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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, January 7, 2025

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him. - Audrey Hepburn


TDF volume 1

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.

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Team Picnic PostNL look ahead to 2025 season

Here’s the team’s news:

With the opening races of the 2025 season just around the corner, Team Picnic PostNL gathered in Calpe with all three of their programs – Development, Men and Women – as they finalise their preparations for the new racing season in their exciting new colours.

Reflecting on 2024 and continuing to make steps
The 2024 campaign saw the Men’s program have their most successful seasons in terms of wins since 2015, racking up a brilliant 22 victories throughout the year. Alongside an epic one-two on the opening stage of the Tour de France, the team is exceptionally proud that 18 of the 22 victories came from graduates of their Development program. This once again highlights Team Picnic PostNL as one of the best in the peloton at developing young talents. 2025 will see their 22nd rider make the step-up to the Men’s program from the Development program.

The Picnic PostNL team training in their new kits

The team’s Women’s program also made their mark at Tour de France Femmes. Sprinting to a superb win on the opening day with Charlotte Kool, the team then went on to win in yellow on the following stage: making for an incredibly special start on home Dutch soil.

Those results meant that the team set history as the first ever outfit to win the opening stage of the Tour de France with their Men’s and Women’s programs in the same calendar year – a truly exceptional feat.

A promising outlook – GC, sprints and development focus for Men’s program
In 2025, the team will continue their approach to racing with a focus on two different pillars throughout the season, with their GC and sprint group. Alongside the Grand Tours, the team will set their sights on multiple different races throughout the season; from stage-races, to one-day races, and from the sprints to the climbs.

On the Grand Tours, Team Picnic PostNL head coach Rudi Kemna said: “At the Giro d’Italia we really want to show ourselves as a team and play our part in the race each day. In the GC battle we will aim to race smartly and tactically and continue to assess how the race is shaping up as it progresses, while also having a focus on day results when the opportunities arise. We will have Romain [Bardet] who’s taking part in his last Grand Tour as a professional and Max [Poole] as our finishers for those challenging mountain days, while Casper [van Uden] is planned to make his three-week debut and will be supported by a good lead-out train to search for those day results in the sprints.”

“Topping 2024’s Tour de France will be hard, but we will once more head to the race with a focus primarily on going for stage results. In the more hilly and mountainous terrain we will have a strong group of attacking options such as the likes of Oscar [Onley] and Frank [van den Broek]. We want to make steps with Fabio [Jakobsen] in the earlier part of the season and then aim to head to the Tour de France with confidence, targeting the flat sprints with him as our finisher where he will be supported by the likes of Tobias [Lund Andresen].”

“We hope that Max will have learned a lot from the experience gained at the Giro, so with an ideal preparation, we will once more see where we can bring him in the overall standings come the end of the Vuelta. It is also an opportunity for several of our other young talents to make their Grand Tour debut and come into the process of riding a three-week race; where we will look for our chances each day to hunt for the best result possible.”

Women’s program
Speaking about the Women’s program Kemna continued: “In 2024 we stepped up to take some real quality wins, in particular the memorable Tour de France Femmes back-to-back wins with Charlotte [Kool] as our finisher, and impressive performances throughout the year from our young talents.”

“In 2025 we want to further build on the foundations we have made in previous years, targeting success in the sprints where we have one of the best lead-outs and sprint groups in the Women’s peloton.”

“Alongside our brilliant sprint group, we have a strong classics core where we can compete for top results over the cobbles in the Spring; with the likes of Pfeiffer [Georgi] and Franziska [Koch], Megan [Jastrab] or Charlotte if things come down to a fast finish. In those races we really believe in our strength across the board and want to use our numbers; racing smartly as a team.”

“We have a very talented and young GC group and in 2024 we saw the likes of Nienke [Vinke], Francesca [Barale] and Eleonora [Ciabocco] all make steps forward. With another year of racing in their legs, we hope to continue that trajectory with them and the rest of our climbing group. Nienke specifically will head to the Vuelta with the goal of preparing to ride for the GC and see how far she can come without any pressure on the result. We also welcome the very talented Marta [Cavalli] to the team and by working closely together with her we hope that she can return to the upper echelons of the sport with us and the idea is to head to the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France; however, we also need to allow the time for her to settle into her new surroundings and reset a little bit.”

22 talents promoted from Development program, aiming for more
Rounding off, Kemna concluded on the Development program: “As always, the general focus of our Development program will remain on the best development of our promising young athletes and continuing to bring the world’s best talents through to the WorldTour. 2024 saw us bring in quite a lot of fresh new faces to the group and the same goes for the 2025 season. We believe that we have a nice mix of riders and people, so we can really focus on their broader development – both on and off the bike. We’ve delivered a total of 22 talents through to our Men’s program since, something we are exceptionally proud of, and would like to build on even further after a successful season.”

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The Story of the Tour de France, volume 1 South Salem Cycleworks frames Melanoma: It Started With a Freckle

Intermarché-Wanty presents its new Verge Sport kit and its remodeled identity for 2025

Here’s the team’s announcement:

Team Intermarché-Wanty, in collaboration with its equipment supplier Verge Sport and its title partners Intermarché and Wanty, is proud to present its brand new cycling kit for the 2025 season. A kit that undergoes a striking transformation, with a revisited, modern design that uniquely represents the identity of the team and its major partners.

The Belgian World Team will now be recognizable in the peloton with a new colour palette that forms the basis of the new Verge Sport kit: red, white, and black. A color combination that perfectly matches the corporate styles of the team’s partners and creates a strong and uniform appearance. This strategic choice emphasizes the shared identity and close collaborations within the structure.

The new Intermarché-Wanty jersey

The graphic elements on the right sleeve symbolize the lightning-fast equipment of the Intermarché-Wanty riders, from Verge Sport clothing to the Cube Litening C:68X bikes equipped with NEWMEN wheels, uvex helmets and eyewear, etc. Within this revisited design, the emblematic fluorescent yellow color appears on the left sleeve as a nod to the past.

The riders of Intermarché-Wanty will present their new Verge Sport kit to the press during the Media Day on Friday 17th of January 2025 in Albir (Spain), before their first races of the season on Australian soil during the Down Under Classic on Saturday 18th of January and then the Tour Down Under from 21st to 25th of January.

Verge Sport
For the second consecutive year, the riders of World Team Intermarché-Wanty, Continental Development Team Wanty-NIPPO-ReUz and cyclocross team Charles Liégeois Roastery CX will push their limits with clothing produced by Verge Sport, an international company with decades of experience in designing custom sportswear for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and Nordic athletes.

By becoming the equipment supplier for a UCI World Team for the first time in 2024, Verge Sport reaffirmed its passion for creating the best custom sportswear in the world. In its offices in New York, Europe, and Asia, Verge Sport’s 300 employees think like athletes: everything is seen through the eyes of the customer. The needs expressed by the Intermarché-Wanty riders translate into innovation thanks to a close interaction with Verge Europe, led by the De Geest family. The continuous optimization is realised through wind tunnel testing with professional riders and short lead times.

From moisture wicking to sun protection, from ventilation to insulation, only the highest quality fabrics with a minimal environmental impact are selected for the production of the entire range of clothing for the structure’s three teams. Industry-leading quality and lead times are achieved through a blend of traditional craftsmanship with modern sublimation processes in the two family-owned production facilities.

Partners
Title partners Intermarché and Wanty remain omnipresent on both the front and back of the new jersey, as well as on the bib shorts. Italian wine house Vini Fantini maintains its position on the front and back of the jersey, but also on the right side of the bib shorts. The online sports news channel Circus Dailyappears on the stomach area and on the back of the bib shorts. Historical sponsor Gobert Matériaux, visible on the kit of the World Team with Walloon roots since 2001, appears on both shoulder blades. Škoda Steveny, the automotive fleet partner, takes its place on the right side and on the left shoulder.

On the chest, technical partners Verge Sport, Cube Bikes, Uvex, and Gaerneare joined by the logo of NIPPO, the new title partner of Wanty-NIPPO-ReUz Continental Development Team. Just like last season, the logos of Full Services, Van Thuyne, ReUz, and Technord are displayed on the sleeves. Finally, roaster Charles Liégeois, title partner of the structure’s cyclocross team, maintains its position at the nape of the neck.

Verge specializes in custom cycling apparel with low minimum order requirements, lightning-fast delivery, and worldwide shipping. Whether you’re a team of 1 or 100, you’ll experience the same outstanding quality as the pro riders who have worn Verge kit to National, World, and Olympic titles.


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XDS Astana Development Team announces its line-up

Here's the team's news:

Next season, the team’s colors will be represented by 16 riders, five of whom also competed in 2024. 

The 2025 Astana Development team.

Alongside Artem Fofonov (France, 19 years old), Mattia Negrente (Italy, 19), Alexandr Vinokurov jr. (Kazakhstan, 22), Ruslan Yelyubayev (Kazakhstan, 22), and Simone Zanini (Italy, 20), the following riders will join the line-up in 2025: 

  • Luca Attolini (Italy, 18 years old),
  • Pierre-Henri Basset (France, 20),
  • Alessio Delle Vedove (Italy, 20),
  • Lev Gonov (neutral athlete, 24, team trainee in 2024),
  • Daniil Marukhin (Kazakhstan, 25, previously competed for Astana Qazaqstan Team in 2024),
  • Ludovico Mellano (Italy, 18),
  • Ivan Smirnov (neutral athlete, 25, trainee for Astana Qazaqstan Team in 2024),
  • Gleb Syritsa (neutral athlete, 24, previously competed for Astana Qazaqstan Team in 2024),
  • Santiago Umba (Colombia, 22, previously competed for Astana Qazaqstan Team in 2024),
  • Gustav Wang (Denmark, 21)
  • David Zanutta (Italy, 19).

“We have not only refreshed but also strengthened our Development team line-up. We’ve placed emphasis on both young riders and experienced athletes who already have significant experience at a high professional level. This mix of youth and experience will help the team continue the progress we’ve seen last season. I believe the team is well-balanced and strong, capable of pursuing ambitious goals that we are striving for. For our entire project, this forms a foundation that, in the future, will allow us to strengthen and renew our main team as well. However, we consider the continental team not only as the closest reserve but also as a logical extension of the main team. Therefore, we will actively involve riders from the Development team in races for the project's main squad”.  – said Alexandr Vinokurov, General Manager of XDS Astana Team.


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Soudal Quick-Step junior racer Thibaut Van Damme shines on the track

Here’s the team’s post:

Thibaut Van Damme had an excellent weekend in Gent’s Flemish Cycling Center Eddy Merckx, where Belgium’s National Track Championships were held, winning a pair of gold medals. The 17-year-old, who will sport the colours of our junior team this season, showed off the Soudal Quick-Step kit for the first time and made sure he would make it a memorable outing.

Thibaut Van Damme

Thibaut kicked things off by blasting to an impressive victory in the 1km race, where he gave no chance to his opponents, before taking on the points race. There, after an excellent start from his side, the others tried to put Van Damme under pressure by relentlessly attacking him in the second part of the race, but our rider kept his calm and scored enough points to make sure the win would be his.

“During the warm-up I had great legs and was really motivated. I had a perfect start in the 1km event and won it with the time I had in my mind before the race, which made me really happy and confident for the next appointment. In the points race I went on the offensive right from the start and got a lot of points in the sprints. Then I tried to keep the race under control and managed to shut down the many attacks that came, which in the end was enough for the win. I’m incredibly happy with how things went for me, taking two gold medals here is a really great start to the season in the Soudal Quick-Step jersey, and that makes me proud”, a delighted Thibaut said.

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