Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, May 18, 2024

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia

Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot. - Charlie Chaplin

---

Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2019: A Year of New Faces is available in both Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• May 4 - 26: Giro d'Italia
• May 14 - 19: 4 Days of Dunkirk
• May 18: Veenendaal - Veenendaal Classic

Upcoming racing:

• May 23 - 26: Tour of Norway

Latest completed racing:

• May 11: Tour du Finistère
• 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

---

Giro d'Italia stage thirteen reports

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

Here's the report from fourth-place Tim van Dijke's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Tim van Dijke finished fourth in the thirteenth stage of the Giro d'Italia. In the bunch sprint, the Dutchman from Team Visma | Lease a Bike got the opportunity and seized it with both hands. Jonathan Milan won the stage.

Jonathan Milan wns the stage with Tim van Dijk in yellow jersey, just behind him. Sirotti photo

Nothing much happened on the flat course heading north. Three riders rode in front for a long time, but were caught when a strong crosswind created some momentum in the peloton. For a while this created a split, but after a few kilometers the peloton came back together. Thus, a bunch sprint appeared inevitable.

In that sprint, Van Dijke nestled himself in the front of the peloton in the absolute closing stages, partly due to clever work by teammate Edoardo Affini. The 24-year-old Dutchman squeezed out a powerful sprint, resulting in fourth place.

"It's thanks to Edoardo that I got into good position in the finale," Van Dijke said. "Together with him I worked my way through the peloton from the backfield. It's nice to see that, despite several setbacks, we remain positive and ambitious. We start every stage with a clear goal. We also pursue that specific goal one hundred percent every time. Today we aimed for a sprint, tomorrow in the time trial Edoardo wants to go for a good result. Next week I hope to sprint again in the final stage towards Rome. If everything falls into place, maybe we can get close to a podium place again. Today we were very close. In any case, it boosted our confidence."

Here's the Giro report from fifth-place Hugo Hofstetter's Team Israel-Premier-Tech:

Hugo Hofstetter’s day started with him wearing a pink souvenir Giro d’Italia t-shirt on the IPT team bus in appreciation of this great race. It ended with the Frenchman finishing fifth in Cento, his best Grand Tour result since his first spell with the team in 2020 and 2021.

Hugo Hofstetter riding on the cobbles in the 2021 Tour of Flanders. Sirotti photo

Hofstetter’s final position might have been even better were it not for him getting boxed in trying to pass fading riders and lead-out men approaching the line.

“For sure I feel really happy,” says the French sprinter. “Of course, the emotions always change in cycling: a few days ago [when he finished 13th in Francavilla al Mare] I would have been really happy with fifth. Today I’m happy but in the situation I was in, I think I could have gone for the podium. I had to stop the sprint at 50 meters to go but managed to get some speed back.

“But it’s important to remember that there are a lot of good sprinters here, the best in the world, so I feel really happy today.”

Hofstetter credited his strong result to a change in tactic for Friday’s finish, which came following a pan-flat stage in Emilia–Romagna that was briefly illuminated by crosswinds that split the peloton into three groups.

“The last sprints I was maybe too near to the front, too much in the wind, because I didn’t want to be blocked,” he says. “Today I told myself to gamble a little bit more, and stay a bit further behind in the final.

“Also, with the echelons, I knew the sprinters’ teams had spent a lot of energy so they’d be in trouble for the last kilometer.

“At the end, the guys were really good – they gave me the bottles and helped me whenever I needed it. [Simon] Clarkey kept me in position in the final kilometers, then I managed to stay where I wanted to approaching the line.”

Here's the Giro report from Team dsm-firmenich PostNL:

The flattest stage of the whole Giro d’Italia took place on Friday, with a 179 kilometre route from Riccione to Cento. It was a steady start to proceedings with a three rider break up the road and all Team dsm-firmenich PostNL riders in the peloton. As the kilometres ticked by the pace in the peloton ramped up ahead of an expected crosswind section, where the bunch split in two. Romain Bardet and Kevin Vermaerke made it into the front split but with the gap only ever reaching a maximum of 20 seconds, things regrouped as the race turned into a headwind.

Another counter attacking move went inside the last 30 kilometres but the sprint teams were always in control and a fast finish was set up going into Cento. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL tried to position Tobias Lund Andresen as best as possible, before he then followed the wheels in the closing kilometres. However, it was a twisting and turning finale and the bunch was strung out so Lund Andresen had to battle to move up. Launching from behind, he produced a good kick to surpass several riders but ultimately it would be for 11th place on the stage.

The thirteenth stage gets started. RCS photo

Speaking after the stage Lund Andresen said: “Today was a flat day but everyone knew there was a chance of crosswinds. I think you could feel in the peloton already that there was going to be some splits at some point. I stopped for a pee just before the echelons started so that wasn’t the smartest of ideas. The guys did a good job to be in front though and that resulted in Kevin and Romain being in the first split. When the groups came together straightaway we moved to the front and the guys positioned me well, also throughout the whole day. We had to gamble a bit in the final as I only had Kevin with me, who then dropped me off nicely at like three kilometres to go, and from there I just had to surf the wheels. I’m disappointed I couldn’t crack into the top ten but it’s nice to be sprinting and I know there are two more days to come.”

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Matt Winston added: “It was a long day with not so much action. There was some crosswinds but we were never really in danger and it all came back together. The guys tried to position Tobias as best as possible but they were a bit blocked in to get to him and do a proper job, and then it was over to him to surf the wheels. Tobias hasn’t been in so many sprint finals in his career so far and it’s the first one where we’ve really made a plan for him at a Grand Tour, and we just made a few mistakes today, so couldn’t compete for that top result but we still have two more sprint chances here.”

And here's the Giro report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Stage 13 of the race began with Julian Alaphilippe taking to the podium again, where he was awarded with the most combative rider of the day prize for the second time since the beginning of the race, this time following his successful breakaway in Fano. From there, it continued with the flattest stage of the race, 179 kilometers from Riccione to Cento, one which should have been uneventful, at least on paper.

Stage thirteen was indeed very flat

The crosswinds, however, had other plans, and with around 80 kilometers to go decided to spread chaos in the peloton, which was quickly fragmented into three separate groups. The likes of Julian Alaphilippe, Tim Merlier and Pieter Serry found themselves on the right side of the split, and contributed to the pace-setting, which quickly helped the group take their advantage to 25 seconds. Behind, many teams took up the chasing and after more than 20 kilometers, and with the help of the wind which dropped once the riders entered the small towns on the route, they made the catch.

The closing kilometer was a really technical one, featuring numerous bends that made positioning very difficult, and this led to a chaotic sprint, won by Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek). Tim Merlier concluded just outside the top ten, while Jan Hirt kept his place on the general classification ahead of the second time trial.

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary