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Monday, June 23, 2025

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. - Ernest Hemingway

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Current racing:

• June 21 - 29: Most national road championships

Upcoming racing:

• June 24: Giro dell'Appennino
• July 2 - 7: Tour of Austria
• July 5 - 27: Tour de France

Latest completed racing:

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

We posted the report from stage & final GC winner Joao Almeida's UAE team Emirates with the results.

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

The past week of racing came to a close today on the eighth stage of the Tour de Suisse, with Aleksandr Vlasov securing the KOM jersey by a wide margin. He also wrapped up the race with a sixth place in today's individual time trial.

For Aleks, the foundations were laid on the queen stage, where he made it into the break and swept up maximum points on three major climbs, including the Julierpass, San Bernadino and Castaneda. That effort put him into the red jersey, which he defended over the remaining stages to take home the first mountains classification title of his professional career.

Aleksandr Vlasov in the KOM jersey after stage eight of the Tour de Suisse. Sirotti Photo

It was the first time Aleks had specifically targeted a KOM jersey, and once he saw the opportunity, he committed fully. He then proceeded to make it into the breakaway again on Stage 7 and further consolidated his lead in the classification. His final total of 45 points secured the classification with a comfortable margin.

This success came in addition to another standout performance earlier in the week. Earlier in the week, Jordi Meeus delivered another highlight with a dramatic sprint victory on Stage 6. Following several stages of climbing, the Belgian sprinter took his chance on the only remaining opportunity for the fast men in the race. With Danny van Poppel providing the decisive lead-out, Meeus launched his sprint to take a convincing win in Neuhausen.

Here's the report from GC third-place Oscar Onley's Team Picnic-PostNL:

The final stage of the Tour de Suisse was a decisive uphill time trial, featuring a tough 10-kilometre climb from Beckenried to Stockhütte. With Oscar Onley starting the day in fourth place in the general classification, it was an exciting day for Team Picnic PostNL. After his strong display of teamwork yesterday, Frank van den Broek delivered a solid performance, powering his way up the climb to finish with a provisional 4th place, ultimately placing 15th after all riders had finished.

Oscar Onley riding to third in the GC. Sirotti photo

Onley, who was in contention for a podium finish in the general classification, tackled the course with determination. At the intermediate timing point, he recorded the provisional third-best time, maintaining his position near the front. Onley powered on and crossed the finish line to claim 3rd place on the stage. As the final GC contenders completed the course, Onley’s effort held firm, earning him 3rd place for the day. This performance also elevated him to 3rd in the overall general classification, securing a well-deserved podium finish at the Tour de Suisse.

After the stage Onley said: “It was a tough way to finish the week today with a 10-kilometre uphill time trial. I felt good and am happy with my performance and numbers. A big thank you to everyone involved in the equipment side of today’s stage for focusing on making everything as light as possible. Overall, it’s been a good week for us, and I’m looking forward to carrying this form and confidence into the Tour.”

Team Picnic PostNL coach Pim Ligthart added: “Overall, it was a very good week. We’re going home with Oscar on the podium, and we showed great teamwork. After the first stage, Oscar was a bit disappointed, but we handled it well, and in the end, he finished on the podium. He showed during this race that he belongs among the best riders in the world, and it’s been a great week.”

Here's the final Tour de Suisse report from Romain Grégoire's Team Groupama-FDJ:

Without any particular ambitions regarding the general classification, Romain Grégoire didn’t have much to aim for in the final stage of the Tour de Suisse this Sunday. Yet, in the very difficult uphill time trial in Stockhütte, the Frenchman put in another solid performance. He indeed secured fourteenth place on the day, 2’32 behind the stage and overall winner Joao Almeida, and therefore confirmed his seventeenth place overall. A great way to conclude an equally great week.

Romain Grégoire winning stage one. Sirotti photo

The final ten kilometres of the 2025 Tour de Suisse weren’t the most enjoyable for sure. The WorldTour event was indeed coming to an end on Sunday with a “cronoscalata”, meaning an uphill time trial. In particular, a nine-kilometre climb averaging 9% served as the deciding factor on this final day. “The course was so hard that just completing the time trial required a huge effort,” explained Maxime Latourte, the team’s coach. “We actually said to most of the riders to commit to it, without necessarily pushing their limits, and everyone did a well-executed time trial to finish the week in a good way.”

The last rider to start for the Groupama-FDJ cycling team, Romain Grégoire, set off at 4 p.m. and established the 48th (final) time at the intermediate checkpoint. “He was a bit cautious at the start,” added Maxime. “He was quite far back at the intermediate, I thought he’d started off easy, but then he kept accelerating. As he went along, he realized the legs were better than expected, he continued to increase the pace and finished quite strong.”

The former yellow jersey holder set the fifth-fastest provisional time at the finish, which became the fourteenth after the last competitors had reached the line. “He wanted to be committed and precise, but without giving too much importance to it, as is sometimes the case,” added Maxime. “There was no pressure. Mentally, it’s very good for him to finish on a good note like that. It means he can come out of this Tour de Suisse with a really good momentum, and we’re going to need it!”

In the general classification, he therefore held onto seventeenth place. “It’s been a really successful week for the team,” added William Green. “Our objectives were stage results, and we finished five times in the top-5, three times on the podium, and we got a stage win. I believe we really achieved our objective, and it was a nice bonus to defend the yellow jersey for four days. It wasn’t just Romain; the whole team contributed and enjoyed this momentum. All the guys have just enjoyed racing their bikes this week and when you enjoy racing your bike, you can race hard, you can influence the race and achieve some success. The motivation is really high, especially heading to the National Championships”.

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

The Tour de Suisse has come to an end. For Team Visma | Lease a Bike, it was a race without stage victories, but one where the foundation was further strengthened towards the key goals later this season, and where young talents were able to show themselves.

The 2025 edition of the Tour de Suisse may have saved its toughest challenge for last. The final time trial over ten kilometers featured only 500 flat meters, with the climb averaging a steep nine percent — terrain suited to the pure climbers.

Tiesj Benoot, Bart Lemmen and Tijmen Graat all finished inside the top 35, after Thomas Gloag and Julien Vermote had safely completed their time trials earlier.

Maarten Wynants: “Tijmen and Bart wanted to see how far they could push themselves today”, sports director Maarten Wynants said afterwards. “They really went for it, but unfortunately, a spot within the top 35 was the best they could achieve. Still, it was a good learning experience for them to ride a time trial of this caliber in a race situation.”

Looking back on the week, Wynants added: “We started very well, which put us in a good position in the GC and gave us certain expectations. Unfortunately, later in the week we lost Menno Huising and Steven Kruijswijk. The guys coming from the Giro were really riding on their limit. Tiesj was here mainly with the Tour de France in mind. He came through this test well, despite a crash that left him with some abrasions. Unfortunately, in terms of results, there wasn’t much more in it than what we achieved now”, the Belgian concluded.

Baloise Belgium Tour stage five reports

We posted the report from stage winner Tim Merlier's Team Soudal Quick-Step with the results.

Here's the report from GC winner Filippo Baroncini's UAE Team Emirates-XRG:

Filippo Baroncini wrapped up a breakthrough performance at the Baloise Belgium Tour, defending his overall lead on the final flat stage in Brussels to claim his first-ever stage race GC victory.

The Italian moved into the violet leader’s jersey after Stage 4 in Durbuy and, with the full backing of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad, held off all challengers to seal the overall classification by a slim but decisive margin.

At the start of stage five.

Baroncini: “I came into the race in good shape from the Giro, so I knew if things went our way this week something was possible. The goal was to win with the team because Florian was also flying. Stage 4 was a great stage for me, the group stayed away and while I didn’t win the stage I was able to take the crucial time I needed in the GC .Today the team worked perfectly to defend the jersey so it was an excellent week overall.“

Sebastian Molano also performed well on the final stage, taking second place behind winner Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step).

And here's the Tour of Belgium report from Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Kim Heiduk fired to third place on the final stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour after a battling finish.

Heiduk was perfectly delivered to the line after a fantastic lead out from Connor Swift, sprinting past Tim Torn Tuetenberg (Lidl-Trek) to snatch the final podium place.

Tim Merlier winning the stage five sprint.

A fast and flat 183km stage starting and finishing in Brussels, and early six-man break went up the road. In the final lap of the course, the Grenadiers were well positioned at the front of the pack and were closing in on the break, with fantastic work from Ben Turner and Omar Fraile.

The final two from the break were caught inside the final six kilometres, with the Grenadiers continue to pull on the front. A final effort from Swift delivered Heiduk at the perfect time, allowing the German rider to seize third place on the line.

After his second place in the time-trial earlier in the week, Filippo Ganna managed to take fourth place on the GC to top off a great week of racing in Belgium.

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