Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2017 Tour de France | 2017 Giro d'Italia
In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. - Friedrich Nietzsche
Current racing:
- May 31 - June 1: Skoda Tour de Luxembourg
Upcoming Racing:
- June 4 - 11: Critérium du Dauphiné
- June 8: GP Kanton Aargau
Latest completed racing:
- May 5 - 28: Giro d'Italia
- May 24 - 28: Baloise Belgium Tour
- May 24 - 28: Tour des Fjords
- May 17 - 21: Tour of Norway
- May 19 - 21: Vuelta a Castilla y Leon
- May 14 - 20: Tour of California
Post Giro d'Italia UCI rankings
Rider: (number in parenthesis is previous ranking)
| Rank | Name | Team | Points |
| 1 (1) | Greg VAN AVERMAET | BMC | 4967.25 |
| 2 (2) | Peter SAGAN | Bora-hansgrohe | 4581 |
| 3 (3) | Alejandro VALVERDE | Movistar | 4349 |
| 4 (5) | Nairo QUINTANA | Movistar | 3930 |
| 5 (4) | Chris FROOME | Sky | 3571 |
| 6 (22) | Tom DUMOULIN | Sunweb | 2948 |
| 7 (7) | Philippe GILBERT | Quick-Step | 2609.4 |
| 8 (6) | Jhoan Esteban CHAVES | Orica-Scott | 2583 |
| 9 (8) | Alberto CONTADOR | Trek-Segafredo | 2415 |
| 10 (9) | Romain BARDET | Ag2r La Mondiale | 2349 |
| 11 (11) | Diego ULISSI | UAE Abu Dhabi | 2236 |
| 12 (10) | Alexander KRISTOFF | Katusha Alpecin | 2210 |
| 13 (12) | Daniel MARTIN | Quick-Step | 2179 |
| 14 (13) | Richie PORTE | BMC | 2177 |
| 15 (33) | Vincenzo NIBALI | Bahrain-Merida | 2082 |
| 16 (14) | Jon IZAGUIRRE | Bahrain-Merida | 2065 |
| 17 (15) | Michael MATTHEWS | Sunweb | 2056 |
| 18 (17) | Michal KWIATKOWSKI | Sky | 1948 |
| 19 (18) | John DEGENKOLB | Trek-Segafredo | 1851 |
| 20 (19) | Rafal MAJKA | Bora-hansgrohe | 1795 |
| 21 (40) | Fernando GAVIRIA | Quick-Step | 1759 |
| 22 (20) | Oliver NAESEN | Ag2r La Mondiale | 1739 |
| 23 (16) | Julian ALAPHILIPPE | Quick-Step | 1716 |
| 24 (23) | Simon YATES | Orica-Scott | 1653 |
| 25 (24) | Sonny COLBRELLI | Bahrain-Merida | 1624 |
| 26 (25) | Primož ROGLIC | Lotto NL-Jumbo | 1581 |
| 27 (21) | Nacer BOUHANNI | Cofidis | 1575 |
| 28 (61) | Thibaut PINOT | FDJ | 1558 |
| 29 (35) | Adam YATES | Orica-Scott | 1554 |
| 30 (29) | Giacomo NIZZOLO | Trek-Segafredo | 1539 |
| 31 (27) | Arnaud DEMARE | FDJ | 1539 |
| 32 (41) | Bauke MOLLEMA | Trek-Segafredo | 1537 |
| 33 (28) | Fabio FELLINE | Trek-Segafredo | 1526 |
| 34 (30) | Sergio Luis HENAO | Sky | 1467 |
| 35 (39) | André GREIPEL | Lotto Soudal | 1462 |
| 36 (31) | Rigoberto URAN | Cannondale Drapac | 1418 |
| 37 (32) | Tom BOONEN | Quick-Step | 1395 |
| 38 (26) | Rohan DENIS | BMC | 1372.25 |
| 39 (34) | Tim WELLENS | Lotto Soudal | 1372 |
| 40 (36) | Niki TERPSTRA | Quick-Step | 1353.8 |
Nations:
| Rank | Name | Points |
| 1 (1) | BELGIUM | 15322.65 |
| 2 (3) | COLOMBIA | 13561.4 |
| 3 (2) | SPAIN | 13076.75 |
| 4 (5) | ITALY | 12148 |
| 5 (4) | FRANCE | 11856 |
| 6 (6) | GREAT BRITAIN | 10289 |
| 7 (8) | NETHERLANDS | 10164.8 |
| 8 (7) | AUSTRALIA | 9618.5 |
| 9 (9) | GERMANY | 7238 |
| 10 (10) | POLAND | 5268 |
| 11 (12) | SLOVAKIA | 5089 |
