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Wednesday, February 26, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
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Current racing:
- February 26 - March 2: O Gran Camiño
Upcoming racing:
- March 1: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
- March 1: Faun Ardèche Classic
- March 2: Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne
- March 2: Faun Drôme Classic
- March 4: Le Samyn
- March 5: Trofeo Laigueglia
- March 8: Strade Bianche
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
Here’s the team’s post:
After the first month of competition for Team Polti VisitMalta, the race O Gran Camiño closes the Spanish calendar for the moment for the team. In this 2025, the competition includes one more stage in Portugal, so there will be five demanding days with opportunities for all the riders.
Four stages that always exceed 2000 metres of elevation gain, a time trial of 15.5 kilometres and the spectacular Galician landscape. The ingredients are ready for a race that expects its only sprint finish on the first Portuguese day, the queen stage in the province of Lugo on the fourth day arriving at O Cebreiro, and a circuit with the climbs to Lampai and the sterrato in the vicinity of Santiago for the final day.
Map and profile of the O Gran Camiño's first stage.
In order to achieve the best result on each day, Team Polti VisitMalta has lined up its big names: Davide Piganzoli will be the reference for the general classification, in a terrain for climbers that can benefit his condition; Fernando Tercero will be their best support on the hardest days; Andrea Pietrobon and Mirco Maestri will put their strength and power at the service of the block with a special opportunity on the last stage; Diego Sevilla and Alessandro Tonelli should give the team presence in breakaways and at key moments, while sprinter Giovanni Lonardi will have a good chance on the first stage, the only one that a priori will allow him to dispute the victory.
Davide Piganzoli: ‘I’m definitely very motivated for O Gran Camiño. We are going with a super team for the sprints with Lonardi, as well as for the hardest stages where I hope to be able to fight for the leading positions’.
Sports director Jesús Hernández highlights ‘a race that is already consolidated. In addition, the format is repeated and gives us opportunities to look for different objectives each day. We will have to keep a close eye on the weather, which is always complicated in this race, as well as the hardness of all the stages. We will fight with Piganzoli for the overall, we trust Lonardi for the sprint… and we’ll see what happens on the last day with the sterrato’.
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Here’s the team’s news:
Cobble calling: It's classic season.
For some fans, the real road cycling season doesn't start until Saturday. For them, the first race kilometres of the year in warmer climes are just a warm-up. Belgium, winding cobbled roads, tough climbs, endless attacks, hundreds of thousands of cheering fans who don't mind the cold and mud - it's the combination that traditionalists love about cycling. The opening weekend is just around the corner.
Omloop Nieuwsblad and Kuurne - Brussels - Kuurne. Two days, two classics. Omloop is the first European race of the WorldTour season. This year the race is celebrating its 80th anniversary, a small milestone that shows the great history of this Classic.
The distance between the start in Ghent and the finish in Ninove is only 30 kilometres as the crow flies. It is the numerous changes of direction and loops, with several climbs and cobblestones, that make the route a 200-kilometre classic. After six cobbled sections and seven ramps, two Flemish icons await the riders in the finale: the Muur in Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg. The first day of March will be a spectacular start to the classics season.
This year, the opening weekend will be a special focus for Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, as the new season sees the return of the one-day races. New talent has joined the team for these races - material tests and recon rides specifically for the classics are now part of the team's daily routine.
Team advantage
The new classics strength is not limited to one individual, but is spread throughout the team. There are four newcomers to the seven-man squad. Jan Tratnik, last year's Omloop Nieuwsblad winner, will wear number 1 for the first time.
Jan Tratnik wins the 2024 Omloop Nieuwsblad. Sirotti photo
Then there are the big guys with their strong physical presence. All around 1.90 meters tall: Jordi Meeus proved his strong classics form with a stage win in the Algarve and will be confident in his first race in his native Belgium. Ryan Mullen has already raced 14 days in Australia and the United Arab Emirates. In contrast, the twins Mick and Tim van Dijke will make their race debut in the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe jersey on Saturday. They have been preparing intensively for their favorite time of the year in a three-week high altitude training camp.
The two Spaniards in the team will also travel to Belgium: Oier Lazkano finished on the podium on Sunday of last year's opening weekend. On his last day of racing before the classics - the individual time trial of the Tour of the Algarve - he put in a strong performance and showed that he is in good shape. Roger Adrià completes the line-up. This weekend is a premiere for him. The Spaniard prefers the climbs of Wallonia later in the season to the Flemish classics. The Omloop will be an intensive endurance test before the spring tours.
