Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
The man who has his millions will want everything he can lay his hands on and then raise his voice against the poor devil who wants ten cents more a day. - Samuel Gompers
David L. Stanley's masterful telling of his bout with skin cancer Melanoma: It Started with a Freckle is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- September 17 - 21: Tour de Luxembourg
- September 17: GP de Wallonie
Upcoming racing:
- September 19: Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
- September 20: Super 8 Classic
Latest completed racing:
- August 23 - September 14: Vuelta a España
- September 14: Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
- September 14: GP de Fourmies
- September 14: Trofeo Matteotti
- September 13: Memorial Marco Pantani
- September 12: Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
- September 2 - 7: Tour of Britain
- August 31: Bretagne Classic-Ouest France
- August 26 - 29: Tour Poitou Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine
- August 20 - 24: Renewi Tour
- August 19 - 22: Tour du Limousin
- August 17: Hamburg Cyclassics
- August 17: La Polynormande
- August 12 - 16: Tour of Denmark
- August 15: Circuit Franco-Belge
Here's the team's post:
The Vuelta has been raced, the winners are known. A combativity award, an impressive top-ten finish in the team time trial and a handful of honourable placings are what we take home. “It was anything but an easy Vuelta, even though our riders all performed really strongly,” said Sports Director Mario Aerts as he summed up three weeks in Spain.
That this Vuelta ended bitterly just before reaching Madrid is already well known. But the anticlimax of the finale does not erase the sweet memories of the 20 stages that came before. Lotto Cycling Team rode this Vuelta for the very last time in the unique jersey celebrating 40 years of the National Lottery in the peloton, and they made those colours shine. Already in stage 1 in Turin, Elia Viviani delivered a promising fourth place. The next day, Liam Slock stole the show, crowned with the combativity award. A surprising tenth place in the team time trial and seventh in stage seven for Eduardo Sepúlveda rounded out a fine opening week. “And actually there was also Elia’s second place in Zaragoza,” adds Aerts. “It’s a pity he was relegated, but that’s something we have to accept.”
Team Lotto riding the stage five team time trial. Sirotti photo
This was anything but a straightforward Vuelta. As always, it was an edition for the true climbers, with only a handful of sprint opportunities and hardly any transition stages. “And then, in Madrid, we even had a sprint stage taken away from us. That was especially disappointing for Elia Viviani, who had been looking forward to that final stage for three weeks.”
“Of course we knew beforehand that it was going to be a tough Tour of Spain, with a very demanding route. Ideally suited for Lennert Van Eetvelt, but unfortunately we lost him after the Belgian Championship. Then you have to build a different team. A mix of experience- with Jasper De Buyst, Elia Viviani, Eduardo Sepúlveda and Arjen Livyns, who sadly had to leave in the first week due to illness- and debutants like Liam Slock, Lars Craps and Alec Segaert. Together with Jonas Gregaard also, we managed to put together a team that bonded really well. Even though they had only ridden together for the first time in the Tour of Poland.”
The good form of the riders and the fact that- apart from Livyns- everyone stayed healthy unfortunately did not translate into the results we had hoped for. “Craps, Slock and Segaert all made great progress, which they will certainly benefit from next year. We had counted on a few more top-five results, but that didn’t materialize. That’s a pity, because this was genuinely a strong team; everyone rode well, and no one really got into trouble.”
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Here's the team's update:
One of the two stage races in which our team will be involved this week, the Tour de Luxembourg has a hard and relentless parcours, which promises to test the riders every day. Many climbs, some of them boasting double-digit gradients, are spread over the five stages of the 85th edition, which puts on the table also a demanding 26.3km individual time trial that should reshuffle the general classification ahead of Sunday’s final stage.
Soudal Quick-Step’s roster for the of the Tour de Luxembourg will consist of British ITT Champion Ethan Hayter, James Knox, Casper Pedersen, Pepijn Reinderink, Pieter Serry, and Jasper Schoofs, the 19-year old Belgian who finished an impressive top ten this season at the Giro della Valle d’Aosta as part of our Devo Team.
