Giro finito!

Hey there cycling fans, me again, this time back with your regular newsletter, again in slightly briefer format than usual to account for the large Grand Tour-shaped occurrence taking place in Italy.

By the time you receive this newsletter the race will be over and while June contains some pretty major racing events (hello Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de Suisse) it also represents a chance to take a deep breath and regroup ahead of the Tour de France.

These Grand Tours are great big all-encompassing events that tend to suck in all of our attention – simply put, they have their own gravity. I write about that and all the action from the final stages of the Giro in the final two editions of our digital magazine – catch up with them below.

Issue 6 contains all the info on stages 16-18, which featured a breakout victory for a young German rider, along with weather-based disputes, to cima coppi photo finishes, to sprint showdowns.

And the final issue covers the final three stages, including a huge mountain stage and the marquee sprint in Rome.

Finally, if you fancy catching up on the Giro stage by stage in audio form, Sanny Rudravajhala and I have been covering the race daily on the On Yer Bike podcast, with contributions from a range of other journos and friends, and it’s a great listen if we do say so ourselves. Check it out - available below, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoy it, look out as we’ll be back with you again very soon.

NEWS! HAVE SOME NEWS!

Banks opens up on doping allegations

British rider Lizzy Banks announced this week that following a positive finding in her test samples she has been fighting a case against UK Anti-Doping. She opened up in a long and detailed post on her website, which is a difficult but important read, addressing the devastating impact of the process on her life and career. Banks has since been cleared of all wrongdoing and will face no further sanctions.

Longo Borghini heads to UAE

After six seasons with the American team, Lidl-Trek stalwart Elisa Longo Borghini is set to head to UAE Team ADQ for the 2025 season. GCN report that the Italian champion has signed a multiple year deal at the team which will see her become their GC leader. With Demi Vollering reportedly heading to FDJ-SUEZ, the spread of GC talent seems as though it should be more balanced across the Women’s World Tour from next season.

Transfer rumours continue

A few transfer rumours in the women’s peloton, with Juliette Labous (currently with Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) rumoured to be moving to FDJ-SUEZ, and Riejanne Markus (and possibly Anna Henderson) leaving Visma-Lease A Bike for Lidl-Trek.

From the men’s peloton, rumour has it Jhonatan Narvaez looks set to be heading to UAE Team Emirates. The Ecuadorian rider has impressed with a stage win and some aggressive riding at the Giro d’Italia, and is currently embroiled in an Olympic selection drama with reigning champion Richard Carapaz.

BITESIZE CHUNKS OF NEWS!

• Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Primoz Roglic (BORA Hansgrohe) will both return to racing for the first time since crashing in Itzulia Basque Country next week at the Critérium du Dauphiné

• UCI Gravel World Champion Matej Mohorič will take part in Unbound Gravel next week alongside his Bahrain-Victorious teammate Matevž Govekar

• British Cycling partners with Lloyds Bank – the new long-term sponsorship will see Lloyds become the title sponsor for the Tour of Britain (men’s and women’s) and National Series races, and has been described as a ‘game-changer’ for the domestic cycling scene in the UK which was desperately in need of a boost

• Israel-Premier Tech Academy secures the signature of 17-year-old Brit Finlay Tarling, younger brother of Josh (currently with INEOS Grenadiers)

ROAD RACING RESULTS ROUND-UP

A whistlestop tour around the latest results…

MEN

Sam Bennett capitalised on his team’s momentum to rediscover his own form after a long period without a win. The Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale rider won four of the six stages and the overall classification at 4 Jours De Dunkerque (14-19 May). The other two stages were taken by Milan Fretin (Cofidis) and Warre Vangheluwe (Soudal-QuickStep).

A 2.1 race with no World Tour presence, the Tour of Hellas (15-19 May) saw an overall win for Riccardo Zoidl of Austrian conti team Team Felt-Felbermayr. Stage wins also went for Iuri Leitao (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Jakub Mareczko (Team corratec-Vini Fantani), Felix Ritzinger (Team Felt-Felbermayr), Dylan Hicks (Saint Piran) and Bartosz Rudyk (ATT Investments).

Tord Gudmestad (Uno-X Mobility) won the Veenendaal Classic (18 May), and the team scored again with Alexander Kristoff winning the Antwerp Port Epic the following day. Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco-AlUla) won the Ronde van Limburg (20 May).

A busy few days of racing saw a number of clashing stage races overlap one another but I can bring you bang up to date with news from both Boucles de Mayenne and the Tour of Norway (both 23-26 May).

