Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest. - Mark Twain
Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2021: The Little Cannibal Dominates is available in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- March 3 - 10: Paris-Nice
- March 4 - 10: Tirreno-Adriatico
Upcoming racing:
- March 13: Danilith Nokere Koerse
- March 13: Milano-Torino
- March 14: GP de Denain
- March 15: Brendene Koksijde Classic
- March 16: Milano - Sanremo
- March 16: Classic Loire Atlantique
Latest completed racing:
- March 2: Strade Bianche
- February 28: Trofeo Laigueglia
- February 27: Le Samyn
- February 19 - 25: UAE Tour
- February 22 - 25: O Gran Camiño
- February 25: Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne
- February 25: Faun-Drôme Classic
We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from stage winner UAE Team Emirates:
UAE Team Emirates powered to victory at a rain-hit stage 3 team time trial at Paris Nice in France today. The team put in an excellent ride and also avoided the rain to put Brandon McNulty into the race lead after completing the hilly 26.9km Auxerre course in a time of 31:23.
Finn Fisher-Black was first rider to cross the line with Jay Vine, Joao Almeida and Brandon McNulty in close convoy. McNulty takes yellow while Fisher-Black takes the white jersey as best young rider. The team finished 15” ahead of second place Jayco-AlUla.
UAE Team Emirates racing to victory. UAE team EMirates photo
McNulty: “We’re super happy we won the stage and then I got the news I’d be in the leaders jersey which was a very nice surprise. It was a really heavy start with hilly roads and then the second half of the course was super fast, some of the speeds were crazy.
"I guess we were lucky to get in just before the rain started so that definitely played in our advantage. We have Joao here as our main leader for the week but our team is just really strong in general. I was a bit sick after UAE Tour so I don’t know exactly how I’m going but we’ll see tomorrow on the first mountain test.”
Meanwhile in Italy Juan Ayuso continues to lead Tirreno-Adriatico by 1” over Filippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers) after a sprint stage won by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck).
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Team Soudal Quick-Step posted this Paris-Nice report:
A major reshuffling of the Paris-Nice general classification took place Tuesday afternoon, which took place around Auxerre, the city that hosted a stage finish for the first time since 1980, when Jan Raas won a bunch sprint at the end of a flat stage.
Now, a 29.6km team time trial was on the cards, held over a course containing two climbs, a fast downhill and a hard uphill finish. Soudal Quick-Step was among the last teams to roll down the ramp and Mattia Cattaneo, Remco Evenepoel, Yves Lampaert, Gianni Moscon, Casper Pedersen, Ilan Van Wilder and Louis Vervaeke had a flying start, quickly finding their rhythm.
Soudal Quick Step racing when the roads were still dry. photo: Getty Sport
Our team came through the race’s sole checkpoint in 18:55, which put them at the top of the provisional standings by a large margin, but then, everything changed in the final four kilometers. Heavy rain started, and this impacted the ride and the result of the Wolfpack, especially as the closing part of the stage contained many technical corners. Despite their best efforts, our riders conceded time and ended up fourth in the final classification, a result which will see Remco start the hard stage four to Mont Brouilly in eighth place.
“The time trial went quite ok, the guys had a good start which you could see at the split. Unfortunately, we lost quite a lot until the end. We were a bit surprised and we need to see what happened, but what is clear is that the riders didn’t slow down, so it’s possible that the weather played a significant role in today’s outcome”, said sports director Tom Steels.
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Here's the Paris-Nice report from fourtheenth-place Team Groupama-FDJ:
On Tuesday, the Groupama-FDJ cycling finished the crucial Paris-Nice team time trial with a bitter feeling. Around Auxerre, over 27 kilometers, the yellow jersey Laurence Pithie, David Gaudu and their teammates gave their best to set the best possible performance. In the mix at the intermediate point, they however lost more than hoped in the second part due to unfavourable weather conditions. The team eventually took fourteenth place, 1’01 behind UAE Team Emirates. Overall, Laurence Pithie is now twenty-seventh, David Gaudu thirty-second, while a completely different race will start on Wednesday towards Mont Brouilly.
