Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries. - James Madison
Les Woodland's book Paris-Roubaix: The Inside Story - All the bumps of cycling's cobbled classic is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Upcoming racing:
- October 27: Superpresitge Overijse-Vlaamse Druivencross
Latest completed racing:
- 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
- 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
Here are the top 40:
No. 1 rider Tadej Pogacar after winning the Tour of Lombardy. Sirotti photo
| Rank | Rider | Team | Points |
| 1 | POGAČAR Tadej | UAE TEAM EMIRATES | 11655 |
| 2 | EVENEPOEL Remco | SOUDAL QUICK-STEP | 6072.57 |
| 3 | PHILIPSEN Jasper | ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK | 4790 |
| 4 | O'CONNOR Ben | DECATHLON AG2R LA MONDIALE | 4096 |
| 5 | VAN DER POEL Mathieu | ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK | 4053 |
| 6 | HIRSCHI Marc | UAE TEAM EMIRATES | 3568 |
| 7 | VINGEGAARD Jonas | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | 3536 |
| 8 | ROGLIČ Primož | RED BULL-BORA-HANSGROHE | 3471 |
| 9 | GIRMAY Biniam | INTERMARCHÉ - WANTY | 3352 |
| 10 | VAN AERT Wout | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | 2925 |
| 11 | MAS NICOLAU Enric | MOVISTAR TEAM | 2851 |
| 12 | PEDERSEN Mads | LIDL-TREK | 2723 |
| 13 | JORGENSON Matteo | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | 2702.14 |
| 14 | VAN GILS Maxim | LOTTO DSTNY | 2482 |
| 15 | DE LIE Arnaud | LOTTO DSTNY | 2458.43 |
| 16 | MERLIER Tim | SOUDAL QUICK-STEP | 2407 |
| 17 | MILAN Jonathan | LIDL-TREK | 2397 |
| 18 | SKJELMOSE Mattias | LIDL-TREK | 2374 |
| 19 | CARAPAZ Richard | EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST | 2349 |
| 20 | RODRIGUEZ Carlos | INEOS GRENADIERS | 2290.86 |
| 21 | MCNULTY Brandon | UAE TEAM EMIRATES | 2247.9 |
| 22 | YATES Adam Richard | UAE TEAM EMIRATES | 2243 |
| 23 | NARVAEZ Jhonatanl | INEOS GRENADIERS | 2110 |
| 24 | LANDA Mikel | SOUDAL QUICK-STEP | 2097 |
| 25 | AYUSO Juan | UAE TEAM EMIRATES | 2083 |
| 26 | ALMEIDA Joao | UAE TEAM EMIRATES | 2079.57 |
| 27 | VLASOV Aleksandr | RED BULL-BORA-HANSGROHE | 2073 |
| 28 | SKUJINS Toms | LIDL-TREK | 2037 |
| 29 | KÜNG Stefan | GROUPAMA-FDJ | 2022 |
| 30 | PIDCOCK Thomas | INEOS GRENADIERS | 1970 |
| 31 | MATTHEWS Michael | TEAM JAYCO ALULA | 1945.71 |
| 32 | BARDET Romain | TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH POSTNL | 1889 |
| 33 | KOOIJ Olav | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | 1862.14 |
| 34 | MARTINEZ Daniel | RED BULL-BORA-HANSGROHE | 1855 |
| 35 | VAN EETVELT Lennert | LOTTO DSTNY | 1748 |
| 36 | GROVES Kaden | ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK | 1706 |
| 37 | ALAPHILIPPE Julian | SOUDAL QUICK-STEP | 1699.71 |
| 38 | TIBERI Antonio | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | 1656 |
| 39 | STRONG Corbin John | ISRAEL - PREMIER TECH | 1635 |
| 40 | COSNEFROY Benoit | DECATHLON AG2R LA MONDIALE | 1621 |
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Here’s the team’s news:
Israel – Premier Tech veteran Guillaume Boivin will continue with the team in 2025 adding another year to his soon decade-long stint with IPT.
“I’m super happy to stay with the team for next year,” Boivin explains. “I have been here since 2016, so it feels like I’m staying at home for one more year.”
Guillaume Boivin
The 35-year-old Canadian allrounder has three wins to his name with IPT, while being instrumental as a teammate in some of the team’s biggest results over the years.
Boivin started out this year’s season being a part of Stevie Williams’ overall victory at the Tour Down Under and he’s looking forward to supporting his teammates to more success on the road next year.
He adds: “The team is getting stronger every year and it’s so much fun to go to the races with big objectives. I’m looking forward to helping our leaders get more wins for IPT in 2025!”
Boivin’s development and the team’s growth have gone hand in hand explains IPT General Manager Kjell Carlström.
“Guillaume Boivin joined us in the team’s second year when we were a Continental Team starting out,” says Carlström. “As a team, we have come a long way since then and so has Guillaume, developing into one of the team’s most valuable support riders. Every team needs riders like Guillaume so we are happy to see him round out a decade with us next year.”
For IPT owner Sylvan Adams, Boivin’s decade-long career with IPT is a testament to the environment and family spirit within the team.
“I am pleased that Guillaume is returning for another season in 2025. Guillaume is currently IPT’s second most tenured rider, after Israeli Guy Sagiv. He is truly part of our DNA”, he says.
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Here’s the team’s announcement:
The structure of Intermarché-Wanty welcomes Nicolas Aernouts, the reigning junior world champion points race. In January he will step up to the U23 category with Continental Development Team Wanty-ReUz-Technord directed by Kévin Van Melsen, which also extended the contracts of Wout Geerinckx and Victor Hannes.
In August, Nicolas Aernouts (18 years old) conquered the rainbow jersey in Luoyang (China), after winning a bronze medal in the teamsprint at the European Championships in Cottbus (Germany) alongside Yeno Vingerhoets and Tjorven Mertens. In total, he collected six national titles on the track.
Nicolas Aernouts
As a second year junior, the rider from Hérinnes also showed himself on the road with his team AVIA-Rudyco. In 2024, he collected eight podium placings including three time trials, using his qualities as a rouleur. This consistency enabled him to finish third overall in the final classification of the Belgian Cup for juniors.
Since 2023, Victor Hannes (20 years old) is an important element in the success of Wanty-ReUz-Technord. Thanks to his consistency, he finished best young riders of the U23 Road Series, partly thanks to his third place in the GP Color Code Bassenge, his first podium in the U23 category. This season, the student civil engineer showed himself between the pros with a third place in the GP Vermarc and in service of World Team Intermarché-Wanty in races such as Nokere Koerse, Brabantse Pijl, Druivenkoers or the Italian end of the season classics.
In the beginning of August, Wout Geerinckx (20 years old) made a remarkable comeback, eight months after a frontal collision with a car during the collective training camp of Wanty-ReUz-Technord in the province of Alicante resulting in a fractured femur, elbow, knee, thigh and arm. He immediately finished the five stages of the Tour de Namur, during which he helped his teammate Thijs Aerts winning the final stage. The former champion of Antwerp will start his final season in the U23 category in 2025.
"This year, as a second year junior, my goal was to get noticed by a Continental Development Team and thus take a step towards my dream of becoming a professional cyclist. The opportunity to join Intermarché-Wanty, the only Walloon structure in the World Tour, makes me extremely proud. With Wanty-ReUz-Technord I will have the opportunity to develop at my own pace. As a lightweight, I aspire to improve in the mountains, in addition to the time trial qualities I have developed thanks to my experience on the track. The team offers me a program that perfectly matches my profile and my ambitions, allowing me to pursue my goals on both the road and the track." - Nicolas Aernouts
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Here’s the team’s announcement:
Babette van der Wolf has been riding a bike since she was a toddler, which means the twenty-year-old Dutch rider has been a cyclist for well over fifteen years now. And in 2025, she will join EF-Oatly-Cannondale.
Babette turned pro in 2023 and quickly earned a trio of top ten results on stages at the Baloise Ladies Tour and at Antwerp Port Epic Ladies, Drentse Acht van Westerveld, and Grote Prijs Beerens.
Babette van der Wolf (in green-grey jersey)
Cycling was a big part of Babette’s household growing up, but turning pro was never a foregone conclusion. Her father, a former pro, was wrapping up his career when Babette and her older sister were young children. The family went on bike rides together and when her older sister started to ride with a local club, little Babette wanted to be just like her. As the pair continued to ride through their teenage years, “We had different strengths so through training together, we just made each other stronger,” Babette explained.
Years later, Babette knows her strengths and what areas she is still working on.
“I’m the type of rider who races with a lot of heart,” Babette said. “I don’t have the biggest engine in the race but I do have a vision of how the race is going to play out, so I am able to react immediately or to communicate to my teammates what is about to happen and we can respond. I’m also someone who gets a second wind, so if I’m feeling cooked in a group and we’re all on the limit, I can usually still dig and find some freshness in my legs.”
Having grown up in the Netherlands, Babette loves racing in the wind.
“If there’s a lot of wind, that makes me excited. I know I am really Dutch when I say that I love a hard echelon day. Maybe add in some cobbles and punchy climbs. I just enjoy a hard race,” she said.
Signing an up-and-coming rider with a deep understanding of the sport was a priority for EF-Oatly-Cannondale general manager, Esra Tromp.
“Babette is a young Dutch bike rider who understands the game of cycling,” Esra said. “She has a fast finish, has super skills on the bike, and isn't afraid to work really hard to become stronger. She’s a rider with energy and a positive mindset. I am happy to add Babette to our roster, full of young talented riders, because I see she can develop into a really strong classics rider.”
Between training and racing, Babette’s free time is limited, but that hasn’t stopped her from pursuing another passion. Currently, she is enrolled in an online course focused on medical science.
“Sometimes it’s helpful to take a mental break from cycling. A couple of years ago, I became really interested in biology and how the body functions. As a cyclist, I demand a lot of my body so exploring this subject is fascinating. We’ll see what my racing career brings but one day I would like to unlock my potential in this field. For now, I just really enjoy continuing my studies,” she said.
“A sport like cycling, at times you suffer so much for it but I always get back so much from it,” Babette said. “I ride my bike because I really love it and this is something I want to keep doing for many years. There are deep downs, massive ups, but in the end, this job allows me to travel a lot. I see a lot of people and I do beautiful races and I grow with my team. My new teammates inspire me. Getting to race with riders like them and follow my dreams makes me feel like this is not just a job because I really love doing it.”
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