Ethan Hayter earlier this year after stage three at the Tour of Belgium. Sirotti photo
The Tour de Luxembourg will be Sep Vanmarcke’s first stage race since joining the team as sports director this summer. The Belgian, winner of 2012 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, supported the team from behind the wheel at the Grand Prix de Fourmies, won by Paul Magnier, and now is prepared to take on this role again for this week’s five-day race.
“Luxembourg is always a nice stage race and a pretty demanding one as there’s barely a meter of flat there. We aim for a stage win, but we are also prepared to go on the attack and fight for a good general classification. There are many strong riders at the start, but we too have a solid squad for this week. I am motivated after Fourmies, which was a great race to make my debut as a sports director for Soudal Quick-Step, something that I really enjoyed. I look forward to the next couple of days together with the team and to fighting for some nice results”, said Sep Vanmarcke, who’ll lead the team from the car together with Wilfried Peeters.
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Here's the team's news:
Fresh off the back of his outstanding victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, Brandon McNulty has taken a one-way ticket to Europe to lead UAE Team Emirates-XRG at the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg. The American is no stranger to the five-day stage race, having finished as the runner-up behind then-teammate Marc Hirschi in 2023.
The Swiss rider’s victory two years ago was the Emirati squad’s second, with Diego Ulissi also picking up the title in 2020. Returning to the race in which Juan Ayuso claimed a fine stage victory last season, UAE Team Emirates-XRG will be hoping to taste more success this time out.
McNulty’s win in Canada was the 85th of the season for the team, equalling the all-time season victory record of Team Columbia-HTC from 2009. Going into the five-day Tour de Luxembourg, then, McNulty and his teammates are on the brink of creating history with one more win.
Teammates Brandon McNulty & Tadej Pogacar finish the GP de Montréal together, McNulty (on left) getting the win.
Joining the time trial specialist in Luxembourg will be Nils Politt and Jhonatan Narváez, both of whom have also made the trip from Canada, and the soon-to-be retired Rafał Majka, who will be hoping to bid adieu to stage racing in style. The six-man UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad will be completed by Igor Arrieta, who took his first professional victory earlier this season, and Pablo Torres, who helped Isaac del Toro to two victories in Italy over the past week.
Their instructions from the team car will come from the Sports Director duo, Fabrizio Guidi and Andrej Hauptman.
Beginning on Wednesday, 17 September, and ending on Sunday, 21 September, this year’s Tour de Luxembourg has all the ingredients to produce another close contest.
The race begins in the capital city with a 152.8km stage to Fëschmaart. From the off, the battle for seconds will likely prove pivotal in the general classification, with the Spuerkeess Bonus Sprint offering an incentive some 51km out from the finish, and an 800m uphill kick to the line deciding the day’s honours.
Perhaps not enthused by a tricky opening day, the sprinters will get their chance on stage 2, with a flat course from Remich to Mamer offering their first chance to impress. The final kilometre of the stage is completely straight, with the finish line set in front of the old house of the late two-time Tour de France winner, Nicolas Frantz. Frantz won 20 stages of the Grande Boucle in his storied career.
Stage 3 is the Queen stage of the race and features a highly-anticipated finish at the Vianden Castle, where 18% gradients will await the riders on the cobbled climb to the line. The climbing is not saved just for the finish, however, with three ascents of the steep Niklosbierg adding extra spice to a day with 3,248m of climbing across the 170.5km route.
The following day will take the riders from Oberanven to Niederanven for the all-important individual time trial. The 26.3km course looks to be a quick one and will favour the likes of McNulty when it comes to challenging for the top honours.
To round out the race, event president and former Tour de France winner, Andy Schleck, has designed a tricky parcours from Mersch to Luxembourg-Limpertsberg. The 176.4km route has over 3,000m of climbing and features ascents of Nommern, Gralingen, Kautenbach, Misärshaff, and Pabeierbierg. The latter is particularly steep and will be climbed three times on the closing circuit around Luxembourg City.
Expect stage 5 to provide an entertaining conclusion to this year’s edition.
Meanwhile, UAE Team Emirates-XRG will also have the chance to add to its route tally in Belgium on Wednesday afternoon, with a seven-rider squad preparing to hit out at the Grand Prix de Wallonie. With a mix of youth and experience on display, the Emirati squad will hope to improve on Tim Wellens’ sixth place from last season.
Wellens will be in attendance once again, and certainly has the know-how to go well in this one-day semi-Classic. The Belgian won the race in 2017 and will have an excellent set of teammates for this mid-week outing.
Davide Stella and Luca Giaimi will bring a fresh dose of energy from the Gen Z ranks, whilst Rune Herregodts, Julius Johansen, Rui Oliveira and Florian Vermeersch will round out the team from the WorldTour squad.
Sports Directors Fabio Baldato and Jan Polanc will take the reins from the team car, both for the Grand Prix de Wallonie and Saturday’s SUPER 8 Classic.
Also contested in Belgium, the SUPER 8 Classic brought Filippo Baroncini’s first professional win for UAE Team Emirates-XRG last season, and the Emirati squad will be back to defend its title. Herregodts, Johansen, Oliveira, Wellens, Giaimi and Stella will continue on from Wallonie, with António Morgado coming in to the side to replace Vermeersch on Saturday.
On a wave of momentum from multiple wins in the Italian semi-Classics, the Vuelta a España and of course, McNulty’s victory in Montréal, UAE Team Emirates-XRG will hope to continue in the same fashion across Luxembourg and Belgium this week.
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Here’s the team’s news:
Renowned stage appointment for the Polti-VisitMalta, which will contest the Tour of Luxembourg over five days from this Wednesday. Meanwhile, another block moves to Belgium to face the GP Wallonie.
In Luxembourg, the team will look for both partial victories and overall classification. They will be opportunities that will have to be fought for in very undulating profiles, long in mileage and with final circuits. The second stage in Mamer, the third in Vianden Chateau and the last in Luxembourg present those local circuits where the speed will be very high and the peloton will be selected for victory. But the general classification seems destined to be decided in the long time trial of the fourth stage in Niederanven, with more than 26 kilometers.
The block for the race is made up of solid and powerful cyclists, as well as brave enough to be protagonists, such as Mattia Bais, Fran Muñoz, Andrea Pietrobon or Alessandro Tonelli. The leader in the general classification will be Davide Piganzoli, who already achieved ninth position last year, while the sprint arrivals will have the figure of Manuel Peñalver as a reference in search of victory.
Davide Piganzoli at the start of stage five of the 2025 Giro d'Italia. Sirotti photo
Davide Pingazoli: “We have great ambitions to continue getting good results on the competitions we race. We will try to help the team for the goals but to have a good race myself looking for the overall”.
Stefano Zanatta, sports director: “It’s a high-level test for the rivals. The course offers alternatives to the sprint finals with Peñalver, but our advantage is a Davide Piganzoli who will have to rely on the solid block to achieve the best possible goal. The idea is to continue with the results.”
Here's the publisher's post:
“What If? begs the question, ‘What if Bill’s life was a movie?’ Well, you’d never believe it if it was.
A once hard-living, hard-drinking truck driver turned one of the pioneers of elite professional cycling in the United States, Bill spins stories about wild nights and fierce competitions, and tales filled with echoes and irony as he becomes a father and returns to a big rig in his 60s.
Bill has crammed the lives of 9 or 10 men into his 80 years and continues putting more pages into his remarkable life on the bike and off.
Here's the link to buy the book.
The book's cover.
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