Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) took the Tour de France by the neck over the weekend and Elisa Longo Borghini won the final overall in the Woman’s Giro d’Italia – Race reports, video, rider quotes and results from France and Italy.
Tour route designer talks safety costs – TOP STORY.
Tour de France news: Riders’ union CPA takes legal action against ‘Chipsthrower’, Primoz Roglič abandons the Tour, Wout van Aert has more confidence, Jonas Rickaert, Søren Kragh Andersen and Yegeniy Fedorov out of time in stage 12, Tom Pidcock abandons before stage 14 due to Covid and no positive covid tests at Bahrain Victorious: ‘But some riders don’t feel great’.
Rider news: Madis Mihkels on his way to EF Education-EasyPost.
Team news: Visma | Lease a Bike team for the Vuelta a España and John Wakefield appointed Director of Development at Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe.
Race news: Tour de France Saitama Criterium: The Tour is back.
Monday EUROTRASH coffee time!
TOP STORY: Tour Route Designer Talks Safety Costs: ‘Removing an Obstacle Costs 100,000 euros’
The dangerous final coming into Villeneuve-sur-Lot has led to discussion. But what does the often criticised Tour organisation think about that? Sporza put the question to course designer Thierry Gouvenou.
In that final, Primoz Roglič crashed and the injuries he suffered caused him to abandon before the next stage. According to Merijn Zeeman, sports director of Visma | Lease a Bike, that is 100% the fault of the Tour organisers.
“Such a crash should not happen. There were central reservations on the road and they were impossible to see. At the first obstacles there was still a signal, but not with the other. Then if you race close together, you can’t see that. You can’t blame the riders for that,” Zeeman said. “You can’t go through such a passage with a Tour de France peloton. That is very irresponsible and should not happen.” In addition, Wout van Aert also expressed his frustrations.
Tour route designer, Thierry Gouvenou gave his side of the story: “We had shared another communiqué the night before with the message that this could be dangerous. All teams also look, with their cars, shortly before the race passes. Everyone was aware of it, but unfortunately you can’t take everything away. If you were to remove that obstacle, those works cost more than 100,000 euros. And that for a race that passes in 5 seconds.”
“We studied all the routes in the direction of Villeneuve-sur-Lot. There was a route with a lot of roundabouts, which was also not the best solution. From the north direction there were those obstacles, but you can’t say they weren’t indicated. Everyone was aware,” Gouvenou stated.
Other points of criticism, such as the lack of mobile signallers or the non-use of Boplan safety boards, are also disputed by Gouvenou. “We have nine mobile signals. We are making great efforts. You can’t claim that the Tour is poorly organised. You also can’t compare the French roads with the Belgian road network. Boplan has a good system, but that is not adapted to our roads. Those gates take up a lot of space.”
These would have saved Roglič:
Tour de France 2024
Another brilliant finish for Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) in the green jersey gave him a third stage victory in the 2024 Tour de France as he out-sprinted his rivals to the line in Villeneuve-sur-Lot. Girmay accelerated on the final straight of Stage 12, beating second placed Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) and third placed Arnaud Démare (Arkea-B&B Hotels) to the finish. Démare was subsequently disqualified, moving Pascal Ackermann (IPT) up to third. A crash 12 kilometres from the finish of the stage, included Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) saw him lose time on GC, whilst Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) retained the yellow jersey. Pogačar continues to lead by 1:06 from second placed Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), whilst Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) is third at 1:14. Roglič has dropped to 6th overall, now at 4:42 from the leader Pogačar.
Stage 12 commenced with 167 riders on the start line, after Michael Mørkøv tested positive for Covid and the Astana Qazaqstan team’s medical staff took the decision to withdraw him from the Tour. With an afternoon in the beautiful landscapes of the Cantal and Lot regions ahead on the hilly 203.6km route from Aurillac to Villeneuve-sur-Lot, the stage saw several breakaway attempts failing in the first few kilometres.
Eventually it was Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) who initiated a successful move at 19km and he was quickly followed by his teammate Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), as well as Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies). This quartet didn’t encounter any opposition at first, especially as the peloton’s progress was disrupted by a crash at 23km. The incident was of no consequence, however, the day quickly turned into an ordeal for Fabio Jakobsen (dsm-firmenich-PostNL) and then later Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) who both abandoned the race due to illness.
Still wearing the polka dot jersey despite having lost the lead to yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar yesterday, Abrahamsen was the first to reach the summits of both the Côte d’Autoire (Cat.4, 62.8km) and the Côte de Rocamadour (Cat.4, 84.3km), where the break had a lead of 2:10 over the peloton. Turgis then led the escape through the intermediate sprint at Gourdon (110km), where they still had a 1:25 lead over the main group. The top of the Côte de Montcléra (Cat. 4, 135.5km) climb was also reached first by Abrahamsen, the peloton had reduced their deficit to 1:10. The Côte de Montcléra climb had seen Turgis lose contact with the other three in the break and within 30km the peloton caught the remaining trio at 162km. With 12.5 kilometres to go a crash for Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) brought several other riders down, including Roglič, costing him crucial time on GC. After a flat final sector it was another frantic bunch sprint in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, with Girmay producing a brutal acceleration to beat his rivals to the finish line for his third win at this year’s Tour.
# You can see more photos in the full ‘PEZ Stage Report’ HERE. #
Stage winner and points leader, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “I’d like to thank my team-mates and the staff. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to prove that I’m the fastest man on this Tour de France. I’m so proud of them. I knew from the start of the Tour that I could achieve good results if all the conditions were right. Over the last two weeks, I’ve proved that I can win any sprint if I’m in the right position. I didn’t feel any stress in the team today. As the final sprint approached, I told the team managers that I was feeling very good. I simply asked my team-mates to give me some support, and that was it. After the crash, I tried to stay out of danger in the chaotic last kilometre, and suddenly, in the last 600 meters, I found Mike Teunissen. He did an incredible job. He brought me up from fifteenth place to the perfect wheel. From then on, I was sure I was going to win. I didn’t feel any wind, and this slightly uphill finish suits me just fine too. I’m so happy, the confidence this green jersey gives me is indescribable. It’s the jersey I want to wear all the way to Nice.”
Overall leader and KOM, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “It was a stressful final already. I heard the big crash when it happened, with 12 kilometres to go, but it’s only at the finish that somebody told me that Primoz [Roglič] had gone down. It is really devastating. He was in very good shape already, and I could feel he was getting better and better with every stage. I’m pretty sure he would have been fighting for the GC in the next few days. It’s very sad that a crash has affected him. I hope that he is well, that he recovers quickly, and that he can fight back into contention. I expected my legs to be more tired today. It was a very fast, up and down stage. Actually, I prefer this pace to Tuesday’s super easy rhythm. At this pace, the legs keep turning and it feels better for me. The final kilometres were pretty hot, though. As for tomorrow, it’s another sprint stage that might get complicated because of the wind. It will probably end up being a stressful day out, like many others in this Tour de France. I get along pretty well with Remco [Evenepoel], and I am really enjoying properly racing with him for the first time. I don’t know if we will help each other in the mountain stages… I don’t even think about that. We just need good legs for those stages. At the beginning of the stage, someone hit me from behind and the chain got stuck between the frame and the wheel, so I had to change bikes. I didn’t crash or get hurt, so it’s fine.”
2nd on the stage, Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike): “I am disappointed, I was trapped between Démare and the fences. I would have to look back and see what exactly happened. But anyway, I had to relaunch myself and still came close to victory. So yeah, if I hadn’t had to keep my legs still, I would have had a good chance. It is important to remember the good things of today, of course I’m happy that I felt good again. I hope it stays that way and that I can forget yesterday as quickly as possible. It was chaotic, but I was able to keep my place very well. Until I became trapped again, between Démare and the fences. It would have been a certain victory, because I had to completely relaunch on the other side of the fence and still came so close. I definitely started sprinting early enough. That’s to my advantage. Now I’m bummed, but yesterday I was really sore after the stage. I didn’t expect this. In that respect I have to take the positive. The last fifty kilometres we decided to go for the sprint. It had been a tough stage and then I know that the sprint suits me better.”
2nd overall and best young rider, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step): “I only learned after the stage that Primoz [Roglič] has crashed. It was a nervous, hectic final, with lots of road furniture, so the racing was pretty fast coming into the last kilometres. It sounds like a cliche, but us GC guys never have a day off in a stage race. What happened to Primoz today unfortunately underlines it. It was a pretty tough stage. There was a big fight for the breakaway in the opening kilometres, and then Alpecin put in a very hard pace on the hilly section mid-race. Luckily, it all ended well for us. I found myself a little alone with Gianni Moscon, which wasn’t the most comfortable, but I still reached the finish without any problem. It’s my teammates’ job to keep me up front as much as possible.”
Tour de France Stage 12 Result:
1. Biniam Girmay Hailu (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty in 4:17:15
2. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma | Lease a Bike
3. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Israel-Premier Tech
4. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck
5. Arnaud De Lie (Bel) Lotto Dstny
6. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
7. Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain Victorious
8. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis
9. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Jayco AlUla
10. Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Lidl-Trek.
Tour de France Overall After Stage 12:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 49:17:49
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 1:06
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 1:14
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates at 4:20
5. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers at 4:40
6. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 4:42
7. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 5:38
8. Adam Yates (GB) UAE Team Emirates at 6:59
9. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Team Emirates at 7:09
10. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 7:36.
Tour’24 stage 12:
A superb jump in the final straight in Pau from Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) took his second win of the 2024 Tour de France on Stage 13. Philipsen out-sprinted his rivals, beating Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike), Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech), Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) and Nikias Arndt (Bahrain Victorious) to the line at the end of a hectic stage. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) retained the yellow jersey again before the race heads into the Pyrenees. Pogačar continues to lead by 1:06 from second placed Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), whilst Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) is third at 1:14.
Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) both didn’t start, so there were 160 riders in the peloton at the start in Agen. Break attempts were launched from kilometre 0, and the initial protagonists were quickly joined by more attackers to form a very strong group of 23 riders. The break was: Tratnik (Visma | Lease a Bike), Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers), Bernard, Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious), Geniets and Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), Van der Poel and Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Costa, Powless and Van den Berg (Ef Education EasyPost), De Lie and Van Moer (Lotto-Dstny), Lazkano (Movistar), Van den Broek (dsm-Firmenich-PostNL), Ballerini (Astana), Cort and Abrahamsen (Uno-X) and Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies).
The presence in the front group of Yates, 8th overall at 6:59 behind the yellow jersey, prompted Visma | Lease a Bike to pull hard to try to prevent the break from succeeding. Around 25 kilometres, the Dutch team doubled their efforts by launching an attack in the crosswinds with five of their riders. Only Joao Almeida, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny) and Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) held onto Jonas Vingegaard’s teammates, who were soon reinforced by Tratnik dropping back from the break. Visma’s offensive was canceled at 33km by INEOS Grenadiers. Having completed the first hour of racing at an average speed of 48.2 kph, the 21 remaining escapees had only built a 1 minute lead. In the peloton Soudal Quick-Step, Jayco-AlUla, INEOS Grenadiers, Arkea-B&B Hotels and Decathlon-Ag2r-La Mondiale (without a rider in the break) were all pulling hard, with collaboration from Visma | Lease a Bike. The high pace of the stage soon claimed a victim with the abandonment of Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), who is unwell due to Covid. The Spaniard was 9th on the general classification at the start of the day.
At 69km Cort attacked and took Kwiatkowski, Bernard and Gregoire with him to form a break from the break. Passing through Nogaro (IS, 88.5km), the quartet led by Gregoire had a 55 seconds advantage over their former breakaway companions and 1:10 over the main group, which would end up hunting down the 16 pursuers at 96km. The calm would only last until 104km, when Visma | Lease a Bike tried another attack that split the peloton. Amongst the men in the top 10 overall, only Adam Yates was relegated to a second group, who nevertheless ended up returning to the safety of the yellow jersey group, which would themselves catch the leading quartet at 115km. There were several attacks towards the end of the stage with Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) getting away from the bunch on the Côte de Blachon (Cat.4, 127km), which Johannessen was the first over the summit, before repeating that success on the Côte de Simacourbe (Cat.4, 136.3km). Carapaz and Johannessen were caught 21km from the finish and whilst there more attempts to break free from the peloton it was another bunch finish in Pau. The final sprint was marred by a crash which saw half a dozen riders go down, but Philipsen was not caught up in the trouble and flew to the line for another memorable victory.
# You can see more photos in the full ‘PEZ Stage Report’ HERE. #
Stage winner, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck): “We pushed hard from the start and we never slowed down. The crosswinds livened up the entire stage. We had two riders in front, Mathieu van der Poel and Axel Laurance. But the peloton continued to chase behind them and I continued to believe in my chances of victory in the sprint. Christophe Laporte took the sprint perfectly to Wout van Aert, but I was on his wheel and I was able to pass him as I wanted. Today I had my best feelings since the start of the Tour. We didn’t start in the best way but we’ve turned things around in our favour. But we always want more. We will see day-by-day how far this will take us. In any case, I’m super happy today.”
Overall leader and 9th on the stage, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates): “I was expecting the stage to heat up after 100 kilometres, but it turned out to be chaotic from the start. We were lucky to have Adam [Yates] at the front, as it enabled us to take a bit of a rest day as a team. Coming into the last few kilometres, my teammates put me in a good position and kept me safe into the finish. I was not planning to contest the sprint, and when I saw how dangerous it was becoming I just took it easy to the line. I like the upcoming stages in the Pyrenees. Ahead of the Tour I didn’t know which specific climbs we were tackling, but now I’ve checked them and it’s all climbs I already know and like. The way we have raced in the last three days is going to affect how these two stages unfold, as we are racing hard every day. Anyway, the most important thing is that our shape is pretty good. It was sad to see Juan Ayuso having to withdraw from the race. He was not feeling well, but luckily everybody in the team is fine – it’s just him who is sick. It is a bit of a blow for us, as we were expecting him to be one of the key guys for the mountains. As a team, I believe we can be strong even with one guy less. Joao [Almeida] and Adam [Yates] are flying in the mountains, Pavel [Sivakov] and Marc [Soler] are performing great on all terrains, and Nils [Politt] and Tim [Wellens] are also very strong. I feel we are growing stronger and stronger every day.”
2nd on the stage, Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike): “I was perfectly placed, but had to wait a second. Then Jasper came with speed from behind. That’s a shame. Maybe I should have dared to let someone in between in the final corners. But that previous sprint where Jasper won, I left too much in between and I didn’t get involved anymore. That’s why I necessarily wanted to keep Christophe’s wheel. There are plenty of boring days here, when hardly anything happens. Suddenly half of the peloton realises that there are still many stages where they can’t do anything. Then it is rad. Maybe many guys are tired, but if everyone is more or less equally tired, you still get a nice race.”
2nd overall, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step): “It was a bit of a madness today, a stage ridden at an average speed of 49 km/h and a chaotic finish. But in the end I finished in front. We had to take risks, but it went well. With the last two stages that we experienced, there was no real transition before approaching the Pyrenees. We will go into it with fatigue in our legs. I’m not worried but I know that tomorrow will be a long route, with a pretty tough finish. So I will try to recover well to be as fresh as possible, then we will see. The race is in the hands of the Visma and UAE teams. For my part, if the legs are there, we’ll see if I can make up time. But the plan is to follow. For the rest we just have to stay focused and patient.”
4th on the stage and points leader, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “The wind made this flat stage very difficult. The general classification riders went ahead, which made the race tougher, but that was to be expected. The final sprint was quite long, and I found myself locked in the last 200 meters. To be honest, I didn’t have the best feeling today, it wasn’t my best day. Above all, I’m glad I didn’t fall, that’s the most important thing. We’re on the Tour de France, and the more days go by, the harder it’s going to be. We’re ready for a tough weekend in the mountains. Recovery and fitness are paramount.”
Most aggressive rider, Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility): “We quickly got into a bigger breakaway than I had hoped for and the only bad thing was that Adam Yates from UAE was there and unfortunately he had strong team orders to stay in that group. I tried to talk with him along with everybody else in that group but I also respect him for sitting there. I understand his team’s tactics. I wanted to split that group because I felt he was the one keeping the bunch behind chasing us. Unfortunately, we only got away as a group of four guys and that was not enough to make it to the finish. It must have been insanely hectic behind us and even in the breakaway, when the bunch caught us it was still very hard. Probably one of the hardest days I’ve had this Tour, just in three and a half hours! A short day but a hard one. We try our best and our ultimate goal on the team is to win a stage and today was a good opportunity for us in many ways. We could both be aggressive and in the sprint and we tried everything with what we have.”
Tour de France Stage 13 Result:
1. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck in 3:23:09
2. Wout Van Aert (Bel) Visma | Lease a Bike
3. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Israel-Premier Tech
4. Biniam Girmay Hailu (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty
5. Nikias Arndt (Ger) Bahrain Victorious
6. Jasper Steven (Bel) Lidl-Trek
7. Clement Russo (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis
9. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
10. Søren Wærenskjold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility.
Tour de France Overall After Stage 13:
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 52:40:58
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 1:06
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 1:14
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates at 4:20
5. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers at 4:40
6. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 5:38
7. Adam Yates (GB) UAE Team Emirates at 6:59
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 7:36
9. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 7:54
10. Felix Gall (Aust) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale at 9:18.
Tour’24 stage 13:
An amazing performance on the final climb of Stage 14 from the man in the Yellow Jersey, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), saw him extend his lead in the general classification. Brilliantly assisted by his UAE teammates, in particular by Adam Yates who shook up the race on the ascent to Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d’Adet), Pogacar finished in style, crossing the line 39 seconds ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and 1:10 ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) who was third. Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers) at 1:19 and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) at 1:23 completed the top five. Pogačar increased his overall lead to 1:57 over Vingegaard, who has moved up to second on the GC, with Evenepoel now third at 2:22.
Following the withdrawals of Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) and Guillaume Boivin (Israel-Premier Tech) due to illness, 157 riders started stage 14, which would cover 151.9km between Pau and Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d’Adet). The start was frantic yet again and after a hard crash in the last kilometre of yesterday’s finish in Pau, Amaury Capitol (Arkea-B&B Hotels) was forced to abandon early on the stage. Passing through Lourdes (37.6km), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Cedric Beullens and Arnaud de Lie (Lotto-dstny) managed to break away from the peloton.
Later, at 51km, Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Kevin Vauquelin, Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkea-B&B Hotels) and Magnus Cort Nielsen (Uno-X Mobility) joined them to form an 8 man break, after which followed a 15 man counter-attacking group including Chris Juul-Jensen (Jayco-AlUla), Michal Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale), Marco Haller (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Rui Costa, Ben Healy and Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Louis Meintjes and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) and Fabian Grellier (TotalEnergies).
Both groups were allowed to go clear from the peloton, which was controlled by UAE Team Emirates. Only 30” separated the two front groups as they passed through Esquieze-Sere (IS, km 70.2), which the peloton reached 4’10” behind the leaders. Coquard beat De Lie in the intermediate sprint, before Girmay outpaced Philipsen in the second group in the fight for ninth. The four of them then sat up as the climb to the Col du Tourmalet, Souvenir Jacques Goddet (HC, 89.6km) began. That left 17 break riders to attack the climb to the Tourmalet, with Vauquelin and Costa among the climbers who fell out of the group as the steep ramps and the pace took their toll. Then, with the summit in their sights Gaudu and Lazkano accelerated away from the group and it was the impressive Spanish Tour de France debutant Lazkano who was first to the top, 12 seconds ahead of Gaudu and 25 seconds in front of Armirail.
2:55 was the gap between the leaders of the race and an accelerating peloton at the foot of the Hourquette d’Ancizan (Cat.2, 123.4km), with the break reduced to 5 men on the climb: Kwiatkowski, Gaudu, Healy, Lazkano and Meintjes. This time it was Gaudu who got the better of Lazkano at the top, with the peloton arriving 1:15 after them, having shaved off more than 1:30 on the ascent. The five remaining riders began the punishing 10.6km climb of Saint-Lary-Soulan – Pla d’Adet (HC, 151.9km, 7.9% average gradient) together, with Healy going solo early on the final ascent. Yates attacked 7km from the finish to chase down Healy, before Pogačar attacked with 5km remaining, joining Yates as they accelerated past the Irishman. Pogačar went on to finish the job, with Vingegaard and Evenepoel chasing him hard to the line, limiting the damage as much as they could.
# You can see more photos in the full ‘PEZ Stage Report’ HERE. #
Stage winner and overall leader, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates): “The plan was to win the stage in the final sprint and try to get a few bonus seconds, but winning like this is way better! We found ourselves in an ideal scenario. Adam’s attack put me in a situation in which I could attack, following my instinct. It’s because of the excellent work of my teammates that I’ve done this, and I’m thankful to all of them. I’m super happy I’ve won. I’ve got one more Tour stage win now. Let’s keep this positive energy so we can win more. This Tour de France must be great to watch on TV. I was feeling really good today. Things were not going according to plan on the final climb, as we were missing one man – Juan [Ayuso] had to pull out from the race yesterday and so Joao [Almeida] was working very hard already with 8 km to go. I saw an opportunity that Adam Yates could attack and go for the stage win himself, relieving us from pulling in the Yellow Jersey group. Then, as I was feeling super good and nobody was trying anything GC-wise, I saw an opportunity to attack myself, bridge across and get a good gap for the GC as well as the stage win. I want to stress my thanks to Adam for his work today. The situation in the GC is definitely better now than it was before the stage, but you never know how things will end up. There is a long way to go until Nice. The real mountain stages just started today! The key is we have a strong team to support my options. In every interview they tell me that I have to save energy, but I love racing on instinct. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t… but I love it that way.”
2nd on the stage and overall, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike): “Can I still win the Tour? Yes, definitely! Tadej has a very strong attack potential. I performed very well myself, so I can’t be disappointed about that. Of course it is a shame that I lose forty seconds. The last three kilometres of the climb were a bit flatter and even a bit of a downward slope, so that suited him a bit better. I regained some time on the steep parts. I think he took some time on the flatter and descending parts because he has more absolute power. In that respect, this gives confidence for tomorrow. Then we finish on a different kind of climb. He had a very strong team today, but so did I. I always had someone with me. Matteo (Jorgenson) rode fast in the lead and he could have ridden even faster when Yates attacked. So I think I can be happy with the team’s performance. Do I need someone like Sepp Kuss? Of course we miss him, but the rest of the team is also doing very well. I came back on the steeper parts, that’s a good sign.”
Best young rider, 3rd on the stage and overall, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step): “Third on this hard stage is a good result and I am satisfied, especially as the two guys who finished in front of me were stronger and have a lot more experience than me in these kinds of stages. The team did a great job the entire day, and especially on the final climb, and I want to thank them for that. To be on the podium on the first stage in the Pyrenees is an important morale-boost for Sunday’s stage. I have four minutes on the next rider in the rankings, which is good at the moment, but the Tour is still long and we need to remain at the top of our game and continue to give our best.”
Break rider, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost): “I think the crowd was something special. It was not a disappointment – it’s just bike racing. I gave everything to be in the break and was grateful I could do my best. Then Adam Yates and Tadej Pogačar caught me from behind, and there’s not much you can do from there. With the gap we had over them coming from behind it was always going to be ambitious. I just knew I had to go full gas from the bottom, which is what I did. I held in there for a bit, but then there was nothing more I could do. Maybe this isn’t the type of medal we want, but it is something.”
Points leader, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “The intention wasn’t to contest the intermediate sprint today, unless Jasper Philipsen went on the attack, which he did. So I reacted and followed him. I’m happy to score seven more points and do well. After the sprint, there was no question of prolonging the effort to put myself in the red, so I was able to finish the stage calmly and rejoin the gruppetto. Together with Louis Meintjes, we also showed that we can be counted on in the mountain stages, especially in the demanding third week ahead.”
Tour de France Stage 14 Result:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 4:01:51
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 0:39
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 1:10
4. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers at 1:19
5. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 1:23
6. Santiago Buitrago Sanchez (Col) Bahrain Victorious
7. Adam Yates (GB) UAE Team Emirates
8. Felix Gall (Aust) Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale at 1:26
9. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma | Lease a Bike at 1:29
10. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech.
Tour de France Overall After Stage 14:
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 56:42:39
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 1:57
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 2:22
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates at 6:01
5. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers at 6:09
6. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 7:17
7. Adam Yates (GB) UAE Team Emirates at 8:32
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 9:09
9. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 9:33
10. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma | Lease a Bike at 10:35.
Tour’24 stage 14:
The 15th Stage of the 2024 Tour de France, on Bastille Day in the Pyrenees, was won by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) who conquered the Plateau de Beille in style, finishing 1:08 ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike). It is yellow jersey, Pogacar’s third win at this year’s Tour and is a significant victory, giving him a 3:09 GC advantage over his rival Vingegaard, going into Monday’s final rest day and with six stages remaining. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) finished the stage in third place at 2:51, meaning he now trails in the GC by 5:19.
154 riders started stage 15 of the 2024 Tour de France, which would cover 197.7km between Loudenvielle and Plateau de Beille. The ascent of the Col de Peyresourde (Cat.1, 7km), right after the start, generated a continuous series of attacks that couldn’t established a break, with David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) taking first place on the Peyresourde summit. Gaudu, Oier Lazkano (Movistar) and Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich-PostNL) descended together, only to soon be caught by the bunch. It was at 21km that Bob Jungels (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) began a round of attacks that went on all the way to the top of the Col de Menté (Cat.1, 50km), with Javier Romo (Movistar) the first over the summit accompanied by 16 other riders. They had a 1:35 advantage over a peloton which Visma | Lease a Bike was leading. Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) was in the leading group when they got to the intermediate sprint at Marignac (IS, 37km). Girmay won the sprint but was relegated to third after deviating from his line, with Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) being awarded first place. The Eritrean now has enough points to guarantee the green jersey for Stages 16 and 17.
Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla), Laurens de Plus (INEOS Grenadiers), Jai Hindley, Bob Jungels and Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), Richard Carapaz and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Enric Mas, Alex Aranburu and Javier Romo (Movistar), Louis Meintjes (Intermarche-Wanty), Oscar Onley (dsm-firmenich-PostNL), Magnus Cort and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) collectively took on the Col de Portet-d’Aspet (Cat.1, 65.4km), which was conquered by Johannessen, with the peloton 1:05 behind. Meintjes dropped back from the break due to a puncture and he returned to the main group, where Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma teammates continued to set the pace. On the road from the Col de Portet-d’Aspet to the Col d’Agnes (Cat.1, 138.6km) there was some respite from the intense climbing for the riders, with the break building up an advantage of 3:30 by 123km.
With 73km to go, before the Col d’Agnes climb, the break was split into two: De Plus, Hindley, Jungels, Sobrero, Healy, Mas and Romo leaving the rest behind. It was at the foot of the climb that these frontrunners would register the maximum advantage over the main group, of 3:45. Jungels, Sobrero, Healy and Romo lost ground on the climb, whilst Carapaz managed to return to the front of the race 2km from the summit, which was reached first by De Plus. The yellow jersey group was reduced to 15 riders, with all the GC favourites in position and guided by Visma | Lease a Bike, reaching the top of the climb 3:05 after the break. It was a five-man group of De Plus, Hindley, Mas, Carapaz and Johannessen who reached the foot of the final climb of Plateau de Beille (HC, 197.7km) together and 2:25 ahead of the GC group. The lead group gradually disintegrated on that final climb with Mas and Carapaz resisting for as long as they could before Vingegaard attacked from the favourites group with 11km to go. The Dane accelerated, with Pogačar on his wheel and the two GC favourites soon took the lead. With 5.4 kilometres to go, the Slovenian overtook Vingegaard and powered to a dominant victory by more than a minute, with Evenepoel struggling to limit the damage and eventually following the winner over the line almost 3 minutes later.
# You can see more photos in the full ‘PEZ Stage Report’ HERE. #
Stage winner and overall leader, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “It has been an incredible day. I would have never imagined this kind of outcome seeing how the second week began. I’m super happy with my shape. It was a super hard and super hot day, and I normally struggle a bit with warm weather. My team did a super job with all the cooling down strategies. Visma decided to control the race today and set a hard pace on the climbs. It was fair racing, and it sat well with us as we had already created some meaningful gaps yesterday. I was never worried – all I cared about was keeping myself cool, hydrating and eating enough. The Visma team knew that the final climb was so steep that using somebody’s slipstream was not so influential, and they were probably hoping that I wouldn’t survive Jonas’ strong pace all the way to the finish. I was a bit on the limit when he first attacked, but afterwards I could feel he was suffering a bit. He tried to drop me one more time and I saw he didn’t have the legs to do it, so I gave it a go myself even though I was aware I might crack as well. Luckily, it went well. The Tour GC is looking really good right now. We have a comfortable lead and just need to keep focused on these final six days of racing. I have won a lot of stages in the Pyrenees. Somehow I like these mountains, and it is reciprocal! As for Plateau de Beille in particular, Adam Yates had told me this was the hardest climb he had ever done and I’m very glad I could win here.”
2nd on the stage and overall, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike): “This was one of my best performances ever. I can’t be disappointed. He showed today how strong he is. I can’t be disappointed, on the contrary. The team rode very strongly today. I was also very strong on the final climb. Today was probably one of my best performances ever and he was another minute faster. So my congratulations to him. There is still a chance for us. The Tour is not over yet. We have seen in recent years that he occasionally has a bad day. We have to hope for that now, then maybe we can crack it. But of course, if he can maintain this level, it will be very difficult for me and the team.”
3rd on the stage and overall, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step): “My race is for the third spot and it’s looking good at the moment. I need to remain at this level, because a hard week in the mountains is coming. Our team was on a high level today, we took time on all the other riders behind me on what was the toughest stage of the Tour so far, so we can be content. Two third places in the Pyrenees is not a bad result I would say, especially as it helped me cement my place in the top three. It’s important to remember that the race is far from being over, but we will remain focused and see how it goes.”
4th on the stage and 5th overall, Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step): “It was a good day and I’m glad Remco extended his gap over the other riders who are going for a podium place. I am satisfied with my display and quite optimistic for the third week. I will continue helping Remco on the hard stages coming in just a couple of days and see how things go for myself and if I can get a good result on the general classification. Now I’m just looking forward to Monday’s rest day.”
9th on the stage, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost): “It was a good breakaway, but the peloton did not give us enough of a gap to win on the final climb. We fought with everything we had, but we knew that it was very difficult for our breakaway to be successful. When Tadej and Jonas reached us, I tried to follow them for as long as I could… but they had a different pace. Before the Tour I was sick and that made me a little worse than I expected. Even so, I managed to wear the Yellow Jersey one day. Now I’m doing another race. There are many opportunities left in the mountains, and I am very happy because I feel that my legs are getting better.”
Tour de France Stage 15 Result:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 5:13:55
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 1:08
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 2:51
4. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 3:54
5. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates at 4:43
6. Adam Yates (GB) UAE Team Emirates at 4:56
7. Santiago Buitrago Sanchez (Col) Bahrain Victorious at 5:08
8. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers
9. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost at 5:41
10. Felix Gall (Aust) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale at 5:57.
Tour de France Overall After Stage 15:
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 61:56:24
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 3:09
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 5:19
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates at 10:54
5. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 11:21
6. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers at 11:27
7. Adam Yates (GB) UAE Team Emirates at 13:38
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 15:48
9. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 16:12
10. Santiago Buitrago Sanchez (Col) Bahrain Victorious at 16:32.
Tour’24 stage 15:
Woman’s Giro d’Italia 2024
Lotte Kopecky won Stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia for Women. The SD Worx-ProTime rider was by far the fastest in a bunch sprint. Chiara Consonni was second, Arlenis Sierra third.
The fifth stage of the women’s Giro d’Italia was 108 kilometres long and went from Frontone to Foligno. In the first part of the stage it was uphill, but in the second part it went mainly down. It looked like a day for the fast women, so there wasn’t too much enthusiasm for an early break. Cristina Tonetti (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) was one of the few who tried. The Italian was ahead of the bunch for a while, but was eventually brought back.
Her compatriot Alessia Vigilia was the next to attack, the FDJ-SUEZ rider also managed to stay ahead for only a few kilometres. The same fate befell Ana Vitória Magalhães (Bepink-Bongioanni). Meanwhile, Elisa Balsamo, the former World champion was unable to continue as she is suffering from tonsillitis. The next to go solo, Marta Jaskulska (CERATIZIT-WNT), lasted longer than Tonetti, Vigilia and Magalhães. The Polish rider went on the attack 35 kilometres from the finish and stayed out front until 8 kilometres from the line. It was then time for the sprinter’s teams. Entering the final kilometre, EF Education-Cannondale had the lead, but before the final bend, SD Worx-ProTime took over. Kopecky was perfectly led-out by Barbara Guarischi and won with a show of strength. Thanks to her stage victory, the SD Worx-ProTime leader is now within 3 seconds of overall leader, Elisa Longo Borghini.
Stage winner and 2nd overall, Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime): “I have to be thankful to my teammates controlled the race the whole day. In the final Elena Cecchini and Barbara Guarischi made a perfect lead-out to help me reaching this victory, that was my goal since the start of the Giro. I am only 3 seconds behind the Maglia Rosa but I have to be realistic as I think that Blockhaus is too hard for me. I want to ride without pressure and see what it comes in the upcoming days.”
Maglia Rosa, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek): “Today was a good stage in which I tried to save my leg ahead of the next triptych which will be decisive for the general classification. Lotte Kopecky got closer but it makes little difference to me because the gaps will be much bigger in the coming days. I really like tomorrow’s stage and I want to do well.”
Woman’s Giro d’Italia Stage 5 Result:
1. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime in 2:38:54
2. Chiara Consonni (Ita) UAE Team ADQ
3. Arlenis Sierra Canadilla (Cub) Movistar
4. Kathrin Schweinberger (Aust) Ceratizit-WNT
5. Barbara Guarischi (Ita) SD Worx-Protime
6. Vittoria Guazzini (Ita) FDJ-SUEZ
7. Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Aus) Liv AlUla Jayco
8. Martina Alzini (Ita) Cofidis Women Team
9. Laura Tomasi (Ita) Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi
10. Franziska Koch (Ger) dsm-firmenich-PostNL.
Woman’s Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 5:
1. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek in 12:07:47
2. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime at 0:03
3. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-SUEZ at 0:38
4. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich-PostNL at 0:49
5. Kimberley Le Court de Billot (Maur) AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step at 0:51
6. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon//SRAM at 1:06
7. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ) SD Worx-Protime at 1:07
8. Margarita Victoria Garcia (Spa) Liv AlUla Jayco at 1:33
9. Katrine Aalerud (Nor) Uno-X Mobility at 1:34
10. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck.
Giro’24 stage 5:
Liane Lippert won the Sixth Stage of the Woman’s Giro d’Italia on Friday. The German rider, who made a comeback this season after a difficult injury, beat Ruth Edwards and Erica Magnaldi from the early break. Elisa Longo Borghini remains overall leader.
The sixth day in the Giro d’Italia was one for the punchers and climbers. 160 kilometres to be covered between San Benedetto del Tronto and Chieti. There were quite a few steep hills on the menu along the way. The finish was at the top of a Cat.3 climb.
The day was an early break of four: Liane Lippert (Movistar), Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), Ane Santesteban (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) and Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ). The four worked well together into the final. As a result, they started the final climb with a lead of 2 minutes. Santesteban had to let go on the climb, leaving the three of Lippert, Edwards and Magnaldi to hold off the chasers. They continue to work well together, but the thinned out peloton was getting closer. They were very close in the last kilometres, but the trio survived to sprint it out on the streets of Chieti. Lippert started the sprint strongly, but Edwards passed her. The American couldn’t maintain her sprint to the line and Lippert took the win. For the German it is her first victory of the season, which has been ruined by injuries. The favourites finished together, so Longo Borghini held the lead.
Stage winner, Liane Lippert (Movistar): “I feel very emotional as, after the injury I had, i was looking for a win or a good result to dedicate not only to myself but to all the ones who are supporting me. It was a hard and hot day with a very fast pace, luckily I made the move in the right breakaway. Today’s profile was the last chance for me to win and I was very motivated. I didn’t want to repeat the mistake that I did at the National Championships so I decided to launch an early sprint and this was successful.”
Maglia Rosa and 4th on the stage, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek): “I am happy to have won the sprint for fourth place even though it doesn’t change anything for the general classification. It’s not a challenge between me and Lotte Kopecky, the level of the race is very high and we can’t exclude anyone from the challenge for the Maglia Rosa. Tomorrow there will be high gaps because the Blockhaus is a very selective climb. I tried it in training with Gaia Realini and I think it will be decisive.”
Woman’s Giro d’Italia Stage 6 Result:
1. Liane Lippert (Ger) Movistar in 4:16:21
2. Ruth Edwards-Winder (USA) Human Powered Health
3. Erica Magnaldi (Ita) UAE Team ADQ at 0:01
4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 0:21
5. Neve Bradbury (Aus) Canyon//SRAM
6. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich-PostNL
7. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime
8. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon//SRAM
9. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-SUEZ
10. Margarita Victoria Garcia (Spa) Liv AlUla Jayco.
Woman’s Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 6:
1. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek in 16:24:29
2. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime at 0:03
3. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-SUEZ at 38
4. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich-PostNL at 0:49
5. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon//SRAM at 1:06
6. Kimberley Le Court de Billot (Maur) AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step at 1:28
7. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ) SD Worx-Protime at 1:29
8. Margarita Victoria Garcia (Spa) Liv AlUla Jayco at 1:33
9. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck at 1:34
10. Gaia Realini (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 1:44.
Giro’24 stage 6:
Neve Bradbury won the tough Stage 7 of the Giro d’Italia for Women. The Australian proved to be the strongest on the climb to Blockhaus. Longo Borghini parried an attack by Lotte Kopecky and retained the pink jersey, but thanks to the bonus seconds, the Belgian is now within 1 second of the Italian.
On the penultimate day of the Women’s Giro d’Italia, an exciting mountain stage was on the program. In the final two tough climbs had to be conquered. First there was the Passo Lanciano (11.2km at 8.6%), followed by the Blockhaus (16.3km at 8%). The finish line was on the summit of the last, famous climb.
Before the big climbs, Claire Steels (Movistar) went on the attack. Romy Kasper (Human Powered Health) tried to cross, but failed. The attack was soon over for Steels too, when the riders started on the Passo Lanciano. The peloton thinned out considerably on this climb. A group of about 20 riders came together over the top of the very steep slope. Overall leader, Elisa Longo Borghini and second overall, Lotte Kopecky were both still at the front. Just like Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal), who was the first to reach the top and picked up a lot of points for the mountains classification. In the first kilometres of the Blockhaus, Lidl-Trek led. It was Gaia Realini who increased the pace. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Juliette Labous, 3rd and 4th, encountered problems early on. Niamh Fisher-Black was also dropped, but Kopecky was able to follow.
Just over 9 kilometres from the top, Neve Bradbury (Canyon//SRAM) attacked. The 11th overall, who was 2:02 behind Longo Borghini, took a lead over the first pursuers. These were Longo Borghini and Antonio Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM), Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Lotte Kopecky. The quartet was already almost a minute behind when Longo Borghini accelerated. Kopecky immediately jumped on her wheel, Rooijakkers hung on, Niedermaier let go. After the acceleration of the pink jersey, there was a pause in the action, which Bradbury took of advantage of. The Australian was able to extend her lead to more than 1 minute. Longo Borghini went again 4 kilometres from the top. Now Kopecky was able to follow, while Rooijakkers also joined again after a while. Bradbury rode to victory in the queen stage with a big lead. Behind Bradbury there was an attack from Kopecky. Three hundred metres from the finish line, the leader of SD Worx-ProTime started her long sprint. Longo Borghini was able to parry the attack, but was unable to get past. Kopecky crossed the line in second, which gave her six bonus seconds. Longo Borghini took four seconds, leaving her only 1 second ahead of her nearest opponent.
Stage winner and 3rd overall, Neve Bradbury (Canyon//SRAM): “I’m really happy with today’s stage. We knew that Antonia and I had good legs and had been riding strongly in the Giro. We wanted an aggressive race with no regrets, which played well for us. I was on the limit when I attacked, but you have to try. I had tried once before, but then Pauliena came across, and we were caught. The pace dropped, and Maggy (Bäckstedt) encouraged me to go again. I got a bit of a run-up and saw, okay, maybe I have a gap. I was focused only on the stage win, but then the gap got bigger, which I knew might also change the GC. By then I just went as hard as I could to the finish line. I got a lot of cheering from the team on the radio and the staff on the side of the road. It was pretty cool. The climb is brutal. It’s the hardest race I’ve done. If you had told me four years ago after winning Zwift Academy that I could win a stage of the Giro, I would not have believed it!”
Maglia Rosa and 3rd on the stage, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek): “It was a tough day, but I am still in the Maglia Rosa. I knew Lotte Kopecky would be strong, she had already improved a lot on the climbs last year. We challenge on many terrains, she is faster than me and today she exploited this quality. Tomorrow will be another chapter, I want to rest and try to relax as much as possible.”
2nd on the stage and overall, Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime): “1 second difference is a bit sour. I did everything I could to take the pink jersey, but Elisa was just really strong today. One stage remains, so it will be an exciting battle on Sunday. It has already been three tough stages and the final stage also promises to be tough with a nice finale. Lidl-Trek will do everything to eliminate the bonification seconds. I rode a strong Giro so far, we’ll see tomorrow if I manage to win the pink jersey.”
Woman’s Giro d’Italia Stage 7 Result:
1. Neve Bradbury (Aus) Canyon//SRAM in 4:17:34
2. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime at 0:44
3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek
4. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck at 1:07
5. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon//SRAM at 2:02
6. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich-PostNL
7. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ) SD Worx-Protime at 2:05
8. Gaia Realini (Ita) Lidl-Trek 2:15
9. Mareille Meijering (Ned) Movistar at 4:20
10. Margarita Victoria Garcia (Spa) Liv AlUla Jayco.
Woman’s Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 7:
1. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek in 20:42:43
2. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime at 0:01
3. Neve Bradbury (Aus) Canyon//SRAM at 1:12
4. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck at 2:01
5. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich-PostNL at 2:11
6. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon//SRAM at 2:28
7. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ) SD Worx-Protime at 2:54
8. Gaia Realini (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 3:19
9. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-SUEZ at 4:18
10. Margarita Victoria Garcia (Spa) Liv AlUla Jayco at 5:13.
Giro’24 stage 7:
Elisa Longo Borghini won the Giro d’Italia Women. The Italian champion was able to hold off Lotte Kopecky in the Final Stage 8, who ultimately had to settle for second place in the final classification. The final stage went to Kimberley Le Court.
All eyes were on Elisa Longo Borghini and Lotte Kopecky in Italy on Sunday. Longo Borghini led the overall, but was only by 1 seconds ahead of Kopecky. Bonus seconds could of course be earned at the finish, which meant a very exciting battle was expected. There was also tension in the peloton all day. We didn’t see an early break, but we did see a number of attacks. Kopecky also tried, but the SD Worx-Protime World champion could not get away. She was always countered, so that after a while Kopecky shifted her focus to the final sprint.
Her team had to make every effort to achieve this, because Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), Franziska Koch (dsm-firmenich-PostNL) and Kimberley Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step) had chosen to take the lead. The three entered the last 10 kilometres with a 1 minute lead, meaning that Kopecky could no longer earn any seconds at the finish line. The lead quickly diminished in the difficult final. That was entirely thanks to Kopecky, who took the lead in the group of favourites. After a while it became clear that they were no longer going to catch the three leaders. Kopecky went into the lead, she tried to save herself by making an ultimate attempt to drop Longo Borghini in the final kilometre.
Edwards, Koch and Le Court started the final kilometre together. It was an exciting battle, especially between Edwards and Le Court. Ultimately, it was Le Court who convincingly won the sprint and ensured a historic victory. Le Court is the first rider from Mauritius to win at this level. Kopecky tried again. The Belgian accelerated in the difficult final kilometre, but Longo Borghini stuck to her rear wheel. In the last meters, the Italian was able to sprint to secure her overall victory. Kopecky came in a little later and had to settle for second place. Third place in the final rankings went to Neve Bradbury.
Stage winner Kimberley Le Court de Billot (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step): “I have no words for what I’ve done. It was a dream to participate in a race like this, and now I am here, after winning a stage. I lost a lot of time in GC so today I started the stage to have fun. I gave everything as I had nothing to lose. It was pretty crazy to cross the line first.”
4th on the stage and winner of the 2024 Giro d’Italia Women, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek): “It was an incredible epilogue to a perfect week. I like this kind of situation, being under pressure, fighting elbow to elbow. I started with a one-second lead but I was motivated to give everything and everyone in the team supported me. To wear the final Maglia Rosa is something special, I am proud of what I have done, even if I will need time to process it.”
Lotte Kopecky finished second in the general classification of the Giro d’Italia Women. The world champion did what she could to still take the overall win, but was finally unable to distance herself from Elisa Longo-Borghini, who won the Giro d’Italia to her name. Kopecky tanked confidence from this successful Tour of Italy, with one stage win, three second places, winner of the points jersey and second in the overall classification.”I rode a good Giro, but when you come so close to the overall win, second place is a bit sour,” Kopecky said.
2nd overall, Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime): “Today was not so nice. It was quite a tricky ride with a nice finale. It was hard to control, everyone was trying to get into the breakaway, which of course is their right. My teammates did what they could, at the end Niamh Fisher-Black gave 200% to get everything back together. We tried everything to still win the general classification, but it ended up being second place. There is no shame at all in losing to Elisa Longo-Borghini. She is a rock solid cyclist. Finishing second in a grand tour is a good achievement. That I am the first Belgian woman ever on the final podium of the Giro? That’s nice, but when you come so close to the overall victory, you also just want to win. So it feels a bit sour. But I have to look at the bigger picture. I came here to prepare for the Olympics. I am in excellent form. I get a lot of confidence from this. I just have to be proud of my team and myself.”
7th on the stage and 3rd overall, Neve Bradbury (Canyon//SRAM): “This is pretty cool. I wanted to do well at the Giro and set it my biggest target for the year. Getting third on GC is special. I couldn’t be more happy with it. We can all be proud of getting the Maglia Bianca and Antonia second, plus her sixth on GC, my stage win, and a second on a stage with Soraya. We had strong teamwork and a lot of support from our staff. That showed throughout the Giro, especially in the last stages when we still had good legs. Unfortunately, we lost Alice and Elise in crashes mid-tour as they were racing strongly. Antonia being up there on GC gave us an advantage. As a team, we can only be happy with the results.”
8th on the stage, 9th overall and part of the winning team, Mavi García (Liv AlUla Jayco): “At the start of the Giro, I expected more but this Giro was really hard for everybody and the whole team did the best they could. I think that we improved a lot as a team during the race and so in the end I am satisfied with this result.”
Soraya Paladin (Canyon//SRAM): “My goal was to have a win and to help the team as much as possible. I was close to winning, and for this, I’m disappointed because I still feel like I lost an opportunity. On the other hand, I’m happy that I’ve been part of this successful Giro. Since the start of the race, they trusted my experience and that we were working well together. Even if they were young, I was sure Neve and Antonia were ready to show their value and that the best for them is yet to come. We will see them more and more on top of the results in the future. We also had a bit of bad luck, with Maike in the sprint and then with Alice and Elise crashes. Elise crashed from the breakaway she created and arrived at the finish line. I told her before the stage that she would win it, and without the crash, she was also close to doing it. I was really sad for her. And last but not least it was an extra motivation for us to see how hard all the staff was working, if we get into the podium it’s a big part thanks to them. I hope we made them proud and happy.”
Woman’s Giro d’Italia Stage 8 Result:
1. Kimberley Le Court de Billot (Maur) AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step in 3:19:08
2. Ruth Edwards-Winder (USA) Human Powered Health
3. Franziska Koch (Ger) dsm-firmenich-PostNL
4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 0:25
5. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-Firmenich-PostNL at 0:29
6. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck
7. Neve Bradbury (Aus) Canyon//SRAM
8. Margarita Victoria Garcia (Spa) Liv AlUla Jayco
9. Mareille Meijering (Ned) Movistar at 0:32
10. Justine Ghekiere (Bel) AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step.
Woman’s Giro d’Italia Final Overall Result:
1. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek in 24:02:16
2. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime at 0:21
3. Neve Bradbury (Aus) Canyon//SRAM at 1:16
4. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck at 2:05
5. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich-PostNL at 2:15
6. Antonia Niedermaier (Ger) Canyon//SRAM at 2:41
7. Gaia Realini (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 3:41
8. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ-SUEZ at 4:31
9. Margarita Victoria Garcia (Spa) Liv AlUla Jayco at 5:17
10. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ) SD Worx-Protime at 5:55.
Giro’24 stage 8:
Riders’ Union CPA Takes Legal Action Against ‘Chipsthrower’
Riders’ union CPA wants to take legal action against the spectator who threw chips (crisps) in the face of Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard in the final of the 14th stage.
The incident happened just over 2 kilometres from the finish. Pogačar had already gone solo and was on his way to the win. The ‘gentleman’ in question can be seen throwing crisps (chips in the US) in the face of the Slovenian. After the incident, the yellow jersey shakes his head. Jonas Vingegaard also had to deal with the same man, as he threw some leftovers in the Dane’s face with his hand.
According to CPA chairman Adam Hansen: “The @cpacycling will take legal action against this guy with pleasure due to what he did to both @TamauPogi and @VingegaardJonas. This is disrespectful and will not be tolerated.” Hansen said on ‘X’.
Chips Thrower Arrested by Police Interrogated on Sunday
The ‘chip thrower’ has now been arrested by the police and spent a night in jail. The French newspaper, Le Parisien reports that the ‘spectator’ was arrested by the French police for ‘serious violence’ and has spent a night in jail. Due to his drunken state it turned out not to be possible to question him immediately. That happened on Sunday.
An eyewitness spoke to the French newspaper: “He had a very drunk afternoon. A police officer standing nearby pushed the man away from the riders, after which a police car arrived five minutes later to take him away. After the riders passed, the friends reacted with surprise. It was obviously not the first Tour de France they had attended, but it was the first time their friend had done something so stupid.”
Stupid!
Primoz Roglič Abandons the Tour
Primoz Roglič had a dramatic day in the Tour de France. The Slovenian classification rider crashed ten kilometres from the finish and lost more than two minutes. “We will have to listen to our medical team,” DS Rolf Aldag said after the stage. “It is of course terrible. Our leader has fallen, after that was the case yesterday. Primoz did reach the finish, but lost time. That is never good, we wanted to avoid this.” Roglič lost 2:27. Aldag further indicated that Roglič had X-Rays taken. “We will have to listen to our medical team. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
Then on Friday morning before stage 13, the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe team announced via ‘X’: “Primož Roglič underwent careful examination by our medical team after yesterday’s stage and again this morning. The decision has been taken that he will not start today, to focus on upcoming goals.”
Roglič out of the 2024 Tour:
Wout van Aert has more confidence
Wout van Aert crossed the finish line of the 11th stage of the Tour de France battered, after a crash in the run-up to the difficult final in Le Lioran. The Belgian suffered no fractures, but did have some injuries.
For Wout van Aert, the 11th stage ended in the X-ray truck. The 29-year-old rider had a hard crash on a bridge in the run-up to the finish. Afterwards, Van Aert complained about pain in his arm. “I slept quite well,” he said before the start of stage 12. “That was welcome. I feel okay this morning. I do have some pain, but I feel much better than yesterday to continue my Tour,” he said to Sporza.
“I had no doubts yesterday, because I was still able to finish in a good way. But I had a lot of pain when braking and on the bumps. I wanted to rule out that nothing was wrong. When I knew there were no fractures, I wanted to try it. Now that I have slept well, I have more confidence. What are my plans then? I’m just a mere mortal right now. I will be happy if I get to the finish.”
Van Aert: “Just a mere mortal”:
Jonas Rickaert, Søren Kragh Andersen and Yegeniy Fedorov out of time on Stage 12
Alpecin-Deceuninck lost two riders in the twelfth stage of the Tour de France. Jonas Rickaert and Søren Kragh Andersen fell behind early in the stage to Villeneuve-sur-Lot and finished outside the time limit. Also Yevgeniy Fedorov (Astana Qazaqstan) had to leave the race.
Jonas Rickaert was involved in a crash at the beginning of the 12th stage and had to receive medical assistance. It looked like one of Jasper Philipsen’s lead-out men would have to give up at the scene, but he got back on the bike and decided to try to finish. Yevgeniy Fedorov also fell behind at that point, probably due to illness. It became a lonely battle for them both. Rickaert’s teammate Søren Kragh Andersen also ended up in the last group. Before the stage, the Danish rider had said that he was suffering with saddle pain.
The finish time limit in Villeneuve-sur-Lot was 10% of the finish time of the winner, Biniam Girmay. Rickaert, Kragh Andersen and Fedorov were allowed to lose 25:44 minutes, but they crossed the finish line 28:50 after Girmay, and they were ‘Outside Time Limit’.
After the finish, Alpecin-Deceuninck released statements from both Kragh Andersen and Rickaert. “It’s sad that I have to leave the Tour like this,” Kragh Andersen said. “My saddle pain got worse and worse. I had no other option but to leave the Tour. I really hoped to get Jonas to the finish in time, as the last assignment here. Too bad it didn’t work out.”
Rickaert thanked Kragh Andersen. “Big thanks for his sacrifices. Very unfortunate, because with a good night I might have been able to be ready again for tomorrow. I really wanted to try to help Jasper get a second run in this Tour. But it was not allowed to be so.”
Rickaert, Kragh Andersen and Fedorov out of time:
Tom Pidcock Abandons Due to Covid
INEOS Grenadiers has lost Tom Pidcock from the Tour de France. The British all-rounder is suffering from covid symptoms and had to leave the race. This is a major setback for Pidcock, who wanted to use the Tour to prepare for the Paris Olympic Games.
The 24-year-old Pidcock started the Tour de France with GC ambitions, but he lost more than 11 minutes in the first mountain stage over the Galibier. That gave him the space to attack in the gravel stage to Troyes. During that stage he was narrowly beaten by fellow escapee Anthony Turgis.
In the second week, more riders are experiencing symptoms of illness. The corona virus seems to be circulating again and is causing problems for several riders. Geraint Thomas was taken to the start in a separate team car on Friday and stayed away from the team bus. Pidcock now has two weeks to prepare for the Olympic Games in Paris. He will first defend his title in the mountain bike race (July 29) and should also start in the road race on August 3rd.
Pidcock out of the Tour:
No Positive Covid Tests at Bahrain Victorious: ‘But Some Riders Don’t Feel Great’
Fred Wright out of time, Pello Bilbao and Matej Mohorič 40 minutes down. Bahrain Victorious didn’t have their best day on the road to Le Lioran. According to the latest rumours, a virus is circulating within the squad. “We have tested and there are no positive covid tests,” Mohorič told Sporza.
Fred Wright got into trouble early in the 11th stage, after which he spent the whole day lonely in front of the broom wagon. He eventually ended up outside the time limit. The British rider was not the only Bahrain Victorious rider who struggled on his way to Le Lioran. Matej Mohorič and Pello Bilbao, 6th overall last year, also had to drop out very early. The Slovenian and Spaniard came almost 40 minutes after stage winner Jones Vingegaard across the finish line.
Have the Bahrain Victorious riders got a virus? “We have tested and there are no positive covid tests,” Mohorič said before the start of the 12th stage. “But some riders do not feel great indeed. We have to wait and see if it passes. I didn’t feel good myself after stage six, but now things are getting better.”
In the Tour de France there seems to be a virus at the moment and so EF Education-EasyPost is taking the safe option. The riders of the American team drove with face masks to the start in Aurillac. Precautions are now also taking precautions at Bahrain Victorious. “You do that better if you don’t feel 100%, huh,” Mohorič said.
No one feels good at Bahrain Victorious:
Madis Mihkels to EF Education-EasyPost
Intermarché-Wanty is doing very well in the Tour de France, but the success of the team also has a downside. It looks like Madis Mihkels, one of their top talents, will leave at the end of the season. Several sources have told WielerFlits that 21-year-old will go to EF Education-EasyPost.
The young rider was one of the top juniors in 2021. At the European road championships in Trento, he finished seventh and later that autumn third at the World championships in Leuven, Belgium. That same year, Intermarché-Wanty signed him for 2023 and 2024. In the intervening year, the Estonian talent continued to mature with Ampler-Tartu202. In Wollongong, he took fourth in the World championships.
With Intermarché-Wanty, he has grown into a talented, fast Classic rider in two and a half years, as he was a stageiere from the end of 2022. In last season’s Tour of Germany, he sprinted to his first professional win, also fourth place at last year’s European U23 championship on the VAM mountain. He has also shown his great talent this season. The Estonian was fourth in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and fifth in the opening stage of Paris-Nice.
Mihkels especially comes into his own after a difficult race, after which he still has a strong final jump. Later in the spring he was, when still only 20 years old, ninth in the Scheldeprijs and tenth in Paris-Roubaix. He then rode the Giro d’Italia, where he sprinted to a top 10 place three times. Next month, he will in all likelihood also represent Estonia at the Olympics. According to sources, Intermarché-Wanty could not compete financially against the offer of the American team.
The other Estonian with Jean-François Bourlart’s team will also leave. 37-year-old Rein Taaramäe recently became Estonia’s time trial champion again, but is stopping at WorldTour level this year. The Estonian will not stop completely, as he will probably finish with a Continental team in his home country. Taaramäe was once a great talent for the Grand Tours, but he did not get beyond an eleventh place in the 2011 Tour de France. He does have 22 professional victories on his palmarès, including two stages in the Vuelta a España.
Madis Mihkels off to EF?
Visma | Lease a Bike Team for the Vuelta a España
The Tour de France isn’t nearly finished, but in less than five weeks the third and final Grand Tour of the season will start in Lisbon: the Vuelta a España (August 17-September 8). Visma | Lease a Bike have already announce who will probably be at the start: Wout van Aert and Cian Uijtdebroeks will be at La Vuelta, according to Het Laatste Nieuws.
At the start of this season, the idea was that Van Aert would combine the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España. However, the 29-year-old Classic specialist had a serious crash in THE Dwars door Vlaanderen and was out of action for a long time and had to withdraw from the Tour of Italy. Van Aert had to completely change his plans and so the Tour de France was back on his menu.
The versatile rider is currently in the Tour de France, but the Vuelta is also still on his schedule, according to HLN. Van Aert would like to race a lot in the remaining months of the season and so, barely two weeks after the Olympic road race, he will be at the start of the 79th edition of the Tour of Spain. After the Vuelta, the World Championship time trial, road and gravel are also still on his programme.
Joining Van Aert in the Visma | Lease a Bike team for the Vuelta a España will be Cian Uijtdebroeks. The 21-year-old climber experienced his baptism of fire in a Grand Tour last year in the Vuelta and immediately finished eighth in the final classification. Uijtdebroeks, who had to retire early from the Giro this year, will leave for an altitude training camp in Tignes this week after a quieter training period.
In the previous Tour of Italy, Uijtdebroeks was given full leadership, but in the upcoming Vuelta he is not the only rider with possible classification ambitions. Sepp Kuss, last year’s overall winner, and Wilco Kelderman are also on the long-list for the three-week race. Kelderman is currently riding the Tour de France, Kuss had to drop out of La Grande Boucle due to a corona infection.
The man who finished second in the Vuelta behind Sepp Kuss in 2023, Jonas Vingegaard, is not there this year. For the Dane, the Vuelta was never an option, because it coincides with the birth of his second child.
Can they be as successful as 2023?
John Wakefield Appointed Director of Development at Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe
John Wakefield has been appointed to the newly created position of Director of Development at Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe. In this role, he is responsible for the team’s Rookie Program, which includes the two talent squads as well as the scouting unit. John Wakefield will report directly to Rolf Aldag, Chief of Sports at Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe.
John has been with the team for two years. As one of the coaches, the 47-year-old South African looks after selected WorldTeam riders. He will continue in this role alongside his new job.
Rookie Program: Talent Squads
A new U23 team is currently being set up to fill the gap between the U19 GRENKE – Auto Eder team and the WorldTeam from next season. This development team will be registered as a UCI Continental Team and will initially consist of 12 riders.
Rookie Program: Scouting
In addition to the junior and devo team, scouting serves as the second pillar of talent development. Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe has already embarked on an innovative path with the Red Bull Junior Brothers and will continue to expand its scouting activities. Tim Meeusen will continue to contribute his many years of experience and complement John Wakefield’s team as Head of Scouting.
John Wakefield Director of Development at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe:
Tour de France Saitama Criterium: The Tour is Back
For a number of years, the city of Saitama has forged a special link with the Tour de France. The Japanese spectators are genuine two-wheel enthusiasts as well as great connoisseurs who know how to worthily welcome the biggest names in world cycling. This edition will also be the opportunity to celebrate the city joining the family of the “Tour de France Cycle City” label.
For its tenth edition, Saitama will be pulling out all the stops! After sharing in the celebrations with local spectators, the elite riders will take to the tarmac of the city’s streets on Saturday 2nd November. The start will take place from the Saitama Super Arena, a major venue for international, cultural and sporting events (concerts, shows, the Olympic Games, etc). By the end of the day we will know who will be adding their name to a list already packed with impressive names, such as Peter Sagan, Alejandro Valverde, Christopher Froome, Tadej Pogacar and also the all-time Tour de France stage victory record holder Mark Cavendish (35).
Before then, Saitama will be on the wheel of the 111th Tour de France: event ambassador Marcel Kittel gave the famous Tsuru to Christian Prudhomme on Tuesday 9th July in Orléans. This 1,000-piece origami structure, made over several months by children and supporters in Saitama, is a reference to the legend of the thousand cranes, according to which the Tsuru makes your dreams come true. Through this action, the organisers of the Tour de France Saitama Criterium wish good luck and a safe race to the Tour de France.
The Tour de France Saitama Criterium will once again provide an exceptional opportunity to raise the profile of the Tour de France all over the world and will give fans of the race an opportunity to see their favourite riders in action.
Key points:
- The elite riders from the Tour de France will be present on 1st and 2nd November in Saitama, to celebrate the 10th edition of the Japanese race.
- There is already a hint of Saitama in the Tour de France: the Tsuru was handed over this morning by Marcel Kittel, the event’s ambassador, to Christian Prudhomme to ensure good luck and protection for all followers of the Grande Boucle.
- Join us at the beginning of November to see the stars of the Tour de France compete alongside the best Asian riders in exceptional settings.
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