Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, February 11, 2023

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2022 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia

There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book. - Marcel Proust

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Les Woodland's book Sticky Buns Across America: Back-roads biking from sea to shining sea is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• Feb 11: Vuelta a la Region de Murcia
• Feb 11 - 15: Tour of Oman

Upcoming racing

• Feb 12: Clasica de Almeria

Latest completed racing:

• Feb 10: Muscat Classic
• Feb 9 - 12: Tour de la Provence Race cancelled
• Feb 1- 5: Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
• Feb 1 - 5: Etoile de Bessèges
• Jan 30 - Feb 3: Saudi Tour
• Jan 22 - 29: Vuelta a San Juan
• Jan 25 - 29: Challenge Illes Balears-Volta Ciclista a Mallorca
• Jan 28 & 29: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
• Jan 29: GP Cycliste la Marseillaise

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Rohan Dennis will retire at the end of the 2023 racing season

Eurosport posted this:

Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) has announced he will retire from professional cycling at the end of the 2023 season.

The Australian is part of an exclusive club to wear the leader’s jersey at the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and La Vuelta, while he also boasts stage victories at all three Grand Tours.

Rohan Dennis wins the second stage of this year's Tour Down Under. Sirotti photo

In his pomp, Dennis was unstoppable against the clock. He won back-to-back time trial golds at the Road World Championships in 2018 and 2019, while he returned to form at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 to take a brilliant bronze.

“Cycling, you have given me a lot and I’ll be forever grateful. It is still a long season ahead however it will definitely be my last as a professional,” Dennis wrote on Instagram.

While his own GC ambitions failed to materialise at Grand Tours, he played a starring role as super domestique at Ineos Grenadiers as he helped launch Tao Geoghegan Hart to the Giro in 2020.

Dennis’ prowess extended to the velodrome, where he won silver in the team pursuit at the London Olympics in 2012. He also won two world team pursuit titles and briefly held the Hour Record in 2015.

The 32-year-old has previously stated his desire to have a final crack at the world time trial title. "I'm not sure if it will be the Giro or the Tour yet," Dennis told Rouleur last year. "Obviously, the Tour would be great prep for Worlds which is 10 days after, and the Worlds time trial is a race I really want to have another crack at."

Dennis already boasts one win in 2023, taking Stage 2 at the Tour Down Under.

Here's the Eurosport post

Team DSM reports on the second stage of the Women’s UAE Tour

Here’s the team’s update:

After yesterday’s opening stage success, Charlotte Kool was resplendent in the race leader’s jersey as the peloton rolled out of Al Dharfa Castle this afternoon, faced with another flat parcours. Yet, the bunch would almost immediately explode to pieces as they left the neutralised start, blowing to bits in the crosswinds. The team were alert and to the fore with Kool, Pfeiffer Georgi, Franziska Koch and Daniek Hengeveld all making the front group of 19.

Powering on, at one point their advantage was close to two minutes on the chasers but after the first intermediate sprint point the gap reduced do to a headwind and a strong chase behind. Another change of direction saw things split once more with the Team DSM quartet making now a front group of 11. Yet, once again a change of direction at 50 kilometres to go saw the peloton battle into a fierce headwind and the first chasing group would come back.

Despite a deficit that reached almost five minutes, the next group on the road which featured Esmée Peperkamp and Maeve Plouffe would also return as the peloton battled into the headwind. Ultimately the day would come down to a bunch sprint finish where the team powered forward en masse at just over one kilometre to go, with an incredible leadout train and stringing out the peloton. Peeling off one by one, Georgi was the last rider in front of Kool as they came around the closing corner and were in sight of the finish line. Launching a strong sprint, Kool managed to get up for second place as Wiebes took the win, while Georgi held on for a valiant third after her strong leadout efforts.

Lorena Wiebes takes the second stage of the Women's UAE Tour. Team DSM photo

Speaking after the stage Kool said: “It was a chaotic and hectic stage but everyone did really well and we were super strong as a team in the echelons in the first part of the day. Then going into the sprint finish everyone did amazing and it was a perfect leadout. I made a bit of a mistake and allowed myself to be pushed out of Pfeiffer’s wheel before the last corner so was riding into the wind which in the end cost me some energy for the sprint. It’s a shame not to be able to finish off that teamwork but we will give it another go and are all motivated for the sprint on Sunday.”

Results:

133 kilometers raced at an average speed of 37.036 km/hr

1. Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx) 3hr 35min 28sec
2. Charlotte Kool (Team DSM) s.t.
3. Georgi Pfeiffer (Team DSM) s.t

GC after stage 2:

1. Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx) 6hr 22min 26sec
2. Charlotte Kool (Team DSM) s.t.
3. Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) @ 10sec

Muscat Classic team reports

We posted the report from the race organizer with the results.

Here's the report from second-place Jordi Warlop's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

A late replacement for our team in Oman, where he travelled after illness forced James Knox to skip the two races there, Jordi Warlop came close to his first victory for the team at the inaugural edition of the Muscat Classic (173.7km), an appetizer for the five-day Tour of Oman, which is due to start this weekend.

Comprising six climbs, the last of which – Al Jissah – came in the final five kilometers and featured some nasty double-digit gradients, Friday’s race witnessed one of the biggest gaps a breakaway has enjoyed in recent memory, lone leader Manabu Ishibashi (JLC Team Ukyo) putting a staggering 17 minutes between him and the peloton.

Soudal Quick-Step was one of the three teams to take the reins at the head of the group, steadily eating into that advantage, which was halved with 80 kilometers to go. One hour later, the bunch was again as one, but only for a brief moment, as attacks started coming thick and fast on the succession of hills stacked in the last 20 kilometers.

Mauri Vansevenant was one of the most active riders, booking a place in a 12-man move that zipped away over the top of the penultimate ascent, but a lack of collaboration between the leaders allowed the chasers to come back. Despite some accelerations on the viciously steep gradients of Al Jissah, nobody could make the difference, so the race ended up being decided in a 25-man sprint, which saw Jordi Warlop take second, just behind Jenthe Biermans (Arkea Samsic).

Jenthe Biermans takes the stage with Jordi Warlop just behind. Photo: ASO/Thomas Maheux

“I knew that if I make it over the last climb, then a top 10 was possible, but this result exceeds my expectations, so I’m very happy”, said Jordi, who came across from the Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team, which he joined only a few months ago. “Last year, I crashed hard at the National Championships in June, and I had to stay in bed for six weeks. I recovered and returned, had a good training camp, but then the news about B&B came and I had to search for a team. Luckily, I could join the Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team, a chance for which I am very grateful. I hope that today is just the beginning and good results will continue to come.”

And here’s the Muscat Classic report from eighth-place Ide Schelling’s Team Bora-hansgrohe:

The inaugural edition of the Muscat Classic in Oman featured some short yet steep climbs on the 173.7 km long course. After a soloist was able to gain a maximum gap of around 17 minutes, BORA - hansgrohe began to push the pace in the last third of the race. As a result, the lead of the escapee quickly tumbled until the race came together after 140 km in the saddle. On the last climb Ide Schelling attacked and ultimately crossed the line in eighth place in a sprint from a reduced field.

The peloton races across Oman. Photo: ASO/Thomas Maheux

"Our plan was to have an intense race. We tried to attack in the finale and then have Ide ready for the sprint in case it came down to a fast finish. The guys did a really good job there. Matt positioned the team well, then Ben attacked nicely on that rollercoaster road. We made it pretty hard and on the final climb. Both Ide and Ben took off, and Emu tried to attack as well. In the end, Ide was second until about 200 metres from the finish, but then a wave of sprinters came from behind and just flew past him. So he was in the mix in terms of the result, but of course it wasn't enough for the win.  The biggest handicap, I think, was the wind direction. We had headwinds on the final climbs and unfortunately you can't get away from a group of 30 riders on your own there. But we are satisfied with the way the race played out and look ahead with confidence to the Tour of Oman." - Rolf Aldag, Sports Director

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