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Wednesday, July 10, 2024

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? - Ursula K. Le Guin

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Current racing:

• June 29 - July 21: Tour de France

Upcoming racing:

• July 27 - August 11: Olympic cycling

Latest completed racing:

• June 9 - 26: Many National Championships
• June 15 - 18: La Route d'Occitanie Cancelled because security forces busy with Olympics
• June 9 - 16: Tour de Suisse
• June 12 - 16: Baloise Belgium Tour
• June 2 - 9: Critérium du Dauphiné
• June 5 - 9: ZLM Tour
• June 7: GP Canton Aargau
• June 2: Brussels Cycling Classic

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Tour de France Stage 10 reports

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

Here's the stage 10 report from Remco Evenepoel's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

After eleven years, the Tour de France returned to Saint-Amand-Montrond, the birthplace of two-time World Champion Julian Alaphilippe. Back in 2013, our team produced what went down as a true masterpiece, ripping the peloton apart in the crosswinds and taking an unforgettable victory, at that time, our 19th in the Grande Boucle.

Now, as the peloton took again on those long roads, there was a small threat of echelons, but it failed to materialise, so the 187.3km stage 10 came down to a bunch sprint, won by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) after a hectic and rather technical final kilometer.

Remco Evenepoel enjoyed a pretty quiet day in the peloton, and concluded in the same time as the winner, successfully retaining the lead in the youth classification, which he has been topping since the end of the second stage. By doing this, Remco became the first Belgian rider in the last 44 years to rack up nine white jerseys at a single edition of the Tour de France.

Remco Evenepoel remains the owner of the young rider's white jersey. Sirotti photo

The race continues with a tricky stage through the Massif Central, which will see the bunch take on a total of seven classified climbs, before an uphill finish in Le Lioran.

Here's the Tour report from Wout van Aert's Team Visma-Lease a Bike:

Wout van Aert sprinted to fourth place in the tenth stage of the Tour. In the streets of Saint-Amand-Montrond, the 29-year-old Belgian only trailed Pascal Ackermann, Biniam Girmay and stage winner Jasper Philipsen.

The day after the rest day, the riders were presented with a 183-kilometre long flat stage. Apart from a brief attack attempt in the opening hour, nobody felt the need to form the day’s breakaway. The peloton then rode towards the finish in Saint-Amand-Montrond, where another bunch sprint awaited. Van Aert was led to the front by lead-out Christophe Laporte in a great way, but the Belgian eventually had to let three riders ahead of him. 

Visma-Lease a bike rider Jonas Vingegaard before the stage start. Sirotti photo

"I'm satisfied with this fourth place, although I certainly could have been third”, Van Aert responded afterwards. "I was well placed towards the crucial corners in the final kilometres, but there I let myself be pushed away a bit too much by the others. In hindsight, I should have made other decisions there. That's a shame, because Christophe brought me to the front in a fantastic way. I felt fine today, but it wasn't a challenging stage." 

Sports director Grischa Niermann is already looking ahead to the tough 11th stage. "Tomorrow will be a tough stage with more than four thousand altimeters. The succession of climbs in the last fifty kilometres will be gruelling. There is a chance for the breakaway, because a stage like this is hard to control. It is a stage that should suit Jonas Vingegaard, but he is logically looking forward more to the stages in the Pyrenees and the Alps. There are the stages that suit him the best."

Here's the Tour report from third-place Pascal Ackermann's Team Israel-Premier Tech:

Pascal Ackermann sprinted to third place on stage 10 of the Tour de France, continuing his upward trend in the sprint finishes after previously finishing ninth, sixth, and fourth.

Without a single categorized climb and not enough wind to split the peloton, it was no surprise that today’s flat stage took place at a relatively slow pace without any real breakaway attempts. It was only in the final part that things got hectic, and the IPT riders were always well-positioned.

“The team did a really amazing job today,” Ackermann said after the stage. “We were always together, and Jakob [Fuglsang] kept us at the front by himself for over 40 km. The other guys took over, and then Jake [Stewart] did a great job in the final. I was in the wheel of [stage winner] Philipsen, but in the end, he was just too strong. Now, I’m really looking forward to the next sprint opportunity.”

Today’s third place is the second podium position in a row for Israel – Premier Tech after Derek Gee finished third on Sunday’s stage 9. Tomorrow, the Tour de France continues with a hilly stage from Évaux-les-Bains to Le Lioran, which looks like another good chance for a break to make it all the way.

Team Groupama-FDJ posted this Tour stage 10 report:

The second week of the Tour de France didn’t quite start at full throttle. Towards Saint-Amand-Montrond on Tuesday, the peloton resumed racing in a relatively peaceful way during stage 10, which concluded with the expected sprint after an uneventful day. Jasper Philipsen claimed victory, while Groupama-FDJ kept their focus on stage 11 towards on Wednesday.

In the aftermath of the first rest day, the riders’ menu was fairly light this Tuesday. From Orléans to Saint-Amand-Montrond, 187 kilometers were to be covered, and absolutely no difficulties featured on the route. The sprinters were therefore expected for another battle, and there was actually no battle at the start for the breakaway. Some sort of procession therefore took place during the first hour of racing, before small accelerations appeared. Behind a trio who took the lead without much conviction, Kevin Geniets and Valentin Madouas also wanted to test the waters. “We knew it was going to be a bunch sprint at the end,” claimed Benoît Vaugrenard. “The goal was just to follow but above all to analyse. If there were more than eight guys, we could have tried, but with just five of them, it didn’t make any sense. The stage was not hard enough and the weather too mild to hope for anything.”

Groupama-FDJ rider David Gaudu before the stage start. Sirotti photo

After a handful of minutes in the lead, the Groupama-FDJ’s duo returned to the peloton, which then covered the rest of the stage at a rather moderate pace. A few peaks of tension did occur on the area’s exposed plains, but serious things began only in the last ten kilometres. The sprinters were able to compete fairly in Saint-Amand-Montrond, where Jasper Philipsen took the victory. Clément Russo slipped into the top-20 (19th) while the rest of the team finished safely. “Tomorrow, there is a nice stage, and the breakaway might make it to the end, so we wanted to keep as much energy as possible,” said Benoît. “It won’t be the same scenario at all. There will be a big fight at the start to take the breakaway and we are expecting a very hard day overall.” The finish will be located in Le Lioran after a very hilly end of the stage.

Here's the Tour stage 10 report from Team dsm-firmenich PostNL:

A potential stage filled with echelons in the latter half of the day, the opening segment of stage ten at the Tour de France was taken relatively easily by the peloton; with no real breakaway forming out front. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL remained within the bunch, looking to conserve their energy for the finale. Entering the last 60 kilometres the tension increased in the peloton as they turned into a section of possible crosswinds, however, the wind had abated and wasn’t strong enough to do any damage.

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL rider John Degenkolb before the stage start. Sirotti photo

From there, the peloton relaxed a little more but the underlying nervousness remained as they made their way towards the sprint finish. An uncategorised climb within the last seven kilometres saw a big fight for position before a fast downhill run that led into the flat final three kilometres. Unfortunately, the Team dsm-firmenich PostNL train lost each other in the fast chaos and were shuffled back in the group. They tried to regroup as best as possible with Frank van den Broek bringing John Degenkolb forward, but unfortunately the rest of the sprint group got caught behind a small split. In the end Degenkolb went for it in the sprint, with the veteran German showing some good speed to take seventh place on the line.

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Matt Winston said: “We were together as a team over the hill in the finale but in the fast downhill towards the five kilometres to go mark we got a bit disconnected there and never really came back together with the sprint group. There was a good effort from Frank to bring John back into position to make the sprint but it was also a last minute call on the road because no one else was there, for John to then be the one to make the sprint. So for him it is a little bit of mixed feelings to get a top ten like this, as our goal here is to sprint with Fabio.”

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