bunch was a few metres behind. “In such lactic and hard efforts, you no longer see the signs too much,” added Benoît. “He passed Derek Gee directly, it was instinctive, especially at the top of a hill. Yet, he was still 300 metres away. We can’t blame him. He should have stayed in the wheel, but it’s always easy to say afterwards. We would have liked to win, we are not satisfied with second place, but Romain gained some confidence back. He’s doing better and better. The team is up there in the mix, that’s what’s important, even if we’re obviously disappointed to miss out on victory.”

After a frustrating ninth place on Monday, Romain Grégoire still snatched a remarkable second place on Tuesday. “I’m obviously disappointed, I almost believed I was going to make it at 300 metres,” he added. “I don’t like coming second, that’s for sure. I’m gutted, but I was dead, I left everything on the road, so I don’t have that many regrets. I’m not sure I had the legs to do much better. He was simply stronger.”

A few minutes after the finish, Romain Grégoire, now third overall, came to the mixed zone with the white jersey of the best young rider on his shoulders. “It’s a nice little consolation prize, and I’ll be able to ride a good time trial tomorrow with this jersey, but that’s not what I was looking for,” he concluded. On Wednesday, the general classification of the Critérium du Dauphiné should change significantly over the 34.4 kilometers separating Saint-Germain-Laval from Neulise.

Here's the Dauphiné report from fourth-place Giulio Ciccone's Team Lidl-Trek

Giulio Ciccone sprints to fourth for the second day in a row at the traditional Tour de France build-up race and subsequently moves into the lead of the Points Classification.

Giulio Ciccone will ride stage four in the points jersey. Sirotti photo

After finishing fourth in the fog on the Col de la Loge on Stage 2, Ciccone replicated this result in Les Estables at the end of Stage 3.

One rider from the early breakaway was agonisingly close to making to the finish line yesterday and so, it was no surprise to see teams fighting it out to get into the breakaway today. Toms Skujins looked characteristically strong in the opening kilometers and had the support of Lidl-Trek to try to force a strong move. However, ultimately, only three riders were allowed to go clear and the trio was kept on a relatively short leash throughout the whole day.

Lidl-Trek, led by the reliable duo of Alex Kirsch and Ryan Gibbons, moved up to the front of the peloton ahead of a crucial left-hand turn to make sure that the Team’s key riders were well-positioned and ready for a fast and furious uphill finale.

Approaching the 10-kilometer to go mark, it was Mads Pedersen setting the pace to help close the gap to the remaining leaders, a signal which showed the Stage 1 winner was playing the role of trusted teammate with Ciccone the Lidl-Trek sprinter this time around.

In the end, Derek Gee (IPT) made a late, and somewhat surprise, attack with 500 meters to go and was able to get the better of the bunch to hold on for the win while, Ciccone had to come from behind to clinch fourth with the Team’s GC leader Tao Geoghegan Hart also finishing in the first part of the front group.

His results over the last two days scored him enough points to move into the green jersey, which started the day on the shoulders of Pedersen.

Ciccone’s reaction:
“It was a bit of a strange final. The climb was super fast and my teammates did a perfect job and I just made a small mistake in the last kilometer. I was too far back and I had to do a really long sprint and actually, in the end, I ad to sprint two times but, it’s like this. I am not a sprinter. In the end, I am there and my legs are good and my feeling is also good so after such a long time and all the problems I had, I think for me it’s really important to be trying to fight for the victory, for my head too. We have some hard stages in front of us and then the Tour is next so I really want to know my shape in the next days and for sure, as a team there is still more we can do here.”

And here's the stage three report from Remco Evenepoel's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Another hilly affair awaited at the French race Tuesday afternoon, when the bunch tackled five classified climbs and almost 3000 vertical meters. Many were hoping at the start that it would be a day for the breakaway, and for that reason the speed was crazy high in the first hour of the stage, during which the bunch averaged 48km/h.

Eventually, the bunch got fed up with chasing each move and gave green light to a three-man group, who ended up carving out a margin which turned out not to be enough for them to make it. The trio were reeled on the final ascent, Les Estables, where the Soudal Quick-Step boys took the front to set a steady rhythm and make sure Remco Evenepoel was protected and in a good position at all times.

The strung-out peloton 48 km into the stage.

Just like on the previous stage, the victory came after a late attack, this time Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) being the one who came out on top. Evenepoel couldn’t get in the mix for a good result due to a flat, but concluded with the peloton and will now go into the Neulise 34.4km individual time trial just a couple of seconds from the overall podium of the Dauphiné.

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