- writebikerepeat
- Posts
- Three weeks, four seasons
Hey there lovely cycling fans, how are you all doing? As we near end of Spring, in the Northern hemisphere at least, I find myself wondering where the time’s gone, as I’ve gone from digging out gloves and hats to slapping on sun cream, and now they tell me the ACTUAL TOUR DE FRANCE is less than 40 days away. Madness.
Over at the Giro d’Italia, the peloton have experienced all four seasons, going from the snow on Gran Sasso d’Italia, through the insistent, driving rain that’s been strongly reminiscent of autumn, to flashes of sun and lately, full-on, jerseys open and flapping in the breeze, brilliant summer. It’s been a rollercoaster, in terms of the climate, and the racing.
Over at the site, I’ve been compiling a daily bulletin with reports, previews, features and lots of fun and off-the-walls side quests, I won’t link you to all of the individual stages but simply to the Giro landing page from where I invite you to peruse at your leisure. It’s a collaborative venture with a bunch of other lovely writers and features music, history, politics and plenty of jokes and silliness along the way, along with all the more standard stuff like stage reports and daily previews – catch up on what you’ve missed and/or tune in for the final couple of editions over at the main site – and feel free to sign up to receive content from the site while you’re at it, if you feel so inclined:
We’ll have a short segment on the Giro here in a bit, but for now, shall we do the news?
NEWS ROUND-UP
Cavendish to retire!
It’s another bumper year of retirements in the pro peloton, with some huge names bowing out of racing, including Annemiek van Vleuten, Thibaut Pinot, Greg van Avermaet and Rohan Dennis, but arguably the highest profile loss to the men’s peloton will be Mark Cavendish. The Manx Missile announced at a press conference on the second rest day at the Giro this Monday that he was riding his final Giro d’Italia, in what would be his final season of racing.
The timing of the announcement was unexpected though the content perhaps less so; it looks almost guaranteed that Cavendish will ride at the Tour de France this summer in pursuit of his 35th stage, to surpass the record that he currently shares with Eddy Merckx. Whether he does it or not, his has been a career that will go down in history. More on that later in the newsletter.
Another retirement announcement since the last newsletter, AG2R’s Michael Schär has also decided to retire at the end of the season.
Covid protocols return!
Of all the comebacks we could have hoped for in 2023, bottom of the list was covid and all the restrictions that its resurgence in the peloton entails. Except, did it actually change anything? This was the question we were asking ourselves after a week at the Giro d’Italia, where it was clear covid was spreading at a rate of knots through the peloton. Having reared its ugly head at the Tour de Romandie, it continued in its quest to disrupt all of the best laid plans, and in response to the loss of Remco Evenepoel from the race after his positive test, the organisers reinstated some protocols, including mandatory masking in mixed zones and other areas with access to riders. Beyond that however, it was still all a bit wishy-washy, with teams not required to test, and riders not even required to leave the race if they reported a positive result - which somewhat undermined the new rules.
Transfer rumours!
We’re entering transfer rumour season, and one of the teams most active so far has been Uno-X, as it looks a done deal that Team DSM’s Andreas Leknessund, who wore the maglia rosa for 5 days at this year’s Giro and remains within the top ten on GC, will return to his former team next season. Another rumour is that fellow Scandinavian Magnus Cort will join the team, which would really see the ProTeam strengthen their numbers - one to keep an eye on.
Rumours today too of AG2R’s Benoit Cosnefroy potentially moving to another French team, Arkea-Samsic, once his contract is up at the end of the season.
New women’s team sponsor!
This week, Dutch construction services company VolkerWessels announced it would take over Parkhotel Valkenburg from 2024. New sponsors and new investment in the women’s sport is always a good thing and the development of an existing team with additional resources is a really positive step. Looking forward to hearing how that one develops.
RACE RECAP – 12-25 May 2023
It was always going to happen – keeping up with the Giro d’Italia has meant that for the first time this year, I haven’t been able to keep up with all the other results in a particularly meaningful way. So this is going to be a total whistlestop tour around what else has been going on, in case you can find some time to catch up, or simply want to keep an eye on the names who are busy quietly notching up victories in the background while we watch the Giro. Speaking of which…
You can delve deep into the blow-by-blow recaps over at the site, but for those of you who prefer to consume your news in smaller chunks, I have set myself a challenge to recap the highlights of this year’s Giro d’Italia so far in a bitesize chunk that shouldn’t take you more than a minute to read. Here goes…
THE GIRO… IN 60 SECONDS
Remco Evenepoel was there! He had an egg in his pocket, and a dog made him fall off his bike, and then he got covid, but he’s still one of only two riders to win more than one stage! There was a helicopter v cable car debate, Jonathan Milan was very fast despite being totally un-aero and having no lead-out, and two Danes completed the Grand Slam winning a stage in all 3 Grand Tours - Mads Pedersen and Magnus Cort. LOADS of riders went home sick. It rained. A LOT. And the breakaway reigned, with a gang of usual suspects, half of them from Israel-Premier Tech and the rest usually Ben Healy, and swept up all the stages while the GC riders battened down the hatches and waited for week 3. One stage was shortened, people argued over rider safety and whether the peloton was tougher back in the day, and Pinot got angry with Cepeda, and Rubio beat them both. People called it boring though we’ve had 15 different stage winners from 17 stages, and no-one has a clue who’ll win the thing. The GC came to life on stage 16 with Almeida flying and Roglič doesn’t look his usual self. Four men have worn pink, with Geraint Thomas in the maglia rosa on his birthday. Three huge mountain tests remain, one of which is a hideous time trial, before we all go to Rome for a nice big party.
