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Saturday, March 15, 2025

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. - Robert Kennedy

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Plato's dialogue Phaedo is available in both audiobook & Kindle eBook 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 six reports

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

Here's the report from stage winner Mads Pedersen's Team Lidl-Trek:

Mads Pedersen emerged victorious after a day of brutal spring weather in what will go down as a vintage Paris-Nice stage. With 59 kilometers to go, the peloton was split by the team of the yellow jersey, Visma Lease-a-Bike, with Mads and Mattias Skjelmose quickly joining the departing train. The front group numbered 16 riders, but with several strong engines in the group and almost every rider standing to gain from the split, it was never seen again by the peloton. A savvy Pedersen positioned himself ahead of the sprint before powering to the line to take his 3rd win, and first WorldTour win, of the season. With two stages remaining, Pedersen takes the lead in the points competition, and Skjelmose moves onto the GC podium.

Mads Pedersen wins Paris-Nice stage six.

Speaking after the finish, a victorious but shivering Pedersen said, “After such a tough day, it’s really nice to take the win. It would have been a pity to finish second or third. For Skjelmose, it’s also great to move up in the GC. Nobody likes racing in 5 or 6 degrees, it was pure suffering. Right now, I can enjoy the victory, but it was a really hard day. In the end, I had to do a long sprint, and Tarling is so strong, you can never count him out. But whether you win by one centimeter or five, a win is a win. This was the ideal scenario: going to the finish with a small group, without the best sprinters like Tim Merlier.

“I remember a day in 2019, end of September, that was a bit worse weather than this but the outcome was the same, it was a victory. It was pretty tough conditions today. Between five and eight degrees and rain all day, it makes it pretty hard to be a cyclist and especially when it’s 100+ kilometers but, in the end, it’s a good day when you are winning so we have double success if we say it like that with Skjelmose taking time back in GC so a really successful day for us.

“I don’t think I was unlucky in the beginning, I think I just was not good enough to win there and you know, on our team, it’s pretty clear that for the last two days I am here to Mattias. Paris-Nice is also for me the last bit of fine-tuning before the Classics so it doesn’t hurt me to help him but I am also here to win so, it is nice to tick that box and say, “okay I leave Paris-Nice with a victory”.”

Another big winner today was Mattias Skjelmose, who said,  “We had a meeting point at kilometer 135 because we knew that at that point, the top of the cat. 3 climb, that it would be a tricky downhill and crosswinds when we came down from that. The guys positioned me super well and Mads sacrificed his spot a little bit so that I could go in the front and be sure to be there and, yeah, then as I said, we went down the tricky downhill and through the crosswinds and the split happened.

“First, when I was in the first group [knew it was a good situation for the Team] and secondly, it was like on minute, Mads said that he was coming back with Ineos so I thought ‘okay, there is no reason to wait anymore’. I saw Visma and Ineos were super committed from the start so I knew it would be a super good situation.

“I am happy [with the GC situation]. The goal was to podium and I still think, second place is within reach. Jorgensen is going to be difficult but we won’t give up anything. Tomorrow has been shortened, it’s a bit of a shame, but still everything is to play and I am looking forward to both days this weekend. I guess in some way it [the awful weather conditions] also hardens you so, if this was the worst we have to deal with this week then I am happy. I think I can manage the rest now.”

Here's the Paris-Nice report from second-place Josh Tarling's Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Josh Tarling and Sam Watson sprinted to second and third place on the sixth stage of a wet and wild Paris-Nice, while three teammates all moved up the general classification after a long-range attack paid off.

Josh Tarling is second to Mads Pedersen.

Tackling a flat 209 kilometres on the sixth stage of Paris-Nice, a flurry of attacks occurred early on, but the wind and rain made it difficult for breaks to form.

Visma | Lease A Bike put the hammer down inside the final 60km, with Victor Campenaerts pulling a group of 10 clear, with Tarling well in the mix against the strong crosswinds.

The Grenadiers squad was quick to respond, with Watson, Tobias Foss, Bob Jungels, Magnus Sheffield and Thymen Arensman bridging over to make a group of 16, chasing and eventually catching solo leader Remi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ). A number of big-name GC riders missed the move and would lose key time on the day.

The Grenadiers continued to storm on the front, battling rain, wind and cold conditions, but it was all still to play for as the riders came into the final 5km.

Maximilian Schachmann (Visma Lease A Bike) made the first move inside the final kilometre, before Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) launched his attack. Tarling was straight on his wheel, fighting all the way to the line to grasp an incredible second place.

Watson showed a nice turn of speed to sprint from the back and power to third. In the general classification, Arensman now sits in fourth, while Foss and Sheffield moved up to sixth and seventh place, respectively.
Speaking after the finish line, Tarling said: “Campenaerts moved to the front of that climb, and luckily we were in the right place, and it didn’t come back from there really. I had to roll through and slow it down once and the boys got on and it was the right mix and never came back.

“We were planning on doing something similar, but we didn’t think the wind was enough. In the end with the rain, it was sketchy enough.

“I knew with it being slippy, I had to get to the [final] left hander and move up. I got on Mads’ wheel and I tried to come round but Mads is a bit of a diesel.”

Here's the Paris-Nice report from GC leader Matteo Jorgenson's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Team Visma | Lease a Bike delivered a masterclass in the sixth stage of Paris-Nice. The yellow-black team shattered the peloton to pieces. Axel Zingle sprinted to fourth place, Matteo Jorgenson consolidated his first place in the general classification.

The peloton 100 kilometers into the stage.

The Dutch team started the sixth stage in the south of France without Jonas Vingegaard. The number two in the general classification unfortunately crashed on his hand yesterday and together with the team's medical staff it was decided that he would not continue the race in order not to jeopardize other goals later this season. With Jorgenson in the leader's jersey, Team Visma | Lease a Bike quickly got themselves back together the day before the final weekend. Under harsh conditions, Grischa Niermann's team opened up the race with sixty kilometres to go.

Echelons in Bouches-du-Rhône resulted in gaps in the peloton. The entire Team Visma | Lease a Bike team was in the front group, which consisted of seventeen riders in total. The group systematically extended its lead, to almost two minutes at the finish. Zingle, who had already finished fifth and sixth in the previous sprint stages this week, came in fourth in the streets of Berre l'Étang. Jorgenson increased his lead over most of the competitors and is firmly in the lead of the general classification.

“I'm so proud of my teammates”, the American commented afterwards. “We made a plan this morning and executed it to perfection. On the bus, we looked at the course and knew that it could get quite windy in the Côte des Baux-de-Provence section. That happened and when we looked back we saw gaps forming. That was the moment we continued riding as hard as we could towards the finish.”

Sports director Niermann thoroughly enjoyed his team's spectacular day. “It was a beautiful race. I am incredibly proud of my team. This is a strong show of resilience, especially after the news of Jonas dropping out this morning. With a plan and good motivation you can do a lot, as today proved.”

“We are here in France with a group of strong riders. Especially in these weather conditions, we did a great job”, Jorgenson added. Because of those bad weather conditions, tomorrow's stage has been shortened. However, the stage will still finish on top of the climb to Auron, which is not unknown territory for Jorgenson. “I know that climb very well, because I often train there. I'm going to do everything I can to defend the yellow leader's jersey this weekend.”

And here's the Paris-Nice report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:

The sun was again replaced by clouds and heavy rain which together with the low temperatures combined for a dantesque day of racing at Paris-Nice. It was a stage of two halves, as for the first couple of hours it looked to be an uneventful one, only for things to change on the second classified climb of the day, Côte des Baux-de-Provence, where a furious tempo pushed at the front not far from the top wreaked havoc and split the field, with some help from the crosswinds.

With the race in pieces and the rain that continued to batter the riders, it became difficult for the ones behind – among whom there were also green jersey Tim Merlier and Ilan Van Wilder – to organise a chase. By the moment they got reinforcements from behind and began pulling, the gap to the leaders was already sitting around the one-minute mark, making it virtually impossible for them to come back. Our team had at the front Max Schachmann, who remained tucked in in this small peloton that continued to ride full gas and waited for the final kilometer to roll the dice.

The peloton descends the Côte des Baux-de-Provence

A two-time winner of Paris-Nice, the German accelerated on the wet roads of Berre l’Étang as they came out of a roundabout and opened a small gap, but the others were quick to react and caught him not far from the finish, where Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) took the win, while Max concluded ninth. The group of Ilan came home almost two minutes later, but despite this setback, Soudal Quick-Step’s Belgian remained in 11th place on the overall standings of Paris-Nice going into Saturday’s stage, which schedules the second summit finish of this edition.

Tirenno-Adriatico stage five reports

We posted the report from GC leader Filppo Ganna's Team INEOS Grenadiers with the results.

Here's the Tirreno-Adriatico report from Romain Grégoire's Team Groupama-FDJ:

The big fight is postponed to Saturday. Stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico didn’t create any proper damage on Friday, and the main peloton also didn’t manage to catch the last man from the breakaway, Fredrik Dversnes. Always up there with the best, Romain Grégoire took seventh place in the sprint and gained two places in the overall standings (8e) on the eve of the only summit finish of the race.

Stage five gets started in the town of Ascoli Picena. Sirotti photo

With 3,500 metres of elevation gain on the menu, stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico was, on paper, supposed to offer a first direct battle between the GC favourites. In a day that tallied more than two hundred kilometres, everything was expected to get clearer on the two climbs located in the last thirty kilometres. Six men from the morning breakaway were able to enter this “money time” with a three-minute gap over the peloton. “Today’s goal was to stay with Romain to put him in the best possible position for the final, which was well done,” explained Thierry. “The weather conditions influenced the entire stage. There was a lot of wind and strong gusts. It was tense, it could have been tricky, it added pressure to the peloton, and everyone was already a bit tired by the time we reached the finale.”

After initial work by Clément Russo and Paul Penhoët, Romain Grégoire was positioned and supported on the penultimate climb by Lorenzo Germani, Quentin Pacher, and Valentin Madouas. “When you have a leader who’s up to the expectations since the start, it gives the team a good momentum, and everyone was ready to do his part,” claimed Thierry.

After the first climb of the final, the peloton was reduced by half, then came the Monterolo climb (3.9 km at 6.6%) with thirteen kilometers to go. “It went up quite fast, and everyone more or less stayed in their place,” Thierry explained. “There weren’t any real differences between the top riders because everyone was almost on the limit, otherwise riders like Ayuso would have attacked. Finally, there were about fifteen at the top.” A member of this group of riders, Romain Grégoire held the wheels on the downhill and then remained careful when the attacks resumed in the final three kilometres. However, no one really broke away, nor did anyone really take control of the group. Therefore, Fredrik Dversnes, a member of the early breakaway, went on to claim victory, while a second bunch joined the first group of favorites in the final few hundred metres.

“We didn’t know exactly how it would play out, but it wasn’t the kind of profile to create big gaps either,” Thierry said. “Plus, many guys probably had tomorrow’s stage in mind, which will offer a more suitable terrain for making differences.”On Friday, Romain Grégoire still secured a solid second place (7th) at the finish. “It was a day where we could have been caught out, and that didn’t happen,” Thierry said. “Ultimately, it’s not a bad day for Romain as he gained two places in the general classification. He’s still in the mix for tomorrow, and that’s the most important thing.” The climb of Frontignano (7.5 km at 8%) should therefore establish the final hierarchy of Tirreno-Adriatico on Saturday. “It’s a nice climb, but the race scenario may be unusual,” concluded Thierry. “If Ayuso or others want to win, they’ll have to make up a lot of time on Ganna, and that’s not a given. It won’t be particularly hard before the final climb, but it will still be challenging, and above all, they’ve just completed three days of racing with 5 to 6 hours of saddle. And that takes its toll”.

And here's the Tirreno-Adriatico report from Team Picnic-PostNL:

A stage that suited the puncheurs with some hills in the finale, before a flatter run to the line, it was set to be an intriguing day out. A break established itself out front early with all Team Picnic PostNL riders in the peloton. With the gap to those ahead coming down, Chris Hamilton attacked out of the peloton and tried to drag a group clear and bridge across. However, he was never given much leeway and got caught on the last climb of the day, before leading the team across the line in Pergola.

Fredrik Dversnes won stage five. Sirotti photo

Hamilton expressed: “It was a pretty hard day in Tirreno. The plan was to see how I would go in the final. The guys put me into a good position going onto the second last climb. I tried an attack there and hoped some other guys would come with us. Unfortunately I got caught on the base of the last climb and couldn’t quite hang with the GC guys. You don’t know if you don’t try.”

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