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Thursday, May 23, 2024
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. - Buddha
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Current racing:
- May 4 - 26: Giro d'Italia
- May 23 - 26: Tour of Norway
Upcoming racing:
- May 26: Rund um Köln
Latest completed racing:
- May 14 - 19: 4 Days of Dunkirk
- May 18: Veenendaal - Veenendaal Classic
- 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
Balsamo’s Team Lidl-Trek Posted this news:
Lidl-Trek is pleased to inform that Elisa Balsamo’s surgery, which took place yesterday, Tuesday 21st, was a complete success. Professor Federico Biglioli, who led the medical team, confirmed that the nasal bones were heavily broken but the surgeon was able to fix everything with swabs. The injury to Elisa’s hand has also been firmly fixed with plate and screws, performed by Doctor Loris Pegoli. Early this afternoon, Elisa will be discharged from the Casa di Cura La Madonnina (Milan) and can return home.
The next steps include a first control on Friday, followed by a second control on Tuesday to remove swabs from nose and to check the surgical wound on the hand is scheduled. Additionally, a custom carbon brace will be fitted. If the checks give reassuring results, we can assume that Elisa will have the green light from the doctors to ride on a home trainer in the next 7-10 days.
Elisa Balsamo winning the 2021 World Road Championships. Sirotti photo
Update of May 20th
On Saturday afternoon, Elisa Balsamo returned home and today, 20th May, she will be admitted to the Casa di Cura La Madonnina in Milan. Tomorrow, she will undergo maxillofacial surgery to reduce the fracture of the nasal bones and the nasal septum, as well operated on to fix the fracture of the second metacarpal of her left hand. The surgery will be performed by the team of Professor Federico Biglioli, the maxillofacial surgeon who operated on Elisa following her previous accident in May 2023.
At the moment, any assumptions about the recovery time are premature. Communications on the next steps will be made later.
We posted the report from the race organizers and Geraint Thomas's Team INEOS Grenadiers with the results.
Here's the report from stage winner Georg Steinhauser's Team EF Education-EasyPost:
Two days ago, on the queen stage of this year's Giro d’Italia, Georg Steinhauser delivered the ride of his life to finish third in Livigno.
Now, two days later, Georg was back in the break, and this time he put on a career-defining ride, soloing to his first pro win on the Passo Brocon.
“It’s something unbelievable,” Georg said after the finish. “Already on stage 8, I noticed that I had good legs. I thought maybe I had the legs to win a stage. The queen stage was an unbelievable day. I could have already been happy just with the queen stage of this Giro. And today, already when I rode to the sign-on, I thought to myself, ‘I have good legs, maybe I will win today.’ I went from the beginning in the break. It was a little strange because we got caught by the peloton again. But at one moment, I decided I have to try again, and it worked out.”
After freezing cold temperatures and pouring rain yesterday, the peloton was in for another big day with five classified climbs on the menu and more rain on the radar. Our young German rider was one of the first to go on the attack on the opening climb of the day and was able to make it into a very selective breakaway after the Passo Sella. The group worked well together but was reeled back in by a charging group of GC favorites with 60 kilometers to go.
After hanging on to the group for a few kilometers, a brief slowdown in the pace on the Passo Gobbera allowed for attacks to fly out of the group. Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek) was the first to go with Georg hot on his tail. The two of them worked well together, extending their gap over the peloton slowly.
It was on the penultimate climb that Georg made his move. The young German attacked with three kilometers to go on the Passo Brocon and never looked back. He quickly extended his gap over Ghebreigzabhier and the peloton and went flying down the descent, hitting the base of the final climb with just over three minutes over the general classification group behind.
“I was super nervous on the last climb,” Georg said. “I knew I had to push all the way to the finish. I heard at one point that he was attacking, but I was already 2 km to go, so I thought, ‘I will make it.’”
He's gone. Georg Steinhouser climbs the Brocon pass to a brilliant stage win. RCS photo
Georg had time to savor his win. With a big smile on his face, the 22-year-old zipped up his jersey and soaked it all in.
After numerous attempts, not only from Georg but by the whole team, this win was a long time coming and a reward for all the work that the squad has put in over the last two weeks.
“It’s very emotional and obviously a very important victory,” said sport director, Matti Breschel. “This is what we were aiming for. It’s stage 17, and we’ve been so close and built up a lot of emotions. So when it happens like this, with Georg being in the break the whole day, getting caught, going again, and still managing to pull it off, it’s really impressive and so well deserved. I’m really happy and proud of Georg.”
Matti knows that this is a testament to all the work that our young rider has put in over the last few seasons.
“It’s for sure not the last time we see Georg,” Matti said. “It’s proof he has the talent, and it’s super important for his development.”
You can bet that this team will keep trying all the way to Rome, but for now, enjoy today, Georg. You deserve it.
