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Wednesday, March 12, 2025

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out. - Rodney Dangerfield

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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:

• March 9 - 16: Paris-Nice
• March 10 - 16: Tirreno-Adriatico

Upcoming racing:

• March 19: Danilith Nokere Koerse
• March 19: Milano-Torino
• March 20: GP de Denain
• March 21: Bredene Koksijde CLassic
• March 22: Milano-Sanremo

Latest completed racing:

• March 8: Strade Bianche
• March 5: Trofeo Laigueglia
• March 4: Le Samyn Classic
• February 26 - March 2: O Gran Camiño
• March 2: Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne
• March 2: Faun Drôme Classic
• March 1: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
• March 1: Faun Ardèche Classic
• February 17 - 23: UAE Tour
• February 19 - 23: Volta ao Algarve

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Paris-Nice stage three reports

We posted the race organizer's report with the results.

Here's the report from stage winner Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Team Visma | Lease a Bike has won the team time trial of Paris-Nice in impressive fashion. In the race against the clock, the yellow-black brigade immediately set a strong finishing time, which held until the end. On top of that, Matteo Jorgenson is the new leader in the general classification.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike riding to first place. ASO photo

The Magny-Cours circuit hosted the start of the 28-kilometer team time trial in Paris-Nice. After an opening section on rolling roads, a short but steep climb awaited in the final kilometres. Team Visma | Lease a Bike was the tenth team to roll off the start ramp. 

The seven-man train immediately set the fastest time at the intermediate checkpoint. Reigning European time trial champion Edoardo Affini, Per Strand Hagenes, and Axel Zingle gave their all in the lead-up to the final climb. Then it was up to Bart Lemmen and former world hour record holder Victor Campenaerts to lead team leaders Jorgenson and Jonas Vingegaard towards the final kilometers.

The duo clocked an outstanding time of 30'26", securing Team Visma | Lease a Bike's fifth victory of the season. Team Jayco AlUla and Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe finished second and third. Jorgenson also took over the lead in the general classification, with Vingegaard climbing to second place. 

“I’m incredibly proud of the guys,” Jorgenson said afterward. “Everyone executed their role to perfection. I don’t take it for granted to be surrounded by six riders of such a high level. Jonas and I were guided perfectly toward the final climb. From there, it was up to us to finish the job. It feels amazing to take the win here. As a team, we spent a lot of time preparing for this time trial. It was all worth it.” 

Jorgenson also claimed the yellow leader’s jersey. The 25-year-old American, who won Paris-Nice last year, now holds a six-second lead over his teammate Vingegaard in the general classification. “I’m really looking forward to racing in yellow tomorrow. Last year I took the jersey in the final stage in Nice, but this time I’ll actually get to race in it. We’ll have to defend our lead in the coming days, but I’m confident our team is strong enough to do so.” 

“We’ve had a very successful day,” added sports director Grischa Niermann. “We gained a lot of seconds on some key rivals, which gives us some breathing room for the days ahead. Of course, we’ll do everything we can to defend the jersey. There are still plenty of exciting stages coming up. We’re looking forward to fighting with Matteo and Jonas for another overall victory in Nice.”

Here's the Paris-Nice stage three report from second-place Team Jayco-AlUla:

Despite starting the day one man down, Team Jayco AlUla blasted to second place in the stage three time trial at Paris-Nice.

With the good performance against the clock, the squad is in a strong position going into some key general classification stages in the second part of the race. Michael Matthews climbed to third in the overall classification with GC leader Ben O’Connor on the same time as him in fourth place overall.

The team time trial race profile

The team went into the stage without Luke Durbridge, after he broke his collarbone in a crash during stage two. Losing the Australian champion was a big blow, but the team still went into the day with high hopes of a strong result.

Setting off second in the running order, the team immediately went to the top of the timing sheets as they crossed the finish line in Nevers with Matthews leading O’Connor over the line. There was a lengthy wait as several teams tried and failed to topple their tough benchmark.

In the end, only Visma-Lease a Bike was able to better the time of Team Jayco AlUla.

Ben O’Connor:
“On the circuit, you had to be careful not to overdo it and then horsepower in the middle was the key thing. I don’t think we could have gone faster. It sucked to lose Luke yesterday, he’s a huge engine and there were parts there where I think one extra guy would have helped. I still think it was a great ride.”

Mauro Schmid:
“I think overall we can still be proud, we did a really good ride. Obviously, we missed Durbo quite a bit and I think with him we would have had a good chance, but I still think we can be proud.”

And here's the Paris-Nice stage three report from Team Groupama-FDJ:

The Groupama-FDJ cycling team entered the Paris-Nice team time trial this Tuesday with high expectations. Unfortunately, the latter were not met, as Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet, Stefan Küng and their teammates set the day’s eleventh time, 54 seconds behind Visma-Lease a Bike. The French climber will now try to move up overall, starting on Wednesday at the Loge des Gardes.

For the third consecutive year, the “Race to the Sun” included its atypical team time trial format on Tuesday. On the finish line, the time of the first rider served as the reference for the stage result, with each rider subsequently being given their own time. In this third stage, this format applied to the 28.4 kilometres between the Magny-Cours circuit and the town of Nevers.

Team Groupama-FDJ begins its ride.

“The course was divided into three parts,” explained Anthony Bouillod, the team’s coach. “A first quite technical section on the Magny-Cours circuit, a second quite straight section towards Nevers, then a final section, in Nevers, where it was a bit more technical and winding. It was important to keep that in mind.” There was also the Pisserotte climb (900m at 5.6%) to tackle five kilometres from the finish line, which could also have an impact on the final of the race. The sixth team to present itself on the starting ramp, at exactly 2:50 pm, Groupama-FDJ entered the battle in the wake of its road captain Stefan Küng, who took the lead from the first hundreds of metres to set the tone.

After fourteen kilometres, the intermediate check point was reached, and although the French team still had its seven riders, it was however seventeen seconds behind the best time set by Jayco-AlUla. This gap increased to forty seconds at the end of the second part of the circuit, and a tough finish in Nevers. Later, the Visma-Lease a Bike team improved the best time, pushing Groupama-FDJ to fifty-four seconds. After all the teams had finished, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet and his teammates then took eleventh place on the stage. “We were hoping for a top-5, we don’t have it, so it’s disappointing”, Benoît Vaugrenard said. “The result is not up to the goals and expectations”, confirmed Anthony Bouillod. “This can be explained by different things. There are points that could have been improved on a technical point of view. Then, there is a very high competition here. When you see the various team line-ups, you know that you might pay for every small mistake. In short, we lacked both strength and technique to achieve the objective that we had set for ourselves.”

Stefan Küng and Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet were the first riders from the team to cross the line on Tuesday, and after stage three, they sit just outside the top 30 overall. “Stefan was indispensable today in a group like this because of his experience and his potential,” said Anthony. “His values ​​today confirm that we cannot do without him in such a stage. Regarding Guillaume, the goal was to take him to the finish and that was the briefing for all the riders. For his first time trial with us, I think it is quite ok, even if it was not necessarily easy for him in the technical parts the day after a crash. We could also identify certain things that we will be able to work on, whether in terms of the time or other aspects.”

The French climber is 1’01 behind the new leader Matteo Jorgenson before the second part of Paris-Nice. “The gaps aren’t too big for now, it remains very close, Paris Nice is still very long, and they are predicting difficult weather conditions every day,” concluded Benoît. “It’s a race where you have to believe until the last day, because even if you are in the background a little bit, things always happen. Those who are well placed today will not necessarily be on Sunday evening. Today, we experienced disappointment, but tomorrow, we’ll go for it again!”

And here's the Paris-Nice stage three report from Team Picnic-PostNL:

On the third day of Paris-Nice, a team time trial was on the program. The stage started at the former Formula 1 circuit of Magny-Cours, with the finish 28 kilometers later in Nevers. Just like in next year’s Tour de France, the organisation applied the timing rules introduced in 2023, where individual riders’ times are decisive. The time of the first rider across the line counts as the team’s result for the day.

Team Picnic PostNL opted for a strategy of staying together as a unit for as long as possible. In the end, it was Warren Barguil who crossed the line first, stopping the clock at 32’03”, securing 20th place in the stage classification.

After the race road captain John Degenkolb said: “It was actually a nice team time trial. For me personally, it brought back amazing memories of many years ago, when we managed to win the stage on this Magny-Cours circuit. It was a tough and fast course, with many undulating sections. We were soon down to just five riders, which made it challenging because riding in a smaller train is tougher. Everyone did their best, and in the end, I really enjoyed it.”

Tirreno-Adriatico stage two reports

We posted the report from stage winner Jonathan Milan's Team Lidl-Trek with the results.

GC leader Filippo Ganna's Team INEOS Grenadiers posted this short report:

Filippo Ganna retained his grip on the Maglia Azzurra at Tirreno-Adriatico following a safe passage through stage two.

The Grenadiers ensured Ganna was well positioned and out of trouble across the 192-kilometre test, which ended in a bunch sprint.

Filippo Ganna will start Tirreno-Adriatico stage three in the blue GC leader's jersey. Sirotti photo

Ganna now holds a 19-second lead over the day's victor Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).

Laurens De Plus and Brandon Rivera also remain in strong positions ahead of the climbs in 16th and 17th overall.

Team Soudal Quick-Step posted this Tirreno-Adriatico report:

Stage 2 of “The Race of the Two Seas” was a slow one, due to the headwind and the small breakaway that wasn’t dangerous enough to make the peloton push hard behind in order to bring it back. Despite this, crashes still happened, Pepijn Reinderink being involved in one of these with around 40 kilometers to go.

The man who animated Strade Bianche from the breakaway last Saturday was immediately assessed by the doctors and could continue the race, eventually rejoining the peloton, who with ten kilometers to go faced another crash. Fortunately, none of our riders hit the ground this time, as the bunch increased the pace in anticipation of the finish in Follonica, where Tirreno-Adriatico returned for the third consecutive year.

Jonathan Milan wins the stage. Sirotti photo

It was a hectic mass gallop in the end, won by Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), while Paul Magnier avoided a crash and remained on his bike as one rider touched him with one kilometer to go, just as he was navigating through the field. In the general classification, Mattia Cattaneo continues to be seventh ahead of the hilly stage to Colfiorito.

And here's the Tirreno-Adriatico report from Team Polti-VisitMalta

After yesterday’s time trial, today Tirreno-Adriatico had its first road stage. Still in Tuscany, still close to the Tyrrhenian Sea, a long ride south towards a sprint dominated by Milan, where Giovanni Lonardi finished 13th after excellent teamwork involving lead-out efforts from Mirco Maestri, Fran Muñoz and Andrea Pietrobon.

Between the start and the finish, there was a key moment in the race when Davide Bais and Alessandro Tonelli broke away from the peloton to join the lone attacker Tarozzi and contest the only KOM of the day. In Canneto, Bais was the first to crest followed by Tonelli. The result? The first KOM jersey of the race of the two seas (the ITT was flat and didn’t count toward the climbers’ classification) now belongs to the rider from Trentino.

The peloton passes by the city of Montemagno, close to Pisa. Sirotti photo

“Our move was successful… and improvised” explains Davide. “After the intermediate sprint at km 112, since the solo escapee was within reach, we consulted with the team car and decided to go for it together. We worked well as a duo and I’m happy to wear the green jersey for the fourth year in a row, I’ve never managed to keep it until the end before but I hope I’ll succeed this time!

His sports director Stefano Zanatta commented: “By now, this strong start at Tirreno-Adriatico is becoming a tradition. The spirit the guys raced with today is exactly what we need to keep the level high in the coming days.”

Tomorrow the race resumes from Follonica, heading east to metaphorically cut Italy in half. The terrain will become more undulating and the GC contenders will start to be put to the test: Team Polti VisitMalta is ready to work for Davide Piganzoli.

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