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Thursday, October 8, 2020
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2020 Tour de France | 2019 Giro d'Italia
Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance. - Epicurus
Current racing:
- October 3 - 25: Giro d'Italia
Upcoming racing:
- October 11: Gent-Wevelgem
- October 11: Paris-Tours
Latest completed racing:
- October 7: De Brabantse Pijl/ La Flèche Brabanconne
- Sept 27 - Oct 5: Tour of Portugal
- October 4: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- September 29 - Oct 3: BinckBank Tour
- September 30: La Flèche Wallonne
- September 24 - 27: UCI World Road Championships
- September 22: Paris-Camembert
- August 29 - Sept 20: Tour de France
- September 15 - 19: Tour de Luxembourg
- September 19: Giro dell'Appenino
- September 17: Coppa Sabatini
Giro d'Italia stage five team reports
We posted the report from stage winner Filippo Ganna's Team INEOS Grenadiers with the results.
GC leader Joao Almeida's Deceuninck-Quick Step team posted this report:
João Almeida gained his place in the race’s history books Wednesday afternoon, when he safely retained the overall lead in Camigliatello Sillano, overtaking countryman Acacio da Silva and becoming the Portuguese rider with the most pink jerseys, which on stage 6 he will wear for the third consecutive day.
Joao Almeida celebrating another day in pink. Sirotti photo
Deceuninck – Quick-Step moved to the front of the bunch soon after the start in Mileto, setting a moderate tempo behind the eight escapees and making was Almeida was at all times protected. The likes of Davide Ballerini and Iljo Keisse worked tirelessly before James Knox, Fausto Masnada and Pieter Serry took over on the long Valico Montescuro climb (24.2km, 5.6%), pulling for João, who remained well placed and focused as the weather worsened and the roads became wet and slick.
Five kilometers from the summit, other teams took the reins and pulled hard in an attempt to reel in the attackers, but Filippo Ganna (Ineos) managed to stay at the front and claim the win at the race’s first visit since 1982 in Camigliatello Sillano.
The maglia rosa wearer found the short uphill drag to the line very much to his liking and sprinted to third place, the bonifications he earned helping him widen his margin in the general classification to 43 seconds. At the end of the stage, João went to the podium to collect both pink and white jersey in a special ceremony organised by the organisers, who sent a message of support to Fabio Jakobsen and Remco Evenepoel, who are on the mend after their injuries.
“I was prepared for the worst today, including losing the maglia rosa, but at the end of the day I had good legs and an amazing team supporting me, who did a tremendous job. On the climb it was cold and on the descent a bit crazy, but I managed it well. Then, in the last 150 meters, I went for the bonifications and I’m glad I could get some, because they helped me extend my advantage on the general classification. I have two top 3 finishes in the first five stages of the race, two jerseys and my confidence is going up with each day, which bodes well for the coming stages”, said the youngest rider in eight years to don the maglia rosa.
Here is the report from second-place Patrick Konrad's Bora-hansgrohe team:
After four days in Sicily, the Giro d’Italia made its way onto the Italian mainland and started to head north. The 225km stage profile was distinctly choppy, with not only three categorised climbs – the last a first category ascent cresting 12km before the finish line – but also an undulating parcours over the stage’s entire length, making for tired legs come the finale.
Of the 3,700m of climbing today, 1,400m of it would take place on the Valico Montescuro, stretching 24.9km before a short descent to the finish line. There was a flurry of activity in the peloton when the stage started, with several attempts to break away – including one by the points jersey holder, Peter Sagan – extinguished by a nervous peloton. Four managed to get away, joined a few kilometres later by another four, their numbers allowing them to build a lead that hit 5:15 at its peak.
After a long day on the front and the break closing in on the hard final climb, riders started to fall off the back, with their numbers shrinking to six, just as a two-man attack came from the peloton, just two minutes separating all the groups on the road as the race entered its final 25km. This duo caught the leaders just as the descent of the final climb started, its slopes wet from drizzling rain and creating treacherous conditions, before a further solo attack in the last 15km from Ineos Grenadiers’ Filippo Ganna went on to take the stage.
While the GC riders were taking care on the wet roads, this didn’t stop some sprinting in the closing metres to try and gain bonus seconds, Patrick Konrad taking second with a strong effort and Rafał Majka crossing the line in eleventh. These efforts put both riders into the GC top ten, with Patrick in ninth and Rafał in tenth.
Patrick Konrad takes second in the stage. Sirotti photo
"It was a hard stage but really under control. The team worked well together, we were brought into a good position for the climb and then focused on the descent. We were at the front, we didn't have to take any risks and, in the finish, I was able to take second place." – Patrick Konrad
"We had another very good day at the Giro with Patrick Konrad's second place. If I'm not mistaken this must also be his career-best, a second in a Grand Tour stage. The GC contenders group caught all the riders ahead except Ganna, who has been strong lately. Patrick sprinted to second in the GC group and got the bonus seconds as well. We also move to 9th and 10th in the overall standings. In my view, we can be satisfied with the performance of the team so far. Peter retains the ciclamino jersey, we had three second places in five stages, our worst result in the road stages was fifth and I think victory will come. Having said that, the Giro is far from over, we still have 16 stages ahead of us, some of them really tough, so we need to stay focused and work hard every day." – Jens Zemke, Sports Director
Grace Brown powers to her first European victory at Women's Brabantse Pijl
Brown's Mitchelton-Scott team sent me this report:
Days after her first European podium at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Australian Grace Brown has taken her first European win in impressive style at Brabantse Pijl today.
Grace Brown at the 2018 Tour Down Under
Showing her incredible form, Brown attacked and passed a solo leader with 18km remaining before extending her lead ahead of a chase by Team Sunweb for a statement solo victory.
As soon as the flag dropped Mitchelton-SCOTT started as they meant to go on and went to the front of the peloton to drive the pace, forcing the race into one long line as they navigated through the narrow, twisty Belgian roads.
Despite the nature of the course and a relentless procession of climbs, the elastic didn’t snap, and the peloton remained as one large group until they entered the finish line for the first time with just over 40km to go.
Mavi Garcia (Ale-BTC Ljubljana) and Katia Ragusa (Astana Pro Team) jumped away from the bunch which continued to whittle down just after the first passage of the line. As the first real move of the day, the peloton was attentive with riders trying to bridge across, including Brown.
The move eventually came back and the action really began with fresh new attacks and continuous splits as the peloton yo-yoed back and forth.
Shortly after, with around 30km to go Lauren Stephens (Tibco-SVB) took advantage of a lull in the peloton and attacked away solo, hovering around 30 seconds ahead. Over the following climbs Brown tried to force the peloton to chase but with no cohesion the Australian waited, recovered and then launched the race winning move.
Within seconds Brown had successfully made the junction to Stephens on a cobbled climb but, not leaving anything to chance, the 28-year-old powered straight past and went on ahead in solo pursuit of victory.
Despite a hard chase behind from Team Sunweb duo, Liane Lippert and Floortje Mackaij, the former Australian time trial champion was able to increase her advantage and fly to a spectacular solo for Mitchelton-SCOTT.
Grace Brown:
“It is pretty exciting to cross the line first for my first time in Europe. I took confidence from Sunday into today’s race and I think that really helped me. I have made a bit of a jump in this last week which is really cool.
“On that final lap I just saw an opportunity when girls where attacking and there was a bit of confusion and I just decided to attack and go for it.
"When I got across to Stephens it was on a cobbled section and she tried to ride the gutter and then was struggling to come across to me and completed lost momentum, so I decided to just go.
"Then into the final I heard that the Sunweb riders were trying to come across and I was getting time gaps and it was sort of the opposite of Sunday in Liège.
"The time was coming down and I was pretty on the limit but once we hit the headwind it started to go out again, so I felt pretty confident then with just a few kilometres left to finish.”
2020 Brabantse Pijl Result:
1. Grace Brown (Mitchelton-SCOTT)
2. Liane Lippert (Team Sunweb)
3. Floortje Mackaij (Team Sunweb)
Men's De Brabantse Pijl reports
We posted the report from winner Julian Alaphilppe's Deceuninck-Quick Step team with the results.
Here's the report from third-place Benoit Cosnefroy's Ag2r La Mondiale team:
“Against Julian [Alaphilippe] and Mathieu [van der Poel], I didn’t have a lot of options. I tried to start the sprint first to try to get the jump on them, but I knew it would be difficult for me to out-sprint these two. I tried my best. It was important for me that the three of us came to the line together especially if I wanted to get on the podium. If the group behind us came back, it would have been more complicated. And I would rather be on the podium than be fifth.”
Julian Alaphilippe takes a close one.
THE NUMBER: 27
On his return to competition, Romain Bardet took 27th place 32” behind the winner. He will next compete in Paris-Tours on Sunday.
THE NEWS:
Paret-Peintre 22nd overall in the Giro.
After the 5th stage of the Giro, which he finished in 26th place, Aurélien Paret-Peintre climbs up to 22nd place in the general classification: “We were off only about 500 meters with Larry (who finished 25th) to be among the best on the last climb. We were always pushing it all day with a lot of climbing by the end (4400 meters), but the cols were mostly rolling. I'm satisfied to have grabbed a few more places in the overall standings and I'm going to keep doing my best to hang on."
Bora-hansgrohe sent me this report:
The 60th edition of the Brabantse Pijl started in Leuven today to bring the peloton after very undulated 197 km with non-less than 23 climbs to Overijse. With Juraj Sagan BORA – hansgrohe had a rider in today’s break, which was able to establish a solid five-minute leader over the peloton before the gap started to come down gradually on the last 100 kilometers.
With 60km to go the pace in the bunch increased significantly and plenty of attacks were flying from the bunch. At this stage of the race also BORA – hansgrohe was quite active at the front and after the initial break was caught Marcus Burghardt was first part of a new leading group, but when Van der Poel and Alaphilippe went on the decisive attack no one from the German team was able to respond. In the end Alaphilippe took the win, while Ide Schelling led the second chasing group to the line the finish today’s race in 13th place.
"Actually I didn’t have good legs today and was supposed to help Lennard and the others. It was really a hard race with plenty of attacks on the last 50 kilometers. We tried it also with Lennard and Marcus, but missed the decisive split. I was on the limit for the last 60km or so, but found myself in the second chasing group in the end. We pushed hard to catch the front group, but that didn’t work out unfortunately. Still I am happy with my performance and the result." – Ide Schelling
"We knew that it will be hard for us today in the finale, therefore we wanted to take a chance in a move a little early. Juraj was part of the early break and when his group was caught, we attacked with different riders. Unfortunately, the pace in the bunch was really high and no group formed. When Alaphilippe went clear we have been caught on the back foot and just had Ide in the second chasing group. He rode a strong race and finished inside the top 15. Not the result we hoped for, but the guys did still a good job today." – Steffen Radochla, Sports Director
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