Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, September 21, 2024
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
In football [soccer] as in watchmaking, talent and elegance mean nothing without rigor and precision. - Lionel Messi
Bill & Carol McGann’s book The Story of the 2023 Tour de France, 2023: The Viking Again Conquers the Tour is available in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- September 18 - 22: Tour de Luxembourg
- September 21: Super 8 Classic
Upcoming racing:
- September 22 - 29: World Road Cycling Championships
- October 12: Il Lombardia
Latest completed racing:
- September 20: Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
- September 18: GP de Wallonie
- September 15: Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
- September 15: Trofeo Matteotti
- September 14: Memorial Marco Pantani
- September 13: Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
- September 12: Coppa Sabatini
- September 11: Giro della Toscana
- September 8: GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano
- September 8: GP de Formies
- August 17 - Sept 8: Vuelta a España
- September 3 - 8: Tour of Britain
- September 8: Bemer Cyclassics
We posted the report from Team Visma | Lease a Bike with the results.
Here's the report from the race organizer:
Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Step) won the queen stage of the Škoda Tour de Luxembourg. After 201.3 km between Rosport and Diekirch, he claimed victory as a solo rider with an 18-second lead over Davide Formolo (Movistar Team) and 41 seconds over Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates).
Mauri Vansevenant wins Tour de Luxembourg stage three.
However, Formolo was later disqualified due to an illegal position on the bike during a descent. With this victory, Vansevenant also secured the overall lead.
After 10 km, a two-man breakaway group formed: Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-Quick Step) and Johannes Kulset (Uno-X Mobility) broke away from the peloton, building up a lead of more than six minutes.
Not all riders were content to stay in the peloton: Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek) and Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale) made a move and caught up with the leaders about 50 km before the finish. By that time, the gap to the peloton had shrunk to less than two minutes.
The final 30 km around Diekirch turned chaotic. Attack after attack split the peloton. Van der Poel and Bob Jungels (Team Luxembourg) were among those who tried to escape. However, only Vansevenant and Formolo managed to break away decisively. Although Hirschi and van der Poel attempted to catch the leaders, it was too late.
Mauri Vansevenant: “I knew I still had some energy left. It’s great to win a stage in this race. I felt stronger than my companion, so I went full throttle on the final climb. The yellow jersey is an extra motivation and good for my confidence. Tomorrow I will give it my all, but it will be tough to defend the yellow jersey, as the time trial is not my specialty.”
Content continues below the ads
We posted the report from winner Tim Merler's Team Soudal Quick-Step with the results.
Here's the report from Team dsm-Firmenich PostNL:
A controlled day of racing, despite attempts every lap to split things in a crosswind section, saw the peloton take on a mostly flat route around the town of Koolskamp for the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen where a big bunch sprint was expected. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL kept their powder dry throughout the afternoon, looking after each other well as they aimed to set up finisher Fabio Jakobsen for the finale.
Unfortunately, a series of bad luck befell the team in the closing 30 kilometres. Firstly, Bram Welten slid out on a corner but he was able to return to the peloton after a bike change and a hard chase. Then heading into the last ten kilometres, the team had massed forward in the front 15 or so positions in the peloton but a crash right in front of them saw everyone, including Jakobsen, involved in a tangle – although luckily no one touched the deck. However, that meant the team couldn’t compete for a top result come the line, with Emils Liepins who managed to make it through the chaos, leading home the team in Koolskamp.
Tim Merlier win the 2024 Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Callum Ferguson said: “Today was a pretty controlled race by the sprint teams. Each lap we saw some squads try and split things in the crosswinds but then it came back in the headwind. We grouped up well coming into the last lap, and held a really nice position towards the front of the peloton on the narrow roads, as we looked to set up Fabio for the sprint. Unfortunately, there was a crash right in front of us and although we didn’t go down, we were involved in the coming together and that ruined our chances of getting a good result on the day.”
Content continues below the ads
Here's the team's update:
The Lotto Dstny Team goes to the SUPER 8 Classic with a strong team, with Florian Vermeersch who became third last year. Arnaud De Lie is missing unfortunately due to sickness. “Of course it’s unfortunate that we will not have Arnaud with us, but with the team we have we can definitely aim for a nice result”, Florian Vermeersch previews the race tomorrow.
“I’m ambitious myself to go for a good result again. I came well out of Canada, with a good feeling in both Québec and Montréal, which makes me confident for tomorrow”, Florian Vermeersch says. “The crucial point is definitely the combination of the Moskesstraat, Holstheide and Smeysberg. Last year the race was made hard there and we rode with 5 together to the finish. We will need to see which sprinters survive and who is still there.”
Florian Vermeersch wins stage 5 of the 2022 4 Days of Dunkirk.
“For myself it are my last races for Lotto Dstny, after six years together it’s a special chapter coming to an end. I still do some races in Belgium and afterwards I have the World Championships gravel which is really important for me, although that’s not really with the team. After that I want to finish off the season in a nice way in Italy, as other years. It will be strange to not be here anymore next season, but changing teams is part of cycling."
Content continues below the ads
“I look back with a super feeling to the time I had with Lotto Dstny. It was the team who gave me the chance to become a pro rider. I’m very grateful for that. With good results I got a more important role during the years and of course my second spot in Paris-Roubaix 2021 is one of the highlights. But there are a lot of other beautiful moments I will cherish forever, altitude camps or races we won. I can say I made real friends and I know I will keep them for a lifetime.”
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary