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Monday, March 17, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard P. Feynman
Les Woodland's book Cycling's 50 Triumphs and Tragedies: The rise and fall of bicycle racing's champions is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
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 9 - 16: Paris-Nice
- March 10 - 16: Tirreno-Adriatico
- 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 stage winner Magnus Sheffield's Team INEOS Grenadiers:
Magnus Sheffield won the final stage of Paris-Nice in thrilling style on the day that Thymen Arensman confirmed third place overall.
The results completed a brilliant team performance across the eight days of the WorldTour stage race.
Magnus Sheffield wins Paris-Nice stage eight
Sheffield claimed his first success at WorldTour level with a perfectly judged attacking solo victory. The American capitalised on the powerful work of his teammates on the final stage, launching clear with 35 kilometres to go.
After bridging to the leaders on the Col d'Eze, Sheffield would push on alongside Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), before going solo on the Col des Quatre Chemins.
With a gap of 20 seconds over the top to race leader Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), a tense chase ensued on the run to the line. Sheffield held his nerve to win by 29 seconds over his compatriot, and moments later was congratulated by Arensman at the finish.
With Sheffield up the road, Arensman had held on well amongst a group of chasing GC riders, with Tobias Foss providing great support within the group.
Both riders pushed the pace at key moments, again benefitting from the earlier hard riding which had isolated many GC contenders.
Arensman crossed the line seventh in Nice, confirming his podium finish, 1:58 back on Jorgenson. Sheffield's stage winning heroics elevated him to fourth overall, while Foss' selfless week also ended in a top-10 finish, coming home ninth.
Earlier Ben Swift, Sam Watson, Bob Jungels and Josh Tarling had emptied the tank to set a tough opening tempo on the Col de la Porte.
A stage win and podium finish were just reward for a superb team showing all week, with a Team GC victory by over 15 minutes reflecting a rousing ride by the entire team.
Here's the report from GC winner Matteo Jorgenson's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Matteo Jorgenson has claimed overall victory at Paris-Nice for the second consecutive year. The American rider from Team Visma | Lease a Bike finished second in the final stage, which ended in his hometown Nice—more than enough to secure his grip on the yellow jersey. With this victory, Jorgenson delivered his team’s seventh win of the season.
Matteo Jorgenson gets to take the Paris-Nice yellow jersey home.
Ahead of the French stage race, Jorgenson shared team leadership with Jonas Vingegaard. However, the Dane crashed in Stage 5 and was forced to abandon the race the following day.
Jorgenson first took control of the general classification in Tuesday’s team time trial, which was won by Team Visma | Lease a Bike. The next day, he temporarily handed over the yellow jersey to teammate Vingegaard, but on Thursday, it returned to Jorgenson. Over the final weekend, the American proved he was the rightful winner of this edition of Paris-Nice.
“This is a huge relief,” Jorgenson said after sealing his overall victory. “A lot of stress has lifted off my shoulders. I’ve been focused on this race for four months, giving everything and sacrificing a lot, so it’s amazing to see it all come together.”
Jorgenson expressed pride of both himself and his team. “I have to thank my teammates for all the work they put in for me this past week. They supported me in the best way possible. We made full use of the strengths we have in this team, and I’m so happy to be part of Team Visma | Lease a Bike. I realize that every single day. To be able to say that I’ve won Paris-Nice for the second year in a row is incredible. This race means a lot to me. It’s been a fantastic week.”
“I’m really proud of the team,” said sports director Grischa Niermann. “Losing Jonas was a big disappointment, but I think we responded in the best way possible. In my opinion, Matteo is a more than deserved winner of this edition of Paris-Nice. Winning this race twice is an incredible achievement. On the flat stages, we delivered some outstanding performances, and the team gave Matteo the best possible support. He showed that he was the strongest rider in the race, and his form is clearly where it needs to be. That’s a great sign for the rest of the spring.”
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Here's the Paris-Nice report from Ilan Van Wilder's Team Soudal Quick-Step:
Ilan Van Wilder scored his first overall classification top ten in a World Tour stage race since last year’s Tour de Romandie after an impressive ride on the explosive stage 8 of Paris-Nice, which tackled Col de la Porte, Côte de Peille, Col d’Èze and Col des Quatre Chemins, all crammed in just 120 kilometers.
The 24-year-old started the day in 12th place overall, but thanks to a consistent ride and a remarkable fighting spirit, he overcame an early crash and the hard gradients of this short but intense day and managed to take ninth on the emblematic Promenade des Anglais, a result that helped Ilan upgrade his position in the final ranking, which was won by Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Paris-Nice stage eight gets started.
“At one point today I didn’t know if I could still continue, because another rider hit my front wheel and I crashed, while my chain came off. Fortunately, Max Schachmann was there and brought me back, which wasn’t an easy task, as in the front the pace they were pushing was really hard. After joining the peloton again, I tried to recover as well as possible, and when we began climbing and I got dropped, I just rode my own pace and this helped me bridge across again. At that moment I realised it was a hard stage for everyone and that I just had to keep pushing.”
“In the final part I felt quite good and I’m happy with the way I finished the race. It’s the hardest stage race I have ridden in my career, full gas from start to finish and with some horrible weather along the way. I’m grateful to the team for their support and proud of the way I fought, without ever giving up”, said Ilan after Paris-Nice, the third World Tour stage race of his career that he concluded in the top ten after least year’s UAE Tour and Tour de Romandie.
And here's the Paris-Nice final report from Team XDS-Astana:
The World Tour stage race Paris-Nice has concluded in Nice, where two riders from XDS Astana Team finished in the Top-10 of the General Classification: Clément Champoussin took seventh place, while Harold Tejada finished eighth.
The whole team performed well throughout the week in France, and despite the poor weather conditions for most of the race, they managed to achieve a strong result. On the final stage, Champoussin and Tejada stayed at the front, tried to attack, and in the end, Clément Champoussin finished fifth, while Harold Tejada, despite a crash 10 km before the finish, managed to secure 11th place on the stage.
Clément Champoussin winning stage 20 of the 2021 Vuelta a España. Sirotti photo
“The stage was short but very intense and tough. After the first climbs, I managed to recover well, and in the finale, I tried to attack to move up in the General Classification. I’m happy with how the race went – we were at the front, attacking, responding to moves, and in the end, we have two riders in the Top-10. I think we had a great race”, – said Clément Champoussin.
“I am very happy with the result that our team has achieved. This week was tough due to the cold, wind, and rain, but we managed to handle it well. I finished eighth overall, which is an encouraging result. At the UAE Tour, I was ninth, now eighth – the progress is clear. This gives me motivation for the next races, where I hope to achieve an even better result”, – added Harold Tejada.
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We posted the report from stage inner Jonathan Milan's Team Lidl-Trek with the results.
Here's the report from GC winner Juan Ayuso's UAE Team Emirates:
Juan Ayuso took one of the biggest wins in his young career with the 22 year-old taking the overall victory at Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy.
The Spanish talent showed consistency right from the beginning of the race, placing second behind the mighty Filippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers) in the opening TT, setting the tone for things to come.
Juan Ayuso wins stage six of this year's Tirreno-Adriatico. Sirotti photo
Ganna would put up a strong fight throughout the week to hold the jersey but on stage 6 the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man put in a stinging attack to win solo on the climb to Frontignano. Victory on the Queen stage of the race would seal the deal for Ayuso and the team on the penultimate day, with Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) taking the sprint on the final stage from Porto Potenza Picena to San Benedetto del Tronto (147km).
UAE Team Emirates-XRG also climbed the podium as the best team in the race, a testament to the work done throughout the week as the team sealed their 18th season victory.
Ayuso: “I can probably say that this is my biggest victory alongside La Itzulia, though here I also got to win a stage so I would say it’s been my best performance until now. Today’s last stage was quite stressful and tense with the wind. With the team I felt really protected and they kept me safe and out of trouble all day.
Does it give me confidence for the Giro? I guess so, but the Giro is three weeks long, it’s a different story, a different kind of race. This race has been really hard but the Giro is another step up of course. We need to take it step by step and now first my focus will be on the Volta Catalunya.”
Here's the Tirreno-Adriatico report from Derek Gee's Team Israel-Premier Tech:
It was fourth places all round on the final day of Tirreno Adriatico with Derek Gee crossing the finish line safely to retain fourth overall, while Jake Stewart made the most of his freedom in the final to sprint to fourth place, narrowly missing the podium.
Although it came down to an expected bunch sprint, stage seven wasn’t an easy day of racing as Gee explained post-race.
“It was stressful and Ineos made the race pretty hard to keep the bonus seconds in play and move Ganna up. I was pretty disappointed yesterday to be off the podium but I think I’m a little happier now.”
While Gee had hoped to finish on the General Classification podium, he’s taking valuable lessons out of this week and relished the chance to race together as a team ahead of the Giro d’Italia.
“There were definitely some lows. We spent a big day chasing after a crosswind split but I was really happy with the time trial, really happy with the legs on the climbs, and the boys were amazing all week. I think we made some massive leaps in the process of how to ride for the GC so that was really positive.”
Derek Gee in yellow after the third stage of this year's O Gran Camiño stage race.
Gee had the support of Jakob Fuglsang, Marco Frigo, and Nadav Raisberg to guide him safely across the line, but Stewart was given a green light to go for the sprint.
Having surfed the wheels in the final kilometer, Stewart opened up his sprint with around 300 meters to go and hit the front but was unable to hold off winner Jonathan Milan, Sam Bennett, or Olav Kooij, instead settling for fourth place in what was a strong display of form after a tough week of racing.
“It was the mission to get Derek safely to the three kilometer mark first and the boys did a really good job of doing that. So I just surfed the wheels going into that point behind Lidl Trek. It all got a bit messy at the finish, a bit scrappy once it straightened out into the chicane, and I found myself a bit far back. I managed to float on the wheels until around 500 meters to go and then I saw the 300 meter to go board and realised I was still a bit too far back so I had to just go. In the end, it was just a little bit too long but I’m happy with the result.
“There are some big names here as well and I was kind of pushing them today. I think I got the jump on most of them and took them by surprise so it gives me confidence going into the Classics.”
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And here's the Tirreno-Adriatico report from Team Groupama-FDJ:
Although the final day of racing in Tirreno-Adriatico this Sunday was more eventful than expected, it nevertheless ended with the expected bunch sprint. Once again superbly positioned by Clément Russo, Paul Penhoët was able to express himself one last time in the Italian race, taking fifth place in San Benedetto del Tronto. As for Romain Grégoire, he secured his fifteenth place overall.
From Porto Potenza to San Benedetto del Tronto, the peloton headed north to south along the coast this Sunday to complete the 2025 edition of Tirreno-Adriatico. However, a short detour inland after about fifty kilometres spiced up this final act, with the climb of Ripatransone. Five men, including Mathieu van der Poel, tackled it in the lead, but the peloton quickly got going because of Filippo Ganna’s teammates, and several riders were dropped from the peloton on the day’s only difficulty. Among them, most of the sprinters, including Paul Penhoët.
Early in the stage, the peloton races along the Adriatic coast.
“The stage was faster than expected because Ineos wanted to collect the time bonuses, so there was a high pace all day, and when we got to the climbs, it was really flat out,” said the team’s sprinter. “I really struggled today with my breathing, but Clément and I didn’t lose motivation and we were able to get back into the peloton with a group that included a lot of sprinters.” The fight for the intermediate sprint and its bonus seconds animated the race until about forty kilometers from the finish line, then a slightly calmer scenario returned in the final hour, with the bunch sprint looming.
The tension rose a notch during the final fifteen-kilometre lap, and the Groupama-FDJ team gathered around Paul Penhoët. “We all got back to business and refocused,” said Paul. “We managed to stick to the plan we set this morning with William [Green]. All the guys did a good job on the final circuit, especially Lorenzo in the last five kilometres, then Clément did another great job to position me. We were still quite far back at 800 metres, so we made a big effort to move up, but we had to do it if we wanted to compete for the top positions. I paid a bit for this effort in the final straight, but at least I was able to sprint, and the goal was to have no regrets.”
At the front 200 meters from the line, the 23-year-old Frenchman gave his all to secure fifth place on the day. “We had a nice opportunity, and we did pretty well,” said Thierry Bricaud. “Paul also probably lacked a bit of freshness after this grueling Tirreno-Adriatico, but the approach to the sprint was great collectively, and that allowed us to finish the race on a good note.”
In addition to this fourth top 10 of the week, Romain Grégoire also secured the fifteenth place overall. “The results are both mixed and promising,” concluded Thierry. “It’s mixed because we were aiming for a better GC with Romain. For various reasons, we missed a little something to get a top 10 finish, or even better, but that’s also part of his learning curve. We took two stage podiums, and Paul gained some confidence back in the sprints. He’s leaving this race with good morale and should be able to be in front in his next races. For Romain, it’s now about recovering well for Milan-Sanremo next week, where anything is possible.” “Personally, the week’s balance is pretty good,” Paul concluded. “It was my first big stage race of the year and the feelings were better day by day, the recovery was good, and I think this race will do me a lot of good for the next ones.”
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