| 12 (11) | NORWAY | 5031 |
| 13 (13) | DENMARK | 3979 |
| 14 (15) | IRELAND | 3908 |
| 15 (14) | UNITED STATES | 3671.65 |
| 16 (16) | SLOVENIA | 3540 |
| 17 (17) | SWITZERLAND | 3365 |
| 18 (18) | CZECH REPUBLIC | 3163 |
| 19 (20) | RUSSIA | 3002 |
| 20 (19) | PORTUGAL | 2859 |
| 21 (22) | LUXEMBOURG | 2669 |
| 22 (21) | KAZAKHSTAN | 2244 |
| 23 (23) | UKRAINE | 2234.9 |
| 24 (27) | AUSTRIA | 2131.25 |
| 25 (24) | SOUTH AFRICA | 1955 |
| 26 (26) | BELARUS | 1913 |
| 27 (25) | NEW ZEALAND | 1843.25 |
| 28 (28) | ESTONIA | 1823.25 |
| 29 (29) | CANADA | 1652 |
| 30 (30) | ERITREA | 1596 |
| 31 (31) | MOROCCO | 1252.5 |
| 32 (32) | COSTA RICA | 1108 |
| 33 (35) | IRAN | 1090 |
| 34 (34) | ARGENTINA | 1035 |
| 35 (33) | LITHUANIA | 918 |
| 36 (36) | JAPAN | 900 |
| 37 (38) | LATVIA | 879 |
| 38 (37) | AZERBAIJAN | 832 |
| 39 (40) | VENEZUELA | 746 |
| 40 (39) | KOREA | 744 |
World Tour team rankings:
| Rank | Prev. | Team (Code) | Points |
| 1 | 1 | QUICK - STEP FLOORS (QST) | 8540 |
| 2 | 2 | BMC RACING TEAM (BMC) | 6613 |
| 3 | 5 | MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV) | 5564 |
| 4 | 3 | ORICA - SCOTT (ORS) | 5221 |
| 5 | 4 | TEAM SKY (SKY) | 4993 |
| 6 | 6 | TREK - SEGAFREDO (TFS) | 4707 |
| 7 | 9 | TEAM SUNWEB (SUN) | 3921 |
| 8 | 7 | BORA - HANSGROHE (BOH) | 3697 |
| 9 | 10 | TEAM KATUSHA ALPECIN (KAT) | 3021 |
| 10 | 8 | TEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBO (TLJ) | 2910 |
| 11 | 12 | BAHRAIN - MERIDA (TBM) | 2760 |
| 12 | 11 | CANNONDALE-DRAPAC (CDT) | 2722 |
| 13 | 16 | FDJ (FDJ) | 2327 |
| 14 | 13 | UAE TEAM EMIRATES (UAD) | 2310 |
| 15 | 14 | AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM) | 2252 |
| 16 | 15 | LOTTO SOUDAL (LTS) | 2054 |
| 17 | 17 | ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST) | 1636 |
| 18 | 18 | TEAM DIMENSION DATA (DDD) | 1505 |
Cannondale-Drapac riders reflect on the 2017 Giro d'Italia
The team sent me this:
Last night at the team’s farewell dinner, Cannondale-Drapac DS Fabrizio Guidi stood up to give a toast. He skipped the usual stuff. Instead he said that he hoped we’d all leave this Giro knowing we had friends all over the world. After a staff and riders work through a grand tour together, there’s a change that takes place. You’re closer. We won a stage, we rode competitively. It was a great Giro. Thanks for following along with us. See you all at the Tour. – Matthew Beaudin, Cannondale-Drapac communications director
DS CHARLY WEGELIUS: Accidents happen in three week races, and good teams can come to the line with six or seven riders. I think the fact that nine of them came to the line pretty healthy says a lot about the depth of the team. They supported each other when one was having a bad time. They had a great atmosphere between themselves, and I think they showed that on the road. It wasn’t that we had one rider that was head and shoulders above everyone else. It was the whole group that was on a high level.
