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Wednesday, May 8, 2024

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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes. - e. e. cummings

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Bill & Carol McGann’s book The Story of the Tour de France, 2022: The Fastest Tour Ever is available in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• May 4 - 26: Giro d'Italia

Upcoming racing:

• May 11: Tour du Finistère

Latest completed racing:

• May 5: Tro-Bro Léon
• 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 four reports

We posted the report from the race organizer and stage winner Jonathan Milan's Team Lidl-Trek with the results.

Here's the report from third-place Phil Bauhaus' Team Bahrain Victorious:

After an up and down day in the saddle that started in the Unesco World Heritage Site of ‘I Paesaggi Vitivinicoli del Piemonte’, Phil Bauhaus secured Bahrain Victorious’ best result of the the 2024 Giro d’Italia so far: 3rd on Stage 4.

The parcours split exactly in half, with the first 95km almost all uphill, and the second predominantly down. The route wended its way to the Ligurian coastal town of Andora, famed for its ‘Blue Flag’ beaches, but once the ‘red flag’ was passed at 1km to go, a bunch sprint was guaranteed. Bauhaus crossed the line third, behind Jonathan Milan (LTK) and Kaden Groves (ADC). After 4’16” of variable weather, crashes, tension and several abandons, the German was satisfied with the outcome:

Stage four gets rolling.

"I was believing in the victory actually, but given the situation and everything that happened today, I think we can be happy with third place. To be honest the most important thing was that everyone stayed safe, especially as we were descending at high speeds of up to 80km/h for long periods, and I hope everyone who went down is ok."

A three-man breakaway was given a leash of over 5’30” but was never going to make it. With 4km remaining, double TT World Champion Filippo Ganna (IGD) attacked, and quickly forged ahead, before being chased down by our Italian lead-out man Andrea Pasqualon. That effort meant Phil was one helper down as the group approached the finish, but he was convinced it had been the correct strategy at that moment:

“It would have been good for Andrea to be with me for a bit more slipstream in the last kilometre, but we had to try to bridge to Ganna. There had been a tailwind on the coast and everything came back together, but I had spent a bit too much energy, so as Trek have the strongest lead-out here, I tried to position myself on their last wheel and fight for 2nd or 3rd place.“

All in all it was a fairly controlled day from the start. The peloton went quite hard up the only categorised climb, the Colle del Melogno, and then it started to rain. The road became slippery and there were several crashes, one involving TBV road captain Damiano Caruso. Caruso has suffered no serious consequences, but having given his best after his fall on Saturday, Torstein Træen was forced to abandon the Giro. As a result, Bahrain will be down to seven riders when the race continues tomorrow with another flat-ish stage between Genova and Lucca.

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

Olav Kooij finished fourth in the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia. The day after his sixth place, the Dutchman had to settle for another close place of honour. Cian Uijtdebroeks took a bonification second along the way, which moved him up one place in the general classification. The stage win was for Jonathan Milan.

For the second day in a row, there was an opportunity for the sprinters. From Acqui Terme, the peloton set off for 190 kilometres towards Andora. In the first part of the stage, some climbing had to be done. Apart from the climb of the Capo Mele in the last kilometres, the finale was mostly flat.

In pursuit of a small breakaway, Team Visma | Lease a Bike did its part in the peloton. Among others, Jan Tratnik dictated a high pace during the climb of the Colle del Melogno, halfway through the stage. Some sprinters struggled, but they managed to get back on the descent. Later on, Kooij was attentive at the intermediate sprints, as he again gathered some points for the points classification.

After the breakaway riders were caught in the final kilometres, the Capo Mele - a one-and-a-half kilometre hill - provided some more attack attempts. Among others, Filippo Ganna tried with a late attack, but another bunch sprint was inevitable. Kooij was well led to the front by lead-out Christophe Laporte, but the 22-year-old sprinter eventually had to settle for a spot behind three other riders.

Uijtdebroeks saw his chance to pick up a bonification second along the way. As a result, the wearer of the white jersey climbed to fourth place in the general classification. “I knew there was an extra second to pick up, so I decided to go for it”, the 21-year-old Belgian said afterwards. “In the general classification, there will undoubtedly be bigger differences after the mountain stages. Although you never know if this second will ever come in handy for me. Furthermore, our task was to keep Olav in the best possible position throughout the stage, which worked out well. As a team we rode a strong race.”

Cian Uijtdebroeks remains the Best Young Rider. Sirotti photo

Sports director Marc Reef adds: “We started pulling on the long climb of the Colle del Melogno. The breakaway was five minutes ahead of the peloton, but Jan Tratnik did a great job to decrease the gap during the climb. In terms of positioning, we did better than yesterday. Edoardo Affini and Tim van Dijke made sure Olav and Christophe were excellently positioned on the Capo Mele. Olav was launched at the right time by Christophe, but the others proved a bit faster. I could already see several improvements compared to yesterday's stage. On to tomorrow, where another sprint opportunity awaits us.”

Here's the report from fifth-place Tim Merlier's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Tuesday afternoon, the peloton waved goodbye to Piemonte and made its way to Liguria. The home region of Fausto Coppi – one of the greatest cyclists in the world, winner of seven Grand Tours, the World Championships and multiple Monuments – awaited the riders with a finish resembling that of Milano-Sanremo, which made things spicier.

Wearing the coveted maglia ciclamino, which he received following his victory in Fossano – our team’s 120th Grand Tour stage success – Tim Merlier was eyeing another good result, this time in the picturesque town of Andora, where the day concluded. As expected, the short climb of Capo Mele was used as a launch pad by some riders who were determined to avoid a bunch sprint. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) zipped away there, opening a seven-second gap by the time he crested the top.

Tim Merlier heads for the start of stage four. Sirotti photo

Behind him, various teams chased hard and brought back the Italian, but this together with the fast finish made for a hectic mass gallop. Merlier was forced to make a big effort and start his sprint from way back, and the Belgian came close to repeating Monday’s win thanks to his massive acceleration. Unfortunately, Tim ran out of steam in the last 100 meters, but even in these conditions he took fifth on the line – a result that keeps him in contention for the points classification.

And here’s the report from Team dsm-firmenich Post NL:

Traversing 190 kilometres from Acqui Terme to Andora, another probable sprint finish lay ahead of the Giro d’Italia on Tuesday but with the Capo Mele coming in the final five kilometers, it was set to tempt the attackers and those looking to disrupt the sprint trains. Unfortunately, the day started with some bad news for the team as Bram Welten had to abandon the race due to sickness.

The seven remaining Team dsm-firmenich PostNL riders continued on and remained in the bunch as the three rider break formed out front. The attackers were given a five minute and 30 second advantage heading onto the main climb of the day and some teams looked to put the pressure on. Fabio Jakobsen had to let go of the bunch but had Gijs Leemreize and Julius van den Berg to support him, and after some good teamwork they were able to return to the bunch. Nervousness returned to the peloton and some crashes made things more hectic, but the team thankfully managed to come through unscathed. In the end, it was all set up for a final showdown on the Capo Mele with the original breakaway caught.

The peloton races down the Ligurian seacoast.

In the big fight for position the team tried to move forward well, looking to bring their sprint group up, and at that moment Ganna attacked right at the bottom. A fierce chance then followed over the top and down the other side, with the team then bringing Jakobsen forward into position inside the last kilometer as he returned to the front. Unfortunately, Jakobsen had to brake as he got squeezed at around 500 meters to go and from that point was unable to compete for a result in the sprint anymore.

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Matt Winston expressed: “It was a shame that Bram had to go home due to sickness before the start. There’s nothing we can do about it but he’ll be a big loss to the team here and that put a bit of a downer on the day at the start. It was a hectic stage in general. Fabio dropped on the main climb of the day but with some good teamwork he came back to the peloton okay and then he was totally fine. I think the guys rode well, it was hectic and there was a lot of crashes in the descent. We did a good job but I think that final was just a little too hard for Fabio, he slid a bit too far back over the top. He came back into position with the guys but then got squeezed at around 500 meters to go and at that point the sprint was over.”

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