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Thursday, May 2, 2024
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance. - Epicurus
Les Woodland's book Paris-Roubaix: The Inside Story - All the bumps of cycling's cobbled classic is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the right.
Upcoming racing:
- May 4: GP du Morbihan
- May 4 - 26: Giro d'Italia
- May 5: Tro-Bro Léon
Latest completed racing:
- May 1: Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt
- April 21 - 28: Tour of Turkey
- April 23 - 28: Tour de Romandie
- April 26 - 28: Vuelta Asturias
- April 21: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- April 15 - 19: Tour of the Alps
- April 17: La Flèche Wallone
- April 14: Amstel Gold Race
Kämna’s Team Bora-hansgrohe posted this update:
Four weeks after his serious training accident, Lennard Kämna can leave the hospital in Tenerife. The 27-year-old will be flown to Hamburg today. There his injuries will be further treated by the doctors of the BORA - hansgrohe medical department and he can start his rehabilitation at the BG Klinikum.
On April 3, Lennard Kämna suffered numerous injuries, especially to his chest, in an accident during a training camp in preparation for the Giro d'Italia. He underwent successful surgery last week in Tenerife.
Lennard Kämna wins stage three of the 2023 Tour of the Alps. Sirotti photo
Lennard Kämna:
"Thank you for all the support over the past few weeks. I would especially like to thank my girlfriend and my family who have done everything to make me feel as comfortable as possible. It has not been an easy time at the University Hospital in Tenerife, but I am very grateful to the medical team and nurses for what they have done for me over the past few weeks. I am overjoyed that the first step of my recovery has been completed today and that I can now move on to Hamburg: I will start my rehab there and I am highly motivated to get back on the bike as soon as possible. But the most important thing is to get healthy again."
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We posted the report from winner Maxim Van Gils' Team Lotto Dstny with the results.
Here's the report from Riley Sheehan's Team Israel-Premier Tech:
Patience was integral to Riley Sheehan’s third-placed finish at Eschborn – Frankfurt on Wednesday, where the American neo-pro recorded his best result of 2024 to date.
Riley Sheehan finishes a close third. Photo: Getty Sport
First, having been dropped on the third and final ascent of the Mammolshain climb a little under 40 kilometers from the finish, Sheehan eventually made his way back into the reduced peloton that contested for the victory.
However, the American then had to fight his way to a clear run at the finish line. He did so, impressively, gaining enough ground to claim the final podium position. Given his belated finish line speed, both the winner Maxim Van Gils and runner-up Alex Aranburu are likely glad that Sheehan was boxed in until late on.
“It was quite hard – I was dropped on the final climb but fought my way back and I was able to recover,” he says. “I was a little bit boxed in at the end, but I had the legs to come up for the podium at the right time, so I’m happy about that.”
A sleepy start to the race – three breakaway riders were allowed a gap of over seven minutes inside of 30 kilometers – belied what was in store for the second half of the 200-kilometer race.
The double-shot of the Mammolshain (second time up) and Feldberg climbs in the space of 11 kilometers led to the final escapee being caught by a significantly reduced peloton with over two hours of racing to go.
Sheehan and teammate Derek Gee continued to ride attentively throughout, monitoring the action without expending too much energy as speculative, short-lived attacks were happening.
Thankfully, Sheehan’s troubles were short-lived, and he was able to rejoin the peloton on the approach into Frankfurt city center.
Gee then used his pursuiting expertise to produce a huge turn that ultimately reeled in lone leader Jan Christen (UAD) a little under three kilometers from the finish line.
Reflecting on the team’s first race day in Germany this year, Sheehan adds: “I want to come to Germany more often if the weather is like this! It was awesome with the crowds along the whole course – I needed them, because I was suffering today. Hearing their voices and their sounds deafened out my pain, which was great!”
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Here's the team's news:
After the classics of the last few months, the Giro d'Italia is coming up next month. Team Visma | Lease a Bike will be chasing stage wins from Turin to Rome.
Sports director Marc Reef looks ahead:
"We are approaching this Giro differently than in previous years", says Reef, who was also present last year when Team Visma | Lease a Bike won the Giro d'Italia with Primoz Roglic. "This time, we don't have to fight for every metre every day with the GC in mind. It's different from the last six grand tours we did. Then we always started with the GC as our main goal.
A pair of Roglics on the final podium of the 2023 Giro d'Italia. Sirotti photo
The sports director explains the team's priorities: "Our main objective is to win stages. We want to achieve that mainly in the flat sprints with Olav. We will also not hide in the stages where a breakaway has a good chance of succeeding", the 38-year-old sports director says.
The build-up to the Giro has not been smooth; it has been a spring full of setbacks. Reef: "In the past weeks, we've lost Wout van Aert and Wilco Kelderman. Koen Bouwman was supposed to replace Wilco, but he fell ill during the Tour de Romandie. Koen will be replaced by Tim van Dijke. He, Edoardo Affini, and Christophe Laporte will certainly strengthen Olav's sprint train. Additionally, Christophe will have the opportunity to achieve his own result in certain stages."
"Besides that, we have been able to work towards the start of the Giro in perfect conditions over the past few weeks", Reef continues. "The training camps in Tenerife and Denia were perfect. Jan Tratnik, Robert Gesink and Tim van Dijke were able to put the finishing touches to their form at the Tour de Romandie. That makes us ready."
