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Sunday, May 25, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play. - Heraclitus
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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
We posted the report from from stage winner Kasper Asgreen's Team EF Education-EasyPost with the results.
Here's the report from third-place Olav Kooij's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Olav Kooij finished third in the hectic 14th stage of the Giro d’Italia. A crash in the peloton caused significant time gaps between the general classification contenders. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders managed to stay out of trouble. Team leader Simon Yates moves up to second place in the overall standings after today.
The fourteenth stage of this Giro d’Italia took the peloton from Treviso to Nova Gorica in Slovenia. Throughout the stage, Team Visma | Lease a Bike controlled the pace in the peloton in pursuit of the early breakaway.
As the stage progressed, weather conditions worsened. Rainfall caused increasing tension on the slippery roads. With just over twenty kilometers to go, a large crash occurred at the front of the peloton. Several GC contenders were forced to chase. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike quartet of Kooij, Yates, Wout van Aert, and Bart Lemmen managed to avoid the chaos. A select group, including pink jersey wearer Del Toro, continued on.
Van Aert and Lemmen then set the pace in support of Kooij, who was aiming for his second stage win in this Giro. The group steadily got closer to the last remaining escapee, Kasper Asgreen, but the strong Dane did not crack. Asgreen rode solo to the stage victory. Shortly behind, Kooij sprinted to third place.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike before the stage start. Sirotti photo
“It was incredibly hectic because of the slippery roads,” the 23-year-old Dutchman reflected. “We knew the technical sections near the finish would cause nervousness in the peloton. After the crash, the four of us ended up in the reduced front group. We did everything we could to close the gap to Asgreen, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.”
In the general classification, Yates climbs to second place. The 32-year-old Brit now trails leader Del Toro by 1'20". Sports director Marc Reef looked back on a chaotic finale: “In the narrow streets of Nova Gorica, everyone wanted to be at the front. That ultimately caused the crash. It's a real shame that had to happen. Simon is now second in the GC, but of course that’s not the way we wanted it to happen. No one wants to see riders lose valuable seconds due to bad luck. Unfortunately, that’s part of cycling. Fortunately for us, we were in the right place this time. Now our focus shifts to tomorrow, where another important day for the general classification lies ahead.”
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Here's the Giro stage 14 report from eighth-place Tom Pidcock's Team Q36.5:
Tom Pidcock finished in eighth place on stage 14 of the Giro d’Italia. We are two weeks into our first Grand Tour and in half of the 14 stages Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team scored a top ten place. Pidcock himself got his fourth top ten on Saturday in Slovenia.
Stage 14 seemed to be another chance for the sprinters. A small breakaway of four riders never got more than two minutes. That gap was down to a minute only when the peloton crossed the border to Slovenia. It was at that point on the local circuits a major crash caused by rain and cobbles in the small streets, split the bunch.
The stage gets started in Treviso.
Pidcock found himself in the first group where he sprinted to an eighth place. He moved up to 11th place in the general classification.
Tom Pidcock said: “It was a tough day again. It’s not easy racing on these circuits, but this year’s Giro d’Italia parcours makes for some fun racing, I enjoy it.”
On Sunday the Giro d’Italia peloton has a major mountain stage waiting. It includes Monte Grappa and is no less than 219 kilometers long with almost 4,000 meters of elevation.
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Here's the Giro report from Clément Davy's Team Groupama-FDJ:
As the Giro d’Italia reached Slovenia on Saturday, the breakaway got the better of the bunch while a massive crash disrupted the whole final. Clément Davy managed to join the front group early in the race, but the Frenchman was unable to keep his adventure going when reaching the last climbs. Kasper Asgreen ultimately won solo, while the Groupama-FDJ cycling team avoided the crashes. The attackers should get another opportunity on Sunday.
After 200 kilometres of racing this Saturday, the sprinters could reasonably hope for a new chance in this 2025 Giro d’Italia, in Nova Gorica. A small hill was certainly included on the finishing circuit, to be covered twice, but it didn’t seem hard enough for most of the day’s favorites. Yet, the action was initially very intense at the start in Treviso.
A dozen riders, including Enzo Paleni, immediately managed to build a lead of around twenty seconds, and it took the peloton nearly fifteen kilometres to close this dangerous move down. “There was a hard fight, a good group went away, but the peloton didn’t give up,” said Clément Davy. “I felt something was possible, and when I saw Asgreen go, I didn’t think twice, and I went along.” The young Frenchman then took the lead, along with the Dane, Mirco Maestri, Martin Marcellusi, and, very briefly, Louis Meintjes. “Enzo and Clément were in the mix from the start,” said Stéphane Goubert. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for Enzo, but Clément reacted well.”
The peloton racing in the rain.
However, the peloton remained extremely careful this Saturday, giving the breakaway riders even less of a margin than the day before. The gap barely reached two minutes, then remained slightly above a minute throughout the day.
Entering the final fifty kilometres, the leading quartet therefore had a tiny advantage as they tackled the day’s first climbs, while entering Slovenia. Clément Davy was able to get over the first slopes, but the high pace set by Kasper Asgreen on the classified climb of Goniace, forty kilometres from the finish, was too much for him. The young man was forced to let his companions slip away, while a chaotic final on slippery roads allowed Asgreen to conclude his breakaway with a win.
“Everything was in place to do something great, with the weather that favoured us, the finishing circuit in town,” said Clément. “Unfortunately for me, the legs didn’t follow. I’m very disappointed because I had high hopes for today. I’m happy for Asgreen because the breakaway made it, but I would have liked to be part of it for longer.” “Clément has to keep smiling,” added Stéphane. “His job is usually to support his leaders. He now has the freedom to enter breakaways, but it’s a whole different effort. He has to keep going like this; he has nothing to be ashamed of. On the contrary, he has to take something positive from it.” Behind Asgreen, the peloton joined the finish line in various groups after a crash led to numerous splits in the final. Rémy Rochas finished within a second peloton, in twenty-fifth place.
On Sunday, the second week of the Giro will end with a long 220-kilometre stage made for the breakaway, including the climb of Monte Grappa halfway through the race.
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Here's the Giro report from Egan Bernal's Team INEOS Grenadiers:
The INEOS Grenadiers battled to limit their losses after a late crash on stage 14 held up Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman as they lost time to race leader Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates).
Arensman and Bernal were caught behind a crash on a narrow, cobbled sector on the finish circuit, with Ben Turner also involved in the incident.
The pair gave chase in a group containing Josh Tarling and a host of other GC rivals who gave everything to reduce the time gaps, with the GC duo finishing 48 seconds behind the maglia rosa group that contained Del Toro, Simon Yates (Visma - Lease a Bike) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education Easypost).
The peloton two hours into the stage.
The result leaves Bernal ninth overall, with Arensman moving up to 10th position (+3:45) with one stage remaining before the final rest day.
Turner was able to finish the stage despite being involved in the crash, making it to the line with teammates Jonathan Castroviejo and Lucas Hamilton.
Egan Bernal:
“Once we entered the final circuit, we found the roads were super slippery. There was obviously a lot of tension, because everyone wanted to take a position at the front and that is where the crash happened. Several of us took a hard hit, and I hope nobody got hurt.
“I don’t know how the crash happened as it all happened so fast. We were in a good position, but other riders fell in front of us and it was impossible to dodge the crash.”
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