Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves. - Will Rogers
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.
Upcoming racing:
- February 5 - 9 Etoile de Bessèges/Tour du Gard
- February 5 - 9: Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- February 14 - 16: Tour de la Provence
- February 7: Muscat Classic
- February 8 - 12: Tour of Oman
- February 15: Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia
- February 16: Clásica de Almeria
Latest completed racing:
- February 1 & 2: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
- February 2: GP La Marseillaise
- January 29 - February 2: Challenge Vuelta a Mallorca
- January 28 - February 1: AlUla Tour
- January 30: Surf Coast Classic
- January 17 - 26: Tour Down Under
- January 26: Classica Comunitat a Valenciana 1969
- January 25: Ruta de la Cerámica - Gran Premio Castellón
Here’s the team’s news:
Three of the team’s new riders will make their debut for the Wolfpack in just a couple of days.
Our week in Oman will begin on Friday at the third edition of the Muscat Classic, a hilly one-day race between Al Mouj and Al Bustan, whose final part contains four hard climbs that the attackers can use as trampoline to victory: Bousher Al Amerat (3.4km, 8.8%), Wadi Al Kadir (2.1km, 7.3%), Al Hamriyah (800m, 9.8%) and Al Jissah (1.4km, 9%).
One day later, the 14th edition of the Tour of Oman will get underway with a flat stage finishing in the east of the Sultanate, at Bimmah Sink Hole, where the wind-exposed roads on the shores of the Sea of Oman could disrupt the sprint trains and ruin the fast men’s shot at victory. The Yitti Hills are sure to bring changes to the general classification, where the gaps between the contenders should widen even more on the gruelling slopes of the Eastern Mountain, featuring at the end of stage 3.
The penultimate day of the race comes with another opportunity for the sprinters, on the 700m uphill finish near the Oman Convention and Exhibition Center, before the traditional mountain stage on Jabal Al Akhdar, also known as the Green Mountain, whose double-digit gradients will be decisive in the fight for the red jersey.
Gianmarco Garofoli, British Champion Ethan Hayter and Valentin Paret-Peintre are all set to make their debut for the team at the two races in Oman, where they will be joined by Pepijn Reinderink, Mauri Vansevenant – who was runner-up on the general classification there in 2023 – Louis Vervaeke and Jordi Warlop.
Ethan Hayter (shown at the 2022 Tour de Romandie) will be racing in Oman. Sirotti photo
“We have a good team for Oman, featuring three new guys – Ethan, Gianmarco and Valentin – and we can’t wait to see them in action. Our goal is to take a victory, there will be a couple of opportunities, so we are confident. Concerning the GC, Mauri came close to winning the whole thing a few years ago, when he finished first atop the Green Mountain, and we’ll see if he can be again up there in the fight for a strong result”, said Soudal Quick-Step sports director Wilfried Peeters.
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Here’s the team’s update:
Almeida and Yates begin their seasons
UAE Team Emirates-XRG will aim to continue the strong start to the season in search of further victories at the Vuelta Valenciana 5-9 Feb , as well as two fixtures in the Middle-East at the Muscat Classic (7 Feb) followed by the Tour of Oman (8-12 Feb).
Several riders will make their season debuts with high-hopes across the board as the team looks to add to the five victories already this season.
Sports Manager Matxin Fernandez (Spa) will lead the team in Vuelta Valenciana, being joined by Sports Directors Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) and Marco Marzano (Ita).
Matxin Fernandez: “ We started the year with many victories which we are obviously very pleased with, but also the attitude and attacking mentality the team has showed in the first races has been fantastic and something we are proud of.
"We won here last year with Brandon McNulty and we will aim to defend that title this year.
"We have the unusual prospect of the TTT to open the race and we have selected a team very focussed on that stage. No doubt our rivals will be preparing for it also, so we need to be on our best level which I’m confident we will be.
"The Valencia region has had a devastating few months and I know a lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to make this race happen and we hope we can put on a good show for the people there.”
Almeida: “I’m very excited to start the season. It has been a good winter and I feel like the condition is good and where it needs to be. It’s not so often we get to start with a team time-trial but with the strength of the team we have I think we can be confident to put in a good performance.
"We’ll have several cards to play, for sure I hope to aim for a big result. Brandon won this race last year and seems to always fly at this time of year so it’s good to have options for the GC. The most important will be the search for victories as a collective.”
Joao Almeida racing in stage 8 of the 2024 Tour of Switzerland. Sirotti photo
Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana [2.Pro] – 05-Feb-2025 / 09-Feb-2025
- Joao Almeida (Por)
- Filippo Baroncini (Ita)
- Felix Grossschartner (Ger)
- Julius Johansen (Den)
- Brandon McNulty (USA)
- Ivo Oliveira (Por)
- Pavel Sivakov (Fra)
In Oman Adam Yates will return to defend his crown from 12 months ago, backed by a team of veterans and youngsters for the Muscat Classic and the Tour of Oman.
The team will be under the supervision of the Sports Director pairing of Marco Marcato (Ita) and Yousif Mirza (UAE).
Yates: “It’s always exciting to pin a number on again after a long break. Obviously I’ve got great memories in Oman from what we did there last year. If we could repeat that it would be perfect but there will be competition no doubt. It’s a balanced team with Majka and Vine for the climbs and then some of the bigger guys for the flats and a chance too for the Gen Z guys to step-up and show themselves at this level. All-round I’m just keen to get things going and get racing.”
Muscat Classic [1.1] – 07-Feb-2025 / Tour of Oman [2.Pro] – 08-Feb-2025 / 12-Feb-2025
- Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor)
- Rafal Majka (Pol)
- Florian Vermeersch (Bel)
- Jay Vine (Aus)
- Adam Yates (GB)
- Luca Giami (Ita) (Gen Z)
- Anze Ravbar (Slo) (Gen Z)
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Team Jayco Alula posted this:
Ben O’Connor will target a strong general classification performance at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana as races in Team Jayco AlUla colours for the first time.
In addition to O’Connor, Jasha Sütterlin, Bob Donaldson and Jelte Krijnsen will also debut in the purple of the Aussie squad at the five-day race. With some opportunities for a sprint, the team will look to Krijnsen if it comes down to a bunch finish.
Ben O'Connor winning stage 6 of the 2024 Vuelta a España. Sirotti photo
Italian Filippo Zana will provide some key support for O’Connor in the mountains. Meanwhile experienced talents Michael Hepburn and Chris Juul-Jensen add to the engine room of the squad that will help maintain control on the flat and rolling parts of the route.
The Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2025 – which starts on 5th February and consists of five stages over a total of 665 km – opens with a TTT of 35km that will give an initial GC definition – followed by three demanding stages with 3,000m climbing, before the final sprint in Valencia.
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Team Jayco AlUla:
- Bob Donaldson (GBR)
- Michael Hepburn (AUS)
- Chris Juul-Jensen (DEN)
- Jelte Krijnsen (NED)
- Ben O’Connor (AUS)
- Jasha Sütterlin (GER)
- Filippo Zana (ITA)
Ben O’Connor: “It will be my first time at the Volta Comunitat Valenciana but above all it’s my first race with my new team. Since I started my professional career, I always knew that, sooner or later, I would be part of the GreenEDGE family. For us Australian riders, Team Jayco AlUla remains the reference team, and I am very proud to be here. My goal is to give my best and get the first big result of the season. We have a very competitive team, which can do well at the TTT and then it will be up to me to be strong on the many climbs of the Spanish race.”
David McPartland (Sport Director): “It’s early season of course but we still have ambitions here. It’s the first race for Ben O’Connor with the team and his preparation has so far gone all to plan. We will aim to do a good race with him in the GC. First, we have the super important TTT on stage one. This will set the scene for the following stages and how a big part of the rest of the race unfolds.
"The week overall is solid one with three of the five stages comprising more than 3,000m of climbing. There is also the last stage and potentially one of the lighter mountain stages where we may see a reduced bunch sprint and for that we have another new member in Jelte Krijnsen for a result.”
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