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Friday, November 8, 2024

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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. - H. L. Mencken

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Bill McGann’s book Why Your Bike Is Made in Asia: My career in bicycles as I watched two continents squander an industry is available in print & Kindle eBook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Upcoming racing:

• November 17: Flandriencross
• December 15: Namur

Latest completed racing:

• November 3: European Cyclocross Championships
• November 1: X20 Trofee Oudenaarde-Koppenbergcross
• October 27: Superprestige Overijse-Vlaamse Druivencross
• October 15 - 20: Tour of Guangxi
• October 20: Japan Cup Road Race
• October 20: Veneto Classic
• October 16: Giro del Veneto
• October 13: Chrono des Nations

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Here are the latest UCI rider rankings:

Team and Country rankings are just below the rider list.

	Rider	Team	Points
1	Tadej Pogačar	UAE Team Emirates	11655
2	Remco Evenepoel	Soudal Quick-Step	6072.57
3	Jasper Philipsen	Alpecin-Deceuninck	4790
4	Ben O'Connor	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	4096
5	Mathieu Van Der Poel	Alpecin-Deceuninck	4053
6	Marc Hirschi	Uae Team Emirates	3568
7	Jonas Vingegaard	Team Visma | Lease A Bike	3536
8	Primož Roglič	Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe	3471
9	Biniam Girmay	Intermarché - Wanty	3352
10	Wout Van Aert	Team Visma | Lease A Bike	2925
11	Enric Mas Nicolau	Movistar Team	2851
12	Mads Pedersen	Lidl-Trek	2723
13	Matteo Jorgenson	Team Visma | Lease A Bike	2702.14
14	Maxim Van Gils	Lotto Dstny	2482
15	Arnaud De Lie	Lotto Dstny	2458.43
16	Tim Merlier	Soudal Quick-Step	2407
17	Richard Carapaz	Ef Education - Easypost	2404
18	Jonathan Milan	Lidl-Trek	2397
19	Mattias Skjelmose	Lidl-Trek	2374
20	Carlos Rodriguez	Ineos Grenadiers	2290.86
21	Brandon Mcnulty	UAE Team Emirates	2247.9
22	Richard Yates Adam	UAE Team Emirates	2243
23	Jhonatan Narvaez	Ineos Grenadiers	2110
24	Mikel Landa	Soudal Quick-Step	2097
25	Juan Ayuso Pesquera	UAE Team Emirates	2083
26	Joao Almeida	UAE Team Emirates	2079.57
27	Aleksandr Vlasov	Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe	2073
28	Toms Skujins	Lidl-Trek	2037
29	Stefan Küng	Groupama-FDJ	2022
30	Thomas Pidcock	Ineos Grenadiers	1970
31	Michael Matthews	Team Jayco Alula	1945.71
32	Romain Bardet	Team dsm-firmenich Postnl	1889
33	Olav Kooij	Team Visma | Lease A Bike	1862.14
34	Daniel Martinez	Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe	1855
35	Lennert Van Eetvelt	Lotto Dstny	1748
36	Kaden Groves	Alpecin-Deceuninck	1706
37	Julian Alaphilippe	Soudal Quick-Step	1699.71
38	Antonio Tiberi	Bahrain Victorious	1656
39	Corbin Strong	Israel - Premier Tech	1635
40	Benoit Cosnefroy	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	1621

 

UCI Team rainkings:

