Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
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2023 Tour de France | 2023 Giro d'Italia
Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it. - Soren Kierkegaard
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Current Racing:
- Jan 24-28: Challenge Vuelta Ciclista a Mallorca
Upcoming racing:
- Jan 28: GP d'Ouverture-La Marseillaise
- Jan 28: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
- Jan 30 - Feb 3: Saudi Tour
Latest completed racing:
- Jan 12-21: Santos Tour Down Under
- Jan 20: Clasica Comunitat Valenciana
- Jan 1: GP Sven Nys
- Dec 29: Exact Cross Loenhout-Azencross
- Dec 28: Superprestige Diegem
Here’s the team’s update:
With 5 races in as many days, the Challenge Mallorca events mark the return of many riders from the Arkea-B&B Hotels team. And for some, it will be their first time under their new colours…
Arnaud Démare (shown at the start of the 2023 Hamburg Cyclassics) will race the Trofeo Serra Tramuntana & Trofeo Palma. Sirotti photo
Daily line-ups :
24/01 | Trofeo Calvia : Vincenzo Albanese, Clément Champoussin, Ewen Costiou, Raúl García Pierna, Elie Gesbert, Donavan Grondin, Lukasz Owsian
25/01 | Trofeo Ses Salines-Felanitx : Vincenzo Albanese, Jenthe Biermans, Florian Dauphin, David Dekker, Arnaud Démare, Donavan Grondin, Lukasz Owsian
26/01 | Trofeo Serra Tramuntana : Clément Champoussin, Ewen Costiou, David Dekker, Arnaud Démare, Raúl García Pierna, Elie Gesbert, Lukasz Owsian
27/01 | Trofeo Pollença – Port d’Andratx : Vincenzo Albanese, Jenthe Biermans, Clément Champoussin, Ewen Costiou, Florian Dauphin, Raúl García Pierna, Elie Gesbert
28/01 | Trofeo Palma : Jenthe Biermans, Florian Dauphin, David Dekker, Arnaud Démare, Raúl García Pierna, Donavan Grondin, Lukasz Owsian
Arnaud Démare:
“I’m really happy with my winter preparation, between the collective training sessions with the team and another one on an individual basis. I hope I’ve now recovered well from all that work. The Challenge Mallorca will be my first race of the new season, with two possible sprint finishes. It’ll be an opportunity to gauge myself and get my bearings. It’s an early start to the season, but it’ll give me a chance to get back into the swing of things. I know it always takes me a while to get back into the rhythm. I’m happy to be discovering this competition and the motivation is there with a great team around me. Now it’s time to race!”
Raúl García Pierna:
“I already took part in the Challenge Mallorca 2 years ago. These are tough races where good positioning often makes the difference. We’ve got some strong riders in the team who can go on to achieve good results. My role will be to help them out. This will also be my first race in the Arkea-B&B Hotels jersey. It’s another step in my career, my first season at UCI World Tour level. We worked hard during our training sessions in December and January, so I’m really looking forward to racing now!”
Roger Tréhin, sports director:
“We’ve got 2 potential sprint finishes and 3 other more puncheur-climber races to look forward to over the next 5 days. For the sprints, we’re going to try to get Arnaud Démare on the right track. It’s important for him to win quickly but above all to do clean sprints to build up his confidence. On the other days, we have riders who are perfect for this kind of terrain: Clément Champoussin, Elie Gesbert, Ewen Costiou and Vincenzo Albanese are also the men we can count on to set a positive dynamic in motion.”
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Here’s the team’s news:
With the men’s European season officially opened at the Clàssica CV and GP Castellón, the Challenge Mallorca will offer the riders a test over five consecutive efforts, yet independent: as it’s tradition, the races, or ‘trophies’, are held as separate UCI 1.1 events. Despite the Movistar Team bringing nearly a dozen riders to the Balearic Islands, only seven compete each day.
Team Movistar (shown at the start of the 2023 Tour Down Under) is headed to Mallorca. Sirotti photo
There’s two clear sprint opportunities during the week: the Trofeos Ses Salines – Felanitx, on Thursday 25th, and the closing round at Palma’s coastline, Sunday 28th. The other three races cover the beautiful mountains in the northwest of the island. On Wednesday 24th, the Trofeo Calvià features five rated climbs; on Friday 26th, the well-known Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana tackles the longer side of the Puig Major (Cat-1) plus the Coll de Sóller (Cat-2); and on Saturday 27th, at the Trofeo Pollença – Port d’Andratx, ascents and hills will be covered almost non-stop from start to finish.
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The team sent me this schedule
Surf Coast Classic
JAN 25
Luke Roberts - Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach:
"This year we have an exciting addition to the program of Australian races with the Surf Coast Classic bridging the gap between Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. Starting someway down the Great Ocean Road in Lorne and heading inland, before returning to the Surf Coast for what will be a punchy final past Bells Beach and finishing in Torquay. Although the final may get a little spicy, we will expect this to finish in a bunch sprint where our sprint train will look to set up Emils as our finisher."
Line-up:
Patrick Bevin (NZL)
Pavel Bittner (CZE)
Patrick Eddy (AUS)
Sean Flynn (GBR)
Chris Hamilton (AUS)
Emils Liepins (LAT)
Oscar Onley (GBR)
Oscar Onley (shown winning 2024 Tour Down Under stage five) is scheduled to race the Surf Coast Classic. Sirotti photo
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
JAN 27
Luke Roberts - Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach:
"We are happy to be returning to the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race with our Women's program this year with pleasant memories of the victory in 2020 as motivation to take the trophy home again. The challenging final lap with the climb up Challambra Crescent will be covered twice and this will be the factor, deciding how many riders will stay in contention for the victory. Our team showed good form in Adelaide and they will be looking to repeat that performance here, with Nienke and Francesca giving us options for various scenarios in the race."
Line-up:
Francesca Barale (ITA)
Eleonora Ciabocco (ITA)
Franziska Koch (GER)
Maeve Plouffe (AUS)
Abi Smith (GBR)
Nienke Vinke (NED)
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
JAN 28
Luke Roberts - Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach:
"It’s hard to believe it has been 12 months since we took the trophy but this weekend we will be back at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, a race the team has great memories of after the two victories here. With the parcours being unchanged from last year it remains a race that can either go the way of a small group of stronger climbers or a bigger group containing some resilient sprinters. With the guys showing some good form last week in Adelaide, we will have cards to play whichever way the race unfolds."
Line-up:
Patrick Bevin (NZL)
Pavel Bittner (CZE)
Patrick Eddy (AUS)
Sean Flynn (GBR)
Chris Hamilton (AUS)
Emils Liepins (LAT)
Oscar Onley (GBR)
AlUla Tour
JAN 30 - FEB 03
Roy Curvers - Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach:
"The AlUla Tour will be the opener of the season for all our riders on this particular roster and for some of them even their debut for our Men's program. We will go into this race with the focus on chasing day results and hope to achieve this in clear bunch sprints with Casper as our finisher. On days when the wind plays a role or the finish is harder, we have more cards to play. In the end, the main goal is to develop the team process in the race, which will be crucial in bunch sprints, but also in echelons you have way more chances with a team that functions well. The AlUla Tour gives us five days with a lot of opportunities to build something and with the quality in our line-up, we are confident that we will bring good results as an outcome when we do the right things together."
Line-up:
John Degenkolb (GER)
Nils Eekhoff (NED)
Enzo Leijnse (NED)
Niklas Märkl (GER)
Tim Naberman (NED)
Casper van Uden (NED)
Bram Welten (NED)
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Here’s the team’s news:
We have just received a Tour de France wildcard for the second year in a row. We are grateful and happy, but a wildcard is not our ultimate goal.
Ever since we started our modest continental cycling team by signing Kurt Asle Arvesen as head of sports in 2016, we have systematically taken step by step, as every step has required development and higher standards. From the very beginning Jens Haugland has been general manager and I have been chairman of the cycling team. For both of us, these roles have come in addition to our main responsibilities as heads of business in Reitan Retail.
We are very ambitious both for the ongoing transformation of our mobility business, and for the development of the cycling team. This will require a lot of strong and focused leadership, and I am delighted that Thor Hushovd joins Uno-X Mobility Cycling as general manager, effective February 1st. The signing of Hushovd represents another step in the development of the cycling team, and it strengthens our leadership in Reitan Retail and the Uno-X Mobility business.
Thor Hushovd needs no further presentation, and he has an outstanding background and personality to help Uno-X Mobility take the next steps in professional cycling. Our WorldTour ambitions with both our women and men are no secret.
Thor Hushovd winning 2011 Tour de France stage 16 in the world champion's rainbow jersey. Sirotti photo
Uno-X Mobility is a Reitan Retail cycling team, and I’m very happy that Reitan Retail CEO and owner Ole Robert Reitan has agreed to replace me as the chairman of Uno-X Mobility Cycling. In addition to his big tasks and responsibilities as general manager of Uno-X Mobility Norway, Jens Haugland will be a key board member of Uno-X Mobility Cycling. I will also continue on the board, and we will announce more board members in the near future.
Vegar Kulset
CEO Uno-X Mobility AS
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