Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. - John Wesley
Plato's dialogue Crito is available both in audiobook and Kindle eBook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- October 15 - 20: Tour of Guangxi
- October 16: Giro del Veneto
Upcoming racing:
- October 20: Japan Cup Road Race
Latest completed racing:
- October 13: Chrono des Nations
- October 12: Il Lombardia
- October 10: Gran Piemonte
- October 8: Tre Valli Varesine
- October 7: Coppa Bernocchi
- Sept 29 - Oct 6: Le Tour de Langkawi
- October 6: Paris-Tours
- October 6: Coppa Agostoni-Giro delle Brianze
- October 5: Giro dell'Emilia
- October 3: Sparkassen Münsterland Giro
- October 1: Binche-Chimay-Binche
- September 22 - 29: World Road Cycling Championships
- September 18 - 22: Tour de Luxembourg
We posted the report from stage winner Lionel Taminiaux's Team Lotto Dstny with the results.
Here's the race report from third-place Juan Sebastian Molano's UAE Team Emirates:
Sebastian Molano showed a fast finish on the opening day of action at the Tour of Guangxi, taking third place in the sprint on stage 1 in Fangchenggang (149km).
Molano came from behind to rapidly close the gap but just ran out of road as Lionel Taminiaux (Lotto Dstny) took the victory ahead of Gijs Van Hoecke (Intermarche Wanty).
Lionel Taminiaux wins stage one.
Molano: “I was missing a little bit today in the finish. Aside from the jetlag and hour change I think today the legs felt good and I think they will improve. It was a hectic finish as in the norm in these big roads but I managed it well. Our team is a bit more focussed on the climbs this week for the GC but I’ll be looking for my chances in the sprints for sure.”
The parcours took riders out from Fangchenggang, looping around the port city four times before the final sprint.
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Here's the race report from tenth-place Luke Lamperti's Team Soudal Quick-Step:
The final World Tour race of the season, the Tour of Guangxi got underway Tuesday morning with a 149.4km flat stage starting and finishing in Fangchenggang. As soon as the peloton rolled out of the neutral zone, two men jumped clear and formed a breakaway that at one point enjoyed a three-minute maximum advantage.
Soudal Quick-Step’s Josef Cerny quickly came to the front of the bunch to set the tempo, and the multiple ITT Czech Champion worked hard to keep the escapees’ gap in check for the first part of the stage before ramping up the pace and reducing it to around one minute for the last 20 kilometers.
Here's another view of the stage finish.
Other teams joined the effort and made sure the day would come down to a mass gallop on the wide boulevards of Fangchenggang, where Lionel Taminiaux (Lotto-Dstny) took the win after a tight finish. Despite being boxed in with just 100 meters to go, Luke Lamperti found some space and scored a solid top ten result – his third of the month after the ones in Binche-Chimay-Binche and the Münsterland Giro.
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Here's the race report from Team dsm-firmenich PostNL:
The opening day of racing at Tour of Guangxi saw the peloton take on four laps of a roughly 36 kilometre loop around the city of Fangchenggang. Despite a few small hills, it looked set to be a bunch sprint and Team dsm-firmenich PostNL set out to go for it with Fabio Jakobsen in the finale. However, during the stage Jakobsen indicated to the car that he wasn’t feeling so good so the team switched their roles and protected Casper van Uden as sprint finisher.
A strong breakaway duo resulted in a hard chase but the bunch was always in control and things were back together at three kilometres to go. The team moved up well at this point, bringing Van Uden forward and holding a good position. However, the final kilometre was hectic on the wide roads as multiple teams vied to be at the front and unfortunately the team lost each other, with Van Uden unable to contend for a top result come the line.
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Callum Ferguson: “We started the day with the goal to sprint with Fabio but switched it to Casepr at around 80 kilometres to go because Fabio didn’t feel so good. We followed the plan well but then just got a bit mixed up in the final kilometre and the guys lost each other there. The team worked well together and the process was there up until that final kilometre, so we’ll look to improve things in the coming days. GC wise, we came through the stage in a good way and the guys are feeling good.”
And here's the report from Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Team Visma | Lease a Bike was unable to contest the victory in the first stage of the Gree-Tour of Guangxi. Mick van Dijke was the best-placed rider for the Dutch team, finishing in 19th place in the bunch sprint.
On the opening day of the year's final WorldTour stage race, the peloton had to complete four local laps of about 35 kilometers each. The course wasn't entirely flat, with each lap featuring some short but sharp climbs for the riders to tackle.
Two riders broke away early, with the last one being caught just two kilometers from the finish line. Team Visma | Lease a Bike, which includes reigning overall winner Milan Vader, tried to contest the sprint through Van Dijke, but the team couldn't get him in place. In the end, Belgian rider Lionel Taminiaux claimed the stage win.
Milan Vader at the 2023 Tour of Guangxi.
"We really miss Olav Kooij, of course," said sports director Frans Maassen. "It looks like we could have as many as five bunch sprints this week. It's a big loss when your sprinter is out due to injury. The racing conditions are different from what we're used to in Europe, it’s very humid here. I expect it won’t always be easy for the sprint teams to control the race. Maybe we can pull off a surprise in one of the flat stages. Stage five is definitely marked on our calendar. That seems to be a day for the GC contenders, and we hope to achieve a good result with Milan then."
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Here’s the team’s update:
Jakob Fuglsang will continue to race in Israel – Premier Tech colors in 2025, his final season as a professional rider.
