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Friday, June 20, 2025

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. - Francis of Assisi

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Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2021: The Little Cannibal Dominates is available in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• June 15 - 22: Tour de Suisse
• June 18 - 22: Baloise Belgium Tour

Upcoming racing:

• June 21 - 29: Most national road championships
• June 24: Giro dell'Appenino
• July 2 - 7: Tour of Austria
• July 5 - 27: Tour de France

Latest completed racing:

• June 8 - 15: Critérium du Dauphiné
• June 13: GP Kanton Aargau
• June 8: Brussels Cycling Classic
• May 9 - June 1: Giro d'Italia
• May 29 - June 1: Tour of Norway
• May 14 - 18: 4 Jours de Dunkerque
• May 18: Rund um Köln
• May 13: Classique Dunkerque
• May 11: Tro-Bro Léon
• May 10: GP du Morbihan
• May 9: Tour du Finistère

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Tour de Suisse stage five reports

We posted the report from stage winner Oscar Onley's Team Picnic-PostNL with the results.

Here's the report from Romain Grégoire's Team Groupama-FDJ:

He was obviously starting to get used to it, but on Thursday, Romain Grégoire couldn’t retain his yellow jersey as leader of the Tour de Suisse. On stage 5, the hardest of the week on paper, the French rider really suffered on the day’s final two climbs. After joining the finish seven minutes behind winner Oscar Onley, despite a hard fight and Valentin Madouas’ support, the young man dropped to thirteenth overall. However, great opportunities will be up for grabs on the next two days for the Groupama-FDJ cycling team.

Romain Grégoire finishes 25th, At 6 minutes 53 seconds. Sirotti photo

Two passes peaking at over 2,000 metres of altitude, nearly 4,000 metres of elevation gain, and a summit finish. There was no doubt about it; the riders were set to face the queen stage of the 2025 Tour de Suisse this Thursday. Romain Grégoire, holding the yellow jersey since Sunday, was preparing to tackle another major challenge, and this was confirmed from the start. “There was a really difficult first climb after sixteen kilometres,” explained William Green. “A group of twelve first got away with Lewis. We wanted to be in the breakaway and anticipate, so that Romain would have support later on. It eventually came back, and on the climb, a group went clear with some top climbers, including Vlasov, Bilbao, and Powless. The race was really in pieces on the first climb, and it took nearly thirty kilometers on the descent for everything to come back together. Then UAE Team Emirates took control straight away, as we expected.”

After seventy kilometres, the peloton got over the Passo del San Bernardino (7.5 km at 6%) two minutes behind the breakaway, and around fifty riders still remained in the main group. “Romain was riding at the very front of the bunch on the first two climbs, and everything was going ok until then,” added William.
A long descent then brought the riders to the bottom of the Castaneda climb (4.5 km at 10%), which they had to cover twice in the final thirty kilometres. UAE Team Emirates continued to push hard from the first ramps, and about two kilometres from the summit, Romain Grégoire was distanced by his main rivals. “I cracked quite early on the first lap, and I completely ran out of energy,” he explained. “I had nothing left. It wasn’t really harder than I thought, but I didn’t have the legs I’d hoped for. Yesterday, I saved my jersey, but I think I went quite deep to do so. I didn’t have anything left today. From the start of the stage, I felt it wasn’t going to work.”

By the time he reached the summit, he was already a minute and a half behind, and was struggling to keep the wheel of his teammate Valentin Madouas. “Valentin did an incredible job,” said William. “In the seven kilometres of flat road before the final climb, he took thirty seconds out of the leading group. At the base of the climb, it was then still possible to maintain a nice GC result. Unfortunately, today wasn’t Romain’s day. He didn’t feel great from the beginning, we kept believing, but he just exploded on the last climb.”

Just a minute behind the favorites before the second climb to Castaneda – two kilometres longer than the previous one -, Romain Grégoire was however unable to get back some ground. “Valentin helped me limit the losses, I thank him for that, but I was left to my own on the final climb, and those percentages don’t lie,” he added. “I couldn’t even maintain a pace I would have maintained in training. I couldn’t do anything, I was completely dead.”

Suffering but still fighting on this final climb, Romain Grégoire reached the finish line 6 minutes and 53 seconds behind Oscar Onley and gave away his yellow jersey to Kévin Vauquelin, while dropping to thirteenth place overall. “I knew I wouldn’t keep the jersey, but I was hoping to limit my losses a little more than that,” the young rider said. “The Tour de Suisse is still a success with this stage victory, but I now want to recover and think about what’s next.” “Romain and the whole team showed a lot of respect for the jersey,” William Green concluded. “Now, we have two very exciting stages coming up. Everyone is still smiling and can’t wait to get going tomorrow. We’ll continue with our original objective, which was to target stages. Until today, we hadn’t finished out of the top 5, everyone can’t forget that, and we hope it continues into the next two days.”

Here's the Tour de Suisse report from Aleksandr Vlasov's Team Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe:

Aleksandr Vlasov took the mountains jersey on the queen stage of the Tour de Suisse. As a breakaway rider from the start, a stage win was even possible for a long time.

The 5th stage of the tour through Switzerland led over two major Alpine passes and two further 1st category climbs, with a total of almost 4,000 metres of ascent over the 184 kilometres between La Punt and Santa Maria in Calanca.
Aleksandr was one of the 20 riders who made it into the first large breakaway group of the day. He then broke away with four other strong climbers before crossing the Julier Pass after around 20 kilometres.