All clear? Questions? All is revealed over at the site, but hopefully this has been a nice succinct summary just in case someone at work stops you and demands to know what’s been happening in the Giro - you’re welcome!
Now to the rest of the results!
THE MEN
When I sent out the last newsletter, Tour de Hongrie (10-16 May) was underway with two sprint stages yielding two different winners – Olav Kooij and Fabio Jakobsen.
Stage 3 was the day for the GC teams to set out their stall, and in a thrilling final featuring a vicious wall of a climb 1.5km from the finish, Ben Tulett of INEOS drew first blood, but he couldn’t maintain his effort and Marc Hirschi slid past him and quickly opened out a sizeable gap. The UAE man won the stage and claimed the yellow leader’s jersey, with a slim 8 seconds over Tulett.
The fourth stage was a battle royale, with numerous interested parties in both the stage win and the GC. Team DSM drove the pace but on the final climb of the day a big bunch of hopefuls surged clear, including Hirschi, Tulett, Egan Bernal, Matteo Fabbro, Thibau Nys, DSM’s Oscar Onley and Max Poole and more. It was a fantastic fight, with plenty of attacks from various riders, but it was the final solo dig from Yannis Voisard that clinched the win for Tudor Pro Cycling – the new ProTeam are doing really well this year. The final stage was sadly neutralised due to extreme weather conditions so that was that, and Hirschi took the overall win.
Two French one-day races, the Tour du Finistere (13 May) and Boucles de l’Aulne (14 May) yielded two very different winners, the former won in a sprint by Groupama-FDJ’s young sprinter Paul Penhoet, and the latter seeing one of this season’s retiring veterans, Greg van Avermaet, raise his arms, possibly for the last time.
The most incorrectly named race on the calendar, 4 Jours De Dunkerque (16-21 May) took place over six days (you can see my point, right?) with a variety of stages and a strong set of fast men and young riders leading the charge.
Stage 1 was a bit of a shocker, with three nasty crashes in the final 5km, including a disastrous one just 100m from the finish line caused by a major bump in the road – a horrible moment for rider safety and something that should really have been taken out of the route. It resulted in horrific injuries for Arnaud de Lie, who is luckily already recovering from surgery. The sprinters who made it through the melee contested the final which was won by Olav Kooij. The Jumbo-Visma rider also took stage 4. Stage 2 was won by Romain Gregoire, taking his first pro win, stage 3 by Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), and stage 5 by Per Strand Hagenes (Jumbo Visma). The final stage featured a bunch of laps and concluded in one final sprint, Soudal-QuickStep’s Tim Merlier taking victory by a whisker ahead of Uno-X’s Erland Blikra. Romain Gregoire won his first ever stage race, clinching the pink leader’s jersey on the same day that his teammate Bruno Armirail claimed the maglia rosa in Italy to put Groupama-FDJ very firmly in the pink.
Four more one-day races to update you on: Jordi Meeus won the Circuit de Wallonie (18 May), Dylan Groenewegen the Veenendaal Classic (20 May), Danny van Poppel was victorious at the Rund am Koln (21 May) and Dries de Bondt won the Antwerp Port Epic (21 May).
THE WOMEN
Itzulia Women (12-14 May)
It was an SD Worx grand slam in the Basque country, as they took all three stages and the overall at Itzulia Women. Billed as another Vollering v Van Vleuten battle, the SD Worx rider seemed keen to distance her rival at the earliest possible opportunity, winning stage 1 solo and opening up a 47 second gap to her nearest rival which was, er, her own teammate, Marlen Reusser.
Stage 2 was closer, going down to a sprint which, in the absence of a strong sprint field, was won by – you guessed it – Demi Vollering. Soraya Paladin upset the 1-2 party by separating Vollering from Reusser in third.
On stage 3, an in-form Marlen Reusser time trialled her way to victory on both stage and in the overall, with a massive 2.38 gap to the next rider… who was… I bet you can’t guess… Demi Vollering.
Next up, two one-day races that were extremely unimaginatively named: Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio won Durango-Durango (16 May) and Lotte Kopecky got back to winning ways at Veenendaal-Veenendaal (19 May). Marthe Truyen won the Antwerp Port Epic Ladies (21 May).