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Here's the team's post:
On Saturday, the Giro d’Italia will roll out from the Venaria Reale palace, in the hills of Piedmont; final destination: Rome.
Simon Carr, Alexander Cepeda, Esteban Chaves, Stefan de Bod, Mikkel Honoré, Andrea Piccolo, Georg Steinhauser, and Michael Valgren will race the Italian grand tour for EF Education-EasyPost.
Estaban Chaves in pink in stage 20 of the 2016 Giro d'Italia. He had a bad day, finishing 8min 20sec behind stage winner Rein Taaramae. Vincenzo Nibali took over the lead this stage and held it to the end. Sirotti photo
The three-week journey up and down the Italian peninsula will be full of opportunities for our young racers and veterans to attack. We are going for stage wins at this Giro.
Esteban Chaves already has three at the Giro d’Italia to his name. The Colombian loves the Giro most of all the grand tours and will encourage his teammates to race off the front whenever they see a good chance. Esteban started his European professional career in Italy and has had the honor of wearing the maglia rosa, the pink jersey reserved for the Giro’s leader. He also suffered a devastating crash on Italian roads when he was a young rider and the country’s cycling supporters backed him during his return.
“The Giro is pure cycling,” Esteban says. “It’s different from the other races. It’s more romantic. Italy has given me the best moments of my career, but also the worst moment of my life. So, it's special. It’s a tough, tough, tough love that I have for the Giro. In Italy, with all of the challenges of the weather, there’s no control in the peloton. It hurts more and takes guts to race here. The Giro is all about, grinta, as they say in Italy.”
Andrea Piccolo grew up watching Italian heroes fly up climbs in the Dolomites and Alps during his country’s home race. He would go out on his first bike rides and dream he was attacking those famous riders. Now, he is about to start his first Giro d’Italia.
“It’s a big emotion to be able to be here,” Andrea says. “For an Italian especially, the Giro is special. It is one of the biggest races in the world, but for us it is our home race. I remember watching it on TV and thinking I want to be there. Now my parents and friends can look on the TV and say Andrea is there. I am really proud of that.”
Andrea’s greatest dream now would be to win a stage. This year’s 3,400-kilometer route promises explosive racing, with shorter, punchier stages than the Giro has featured in recent years. That suits Andrea and his teammates well. They will seize every chance they get, as they race down the rugged Ligurian coast to Lucca, traverse the Apennines to Napoli, and then cross Italy’s spine and head back up the Adriatic to Lake Garda and the Dolomites and Alps for a dramatic final week of racing before the grand finale around the Coliseum in Rome.
“This race suits us really well with the team we will have,” says Esteban Chaves. “It is going to be a beautiful, hard race and we will have a lot of opportunities to go for stages. The Giro cannot be controlled, especially if there is bad weather, so it's a bit crazy, a bit messy. This team is good for that stuff.”
Georg Steinhauser cannot wait. The German will make his grand tour debut at the Giro d’Italia. Georg is nervous and excited. He wants to show what he can do.
“I think you can compare it a little bit to the feeling I had back in school, when you had to do a test and you know you've studied for it,” Georg says. “You just think, okay, I’ve studied, I've done the work, so now I'm just going to see what comes of it. I don’t want to have any regrets. I have already raced at this level for two years. If the others can do it, I can do it as well. For sure, I would love there to be some stages where I am racing for the win. But I also just want to collect the experience of how it is to race a grand tour and to finish it. I want to get to Rome.”
That would mean the world to Andrea Piccolo, too. He has already worn the Vuelta a España’s leader’s jersey, but at home in Italy, being able to tell people that you raced a Giro d’Italia is still the first test of a pro racer.
“I am really honored to do this race,” he says. “The roads are going to be full of fans. And everyone will know the Italian riders in the peloton. I don’t know what it would be like to win a stage in the Giro, because I have never won one, but for sure it would be a great emotion that I could share with all my friends, my family, and all of the Italian people.”
Esteban does know what it’s like to win stages at the Italian grand tour. This year, he is determined to stand on the top step of a podium at the Giro again.
“I have a lot of hunger,” he says. “I have a lot of friends in Italy. I know their roads, I know how it is to win on them. To take another one would be a confirmation that I'm still here. I’m not done. I consider myself pretty resilient and pretty professional. And when I arrive at a challenge like this, I want to be great. And this is not an exception. The condition is good. I’m still focused and believe it will come.”
Anything can happen at the Giro d’Italia. That’s what makes it so exciting. Simon Carr is coming off a huge win at the Tour of the Alps and is ready to climb with the best. Alexander Cepeda finished third on a stage at the Giro last year and wants to do better. Stefan de Bod is looking forward to the time trials, going for breakaways, and helping his teammates. Mikkel Honoré excels on hard, hilly days and is very motivated for this Giro. Michael Valgren will make his return to grand tour racing for the first time after his 2022 crash. The Dane has worked hard to get in shape for this race and is eager to show that he is still a champion. With Esteban, Andrea, and Georg, they form a well-balanced team that can compete on any given day.
One thing is for sure; our team is going to race their hearts out all the way to Rome. Wish them good luck!
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