Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, March 22, 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
The oldest, shortest words - 'yes' and 'no' - are those which require the most thought. - Pythagoras
Bill & Carol McGann’s book The Story of the Tour de France, 2022: The Fastest Tour Ever is available in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- March 22: Milano-Sanremo
Upcoming racing:
- March 24 - 30: Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
- March 25 - 29: Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali
Latest completed racing:
- March 21: Bredene Koksijde Classic
- March 20: GP de Denain
- March 19: Danilith Nokere Koerse
- March 19: Milano-Torino
- 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
We posted the report from second-place Luke Lamperti's Team Soudal Quick-Step with the results.
Here's the report from winner Edward Theuns' Team Lidl-Trek:
The Belgian rider Edward Theuns prints to victory after an impressive assist from Jakob Söderqvist before celebrating with his family on the finish line.
At the start of the 200 kilometer-long race, an early breakaway formed but, strong winds in the Moeren meant the group’s chances were slim. After several splits in the peloton, Söderqvist managed to break away with seven others before, a few kilometers later, another group of seven riders attacked from the shattered peloton, with Theuns just making the jump.
With 60 km to go, the two groups merged to form a 15-rider breakaway, including Söderqvist and Theuns but the peloton was following at less than a minute.
Edward Theuns wins the Bredene Koksijde Classic.
It was a constant battle to stay ahead, but thanks to a powerful effort from Söderqvist, the breakaway held off the chase. In the final sprint, Theuns went early and managed to stay in front all the way to the finish line.
Team Picnic-PostNL posted this Bredene Koksijde Classic report:
After Team Picnic PostNL’s victory with Nils Eekhoff’s in Nokere Koerse earlier this week, the team was back at the start of a mid-week race in Flanders. The route between Bredene and Koksijde started flat, followed by a hilly middle section. After the Flemish hills, the peloton made its way via the Moeren to the flat local finishing circuit, which was completed three times.
In the lead-up to the hilly section, a breakaway formed, with a second group chasing behind, including Eekhoff and Julius van den Berg. Eekhoff managed to bridge across to the breakaway, where the 15 riders at the front worked well together. In the reduced peloton Casper van Uden, Tobias Lund Andresen, and Alex Edmondson stayed well positioned and alert.
The peloton with three kilometers to go. The front group is eight seconds up the road. Photo: Getty Sport.
In a tense finale, the breakaway just managed to stay ahead despite a chasing peloton. In the battle for victory, Eekhoff sprinted to a strong third place; the second podium result in three days for Team Picnic PostNL and Eekhoff.
After the finish Eekhoff said: “From the start, we were sharp and ready to be at the front for the echelons. We made sure not to miss the split and fought for each other. Towards the hilly sector with the Kemmelberg, everything came back together, and Julius jumped into a good move. The second time up the Kemmelberg, I made it into the select group that bridged across to the breakaway. It was always touch and go whether it would all come back together, but I kept my head cool and focused on riding my own final. With no late attacks, it was all about being ready for the sprint. Edward Theuns went early and I thought there would be a moment to launch over him, but he was strong enough to hold on. I’m happy with my performance today, and it feels good to show that I’m really back racing at the front.”
Team Picnic PostNL coach Roy Curvers analysed the race: “We started the race ready for echelons, and at the first opportunity, we made the split with all seven of us in the front. That set the tone for the day. The eventual break formed in the hill zone, with two groups of eight going up the road. At first, we had Julius and Nils in the move, but unfortunately Julius lost contact. From there, it was a 90-kilometer battle for seconds between the break and the bunch, with Nils keeping a cool head, always ready to go for the win. In the end, the sprint was all about the legs, and third place is a result we have to be happy with. We can take confidence from the fact that we were in the action all day.”
Content continues below the ads
Here's the Milano-Sanremo update from Olav Kooij's Team Visma - Lease a Bike:
The season's first cycling monument, Milano-Sanremo, takes place on Saturday. It’s already La Primavera’s 116th edition. Given his three victories earlier this season, Olav Kooij will be full of confidence at the start in Italy. The leader of Team Visma | Lease a Bike looks ahead together with sports director Maarten Wynants.
Kooij is having a good start to his season. The 23-year-old Dutchman won two stages in the Tour of Oman. After having to abandon the UAE Tour due to illness, he made a strong comeback in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne with a second place and last week he sprinted to victory in the fourth stage in Tirreno-Adriatico under harsh weather conditions. “I am satisfied with my start to the season. After a good start in Oman I had a small setback, but I recovered strongly with my second place in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. The goal for Tirreno was to win a stage and I succeeded. That gives me a lot of confidence”, the rider says.
Olav Kooij wins stage four of this year's Tirreno-Adriatico. Sirotti photo
At 289 kilometers, the Italian one-day race is the longest classic on the cycling calendar and was won by Wout van Aert in 2020. The climbs of the Cipressa and the Poggio in the finale always provide the biggest spectacle of the mostly flat race. “It is a very beautiful race that largely takes place along the Mediterranean coast. Milan-Sanremo is every year a battle between puncheurs and sprinters. That makes it fascinating and unpredictable”, sports director Wynants describes.
“It could be a very tough race given the weather forecast for Saturday”, Wynants continues. “Tadej Pogacar's team will do everything they can to make the race as hard as possible. We have to be prepared for that. We are at the start with a strong team and with Olav we have a candidate who can compete for victory if it comes down to a sprint.”
Last year, Kooij made his debut in La Primavera and rode to a creditable fifteenth place in his first monument. According to the top sprinter, that motivates him for more. “At the start of your season you hope that the training work in the winter will pay off in good results. It gives confidence that I succeeded right away. Hopefully I can show myself again on Saturday. As a team we will have to do our best to position ourselves well at the most important moments in the race.”
Wynants adds: “Positioning is extremely important in a race like this. It makes a lot of difference whether you turn up the Cipressa and Poggio from the front or from the back. In Tirreno-Adriatico, Olav showed that he should be taken into account. Not only was his stage win superb, but his strong climbing work also stood out. If the race explode early, we still have two more cards to play with Ben Tulett and Axel Zingle.”
Content continues below the ads
Here's the Milano-Sanremo news from Team Israel-Premier Tech:
The first Monument race of the season, Milano-Sanremo, takes place on Saturday and IPT is lining up with a strong team ready to support Corbin Strong in the Italian Classic.
“We have got a lot of depth in the team with riders capable of performing really well in this race”, sports director Sam Bewley says. “We bring strong riders for each crucial part of the race and then we’ve got Corbin [Strong] as a good leader for the final. Overall, the team is in really good shape.”
Corbin Strong winning the first stage of the 2023 Tour of Luxembourg.
Milano-Sanremo is often referred to as the easiest Classic to finish but the hardest one to win. Despite its length of 289 km, it’s usually not until the final 30 km that the race really opens up as the riders take on the two final climbs, the Cipressa and the Poggio, with only 5.5 km remaining from the top of the latter. Saving energy and getting the positioning into these climbs right will be key.
Sam Bewley explains: “In an ideal world, we’ll get a few guys over the Cipressa to be there with Corbin and support him leading into the Poggio. We know that positioning into Poggio is really important so ideally we’ll get that right and hopefully get one rider over the top together with Corbin. It’s going to be hard to follow the likes of Van der Poel and Pogacar and those guys so we just have to try and get Corbin over the top in the first main group and see how things play out in the final. Ideally, it’ll come down to a sprint within a reduced group with Corbin in there to fight for a top result.”
Lining up for his third Milano-Sanremo, 24-year-old Strong is eager to improve last year’s 17th place in one of his favorite races.
“I’m really excited. Milano-Sanremo is one of the nicest races on the calendar. I’ve had a long training period since Tour Down Under so my shape is good and I’m hungry to show the hard work I’ve put in. We have a strong and motivated lineup for Saturday and I’m excited to race with this group in the first Monument of the year. For me, it’s all about being in the right position for the Cipressa and the Poggio in order to give myself a chance to sprint for the win from a reduced group.”
IPT at Milano – Sanremo (Saturday March 22)
Riders: Simon Clarke (AUS), Pier-André Côté (CAN), Marco Frigo (ITA), Jakob Fuglsang (DEN), Matîs Louvel (FRA), Jake Stewart (GBR), Corbin Strong (NZL)
Sports Directors: Sam Bewley (NZL), Dror Pekatch (ISR), Francesco Frassi (ITA).
Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG posted this Milano-Sanremo update:
UAE Team Emirates-XRG will hope to continue their strong start to the 2025 campaign with the first of the five classic cycling ‘Monument’ races : Milano – San Remo. The action takes place in Italy on Saturday 22nd March, where the team will look to build on their tally of 18 wins already this season with World Champion Tadej Pogačar leading the hunt for success on the 289 km test, the longest race on the professional road calendar.
Tadej Pogacar winning Strade Bianche earlier this year. Sirotti photo
The seven rider squad for Milano-San Remo will be under the direction of Sports Manager Joxean Matxin Fernandez (Spa) and Sports Directors Andrej Hauptman (Slo) and Marco Marzano (Ita).
Pogačar: “I was back on the bike already on the Monday after Strade Bianche and had a couple of easier days. Naturally I was a bit stiff and sore, but thankfully I’m feeling good again now.
"We’re coming into a really exciting period of racing and I’m feeling ready for Milano-San Remo. I know the final of the parcours really well by now and we’ll hope to light up the race on Saturday. Can we win? For sure it won’t be easy but we will give it a good shot.
"As we’ve seen in the past there are a number of scenarios that this race can finish in. For sure we will have a plan and put ourselves in the best position possible. It’s a race we’d dearly love to win.”