In France, one of the in-form riders of the season, Benoît Cosnefroy, won the opening Prologue and took the leader’s jersey, which he held onto following stage 1, a sprint finish which resulted in a maiden career win for TotalEnergies’ Emilien Jeannière. Stage 2, the Queen stage, resulted in a late breakaway win for Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost); it was the Italian’s second victory of the season and he took control of the race lead in the process. The final stage saw a thrilling breakaway versus bunch finish, and it was joy once again for Decathlon as Valentin Retailleau held off the charging peloton to take the biggest win of his career to date, as Bettiol sealed the win on GC.

The main headline before the beginning of the Tour of Norway was the return of Wout van Aert to the peloton. It was another Belgian cyclocrosser though, who took victory on stage 1. Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) continued his amazing start to the road season with a win, but he wasn’t able to follow it up on stage 2, which went to Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck) ahead of INEOS Grenadiers’ Ethan Hayter. Stage 3 concluded in a bunch sprint which was won by Jordi Meeus (BORA Hansgrohe) with Wout van Aert coming in 4^th . He went one better the following day, missing out to Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility), while Laurance took the win in the overall classification.

And finally, Casper van Uden (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) won the Rund um Köln (26 May) ahead of Intermarché-Wanty’s Biniam Girmay.

WOMEN

Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling) won the Durango-Durango one-day race (14 May) – it was a big win for the young Frenchwoman among a strong field.

The Vuelta a Burgos Feminas (16-19 May) was the third Spanish stage race in as many weeks, and once again, it saw a stacked field take to the roads, with a mix of stages for sprinters and GC riders. It was expected to be another Team SD Worx-ProTime whitewash, and it almost was – save for stage 1’s victory by EF Education-Cannondale’s Lotta Henttala, who continued an excellent season for the team with victory in a hectic sprint finish that saw a nasty crash take out Elisa Balsamo of Lidl-Trek.

The rest of the stages and the GC reverted to type, with Lorena Wiebes winning the other sprint stage and Demi Vollering taking stages 2, 4 and the GC, her third consecutive GC victory in Spain. Evita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) finished second on GC with Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) third.

Veenendaal-Veenendaal (17 May) was won by Visma-Lease A Bike’s Riejanne Markus, and Antwerp Port Epic Ladies (19 May) by Lara Gillespie (UAE Development Team) ahead of Canyon//SRAM’s Zoe Backstedt. The GP Mazda Schelkens (20 May) was won by Martina Fidanza (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling).

While SD Worx were busy dominating in Spain, FDJ-SUEZ were the headline act at the Bretagne Ladies Tour (22-24 May). One of just a few World Tour teams at the race, the French team swept the board with two stage victories and the GC for Grace Brown, and a stage for Sarah Roy.

This weekend, the Women’s World Tour has arrived in the UK for the first of two stage races. The RideLondon Classique (24-26 May) featured a number of top teams and across three relatively flat stages, despite strong competition, saw a hat-trick of wins for Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx-ProTime), as she continues to prove she is the fastest woman on two wheels in 2024.

FINAL THOUGHT

Classics season already feels like a distant memory as we tick off the first men’s Grand Tour of the year, and are drawn steadily closer to the behemoth of the cycling calendar, the Tour de France.

This year’s race is already set to be a thriller, with some seriously strong riders on the start list, and with Tadej Pogacar taking aim at the Giro-Tour double, this year’s Grand Boucle is endowed with additional significance.

Before we get started though, the second season of Netflix ‘Unchained’ will be released, a reminder of the 2023 edition of the Tour and all the drama (both real and manufactured) that unfolded there. If the trailer is anything to go by, the storylines may well come across as somewhat embellished versions of the truth. Let’s see how it unfolds. Here’s the trailer, in case you haven’t seen it, it’s… interesting.

After that, we have the four-yearly spectacle of the Olympics to enjoy before we can get stuck into the Tour de France Femmes. While I’m a total Olympic fanatic, it’s a little disappointing that the women’s race has been delayed this year, as in the first two years since its inception, it’s been special to have the race follow on immediately after the men’s race, carrying the yellow momentum on for another week of top level racing. Perhaps this year, with the break in proceedings provided by the Olympics, the women’s version of the race may feel even more special, in its own unique spot on the calendar – it’s certainly preferable to the situation we currently suffer with the Giro Donne – now Giro d’Italia Women – which is a spectacular race in its own right but sadly does not get the recognition and prominence it deserves, becoming lost amid the Tour de France hype as the organisers insist on maintaining a clashing position on the schedule.

THE LAST WORD

Thanks for reading as always, and additional thanks for bearing with me while these newsletters are somewhat shorter, during this busy Grand Tour period. I’ll always be along to keep you up to date though, even if I’m slightly off-schedule! If you would like to support my quest to continue to bring you free cycling content, you can do so by buying me a coffee.

See you in a couple of weeks!

Cheers,
Katy