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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Friday, October 14, 2022

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2021 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance. - Confucius

Les Woodland's book Cycling's World Championships: The Inside Story is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• Oct 11 - 18: Tour de Langkawi

Upcoming racing:

• Oct 16: Japan Cup
• Oct 16: Veneto Classic
• Oct 16: Chrono des Nations

Latest completed racing:

• Oct 12: Giro del Veneto
• Oct 9: Paris-Tours
• Oct 8: Il Lombardia
• Oct 6: Gran Piemonte
• Oct 6: Paris-Bourges
• Oct 4: Tre Valli Varesine
• Oct 4: Binche-Chimay-Binche
• Oct 3: Sparkassen Münsterland Giro
• Oct 3: Coppa Bernocchi
• Oct 1: Giro dell'Emilia

We posted the report from the race organizer with the results.

Here's the report from George Bennett's UAE Team Emirates:

After two stages for the sprinters, stage 3 of the Tour of Langkawi was a chance for the climbers to show themselves with George Bennett among the best, but having to settle for 10th place on a hard day in equally tough rainy conditions.

The stage packed in over 2850 metres of climbing in just 123km from Putrajaya to Genting Highlands, with the final climb of over 20km splitting the peloton into many small groups. Ivan Sosa (Movistar) would win the stage and takes the overall race lead.

Ivan Sosa won the stage and is now the GC leader.

Joel Suter dictated the pace and brought Bennett into a good position in the final 8km, with the Kiwi going in pursuit of the leaders Sosa and Hugh Carthy (EF Education) though he would find himself paying for his efforts in the final and fading to clinch 10th place.

Tomorrow's Stage 4 is a flat stage from Sabak Bernam to Meru Raya (137.9km).

Here’s the team’s update:

The 29th edition of the Japan Cup Cycle Road Race will take place in the “Bicycle City Utsunomiya”. A series of 3-day events starts with the team presentation on October 14th, Japan Cup Criterium (33.75km) on October 15th, and then the Japan Cup Cycle Road Race (144.2km) on October 16th. The former is pan-flat for sprinters, while the latter is rather selective for climbers.

Certified as the only UCI ProSeries event in Japan, the course of the Japan Cup Cycle Road Race commemorates the 1990 UCI Road World Championships in Utsunomiya city. The 10.3km course features Mt. Kogashi (1.4km/6.8%, maximum 10.5%) during the 14 laps circuit race with a total distance of 144.2 kilometres and 2530 meters of elevation.

Here's Bauke Mollema winning the 2019 edition. The race was not run in 2020 & 2021.

Yukiya Arashiro is in good spirits ahead of his 11th appearance at the race: “I’m really looking forward to participating in the Japan Cup for the first time in three years, and I’m especially happy to be able to show the Japanese champion jersey to the Japanese people this year. I am confident we will have a good race because my teammates are strong.”

Bahrain Victorious Sports Director Franco Pellizotti comments: “Japan Cup is a challenging race, and in this edition, it will be even tougher seeing the number of WorldTour teams participating. Our riders are highly motivated ahead of this conclusive race of the season for Team Bahrain Victorious. We will line up our Japanese star Yukiya Arashiro, an excellent booster for our team. As a home rider, Yuki wants to honour this event, which is finally coming back into the race calendar after 2019. He’s in good shape and will be our co-leader with Stevie Williams.

Our Welsh rider feels well, and he’s looking to finish this season brilliantly. Climbing skills will be decisive in this race, and who is better than Hermann Pernsteiner when it comes to offering help? He has done a fantastic job supporting the captains so far, and in the past few weeks, he has shown good shape, too; he can also try to take a good result in Japan. Another great helper is Filip Maciejuk, as Johan Price-Pejtersen and Chun Kai Feng, who will be motivated after a solid performance at Tour de Taiwan. We look forward to Japan Cup, which is always well-organized and spectacular. We will also enjoy the kermesse on the eve.”

Here’s the post from Evenepoel’s Team Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl:

Remco Evenepoel continued to pick up awards at the first of the many off-season galas, the Kristallen Fiets. Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Clasica San Sebastian, the Vuelta a España and the World Championships were the highlights of a truly sensational year for Evenepoel, and it came as no surprise that in recognition of his outstanding achievements he received the trophy at the event that took place in Vilvoorde, Wednesday evening.

Remco Evenpoel took a superb win at this year's World Championships. Sirotti photo

It was Remco’s second Kristallen Fiets award in this category, after the one of 2019, which rewarded his impressive neo-pro campaign, and the 22-year-old from Schepdaal – who wrote history this season for Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl and Belgium – talked about what it meant for him.

“I won the Vuelta, but I think the Worlds was what tilted the balance and brought me the Kristallen Fiets again after three years. To be named the best male rider of my country is special and unique, something for which I’m grateful, so I want to enjoy this moment, because it won’t be easy to repeat 2022. I had a great year and I think it was the victory in Liège–Bastogne–Liège that changed everything and gave me the motivation and strength for the second part of the season, which was an incredible one.”

“For next season, the main objective will be to keep evolving and to keep making progress together with the team, but first it’s time for holidays, to which I’m looking forward before getting on my bike again”, said Remco, the youngest rider since 1992 – when the awards were established – to have two Kristallen Fiets trophies in his palmares.

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