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Thursday, April 10, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I'll never be as good as a wall. - Mitch Hedberg
Bill McGann’s book Why Your Bike Is Made in Asia: My career in bicycles as I watched two continents squander an industry is available in print, Kindle eBook & Audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- April 7 - 12: Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco
- April 8 - 12: Region Pays de la Loire Tour
Upcoming racing:
- April 13: Paris-Roubaix
- April 18: De Brabantse Pijl
Latest completed racing:
- April 9: Scheldeprijs
- 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 race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from fourth-place Joao Almeida's UAE Team Emirates-XRG:
On the first day of racing in the mountains at Itzulia Basque Country, UAE Team Emirates-XRG went on the front foot through stage 3, with João Almeida finishing fourth to sit third overall. The Portuguese rider made an audacious attack with just 5km to ride, but after being caught on the descent by Alex Aranburu (Cofidis), the Spanish national champion was able to take the day’s honours.
Alex Aranburu wins three.
Capitalising when Almeida ran wide at a roundabout, Aranburu ventured on alone and crossed the line with a small gap to his chasers, taking the stage victory. With Almeida showing his strength in the finale and sitting just four seconds away from the race lead, UAE Team Emirates-XRG made a positive step forward on a chaotic day of racing.
From the gun, there was no let up for the peloton, with attacks flying left, right and centre. For UAE Team Emirates-XRG, such a predicament was preferable, with the Emirati squad packing a squad full of climbing talent. One by one, the team took the stage by the scruff of its neck and went on the attack.
First up was the experienced Marc Soler, who laid down a marker by taking third place in the day’s first KOM sprint, before Isaac del Toro grabbed the baton with 77km to ride. The young Mexican made a pair of attacks as the Mandubia climb reared into view, and as the peloton began its assault of the category two test, it was teammate Brandon McNulty who produced an acceleration of his own.
Taking Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) along for the ride, McNulty and his Colombian companion crested the climb together, before being joined by Almeida on the descent, along with Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Nelson Oliveira and Enric Mas (both Movistar). Using his nous to bridge across to his teammate up the road, Almeida’s presence sent alarm bells ringing in the peloton behind, and forced Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s Florian Lipowitz into a frantic chase.
The German sat one place behind Almeida in the general classification at the beginning of the day, and could not allow this six-man group to go clear.
With the race brought back together under the steam of Lipowitz, McNulty immediately dropped the hammer at the front of the bunch, stretching the peloton into one long line of around 30 exhausted competitors. This was to be a day of attrition, as determined by UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
At the 56.2km to go marker, Soler returned to the fore and took a flyer off the front of the peloton. His attack drew responses from Clément Berthet (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), with the three riders quickly establishing a gap of over a minute ahead of the peloton. Soler’s presence up front allowed Almeida, McNulty and Del Toro to sit in the wheels as Visma-Lease a Bike and Soudal Quick-Step traded turns at the front heading into the penultimate climb.
Looking to apply pressure once more, Almeida drove the pace of the peloton up the penultimate climb and with 30km to go, only Berthet remained out front ahead of the bunch. Over the next 10km, the race became fractured as race leader Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step) looked to anticipate the final climb by gaining an advantage. The German’s attack drew out a number of riders, including Del Toro.
With his teammates in the third group on the road, Del Toro smartly pipped Lipowitz to bonus seconds in an intermediate sprint, before returning to Almeida’s side as the final climb beckoned. As Del Toro and McNulty buried themselves on the front, this third group on the road returned to within sight of Schachmann’s collective.
Standing at 9.7% for 1.4km, the final climb saw the race’s strongest climbers trade belows, before Almeida made a daring attack just beyond the summit. Making the most of a false flat, the 26-year-old laid down the power and took a small advantage heading into the descent. With just a few kilometres of racing to go, all that was left was for the stage winner to be decided in Beasain.
Caught by Aranburu on the outskirts of town, Almeida’s hopes of winning the stage were curtailed by overcooking a left-hand bend, but the Portuguese remained composed to sprint to fourth place across the line.
The result sees Almeida slip to third overall, but on the same time as Lipowitz, some four seconds down on race leader Schachmann heading into Thursday’s stage 4.
Almeida: “It was a crazy day, I was feeling good. In the end, I did a little mistake on the corner but it is what it is.
“We wanted to do a hard day and all the team was really good, especially in the final to close the gap to the leader’s group. We did a really good job and we can be proud of ourselves for this. The guys are looking strong.”
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Here's Iztulia Basque Country Tour stage three report from Wilco Kelderman's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
On the third day of the Itzulia Basque Country, Wilco Kelderman delivered a strong performance. In the group of favorites, the Dutchman sprinted to sixth place in the first mountain stage and also moved up to sixth place in the general classification.
After the short opening time trial and the relatively flat second stage, the third day in the Basque Country was all about climbing. The peloton had to tackle seven categorized climbs. The stage was characterized by many attack attempts. Team Visma | Lease a Bike was also active during the day. Sepp Kuss made several efforts in the opening phase of the stage, but the American did not really break away from the peloton.
