Highlights Report Giacomo Nizzolo sprinted to an incredible first-ever grand tour stage victory, on stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia. The Team Qhubeka ASSOS sprinter broke his duck of 19 grand tour stage podiums without a win, by taking the top step in Verona today. Starting in Ravenna, the stage covered a mostly flat 198km route to finish with a mass sprint in Verona. The Italian and European champion, Nizzolo, already having placed 2nd twice at this year’s Giro d’Italia, was determined to not be denied once again. Team Qhubeka ASSOS took the reins in the peloton over the final 10km,…
Author: Henri Giroud
Henri Giroud
Fifty years of pro cycling journalism and television commentary. It gets easier after the first forty years.
Highlights Interview « This is my first victory at the Giro d’Italia and my first with AG2R Citroen Team, it’s just amazing. I am Italian, and I’ve won a stage in my national tour. It’s the biggest day of my career. The first goal of the day was to take maximum points for Geoffrey in the King of the Mountain classification. Then at the end, I knew I needed to anticipate the final climb if I wanted to make the selection. I saw that I could win. When I attacked, Geoffrey spoke to me on the radio; he encouraged me.…
Highlights Report Mauro Schmid stormed to victory on stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia, claiming the first professional win of his career and Team Qhubeka ASSOS first win at this year’s Giro d’Italia. The young Swiss rider (21), who was drafted into our Giro team two weeks before the Grande Partenza, got into the early break of the day with fellow teammate Bert-Jan Lindeman, along with 10 other riders. It was to be a very special stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia as the 162km route through the Tuscan countryside included 4 gravel sectors, totaling more than 35km inside the…
Highlights Report While it started with a climb, stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia was predicted to end with a bunch sprint. The 139km parcours – the shortest road stage of the race – had only one categorised climb to contend with, a fourth category ascent cresting a little less than 40km from the finish in Foligno, which would be no trouble for a sprinter with their eye on the prize. With less road on which to make an impact, the break went out as soon as they could, a group of five heading away from the start, and soon…
Highlights Report Egan Bernal launched an emphatic late attack to win stage nine and move into the overall lead of the Giro d’Italia. The Colombian burst clear of the GC favourites on the gravel roads of Campo Felice, winning solo by seven seconds, and elevating himself into the maglia rosa.Bernal’s first stage win at a Grand Tour couldn’t have come in more dramatic fashion, with the break caught inside the final kilometre on the steep, traction-limited slopes.Egan was set up perfectly by his team-mates on the day, with the team taking it up on the Ovindoli climb with Salvatore Puccio and…
Highlights Results Stage 1Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis4:06:472Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team0:0:363Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team DSM0:0:374Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team0:0:415Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’0:0:44 General Classification 1Attila Valter (Hun) Groupama-FDJ31:10:532Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep0:0:113Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers0:0:164Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech0:0:245Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo0:0:38 Points 1Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix832Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos763Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis69 Mountains 1Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorious262Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team183Kobe Goossens (Bel) Lotto Soudal18 Young Riders 1Attila Valter (Hun) Groupama-FDJ31:10:532Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep0:0:113Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers0:0:16
Highlights Report Two days after his stage win in Cattolica, Lotto Soudal rider Caleb Ewan was again victorious in the Giro d’Italia. After a technical final in Termoli and impressive lead-out work of Jasper De Buyst, Ewan sprinted to his second stage victory in this Giro. This brings Ewan’s tally to eleven Grand Tour stage victories. Between Notaresco and Termoli, the riders faced a hilly course. However, with a predominantly flat final, stage seven was destined to be one for the sprinters. A technical and tricky final awaited, but once again Caleb Ewan was kept at the front by his…
Highlights Report After yesterday’s shock of losing Mikel Landa on Stage 5, today Team Bahrain Victorious turned their fortunes around with Gino Mäder winning from the breakaway. The 160-kilometre stage started in Grotte di Farassi and finished on the summit of San Giacomo. An early breakaway of five riders formed, including Gino Mäder and Matej Mohorič, on another day in tough conditions. Gino was able to stay clear in the break coming onto the final climb of the stage with only two other riders with him after great help from Mohorič. With 3.5 kilometres remaining, Gino launched his attack to…