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Sunday, May 5, 2024

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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia

I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity. - Eleanor Roosevelt

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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.

Current racing:

• May 5: Tro-Bro Léon
• May 4 - 26: Giro d'Italia

Upcoming racing:

• May 11: Tour du Finistère

Latest completed racing:

• May 4: GP du Morbihan
• 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

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Giro d'Italia stage one reports

We posted the report from stage winner Jhonatan Narvaez's Team INEOS Grenadiers with the results.

Here's the report from second-place Max Schachmann's Team Bora-hansgrohe:

The Italian Grand Tour kicked off with a 140 km stage from Venaria Reale to Turin. On the relatively short route, the peloton had to take on two longer climbs, before a short but very steep ramp awaited in the finale.

Maximilian Schachmann demonstrated his strength and tactical skill today to be present in the decisive moments of the race.

On the final climb, Tadej Pogačar launched a determined attack, which was followed only by Jhonathan Narváez. Maximilian, who had previously initiated an attack and had gained a slight advantage, managed to follow the duo. He reached the summit just a few seconds behind Pogacar and Narvaez, who were then slightly hesitating to set the pace. Maximilian tactfully utilised the descent to close the gap, leading to a thrilling three-way sprint where he secured second place narrowly behind the Colombian stage winner.

Schachmann, on the right, finished second. Sirotti photo

Maximilian Schachmann:
"The finale started on the first passage of the San Vito climb, where the race was going incredibly fast. At the time, I thought I wouldn't survive on the longer climb, but I saw that everyone else was already on the limit. I actually expected a higher pace on the long climb, but that didn't happen. I didn't feel amazing, but I felt pretty good. After the climb, I saw that only Majka was still in the lead, ahead of Pogačar. So I thought, maybe I should just go for it! Pogačar flew by like a rocket on the climb to San Vito, and I was happy that I was able to catch back up with them shortly afterwards. I know that him and Narváez are both fast and can be really explosive, so I knew it wouldn't necessarily be easy. I'm pleased with second place, and I'm happy to be back in the mix again."

Enrico Gasparotto, Sports Director:
"For us, today’s first stage of the Giro was a good day. The riders were able to carry out the plan we made for the day. We wanted to have Max, Dani and potentially also Florian in a reduced front group. Florian didn’t have the best day, however, we know that can be expected on the first day of a Grand Tour. Max played his cards really well, as he tried to anticipate the moves, and attacked just before the last kicker and made it to the finale with only Pogačar and Narvaez. We were really close to taking the pink jersey, but chapeau to Narváez for his sprint. It’s a solid start for us."

Here's the Giro report from third-place Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates:

There was an exciting opening to the Giro D’Italia where Tadej Pogačar went close to the pink jersey in his debut in the corsa rosa, taking the third place.

Tadej Pogacar at Friday's teams presentation ceremony. Sirotti photo

The 140 km from Venaria Reale to Torino were animated especially in the final part, on the two hills of Colle Maddalena (7,1 km at 6,6%) and the San Vito (summit at 3 km to go): UAE Team Emirates led the peloton in the chase of the daily breakaway, making a selection on the Colle Maddalena (GC riders such as Romain Bardet and Thymen Arensman were dropped) and approached the San Vito hill with solo leader Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in Tadej’s sight.

The Slovenian rider accelerated immediately after having approached the hill, bridging the gap from the leader and heading to the arrival with only Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos-Grenadiers) and Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) with him. The chasers could reduce the gap from them in the downhill to the finish line.

In the battle for the first pink jersey on the final straight, Schachmann hit out first, causing Pogačar to react immediately.

Narvaez could exploit Tadej’s slipstream, overtaking him at 100 meters to go and crossing first on the finish line.

The Ecuadorian is the first leader of the Giro with Pogačar 3rd at 6”.

Stage 2 of the Giro will see the first summit arrival of the 2024 edition: after 161 km from the start from San Francesco al Campo, the riders will reach the finish line in Oropa, at the end of a 11,8 km climb with average gradient of 6.1%.

Pogačar: “It was a short and fast stage which we tried our best to control. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be our day but I think we still did a good job as a team. I went full gas from the bottom of the climb to the top but could not shake Narvaez. I knew he would be hard to beat in a sprint, he’s faster than me.
Tomorrow is a day that should be good for us, we’ll see how the legs are after today but it should be a nice one.

"It was a beautiful stage and start all-round to the Giro here in Torino.”

Seventh place Mauri Vansevenant's Team Soudal Quick-Step posted this Giro report:

Veneria Reale, the small town in the Piedmont, got to host the Grande Partenza for just the second time in the race’s 115-year history. This 107th edition, which got underway Saturday afternoon, marked Soudal Quick-Step’s 20th consecutive presence at the Corsa Rosa, and our team was among the protagonists on the short but fast and nervous opening stage that ended in Torino.

The first Italian capital has a long tradition and deep history at Il Giro, having featured on the route of the inaugural edition, when Luigi Ganna took a solo victory. This time, the riders arrived there in small groups, after the peloton exploded on the viciously steep gradients of the San Vito climb. Initially, Julian Alaphilippe was among the few who tamed those slopes, joining a strong three-man group, but the effort took its toll on the Frenchman, who got distanced before the top.

The peloton reaches stage one's offical start line. RCS photo

Once he rejoined the depleted peloton, Julian linked up with teammate Mauri Vansevenant, who also got off to solid start at the Corsa Rosa, concluding the stage in seventh place, just a couple of seconds behind winner Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers). This result confirmed the great form he has been enjoying since mid-April, when he scored a pair of top 10 results in Amstel Gold Race and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and put Mauri just four seconds from the race’s white jersey.

And here's the Giro report from Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

In the short but tough opening stage of the Giro d'Italia, Attila Valter and Cian Uijtdebroeks managed to finish in the reduced peloton, seconds behind stage winner Jhonatan Narvaez. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike duo heads towards stage two in a great position.

The Grande Partenza of the 107th Tour of Italy took place in Venaria Reale. The peloton set off for 140 kilometres towards the city of Turin, where some tough hills awaited in the finale.

After the start, a leading group of six were given some space by the peloton. The teams with general classification ambitions kept the six within reach with the decisive climbs in Turin in mind. On the first of two climbs of the San Vito - a short, steep hill - the lead of the remaining breakaway rider Lilian Calmejane decreased fast.

After the first climb of the San Vito, the riders prepared to climb the seven-kilometre Colle Maddalena. There, Uijtdebroeks, Valter and Jan Tratnik made a good impression in a reduced peloton. There were some attacks after the ascent of the Colle Maddalena, but the decisive acceleration came on the final climb of the San Vito by top favourite Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian was joined by Maximilian Schachmann and Narvaez, with whom he sprinted for the win. Narvaez won the stage. In the chasing group, Valter and Uijtdebroeks crossed the finish line in 9th and 14th place, ten seconds behind the stage winner.

Cian Uijtdebroeks on a climb near the finish. Sirotti photo

“This result gives me confidence”, Uijtdebroeks responded afterwards. “It's a nice feeling when you can keep up with the stronger riders in the peloton. The legs felt good, which is not always evident after a long training period. On the Colle Maddalena, I felt fresh. That was a longer climb that also suited me better. I had a harder time on the San Vito, which was much more explosive. Besides, I was also too far up there, so I had to make up some places.’

“All in all, we can look back on a nice day”, the 21-year-old Belgian added. “I finished in a fine group with other classification riders. I am grateful to the team for their work. From now on, we will look at it day by day.”

Sports director Marc Reef also looks back on his riders' first Giro stage with satisfaction. “This was a stage that didn't suit us on paper. Our goal was to keep Cian at the front as much as possible, in which we succeeded. When some gc riders were dropped, Cian was still climbing seemingly easily. We knew beforehand that it would be difficult to follow Pogacar on the San Vito, so a place in the chasing group was a fine result. In addition, Olav Kooij, Tim van Dijke, Christophe Laporte and Edoardo Affini crossed the line unscathed.”

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