What's that coming over the hill?

Can you believe it? We’ve made it to the first Grand Tour of the year. I started this newsletter way back in September and to be honest, I had no real belief in my ability to keep it going once the season ‘proper’ kicked in, but here we are. Now, more than ever, I’m grateful to you for sticking with me, as the variety of voices swells and it becomes a mass of competing noise and content, and really I genuinely believe there’s space for everyone, it’s just about finding the flavour that you enjoy. So if you’re still enjoying my, er, flavour, then thank you; truly.

I’ve been keeping up with the Giro over on the website by way of a daily bulletin featuring a great big collective mass of content – it’s a magazine, essentially, with various contributors bringing informative, entertaining and unique content including: stage reviews and previews, cultural and historical background, Italian idioms, original artwork, an ever-evolving Spotify playlist and miscellaneous bits of fun from all around the race. There are links to the bulletins at the foot of this newsletter - check them out and subscribe to the site if you want to receive these daily.

It's all go in the world of cycling, and there’s plenty to discuss outside of La Corsa Rosa, so let’s get cracking.

NEWS ROUND-UP

Did you see the Giro d’Italia team presentation? It’s one of the most weird and wonderful evenings of the year, somehow much weirder than team presentations from either of the other Grand Tours, with plenty of interesting musical choices and interpretative dance. It’s a brilliant way to get hyped for the race to come, and anyway, I don’t have much to say about the event now we’re a few stages deep in the race, but it did offer this fabulous moment where the indie boyband vibes from EF Education-EasyPost made me instantly adopt them as my team for the race.

Feel free to join me in supporting them as the race continues. A couple of other headlines…

Teams change their names!

With changes of sponsors come changes of identity, as teams shift their names and the rest of us are left trying to remember what the hell’s going on for the first half of every season. We’ve had two confirmations of new partnerships so far: Trek-Segafredo end their partnership with the coffee company and join up with a major new sponsor, Lidl. They become Lidl-Trek and instantly the cutest sounding team in the peloton. And they will always sound like they’re going out for a short walk.

Just this week Team DSM announced a new title sponsor, they will become DSM-Firmenich. And with Jumbo stepping back as a title sponsor the bees of Visma will be called something new too – we await news on that one.

Olav over and out!

It was announced this week that young sprint talent Olav Kooij will leave Jumbo-Visma at the end of the season. His destination is a mystery for now but French teams have been rumoured to be interested, and Team DSM’s name thrown into the ring. Personally, I would love to see him go to a team where he can function a bit like Jasper Philipsen does at Alpecin, a sprinter deluxe, riding classics and Grand Tours, preferably with a lead out guy on the level of Mathieu van der Poel. Not too much to ask, is it?

RACE RECAP – 28 Apr – 11 May 2023

Look, we’re all short on time these days, and quite honestly when there’s three races on at once no-one’s doing their best work watching and analysis everything. So cards on the table: some of this is quite in-depth, whilst other bits are just the bare bones. But so help me, if you can find a pro bike race .1 level or above that doesn’t get a mention in here, I’ll eat a casquette.

When I sent out the last newsletter, the riders at the covid-afflicted Tour de Romandie (25-30 Apr) were engaged in a time trial on stage 3, and by contrast to the pan-flat prologue it featured a reasonably significant bit of climbing, which changed the style of rider who rose to the fore. The stage was won by Juan Ayuso, who took his first World Tour win for UAE Team Emirates, from Matteo Jorgensen and Adam Yates. Very much a GC-style TT.

Stage 4 saw the challenge of the vicious Thyon 2000, and it was an explosive and totally unpredictable afternoon of racing in wet conditions. Groupama-FDJ drove the pace for much of the day, riding for Thibaut Pinot and Lenny Martinez, until Jayco-Alula took over, despite the two remaining breakaway riders actually being from their team. Awkward.

It was all action after that: Team DSM attacked and dropped the likes of Tom Gloag, Martinez, and then race-leader Ayuso, but it wasn’t the decisive move of the day. That came from Adam Yates, who kicked away taking a small elite group with him, which included Jorgensen, Romain Bardet, Max Poole, Cian Uitdebroeks, Thibaut Pinot and Damiano Caruso. The group fractured on the upper slopes, Yates pulling clear, and Pinot attacking from the second group with 2.5km to go, only Max Poole able to stick with him, the young Brit having a breakthrough season.  

Yates nursed a slender 8 second lead, but he looked comfortable. Pinot put in a major attack to drop the rest, and finished in second. There were a number of standout performances but perhaps the most uplifting was the steady ride from Egan Bernal, who was able to finish in 10^th spot. A promising sight.

The final stage was a flat stage, and it ended in a bunch sprint which was won by a powerful long finish from Fernando Gaviria (Movistar), his first win since joining the team, while Adam Yates wrapped up the overall, with impressive performances from Matteo Jorgenson in 2^nd and Damiano Caruso in 3^rd .

Outside of Romandie, there were two more short stage races running – the Ceratizit Festival Elsy Jacobs (29-30 Apr) which was won by Ally Wollaston for AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step, and the Vuelta a Asturias (28-30 Apr), where the GC was won by EOLO-Kometa’s Lorenzo Fortunato. Spanish one-day race the reVolta (29 Apr) was won by Brit Claire Steels (Israel-Premier Tech Roland).

Eschborn-Frankfurt (1 May)

Also known as ‘der Radklassiker’, Eschborn-Frankfurt has been known in the past as a sprinters classic but with a reinvented route, 2023’s edition of Eschborn-Frankfurt would have a few surprises in store for the fast men, or any teams who hadn’t checked the profile, with two ascents of the Feldberg and three times over the vicious Mammolschain – just 2.3km in length with up to 20% pitches.

It resulted in a mad day out for the riders and a motivated breakaway including the unpredictable force that is Marc Hirschi upsetting the natural order and proving stronger than the bunch. A front group of ten went clear and with just a few kilometres remaining, the gap came down to a slender 16 seconds at one point. It was to be too little, too late, as the group of ten stayed together to sprint it out for the win, which went to Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Søren Kragh Andersen – his first win of the season and a richly deserved victory for a man who’s worked hard for his team mates during the spring classics.

The following week the Tour of Hellas (2-6 May) was won by Iuri Leitao of Caja-Rural.

Gaia Masetti (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step) won La Classique Morbihan (5 May) the day before the GP de Plumelec-Morbihan (6 May) The live broadcast kicked in with 42km to go in the Femmes race, at which point Grace Brown of FDJ-SUEZ was out in the lead solo, and incredibly it stayed that way all the way to the end of the race, the Aussie TT specialist taking a win for her French team. The men’s race was much closer, coming down to a gritty uphill sprint for the line which was won by Arnaud de Lie (Lotto-DSTNY), from Romain Gregoire and Rasmus Tiller. Amalie Dideriksen (Uno-X Pro Cycling) was victorious at the GP Eco-Struct (6 May).

The next day the hipster piglet-awarding French back-road one-day classic Tro Bro Leon (7 May) was won by Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel-Premier Tech). I wish I’d seen it but quite honestly, the Giro and La Vuelta Femenina took precedence – I am but one cycling fan with one single brain, sadly. I’ll watch it in the off-season and let you know how it was. Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) sprinted to the win at the Trofee Maarten Wynants (7 May).

FOCUS ON: La Vuelta Femenina (1-7 May)

While the Giro just begins to gear up, the first women’s Grand Tour of the season has already been and gone. And WHAT A RACE it was. It completely lived up to its billing in its new, expanded format, and really felt like a Grand Tour, with a variety of stages and a host of top names in attendance. Let’s have a super quick run-down of the results.

Stage 1 was a team time trial on the Costa Blanca, and Team Jumbo Visma took pole position and the red jersey by just one second over a Canyon//SRAM team that included the returning Chloe Dygert. Dygert was clearly feeling ready to go for it as she was active over the next couple of stages, two flat sprint stages that resulted in the same three riders coming out on top, just in a slightly different order. Charlotte Kool showed her strength and speed on stage 2, with Marianne Vos just behind her, taking the red jersey in the process, and the results were reversed on stage 3, with Vos finally adding a Vuelta stage to her lengthy palmares, and looking right back to her best.

The tables turned on stage 4 and the GC teams kicked into action, and on an astonishingly fast stage we joined the broadcast in time to see Trek-Segafredo having been significantly distanced, with crosswinds forcing echelons and things coming back together in time for another bunch finish, won once again by Marianne Vos.

Stage 5 featured the first climbing tests and with a reduced bunch fighting for the stage win up a final climb, Demi Vollering showed her class to pull clear and win the stage, along with the red jersey. The tables turned on stage 6 though, the stage that caused a major controversy as Movistar chose to attack while SD Worx were taking a bathroom break raising all kinds of questions about sportsmanship, though Van Vleuten and Movistar’s DS both insisted the plan had been to attack into the crosswinds all along, and that it was SD Worx at fault for timing their comfort break badly. Van Vleuten pulled clear on the climb and only Gaia Realini could stay with her, all the way to the line where a scintillating finish saw Realini JUST take the win, her first WWT victory. Emotion overflowed for the Trek-Segafredo rider, though there was some confusion as the winner was initially announced as Van Vleuten, before Realini was reinstated as the victor.

The final stage was a gruelling slog up to Lago de Covadonga, and with Vollering on the back foot in the overall classification she had no choice but to go on the offensive, once again with Realini for company. Van Vleuten pursued them at a distance, and with the gap opening and her lead slipping away it set up a nail-biting finale. In the end, Van Vleuten held on to the overall lead by just 9 seconds as Vollering took the final stage. It sets up an incredible summer of racing and with the added frisson of a Vollering/Van Vleuten rivalry, it should be absolutely cracking.

I wrote about the key talking points from the race for Rouleur, have a read here –

Tour de Hongrie (10-16 May)

With a line-up featuring 8 ?? World Tour teams and an array of world class sprinters, the Tour of Hungary runs alongside the Giro this week and may be lost in the hoopla around La Corsa Rosa, so I’ll try to keep in touch with the key points. Stage 1’s finale was marred by a major crash just before la flamme rouge, which affected a number of riders including Egan Bernal, a worrying sight on the Colombian’s long road to recovery. The top sprinters were all still in attendance at the front of the bunch to contend the finish however, and despite a strong lead-out from Danny van Poppel, Sam Bennett wasn’t able to hold on all the way to line as Jayco-Alula’s Dylan Groenewegen powered home. Caleb Ewan was coming through fast in third too – both he and Bennett will be looking to turn their fortunes around as the week progresses.

Stage 2 was won by QuickStep’s Fabio Jakobsen, a perfectly executed finish and his first win since Tirreno-Adriatico, over two months ago.

At the Navarra Elite Classic (10 May), an in-form Riejanne Markus took a victory for Jumbo-Visma after attacking solo up the final climb and time trialling her way to the finish line. It was an assured ride which reflected her growing confidence and

DON’T MISS!

If you don’t have time to watch much racing but want to catch up on some of the best bits from the past two weeks, these are my top picks.

It’s hard to pick a particular stage of La Vuelta, but if you have to narrow it down from best to, well, least best, start with the final stage (7 May) and work backwards. Now THAT’S what I call a well-planned race.

The Thyon stage of the Tour de Romandie (29 April) is always a fun watch, but this year’s was particularly enjoyable

STARS OF THE FORTNIGHT

This week I’ve picked possibly the two most up-and-coming GC riders of the moment. For sticking with the big guns at La Vuelta, Trek’s Gaia Realini. And for stepping up and proving his GC chops at the Tour de Romandie, Matteo Jorgenson of Movistar.

FINAL THOUGHT

It’s been one of those weeks where you sigh and rub your eyes and exclaim ‘what a week’ and realise it’s only Wednesday (see the popular meme which has been doing the rounds – here adopted for the Giro by the ingenious social media person from Intermarche).

It’s easy to forget how quickly Grand Tours suck you in and take hold, with their multi-layered narratives and myriad nuances. Three whole weeks of this, three times a year… when you throw in all the other races, now three women’s Grand Tours, a heap of week-long stage races and one day races… we are really spoiled, but it’s easy to see how one can become jaded, and there was definitely a sense of this already at times, this week.

When we’re feeling these moments of fatigue, we must remember to stay strong, like a sprinter on a mountain stage, or a sprinter on a TT, or a sprinter on basically any stage that isn’t a sprint. Like all of the 176 riders on a Grand Tour, and their staff, and the organisers, and, well, just everyone really. Let’s take a moment, collectively, to take a deep breath, focus on the beautiful scenery of Italy (when it stops raining) and remind ourselves: THIS is what we came for.

THE LAST WORD

I’ve included everything outside of the Giro in the newsletter this week, and left the Giro as I’ve been covering it in depth over at the site – if you’d like to read about the action so far and catch up on a variety of unique, creative and informative contributions from my contributors, please check out the below links.

And as always, if you enjoy my content, consider buying me a coffee to support my ongoing endeavours to provide free cycling content, head to my site to subscribe, or consider membership of the site which will result in fabulous discounts and even merchandise - details to follow next time.

All the best, CIAO REGAZZI!

Katy

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