PIERRE ROLLAND: For sure, I was happy when I won but when I came to the hotel and I saw everyone, my teammates and my staff, so happy for me, that was almost a happier moment. It’s not only one rider that wins the race. It’s one team – the whole team with all the staff. I saw in every face happiness and for me that’s what I will remember most.
Pierre Rolland wins Giro stage 17
MIKE WOODS: You don’t do a lot of races where there’s a satisfaction in completion. I think I feel like a person that hasn’t trained much and has completed a marathon. You know, like 99 percent of the people that do marathons are happy with the finisher’s medal and tinfoil blanket. That’s me right now.
The best moment? Easy. Pierre’s win, setting that up. In the final, even in the last 80km, although we were racing a WorldTour race with helicopters buzzing above us and with real hitters with us, it felt like we were racing a local race. It was such unstructured racing. You don’t get that much in the WorldTour. It was so much fun. Pierre and I were just pinging it, playing off each other. It was so cool to win that way.
JOE DOMBROWSKI: I have mixed feelings. I didn’t come in as prepared as I would like, but that’s sometimes beyond your control. I started to ride better throughout the race. Going forward, I should be riding well – even if I didn’t get something out of the Giro itself. It’s still my favorite grand tour. It always will be.
TOM-JELTE SLAGTER: When I think about this Giro, for sure I’ll remember the nice stage win of Pierre and that we were working really well as a group together. We had a lot of fun. The atmosphere was really good in the team. That helps a lot. And I think that’s also a big reason we have nine guys at the finish, have the stage win of Pierre, have Formolo in tenth place in GC.
KRISTIJAN KOREN: My opinion is that every big race is the same. It’s important to finish. This is my eighth big three-week race to finish. I’m happy because I didn’t crash. It was a good race with the team with one victory and the top ten. It’s perfect.
DAVIDE VILLELLA: My favorite part of the Giro was the third week because it was the hardest part. We did a really great job with Pierre and Davide with GC. In my part, I missed a victory, but together I think we did great.
HUGH CARTHY: It was about how I expected it to be. The last week was the week you had to be fresh for. Psychologically it was quite difficult. My performance wasn’t what I had hoped. I had to keep picking myself up. It was a great experience, and I’m glad to be a part of it.
DAVIDE FORMOLO: Finally it’s over. It was the goal to be in the top ten, and in end we got it. It was a long Giro with a very hard last week. We had some fun, some efforts, some pain. It’s all normal. I’m very happy.
The team was amazing. I didn’t expect much support in the race. I knew I could be good, but I still don’t know my limits. I’m getting better every race. The team helped me a lot for the whole race, and I’m really proud to have their support.
ALEX HOWES: This was first Giro, my first pink journey. It was nice. I feel kind of cheated in a lot of ways because it never rained. There were no crashes. There was nothing that crazy. All that stuff you hear about the Giro? Never happened. It’s certainly very challenging. Physically it’s demanding. There is a lot of up and down, a lot of long days. Would I do it again? Totally.
UAE Team Emirates' closing Giro d'Italia report:
The three weeks Grand Tour concluded on Sunday, 29 May with UAE Team Emirates’ Jan Polanc in 11th place in the General Classification.
Commenting on his performance with pride, UAE Team Emirates’ Jan Polanc said: “This is a Giro to remember for me. I thought nothing could be as great as my first stage victory in 2015 but I was wrong! My win on Mount Etna was an unbelievably incredible moment for me. Wearing and retaining the blue jersey for a few stages in a row made me even more determined to do well. My performance improved with every stage and I managed to finish the Giro in the upper part of the overall General Classification, which was very difficult as the competition was fierce. I think in the future I’d like to try and focus my attention on Grand Tours and get into the GC top ten. Placing 11th overall is a really good achievement, seeing as this was my first time battling for a place in the upper part of the GC. Happy cannot begin to describe how I feel!”
UAE Team Emirates was the youngest World Tour team to take part in the Giro with the average age of the squad being 26 with young riders such as Ravasi, Petilli, Conti and Mohoric. UAE Team Emirates’ debut at the 100th Giro had a number of podium positions and memorable finishes which included Ferrari’s podium finish in stage two, Modolo’s top ten in stage three, Conti’s dramatic stage eight, Costa’s three second places and Polanc’s victory on Mount Etna.