	Team	Points
1	UAE TEAM EMIRATES (UAD)	37407.6
2	TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE (TVL)	20427.98
3	SOUDAL QUICK-STEP (SOQ)	18153.97
4	LIDL-TREK (LTK)	17989
5	RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE (RBH)	16894.33
6	DECATHLON AG2R LA MONDIALE TEAM (DAT)	15930.84
7	INEOS GRENADIERS (IGD)	15547.97
8	ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK (ADC)	15020
9	LOTTO DSTNY (LTD)	12579.29
10	GROUPAMA-FDJ (GFC)	12357
11	ISRAEL - PREMIER TECH (IPT)	11723.33
12	EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST (EFE)	11594.95
13	MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV)	10879
14	TEAM JAYCO ALULA (JAY)	10625.3
15	INTERMARCHÉ - WANTY (IWA)	9915
16	TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH POSTNL (DFP)	9646.63
17	BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS (TBV)	9547.16
18	UNO-X MOBILITY (UXM)	8938.67
19	ARKEA-B&B HOTELS (ARK)	8735
20	COFIDIS (COF)	7889.84
21	ASTANA QAZAQSTAN TEAM (AST)	6563.24
22	TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM (TUD)	5753.33
23	TOTALENERGIES (TEN)	4897
24	CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA (CJR)	3915
25	Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM (Q36)	3603.81
26	EQUIPO KERN PHARMA (EKP)	3341
27	VF GROUP-BARDIANI CSF- FAIZANE' (VBF)	3165
28	BURGOS-BH (BBH)	2900.33
29	TEAM POLTI KOMETA (PTK)	2626.33
30	TERENGGANU CYCLING TEAM (TSG)	1879.33
31	LIDL-TREK FUTURE RACING (LTF)	1595.99
32	JCL TEAM UKYO (JCL)	1498
33	TEAM FELT FELBERMAYR (RSW)	1408
34	TDT-UNIBET (TDT)	1381
35	ROOJAI INSURANCE (R0I)	1361.68
36	ISRAEL PREMIER TECH ACADEMY (ICA)	1360.33
37	BINGOAL WB (BWB)	1357
38	ST MICHEL - MAVIC - AUBER93 (AUB)	1341.99
39	EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI (EUS)	1334
40	ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK DEVELOPMENT TEAM (ADD)	1238

 

UCI Nation rankings:

	Country	Points
1	BELGIUM	24499
2	SLOVENIA	17941.14
3	SPAIN	14583.86
4	FRANCE	12399.71
5	DENMARK	12153.34
6	ITALY	11847.67
7	NETHERLANDS	11790.99
8	AUSTRALIA	11522.99
9	GREAT BRITAIN	11463
10	UNITED STATES	9943.7
11	SWITZERLAND	8929.29
12	COLOMBIA	7152.58
13	GERMANY	7118.56
14	NORWAY	6605
15	ECUADOR	6200.47
16	ERITREA	5757.33
17	NEW ZEALAND	5227.14
18	PORTUGAL	4301.85
19	IRELAND	3763.47
20	CZECHIA	3308
21	AUSTRIA	3201.71
22	LATVIA	2976.5
23	RUSSIA	2935.34
24	CANADA	2839.99
25	POLAND	2449.17
26	KAZAKHSTAN	1899.85
27	ESTONIA	1710
28	VENEZUELA	1705
29	HUNGARY	1694
30	MEXICO	1689
31	SOUTH AFRICA	1589
32	URUGUAY	1536
33	LUXEMBOURG	1482
34	MAURITIUS	1251
35	ALGERIA	1126
36	SLOVAKIA	1115.71
37	JAPAN	1075
38	MOROCCO	963.66
39	CHINA	881
40	MONGOLIA	867.16

 

Team Soudal Quick-Step third in final team rankings

Here’s the team’s post:

It has been confirmed that Soudal Quick-Step has finished third in the 2024 UCI World Tour Rankings, cementing our place as one of the best men’s cycling teams in the world, at the end of a season which saw our riders rack up a total of 34 wins in 16 different countries.

The UCI ranking is based on the results gained by World Tour squads at qualifying races, throughout the year. The season got underway at the Tour Down Under in January, where Julian Alaphilippe’s 6th place on the general classification kick-started our quest for ranking points, and the year was sprinkled with many captivating and memorable moments from there on.

The team’s first win of the year was as early as 25th January, when Paul Magnier took an impressive victory at Trofeo Ses Salines-Felanitx, a result that would kick-start an impressive season for the rookie, where he would win five races for our team. This made Magnier our third most successful rider of the season, behind Tim Merlier and Remco Evenepoel, who would take 16 and 9 individual wins respectively.

Paul Magnier wins the 2024 Trofeo Ses Salines-Felanitx

Our hunt to cement our place continued right up until the final event of the season, the Japan Cup, where Ilan Van Wilder’s runner-up in the race secured our team’s third place in the final UCI World Tour standings.

Speaking of the achievement, Soudal Quick-Step CEO Patrick Lefevere said: “We are very proud of our 3rd place finish in the UCI World Tour Rankings. Over many years we have strived to build a squad that is consistent throughout the whole cycling season, which takes a very strong team effort from everyone in the organisation, and their hard work is shown by our place in the final classification. We have also shown that we have not just finished high in the rankings just once, but consistently throughout many years, which is not easy to do over a long period of time, and for that I congratulate everyone.”

Madis Mihkels joins Team EF Education-EasyPost

Here’s the team’s announcement:

Fresh off his podium finish at the European championships and appearance at his first Olympics, the 21-year-old from Estonia wants to turn the promising results he earned in his first two years as a pro into big wins during the season ahead. He cannot wait to join his new EF Pro Cycling teammates.

“I am super happy with this move,” Madis says. “It is the right next step for me to make as a cyclist. EF Education-EasyPost looks like a team with a great environment and atmosphere between the riders and the staff. I'm really looking forward to next season.”

Madis Mihkels

EF Pro Cycling founder and CEO Jonathan Vaughters is excited to have Madis on our squad.

“At 21, Madis has already gone top ten at Paris-Roubaix and finished third at the European championships,” Vaughters says. “He is a proven pro race winner with the strength to go toe to toe with the best in the cobbled classics and the sprint to finish the job. He is only going to get better from here. It is going to be fun to see what Madis can do with our team in the coming years.”

Madis's favorite races are the northern classics. He loves racing in the wind and muck in Belgium and France and flies over the cobblestones. He thrives at high speed, brushing elbows with his competitors on the roughest, smallest roads. But Madis' ambitions will never stop after he's rounded the last corner of the Roubaix velodrome. He wants to go for wins throughout the year. One-day races, stages in the biggest tours—he wants to cross their finish lines first. He has already won stages at the Deutschland Tour and the Tour of Estonia. He rode his first Giro this season. Now, he wants to step up his game.

“It's not that I just have one race in mind,” Madis says. “I want to win next year. I just want to get into a winning mode. I love hard races. I'm never the fastest guy in pure, pure bunch sprints when everybody there is fresh. That's why I love harder racing, where I can go for the sprint in the end.”

Madis honed his speed on the BMX track, where he raced until he was 15. He's always been an athlete. He started competitive swimming at four years old and did all kinds of sports when he was a kid. He was pretty good at them all, but it was on a bike that he started to dream of being great.

“I rode my first races when I was eight,” Madis says. “I immediately started to win in the youth categories and discovered that I had talent. That gave me a lot of motivation. When I was young, I was a half-time BMX racer and half-time road rider. At a certain point, I had to decide which one I was going to focus on. I took part in some road races and cyclocross races, but was mostly focused on BMX until I was 15. BMX racing is super, super explosive. For sure, it helped me to become the rider that I am on the road, with all the racing for position, having to have no fear.”

Madis balances his need for speed and rough-and-tumble racing with a quiet life in Estonia. He was born and raised in Tartu and, despite his home country's harsh winters, still opts to live there, though he has recently moved to Tallinn, the capital. He enjoys spinning out into the forests on his bike, passing lakes and rivers on quiet, smooth, nearly car-free roads. Before the thermometer dips too far below freezing and the snowplows come out, he can always escape somewhere warm. As soon as the ice is gone, he wants to go home, where he can fish for pike in fresh, clean water.

“For me, Estonia is such a good country, except for the winter,” Madis says. “It's a really good place to train, maybe not for a climber, but for a rider like me. We don't have big climbs, but we do have super good roads with no traffic. It's all rolling hills and rivers and lakes.”

That's where Madis will start to prepare for 2025, before meeting his teammates for the first time at our winter camp in Spain. The whole team is looking forward to welcoming him into our ranks.

The 2025 season is going to be even more exciting with Madis on our roster.

Fernando Gaviria renews with Team Movistar for 2025

Here is a machine-translation of the team’s announcement:

Movistar Team is betting for another year on the continuity of the Colombian sprinter Fernando Gaviria.

Fernando Gaviria (La Ceja, COL; 1994) closed his second season in Movistar Team with a stage victory and a second place in the Tour Colombia, finished in podium positions in two stages of the Tour de France - 2nd in Turin and 3rd in Dijon - and was fourth in the last stage of the Giro d'Italia with a finish in Rome.

Fernando Gaviria in yellow after the first stage of the 2018 Tour de France. Sirotti photo

The Antioquian made his debut with the Navarrese team in the Tour de San Juan in 2023 and in the Argentine event he already won in the fourth stage. That same season he also took the victory in stage 5 of the Tour de Romandie.

Gaviria has taken a total of 13 podium positions in the two years in which he has defended the Movistar Team jersey and in 2025 he hopes to continue to reap greater successes for the team from Telefónica.

Fernando Gaviria:
"It is an honour to be able to renew with Movistar Team. A team that, over the years, continues to improve its structure and wants to become stronger. That motivates all the riders on the team to give their best and be able to have good seasons.

"Along with the renewals of Albert Torres and Davide Cimolai, I am very happy because we will be able to continue with our group and continue to improve much more in the sprints and flat races."

Guy Sagiv bids farewell as an Israel – Premier Tech rider after 10 years

Here’s the team’s post:

Guy Sagiv, the first Israeli pro cyclist to successfully complete a Grand Tour — the historic Giro d’Italia in 2018, which started from Jerusalem — has paved the way for the Israeli riders who followed. Now, after 10 years, Sagiv is concluding his journey as a rider with Israel – Premier Tech, which has offered him a position on its professional staff.

The 29-year-old, the only rider who has competed with the team since its first season in 2015, leaves behind an impressive legacy and record. He represented the team in 467 races, contributing to many victories. In total, he has ridden over 274,000 kilometers in training and racing—a distance close to circling the globe seven times on a bike.

Guy Sagiv leading a break in the 2018 Tirreno-Adriatico. Sirotti photo

Sagiv says: “The truth is, raw numbers have never impressed me. What I’ll remember most is breaking the glass ceiling, not just for myself but for Israelis who followed and the young riders knocking at the door of pro cycling. I proved to them that the dream is entirely achievable. In that sense, I am very proud of what I accomplished — not just the unforgettable Giro but the years of a professional career and participation in the world’s most prestigious races.”

Sagiv leaves behind a legacy of professionalism and is universally appreciated by teammates, staff, and team leaders.

Sylvan Adams, owner of Israel – Premier Tech, says: “It touches me to realize the end of Guy’s journey as a professional rider on our team. Guy is the consummate professional, burying himself for the team and for his teammates, in whatever aspect of racing we asked of him. Guy also acted as a mentor to the younger Israelis, an activity that will continue as he transitions to a new role as a member of our staff.

“Guy leaves us as the rider with the longest tenure on IPT, as the only current rider who was there at the formation of the team, 10 years ago. He was decorated several times as Israeli national road champion and also holds the distinction of being the first Israeli to complete a Grand Tour, the memorable 2018 Giro that started in Israel. Being the first is a record that can never be broken, and that Guy will forever carry.

“Thank you, Guy, for 10 great years. Every athlete’s career must end at some point, but we will continue this journey together as you transition to your new role as a member of our staff.”

Ron Baron, the team’s founder and the one who first gave Sagiv his chance when few recognized his potential, adds: “He did far more than represent us on the racecourse: Guy was our No. 1 Israeli ambassador—a billboard for Israel on a bike. I’ll never forget the moment he finished the Giro in Rome, head held high, overcoming every obstacle and pain along the way.”

Indeed, no one foresaw in the spring of 2015 that Guy Sagiv was on the brink of such a remarkable career. The young rider initially tried out for the newly founded team—then called Cycling Academy — but was overlooked in favor of four other young Israelis. Sagiv quietly waited for his moment to prove that choice was a mistake. His chance came at the Israeli Championships, where he stunned the Academy riders by taking victory. Days later, he signed a professional contract and was sent almost immediately to represent the team at the prestigious USA Pro Challenge in Colorado as the newly crowned Israeli Champion. However, the young Israeli quickly realized just how tough the competition was; he didn’t finish the first stage.

