Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Friday, March 14, 2025
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us. - Robert Louis Stevenson
David L. Stanley's masterful telling of his bout with skin cancer Melanoma: It Started with a Freckle is available in print, Kindle eBook and 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
We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from second-place Clément Champoussin's Team XDS-Astana:
XDS Astana Team delivered a strong performance on the fifth stage of Paris-Nice, which concluded with a short but steep climb at Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez. Clément Champoussin secured second place, while Harold Tejada finished fourth.
Lenny Martinez wins the stage. Clément Champoussin can be seen next to the barrier headed for second place.
“We focused on the stage finale and aimed to fight for the victory. Throughout the day, the team supported me and Harold, allowing us to be well-positioned for the final climb. I gave it my all in the last meters, felt good, and finished second, while Harold took fourth place. I think we showed a strong performance, and I’m looking forward to the upcoming stages”, – said Clément Champoussin.
“The team's plan today was for Clément and me to save energy for the final climb. I want to thank my teammates for their support, as they helped us all day long. The day went well, and we were able to fight on the final climb, finishing second and fourth. I think it's a good result. Now, we focus on the following stages ahead”, – said Harold Tejada.
Here's the Paris-Nice report from GC leader Matteo Jorgenson's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
In the steep finale of the fifth stage of Paris-Nice, Matteo Jorgenson finished third. Jonas Vingegaard was involved in a crash earlier in the stage and had to concede 26 seconds to stage winner Lenny Martinez. That means teammate Jorgenson takes over the leader's jersey from the Dane.
After the first mountain stage in Paris-Nice yesterday, in which the roles were reversed and Vingegaard took over the leader's jersey from Jorgenson after his second place, another day full of climbs was on the program for the yellow-and-black brigade of Team Visma | Lease a Bike. With five categorized climbs in the final 50 kilometers, it promised to be a sensational finale. Just before that, Vingegaard was involved in a crash. The Dane quickly got back on his bike, but his hand was hurt.
Stage five gets started.
On the flanks of the steep Côte d'Arzay and Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez, Vingegaard was led to the front by good work from teammates Axel Zingle and Victor Campenaerts in the closing kilometers, but pain in his hand hindered him. Number two in the classification Jorgenson led a tight pace at the front in the final hundreds of meters, but was passef by later stage winner Martinez. Vingegaard could not keep up with the acceleration of the favourites at the front and eventually came in at 26 seconds from Martinez. That means Jorgenson will start tomorrow as the new leader of the general classification, followed by Vingegaard.
“Of course, I'm happy with the yellow leader's jersey, but I'm standing here with mixed feelings”, Jorgenson said immediately after the finish. “It's not nice that Jonas crashed. When he returned to the peloton he told me to race for myself today. That's what I did then. As a team we tried to make the best of it. It’s a shame I couldn't win the stage.”
Nevertheless, the American is happy with his level in Paris-Nice, the stage race he won last year. “I felt very good again today. As a team, we're still doing well in the general classification. I'm very happy with that with the decisive weekend ahead of us. We are going to do everything we can to defend the yellow jersey.” Tomorrow there is a relatively easy stage on the program for the riders of Team Visma | Lease a Bike, followed by two tough stages in the final weekend.
Content continues below the ads
We posted the stage four report from stage winner Olav Kooj's Team Visma | Lease a Bike with the results.
Here's the report from GC leader Filippo Ganna's Team INEOS Grenadiers:
Filippo Ganna retained the Maglia Azzura on stage four of Tirreno-Adriatico after a stellar team performance from the INEOS Grenadiers.
A hectic 190km stage saw the Grenadiers control the race from start to finish, dictating the pace throughout.
Filippo Ganna will start stage five in the GC leader's blue jersey. Sirotti photo
After a lumpy start to the race, the Grenadiers steam train was in full force inside the final 70km, splintering the peloton to bits and closing in on a five-rider break up the road.
At the 45km mark, Ganna and Laurens de Plus battled the wind on an exposed, flat section, breaking away with UAE Team Emirates – XRG’s Juan Ayuso, Felix Grossschartner and Isaac Del Toro along with Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ).
The six-rider group looked like they were closing in on the break but were reeled in by the peloton just before they entered the final flat circuit with 30km to go.
The Grenadiers continued to power on the front of the peloton, protecting Ganna’s lead as the peloton was all back together in the final section.
An attack from Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) saw Ganna straight on his wheel with 5km to go but the move was quickly foiled. Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) counterattacked, and a break of three gained a small gap, with De Plus spearheading the front of the peloton in the chase home.
It all came down to a bunch finish, with Ganna firing to seventh place and maintaining the Maglia Azzura after a dominant day of racing from the squad.
Meanwhile, in the fifth stage of Paris-Nice, Magnus Sheffield brought the Grenadiers home, while Tobias Foss showed his mettle once again in another brave solo break.
Another freezing day saw Ben Swift attack inside the first 80km, going clear with Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ). The duo managed to rack up a lead of almost three minutes, with Foss bridging over solo after attacking up the Cote de Sibuze with just over 40km remaining.
Up the next climb, Foss attacked hard, gaining a minute’s lead, before being caught inside the final 10km.
A gruelling finish saw Sheffield finish ninth, 16 seconds back from winner Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), while Thymen Arensman’s 13th place was enough to keep him eighth on the GC.
Swift was awarded the most combative rider of the day while the Grenadiers continue to lead the team standings with three stages remaining.
Content continues below the ads
Here's the Tirreno-Adriatico report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:
The Paris-Nice peloton is on a mission of reaching the sun this week, but the same can be said also about the riders in Tirreno-Adriatico, who once again had to face a crazy, gruelling, cold and apparently neverending stage that took them to Trasacco. On paper, it could have gone either way: a breakaway had their chance of succeeding, helped by the climbs in the first part of the course and also by the weather which made it difficult for the peloton to control things, but the sprinters also had their chance, thanks to a long descent and the completely flat roads in the final 70 kilometers.
With these race conditions, to which some rare Italian echelons were added, it came as no surprise that the peloton fragmented on the lasgt ascent of the stage, which ignited a long chase of more than 55 kilometers. At one pointot , when the gap was close to reaching one minute, Soudal Quick-Step assumed pace-setting duties and stormed to the front of the group with five riders, who in the space of just five kilometers managed to wipe out that deficit and make the junction thanks to a superb effort.
A warmly dressed peloton starts stage four.
Our team was responsible also for bringing back the last survivors of the day’s original breakaway with 500 meters to go, before Casper Pedersen launched Paul Magnier, who despite being almost empty after this draining stage, still found the resources to take fourth behind Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike), only a couple of centimeters separating him from the podium. The general classification remained unchanged, which means that Mattia Cattaneo retained his fifth place.
Content continues below the ads
Team Picnic-PostNL posted this Tirreno-Adriatico report:
The fourth day of action at Tirreno-Adriatico saw the peloton tackle several climbs before a flat final 45 kilometres. Due to the nature of the start, the racing was hard from the flag drop, with plenty of attacks as riders tried to form a breakaway. It took some time, but eventually, a group of five went clear, with Gijs Leemreize making it into the move for the team. While the leaders worked well together, the race ignited behind them as crosswinds shaped the action heading into the final 60 kilometres. The peloton split into multiple groups and rapidly closed the gap to the breakaway due to the high pace.
As the race neared the finale, things settled again, allowing two large groups to come back together, which gave the breakaway a bigger advantage once more. However, despite fighting hard, Leemreize and his companions were caught with just five kilometres to go, before the sprinters battled for the stage win.
A cold, wet peloton races across the Lazio region in central Italy.
Leemreize said: “With quite a bit of climbing in the first part of the stage, it looked like a good day for the break. Other teams thought the same, so it took a long time for a group to go clear. After a hard start, I made it into a break of five. We worked well together, but in the bunch, there were echelons, and the gap quickly shrank. We kept riding and fighting, but we were caught with five kilometres to go, just missing out on the chance to contest the win.”
Team Israel-Premier Tech posted this Tirreno-Adriatico report:
Stage 4 of Tirreno Adriatico on Wednesday marked a day of learning for IPT – but one, thankfully, without any immediate consequences
After the peloton split in crosswinds over the top of the Valico La Crocetta climb, Derek Gee and his teammates found themselves in the second part of the peloton having been caught off-guard by the conditions. A frantic, near 80-kilometer chase ensued, and thankfully the Canadian rider finished safely in the front group to remain fourth on GC.