Laurence Pithie leads his Groupama-FDJ teammates. Groupama-FDJ photo
After what seemed to be a conclusive experience in 2023, the organizers of Paris-Nice decided to repeat it this year. Not only was the team time trial again on the menu of the “Race to the Sun”, but it also came along with the specificity to stop the time at the first rider to cross the line. Around Auxerre, the event took place over twenty-seven kilometers on Tuesday, with two similar hills (two kilometres at 4.5%) in the first half, then a long, slightly downhill return, before a final ramp to the finish.
Groupama-FDJ was also the last team to set off on the course after Laurence Pithie took the yellow jersey on Monday, and that proved to be an important fact. The New Zealander and his teammates were expected on the start ramp at 4:04 p.m., and UAE Team Emirates then had the best time at the finish in 31’23. Although a small shower broke out shortly after the start of the French squad, the first kilometres proved to be quite good. After the two climbs, they even set the seventh time at the intermediate checkpoint, twenty-two seconds behind Soudal-Quick Step but only five behind UAE.
It was also, and unfortunately, at that point that it all became complicated. “The guys rode very well technically speaking, and according to the plan we had set,” said Anthony Bouillod. “We’re just frustrated that the conditions were different compared to the recon. This morning, there was a nice tailwind on the fast part for the return. When we got there, after the shower, there was no wind at all. We immediately realized that the pace was slower during the race than during the recon, which the riders actually did at a moderate pace. At that point, we actually understood that something had changed.”
Although Groupama-FDJ still had six riders to tackle the second half of the race, this proved to be not enough considering the weather conditions. At the finish, Laurence Pithie and David Gaudu delivered a strong sprint, together, but the clock stopped one minute and one second after the UAE Team Emirates’ mark, giving the team fourteenth position. “If we look at the gaps at the intermediate and at the finish, we clearly see that the teams that started at the end were at a disadvantage, but it’s all part of cycling,” confided Anthony.
“That’s the team time trial’s law,” David said. “Technically, we did things right. We couldn’t go any faster.” “It was a really hard day,” added Laurence, who covered the course with the yellow jersey. “The boys did well, we kept it together really nicely, we pushed hard on the climbs, and we brought it home quite strongly. It was a solid day. Personally, it was an honour for me to wear the yellow jersey, I didn’t come here expecting this. It was a nice bonus”.
After David Gaudu benefited from the team time trial last year, it wasn’t meant to be this time. “We’re definitely disappointed since we came for a better result and above all to limit much more the gaps to the main leaders,” concluded Anthony. “Starting last didn’t help us, but we were all happy with Laurence’s yellow jersey yesterday. We have no regrets from this point of view.” After three stages, the New Zealander is in 26th position, 51 seconds behind new leader Brandon McNulty. David Gaudu is 32nd at 1’01, but the climbs are looming.
On Wednesday, the bunch will already have to cover 3,300 meters of elevation gain towards Mont Brouilly (3 km at 7.7%), in a stage without any flat meter. “I felt better than I thought today, and it was a good way to start the engine,” added David. “Let’s now head to tomorrow and the end of the week”.
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We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from Jonas Vingegaard's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Team Visma | Lease a Bike got through the second stage of Tirreno - Adriatico without too many problems. In the sprint stage, Jonas Vingegaard rode safely across the line surrounded by his teammates. The stage win was for Jasper Philipsen.
Jonas Vingegaard at the stage start. Sirotti photo
After Monday's individual time trial, the riders prepared for the first long stage in Tirreno - Adriatico. In a stage for sprinters, an early breakaway of four riders was caught by the peloton a good distance from the finish line. The expected bunch sprint in Follonica awaited.
In the technical finale leading up to the sprint, team leader Vingegaard was protected by his teammates. Once in the safe zone, the team opted for a spot out of danger in the middle of the peloton. Vingegaard reached the line safely and he even moved up one place in the general classification. The Dane is in eighth place after stage two.
"The team did a fantastic job to keep me out of trouble today. The succession of corners in the final kilometres made it a bit hectic. So I'm glad I got through today unscathed," Vingegaard said.
On Wednesday, the longest stage of this stage race is scheduled. A 225-kilometre hill stage between Volterra and Gualdo Tadino awaits the peloton.
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