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Monday, February 24, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none. - Tecumseh
Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, Vol 2: 1976 - 2018 is available in print, Kindle eBook & Audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Upcoming racing:
- February 26 - March 2: O Gran Camiño
- March 1: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Latest completed racing:
- February 17 - 23: UAE Tour
- February 19 - 23: Volta ao Algarve
- February 22 - 23: Tour des Alpes-Maritimes
- February 14 - 16: Tour de la Provence
- February 16: Clásica de Almeria
- February 15: Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia
- February 8 - 12: Tour of Oman
- February 5 - 9 Etoile de Bessèges/Tour du Gard
- February 5 - 9: Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- 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
We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from second-place Giulio Ciccone's Team Lidl-Trek:
Superb ride from Giulio Ciccone sees him finish second atop Jebel Hafeet to secure second overall on the General Classification, while Jonathan Milan took maximum points at both intermediate sprints to ensure he took home the final green jersey of the week.
The word at the start of the stage was echelons. Strong winds were expected to play a big role on the final stage and how the race approached the bottom of the final climb and they did!
Lidl-Trek was prepared for it and made sure that Ciccone was in the first echelon when the bunch split and that he had teammates with him. Patrick Konrad, who went on to finish 10th overall himself, and Daan Hoole were right there with him and shepherded him excellently through the chaos.
Tadej Pogacar wins stage seven.
Milan was up the road, after jumping in an early breakaway to sweep up the maximum points at the first intermediate sprint, and once the first group caught up to them, the green jersey slotted right into the echelon next to Ciccone.
As the 10.8-kilometer climb, which had an average gradient of 6.6% and pitched of 11% in places, began, Ciccone was perfectly placed in the wheel of the red jersey and was able to respond to his initial attack. After Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) pushed on for a second time, the Italian climber settled into his own rythym and in a final sprint to the line against Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), he was able to get enough of a gap to secure both second on the stage and on the General Classification.
Giulio Ciccone:
"Second place is not a victory but I’m quite happy. Today was a crazy stage so I can be happy with a second place behind Pogi. I’m happy with my shape, my condition and also about the team because they did a super great job. In general, I’m really happy.
"I think this [the echelons] was the hardest part of the stage for me. In this moment it’s hard to be in the right place, but I think my teammates did something really special for me today and I need to say thanks to them. I finished on the podium in GC, which is always something good. I’m proud and I think it’s the best way to start the new season and let’s continue like this."
Milan stepped onto the podium to receive the green jersey, which mathematically won at the foot of Jebel Hafeet after winning the second intermediate sprint of Stage 7.
Jonathan Milan:
"For us it was important to bring Ciccone in the best spot possible to get through the echelons, and also to bring home this [Green] Jersey. It was pretty close between me and Merlier on the points so I prefer to go in the break and take the first points. When the first group chased us I just kept working with my guys and in the end we always supported Ciccone and he delivered a perfect and beautiful result today.
"We came here to win as much as we could, and to win this Green Jersey. We achieved a lot in this UAE Tour and we are really happy about it. We will also learn a lot about this UAE Tour and it’s always important to watch the mistakes we make and learn from this."
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We posted the report from winner Jonas Vingegaard's Team Visma | Lease a Bike with the results.
Here's the race organizer's final report:
Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) is the new Volta ao Algarve champion.
The Danish cyclist chose the south of Portugal to start the season, in an unprecedented appearance in the race, and leaves the Algarve with a smile on his face and good feelings in his legs.
Jonas Vingegaard on his way to winning the stage and the final GC.
In an exciting – and never-before-seen – time trial finishing at Alto do Malhão, Vingegaard put on a show, making up time on all the competition and securing the Visit Algarve Yellow Jersey in this fifth stage.
Jan Christen, from UAE Team Emirates XRG, came into this final day of the Algarve as the leader of the General Classification, four seconds ahead of João Almeida, his teammate.
But other strong names in world cycling were heading into this fifth stage with aspirations of the final victory, such as Primož Roglič (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe), Laurens De Plus (INEOS Grenadiers), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) or António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates XRG), as well as Vingegaard, of course.
For much of the day, however, it was a teammate of the Danish racer, Wout van Aert, who sat in the leader’s seat. The Belgian cyclist was the first to drop the 28th minute and led the stage until almost the end.
Only Vingegaard was able to do better, with a very balanced TT whose highlight was the final stretch, the mythical climb to Alto do Malhão, where the Danish rider gained the final advantage over his teammate.
João Almeida was also in the final fight, with the best climb to Malhão of the afternoon, but the discreet early part of the race prevented the Portuguese from celebrating at home.
Jan Christen didn’t get to celebrate either: the Swiss rider from UAE Team Emirates XRG was the owner of the Visit Algarve Yellow Jersey all week, but ended up finishing in the bottom-10 of the GC and also losing the IPDJ White Jersey, for youth.
As the curtain closes on the 51st Volta ao Algarve, it’s Jonas Vingegaard who emerges as the main figure, ahead of João Almeida and Lauren De Plus in the General Classification.
“Of course I’m very happy, it was a great day for me and the team. I’m proud. Before the race, my daughter told me that I had to win today, so that gave me motivation. It was a very good TT, I really enjoyed it”, said the winner.
Jordi Meeus (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe) finished in the Crédito Agrícola Green Jersey – Points, Nicolás Tivani (Aviludo – Louletano – Loulé) in the Save Water Blue Jersey – Mountain and Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) in the IPDJ White Jersey – Youth.
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Here's the Algarve report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:
Another edition of the Volta ao Algarve came to a conclusion, and our team came out of the race with a nice haul of results brought by Maximilian Schachman and Ilan Van Wilder, who both concluded in the general classification top ten.
The duo started the final day of the race – a demanding 19.6km individual time trial that culminated atop the iconic Alto do Malhão – outside the first ten, but managed to put together a really nice ride to make up ground and upgrade their position in the overall standings of the Portuguese race. Schachmann, who made his first outing of the season here, was our top finisher, his top five on the last stage being enough to elevate him a remarkable nine places in the ranking.
Mac Schachmann riding to fifth place.
The German finished fifth the race won by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike), a result that augurs well ahead of his return to Paris-Nice, one of his favourite races on the calendar, and was joined in the top ten by Ilan Van Wilder, who thanks to his equally impressive ride concluded seventh at the Volta ao Algarve.
“I came here from altitude training and it was my first race with the team, but I had a good week together with the guys and we can be satisfied with everything. We still have a lot of work to do, but this is promising, especially as there was a strong field here, so fifth is quite a solid result. The atmosphere in the team was great, we had a nice time together, and now I will return to training before taking on my first World Tour race of the season, Paris-Nice”, Max said after the race.
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Team Bahrain Victorious posted this Tour des Alpes/Volta ao Algarve report:
Fresh from a final-day top 3 finish for Pello Bilbao at the UAE Tour, Santiago Buitrago and Lenny Martinez both made the podium at the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes on Sunday.
Buitrago made an all-out effort to challenge for the overall win on the final stage (Villefranche-sur-Mer – Vence, 131.8 km). The Colombian climber attacked early with Richard Carapaz (EF) on the first major ascent of the day, before launching another move in the climb approaching the closing kilometres. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to shake off race leader Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana), who responded well and was able to hold onto his lead.
In a dramatic finale, Buitrago and Scaroni were caught just 100 meters from the line, setting up a reduced bunch sprint, which was won by Dorian Godon (Decathlon Ag2R La Mondiale).
The Tour des Alpes final GC podium, from left: (2nd) Santiago Buitrago, (1st) Christian Scaroni & (3rd) Lenny Martinez.
The final GC standings have Buitrago 2nd, 10 seconds behind Scaroni, and Martinez 3rd at 12”. The young French rider also claimed the Best Young Rider jersey, rounding off an excellent performance on home soil. As if that weren’t enough, Bahrain also took the Best Team award in further confirmation of the squad’s strength in depth.
Bahrain Victorious Sports Director Roman Kreuziger reflected on the team’s performance across the three days in France:
“Today being caught so close to the line leaves a bitter taste. Santiago showed himself to be one of the strongest climbers here, and we fought hard for both the podium and a stage win. The victory didn’t come, but finishing 2nd and 3rd overall is still a strong result. Chapeau to XDS Astana for their success.”
Kreuziger also highlighted the team’s cohesion and solid performances:
“The most important takeaway is how well the team raced together. Jack Haig led brilliantly as road captain, and Edoardo Zambanini did an excellent job. What we can still improve is the collaboration between Buitrago and Martinez, but overall, the signs are very promising. Oliver Stockwell showed great form today, and Roman Ermakov impressed across all three days. It’s a strong foundation for the future and for upcoming stage races.”
While the team were flying high in France, 2000km south west, Italian Antonio Tiberi was lighting up the roads of Portugal, ending the Volta ao Algarve with a third place in the final day time trial. The 19.6km route culminated with a 2km climb to the fabled ‘Alto do Malhão’, on which Tiberi flew to an impressive result behind only the more established trialists Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert (both TVL).
“For me this was the first race after the winter,” said the 23 year old. “After a period at altitude my sensations were quite good. I suffered a bit in the first climb finish, but already today it was really really better. I feel that I’m growing day by day. I’m quite positive for the Tirreno, but especially for my main objective, that is the Giro d’Italia. Today the legs were really really good, and I’m super happy that I did the last climb almost four seconds quicker than Jonas, so it’s good things I think!”
Sports Director in Portugal was Gorazd Štangelj, who was satisfied with the work of the team over the week, but knows there is more to come:
“We came here to do a great result, but unfortunately, we suffered the GC stage on the top mountain finish, and it was difficult to gain so much time back. We got some nice results with Nicolò, seventh place, we found out that Olivo is a good guy too!
Then to finish today with a great performance of Antonio on the time trial, and I need to mention Afonso too. And of course as I mentioned, Antonio, yeah, a great, great, great time trial. We know, we all knew he’s a bit of a specialist.”
It has been a phenomenal few days for Bahrain Victorious, and hopefully a significant portent of even better things to come in the coming weeks and months.
And here's the Tour des Alpes Maritimes report from Team Groupama-FDJ:
There surely was some action on Sunday in the closing stage of the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes, but mostly in the first part of the race. The peloton was eventually quite big before the final climb towards Vence, not hard enough to allow a proper GC fight. A reduced bunch sprint concluded the day, Quentin Pacher took ninth position, while Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet secured his sixth place overall.
Dorian Godon wins Tour des Alpes-Maritimes stage two
Like the day before, the profile was quite hilly this Sunday in the Alpes-Maritimes, but this time around, the major climbs featured in the first sixty kilometres. An explosive start was therefore expected, and also necessary to try to turn the GC around. “The stage got off to a flying start,” said Yvon Caër. “There were riders everywhere in the Col d’Èze, then the pace remained high until the second fight in the Col de Châteauneuf de Contes. At the top, there weren’t many riders left, especially because we set a big pace at the bottom”. Around fifteen riders managed to get clear at some point, before the peloton finally got back together on the descent.
“The leader, Christian Scaroni, was very strong and Astana was never in trouble,” added Yvon. “If the climbs had been a bit later in the stage, it would have been a completely different story”. So this wasn’t the case on Sunday, with a more rolling second half of the race. “There was still a big fight for almost the entire stage, because the breakaway put on a big show,” specified Yvon. “It was a fast day”.
After they hit the front at km 50, Harry Sweeny and Louis Barré got a maximum lead of two minutes on the peloton, which gradually came back approaching Vence and the final climb of la Sine (3.6 km at 5.3%), which was followed by three flat kilometers to the finish. Groupama-FDJ repositioned perfectly before this last highlight in the wake of Enzo Paleni, then Kevin Geniets took a big pull. “Six kilometres from the finish, there was a small steep section followed by a long false flat of two kilometres, and the goal was for Guillaume to be positioned to follow the best,” explained Yvon. “When four of them went away, he missed a little something, and it was a bit too punchy. Quentin followed what was left of the peloton and it finally got back together for a thirty-man sprint like last year.”
On the attack shortly before, Santiago Buitrago and Christian Scaroni were caught the final straight, and Dorian Godon finally won the stage. “Quentin had some regrets because this finish suits him but he said he didn’t manage his sprint well,” added Yvon. “He was on the right wheel, but he spent too much energy to get there, then he was overtaken.”
The French puncher took ninth place on the line, while Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet grabbed 12th and secured his sixth place overall. “We wanted to have an impact on the race, and we did in the climb of Châteauneuf, so I think we can’t have any regrets,” said the newcomer. “For me it was also a weekend of integration within the team in racing mode. The result is not there, I’m a bit disappointed I couldn’t be a bit stronger to finish it off, but I think we can be satisfied with the way we raced today. I want to thank the teammates and the staff for the integration. “What I take from this weekend is that Guillaume is in very good condition,” concluded Yvon. “It was his first race with us, and we were able to improve things over the weekend. Today, it was perfect in terms of investment and commitment from the teammates, and Guillaume is at the level he should be at.”
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