Milano-Sanremo [1.UWT] – 22-Mar-2025
- Isaac Del Toro (Mex)
- Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu)
- Domen Novak (Slo)
- Tadej Pogačar (Slo)
- Nils Politt (Ger)
- Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor)
- Tim Wellens (Bel)
Content continues below the ads
Here’s the team’s news:
Mikel Landa will lead the team between 23-29 March, at the 104th edition of the prestigious World Tour event.
Sant Feliu de Guixols will once again host the start and finish of the inaugural Volta a Catalunya stage, before the race heads to Figueres, the hometown of Salvador Dali, the famous and extravagant painter whose influence can still be seen in art, film, music and fashion.
La Molina, where Remco Evenepoel triumphed after a fantastic duel in 2023, is set to be the race’s first summit finish and the place where the custodian of the leader’s jersey should change. There won’t be any moments of respite for the peloton, who just twenty-four hours later will tackle the Montserrat ascent, making a return after three decades.
The last uphill finish of the week will be Queralt, on the penultimate stage, followed by the traditional day in Barcelona, where the Montjuic climb promises another exciting battle for the victory and the general classification, especially if the gaps won’t be big between the favourites by that point.
Runner-up at last year’s edition, Mikel Landa will lead the line for Soudal Quick-Step in Catalunya, where he makes an appearance after a solid seventh place in Tirreno-Adriatico: “I had a very good outing in Catalunya last year, and I look forward to doing it again. I have a pretty good shape and I am confident going into the race. There will be a lot of strong riders fighting for the general classification, which is good because many of them will also be at the Giro d’Italia, so it’s going to be a nice opportunity to see where I am and continue to build up my shape for May.”
Mikel Landa racing in stage 13 of the 2024 Vuelta a España. Sirotti photo
The experienced Basque climber will be surrounded by a strong team consisting of Gianmarco Garofoli, British Champion Ethan Hayter, James Knox, Junior Lecerf, Tour of Oman runner-up Valentin Paret-Peintre and Pieter Serry.
“The course is more or similar to what we are used to. La Molina will be an incredibly hard stage, with around 5000 meters of climbing, but also the other days in the mountains will take their toll on the riders. We could have a couple of sprint opportunities, but this remains to be seen. Mikel comes to the start after a very good Tirreno-Adriatico and he has a strong team around him as he tries to do a good general classification, but we want to see what Ethan can do in the sprints. It’s a solid team and we are looking forward to the week there”, said Soudal Quick-Step sports director Geert Van Bondt.
And here's the Volta a Catalunya preview from Team Jayco AlUla:
Australian Ben O’Connor returns to action as he leads a strong and experienced Team Jayco AlUla at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya starting on Monday.
The 29-year-old lines up off the back of a gruelling Paris-Nice and he’ll be supported by a robust climbing group across the seven days of racing in northern Spain.
Ben O'Connor (in red) finishing the 18th stage of the 2024 Vuelta a España. Sirotti photo
Veteran Alessandro De Marchi and Dutchman Koen Bouwman will bring with them a wealth of experience as well as their climbing abilities alongside Ethiopian talent Hagos Berhe.
Danish trio Chris Juul-Jensen, Asbjørn Hellemose and Anders Foldager will each continue their spring racing programmes, with latter also giving the team options in the fast finishes, while Juul-Jensen has proved to be one of the most dependable domestiques in the pro peloton.
Team Jayco AlUla at Volta a Catalunya
Hagos Berhe (ETH)
Koen Bouwman (NED)
Alessandro De Marchi (ITA)
Ander Foldager (DEN)
Asbjørn Hellemose (DEN)
Chris Juul-Jensen (DEN)
Ben O’Connor (AUS)
Chris Juul-Jensen:
“It goes without saying that with a squad like ours, there’s plenty of reason to be motivated and expect and hope for a good result, both stage wise with Anders and with the GC in mind for Ben.
"I think everyone is looking forward to seeing what Ben can achieve during the week in Catalunya. It’s a hard race, but it suits him, and he’s motivated for sure, and hungry to get a big result and his first for the team.
"We’re all excited to help him achieve that goal and I can’t wait. It’s going to be good fun and serious racing with a good group of lads, everyone has been training hard and we’re now starting a very important part of the season and it’s no secret that we’re racing for top results.”
Steve Cummings (Sports Director):
“Ben is coming into the race off the back of a tough Paris-Nice, he’s really motivated and we’re hoping he can take a step forward from last week. There’s also some good opportunities for Anders in the fast finishes and reduced group sprints.
"Bouwman is coming back from a small injury, so it will be good to have him back and we have an experienced roster with the likes of De Marchi and Juul-Jensen, some good road captains.
"On the GC we will try and aim for the best result we can with Ben, stage three in particular will be a big test and as I said, the reduced sprints look good on paper for Anders. It’s a great chance for him, he’s not got a win at WorldTour level, but this will be a good test for him to see how he stacks up against the fast guys at this level.”
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary