All the racing, all of the time

Hello cycling friends old and new and welcome to the latest edition of the writebikerepeat newsletter and I’m delighted to be able to say – I WENT TO A BIKE RACE! It’s been a long time coming, as for various reasons it’s difficult for me to actual get to races, and to be honest, it’s far easier to watch, analyse and write about sport from the comfort of your own home. But hey, it was a race on home soil – one of just two UCI WWT level races in the UK – so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to head along and get thoroughly soaked whilst yelling at women riding their bikes up a hideously steep gradient.

I wrote about the experience, as well as some broader reflections on the race, over at the website – it includes contributions from British Cycling CEO Jon Dutton, Race Director Andy Hawes and Lizzie Deignan, and examines the impact of the race and its importance to the domestic racing scene, I hope you enjoy reading it.

Also from the race, a four-part audio documentary produced by myself and Sanny Rudravajhala, featuring fascinating insights into the organisation of a race, with plenty of atmosphere, interviews and entertainment along the way.

Now on with the news!

OH LOOK, IT’S THE NEWS!

PFP heads to the Netherlands!

Yes, rumour has it that reigning UCI Mountain Bike World Champion and all-around legend of the sport Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will leave INEOS Grenadiers, where she formed a women’s team of one (or an off-road team of two, if you include Tom Pidcock) to head for pastures new next season. Visma-Lease A Bike is reportedly her destination, where she will sign a three-year contract. There, PFP would join up with the other greatest female rider of a generation, Marianne Vos, to form a duo which in all probability could rip a hole in the space-time continuum with its combined power, speed, and all around epicness.

(Yes I’m a bit excited about this one).

Ferrand-Prévot has stated her intention to shift focus away from off-road riding after the Paris Olympics to return to the road, and it’s going to be exciting to see what the French woman can do, returning 11 years after she became World Champion. Let’s remind ourselves, she has won 12 World titles in four different disciplines (road, mountain biking, cyclocross and gravel) and if you add this to Marianne Vos’ 11 World titles, not to mention medals for both in the Olympics, well… it’s quite something to consider.

In other news…

TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES EXTENDS!

An announcement this week confirmed that the 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift would see the race extended to nine stages for the first time. Bretagne was also announced as the location for next year’s Grand Départ, which will see an overlap with the men’s race, with the Femmes beginning on Saturday 26^th July, as the men’s race ends on Sunday 27^th .

DISASTER FOR VAN DIJK

Ellen van Dijk suffered a major blow to her Olympic dreams, fracturing her ankle in a training crash and leaving her requiring surgery. The Dutch time trial specialist reportedly aims to be back on her bike within two weeks, as she targets the Olympic time trial in Paris, her primary goal of the season, just a few months after she returned from maternity leave following the birth of her son Faas.

JAYCO-ALULA IN GC SHUFFLE

Team Jayco-AlUla look set to exchange one GC leader for another when the transfer window officially opens on 1^st August. Simon Yates is rumoured to be departing – destination currently unknown, though Visma-Lease A Bike, Israel-Premier Tech and Tudor Pro Cycling are all being touted as possible destinations for the Lancastrian. In return, the Aussie team will hope to bring in one of their own, in Ben O’Connor. The Perth-born climber has had many ups and downs (literally and figuratively) during his time with the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale team who offered him his first pro contract.

Keep up-to-date with the latest news stories in between newsletters over at the writebikerepeat News Page – including keeping up with every single Tour de France team announcement as they are revealed.

ROAD RACING RESULTS ROUND-UP

The schedule has been packed over the past couple of weeks and there’s been some great racing, so let’s catch up and delve into some results.

MEN

Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) continued his rich vein of form with a victory at the one-day Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes (29 May), in dramatic fashion, after he crashed and chased back on. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) sprinted to his first win of the season in the Circuit Franco-Belge (29 May) one-day race, ahead of Axel Zingle and Marc Hirschi. Alexander Kristoff and Jonas Abrahamsen continued Uno-X’s strong start to the summer with victories at the Heistse Pijl (1 Jun) and Brussels Classic (1 Jun) respectively, Abrahamsen winning from a break ahead of a strong sprint field.

That’s the one-day racing dealt with, now onto some stage races – and there are a LOT going on this month.

FOCUS ON: Critérium du Dauphiné

One of two week-long stage races that are traditionally used as a build-up to the Tour de France, the Dauphiné featured 50% of the top GC contenders for Le Tour in Primož Roglič (BORA Hansgrohe) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), both of whom were back in action for the first time since they came down in the same crash at Itzulia Basque Country in April.

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was the winner of stage 1 ahead of Sam Bennett, in a relatively narrow sprint field, and given the lack of sprint opportunities at the race, it was somewhat understandable. Stage 2 saw heartbreak for Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale’s Bruno Armirail following a spirited solo breakaway effort, as he was closed down on the hilltop finish by a reduced bunch, from which Magnus Cort took his first victory for new team Uno-X, taking control of the leader’s jersey in the process. Though admittedly it was hard to tell at the time, as the race rose into the mists at the top of the final ascent.

Uno-X led the charge on stage 3 in defence of Cort’s yellow jersey, but it was Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), the Canadian who shot to fame with his plucky breakaway performances and multiple second-place finishes at last year’s Giro d’Italia, who stole the day, finally taking his first World Tour victory.

Stage 4’s ‘race of truth’ pitted the riders head-to-head with the road, on a 40.3km time trial. The early fastest time was posted by European Champion Josh Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers) but the World Champion Remco Evenepoel proved his prowess against the clock was still intact, taking the stage victory.

Slippery roads brought the race into chaos on stage 5, with numerous crashes, the worst involving 50+ riders and resulting in an immediate neutralisation. Thankfully not too many were badly injured, many sliding a long way but most not colliding with anything, though Visma-Lease A Bike’s injury woes continued with Dylan van Baarle and Steven Kruijswijk, both set to form part of Jonas Vingegaard’s support crew for the Tour de France, taken to hospital following the crash.

Primož Roglič stamped his authority on the race after that as it shifted into the mountains, winning stages 6 and 7, though he was unable to hold his form on the final stage, Carlos Rodriguez of INEOS Grenadiers the eventual victor despite a long solo effort from Marc Soler of UAE Team Emirates. Despite his final day wobble, Roglič took the overall victory on the GC by just 8 seconds, ahead of Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease A Bike) in second, and Gee in third, his highest ever GC finish at this level.

Now please enjoy this moment from stage 6 when the race went the wrong way. Because our sport is just too funny sometimes.

In the sprint-heavy ZLM Tour (5-9 Jun), Rune Herregodts set the marker by winning the opening time trial. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL’s Casper van Uden won stages 2 and 4 from a sprint, while 36-year-old Peter Schulting of the Diftar Continental Cycling Team took the biggest win of his career since the 2018 Ronde van Zeeland on stage 3. The final stage was won by Alexander Salby of Bingoal WB. Herregodts took the overall victory.

Maxim van Gils (Lotto-Dstny) won the GP Kanton Argau (7 Jun) ahead of a quality field, with Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) in second place.

DON’T MISS IT: There is always a race that catches you by surprise, by being far more exciting than you expect. Add to that one of the most underrated parcours of the season, and my recommendation for a race to go back and check out this week is the Dwars door het Hageland (8 Jun). The race takes place on a mixture of gravel tracks, tarmac and cobbles and featured a brilliant break v bunch chase, some confusing tactics from Uno-X, and Gianni Vermeersch repeatedly losing his temper with breakaway companion Jonas Abrahamsen for not working. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider held his nerve to take a well-deserved victory in the end, and it’s really one to savour.

The yin to the Dauphiné’s yang, the Tour de Suisse (9-16 Jun) is still underway as I write this, but I’ll bring you up to date with the latest as it heads towards its conclusion. Yves Lampaert was victorious on stage 1, which was not classified as a prologue despite being just 4.8km in length. The Soudal-QuickStep rider took the leader’s jersey heading into stage 2, which was the only real opportunity for the sprinters, and even that proved too tough for some. It was Bryan Coquard who took his first win of the season for Cofidis after a well-timed late strike saw him overturn the charging bull Arnaud de Lie, who looked set for the win until he suffered yet another mechanical issue in the dying seconds of a race.

Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) continued his stellar season with a confident victory on stage 3, and as the race headed into the mountains, it was an emotional first pro victory for Bahrain-Victorious’ Torstein Træen, who dedicated the win to the late Gino Mäder, who tragically lost his life at the race this time last year.

Adam Yates was second on stage 3, and finished clear of the rest of the GC contenders to prove he is in exceptional form heading into the Tour de France, where he will support Tadej Pogačar. He underlined his form by winning stage 5, and his teammate João Almeida, sitting second on GC, took stage 6, powering clear of Yates to show UAE’s incredible dominance. I’ll bring you the remainder of that one in the next newsletter.

The Tour of Slovenia (12-16 Jun) is also currently underway – the first three victors there have been Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco-AlUla) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) on the stage 1 and 2 sprints, and Giovanni Aleotti (BORA hansgrohe) on stage 3.

The Baloise Belgium Tour (12-16 Jun) is the final proving ground for the top sprint names heading to France in two weeks to compete for the green jersey. Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X) showed his power on stage 1 and Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) notched up his 13^th road victory of the season on stage 2. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) sprinted to victory on stage 3. 

WOMEN

Yurani Blanco Calbet (Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi) won the 1.Pro GP Ciudad de Eibar (26 May).

The Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Del Sol (29 May-1 Jun) gathered a strong field of women to take on a tough parcours. Silke Smulders (Team Jayco-AlUla) took stage 1 ahead of her teammate Mavi Garcia. The Australian team dominated the race, with Garcia taking stage 2 and Ella Wyllie stage 3, before Arlenis Sierra was able to break their run of victories by taking one of her own for Movistar on the final stage. Mavi Garcia won the overall GC.

Kathrin Schweinberger (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling) won the Dwars door de Westhoek (2 Jun) while 19-year-old Marion Bunel (St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93) took her first pro win with an incredible ride to win the Alpes Gresivaudan Classic (2 Jun), ahead of a quality field, with Evita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) in second. The young Frenchwoman really underscoring her potential there.

The rebooted Tour of Britain Women (6-9 Jun) saw Lotte Kopecky began the Team SD Worx-ProTime quest to win ALL THE STAGES with victory on stage 1, after Team Jayco-AlUla’s Letizia Paternoster celebrated to soon in a two-up sprint. Kopecky won again on stage 2, also from a two-woman group, this time with Anna Henderson who was riding for the Great Britain National team, and though the British rider had Kopecky’s number on the climbs, she was unable to match her fast finish.

SD Worx added another win on stage 3’s sprint finish into Warrington with Lorena Wiebes, before the final stage saw an upset, as Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Team Jayco-AlUla) avenged Paternoster’s stage 1 defeat, taking advantage of Kopecky’s attempt to gift the stage win to her teammate Christine Majerus to storm through and claim her first win on European soil. She was understandably emotional, and SD Worx were chastened though Kopecky still took the GC victory, with Majerus in third overall. Henderson was second.

The three-stage Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (7-9 Jun) ran its first UCI-ratified edition with a strong field of riders. Over three hilly stages, Ally Wollaston (AG Insurance-Soudal Team) showed her excellent form taking stages 1 and 3, while Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease A Bike) took stage 2, and the overall classification, ahead of her teammate Riejanne Markus, in what was a strong race for the whole team.

Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) won the women’s Dwars door het Hageland (8 Jun) and Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) won the Flanders Diamond Tour (9 Jun).

FINAL THOUGHT – The Final Countdown

It’s just two weeks tomorrow until the focal point of the cycling season begins. The Tour de France dwarfs every other event on the cycling calendar, and like me, some of you out there may be reflecting on last year’s race as we approach this year’s, perhaps with latest season of Netflix Unchained as a companion piece. A race so significant on a global scale it’s deemed worthy of a Netflix series, and while the third season won’t be officially commissioned until later in the year, confidence must be high that it will continue as filming is already underway with this year’s cast.

The cast is largely the same as last year, yet the race will be very different. UAE Team Emirates are the favourites, partly as a result of Tadej Pogačar’s scintillating form at the Giro d’Italia and his goal to make history by becoming one of a select few to do the Giro-Tour double, partly because of the incredible quality of their line-up, and partly because the rider who would have been the favourite for the race – Visma-Lease A Bike’s Jonas Vingegaard – is still recovering from the Itzulia Basque Country crash that has seen him absent from racing ever since.

While Vingegaard’s form will remain a mystery until he takes to the start line in Florence – assuming his medical team deem him fit to do so – that of Pogačar’s other two main rivals is more of a known quantity. Primož Roglič’s team showed they are ready to ride for him at the Dauphiné and inspired some belief in their organisation and commitment, and while Roglič was able to show he has returned to the kind of form that can see him sprinting uphill to leave his rivals in the dust, the fact he faltered on the final day, over a longer climb, will give pause to his backers. Remco Evenepoel has openly admitted he isn’t where he needs to be, and was using the Dauphiné to build his form, but even at his best, it seems doubtful that he is at a place in his career currently where he can take on the might of Pogačar and UAE over three weeks.

All this leads to the very real possibility that despite beginning 2024 with the strongest line-up of GC hopefuls for the Tour for many years, it may, like the Giro d’Italia, be a more straightforward task for Tadej Pogačar to achieve victory than the neutral fan would have hoped.

On the other hand, the strength of the overall field cannot be underestimated, and the Tour de France is, of course, fraught with risk, pressure and as always, the threat of extraneous factors playing a part in the race. In short, nothing is guaranteed. And unlike at the Giro, with the eyes of the world on La Grande Boucle, no team will be prepared to go down without a fight, and all will want to take something home from the race.

I’ll be back with you in two weeks to look ahead to the race, and tell you all about what Team WriteBikeRepeat have planned to accompany your viewing pleasure, along with some thoughts on the latest season of Unchained, and more.

THE LAST WORD

Until then, thanks so much for being a part of this little community of cycling fans, whether you’re a loyal early adopter of the newsletter or one of my newest subscribers, I am super grateful to all of you for your interest and if you’d like to support my ongoing quest to provide free quality pro cycling content, you can do so by buying me a coffee, or even by picking up some writebikerepeat merchandise at the shop – and as a thank you you can enjoy a 25% discount on all items at the shop from now until the end of Le Tour (discount will be automatically applied at the checkout).

I’ll leave you with this lovely clip of a little girl enjoying her day out at the recent Tour of Britain because we all need something to make us smile, right?

Cheers,
Katy