Derek Gee time trialing in stage one. Sirotti photo
Gee says: “It all seemed straightforward – a little miserable with the weather and everything. We got to the top of the climb and were completely caught off guard with these crosswinds. Nothing to say apart from thank you to the boys.
“They rode completely out of their skin to get me back and I managed not to lose any time. In the end nothing was lost, but a little more stressful than it had to be. You feel bad when it’s your mistake that makes your teammates ride that hard, but for sure lessons learned for the future.”
Despite this being IPT’s 11th season in the peloton, riding GC remains relatively uncharted territory for the team. And while Gee’s success at last month’s O Gran Camiño was thankfully stress-free, today’s stage in Italy emphasized the relentless nature of racing for the overall standings.
“I think today highlights that riding GC is a different game – you need to be on it all the time,” adds Sam Bewley, Head Sports Director. “We were surprised, and I think a lot of people probably were too by the split there, so hats off to Bahrain for recognizing the situation when they started their move. We got caught off guard and we were too far back.
“We got lucky to save the day in some senses; Marco [Frigo] and Jake [Stewart] did a great job to correct things for us, but thanks also to Soudal for helping us close the gap in the final there. Today just highlights the process of GC, how you can never switch off and always need to be prepared for surprises. It’s a lesson learned without a penalty, which is good, and we move forward now.”
Gee is 34 seconds behind race leader Filippo Ganna (IGD) on GC but sits just five seconds off the podium with three stages remaining.
And here's the Tirreno-Adriatico report from Mirco Maestri's Team Polti-VisitMalta:
A leader by example, an athlete who guides the entire team every day with sportsmanship and moral stature. You don’t need to be a big name to be a great man. Sometimes, you just need to be Mirco Maestri.
The 33-year-old from Emilia region tried once again. He came close once again, giving his all until the very last meters, even when the main group shattered the fugitives’ dream and set up the expected finish. A sprint that was launched by him, as he refused to give up — and never will…
The peloton in the rain an hour into the stage.
Stage 4 of the Tirreno-Adriatico was split in two: the first half tackled the central-Italian Apennines, while the second featured descents and flat roads in the province of L’Aquila. From the first climbs, Maestri attempted to break away. He succeeded once, but the move was caught on the descent. He tried again, and at km 50 — midway between the day’s two KOMs — he made it. As he and his four breakaway companions pushed ahead in unity, behind them the peloton battled strong crosswinds that dropped several riders, including sprinters like Milan, while forcing others into exhausting chases.
The finale, through the houses and rolling roads of Trasacco, saw the break shrink progressively to two: Maestri and Blume (Uno-X) who were caught by Ben Healy (EF) with three kilometers to go. Together, they kept the dream alive. But cycling can be cruel — their effort was swallowed up just 400 meters from the end. As Blume and Healy faded into the pack, Polti VisitMalta‘s captain gave one last push with what energy he had left. He crossed the line in 5th place while Kooij (Visma) took the win. And speaking of sprinters, Giovanni Lonardi finished 9th securing an emotionally and athletically significant double top-10 for the Italian ProTeam. Completing the picture, Davide Piganzoli finished safely in the bunch after battling through every echelon alongside Fran Muñoz. Piganzoli now sits 25th in the GC, 1’10” behind the maglia azzurra Ganna.
Mirco Maestri: “We kept a solid pace up front, which actually helped us avoid suffering from the cold that defined today’s race. I had the firm intention of going all the way, encouraging my fellow breakaway riders to do the same — never giving up until I had rivals right on my wheel. Actually, even when they arrived from behind I didn’t stop. Unfortunately I always seem to reach 99%, but I’m a fighter and I’ll keep pushing until I reach 100%!”
Sports Director Stefano Zanatta: “A really great stage, fought under tough weather conditions, where we managed to be protagonists just as promised. Our plan was to place a rider in the break while keeping the others to protect Piganzoli and Lonardi, and we executed it perfectly. Well done to Mirco for his long-range attack, well done to Piga and Fran for staying with the best, well done to Lona for chasing back and contesting the sprint, and well done to Bais, Tonelli and Pietrobon for their valuable support work. Coming so close to victory and securing a double top-10 in such a demanding Tirreno-Adriatico stage is a huge satisfaction. There’s just a hint of regret for a result that could have been even better, but we’ll turn that into extra motivation to keep going with this same strength and mindset.”
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary