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Friday, May 23, 2025

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

I believe the Republicans have never thought that democracy was anything but a tribal myth. - Hunter S. Thompson

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Les Woodland's book Paris-Roubaix: The Inside Story - All the bumps of cycling's cobbled classic is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• May 9 - June 1: Giro d'Italia

Upcoming racing:

• May 29 - June 1: Tour of Norway
• June 8: Brussels Cycling Classic
• June 8 - 15: Critérium du Dauphiné

Latest completed racing:

• 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
• April 27 - May 4: Tour of Turkey
• April 29 - May 4: Tour de Romandie
• May 1: Rund um den Finanzplaz Eschborn-Frankfurt
• April 27: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
• April 24 - 27: Vuelta Asturias

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Giro d'Italia stage twelve team reports

We posted the report from from stage winner Olav Kooij's Team Visma | Lease a Bike with the results.

Here's the report from second-place Casper van Uden's Team Picnic-PostNL:

A 172-kilometre route from Modena to Viadana for the 12th day of racing at the Giro d’Italia could have potentially been a banana-skin for the sprint teams, but from the start it was clear that it would be a fast finish come the end of the day. Team Picnic PostNL and several other squads looking for a fast finish made sure a small break went away, and things settled into a familiar pattern.

Team Picnic PostNL kept their calm and bubbled up well throughout the day, with a view of setting up stage four winner Casper van Uden for the fast finale. With the break caught, the team’s climbing group helped with some early positioning work in the last ten kilometres, while the washing machine effect was on full display. It meant that Van Uden was always kept in the first third of the bunch as the finish approached. Alex Edmondson and then Niklas Märkl took over and brought Van Uden into fourth wheel going under the flamme rouge.

The stage twelve finish: Casper van Uden is just on winner Olav Kooij's left. Sirotti photo.

Coming around the pivotal corner with around 400 metres to go, Van Uden left some rush room in front of him and opened up his sprint early in clean air; not wanting to risk getting boxed in. Putting power through the pedals and giving everything that he had, Kooij ultimately came past him just before the line, meaning it was a strong second place on the day for Team Picnic PostNL with Van Uden.

Here's the Giro report from third-place Ben Turner's Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Ben Turner unleashed an impressive sprint effort to power to third place on stage 12 at the Giro d'Italia.

Turner's effort was set up by brilliant positioning work late on from the team, with Kim Heiduk and latterly Josh Tarling helping guide their teammate into position in Viadana.

The result marked the best stage finish in a Grand Tour for the Yorkshireman, with Turner previously taking a fourth place in the 2022 Vuelta a Espana.

Stage twelve gets started. Sirotti photo

Also present in the peloton were GC men Thymen Arensman and Egan Bernal, who both retained their positions on the overall standings - sitting 10th and 11th respectively.

Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike) timed his effort well to win the stage, with Issac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) extending his overall lead slightly to 33 seconds. Heiduk was also there during the sprint kilometre to deny other GC riders and pick up two bonus seconds.

Here's the Giro report from eighth-place Paul Magnier's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Paul Magnier racked up his third top ten of the Corsa Rosa. After seventh in Lecce and third in Napoli – his first Grand Tour podium – the talented Frenchman was again in the mix at the finish, this time in Viadana, where he sprinted to eighth place, after a day with some rain, fortunately not on the finishing circuit.

Paul Magnier earlier this year at the Étoile de Bessèges stage race.

Runner-up earlier this year in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the 21-year-old was brought in a good position by his Soudal Quick-Step teammates going into the final two kilometers and showed a good turn of speed to take another solid result behind Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike), who got the victory on this 12th stage, very likely the last one for the fast men this week.

The Giro d’Italia continues with a stage for the puncheurs, on the hilly roads to Vicenza. The peloton will face four classified climbs, including that at the finish, where the gradients could bring into contention also the general classification men.

And here's the Giro stage twelve report from Team Groupama-FDJ:

The Giro d’Italia returned to a certain calm on Thursday heading towards Viadana. In a twelfth stage for sprinters, the scenario was quite clear, and Olav Kooij indeed claimed victory from a bunch finish. Clément Davy (22nd) and Enzo Paleni (24th) were the first riders from Groupama-FDJ to reach the finish line. A slightly hillier final is coming up tomorrow in Vicenza.

Despite some nice hills in the first half of the course, there was no doubt that stage 12 of the Giro would be decided between the sprinters on Thursday. As a consequence, the number of riders aiming to enter the breakaway at the start of Modena was much lower than the day before. Only three men indeed took the lead quite early on, without ever having any hope of a successful outcome to their attempt. This is also why Stéphane Goubert’s men did not join the fight this time. “The breakaway wasn’t big enough and the hopes of success were almost nonexistent, so it wasn’t worth wasting energy on it,” explained the French sports director.

Team Groupama-FDJ at the teams presentation ceremony before the Giro's start.

The last man standing of the breakaway, Andrea Pietrobon, was caught more than twenty-five kilometres from the finish, and the sprint gradually set up around Viadana. Clément Davy and Enzo Paleni followed the first part of the bunch in the final moments, allowing them to take 22nd and 24th places respectively. “The tension was still quite present throughout the stage due to the wind, but the riders were able to enjoy a relatively calm day ahead of the next goals and stages better suited to their qualities,” concluded Stéphane. On Friday, six small climbs will feature in the last sixty kilometres, and the finish line will be located at the summit of one of them (800m at 7.6%) in Vicenza.

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