Tension before the first big battle
The deck is stacked, the classics hunters are ready - but who will make the first mark? Can Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe with defending champion Jan Tratnik show their new strength in the first classics of the season? The answer will be revealed on Saturday on the narrow and rough roads of Flanders. One thing is for sure: the opening weekend will not be a warm-up. It will be hard, chaotic, merciless - just the way the traditionalists love cycling.
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Here's the post from EF Pro Cycling:
Our men’s and women’s squads rev up for their first cobbled race of the year at the Flemish classic
This Saturday, the classics season will get underway at Omloop het Nieuwsblad, the traditional spring opener in Flanders, Belgium.
Nina Berton, Letizia Borghesi, Lotta Henttala, Nina Kessler, Sarah Roy, and Babette van der Wolf will roll through a cloud of pastry steam and frite fumes into ‘t Kuipke velodrome in Gent, where they will meet thousands of Belgian fans, who have have been waiting for their return to the muddy farm roads of Flanders since last April.
Vincenzo Albanese, Kasper Asgreen, Owain Doull, Mikkel Honoré, Madis Mihkels, Michael Valgren, and Marijn van den Berg will follow them on to the stage, ready for their own heart thumping, bone rattling race over the cobblestones and Flemish bergs. The same men’s squad will start Sunday at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.
For the women, the Omloop is 137.9 kilometers long, with eight key hills on the course – the Edelareberg, Wolvenberg, Molenberg, Leberg, Berendries, Elverenberg, Kapelmuur, and Bosberg. The men’s race is 198 kilometers with 11 hills in total – the Leberg twice, followed by the Valkenberg, Elkenberg, Wolvenberg, and Molenberg, before another passage over the Leberg, and then the Berendries, Elverenberg, Kapelmuur, and Bosberg.
The crux of both races is likely to come around the Kapelmuur, a steep ribbon of cobblestones that rises from the village of Geraardsbergen up to a small chapel overlooking the region’s grey, wooded hills. For years it was the decisive climb in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the greatest of all the Flemish races, but has since been left off that course, so fans are all the keener to come watch the peloton rattle over its iconic stones at the Omloop.
Thousands will line its slopes on Saturday. The hill lies less than 20 kilometers from the finish, so the leading group at the summit is likely to duke it out for the win at the end.
The beauty of the Omloop is that the race could be decided at any moment though, especially if the wind is blowing or the cobbles are wet. Whatever the weather, there will be a no-holds-barred bunch sprint into the base of every climb, as riders attack into corners to hold their position in the peloton, hop potholes and roundabouts to move up, and barrel over every patch of cobblestones.
Lotta Henttala thrives in this sort of racing. The Finnish veteran, who has won races like Gent-Wevelgem and Dwaars door Vlaanderen in the past, will hit the Omloop with momentum after her win at the Trofeo Marratxi-Felanitx in Mallorca at the start of the season. Lotta will bet everything on getting over the final climbs with the front group to then ride to the finish in Ninove at the front of the race and unleash her sprint.
“I haven't done Omloop in quite a few years, so I am, at the same time, excited and nervous,” she says, “but I think we have good roster for opening weekend. I hope we can do some good teamwork and pull it together and get a nice result. It's the first classic of the season. It's going to be nervous and hectic and exciting. It is a very unpredictable race and you just need to be prepared for every scenario.”
With Nina Berton and Nina Kessler, Letizia, Sarah and Babette by Lotta’s side, EF Education-Oatly will have strong cards to play on Saturday. Twenty-three-year-old Luxembourger Nina Berton wants to follow in Lotta’s slipstream and become a great classics rider like her. She already has a list of strong results in Belgium to her name. This spring could be her spring.
”My biggest goal and dream is to win at least one of the big classics, but the more the better,” she says. “This is my favorite time of the year. The classics are super exciting because it's full gas racing without much thinking. It is just one big elimination game and the atmosphere is really special. Cycling is so big in Flanders and the fans are crazy. Their cheers push you a lot.”
Kasper Asgreen wants to make this spring his as well. The Dane is a former Ronde van Vlaanderen winner and has ridden to victory at races like the E3 Saxo Bank Classic and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. So far, the Omloop has escaped him though. On Saturday, he wants to change that. He has been training hard all winter to make this spring count.
Kasper Asgreen winning the 2020 Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Sirotti photo
“You just feel all the history that is here in Flanders, all of the traditions of the races,” Kasper says. “You watched the races on television when you were a kid, saw all the people who were once your idols racing up those climbs, and now you're racing up them yourself. For me, that is still something really special. The fans in Belgium just love racing. They love supporting riders who are willing to take a chance to try to make the race. That is the way I like to race. For opening weekend, challenging for the victory should be the goal. We've got several chances. Valgren, Honoré, Albanese, and I can attack, and then we have got two fast guys in the line up with Marijn and Madis to cover behind. It is always good to have multiple opportunities in these races.”
Madis Mihkels cannot wait for his first classic in EF pink. The 21-year-old Estonian finished in the top ten at Paris-Roubaix last season and dreams of becoming a Flandrien: a title the Flemish people reserve for the toughest of tough bike racers. Madis loves racing on the cobblestones.
“It is always exciting racing in Belgium, especially with all the fans,” Madis says. “They are so passionate. The noise that the fans make on the climbs feels so special. The style of racing here suits me really well. Personally, I am hoping for a reduced bunch sprint, which I think can happen and has happened before. That would be pretty great for me if I have a good day and I'm also there. If the attacks go earlier, a guy like Kasper is so strong and has shown in the past that on a good day, he can follow the main guys and be there, so I can hold myself back a little bit and focus on the sprint.”
Once the peloton rolls onto the cobbles, Nina Berton is going to have a hard time holding herself back. She knows she needs to save her strength for the key climbs at the end.
“I just want to have fun and go full gas and enjoy it, but also perform well with the team,” she says. “I want to race aggressively, as aggressively as possible, without doing stupid things that waste all of my energy. You need to ride smart in the technical bits and stay safe in all the corners and save energy wherever you can, because in the end the ones who come the freshest into the later part of the race are the ones who will survive and make it to the final and win. The Muur is a whole different vibe and a whole atmosphere. It's crazy. You just hear the people shouting and you are somewhere in your own world, but then you are also kind of taking it in. It’s like you are in slow-mo going up there.”
Slow-mo at 200 beats per minute, rattling over cobbles.
Get ready for a great weekend of racing. Find some fries and mayonnaise. Pop down to the shop and get the best Belgian beverage on the shelf. You will want to be 100 percent sure that you are watching when the pelotons race over the Kapelmuur on Saturday. It’s opening weekend. The classics are here!
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Here’s the team’s news:
UAE Team Emirates-XRG is pleased to announce its lineup for four must-see one-day Classics across France and Belgium, with the traditional ‘Opening Weekend’ welcoming in this year’s spring Classics.
In Belgium, the Emirati squad will tackle Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday, 1 March, before turning tact to Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday, 2 March. Jhonatan Narváez will make his European season debut as the Ecuadorian national champion, whilst Tim Wellens will hope to continue his good form from the Vuelta a Andalucía.
Clocking in at a little under 200km in length, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is one of the most hotly-anticipated races of the season, with fans getting their first opportunity to see the Classics stars going head to head on the cobbles. With a finale that includes both the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg – reminiscent of the old Tour of Flanders route – Omloop often provides one of the most exciting contests of the spring.
Last year was no different, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Nil Politt attacking within the final 10km and making it to the finish alongside eventual winner Jan Tratnik. Politt’s bravery on the day preceded a fine spring Classics campaign in which the German also scored seventh at the E3 Saxo Classic, third at the Tour of Flanders and fourth at Paris-Roubaix.
Looking forward to his 10th appearance on Opening Weekend, Politt was in high spirits to take on Omloop and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
Nils Pollit racing in the 2020 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Sirotti photo
Politt: “For Opening Weekend there is always a special feeling and a special atmosphere in Flanders. I think we have a really strong team and I think we can perform as good as last year where we had two podiums. If you look at our team I think you have many guys who can be present in the finals of these races which makes a big difference for the results and we will aim to be fighting for podiums.”
Politt will be joined on the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad start line by teammate Wellens, who finished third at this race in 2019. The two rouleurs will form a strong UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad for the race alongside the following riders:
Mikkel Bjerg (Den)
Rune Herregodts (Bel)
António Morgado (Por)
Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu)
Nils Politt (Ger)
Florian Vermeersch (Bel)
Tim Wellens (Bel)
As for Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday, the course is significantly flatter and should provide the usual melee that sees the sprinters pitted against the opportunists. Most of the day’s climbing falls within the middle of the parcours, before the Kluisberg marks the final high point with some 58km left to ride. From here to the finish, there is often a drag race between those who have attacked off the front, and the sprinters who are desperate to make up ground.
At the head of the race once more, UAE Team Emirates-XRG played a pivotal role in the 2024 edition, with Tim Wellens going clear alongside Wout van Aert and Oier Lazkano on the Côte de Trieu. Their three-up move would last until the finish, where Wellens sprinted to second behind Van Aert.
As with Politt, Opening Weekend marked just the beginning of a strong spring campaign for Wellens in 2024, with the Belgian also taking fourth at the E3 Saxo Classic and third at De Brabantse Pijl.
Fifth in the 2023 Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and runner-up last time out, Wellens is keen to leave his mark on the first spring tests once more.
Wellens: “Being from Belgium this period of the season is always very special and exciting for me. I believe our classics team continues to evolve year on year and I think we go into the races with a very strong team with the possibility to do great things. This year we will be one of the main favourites in these races compared to other years. We’ve had a very strong start to the year and the atmosphere is very good so we’ll hope to keep that going. The weather is also looking to be favourable, so that’s always a nice bonus for the opening weekend.”
Joining Wellens on the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne start line will be Narváez, a rider who is no stranger to animating the Belgian one-day. Back in 2021, the Ecuadorian delivered a breakout display in a long-range attack alongside Mathieu van der Poel. Although the pair were caught in the finale, the experience gave Narváez both the confidence to target the Classics, and a love for the unpredictability of these races.
“I think that if you don’t enjoy the chaos of the Classics, you just don’t enjoy cycling. You have to enjoy the adrenaline to be a cyclist,” he told the team earlier this year.
Ready to attack the race once again, Narváez will be part the following UAE Team Emirates-XRG roster for Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne:
Mikkel Bjerg (Den)
Rune Herregodts (Bel)
Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu)
Rui Oliveira (Por)
Nils Politt (Ger)
Florian Vermeersch (Bel)
Tim Wellens (Bel)
Meanwhile, away from the cobbles of Belgium, some of UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s finest climbers will be testing their legs on a French double-header. With the Faun-Ardèche Classic on Saturday, 1 March, and the Faun Drome Classic quick on the heels on Sunday, 2 March, there will be plenty of room reserved for exciting racing across the border.
First up on Saturday, UAE Team Emirates-XRG will hope to retain their title from the 2024 edition, with last year’s winner of the Faun-Ardèche Classic, Juan Ayuso, on the start line once again.
Ayuso: “It’s been a great winter of training so far and I can’t wait to get the racing started. Last year I was flying at these races but obviously my main objectives this year come a bit later in the season. These first races will be more of a test of the legs and return to the rhythm of racing for the first main objective of the season which will be Tirreno-Adriatico. Given the strength of the team we’ll have many cards to play so I’m excited to get back in the team environment and race with the guys again.”
The Spaniard will be making his season debut on Saturday, as he looks to build his campaign towards the Giro d’Italia in May. Ayuso is not the only former winner on the startlist for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, with the American Brandon McNulty ready to build on his strong start to the 2025 campaign.
The 26-year-old won this race with a spectacular solo attack in 2022 and with fifth place in February’s Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, McNulty began this season in good stead. With recent Volta ao Algarve stage winner Jan Christen, and 10th-placed finisher at last year’s Faun-Ardèche Classic, Igor Arrieta, also in the UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad, the Emirati side is well placed for the French hills.
Faun-Ardèche Classic is the slightly tougher test, with the riders tasked with 3,000m of climbing across less than 170km, but the Faun Drome Classic packs a punch in its own right and saw UAE Team Emirates-XRG score first and second across the line last season. With Marc Hirschi the winner, Ayuso backed up his Faun-Ardèche Classic victory with second place.
The Spaniard will make up a powerful UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad for the two French one-days alongside the following:
Igor Arrieta (Spa)
Juan Ayuso (Spa)
Jan Christen (Swi)
Isaac Del Toro (Mex)
Julius Johansen (Den)
Brandon McNulty (USA)
Matthias Schwarzbacher (Gen Z) (SLK)
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