Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, February 8, 2025
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Current Racing:
- February 5 - 9 Etoile de Bessèges/Tour du Gard
- February 5 - 9: Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- February 8 - 12: Tour of Oman
Upcoming racing:
- February 14 - 16: Tour de la Provence
- February 15: Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia
- February 16: Clásica de Almeria
Latest completed racing:
- February 7: Muscat Classic
- February 1 & 2: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
- February 2: GP La Marseillaise
- January 29 - February 2: Challenge Vuelta a Mallorca
- January 28 - February 1: AlUla Tour
- January 30: Surf Coast Classic
- January 17 - 26: Tour Down Under
- January 26: Classica Comunitat a Valenciana 1969
- January 25: Ruta de la Cerámica - Gran Premio Castellón
We posted the stage three report from stage winner Arnaud De Lie's Team Lotto with the results.
Here's the report from third-place Paul Penhoët's Team Groupama-FDJ:
Stage 3 of the Étoile de Bessèges, on Friday, did indeed finish with a bunch sprint, although it wasn’t a complete one. Due to an incident at the start of the stage, several teams left the race, while the route was reduced to 136 kilometers. Groupama-FDJ continued the race, under pouring rain, and Paul Penhoët eventually took third place at the finish, which put him in second place on GC. The latter should change quite a lot on Saturday, at the summit of Mont Bouquet.
Despite gloomy weather, everything started in a rather classic way on Friday on the Étoile de Bessèges. In this third stage designed around Bessèges, precisely, a rider was leading the race in the first few kilometres when the peloton decided to stop after an incident. “We were going through a village, and a postman’s car came from the right, and inserted itself between the breakaway and the peloton,” explained Frédéric Guesdon. “This morning, there was a meeting following the traffic incidents of the first two days. Some teams warned that they would withdraw if it happened again. Unfortunately, it did, and they immediately wanted to stop.”
The peloton waits for the race to re-start. Sirotti photo
After a forty-five-minute interruption, then a thirty-minute neutralisation to join the “new start”, the peloton set off again with only 78 riders in it, almost half as many as an hour earlier. “For French cycling, the Étoile de Bessèges couldn’t stop and that’s why most of the French teams remained in the race”, explained Frédéric. That said, it could have been more serious. I left the choice to the riders, but they understood this well. They know that the organizer is doing their utmost and that it’s not easy to control everything.” “I think it was a good decision to continue, out of respect for the organizers, we know that it’s very complicated for them,” said Paul Penhoët. “If there had been another car on the course, however, it would surely have been too much…”
Race safety is a major concern for the Groupama-FDJ cycling team. The team trusts the organizer and the commissaires to make sure that the next two stages take place in the best safety conditions.
Also, the remaining riders resumed racing with a different course on the menu since the last loop and the last two climbs were removed. “Restarting was difficult because we stopped for over an hour, and everyone thought the race was going to be cancelled,” Paul testified. “Mentally, it was hard to get back into it, especially since we were cold after stopping for so long. It was really difficult, but we managed to get back into it with the guys. Olivier went to pull straight away, which also allowed us to get back into the game. Then, we quickly got back to normal racing.”
Four riders then led the race, and still had a minute’s lead entering the last forty kilometres, approaching the Col des Brousses (2.4 km at 5%). “It got lively because there were two nice little climbs in the final, and nine riders went away with Kevin,” reported Frédéric. “He was supposed to be up there. He is our best climber here, so if there were attacks, he had to follow, also thinking about the general classification.” This group joined the breakaway after a few minutes, then took up to thirty seconds on the peloton before tackling the last climb of the day, twenty kilometres from the finish.
At the top, things finally got back together, or almost. Only Dylan Teuns kept on going while heading towards Bessèges. “With Clément and Cyril, we had to stay calm to save energy”, said Paul. “I felt very good on the last climb, and that gave me confidence”. A peloton of about forty men eventually caught Teuns four kilometres from the finish, at which point the Groupama-FDJ train got on the move. “It’s true that we had trouble getting into position on the first two stages”, said Frédéric. “Today, with a smaller peloton, they were able to set things up as we wanted. They did a good job, and it was a good rehearsal for what’s to come”. Rémi Cavagna, Kevin Geniets, Cyril Barthe and Clément Russo took turns at the head of the peloton, before finally launching Paul Penhoët in the final straight. “Everyone did a great job,” said the young man. “All I had to do was to finish it off. Unfortunately, when I started to launch the sprint, I felt like I was completely frozen, that my legs were blocked. I’m really gutted for the boys because they did a great job, and it was a great opportunity for the team and for me to take our first victory. It’s a shame, but we can’t have many regrets.”
