Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Monday, May 9, 2016

LottoNL-Jumbo sent me this Giro news:

Tjallingii grabs mountain jersey in Giro d’Italia’s stage 3

Maarten Tjallingii grabbed the mountain jersey during the third stage of the Giro d’Italia. The experienced rider of Team LottoNL-Jumbo was part of the breakaway for the second time this weekend and won the mountain sprint on the Posbank. Marcel Kittel (Etixx - Quick Step) won the stage and grabbed the overall lead. Moreno Hofland finished seventh. Primoz Roglic crashed in the final part of the stage and lost almost eight minutes.

What Tjallingii failed to do on Saturday, he did today. He won the mountain sprint on the Posbank and grabbed the lead in the mountain classification. “I gave it all to win that sprint,” he said, wearing the blue jersey. “The crowd encouraged me. The people were screaming so loud that I didn’t feel my legs anymore. I wanted this so badly. I was focussed on this jersey. After the top of the Posbank, I exploded. I was barely able to keep on pedalling.”

The crowd impressed the Dutch WorldTour team. “I saw all the signs of support,” Sports Director Addy Engels said. “It was wonderful. Maarten rewarded himself for these two beautiful days. This mountain jersey is fantastic for him.”

Tjallingii’s win was overshadowed partly by Primoz Roglic’s crash in the final part of the stage. The Slovenian, who was second overall at the start, was involved in a big crash on the beginning of the final local lap together with Martijn Keizer.

Maarten Tjallingii racing at this year's Tour Down Under

“His crash is a real setback,” Engels continued. “We weren’t counting on him in the general classification this Giro, but to lose those aspirations due to a crash is very annoying.”

After Roglic’s crash, Team LottoNL-Jumbo must think about other targets. “It immediately became clear that he wouldn’t be able to come back so we had to move on,” Engels added. “We just kept Steven Kruijswijk in front and Moreno got another chance to go for the bunch sprint. It’s good that he finished seventh. He delivered a strong final 200 metres, but had to come from too far behind.”

On Monday, the peloton will fly to the south of Italy. “These days were special,” Engels added. “They felt like three national holidays. Tomorrow won’t feel like a rest day. We have to wake up early, so that’s always tiresome. Tuesday, will be too hard for the sprinters. That stage might suit Enrico Battaglin and we must keep Steven in the best possible position another time.”

Fractured finger for Dillier in Giro d'Italia crash

This came from BMC:

8 May 2016, Arnhem (NED): Silvan Dillier sustained a fractured finger after crashing out of the Giro d'Italia in the last 12 kilometers of Stage 3.

BMC Racing Team physician, Dr. Giovanni Ruffini provided the following update on Dillier's condition. "We took Silvan to the hospital to undergo X-Rays on his right hand and arm which is the area that he landed on during the crash. X-Rays revealed a dislocated fracture of the first phalange of his second finger," Dr Ruffini said.

Silvan Dillier leading a break in last year's Tour of Switzerland

"Silvan will return to Switzerland in the morning and undergo surgery to secure the fracture. At this stage we do not have a clear indication of when he will be able to resume training but he will most likely need ten or so days off. We will know more after his surgery."

Dillier is extremely disappointed to have crashed out so early in the race. "It's obviously really disappointing to not only miss out on the chance to get a good result at the Giro d'Italia but also because this was important preparation for the Olympic Games. I hope to be back on the bike as soon as possible and be back in good form for GP du canton d'Agovie, which is my home race and a big goal for me," Dillier said.

Jean-Christophe Péraud crashes out of Giro

Ag2r sent me this sad news:

Jean-Christophe Péraud fell at Km 80 of the 3rd stage of the Giro d'Italia that went from Nijmegen to Arnhem. A fall in a roundabout at KM 80 of a nervous stage caused his abandonment.

Jean-Christophe Péraud

Eric Bouvat, medical director of the AG2R La Mondiale team: "Jean-Christophe Péraud suffers from head trauma, facial trauma with loss of consciousness, but also various bruises and abrasions of the upper and lower limbs. A scan if his head and face carried out Zutpen Hospital (The Netherlands) revealed no fracture or intracranial lesions. I want to emphasize and thank the efficiency of the medical service of the Giro and Zutpen Hospital who went to work caring for Jean-Christophe so quickly. "

Jean-Christophe will released from the hospital and will return to France in the coming hours

Giro d’Italia stage 3: Johann van Zyl just caught in nail-biting finish

This news is from Team Dimension Data:

Marcel Kittel (Etixx-Quickstep) made it two for two when he won today’s 3rd stage of the Giro d’Italia from Nijmegen to Arnhem. Elia Viviani (Team Sky) took 2nd place in the mass sprint with Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) placing 3rd.

Today’s 190km stage had a number of similarities to yesterday’s stage, with an early escape also going clear almost from the gun. 4 riders got the jump and there were 2 familiar faces in Maarten Tjallingii (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini), both riders were part of the break yesterday as well. Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka also had representation in the move once again and today it was in the form of our South African, Johann van Zyl. Julen Amezqueta (Willier-Southeast) was the final rider making up the escape quartet.

Like yesterday, the stage was almost totally flat with just one categorised climb coming midway through the stage. As Tjallingii picked up 2 points behind our King of the Mountains victor, Omar Fraile, yesterday, the Dutchman was set to take over the Blue Jersey as long he wasn’t 4th across the summit of today’s climb. Tjallingii made no mistakes and took maximum points on offer and also the jersey.

Johann van Zyl (left, in black/white kit) in the break from which he launched his solo effort.

Attention was now focused on the stage result and everybody was once again expecting a sprint finish. With 20km to go, the 4 leaders had 2’13” on the peloton and there was a slight sense of belief that the quartet could make it to the line. A crash in the peloton did not help the cause of main bunch in their efforts to chase down the leaders and Van Zyl still had something left in the tank to give.

Our South African attacked his 3 breakaway counterparts with 12km to go and with the peloton just 45” behind. He was able to open the gap back up to 1 minute just briefly before Etixx-Quickstep and the other sprinters teams really started to ramp up the pace in the peloton. Van Zyl had 34” with 5km to go and although @VanSnail is his social media handle and team nickname, he was certainly travelling a lot faster than a Snail’s pace.

Unfortunately, after a brave and courageous effort, Van Zyl was caught with 1.8km to go and the sprinters would have their day. Our African Team had birthday boy, Kristian Sbaragli, in the thick of the action once again. As Kittel sprinted to the stage victory and also into the overall pink leader’s jersey, our Italian had another solid ride to cross the line in 6th place for our African Team.

Johann van Zyl: It was a long day. For the first half of the race it was more or less a headwind so we had to time our effort smartly. After the feedzone we started riding harder and harder. With a tailwind and 6-minute lead we knew we could get quite far if we rode smart but the guys were saving energy for the mountain sprint so they weren’t really committing. Once we got onto the local laps we rode as hard as we could and I attacked them with about 12km to go. I don’t know if the guys just didn’t want to commit anymore or if they were just tired but I knew I had to go now. I went as hard as I could and I ended up being 1 or 2 kilometers short, next time.

Rolf Aldag – Head of Performance
We had the perfect game plan today. Johann was committed, he put his hand up this morning in the meeting and said he wanted to give it a shot. He knew it was going to be super difficult with Kittel chasing the seconds, they weren’t going to give up the stage for free, but he wanted to try. His solo attack was really nice to see, there was absolutely a chance that he was going to make it but the race was just 1 kilometer too long for us today. The really good thing is the guys are just so committed and they are really trying, you can’t expect more than that and you could also see Johann’s talent. He is still young, it is just the 2nd stage of the Giro d’Italia and he doesn’t save anything, he was just flat out and that is really nice to see.

Wynants extends Team LottoNL-Jumbo contract for two years

This came from LottoNL-Jumbo

Maarten Wynants extended his contract with Team LottoNL-Jumbo through 2018. The Belgian rider plays an important role in the spring classics and the sprint lead-out in the Dutch team.

Technical Director Nico Verhoeven is happy with the contract extension of Maarten Wynants. “Especially in the classics, Maarten Wynants is a strong helper knows the roads,” Sports Director Nico Verhoeven said. “He reached a high level in those races this year, as well. Besides that, he is important in the lead-out for Dylan Groenewegen. Maarten is physically strong. He takes the right decisions and leads the team in those situations. That’s important during our project towards 2018 in which the development of talented riders plays a major role.”

Wynants wants to build a group around Groenewegen and to help Team LottoNL-Jumbo win. “It didn’t take long before we had a deal,” he added. “The sprint train is a new thing for me, but it’s an interesting process. I’m able to share my experience with the team and we’re developing quite quickly. I want to keep on being a part of that train and to help this him become a success.

“The Flemish spring classics are my personal target every year and I will focus on the lead-out afterwards. I will participate in the same grand tours as Dylan in the upcoming years.”