Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
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Current racing:
- April 7 - 12: Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco
- April 8 - 12: Region Pays de la Loire Tour
Upcoming racing:
- April 9: Scheldeprijs
- April 13: Paris-Roubaix
- April 18: De Brabantse Pijl
Latest completed racing:
- April 6: Ronde van Vlaanderen
- April 5: GP Miguel Indurain
- April 5: Volta NXT Classic
- April 4: Route Adélie de Vitre
- April 2: Dwars door Vlaanderen
- April 2: Paris - Camembert Lepetit
- March 24 - 30: Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
- March 30: Gent - Wevelgem
- March 30: La Roue Tourangelle
We posted the report from winner Max Schachmann's Team Soudal Quick-Step with the results.
Here's the report from second-place Joao Almeida's UAE Team Emirates:
João Almeida and UAE Team Emirates-XRG made a tremendous start to Itzulia Basque Country on Monday afternoon, with the Portuguese rider placing second in the opening individual time trial from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Baskonia-Alavés. It was a close-run affair in the Basque Country, with the 26-year-old posting a time of 18:37:82 (minutes:seconds:milliseconds), less than half a second down on the stage winner Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step).
The stage 1 course was only 16.5km in length and as such, time gaps were minimal on the day. A short kicker at Arzubiaga preceded a flat run to home in Baskonia-Alavés, with a tailwind treating the riders for the majority of the afternoon. Posting a negative split, Almeida went faster through the second half of the course and ran Schachmann incredibly close for the stage victory.
The performance sets the Portuguese climber up nicely for the rest of the week, with plenty of mountains on the agenda between now and the end of the race on Saturday.
João Almeida riding to second place. Sirotti photo
It was certainly a unique start to the race for Almeida and his teammates on Sunday evening, with the team presentation taking place in the home stadium of Club Deportivo Saski-Baskonia, the Liga ACB basketball side otherwise known as Saski Baskonia. After shooting a few hoops on Sunday, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG riders swept down a special starting ramp on the basketball court this afternoon, before taking to the Basque roads to pit themselves against the clock.
Aside from Almeida, UAE Team Emirates-XRG also placed in the top 20 through Isaac del Toro, Felix Grossschartner and Marc Soler. In 15th position, Del Toro was only pipped to the best young rider’s jersey by Michael Leonard of Ineos Grenadiers. The Mexican averaged over 52km/h on his outing, coming across the line just 23 seconds in arrears of Schachmann’s winning time.
The Emirati squad begin Itzulia Basque Country with a squad full of talent, with Almeida, Del Toro, Soler and Grossschartner joined at the six-day WorldTour stage race by Igor Arrieta, Brandon McNulty and Vegard Stake Laengen.
Reflecting on his performance after crossing the line, Almeida noted his pacing strategy and cast an eye towards the rest of the race.
Almeida: “I am super happy for today, I think I did really good. There was nothing left [in the legs] at the finish line, so that’s good. It is just a pity it was so close to first place.
“Actually I even went a bit faster in the beginning than I wanted to. It is quite a short TT so you cannot really save much because it is super short. If you save in the start, you can never take that time back. I think I did this very well and I am happy with my feelings.
“It is a small effort, it is a good indicator but nothing special and also the other guys looked quite strong, so it is going to be a hard week. I think things are going good.”
Here's the Basque Country Tour report from third-place Florian Lipowitz's Team Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe:
With two riders in the top five, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe starts the Tour of the Basque Country on the front foot. The team opened its Itzulia campaign with Florian Lipowitz claiming third place and Aleksandr Vlasov finishing fifth on the 16.5km course in Vitoria-Gasteiz, beginning inside the Buesa Arena basketball stadium.
Florian delivered one of the best rides of the day, stopping the clock just 0.76 seconds behind the stage winner. It was another strong showing for the 23-year-old, following his second place finish at Paris-Nice last month.
Third-place Florian Lipowitz on his ride. Getty photo
“I’m super happy with my TT,” said Florian. “Of course, after Paris–Nice I knew I was at a good level. I came to the race with not the most ideal preparation, so I wasn’t really sure what I could do, but this is really encouraging. So based on just today, my shape looks to be fine. It’s hard to say for sure, so let’s see how it goes on the next stages.”
Just ten seconds off the winning time, Aleks Vlasov took a strong fifth place, while Dani Martínez also turned in a solid performance, finishing in 16th place in what was only his second race of the season.
With three riders all within 25 seconds of the GC leader, the team now shifts focus to the road stages, where the Basque terrain will offer new opportunities for the overall battle.
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Seventh-place Victor Campenaerts' Team Visma-Lease a Bike posted this report:
The Itzulia Basque Country started with an individual opening time trial. Victor Campenaerts was the fastest Team Vimsa | Lease a Bike rider, finishing seventh in northern Spain.
For years, the individual time trial has been part of the six-day stage race in the Basque Country. The 16.5-kilometre time trial included one climb with the Arzubiaga (0.9km at 2.4%) and featured a flat final stretch towards the finish line. Campenaerts had set the race against the clock as his goal in the Basque Country.
After a rock-solid start, the Belgian rode a somewhat weaker second part towards the finish in Baskonia-Alavés. In the end, Campenaerts clocked by far the best time of the yellow-black brigade, but with seventh place in the day's results he could not make a bid for the victory. The time trial was won by Maximilian Schachmann.
Victor Campenaerts finishing the 2024 Milano San Remo. Sirotti photo
“Looking back, I think my start was a bit too optimistic”, Campenaerts reflects honestly on his time trial. “It was a course with some tricky sections. Of course a fast start is necessary here to get a good result, but because of that I lost some power in the second part and could not accelerate as much I wanted. It was not my best time trial of my career, but certainly not the worst either.”
The 33-year-old rider predicts a week full of opportunities for Team Visma | Lease a Bike. “Tomorrow seems to be a good chance for Axel Zingle. In addition, Ben Tulett is in good shape with the victory of the Coppi e Bartali two weeks ago and Sepp Kuss is always strong in the mountains. I would have liked to win the opening time trial here, but let's first state that the goals of team are the most important from now on. We hope to be able to compete for the stage victories in the coming days”, Campenaerts concludes.
Michael Leonard's Team INEOS Grenadiers posted this report:
Michael Leonard put in a superb time trial performance to finish 10th in the opening stage time trial at Itzulia Basque Country.
Leonard secured his best-ever WorldTour result, finishing just 16 seconds behind stage winner Max Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step) to take the lead in the young rider classification.
Axel Laurance was the next Grenadier home, finishing inside the top 40 on the 16.5km course, with the team's focus now shifting to upcoming stages.
Michael Leonard:
"It was a very hard stage, I suffered a lot during the time trial. I was very motivated for today and I'm happy with my performance and result.
'The first and last kilometre were very tricky and it was a hard time trial to pace. You had to make sure you managed your effort.
"Tomorrow is a chance for us to work towards the sprint for Caleb, he's coming off a win at Coppi Bartali and we're going to support him and hope we can show what we can do as well as possible."
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Team Picnic-PostNL posted the Basque Country Tour report:
For the second year in a row, Itzulia Basque Country got underway with an individual time trial. While last year’s opener featured a punchy, undulating profile, this year the organisers served up a flatter, 16.5-kilometre test—welcome news for the time trial specialists, less so for the pure climbers. For the lighter riders, it was all about limiting the damage.
The route northeast of Vitoria-Gasteiz offered few technical challenges, but demanded a steady, all-out effort on the exposed roads through the Basque plains. For Team Picnic PostNL, Oscar Onley posted the fastest time of the day, stopping the clock at 19:34. That time placed him 41st on the stage, but crucially, just under a minute behind stage winner Maximilian Schachmann—keeping him well in contention ahead of the climbing-heavy stages to come. The rest of the team finished safely, with eyes now turning to tomorrow’s second stage and the first test over the hills.
Oscar Onley finishing stage eight of the 2024 Tour of Switzerland. Sirotti photo
Team Picnic PostNL coach Phil West said: ““The goal today was for Oscar to deliver a solid time trial and position himself well for the GC. I think he did a relatively good job—he lost some time to a few GC contenders, but now we have a clear picture of where we stand and what we need to work on. It’s a solid start, and we’re looking to build on that in the days ahead.”
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And here's the report from Team Groupama-FDJ:
The riders of the Tour of the Basque Country opened the 64th edition of the Spanish event on Monday one by one. In the 16.5-kilometer time trial around Vitoria-Gasteiz, Thibaud Gruel set the fastest time for the Groupama-FDJ cycling team, finishing 27th, 41 seconds behind the winner Maximilian Schachmann, and two ranks ahead of his teammate Romain Grégoire. On Tuesday, the riders will head to Lodosa for a likely bunch sprint.
Thibaud Gruel in 2023.
Just seventy-eight metres of elevation gain were featured this Monday on the route of the Tour of the Basque Country’s opening time trial, which started from the city’s sports hall: the Fernando Buesa Arena. The finish was located after a 16.5-kilometer loop, and the route was relatively easy to define. “It was really a fast course, made for the time trial specialists”, explained Joseph Berlin-Sémon. “There were a few difficulties, which were more false flats, but you really had to tackle them with power to keep the speed afterwards. It was more or less exposed to the wind, which intensified during the afternoon. There were also gusts from time to time, and it was therefore difficult to control.”
Brieuc Rolland launched the day for Groupama-FDJ at 2:24 p.m., followed by Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet, Clément Braz Afonso, and Romain Grégoire in the next hour or so. “We optimized the time trial 100% for Romain, Guillaume, and Thibaud, primarily with the goal of getting into the swing of things, but without overlooking the possibility of getting a nice result with Romain, or even Thibaud,” Joseph added. “For Guillaume, the goal was also to fully commit to this discipline he needs to work on. We didn’t set a specific goal because we knew it would be tough given the course, but we also know that Romain is capable of riding fast.”
The young French rider got on the starting ramp at 3:36 p.m., then reached the first intermediate check point just eight seconds behind Maximilian Schachmann, the eventual winner. However, his loss increased to forty-two seconds on the finish line. “I’m not super satisfied with the way I managed my effort,” said Romain. “I think I had a good start, but maybe too good given my form today. I really struggled in the final eight kilometres, which were completely flat, where you really had to constantly push the big gear. I really missed a notch to accelerate in the final. It was a bit hard towards the end, but it’ll do me good for the rest of the race.”
“If we look at the overall result, we can be a bit disappointed with twenty-ninth place,” explained Joseph. “That said, he started fast, and that’s what he needed to do. Then, you had to be able to ride fast in the second part, and that’s where he missed a little something. His form today didn’t allow him to push harder.” About twenty minutes later, Thibaud Gruel did slightly better than his elder, by a few tenths of a second, and took twenty-seventh place. “It’s a very good performance for him at this level,” claimed Joseph. “He hadn’t done a time trial in the WorldTour for almost a year, and he was up there physically. For Romain and Guillaume, these efforts are nonetheless extremely beneficial for the upcoming stages.”A winner last year in the Basque Country, Romain Grégoire already had his sights set on the rest of the week. “It’s a really nice course on this Tour of the Basque Country, with three stages for punchers,” he concluded. “The field proves it, since all the best punchers are there. It’ll be a great race. Stages 3 and 5, and possibly stage 4, are really suitable for riders of my profile, and those are the ones I’m going to target”.
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