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Here's the Giro stage 17 report from seventh-place Romain Bardet's Team dsm-firmenich PostNL:
After overcoming a tough moment on Tuesday’s stage through some good teamwork, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL wanted to bounce back in Wednesday’s stage; ultimately taking seventh place with Romain Bardet on the day.
Romain Bardet finishing seventh in stage 17. Sirotti photo
A hard day in the mountains awaited the peloton, faced with the stage that had the most amount of climbing per kilometre of the whole Giro. The team set out with the plan of trying to get Bardet into the breakaway on the first climb and ideally with one or two teammates in there. However, a solid pace on the ascent combined with multiple attacks meant that a reduced peloton was pretty much together near the top. Pushing on down the descent, Bardet managed to get a gap alongside three others, behind a four rider leading group. Yet, there was still a lot of impetus in the peloton behind and with the gap only small at around 15 seconds, Bardet sat up and waited for the bunch.
Those ahead then extended their advantage to around two minutes where it held for a long time on the Passo Rolle climb. With the gap still at a bridgeable position, the team then set a hard pace on the front through Chris Hamilton; with the joint goal of looking to bring Bardet closer to the group but to also put extra energy expenditure in the competition’s legs as Bardet prefers a harder stage. Reducing the gap to around one minute at the summit, Hamilton put on a descending masterclass, stretching out and splitting the bunch on the technical downhill. Keeping the pace high in the short valley that followed, Hamilton then handed over to Gijs Leemreize who set a strong tempo on the Passo Gobbera. Once Leemreize had strung things out, Kevin Vermaerke launched it at the front with Bardet in tow as the duo looked to jump out of the bunch. Unfortunately for them, the only rider to initially react was race leader Pogacar who was quickly in the wheels, and as a result this then saw reactions from the rest of the GC riders and their teams.
The action then stopped in the Maglia Rosa group, where Steinhauser would ultimately launch the attack that would see him go on to take the stage win. Some other teams then took over in pace setting, while Team dsm-firmenich PostNL contributed occasionally when things stalled as to keep things ticking over and not allow full recovery for those who were maybe struggling due to the hardness of the stage. The GC group was all together coming onto the last ascent of the Passo Brocon where things were slowly ramped up, and riders tailed off one-by-one. Battling hard all the way to the top, Bardet showed good legs and finished in seventh place on the day alongside others in the GC battle, with only Pogacar finishing ahead of his group. It’s a result which sees him and the team sit in the same position of seventh in the GC standings heading into the final four days of racing.
Speaking after the stage Bardet expressed: “We went racing how I liked it today. When you can have an impact on the race with the team; I really enjoyed it. Our intent and plan was for me to get in the early break. I wasn’t far from bridging across to the first break, but the pace wasn’t so high on the first climb and with the valley roads I then sat up and waited for the bunch because I knew that it would be easy for some teams to pull me back if they wanted. From then, we knew the conditions would be difficult so we also tried to make a hard race as I like it when it’s harder on the pedals all day. After we pulled hard on the descent and it was split onto the next climb, we thought it could be a good time to try and attack to get ahead and put ourselves in a position to go for the stage. I was a bit surprised to see Pogacar keen to do some moves and in my wheel, as that then meant the other GC guys followed, and that was that. I still felt pretty good on the last climb and the guys did a really good job today so we can take confidence from it. We still have a couple of mountain stages to try something.”
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Matt Winston added: “We saw yesterday that Romain hadn’t really had much activation in the legs and as soon as it went hard he dropped and the guys did well to bring him back and limit our losses. So today we said we wanted to make it as hard as possible so that it would suit us more. Romain was in the break like we had hoped but unfortunately it was a small group. We needed like 15 or 20 guys out front for it to work, so he came back to the bunch. Then we said we would commit and make it hard from the group and see what would happen. The race then split on the descent where the guys did a great job so we kept pushing a bit on the next climb. Kevin and Romain then tried to launch it but Pogacar was straight in the wheel which then of course brings all of the other GC guys with us. At that moment we then said ‘okay’. We still wanted to keep some pressure on in the peloton so when it sat up then we would ride and keep that tempo on until the final attacks and see where we end up, but in the end some other teams did that anyway. I think we did a good job today to try something, as well as in the final to get another top ten on the stage with Romain finishing alongside other GC guys, while also gaining some time on others to further cement our place in the top ten overall.”
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Here's the report from ninth-place Jan Hirt's Team Soudal Quick-Step:
Passo Brocon (11.8km, 6.6%) made its return at the Italian race for the first time since 1967, when it featured on the penultimate stage of the event. Now, the peloton tackled it twice just four days before Rome, on a 159km rain-marred stage 17 comprising five classified ascents – including this year’s Ciuma Coppi – and 4000 climbing meters through the stunning Dolomites.
Minutes after receiving the most combative rider trophy for the third time – a first for a rider at this 107th edition – Julian Alaphilippe attacked again, booking a place in a ten-man breakaway that fought tooth and nail for every inch of the road in a determined attempt to build a consistent gap on the slopes of Passo Sella. Julian was in superb form there for the whole 60 kilometers that the move spent off the front, pressing on the climbs and showing there’s a reason why this Giro d’Italia will be remembered also thanks to his presence and exploits on the road.
After the group was neutralized by the peloton, Alaphilippe remained prominent and pulled for teammate Jan Hirt, Soudal Quick-Step’s best placed rider in the general classification. Mauri Vansevenant took over once Julian peeled off the front and whittled down the favourites’ group thanks to some hard pace-setting.
Jan Hirt finishes ninth. Sirotti photo
On the second ascent of Passo Brocon, Hirt was among the best and even accelerated inside the final kilometer – behind lone leader Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), who took the victory at the end of the day – managing to increase his buffer over the riders trailing him in the overall standings, which allowed the Czech to cement his tenth place with just four stages remaining. Ninth on the line, Jan sealed his third top ten here and will now aim to maintain his position on Saturday, when the climbers will face the last hurdle of this edition.
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Here's the Giro report from Attila Valter's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Attila Valter again was a part of the leading group for a long time in the seventeenth stage of the Giro d'Italia. In the end, the leaders were caught earlier than expected. Georg Steinhauser took the win atop Passo Brocon.
It was climbing from the start in Selva di Val Gardena. During the ascent of Passo Sella, a hors catégorie climb, the peloton got shuffled immediately. Valter was always in a good position. After the tough opening climb, a group of eight riders formed the breakaway. Four more categorised climbs followed, with the double ascent of the Passo Brocon in the finale as the climax.
As the sun made way for rain, Valter made the jump to the leading group together with Nicola Conci. The duo joined the leading eight, but with about 60 kilometres to go, the leading group was already caught by the group of favourites. Some riders, including eventual stage winner Steinhauser, placed a new attack. Valter held on for some time in the reduced peloton, but the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider had to let go on the final climb. He eventually finished 26th.
The peloton ascends the Passo Brocon for the second time. Sirotti photo.
“I felt good on the Passo Sella”, Valter responded afterwards. “Towards the end of the climb it went a bit too fast, but I was still fine in front. On the flat part after the climb, I tried to set up a counterattack, but we didn't get much space from the peloton. A little later, I was finally able to chase the leaders. Together with Conci, I managed to close more than a minute, which was quite an effort. The collaboration at the front went smoothly, but the peloton didn't let us go. Today I expected a breakaway to go until the end, but unfortunately that didn’t unfold.”
“When the peloton caught up with us, I saw that Steinhauser still had some energy left”, Valter continued. “He was also part of the early breakaway, so he was clearly the strongest today. My congratulations to him. Other than that, I am very satisfied with my climber's legs. We are in this grand tour to learn and such a fight to get into the early break is always a useful to learn from. Of course, as a rider you want to get a good result in every stage, but today I am satisfied that I was able to show my good legs and my champion's jersey again in the front of the race. After tomorrow's sprint stage, I see two more opportunities to try something.”
And Marco Frigo's Team Israel-Premier Tech posted this report:
Perhaps sometimes, it just isn’t meant to be your day. Marco Frigo tried three times to break away during Wednesday’s 17th Giro d’Italia stage, only to be thwarted on each occasion.
“We wanted to be in the breakaway again and today was a day I was looking forward to,” says Frigo, who went on to finish 33rd on Passo Brocon. “I rode this stage a few weeks ago and I have been targeting it since the start of the Giro.”
The peloton descends the Passo Rolle. RCS photo
First, the good news: the Italian rider continues to look strong in the final days of this year’s first Grand Tour. After a near 25-kilometer attack from KM0 was shut down by an unforgiving peloton in Tuesday’s shortened stage, Frigo quickly found himself in a 10-man group this afternoon, one that formed on the descent of the Passo Sella.
For a short time, this group looked set to ride off into the distance towards the finish on the category one Passo Brocon. However, after gaining a maximum lead of just under two minutes, the peloton worked to shut it down.
After this group was caught a little over 60 kilometers from the finish, Frigo tried twice more. Both moves were in pursuit of eventual stage winner Georg Steinhauser (EF Education – EasyPost).
“It was a hard day from the start,” adds Frigo. “Once the first breakaway had formed, there were strong guys in the front, and I thought we had a good group. Just like yesterday, I cannot control what happens behind me, that’s cycling.
“After the race came together again, I missed the opportunities to follow the stage winner. That’s a pity because it made the stage difficult, I was always chasing from that point. Of course, it turns out that the race was over.
“Maybe I should take the glass-half-full mentality because I had good legs. But, ultimately, I’m here to get a good result and that’s still missing.”
Thankfully, despite packing in nearly 4,000 meters of climbing in 159 kilometers, all four IPT riders comfortably made it to the finish within the time cut.
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