Vuelta a Burgos Femininas (17-21 May)
Three sprints and a climby day was the menu for the third stage race of the month in Spain. The first sprint was won by Lorena Wiebes in what felt like the most obvious of possible outcomes, from Elisa Balsamo. Stage 2 saw Demi Vollering take the win with Chloe Dygert in second (and Wiebes in third). Stage 3 was a replay of stage 1, results-wise, and on the final stage it was Demi Vollering who showed her class, winning on the final climb up to Lagunas de Neila with a gap of 1.35 to take the stage and the overall victory. Another clean sweep for the dominant Dutch team.
Currently up and running is the Thüringen Ladies Tour (23-28 May). Stage 1 was a team time trial, won by Team SD Worx. Stage 2 saw SD Worx take yet another victory with Mischa Bredewold ride solo to victory, two more of her teammates filling out the podium in a show of authority that is starting to look a little, erm, unbalanced, shall we say. I’ll bring you the rest of that one in the next newsletter.
DON’T MISS
As I said, I’ve not had a great deal of time to watch races outside of the Giro, but if you have an hour or two to spare and want to catch up with the best of the past couple of weeks, I’d highly recommend stage 4 of the Tour de Hongrie for some seriously close, exciting, attacking racing. It’s well worth a look if you have access to any catch-up services.
STARS OF THE FORTNIGHT
No holds barred here, even the Giro boys can join in. Lucky really, because having taken my eye off the ball somewhat, I’m not sure of many others though I will give a hat tip to ROMAIN GREGOIRE for his first pro wins - both a stage win AND the overall at 4 Jours de Dunkerque. At the Giro, ‘the breakaway’ takes the prize for bringing the race to life and it’s hard to pick just one name, so I’ll pick two: BEN HEALY and DEREK GEE have lit up the race, stolen the show, and elevated themselves into the hearts of cycling fans everywhere with their all-out attacking racing.
FINAL THOUGHT
Mark Cavendish is the reason I started watching cycling. Well, one of them, at least.
The details are fuzzy in my brain now; an astonishing amount of life has happened the past 11/12 years, to the point where I’m not 100% sure whether I actually witnessed him win the World Championships in Copenhagen in 2011, or whether my first contact with the sport, my first real flicker of interest, was seeing him storming to victory on the Champs Elysée, led out by Bradley Wiggins in yellow, arms raised in the rainbow jersey. I can picture it clearly, and actually the Olympics afterwards, though whether I watched the full Tour I’m not sure.
Anyway, the details don’t matter all that much. The point is, Mark Cavendish book-ends my own time as a cycling fan – I was a late bloomer, following years as a football fan and forays into tennis, and ice hockey – I’ve always loved many sports, and it took a few years for cycling to draw me in, such is the nature of the beast. But Cav was always Cav. A personality that transcended the sport, on the track and the road, and divided opinion, but achieved an insane amount in his career. Screaming him over the line as he won his first Tour stage in 2021 was up there with my favourite recent cycling memories. He’ll leave a significant hole in the peloton, and in the landscape of my experience as a cycling fan. Though I suspect (and hope) he’ll still be a part of the sport for a long time to come.
Plenty of others have written more eloquently about the man, so do go and read the excellent pieces that are out there, and to hear him in his own words is a worthwhile experience too (I recommend his most recent book about the 2021 Tour), but I couldn’t let the occasion pass without a short reflection of my own. He’ll always be a legend in my eyes.
THE LAST WORD
I know I do bang on about it, but I’m really glad you subscribe to this newsletter – it’s lovely to imagine people out there in the big wide world reading my words and maybe finding out something they didn’t know, or smiling over one of my silly jokes, or just generally feeling like they’re part of a community of folk who all love bike racing as much as I do and just want to share in that joy.
The next time I write to you, we’ll be just over 3 weeks from the start of Le Tour de bloody France! Can you believe it?
In the meantime, do have a nose around the website to read all the brilliant content my team have been producing during this Giro. I wrote some stuff too including this interview with Sam Bewley, former pro and new DS of Israel-Premier Tech, where we chat about life on the other side of the fence, and I find out if he’s the secret behind his team’s brilliant break-out breakaway performances at the Giro.
As always, your support is hugely appreciated, and if you’d like to buy me a coffee I would be super grateful, as an independent creator every penny really does make a difference.
Until next time,
Cheers,
Katy
PS If you just can’t get enough of me and my cycling content, you can also hear me on a BRAND NEW PODCAST - The Baroudeur’s Bidon is a (virtual) cycling pub, and I go there once a fortnight with my mates to chat cycling, order themed drinks and put the world to rights. Oh and there’s a pub quiz, of course. Have a listen at the outlets, and follow the pod on social media @BaroudeursBidon
Spotify: http://spoti.fi/42UxBiX
Amazon: AatAmaap://amzn.to/3VMmSof
Google: h //bit.ly/3IkD76w