Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday April 5, 2022
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2021 Tour de France | 2021 Giro d'Italia
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Les Woodland's book Tour de France: The Inside Story - Making the World's Greatest Bicycle Race is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- April 4 - 9: Vuelta al Pais Vasco
- April 5 - 8: Circuit Cycliste Sarthe
Upcoming racing:
- April 6: Scheldeprijs
- April 10: Amstel Gold Race
Latest completed racing:
- April 3: Tour of Flanders
- April 2: GP Miguel Indurain
- April 2: Volta Limburg Classic
- April 1: Route Adélie de Vitre
- March 30: Dwars door Vlaanderen
- March 21 - 27: Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
- March 27: Gent-Wevelgem
We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from stage winner Primoz Roglic's Team Jumbo-Visma:
Primoz Roglic has won the first stage of the Itzulia Basque Country. The 32-year-old rider of Team Jumbo-Visma completed the individual time trial in Hondarribia the fastest and secured the yellow leader's jersey.
Primoz Roglic going faster than anyone else at the race. Photo: Sprint Cycling.
On the beach of Hondarribia, the riders left one by one for their race against the clock over 7.5 kilometres. Roglic, last year's winner, started last and had an excellent start to his time trial. At the first intermediate point, the reigning Olympic champion time trial recorded almost the same time as Remco Evenepoel, but Roglic managed to make the difference in the second part. It proved enough to secure his third win of the season.
"I'm super happy with this victory", Roglic said. "It was not an easy time trial, held on a technical course with many corners. I had good legs today and could fight until the end. I enjoyed the crowd and the atmosphere."
According to the Slovenian, his victory gives no guarantees for the rest of the week. "This was a ten-minute effort, so there are no big differences yet. Of course it is always better to be ahead than behind, but this doesn't mean much. It is just the beginning."
For Team Jumbo-Visma, Roglic's time trial victory is the ninth win on the road in 2022.
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Here's the report from second-place Remco Evenpoel's Team Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl:
Remco Evenepoel came close to what would have been his fourth victory of the season on stage 1 of the Itzulia Basque Country – a 7.5km individual time trial held over a technical course featuring short but sharp climbs around charming Hondarribia, a stone’s throw from the French border.
Remco Evenepoel riding to a fine second place. Photo: Getty Sport
The last Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider to leave the start ramp, Evenepoel produced a huge ride on what was the shortest Itzulia stage against the clock in the last two decades, leaving absolutely everything out there before stopping the clock in 9:53 – the first rider to break the sub 10-minute barrier. The result moved him into the hot seat, where up until that point teammate Rémi Cavagna had been, thanks to a splendid display that confirmed the Frenchman’s prowess in the time trial.
Only one rider could bump Remco from the top of the classification, and that was Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), who improved his time by five seconds. Despite not taking the victory and concluding again second in a World Tour ITT, just like in Tirreno-Adriatico last month, the 22-year-old Belgian found reasons to smile at the finish, as he made a visit to the podium twice, to be awarded the KOM and best young rider jerseys.
“I knew it was going to be a hard time trial, with some technical parts, but I did everything that I could and rode as fast as possible. I don’t have any regrets, because just one guy was better than me today. I am a bit disappointed, as I came here with a good condition and wanted to win, but I am confident other opportunities will come this week”, said Evenepoel after his sixth podium of the season.
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Here's the report from sixth-place Aleksandr Vlasov's Team Bora-hansgrohe:
The 61st edition of the Tour of the Basque Country opened today with an individual time trial in Hondarribia. The 7.5 km long course featuring three short climbs was quite demanding and for the GC riders of the team from Raubling it was important to keep any time gaps manageable. BORA - hansgrohe captains Volta a Catalunya winner Sergio Higuita, as well as Emanuel Buchmann and Alexandr Vlasov, rolled off the start ramp as the team's last riders. After a strong performance, Aleks concluded the battle against the clock in sixth place, 18 seconds behind the day's winner Primoz Roglič.
Aleksandr Vlasov earlier this year at the Tour of Valenciana
"After my second place at GP Indurain last week, I came to the Tour of the Basque Country in good shape. The time trial was quite technical but I put in a solid performance to finish sixth in a talented field of riders. This now puts me in a good position for the upcoming stages and I'm looking forward to an exciting week here in the Basque Country." - Aleksandr Vlasov
"We prepared very thoroughly for this time trial with the coaches and worked out a really strong strategy for the stage. The goal was to keep the balance, especially in the first section, between going full throttle and also keeping the pace until the finish. As I said, we succeeded very well, also because we inspected the route very thoroughly. Aleks Vlasov's sixth place is certainly a success because it's virtually the same time as third and fourth place. And in this respect, we can definitely take stock of today's success. Apart from that, it was a commendable start to this important race, because the course offered everything: uphill sections, flat sections, technical sections and, at the end, cobblestones. We're now looking forward with confidence to the next five stages, where we will try to achieve a top result with one of our riders." - Christian Pömer & Jens Zemke, Sports Directors
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