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Sunday, May 26, 2024

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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. - Bertrand Russell

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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 4 - 26: Giro d'Italia
• May 23 - 26: Tour of Norway
• May 26: Rund um Köln

Upcoming racing:

• May 29: Circuit Franco-Belge

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

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Giro d'Italia stage 20 reports

We posted the report from the race organizer and Geraint Thomas' Team INEOS Grenadiers with the results.

Here's the report from Jan Hirt's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Jan Hirt is just one day away from another top ten overall finish at the first Grand Tour of the season after three weeks of solid racing. The Czech, who came at the start in the Piedmont with a runner-up place achieved in the Tour of Oman – his first race of the season – was one of the most consistent riders of this edition, always there on the big climbs, driving his own tempo when the going got tough and making sure of not shipping too much time.

The last major test of the Giro d’Italia was the double ascent of the never-ending Monte Grappa, an 18.1km climb averaging 8.1% which came on the penultimate stage of the race, pouring led in the already fatigued legs of the riders. Just like he did on the previous days in the mountains, Hirt kept his composure when the GC men launched their moves, splitting the group, and driving a steady tempo which allowed him to crest the summit with a deficit of 40 seconds. More importantly, Hirt put time into some of the other riders vying for a top ten place in the overall standings, which gave him hopes of moving up in the ranking on the roads of Veneto.

On the long descent that followed, the 33-year-old was part of a strong chasing group that finished only a couple of minutes behind stage winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), and was handsomely rewarded for his effort with an impressive two-place jump in the GC, which made Jan one of the main beneficiaries of this final stage in the mountains.

Here's Jan Hirt's teammate Julian Alaphilippe descending in the rain in stage 20. Sirotti photo

“I felt very good today on an incredibly hard day. Monta Grappa was a tough ascent, you could really feel those steep gradients biting, especially as they came after three weeks, but I believed in myself and in keeping my place in the general classification. It wasn’t easy at all, but I am content with how things went for me and with this ride that vaulted me two positions in the standings. It’s a great result”, a smiling Jan said after the stage that sealed his second top 10 result in a Grand Tour.

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

Stage 20 saw the Giro d’Italia take on the final mountains of the race, with a double passage of the Monte Grappa climb in the final 100 kilometres of the day. Averaging eight percent in gradient for 18 kilometers, it was arguably the hardest climb of the whole Giro d’Italia, with fireworks expected on the ascent.

Already from the start of the stage the Maglia Rosa Poagacar and his team made it clear they wanted to fight for the stage, keeping the break relatively close and then ramping up the speed on the climb. After good positioning work and support from the rest of Team dsm-firmenich PostNL, Romain Bardet was in the reduced peloton over the top of the first ascent, and was in the battle as they began the second ascent.

However, a big increase in pace at the front of the peloton saw Bardet unfortunately suffer, and he had to let go of the wheels. Nevertheless, he showed brilliant fighting spirit and rode the last 40 kilometres of the stage alone, pushing where he could and fighting all the way to the line in Bassano del Grappa. His efforts would see him save a top ten overall, meaning he and the team head to Rome tomorrow sitting in ninth place on GC.

Romain Bardet finishes stage 20. Sirotti photo

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Matt Winston expressed: “Romain fought all the way to the line to save a top ten on GC, and he can be proud that he kept going all the way to the line. It’s not what we had hoped for today, but that’s cycling, you can have bad days at times. We’ve had a bit of an up and down race over the course of the three weeks I would say. We’ve had some really good days and some stages where we’ve suffered a little bit; whether that be through illness or injury. Now we have to regather, travel to Rome, and come out fighting one last time on stage 21 where we’ll go for it in the sprint.”

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

Team Visma | Lease a Bike got through the penultimate Giro stage without any problems. Attila Valter managed to hold on in the group of favourites for some time. He eventually finished eighteenth. The stage win was for Tadej Pogacar.

After opening the stage on rolling roads, the finale featured the double climb of the 18-kilometre Monte Grappa. Unlike in past stages, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders were not in the mix in the battle for the early breakaway. Hungarian champion Valter started the final climb in the group of favourites.

“On the first ascent, I felt surprisingly good”, Valter said. “I survived in the group with the GC riders. During the second climb of Monte Grappa it went too fast for me. Then I rode towards the finish line without taking too many risks. I am happy with the level I reached in the third week of a grand tour. Although there is definitely room for improvement towards the future.”

The peloton on the stage's first ascent. RCS photo

With no big surprises in the final stage in Rome, Valter ends the Giro d'Italia 22nd in the general classification. “Of course we will look back at this Giro with mixed feelings”, he says. “I would immediately like to trade some places in order to still have Cian (Uijtdebroeks) in the race, but unfortunately it doesn't work like that. I find it especially unfortunate that Cian was never able to show himself in the stages that suited him. His stages were in the second and third week.”

After the forced abandonments of Robert Gesink, Christophe Laporte, Olav Kooij and Uijtdebroeks, Valter finished the remaining stages with teammates Tim van Dijke, Jan Tratnik and Edoardo Affini. “We can proudly look back at how the four of us still gave it our all in the last two weeks”, Valter added. “Even yesterday we showed again how combative we were and tomorrow we will try to sprint again with Tim. At times it looked like we were still racing with eight. I'm proud of that.”

And here's the report from Team Groupama-FDJ:

The Giro mountains are behind the riders. On Saturday, the peloton battled on the climbs for the very last time in this 2024 edition, on a twentieth stage featuring a double ascent of Monte Grappa. Before things got tough, Lorenzo Germani managed to break away on home soil. He was then caught by the bunch which was willing to fight for the win. Tadej Pogacar scored his sixth victory. A sprint should conclude the race tomorrow in Rome. 

The riders had “only” 184 kilometres left to cover before seeing Rome in the distance. On the other hand, these 184 kilometers included the monstrous Monte Grappa, 18 kilometers long for an average slope of 8%, to be done twice in the second half of the route! It was a final battle between the favorites, and a final day of suffering for the others.

The peloton gets started under rainy skies. RCS photo

In the rain, from Alpago, the riders of the Groupama-FDJ cycling team however wanted to tackle the day in an aggressive way, and after a first attempt by Cyril Barthe, Lorenzo Germani eventually went clear with Davide Ballerini. “The guys knew that they were more on their terrain at the start and that they had 80 kilometres to show themselves,” explained Frédéric Guesdon. “This is what Lorenzo did, and he found himself in the day’s breakaway.” The young Italian was subsequently joined by nine other riders, including stage winners Pelayo Sanchez and Andrea Vendrame.

However, this group only had a three-minute lead at the bottom of the first ascent of Monte Grappa. “The peloton didn’t leave enough of a lead and the climb was too hard for Lorenzo,” explained Frédéric. “The most important thing is that he was able to go in front and have a bit of fun. The others tried to hang on. We can tell it’s the end of Giro. Everyone is tired, it was quite hard, but I think everyone was happy to get it over with tonight.” The entire Groupama-FDJ cycling team therefore joined Bassano del Grappa, where Tadej Pogacar claimed victory yet another time. The riders will now head to Rome for a final stage of 125 kilometres tomorrow. “You never know what could happen, but it should be a sprint,” concluded Frédéric. “Laurence is in good condition, and I think the team deserves a good result. There’s only tomorrow left to take it, so we’re going to put everything on Laurence and be very careful so that it indeed ends in a sprint”.

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