Aleksandr Vlasov finishing stage five. Sirotti photo

"The plan was to go into the group with Matteo Sobrero, Roger Adria or myself to go for the stage win," said Aleks after the race. "I felt good and that's why I attacked on the first climb. But then there were only five of us and there was still a long way to go to the finish. That's why I thought to myself: 'Why not try to take the mountain jersey?

Aleks secured the first mountain classification, collected twelve points and was already close to the previous holder Felix Engelhardt. While his group only made it over the first pass with a one-second lead, the gap grew to almost four minutes on the way to San Bernadino. "On the way to the second summit, I went all-in to see what would happen," explained the 29-year-old, who secured twelve points for the second time.

"Unfortunately, the group with the GC riders then turned up the heat and caught us at the foot of the last climb. After being in the breakaway all day, I couldn't keep up with them. But at least I now have the jersey as a small bonus."

Twelve more points on the third mountain classification of the day plus the two points from the previous days mean that Aleks now has a total of 38 points and a huge lead in the classification over Joao Almeida, so a defence of the red jersey on the three remaining stages is quite realistic. If he succeeds in this endeavour, it would be the first mountain jersey for Aleks in his professional career.

And here's the Tour de Suisse stage five report from Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

In the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse, the riders from Team Visma | Lease a Bike were unable to compete for the stage victory. The win went to Oscar Onley.

Stage five of the Tour de Suisse featured the queen stage. During the 185-kilometer route between La Punt and Santa Maria in Calanca, riders were faced with four categorised climbs. The finale included a double ascent of the steep Santa Maria. 

After an intense battle for a spot in the early breakaway, five riders managed to establish a meaningful lead. The group held out for a long time, but their effort came to an end at the foot of the final climb. In the group of u, Onley and João Almeida proved to be the strongest. The stage victory went to the young Brit.

 

Stage five had a challenging profile.

Tijmen Graat was the first Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider to cross the finish line. The team now sets its sights on the final weekend. “It was a tough day,” said the 22-year-old Dutchman afterward. “Right after the start, we started climbing. Our goal was to join the early break, but unfortunately that didn’t work out. After that, we positioned ourselves well in the peloton with an eye on the finale. The double ascent to Santa Maria was hard. Tiesj (Benoot) brought me to the foot of the climb, and from there I tried to get the most out of it. After a difficult day yesterday, I was eager to perform better. In my first pro year, I can be satisfied with an 18th place finish in the queen stage of the Tour de Suisse.”

Tour of Belgium stage two reports

We posted the report from third-place Jenno Berckmoes' Team Lotto with the results.

Here's the report from Tim Merlier's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Tim Merlier was again one of the main favourites on the second stage of the race, but luck wasn’t on the European Champion’s side in Putte. The course was completely flat, but took the peloton on some exposed roads which made for an entertaining race, as the winds split the bunch with 50 kilometers to go.

Soudal Quick-Step’s leader, together with his many teammates, were in the first group, which forced those behind to push hard and spend a lot of energy in order to join them. The echelons spelled the end of the breakaway, but soon, three riders attacked and gained time on the field, remaining at the front of the race until the final eight kilometers. As the bunch split again, another rider tried his chance, hoping to take advantage of the situation, but he too was brought back.

Japer Philipsen wins stage two.

On the other hand, this made for a very hectic finish, without a lead-out train to control things. Merlier tried to open his sprint with 200 meters to go, but he was boxed in and had to settle for seventh place on this stage won by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Following this result, he is now third overall going into Friday’s short individual time trial, one of the two consecutive stages that will be decisive in the general classification fight.

Here are the Tour of Belgium and Tour de Suisse reports from Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Ben Turner and Filippo Ganna maintained GC positions on stage two of the Baloise Belgium Tour, while the riders tackled the mountains at the Tour de Suisse.

Baloise Belgium Tour
Turner and Ganna managed to retain their top-10 positions on the GC in Belgium. Turner now sits eighth overall, nine seconds back on leader Sebastian Juan Molano (UAE Team Emirates - XRG), while Ganna is in 10th, 10 seconds behind.

A flat 194km stage saw frequent attacks but none which were able to stick for long. Good work from Omar Fraile and Salvatore Puccio supported the team, while a break of three were caught in the closing stages.

Filippo Ganna earlier this year at the Paris-Roubaix riders presentation. Sirotti photo

Breaks formed in the peloton in the run into the finish, with the Grenadiers pulling in the second part of the peloton and just missing the sprint into the finish.

Yesterday's time bonuses from the Golden Kilometre sprints ensures Turner and Ganna remain in the top-10, with tomorrow's time trial stage a fantastic opportunity for the team.

Tour de Suisse
Over in Switzerland, the Grenadiers tackled the fifth stage in Switzerland, taking on four category one climbs.

Ben Swift got stuck in early on, making a 12-man break, but was soon caught as multiple attacks came from the peloton.

The Grenadiers did well throughout the day, with Lucas Hamilton and Bob Jungels making moves in the mountains, with Jungels finishing solo in 21st place on the stage.

Tomorrow's stage will take riders through hilly terrain before a flat fast finish into Neuhausen am Rheinfall.

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