Highlights Report Deceuninck – Quick-Step produced another masterpiece, this time in the form of an out of this world lead-out, powering through in the finale of the nervous stage 10 for Mark Cavendish, who kicked out with 100 meters to go and sailed to his 33rd stage win at the Tour de France. Tim Declercq and Dries Devenyns were again the ones to lay down the watts early, controlling the escapees and protecting Cavendish on a short unclassified climb with 35 kilometers to go and also later, when the race hit some exposed and potentially dangerous roads. Then, with the…
Author: Henri Giroud
Henri Giroud
Fifty years of pro cycling journalism and television commentary. It gets easier after the first forty years.
Highlights Results Stage 1Ben O’Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team4:26:432Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep0:05:073Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious0:05:344Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis0:05:365Franck Bonnamour (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM0:06:026Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates7Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers0:06:348Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma9Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team10Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education-Nippo General Classification 1Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates34:11:102Ben O’Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team0:02:013Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education-Nippo0:05:184Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma0:05:325Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers0:05:336Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team0:05:477Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe0:05:588Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech0:06:129Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis0:07:0210David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ0:07:22 Points 1Mark Cavendish (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep1682Michael Matthews (Aus) Team BikeExchange1303Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain…
Highlights Report Dylan Teuns added to his Palmares, winning his second Tour de France stage. Like Mohorič, Teuns took his chance in the breakaway and attacked on Col de la Colombière before descending to the finish in Le Grand-Bornand to claim a consecutive victory for Bahrain Victorious. Bahrain Victorious raced aggressively with Mohorič, Teuns and Poels, fighting to make the day’s breakaway from the off. Poels managed to go solo and gain an advantage of a minute to take the points in the mountain classification. Poels was caught by the rest of the break and managed to stay with Teuns…
Highlights Report Stage 7, dubbed the first real opportunity for the breakaway, saw Matej Mohorič capitalise and attack the breakaway on Côte-de-Glux-en-Glenne, never looking back, and winning the longest stage of the Tour since the year 2000. The 249.1km stage started Vierzon going over five categorised climbs finishing in Le Creusot. An early breakaway of around 30 riders formed that included Mohorič and the yellow jersey Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix). The peloton let the break take a big gap, having an advantage of over six minutes putting pressure on race favourite Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates). On the Cote-de-Glux-en-Glenne and 70…
Highlights Report On the day the Tour de France turned 118 years old, Mark Cavendish continued his resurgence and delivered another vintage sprint, capturing his 32nd victory at the race and his third in Châteauroux, the town where he scored his first ever Le Tour win back in 2008. The Manxman relied again on a fantastic Deceuninck – Quick-Step team who worked ceaselessly on the front from the moment the breakaway was formed and later into the stage benefitted from another masterful lead-out before hitting out with 150 meters to go and bursting clear of the other favourites and stomping…
Highlights Report Tadej Pogačar continued his good record with Tour de France time trials, taking victory on stage 5 in the race against the clock. After 284 days from the success in the time trial at La Planche des Belles Filles in the Grande Boucle 2020, the Slovenian of UAE Team Emirates achieved a splendid performance in the 27.2 km time trial from Changé to Laval on a course characterized by continuous ups and downs. Pogačar took victory with 19” over Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) and with 27” over Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma). Today’s result means Pogačar climbs to 2nd place at 8”…
Highlights Report Mark Cavendish rolled back the years and sprinted to his first Tour de France victory since 2016, in what will go down as one of the best stories in the history of a race that doesn’t lack amazing moments. A late call-up to Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s squad for the biggest race in the world, the 36-year-old delivered a perfect acceleration inside the final 200 meters of stage 4 and won by a bike length, enhancing his fantastic palmares and legacy in emphatic fashion. “Just being here is special, because I didn’t think for one moment I would come…
Highlights Results Stage 1Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix4:01:282Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix3Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic4Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep5Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious6Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep7Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix8Cees Bol (Ned) Team DSM9Anthony Turgis (Fra) TotalEnergies10Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Qhubeka-NextHash General Classification 1Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix12:58:532Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep0:00:083Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers0:00:314Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma5Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe0:00:386Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates0:00:397Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team0:00:408Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic9Pierre Latour (Fra) TotalEnergies0:00:4510Sergio Higuita Garcia (Col) EF Education-Nippo0:00:52 Points 1Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep802Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix623Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix50 Mountains 1Ide Schelling (Ned)…