“I’m happy I get to stay with IPT and finish my career with this team next year,” says Fuglsang. “Jean Bélanger has always had faith in me and I’ve really cherished our journey together. I’m grateful to the team and Sylvan Adams for giving me this opportunity,” Fuglsang tells.
John Fuglsang signing in at the 2024 Tour of Lombardy. Sirotti photo
The 39-year-old Dane boasts a remarkable palmarès including two overall victories in Critérium du Dauphiné, two Monuments wins in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia, an Olympic silver medal and a Grand Tour stage win as well as numerous overall stage race victories throughout his long career.
Team owner, Sylvan Adams, is pleased to see Fuglsang stay with IPT in 2025 to finish his career with the team.
He says: “I’m delighted that Jakob will return for the final season of his decorated career. Jakob has told me that he intends to go out with a bang, so I’m excited to see what he can do next year, to add to his already impressive palmarès. Jakob has also taken our young, promising rider, Derek Gee, under his wing, and will continue to mentor Derek, and others, on IPT next year. Jakob is a true professional and has been one of the leaders on our team during his tenure.”
This season, Fuglsang has been a key factor in the GC success of Derek Gee, helping the Canadian to finish on the overall podium in Critérium du Dauphiné before being the last rider for Gee in the mountains in the Tour de France as he secured a top 10 place in the GC.
Fuglsang adds: “I feel like I’ve found myself again this season and proven that I still have what it takes to be racing at this level in the biggest races on the calendar. Not only for myself but also in support of my teammates, a role and a responsibility I really enjoy and appreciate.
“Next year will be my 17th season as a professional rider and I still enjoy pinning on a number in the morning before a race. I definitely feel I still have more to give and I can’t wait to show it next year and finish off my career on a high note.”
IPT General Manager Kjell Carlström reiterates Adams’ words, praising Fuglsang’s performance this season.
“Jakob has been with IPT for three years now and we have definitely seen some of his best racing this year so we know he is motivated to give it his best for his final year in 2025, both personally and as a teammate,” adds Carlström. “Jakob has had a decorated career and I have no doubt we will find the perfect last race for him to celebrate the end of his time as a pro rider.”
Here’s the team’s news:
Sarah Roy, a versatile veteran of the peloton, will race in EF-Oatly-Cannondale’s signature pink in 2025.
Growing up in the suburbs of Sydney, Sarah was an active child who spent her early years as a gymnast. It was then that she first dreamed about representing Australia on the world stage. While gymnastics didn’t pan out the way she had hoped at the time, she held on to the dream of competing for Australia. Years later, Sarah competed in triathlon for fun as a university student and was invited to join a cycling talent ID program at the Australian Institute of Sport.
“I was terrible,” Sarah said of her early bike races. “I always came dead last. I did not grow up watching cycling. I had never heard of the Tour de France. I didn’t know anything so they had to teach me everything at the talent camps. I rode around some cones and had some really good lab data, especially my VO2."
Despite injuries and setbacks along the way, Sarah stayed patient and several years after that initial introduction to the cycling talent ID program, she began racing professionally in Europe in 2013.
Sarah Roy in her 23024 Cofidis colors.
Since then, Sarah has taken wins at the Australian road race national championships, the Navarra Elite Classics, Gooik-Geraardsbergen-Gooik, and the SwissEver GP Cham-Hagendorn, and claimed stages at the Bretagne Ladies Tour, the Simac Ladies Tour, and the OVO Energy Women’s Tour.
EF-Oatly-Cannondale general manager Esra Tromp said, “When meeting Sarah, there was an immediate click. We understood each other. From the beginning, it was clear she understood what her role could be and the impact she could have on the team, and also recognized some of our challenges. Sarah is a rider with a lot of experience, on and off the bike. She will strengthen our classics squad as an extra card to play in the finales and as a fierce teammate."
With her versatility, Sarah is an asset in both stage races and one-day races, but her heart belongs to the classics.
“One-day races, stage races – I like it all. And I think that's what's really cool about my ability as a rider, being versatile. And I really like that. So in the first part of the season, I can be focused on the classics, and I really want to be a lead rider for some of the classics. But that takes a lot of mental and physical energy which I enjoy but it’s also refreshing to then switch to stage racing where I can go 100 percent all in for my teammates. I love motivating and encouraging other people and helping them get the best out of themselves. I love getting to mix up my role throughout the season,” Sarah said.
Now in her late 30s, Sarah sees her age as an asset.
“Every year I’m getting stronger still,” Sarah said. “I know how my body responds to training so I know what to do to get the best out of myself. There are a lot of things I still want to achieve. I want to be competitive. I want to get right the things that are under my control and show up on race day, ready to give my all, whether it’s for me or a teammate, and be satisfied with the outcome at the end of the day. I love to race and I love to get the best out of myself. That’s what I focus on.”
“I'm at that point in my career where I’d like to give back and share my experiences now,” she added. “I have to admit, I don’t know when that transition happened: one minute I was a development rider and the next I’m this very experienced, older rider. Here I am now and I want to make the most of that experience. I am really passionate about growing with the team. I feel there is so much value to come from riders contributing to the growth of teams, and vice versa. As athletes and teams, we are always looking at how we can better ourselves, and to collaborate on that forms a culture where individuals are valued. I think EF-Oatly-Cannondale really appreciates that and is the kind of environment I want to be in.”
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