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Tuesday, March 26, 2024
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools. - John Muir
Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, Vol 1: 1903 - 1975 is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Upcoming racing:
- March 27: Dwars door Vlaanderen
- March 27: Paris-Camembert Lepetit
Latest completed racing:
- March 18 - 24: Volta a Catalunya
- March 24: Ghent - Wevelgem
- March 24: La Roue Tourangelle
- March 19 - 23: Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali
- March 22: E3 Saxo Bank Classic
- March 20: Classic Brugge - De Panne
- March 16: Milano - Sanremo
- March 16: Classic Loire Atlantique
- March 15: Brendene Koksijde Classic
- March 14: GP de Denain
Here’s the team’s news:
Two-time winner of the event Yves Lampaert will be part of a strong team.
The final race before the season’s second Monument, Dwars door Vlaanderen will run its 78th edition this Wednesday, when the riders will line up in Roeselare ready to take on a 188.6km course comprising twelve climbs and several cobblestone sectors.
The last of the race’s many hurdles is the Nokereberg, which has recently witnessed Tim Merlier’s third consecutive victory in Nokere Koerse. From the top, only a couple of kilometers featuring the Herlegemstraat pavé segment remain for the peloton before the finish in Waregem, making it difficult for a regrouping and a reduced bunch sprint to happen, as shown by the recent editions, which have been won solo or from a small group.
Soudal Quick-Step will take on the penultimate cobbled race of the month with a team consisting of double World Champion Julian Alaphilippe, Yves Lampaert – winner here in 2017 and 2018 – Paul Magnier, Gianni Moscon, Casper Pedersen, Pepijn Reinderink, and Warre Vangheluwe.
Yves Lampaert wins the 2018 edition of Dwars door Vlaanderen. Sirotti photo
“We have a strong team for Dwars door Vlaanderen, comprising experienced guys but also young ones. The riders are confident, they are all ready to give their best once again, and hopefully we’ll be in the mix on what will be a hard course, with plenty of hills and cobblestone sectors”, said sports director Wilfried Peeters.
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Here’s the team’s post:
We’ve had a month of classics, stage racing and our first Monument of the year – recap on what happened in March in 500 words.
After Opening Weekend and the first classics of the 2024 season, Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico were on the schedule for the Men’s peloton as the first big tests on European soil.
You might have the legs, but you also need a bit of luck. Unfortunately, this wasn’t always on our side in March. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL head coach Rudi Kemna explained:
“We had a good start to both races with a fourth place for Nils in France, followed by a good TT from both Max and Romain, and a solid sprint by Casper in Italy. But after this we were struck by quite some bad luck. First, we lost most of our roster to sickness in France, and both Max and Romain crashed hard in Italy, forcing them to abandon with quite some injuries. It was a disappointing campaign here, but we hope to bounce back from this.”
It wasn’t all bad luck though; Kevin Vermaerke added another nice result to his palmares with a fifth place at Milano-Torino, Fabio Jakobsen came to form sprinting to second place at Nokere Koerse, and Emils Liepins fought for the victory at Bredene Koksijde Classic – to name a few highlights.
Fabio Jakobsen racing stage 5 of the 2023 Tour de France. Sirotti photo
Meanwhile, preparations for the upcoming goals are quite literally up in the mist in Tenerife, where Warren Barguil and Oscar Onley are at altitude camp.
“Both Warren and Oscar had a successful start to the season after some good training in the winter. Now Oscar is back from his injury, he and Warren are heading towards top shape for their next goals with some quite specific training at altitude, and after a good adaptation period, both have been maximising on the optimal effects of altitude.” Team dsm-firmenich Head of Science Narelle Neumann summarised the camp.
Our Women’s and Development programs also showed some nice racing, and atmosphere across the team came to a high as all hard work came together perfectly at the same moment. Josie Nelson stormed to her first win on the final day of Tour de Normandie, and only 10 minutes later, Johan Dorussen finished off an exceptional lead-out by his teammates winning Dropenomloop Rucphen for the Development program. Our Women’s program also showed some remarkable performances at the classics. At Classic-Brugge-De Panne and Gent-Wevelgem, they led Dutch sprinter Charlotte Kool to second and fourth place – nice results to build on in the coming weeks.
“It was nice to see our hard work in the Women’s and Development programs pay off this month. Johan was really motivated after racing with the pros for the first time at Nokere Koerse the week before – and it’s clear that he took this into his racing the next week. It’s something special that our youngsters can really gain something from the possibility of mixed races. And with Josie we have a new face in the team – it’s great that can come in with a performance display like this and sets a great foundation for what’s to come. We hope to show more of those performances in the coming months across all the programs,” Rudi Kemna summarized.
Onto April now…Roubaix and the Ardennes are calling!
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Here's the team's post:
Despite a very young squad this Sunday on La Roue Tourangelle, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team tried to leave its mark on the race. Riding in front of his crowd and on his training roads, Thibaud Gruel proved particularly active in the last climbs of the course, but the event ultimately, and as usual, ended with a sprint. Jason Tesson took the win while Marc Sarreau finished just outside the top-20.
Jason Tesson win the 2024 Roue Tourangelle.
The fifth round of the FDJ French Cup was set to take place around Tours on Sunday with the 22nd edition of La Roue Tourangelle. From the start in Descartes, the race initially proved quite classic. Dillon Corkery, Samuel Leroux, Sam Brand, Niels Driesen and Lukas Baldinger took the lead early on, and gained up to three minutes in the first half of the race.
“Intermarché-Wanty and TotalEnergies were in control behind for a sprint,” explained Benoît Vaugrenard. The chase settled at an average speed of 42 km/h, but with about fifty kilometres to go, a huge crash happened within the bunch. “It was the day’s main event,” said Benoît. “The race was neutralized for about twenty minutes. We got caught in this crash, and we were even the first ones to fall. Almost the entire team hit the ground and Lewis Bower was the most hurt. He was a bit stunned and bruised. Fortunately, everyone was able to get going again, but we broke four bikes, which we had to replace.”
At 5:30 p.m., the race finally resumed for the last fifty kilometers, and the breakaway regained a lead of two and a half minutes. The chase got however stronger in the bunch, and after passing the cobbled sector twenty-five kilometres from the finish, the final few climbs were tackled. “As usual, there were attacks and Thibaud was our main card,” explained Benoît. “The guys tried to place him well, then we knew that Lapeira and Retailleau were the men to watch for this type of final.”
The young Frenchman, recently promoted to the WorldTour team, managed to follow several moves, but found himself distanced by a group of five with fifteen kilometres to go while the breakaway was caught. “He was quite strong, but he wasn’t in the right timing, and they attacked so hard at the bottom of the climb that he couldn’t get back in,” said Benoît. “He is still young, he never really knows when the time is to make the right effort, but he will learn on this kind of race. Anyway, he was in good shape, and that is promising for the future.” Behind the five leading men, Groupama-FDJ then took part in the chase, and everything came together nine kilometres from the finish.
A final attack took place on the last bump of the route, with six kilometres to go, but no rider was able to escape. A small bunch of around forty units headed towards the finish line. “We wanted to sprint with Marc, but he was at the limit,” added Benoît. “He crashed a few weeks ago, he is just returning to racing, and he came up short in the final.” The French sprinter then took twenty-second place on the day. “The result itself is not very good, but in addition to the crash, we had a very young team, and we knew that it could be difficult in the final,” concluded Benoît. “We are frustrated not to come away with a result, but at the moment, things don’t go our way”.
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Here’s the team’s news:
Arnaud De Lie will not take the start in the upcoming classics. With several factors in mind, this was decided together with the 22-year-old rider, the team's management and performance department.
Arnaud De Lie winning the 2023 GP Quebec
Due to several reasons, De Lie couldn't shine in the Belgian classics yet, where the team's and his mind was set on. In January, just after the team's training camp in Spain, an altitude training camp in Tenerife was held, where the 22-year-old Belgian became sick. Afterwards there was his crash in Le Samyn, which resulted in a lot of abrasions and also made him withdraw from Paris-Nice, in the fourth stage.
Several setbacks due to which De Lie isn't able to perform at 100% these classics. Together with De Lie, the team's management and performance department decided the young Belgian rider will not start in the upcoming classics. He will take some time to reset and build up towards the second part of the season. The date to come back in competition will be finally determined soon.
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