Reflecting on the 100th Giro d’Italia, UAE Team Emirates Sports Director Marco Marzano said: “One victory and four second places – an impressive performance from our young riders and the team’s constant presence in the most important breakaways is the team’s 100th Giro d’Italia in a nutshell. We are quite satisfied with the results overall. We set out with a few goals at the beginning of the race and I feel that some of those have been met. This was UAE Team Emirates’ debut at the Giro and we tried to honour the commitment to do well for the whole nation and our sponsors.”
Team Sunweb's upcoming racing
The team sent me this schedule:
RACE PREVIEW: MAY 29 - JUNE 6
BOUCLES DE LA MAYENNE (UCI 2.1)
Development Team Sunweb line up at Boucles de la Mayenne Thusday June, 1 for four days of racing. The race opens with a 4.5 kilometre prologue, followed by a road stage featuring five categorised climbs. The third stage takes riders along 180 kilometres, with the final stage finishing in Laval. Development Team Sunweb start the race after two consecutive weekends of success, with their U23 German national road race champion Max Kanter (GER) and U23 Paris-Roubaix winner Nils Eekhoff (NED).
Team Sunweb coach Sebastian Deckert (GER) said: "This is a really tough race with some fierce competition. It's prologue and three road stages give the team a good platform to continue to progress and after some brilliant results over the past few weeks everybody is eager to further develop their skills on the bike. Boucles de la Mayenne is a good race to allow us to make the next step and we have high morale in the team at the minute which is an added bonus."
RACE: Boucles de la Mayenne (UCI 2.1)
DATE: 1-4/06/2017
COACH: Sebastian Deckert (GER)
LINE-UP
Nils Eekhoff (NED)
Marc Goos (NED)
Max Kanter (GER)
Jarno Mobach (NED)
Leon Rohde (GER)
Ruben Zepuntke (GER)
HAMMER SERIES (UCI 2.1)
The first edition of the inaugural Hammer Series gets underway this Friday and Team Sunweb line up with their recently crowned Giro d'Italia winner Tom Dumoulin (NED). The Hammer Series is a brand new concept that combines three days of racing in a bid to win points in Climb, Sprint and Chase races - with the best team to be crowned as winner of the race. The opening stage is one for the climbers, with 11 laps of a seven kilometre circuit containing two 8.5 percent ascents. Day two is all about the sprinters, with eight laps of a fast 12.4 kilometre hunt for points before a quick dash to the line. The final stage, a 50 kilometre team time trial, with riders starting in order and time interval of their placing on the leader board. From Team Sunweb's six rider line up, a five rider line up will be compiled on Thursday for each of the three races.
Team Sunweb coach Dirk Reuling (NED) said: "This is a totally different race than to anything we've done before. In the Climb race we aim to collect points from the break and for the Sprint race we have Max and Zico as our fast guys to collect points. With that we aim to start in a good position for the Chase."
RACE: Hammer Series (UCI 2.1)
DATE: 2-4/06/2017
COACH: Dirk Reuling (NED)
LINE-UP
Tom Dumoulin (NED)
Lennard Kämna (GER)
Ramon Sinkeldam (NED)
Albert Timmer (NED)
Zico Waeytens (BEL)
Max Walscheid (GER)
CRITÉRIUM DU DAUPHINÉ (WT)
The 69th edition of the Critérium du Dauphné gets underway on Sunday, June 4. The race starts with a stage that takes in eight climbs, followed by two days for the sprinters. Stage four delivers a 23.5 kilometre individual time trial with day five littered with climbs before a flat run in to the finish. The final three stages take riders through the Alps and promise a challenging queen stage before a finish at Plateau de Solaison. Critérium du Dauphné also sees Warren Barguil (FRA) making his return to racing following a tough crash at Tour de Romandie, with a fracture to his pelvis.
Team Sunweb coach Morten Bennekou (DEN) said: "We are looking forward to some exciting, challenging stages at Critérium du Dauphiné. We are happy with the return of Warren after his hard crash, the fact he is back so quickly after such an injury is already a victory so he will be there primarily to gain racing rhythm. We will aim for stage results with Phil in the sprints, he showed at the Giro that he is able to compete with the best and we will give all of our efforts to continue this upward line into Dauphiné."
RACE: Critérium du Dauphiné (WT)
DATE: 4-11/06/2017
COACH: Morten Bennekou (DEN)
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary