Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Thursday, March 17, 2022

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2021 Tour de France | 2021 Giro d'Italia

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is. - Francis Bacon

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Les Woodland's book Sticky Buns Across America: Back-roads biking from sea to shining sea is available as an audiobook here. For the print and Kindle eBook versions, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• March 17: GP de Denain

Upcoming racing:

• March 18: Bredene Koksijde Classic
• March 19: Milano-Sanremo
• March 19: Classic Loire Atlantique
  

Latest completed racing:

• March 16: Nokere Koerse
• March 16: Milano-Torino
• March 6 - 13: Paris-Nice
• March 7 - 13: Tirreno-Adriatico
• March 13: Ronde van Drenthe
• March 5: Strade Bianche
• March 2: Trofeo Laigueglia
• March 1: Le Samyn

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Milano-Torino team reports

We posted the report from winner Mark Cavendish's Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team with the results

Here's the report from third-place Alexander Kristoff's Intermarché-Wanty Gobert team:

Alexander Kristoff took his fifth podium of the season and the eleventh for the Belgian World Team in 2022 in a sprint in Milano-Torino (1.Pro, 16/03) this Wednesday. The oldest race on the calendar followed a parcours suited for fast riders between Magenta and Rivoli.

In addition to the final, Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux also took its responsibility in the chase behind the early breakaway of three riders by positioning Italian rider Simone Petilli in the lead of the peloton. The escapees were caught with 20 kilometer to go, after which a duo led the race until the final 4 kilometer.

Alexander Kristoff and Biniam Girmay were protected by their teammates until the last moment and both participated to the sprint in the streets of Rivoli. The Norwegian rider launched his powerful effort on the left side of the road and obtained third place. His 21 year old teammate finished tenth and took his fourth top ten in ten days.

Mark Cavendish wins the 2022 Milano-Torino. RCS photo.

Following his crash just after the feed zone, German rider Georg Zimmermann has been transported to hospital for radiography but no severe injuries

"First, I'm satisfied that I have a good feeling going into the classics. In contrary to 2021, when I got sick after Paris-Nice, I recovered well from an intense week in Tirreno-Adriatico and feel that my form benefits from it. I didn't obtain promising results in the Race of the Two Seas, but I knew that I had the legs. This enabled me to finish on the podium today. It was a pity that we lost Georg Zimmermann in a crash, because he was an important element in our sprint train. Together with Loïc he was charged of positioning us in the final. After the analysis of the final kilometers, we can conclude that we could have done better in terms of cohesion. It was a pity that we lost each other and that we didn't manage to unite our forces, because also Andrea Pasqualon and Biniam Girmay had good legs. I believe in this team and I know that we are able to win this type of races. All of this is a good sign three days ahead of Milano-San Remo." - Alexander Kristoff

Here's the Milano-Torino report from Team Bora-hansgrohe:

The oldest road race still in existence took place today in Northern Italy, taking the peloton over around 200km from Milan to Turin. This year, apart from a few hillier sections, the parcours was relatively flat and was made for the fast men, who ultimately sprinted for the win in Rivoli.

BORA-hansgrohe tried to mix things up in the sprint with Marco Haller, but due to the hectic nature of the finale, the team wasn't able to find a good position heading into the finish, and so none of the team's riders managed to contest the sprint.

"In contrast to previous editions of the race, this year's Milano-Torino was flat, and so a bunch sprint was expected. The final few kilometres were quite technical, featuring several roundabouts and narrow streets. On a parcours like this, positioning becomes quite important. The guys tried to bring Marco into a good position to contest the sprint, but they lost each other near a roundabout, and so Marco wasn't able to take part in the final sprint. It's obviously not the result we had been hoping for, but that's cycling. Now we're focusing fully on the next race here in Italy, an important one, the Milan-Sanremo Monument." - Enrico Gasparotto, Sports Director

Nokere Koerse team reports

We posted the report from third-place Arnaud De Lie's Lotto Soudal team with the results.

Here's the report from fourth-place Bert Van Lerberghe's Quick-step Alpha Vinyl team:

Bert Van Lerberghe confirmed again his strong condition, just two weeks after taking a solid eighth place at Le Samyn, and featured in the action-filled finale of Nokere Koerse. Taking in several climbs, including five ascents of the emblematic Nokereberg, the 76th edition of the 189.9km one-day race came down to a bunch sprint, despite numerous attempts to tear up the script.

Tim Merlier wins Nokere Koerse.

Not content to wait the bunch sprint, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl were one of the main instigators, launching several attacks with the likes of Mauro Schmid and Jannik Steimle, who applied pressure on the local laps, throwing caution to the wind and leaving everything out there as the kilometers ticked down.

Despite their valiant efforts, the race came down to a mass gallop – as expected – and Bert Van Lerberghe finished just outside the podium, as Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) took the win. Jannik Steimle made it two Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl in the upper echelon of the general classification, rolling across the line in tenth place.

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