Sagiv adds: “That was a low point. I wasn’t ready, especially physically. I was a rookie, also nursing an injury, and it hit me hard. But even in that tough moment, I believed in myself, so if you’d asked me back then if I could sustain a 10-year career with Grand Tours and hundreds of races, it wouldn’t have sounded absurd. I believed in myself: I dreamed about it, I wanted it, and I achieved it.”

But the crowning moment is undisputed: Jerusalem, Friday afternoon, May 4, 2018. Sagiv stood at the start line of the Giro d’Italia’s opening time trial. “The Israeli crowd surrounded me,” he recalls. “Thousands were there, screaming their support wildly, and I was covered in goosebumps. To this day, I can close my eyes and return to that moment when the ground literally shook!”

He endured three grueling weeks on the tour, but his resilience saw him through. Mental strength was always his hallmark, perhaps more impressive than physical stamina. “I suffered intensely, but even in the hardest moments, I was confident I’d make it,” he says.

Looking back, he feels that early successes like the Giro might have shaped his career in ways that left room for a bit of regret.

Sagiv says: “I’m very proud of my journey, of course. But if I have one regret, it’s that I didn’t achieve more individual wins beyond my Israeli championships. The frustration stems from my belief that I had the potential to win consistently, but it wasn’t fully realized. Why? Perhaps I was thrown into the deep end too fast. The Giro success convinced the team that my role should be as a domestique —a worker for the stars. On one hand, it worked, but on the other, I missed the chance to become a fast classics rider. I had that in me. But I have no complaints; on the contrary, the team gave me everything, and I gave it my all.”

In his characteristic honesty, he admits he would have liked to continue riding professionally. Sagiv says: “I wanted to go on for at least one more season. In the end, it wasn’t possible with the team, and it left me with a bit of unfinished business. I’m still young. But I’ve had an amazing journey. The team offered me a professional role, and I’m open to it. I believe I can work with young riders to help them adapt to the pro world. I have faith in our young Israelis.”

And they believe in him. Nadav Raisberg, who had a strong first professional season, says Sagiv showed him the way. “As a young rider, I remember looking up to him as a great Israeli cyclist,” says Raisberg. “When I joined the team, he was there with advice and generosity. On behalf of the younger generation, we owe him a lot.”

Israeli sports director Dror Pekatch adds: “For me, Guy marks a turning point for the entire sport. Israeli cycling has two eras: before and after Guy Sagiv. He broke through and showed everyone it was possible. After him, and because of him, others followed. In his conduct, Guy was an example and a model. I’ll miss him on the road.”

IPT General Manager Kjell Carlström, who worked with Sagiv for many years, says: “Guy Sagiv has been a great team member throughout his career. He tirelessly worked hard for other riders. Guy achieved some important milestones for Israel as he was the first Israeli to compete and finish a Grand Tour.

“Personally, I can’t forget that lovely scene when Guy passed (and kissed) his then Fiancée [Omer Shapira] just before the finish line in the Israeli Nationals. They both were crowned champions. As such an important rider in the history of the team and Israel’s cycling, I hope we’ll now enjoy his contributions as part of our professional staff.”

Canadian rider Guillaume Boivin, who became one of Sagiv’s closest friends on the team, adds: “Guy Sagiv became a trailblazer for cycling in Israel entering the pro world and a key part of the team over the last decade, on and off the bike. I’ve had the privilege of riding alongside him for the past nine seasons, watching him grow from a young adult to a man with a beautiful family. [Sagiv and Omer have a daughter together].

“Guy was always the mentor for our younger riders and an example of a true team player. His career is one that few have achieved – I can’t wait to see what his next chapter holds.”

Guy Sagiv’s career in numbers

> Races: 467
> Racing kilometers: 65,267km
> Racing hours: 1,727 hours
> Individual wins: 5 (Israeli National Road Championships: 2015, 2016, 2019; Israeli Time Trial Championships: 2017, 2020)
> Podium finishes: 6
> Top 10 finishes: 4
> Training kilometers: 208,568km
> Total elevation gain in training and races: 3,116,057 meters
> Calories burned in training and races: 5,939,736

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