
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything. - Theodore Roosevelt
Bill & Carol McGann’s book The Story of the 2024 Tour de France: The Happy Warrior Triumphs is available print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the link on the right.
Current racing:
Upcoming racing:
Latest completed racing:
We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Here's the report from Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
The stage from and to Bilbao had been marked in advance by Team Visma | Lease a Bike. The riders faced seven categorised climbs in and around the Basque coastal city. Vingegaard started once again in the leader’s jersey and found a route well suited to his qualities.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike controlled the peloton in the chase behind three early breakaways. Long before the finish, everything came back together. On the double ascent of the Alto del Vivero the pace was raised, but once more the Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders were alert. Victor Campenaerts did an excellent job in support of his leader, while Ben Tulett also proved his worth in the group of favourites.
Jonas Vingegaard before the stage start. Sirotti photo
On the final climb Tom Pidcock attacked. He claimed six bonus seconds at the summit, while Vingegaard took four. In the end, Vingegaard and Pidcock reached the three-kilometre mark together, where the official times were recorded.
“I wanted to win for my son, who is celebrating his birthday today,” said Vingegaard. “We worked hard all day, so of course it’s disappointing not to get the chance. I didn’t really feel unsafe at any point, but we did notice something was happening when we passed the finish the first time. After hearing about the neutralisation it was a bit difficult to regain focus, but soon after that Pidcock attacked. I reacted to his move and we decided to push on together. In the end we produced a very strong team performance. That’s what I will mainly remember from today.”
“We’re left with mixed feelings,” added sports director Jesper Mørkøv. “We had clearly set our sights on this stage. It’s a pity we couldn’t fight for the victory, but given the scenes at the finish the decision was understandable. From a sporting perspective, I once again saw a strong Jonas today, excellently supported by his team. That gives us confidence for the rest of this race.”
Here's the Vuelta report from Team Soudal Quick-Step:
Due to incidents at the finish line, there was no stage winner on Wednesday and the official times for the general classification were taken three kilometers from the line.
A cosmopolitan hub for culture and a city with a modern and unique identity, Bilbao welcomed the race for the 44th time in history. The first of these visits was recorded at the inaugural edition in 1935, when Gustaaf Deloor was victorious, while the most recent one took place in 2019 and witnessed the win of Philippe Gilbert, who took the win for our team after a breakaway masterclass.
This time, another T-Rex Quick-Step rider was in the spotlight, and his name was Mikel Landa. After getting a hero’s welcome at the start of the day, where hundreds of fans came to see and show their support for him, Landa took off on the steep Alto del Vivere with more than 50 kilometers to go. It was a beautiful trademark attack of the Basque, one that quickly ended up putting some daylight between him and the peloton.

Mikel Landa before the start of stage nine. Sirotti photo
Joined by Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), the 35-year-old from Murgia established a gap of more than 40 seconds on the chasers and made the numerous Basque supporters dream in seeing a victory of their favourite, but unfortunately his adventure at the front came to a conclusion in the last 30 kilometers, when they were reeled in.
It was a gutsy attack and ride from Mikel, one that augurs well for the next mountain stages of La Vuelta, where the Basque could be again among the protagonists. His T-Rex Quick-Step teammate Junior Lecerf also had a good day and moved up two positions in the GC, where he remained the team’s highest-ranked rider, in 12th place.
Here’s the team’s announcement:
Italian all-rounder Andrea Vendrame will don the colours of Team Jayco AlUla from next season after signing a two-year contract with the Australian squad.
The 31-year-old is a two-time stage winner at the Giro d’Italia and can count victories at Tirreno-Adriatico, Tro-Bro Leon and Route d’Occitanie on his palmarès. This season, he took an impressive victory on an uphill finale on stage three, beating the likes of Tom Pidcock to take the win.

Andrea Vendrame winning stage four of the 2025 Tour du Limousin.
By joining Team Jayco AlUla for next season, Vendrame will also be reuniting with his former teammate Ben O’Connor after the pair rode together on the same squad for four seasons.
Andrea Vendrame:
“I chose Team Jayco AlUla because, from our first meetings, I immediately sensed a great deal of trust in me, and it was easy to develop a clear project aligned with my goals. After six seasons with the same team, I felt it was time for a change and to seek new challenges. I’m confident that with this team I can find new motivation and build something truly important. My expectations are high, and I’m confident I can continue to grow with the team. I’m thrilled to be able to wear the Team Jayco AlUla jersey next and can’t wait to begin this new adventure!”
Brent Copeland – General Manager:
“Andrea is coming onboard to help boost our climbing squad and in general he’s a strong all-round rider that has demonstrated his talent on many occasions, with results such as stage wins at the Giro d’Italia. He’s really motivated and has an aggressive style of riding and we’re looking forward to him joining us for the next two seasons. We believe he will fit into our team very well, he already has a great relationship with our leader O’Connor which always helps, with the pair having raced on the same team previously.”
Andrea Vendrame
New Contract: 2026 & 2027
Nationality: Italian
Age: 31
Key results:
1st Giro d’Italia, stage 12 (2021)
1st Giro d’Italia, stage 19 (2024)
1st Tirreno-Adriatico, stage 3 (2025)
1st Tro-Bro Leon (2019)
1st Route d’Occitanie, stage 1 (2021)
2nd Trofeo Laigueglia (2023 & 2024)
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary