Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. - Kurt Vonnegut
Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, Vol 2: 1976 - 2018 is available in print, Kindle eBook & Audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- April 27 - May 4: Tour of Turkey
- April 29 - May 4: Tour de Romandie
Upcoming racing:
- May 1: Rund um den Finanzplaz Eschborn-Frankfurt
- May 9 - June 1: Giro d'Italia
- May 11: Tro-Bro Léon
Latest completed racing:
- April 27: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- April 24 - 27: Vuelta Asturias
- April 21 - 25: Tour of the Alps
- April 23: La Flèche Wallonne
- April 20: Amstel Gold Race
- April 20: Tour du Doubs
- April 15 - 18: Giro d'Abruzzo
- April 18: De Brabantse Pijl
- April 12-13: Paris-Roubaix
- April 7 - 12: Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco
- April 8 - 11: Region Pays de la Loire Tour
We posted the report from second-place Giovanni Lonardi's Team Polti-VisitMalta with the results.
Here's the report from Team Picnic-PostNL:
Following on from the opening sprint day, stage two in Türkiye presented an opportunity for some teams to make things hard over the main climb of the day before the challenging uphill kick to the line in Kalkan. The early break was caught near the top of the ascent as the peloton split into several groups, with Casper van Uden, Frank van den Broek and Juan Martinez making it over the top at the had of the race to represent Team Picnic PostNL.
From there, other teams kept the pace on to ensure that those behind wouldn’t come back, before the road snaked and undulated its way along the coast. A few attacks made the finale even harder, but it would come down to a reduced group sprint. Van Uden was well positioned by the other two and Van den Broek tried to help bring him further forward as the road kicked up; but the duo just an out of steam and punch to contest on the tricky finale.
Tibor del Grosso wins Tour of Turkey stage two.
Van den Broek said: “I felt good on the bike today. In the peloton it went hard up the main climb of the day into a headwind. Things split there but in the final we were there with Juan and Casper. I think Casper was in a good positon, and I came around him and tried to take him with me in the wheel, but unfortunately he ran out of steam on the tricky uphill finish. I tried to then give it my all but also blew up a bit myself after that. We did everything we could though and I’m looking forward to tomorrow; it should be another exciting finish.”
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Here's the update from Remco Evenepoel's Team Soudal Quick-Step:
The Tour de Romandie, which runs between 29 April-4 May, will mark Remco Evenepoel’s first stage race since last September’s Tour of Britain, and the 25-year-old Belgian will look to continue to improve his form, which since his return two weeks ago has brought him two podiums, including a victory in Brabantse Pijl.
Starting from Saint-Imier and concluding in Geneva, this 78th edition of the Swiss race has a balanced parcours, with opportunities for everyone: from the fast men to the time trialists and from the climbers to the puncheurs. A total of 20.5 individual time trial kilometers will have an important impact on the general classification, but the main obstacle for those targeting the famous yellow jersey will be the hard summit finish to Thyon 2000, coming at the end of the penultimate day.
Supporting Remco Evenepoel this week will be Josef Cerny – the winner of the Tour de Romandie prologue in 2023 – Pascal Eenkhoorn, Junior Lecerf, Casper Pedersen, Pieter Serry, and Mauri Vansevenant.
Josef Cerney on his way to winning the 2023 Tour de Romandie Prologue. Sirotti photo
“Romandie is one of the most important stage races of the spring and we’d like to get some good results there before moving our attention to the Giro d’Italia. Remco will be the team’s leader, and he’ll have at his side a strong and motivated squad to support his comeback. The parcours comes with plenty of challenges, and the weather could also play a part, so it will be a hard week, but we believe in ourselves. We would like to win a stage there, but the main plan is to take it one day at a time and see how things go”, said Soudal Quick-Step sports director Dries Devenyns.
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Here's The Tour de Romandie news from Team Bahrain Victorious:
Bahrain Victorious heads to the Tour de Romandie with a motivated line-up, aiming for stage success and a podium finish in the General Classification at the six-day Swiss WorldTour race.
Starting on April 29 and concluding on May 4, the 2025 edition of the Tour de Romandie kicks off with a short but technical 3.5km prologue in Saint-Imier, followed by five challenging stages covering a total of 668.5km and 12,971 meters of elevation. A key GC battleground awaits on Stage 4 with a summit finish atop Thyon 2000 after 4,120m of climbing across just 127km, before the race concludes with a decisive 17km individual time trial in Geneva.
Leading the line-up for Bahrain Victorious is Lenny Martinez, fresh off an impressive fourth-place finish at La Flèche Wallonne and strong performances throughout the spring, including a stage win at Paris-Nice. The 20-year-old Frenchman will be supported by a team built to guide him through the varied Romandie terrain.
Lenny Martinez racing in the 2024 Tour de Romandie. Sirotti photo
Joining Martinez is Jack Haig, whose leadership will be vital across the stages, particularly in navigating the critical mountain battles and setting up key moments. Kamil Gradek, Nicolò Buratti, and Mathijs Paasschens will provide crucial support on the flat and rolling stages, ensuring Lenny stays well-positioned throughout the race. Meanwhile, Finlay Pickering, the recent King of the Mountains winner at the Tour of the Alps, and Max Van der Meulen will play key roles on the climbs, offering strong support in the decisive mountain stages.
Michal Golas, Bahrain Victorious Sports Director for Romandie, commented:
“Tour de Romandie is a great opportunity for Lenny to build momentum ahead of the Tour de France. The prologue and the final ITT will be crucial — it’s important to perform well there and then look to gain time on the mountains. There are some really strong riders on the start list, but we believe in our group. We have a solid line-up capable of matching those ambitions. Lenny has shown his ability on steep climbs both at Flèche Wallonne and Paris-Nice, and we’re excited to see what he can achieve here.”
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Here’s the news from Almeida’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG
UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad announced for first Swiss WorldTour stage race of the season, with Almeida joined by strong team including Jan Christen
With the Ardennes Classics coming to a close, attention will soon turn to the stage racing and Grand Tour season in earnest. Next up for UAE Team Emirates-XRG will be the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland, with João Almeida ready to make his debut after winning Itzulia Basque Country earlier this month.
João Almeida wins stage four of the 2025 Tour of the Basque Country. Sprint Cycling photo
Beginning on Tuesday, 29 April, the 78th edition of the Tour de Romandie will include two time trials, three hilly stages and one epic mountaintop finish at altitude. It is a race in which UAE Team Emirates-XRG have enjoyed some great moments over recent years, with Adam Yates winning the race in 2023 and the Emirati squad finishing inside the top five overall on four occasions through Rui Costa and Juan Ayuso.
Last season, Brandon McNulty won a memorable stage to Oron, and a year earlier, both Ayuso and Yates came away from Switzerland with stage success. On his way to the overall victory, Yates won the summit finish atop Thyon 2000, and the race will return to the mountain this time around.
Stage 4 of this year’s Tour de Romandie will task the peloton with over 4,000m of climbing in just 117.8km, making the day from Sion to Thyon 2000 the undisputed Queen stage. Stages 2 through 4 pose a trio of hilly tests that will no doubt see the general classification contenders do battle, with the race bookended by two individual time trials.
First up will be the prologue around Saint-Imier on Tuesday, standing at just 3.5km in length, before a 17km ITT will round out the race on Sunday afternoon. Owing to the two tests against the clock, the winner of the Tour de Romandie is often a strong time trialist, and the list of contenders at this year’s edition promises another exciting watch.
For UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the Portuguese Almeida is looking forward to continuing his fine season to date.
Almeida: “The Tour de Romandie is always a tough race, with unpredictable weather and really challenging climbs. I feel good about my form right now, and the team is motivated.
“We’ll take it day by day and look for opportunities — hopefully we can fight for a strong result. The win in Itzulia was amazing and I have a good feeling for the rest of the season as we get closer to the Tour de France.”
The 26-year-old will be joined in Switzerland by a collection of riders who have all shown great form in recent months. The full UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad is as follows:
– João Almeida (Por)
– Jan Christen (Swi)
– Felix Grossschartner (AUT)
– Rune Herregodts (Bel)
– Ivo Oliveira (Por)
– Pablo Torres (Spa)
– Jay Vine (Aus)
In Rune Herregodts, Ivo Oliveira and Pablo Torres, the Emirati squad has a trio of riders who each impressed at last week’s Giro d’Abruzzo. For Oliveira, it was a career week, with the Portuguese taking two stage wins in the most exhilarating of fashion. His teammate Herregodts was instrumental to the team’s success, whilst Torres produced his best performance in a UAE Team Emirates-XRG jersey to date in taking third overall.
A few weeks earlier in Italy, it was their teammate Jay Vine who stole the show at Coppi e Bartali, with the Australian taking a pair of stage victories in dominant fashion. The Tour de Romandie will be his first outing in a month.
Meanwhile, in Felix Grossschartner and Jan Christen, UAE Team Emirates-XRG can count on two riders who were pivotal to Tadej Pogačar’s impressive victory at La Flèche Wallonne in the midweek. For Christen, the one-day Classic marked his return to racing from injuries sustained at the Faun-Ardèche Classic in early March.
The Swiss youngster set up Pogačar’s winning attack before riding to an impressive 13th place in his own right. Next week will see the 20-year-old Christen make his third appearance at Switzerland’s first WorldTour stage race of the season.
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