Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
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2022 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia
If you want peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. - Desmond Tutu
Bill & Carol McGann’s book The Story of the Tour de France, 2022: The Fastest Tour Ever is available as in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- April 25 - 30: Tour de Romandie
Upcoming racing:
- April 29 - May 1: Vuelta Asturias
Latest completed racing:
- April 23: Liege-Bastogne-Liege
- April 17 - 21: Tour of the Alps
- April 19: La Fleche Wallone
- April 16: Amstel Gold Race
- April 3 - 8: Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco
- April 4 - 7: Région Pays de la Loire Tour
- April 9: Paris-Roubaix
- April 11: Paris-Camembert
- April 11 - 14: Il Giro di Sicilia
- April 16: Amstel Gold Race
After successful repair surgery, here are the tweets his UAE Team Emirates posted:
Medical Update: Dr.Adrian Rotunno (Medical Director):
Tadej Pogacar had a comminuted scaphoid fracture which required a small screw to realign the bone fragments. The procedure was successful and he will begin his recovery period at home.
Due to the nature of the injury, it’s approximately a 6 weeks’ recovery. Though he will start with immediate rehab, and some training on an indoor trainer in the coming days."
Pogacar posted this photo
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Here’s the team’s post:
The last stage race on the road to Giro d’Italia is the Tour de Romandie, running from Tuesday, 25th to Sunday, 30th April on the roads of the francophone area of western Switzerland for a total of 690 km et 12,900 m of elevation gain.
The 6-day UCI WorldTour stage race will open with a traditional prologue, followed by 5 stages that offer chances to shine for every kind of rider: sprinters, time trialists, and climbers. Those with a good mix of these characteristics will likely be the GC winner at the end of the week. Inside Bahrain Victorious’ lineup is a rider that meets those skills in Gino Mäder, the Swiss rider was second overall in last year’s edition, and ready to be the team’s leader on his home roads:
Gino Mäder on the podium of the 2021 Vuelta a España. Sirotti photo
“Obviously, I am super excited to return to this race where I did so well last year, and I’d happily prove last year’s performance. I am always proud to lead a team, especially in a home race. It won’t be easy, but it will surely be an enjoyable week”.
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“Gino will be our leader for the GC”, Bahrain Victorious Sports Director Neil Stephens explains, “His focus will be right on the pan-flat prologue, then the time trial for puncher on stage 3 and the Queen stage with the finish atop Thyon 2000 on the penultimate day, a 162 km course featuring three long climbs and twisty descents, for a total of 4,133 m of difference in altitude, where the best riders in the TT will probably be those who will fight for the final podium on this day. We wish that, besides Gino, we will also have Damiano Caruso as a contender for the stage win and a good GC place in his role of co-leader. He will also focus on the prologue and the ITT stage”.
The remaining stages will most probably be sprinters’ days, although the courses are bumpy. In particular, stages 1 and 5 should suit the fast men to end the week with a bunch sprint in Genève.
“The fastest guy in our lineup for the Tour de Romandie is Dusan Rajovic,” Stephens says. “For sure, he will go for the win on stage 1 and probably on stage 5, but we have to consider how the week goes. Stage 2 is harder, and it suits Nikias Arndt more, who will also be our road captain. In this race, we will have objectives for a stage result each day with a few different riders. While we work day by day for stage results, we will always keep in mind the GC. We will be focused from the beginning, as we want to start the week well with a good prologue from all riders. And we have quite skilled guys at TT. Besides those mentioned above, I’m expecting a good performance from Johan Price-Pejtersen and Filip Maciejuk. Both will also have the role of general support alongside Rainer Kepplinger. Our goal for the Tour de Romandie is to achieve at least one stage win and a top 5 result or better, a podium in the General Classification”.
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Here’s the update from Woods’ Team Israel-Premier Tech:
On the back of some strong form at the Ardennes classics, Mike Woods is back at the Tour de Romandie, where he hopes to repeat his success from 2021, a race in which he finished 5th overall, and won a stage.
Michael Woods wins stage four of the 2021 Tour de Romandie.
With the same finish occurring this year on stage 4, after the individual time trial on stage 3, Woods hopes to repeat his performance from previous editions.
“I want to be competing for the podium, or if not a top 5. I won on the stage which finishes in Thyon in 2021 which is essentially the same this year, so I’d like to repeat that performance.”
Romandie will not be without its challenges, however. Having been racing in the Ardennes, and finishing a tough edition of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Woodsy knows that performing well at this race is hard.
“Romandie is always a tricky race, after Liege-Bastogne-Liege, mentally it’s quite challenging, as you’ve done one of the hardest Monuments on the calendar, then you have to turn round and race two days later, so it’s hard. Normally I’m quite binary at this race, I feel I’m either the best guy in the peloton or the worst, so obviously I’m hoping to be on the better end of the spectrum.”
The six-stage Tour de Romandie starts on May 25th with a prologue in Port Valais.
Riders:
Mike Woods
Chris Froome
Giacomo Nizzolo
Rick Zabel
Reto Hollenstein
Mason Hollyman
Nick Schultz
Sports Directors:
David Bailey
Rene Mandri
Jens Blatter
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