After the first passage of the finish place, Beasain, about forty kilometres from the finish, the race got even more exciting. After the leaders were caught, it was the turn of the favorites on the final climb Lazkaomendi. Alex Aranburu slipped away and crossed the finish line first. The Spaniard thought he had won the stage, but he was dropped in the day's results due to a wrong passage of a roundabout in the finale. As a result, the victory went to Romain Grégoire. Wilco Kelderman eventually finished sixth in the same group as the Frenchman.
Stage gets started.
“It was a very intense day with hard racing early on”, Kelderman says afterwards. “In the beginning I didn't feel super, but I got through it pretty well. As a team, we were actually in control the entire day and we were constantly riding well up front. I got a flat tire on the penultimate climb, which meant I had to waste quite a bit of energy to get back.”
“At the end I tried to sprint for the win, but unfortunately that didn't work out. Nevertheless, I have a very good feeling about today”, the rider of Team Visma | Lease a Bike concludes. Kelderman moves up to sixth place in the general classification due to his good performance. Tomorrow there is another tough stage full of climbs on the program.
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We posted the report from winner Tim Merlier's Team Soudal Quick-Step with the results.
Here's the report from Team Picnic-PostNL:
The “unofficial sprinter’s world championship” a.k.a. Scheldeprijs took place on Wednesday afternoon, where Team Picnic PostNL lined-up with a squad built to set-up fast finisher Pavel Bittner for the finale. It was a steady start to the day before wind ripped into the peloton and the race split into several groups; however as they turned towards the local circuit it all regrouped. From there, the team was in control and moved Bittner up well. A crash at around ten kilometres to go saw the peloton split with Bittner and Julius van den Berg making the first part. Van den Berg did his best to then help Bittner for the finale, who showed a solid turn of speed to take ninth on the day in quite a chaotic sprint.
Time Merlier is the winner.
Bittner expressed: “Today we went into the race with a plan to place me well into the final so I could go for a sprint. In Scheldeprijs there is always a chance of wind and splits, but when that happened today most of the guys were in the first or second group so it was under control. When we went out of the wind everything came back together and then we focused on the final. Every lap the communication was on a good level and we knew what to do. I think with around 12 kilometres to go there was quite a big pile up, and Julius and I just got through it. We tried to do the best job together, and I found a wheel of one of the other sprinters to stay on. It was really fast, and in the end I had good legs, but I couldn’t make up too much ground. The guys did a good job but we just had a bit of bad luck with being held up by that crash. We can take some positives with us into the next races.”
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We posted the report from stage winner Victor Guernalec's Team Arkea-B&B Hotels with the results.
Here's the report from Team Groupama-FDJ:
Bad luck is definitely haunting Paul Penhoët in this start to the 2025 season. Ruled out of the sprint on the first stage of the Pays de la Loire Region Tour by a mechanical problem on Tuesday, the young sprinter from Groupama-FDJ was forced to abandon in stage 2 on Wednesday after a crash with about 40 kilometres to go. Tom Donnenwirth secured his position in the first group on the uphill finish in Beaupréau-en-Mauges.
Victor Guernalec wins stage two. Getty photo
Yvon Caër’s men set off with ambition on Wednesday for the second stage of the Pays de la Loire Region Tour, with a last kilometre at 4% looming at the finish. In a final that suited his qualities, Paul Penhoët hoped to take revenge for his misfortunes in La Baule the day before. After a quite calm start to the race, and a non-threatening four-man breakaway, things unfortunately went bad for the young French sprinter. Forty kilometres from the finish, as the peloton had just entered the Beaupréau-en-Mauges’ circuit, Paul Penhoët hit the tarmac and was only able to get back up after a few minutes. However, he was unable to resume the race. “He collided with a competitor on the handlebars and crashed heavily on his knees,” Yvon Caër explained. “It’s a series of unfortunate events for him. We all hoped that his luck would finally come, but today, we hit rock bottom… It’s a huge disappointment, and Paul was obviously very affected. I hope it’s nothing too serious and that he’ll be able to get back on his bike fairly quickly, but it can’t go on like this. His bad luck is almost shocking.”
As the young man was taken to the hospital, his teammates were down to five for the final of the stage, which turned out to be extremely active. “Paul’s withdrawal really disrupted us at first, then I asked Rémi and Tom to follow the moves,” Yvon added. “Unfortunately, one group went away without us on the last lap, then the peloton slowed down because the teams weren’t really organized anymore. When I saw there were 30 seconds with eight kilometres to go, I asked Rémi to sacrifice himself to make sure it would come back together. He closed a good part of the gap, then Tom made the effort on the final climb for Matt. Unfortunately, Matt realized during the sprint that he was running out of gas. It didn’t work out today, but we took responsibility and were the most prominent team in the final.” In the end, Victor Guernalec, a member of the late breakaway, won just ahead of the peloton, while Tom Donnenwirth crossed the line in 28th place. “Tom is still in the mix for the overall and we’ll see how it goes tomorrow,” concluded Yvon. “It’s a course that suits him. We’re extremely disappointed with how the day went, but we’re not dejected.”
Here's the team's news:
It’s time for the grand finale of the cobbled classics: Paris-Roubaix.
Alison Jackson, Nina Berton, Letizia Borghesi, Sarah Roy, Alex Volstad, and Babette van der Wolf will race for EF Education-Oatly.
Kasper Asgreen, Owain Doull, Alastair MacKellar, Madis Mihkels, Jack Rootkin-Gray, Colby Simmons, and Max Walker are ready to rock for EF Education-EasyPost.
Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix have laid their final cobbles into the French dirt and set their goats onto the course to trim the last blades of grass from between the stones. The forecast predicts dust for the women’s race on Saturday and mud for the men on Sunday. No matter what, Roubaix is always going to be one of the hardest, craziest races of the year.
That is what our riders love about it: you have to be a badass to even get to the finish, let alone win it. Alison Jackson knows a thing or two about how to win Paris-Roubaix.
Back in 2023, the Canadian danced on the infield of the Roubaix velodrome to celebrate her sprint win after a huge effort to drive the break across the cobbled sectors. It was a life-defining moment for the Canadian Olympian.
“It just confirmed for me that I was in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing,” Alison says. “The biggest difference for me was with my family. Before, my dad would still say, if he wanted to brag about me, that I was a really good farm operator and I could drive the tractor really well. And then I won Paris-Roubaix and honestly his story has changed to be, ‘Alison won the Paris-Roubaix in 2023.’ It is something that's gone beyond my cycling world and become something that my whole family is proud of. To win Roubaix, you have to be gritty and never give up. You have to be tough. Those character qualities are cool to be associated with. When people are watching the race, that's what they see. I think that's what makes it special.”
Kasper Asgreen will make his comeback to the peloton for Sunday’s race. The Danish classics veteran was forced to miss the cobbled races leading up to Roubaix due to illness, but his recovery has gone better than expected. Kasper feels good again on the bike and wanted to come to France to pin a number on his back and lend his strength and experience to his teammates.
Kasper Asgreen on the Arenberg cobbles in the 2024 Paris-Roubaix. Sirotti photoi
“It’s been a few weeks now of getting easing back into training, dialing up the hours, and then last week, I've added a bit more intensity,” Kasper says. “For Sunday, my expectations are not super high, but I'm really happy that I can still go and not miss out on the classics entirely. I am going to smash around on the cobblestones and support the guys for as long as I can. We have some young guys on the roster. Colby just came up from the devo team and I hope I can give him some good advice. The guys did some amazing races the last couple of weeks. Roubaix is a race course like no other in the sport. It requires something really special from the whole team, from the rider to the mechanics to the staff at the side of the road supporting us and the preparation that our sport directors have to do. Everybody has to put in that extra effort to make the race work. And Roubaix is always a race where surprises can happen, where somebody pulls something out of the hat. We want to do that.”
Madis Mihkels wants to be the rider who does. Last year, Madis raced to tenth at Roubaix and this year he wants to do better.
“Paris-Roubaix is absolutely my favorite classic. And it is the one that suits me the best,” Madis says. “It is such a tough race, the toughest of them all in my opinion. By the end, you feel pain in your legs, in your wrists; your whole body is in pain, but if you don't have too much bad luck and you can race in front, it's just a pure joy. When it's going well, the cobbles don’t even feel that tough anymore.”
Alex Volstad wonders what she is in for. Alex remembers watching Roubaix back home in Alberta, Canada in 2023 when Alison won in it. She was a junior at the time.
“I was watching at home in Canada,” Alex says. “Alison was in the break and the favorites were chasing behind. She was pulling so hard. She really made it happen, which I thought was pretty cool. It wasn't a free ride. She did all of it herself and then pulled off the sprint in the end. That was pretty amazing. It was super cool because people who knew nothing about my sport would come up to me and be like, ‘I saw on the news that Alison won this huge race.’ It was pretty big where I'm from, especially because she's Albertan as well. That was pretty rare. I'm stoked. It feels really cool to just be able to start the race. I don't have many expectations. I want make a difference early on and help the team, but selfishly I would like to make it to the velodrome. Just to make it to the finish would be pretty cool.”
It sure would be. Every rider who starts Paris-Roubaix wants to make it to the velodrome and ride onto its silky surface after racing hard over the stones.
“That’s the best part,” Alison says. “Last year, coming in, wearing the number one and not racing for the win anymore, but with all the fans packing out that stadium, all the seats filled, it's pretty special getting to ride into the velodrome after all of the chaos. It has made a lot of names in cycling. I'm going to tell Alex that you have to be really aggressive in this race and force yourself to the front. I will probably also say, she's going to have to do her job, but then notice the atmosphere and how much the people love it and all the dirt. You'll get rattled and it will feel nuts. That's the love-hate relationship with Roubaix. It's so hard when you're doing it, and after you're like, ‘I'll never do it again.’ But really you're thinking, ‘I can't wait for it.’”
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