Arnaud De Lie wins the stage. Sirotti photo
On the line, Paul Penhoët took third place, his first podium of the season, while Arnaud De Lie claimed victory. “It’s still a positive day, the boys put on a good fight,” concluded Frédéric. “We got third place and Kevin is still there in the general classification. It was a difficult day, but the guys managed it well. Tomorrow, there is again a lot of rain forecast at Mont Bouquet, so we will wait and see what happens.” On the eve of the queen stage, Paul Penhoët sits in second place in the general classification, six seconds behind the leader, while Kevin Geniets is seventh, ten seconds off.
We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from winner Rick Pluimers' Tudor Pro Cycling Team:
Rick Pluimers sprints to his first professional victory at today’s one day race Muscat Classic (UCI 1.1) in Oman. The team was well positioned when the pace in the peloton picked up within the last 50km. In the finale it came down to a reduced bunch sprint where the 24-year-old Dutch perfectly timed and launched his sprint to grab a staggering first professional victory. Team work, dedication and timing - it all aligned for Rick on the finish line in Muscat today. A great first pro win and a memorable day for Rick Pluimers.
Rick Pluimers wins the Muscat Classic. Photo: ASO/Thomas Maheux
Rick on his first pro win and a tough day in the hills around Oman's capital city:
“It’s super nice to finish off the hard work my team has put in today and of course it’s amazing to secure my first pro victory here. Cycling may look like an individual sport sometimes but it definitely is a team sport. Everyone on the team was needed to take this win today, the boys invested a lot during the race and now we’re celebrating together. I’m happy I made it over those steep climbs and also didn’t suffer too much in the heat to ultimately sprint for the win.“
Sports Director Sylvain Blanquefort shares the tactical approach for the race and explains how Rick's win evolved from his perspective:
“Rick was our leader for today and the plan was to set him up in the best possible position on the final kilometers. The riders showed proper team work todays and really raced as a unit. We really had a perfect timing in the finale. Larry was pulling hard to bring back the the breakaway and Marco stayed with Rick to ultimately launch a lead-out for him. It’s a great win and I’m really proud of how we raced here!“
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Here's the Muscat Classic report from third-place Henok Mulubrhan's Team XDS Astana:
XDS Astana Team successfully kicked off their week in Oman. Today, in the one-day race Muscat Classic, which precedes the Tour of Oman, Henok Mulubrhan took third place, while Diego Ulissi and Davide Toneatti finished in the Top 10 (4th and 7th places, respectively).
The Muscat Classic podium, from left: Jenthe Biermans (2nd), Rick Pluimers (1st) & Henok Mulubrhan (3rd). Photo: ASO/Thomas Maheux
The race, held on a hilly route, was filled with numerous attacks. The last breakaway was neutralized on the final straight, after which the fate of the race was decided in a sprint from a small peloton.
“After three weeks in Australia, I managed to reach a good level of form, so I came to Oman with certain ambitions. I wanted to show myself in today's one-day race and, in general, in the Tour of Oman. In the last kilometer, I lost my position a bit, but then I managed to come back and take part in the sprint. I'm happy to have secured a podium place, and also that Diego and Davide finished in the Top 10. I want to thank the team for their support and belief in me during today's race. The guys helped me all day, and I think, in general, we can be satisfied with the final result. I'm looking forward to the start of the Tour of Oman, where we will fight in every stage”, – said Henok Mulubrhan.
Here's the Muscat Classic report from Team Picnic PostNL:
On the hilly course from Al Mouj to Al Bustan, both attackers and sprinters had their chances—provided they could survive the steep final climb. The last early breakaway rider was caught with 40 km to go, as our team positioned itself well ahead of the penultimate climb. After that ascent, a group of four riders broke away, while our riders stayed attentive at the front of the bunch. Over the top, multiple attacks followed, with three riders managing to slip away. However, they were reeled in inside the final kilometer, setting up a reduced bunch sprint. Pluimers proved to be the fastest, while Sean Flynn was our first finisher in 24th place.
After the race, Robbe Dhondt said: “We were really looking forward to starting the season and putting all the work we did in the winter together. As I see it, we did everything pretty well—positioning, hydration, communication… it was all on a high level. We were always present when we needed to be. As discussed before the start, I covered a lot of moves and tried to keep the overview and control, and this worked out really well because, in the end, our leaders could do their own thing, and it just came down to the legs. We didn’t get the result we wanted or deserved, but if we keep doing things like this, it will definitely come. For me personally, it was nice to do my first race as a WorldTour rider, and I’m looking forward to what’s coming.”
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Team Visma | Lease a Bike posted this Muscat Classic report:
Cian Uijtdebroeks showed his good legs in the Muscat Classic on Friday. The Belgian crossed the finish line of the one-day race in the group of favorites. The focus can now be fully on the Tour of Oman, which starts tomorrow.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike started the one-day race in the capital of Oman without Jørgen Nordhagen. The Norwegian struggled with symptoms of illness on Friday morning. After a quiet start, the race ignited on the first passages of Al Jabal and Hamriya. Olav Kooij and Daniel McLay, who hope to show their sprint train for the first time in Oman, had to let the peloton go in the final phase of the race.
Niklas Behrens, a debutant in the Dutch cycling formation, and Uijtdebroeks showed themselves at the head of the race in the closing stages of the classic. The duo saw four riders leave about twenty kilometers before the finish. Uijtdebroeks made a firm attempt to catch the escapees. He succeeded, but in the sprint the Belgian was then unable to compete for the victory and finished 22nd behind winner Rick Pluimers.
“I knew I had to keep following to not lose the connection with the best riders. I felt strong on the climbs today. I finished in the front group and that makes me satisfied. Unfortunately I didn't manage to sprint for the win here in Muscat”, Uijtdebroeks said afterwards.
Sports director Maarten Wynants looks back on the classic in Oman with satisfaction. “We knew it would be a very tough race with so many climbs. The heat here in the Middle East is an added factor. Cian achieved a good level today. Niklas also felt good, but lost the connection with the first group just below the top.”
Tomorrow, the five-day Tour of Oman kicks off with a relatively flat stage. Wynants was clear earlier about the goals and expresses his expectations for tomorrow. “For Olav and Dan, the course was just a bit too hard today, but we will see them the coming week. Perhaps as early as tomorrow. We also missed Jørgen today. Hopefully tomorrow he will feel better and be able to start. We'll have to wait and see.”
Here's the Muscat Classic report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:
The third edition of the Muscat Classic put on the table a familiar course, comprising six classified climbs which gradually whittled down the peloton long before the original breakaway of the day was caught. As soon as things calmed down a bit inside the last hour of the race, one rider went clear and pressed on to build a gap on the up-and-down terrain around Al Bustan.
Here's the Muscat Classic profile, a little bumpy.
Twenty kilometers from the finish, a three-man group featuring former U23 Dutch Champion Pepijn Reinderink rode away and joined the lone leader of the race, quickly opening a 30-second gap that applied some serious pressure on the peloton. It took a huge combined effort and the gruelling double-digit gradients of the short Al Jissah climb for those behind to reduce the deficit and eventually make the catch just a few kilometers from the finish, just as they were exiting a roundabout.
With no team controlling the small peloton, it came down to a messy finish in Muscat, which Rick Pluimers (Tudor Pro Cycling) won. Soudal Quick-Step was represented by two riders in the top ten: newcomer Valentin Paret-Peintre, who took sixth, and Mauri Vansevenant – runner-up at the Tour of Oman in 2023, who came over the line in ninth position.
And Team INEOS Grenadiers posted this Muscat Classic report:
Thymen Arensman and Carlos Rodriguez moved up to fourth and fifth place respectively following another day of climbing at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
The Grenadiers duo were led onto the final incline of stage three by teammate Tobias Foss, with Arensman taking ninth over the line and Rodriguez 11th.
The result elevated the pair on the GC with two stages to go, and was the product of some strong work on the run-in. With three Grenadiers forming part of a select GC group, Foss made an acceleration following the first category Remedio climb.
Movistar's Ivan Romeo pushed clear on the plateau between the two late climbs to build up an unassailable margin, winning the stage by 10 seconds. The day also saw a new race leader, with Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) taking the yellow jersey.
Arensman and Rodriguez sit 23 and 32 seconds back respectively, with more climbing on Saturday before a sprint finale on Sunday.
Over in Besseges, the INEOS Grenadiers were among a number of teams who opted to not complete stage three on safety grounds.
We posted the race organizer's stage three report with the results.
Here's the report from third-place Joao Almeida's UAE Team Emirates:
João Almeida and UAE Team Emirates-XRG continued their strong start to the Volta Valenciana with the Emirati squad taking the race lead after stage 3 in Spain. Almeida finished 3rd on the stage, 10” behind the lone winner Ivan Romeo (Movistar) who took the victory, enough to cement the yellow jersey heading into the final two days of racing.
It was Ivan Romeo who won the stage.
With the race underway just before midday, the peloton would be allowed a reprieve for the first 80km of racing, as a six-rider breakaway was allowed to gain a substantial time gap over rolling terrain. It would not be long, however, until UAE Team Emirates-XRG would have to be at battle stations and ready to tackle the three categorised climbs that would come to define the stage.
Beginning in the town of Algemesí, which was struck by the catastrophic floods that swept across the Valencia region in October, UAE Team Emirates-XRG joined the peloton in paying tribute to the victims ahead of the stage start. The efforts of the disaster relief that has followed were applauded, and the sport came together to pay a heartfelt message to all those who were affected.
With Bahrain Victorious first taking up the challenge of pacing the peloton, Ivo Oliveira, Julius Johansen and Filippo Baroncini remained alert to any dangers and allowed the team’s climbers to stay well positioned towards the front of the group.
Beginning the day just two seconds down in the general classification, and having watched race leader Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) hit the deck earlier in the stage, João Almeida was well aware that there could be no lapse in concentration. Surrounded by riders in the ilk of Pavel Sivakov, Brandon McNulty and Felix Großschartner, Almeida and UAE Team Emirates-XRG could attack the second half of the stage with a real sense of vigour.
Sivakov was first to make the decisive change of pace at -25km with the Frenchman thinning out the group and dropping the race leader Vacek. With Almeida then destined to inherit the yellow jersey, it was up to him and McNulty to police any attacks from GC threats. Ivan Romeo (Movistar) would clip away to take a solo stage win by a narrow margin of 10” ahead of Buitrago and Almeida, with the Portuguese climber doing enough to claim a 2” lead in the GC and pull on his first yellow jersey of 2025.
Almeida: “Today I think we fought hard and deserved to get the jersey. The stage was not too demanding in general. We gave it everything we had. My teammates were amazing today as always and we managed to get the bonus seconds to defend ourselves from the rivals. We were already predicting that there would be attacks in the end so we had to follow the right moves without burning everything. We need to focus now on every second from now until Sunday.”
Saturday will bring the penultimate stage of the race, and with it, some 3,793m of climbing between Oropesa and Portell de Morella. Many of the opportunities for shenanigans will fall inside the first half of the stage, with all four categorised climbs to be raced before the peloton enters the final 80km of action.
First up is the Coll de la Bandereta (11.8km at 3.8%), followed by a back-to-back-to-back trio of the Coll de la Basa (4.5km at 4.3%), Alto de Chodos (10.8km at 5.2%) and Alto de Vistabella del Maestrat (6.2km at 5.4%). Once in the final 10km of racing, there is a kilometre-long stretch at around 6%, but otherwise, all eyes will be on the 10, 6 and 4 bonus seconds across the line.
Sunday, of course, looks set to suit a sprint finish to round out the week’s action.
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Team Polti-VisitMalta posted this Valenciana race report:
Other mountain course at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, outstanding performance again by Team Polti VisitMalta. Yesterday, it was Zoccarato ahead; today it was Fran Muñoz’s turn, showing no signs of struggle despite the crash he was involved in yesterday. The Catalan with Asturian roots rode 110 kilometers alongside five breakaway companions, plus an additional 5 km solo when he attempted to anticipate the demanding climb of El Remedio. He was caught with 27 km to go, at which point Polti VisitMalta once again had Davide Piganzoli holding onto the wheels of the best riders — the only ProTeam rider among thirteen WorldTour athletes, as well as the only Italian in this leading group. In the explosive final kilometer, just ten seconds behind stage winner Romeo (Movistar) Piganzoli sprinted to seventh place, moving up to 12th overall.
The bumpy third stage profile.
Muñoz: “We started with the idea of trying from far out and I gave it my all to go as far as possible. Of course it’s difficult to get the better of such a strong peloton, especially when there wasn’t much cooperation among us breakaway riders — everyone wanted to do things their own way. But the important thing was to confirm my condition and the sensations of all my teammates. The response was positive, so we keep going!”
Sports director Stefano Zanatta: “Today there was more of a battle than yesterday to make the break, but we managed to do it even gaining up to six minutes of advantage. Then the squads of the main GC contenders pushed hard to bring it back, but our guys did a fantastic job at every moment. Seeing Piga finish just a few meters behind the top five, in such a strong field, boosts both his morale and ours for the upcoming races. Now, we head into two stages where the elevation will gradually decrease.”
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