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Sunday, June 22, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
To write it, it took three months; to conceive it three minutes; to collect the data in it all my life. - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Giro d'Italia, A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy, Vol 2: 1971 - 2011 is available in print, Kindle eBook and 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
- June 21 - 29: Most national road championships
Upcoming racing:
- 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
We posted the report from second-place Oscar Onley's Team Picnic-PostNL with the results.
Here's the report from stage winner Joao Almeida's UAE Team Emirates-XRG:
UAE Team Emirates -XRG celebrated another major triumph at the Tour de Suisse, with João Almeida storming to an emphatic victory on Stage 7.
The Portuguese all-rounder delivered a measured and powerful ride in the final kilometres, outsprinting Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) and race leader Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) in the closing metres to claim the win after 207 km of racing from Neuhausen am Rheinfall to Emmetten.
Joao Ameida wins stage seven. Sirotti photo
Almeida crossed the line in 4:38:25, earning a 10-second time bonus and vital gains in the general classification. He now sits firmly in the top three overall, just 33 seconds behind current race leader Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa–B&B Hotels), who finished third on the stage, having launched his sprint early to surprise his rivals.
Almeida: “It was a hard day, fast all day. My teammates did a perfect job; they were super strong and pulled all day to catch the breakaway. This victory is for them. Every second is important, and we had to do our best.
I don’t think I’m the favourite for overall victory, Vauquelin is also strong in the TT, so it’s going to be tough. But I’m going to give everything I have.”
This win marks Almeida’s 7th victory of the season, and the 47th for the Emirati squad, continuing UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s momentum.
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Here's the Tour de Suisse stage seven report from Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Tiesj Benoot was active in the seventh stage of the Tour de Suisse. The 31-year-old Belgian was part of the breakaway of the day, but a shot at the stage win was not within reach. Victory ultimately went to João Almeida.
On the penultimate day, the riders faced the longest stage of the race. The 207-kilometre route between Neuhausen am Rheinfall and Emmetten featured over 3,000 metres of climbing. An alert Benoot helped form the break of the day. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider was joined by several strong companions, including Quinn Simmons, Frank van den Broek, and Aleksandr Vlasov.
Stage seven gets started. Sirotti photo
The group of seven worked well together, but with a tough finale looming, the peloton kept the escapees within reach. Around twenty kilometres from the finish, Benoot and his fellow breakaway riders were reeled in by the group of favourites. In the end, the general classification contenders battled for the stage win.
The Tour de Suisse concludes tomorrow with an individual time trial. The riders will face a short but demanding race against the clock from Beckenried to Stockhütte.
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Team Groupama-FDJ posted this Tour de Suisse report:
On the eve of an extremely demanding uphill time trial, which will determine the overall winner of the Tour de Suisse, the seventh stage caused further damage on Saturday. In the very hilly final to Emmetten, the GC contenders took the opportunity to fight once again, and Romain Grégoire tried to limit his losses as best he could despite an already grueling week. Heading into the final stage, the rider from Besançon sits seventeenth overall.
Romain Grégoire in yellow after stage four. Sirotti photo
For the penultimate stage of the Tour de Suisse, the peloton had to tackle the week’s longest route on Saturday, with 207 kilometres between Neuhausen am Rheinfall and Emmetten. In addition, 3,500 metres of elevation gain were again on the meny, with the “cronoscalata” waiting for them on Sunday. Now out of contention in GC, Groupama-FDJ approached the day with a clear goal. “Today, the strategy was to go all in for Valentin, for him to produce the best possible stage,” explained William Green. “The final was quite hilly with these two climbs, and the first part of the race was also hilly, which was suitable for him to move into a strong breakaway. The plan was for him to be there with Lewis or Stefan to help him in the flat sections and give him the best chance of getting a result.”
However, the right move emerged after about forty kilometres of racing without the former French champion. “There was a fight for a very long time at the start,” said William. “The front peloton was actually made up of forty-five riders at one point, with Stefan and Valentin. Then, a group of eighteen went away, we were represented with Stefan, but the good move went right after that. We followed quite a lot of moves by that point, and this solid group went clear.”
At the front, seven men, including Quinn Simmons, Aleksandr Vlasov, and Tiesj Benoot, led the way and gained up to three minutes. However, the peloton increased the pace significantly before the final two climbs, which the breakaway tackled with just a minute’s lead. The GC fight was then ready to take place. “We knew it was going to be hard for Romain today, and we weren’t really thinking about the overall at first,” William added. “However, after Riccitello’s abandon halfway through the race, Romain was twelfth overall, and there were seven seconds on eleventh and thirty-seven seconds on tenth. We told him, ‘If you feel ok, there’s an opportunity to go for the top-10. Like the whole peloton, he wasn’t feeling super, we still tried to do the placement before the first climb, but it became very clear that it wasn’t going to be a feasible option to fight for the top 10.”
The winner of the first stage struggled with the strong tempo from the first ramps, but still fought hard to reach the line in 35th position, nine minutes behind the winner Joao Almeida. “Honestly, between seventeenth or thirteenth overall isn’t really important after the successful week we’ve had,” concluded William. “There’s still the time trial tomorrow, but it’s going to be difficult just to make it up this climb, so we’ll see what the day brings us.”
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We posted the report from GC leader Filippo Baroncini's UAE Team Emirates with the results.
Here's the report from stage winner Jenno Berckmoes' Team Lotto:
With a powerful and emotional ride, Jenno Berckmoes claimed a hard-fought victory in Stage 4 of the Baloise Belgium Tour. “It’s been a tough time. Nobody really sees that. So that’s why this win is so emotional.” To finish of this great day for our team, Alec Segaert also claimed the youth jersey.
Jenno Berckmoes wins Tour of Belgium stage four. Photo: Photonews
Motivated by a time trial that didn’t really go as he had hoped, Jenno entered the penultimate day of racing in Baloise Belgium Tour with a clear strategy: “My TT didn’t go as I hoped yesterday, which made me lose quite some time in the General Classification. So I was very motivated to win today.”
The closing moments of the stage were intense, but Berckmoes kept his composure. “The last kilometer was quite stressful. But I know that I can focus really well when I see the finish line,” he explained. “Two days ago I was third in a bunch sprint, while I am not really a sprinter. It was good to go first, as it gave me a gap immediately on the other riders and then I just had to go on to win this stage.”
Jenno’s triumph wasn’t just a physical win — it was an emotional release after months of struggle: “It’s been a tough period,” he says emotionally after the finish. “I started off the season with this bacteria, which meant I couldn’t prepare my season properly. And then, when I finally got back in good shape, I had this big crash in the Tour of Flanders. It’s been a tough time, with a lot of downs. Nobody really sees that. People only see it when things go well, and everyone supports you then. But when times get rough, it’s only the people who are close to you who support you. So that’s why this win is so emotional.”
The team’s strong day didn’t end there. Alec Segaert was crowned the best young rider, taking the youth jersey after another solid performance. Toon Aerts also delivered a powerful ride, finishing sixth on the stage, underlining the team’s collective strength heading into the final stage.
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