Highlights Men’s Race Report Women’s Race Marianne Vos has won the Amstel Gold Race for the first time in her career. In a thrilling final sprint, the leader of the Team Jumbo-Visma women’s team rushed to her team’s first win on Dutch soil. From the start in Maastricht, the riders immediately started to ride a high pace. Initially, two riders chose the escape, but a large group with Teuntje Beekhuis quickly joined them. The chasing peloton with Anouska Koster and leader Vos did not let them gain a big advantage and the groups came back together. Vos then showed herself…
Author: Henri Giroud
Henri Giroud
Fifty years of pro cycling journalism and television commentary. It gets easier after the first forty years.
At the end of 2013, a young Julian Alaphilippe – who had impressed earlier in the year, claiming a stage win and the points jersey at the Tour de l’Avenir – was signing his first pro contract as one of the most promising riders on the U23 scene. Fast forward eight years, and the Frenchman has established himself as one of the peloton’s biggest stars, having clocked up more than 30 victories with Deceuninck – Quick-Step. The world title, Milano-Sanremo, Strade Bianche, Clasica San Sebastian, a pair of wins at Flèche Wallonne and five stages at the Tour de France…
Highlights Women Nobody wants to share with us, but check this out: Men Report Women Ruth Winder thought she was second. So did everyone watching the thrilling finale in Brabantse Pijl. But when the officials viewed the photo finish images, they designated Winder as the official winner of the 6th edition of Brabantse Pijl Dames. Winder’s bike throw in the sprint from the six-rider breakaway proved to be instrumental in snatching the victory from Demi Vollering (SD Worx), who threw her arm into the air in an early celebration. Vollering had everyone convinced – even Ruth. But the photo finish images…
Mark Cavendish kept the wins flowing, roaring over the line with his arms held high for the second consecutive day at the Tour of Turkey, after outpowering his opponents in the closing meters of the race’s longest stage, which travelled from Beysehir to Alanya, over 212.6 kilometers. A four-man group animated the day after the first hour of racing, but Iljo Keisse once again kept their gap in check, working at the front for over 150 kilometers, before Fabio Jakobsen and Stijn Steels took over in the closing part of the stage, just as the peloton was entering the wide…
The Paris-Roubaix is canceled, so we’re taking the weekend off. We’ve had a couple of invites to ride cobbles with our club friends, but we’ve respectfully declined. Instead, we’ll be at the beach. With beer. See you in the Ardennes! P.S. Have fun seeing which brands forgot to unschedule their cobbles/Roubaix email marketing this weekend!
None of us will ever forget the incident that kept Fabio away from competition for more than eight months, and it will be emotional to see him return to racing at the eight-day Tour of Turkey (11-18 April), where he powered to a beautiful stage victory back in 2019. Before travelling there, he sat down to talk about his recovery, how having the loved ones at his side made him stronger and helped him overcome every hurdle during this period, and the pure joy he feels when he is on the bike with his Deceuninck – Quick-Step teammates.
The Cofidis Group, a consumer credit company familiar to all cycling fans as a team sponsor for decades, has extended its commitment to pro cycling. Its sponsorship of the Cofidis team was in place until the end of 2022, and now that date has been extended all the way to the end of 2025. Five more years! Five more years! It’s not just an extended contract, either, but an improved commitment to French cycling, with an agreement to increase the UCI World Tour team’s budget by €1.5 million per year. Beyond that, the disabled sports team that Cofidis has backed…
Report Women’s Race The first ever edition of Scheldeprijs for the Women’s peloton got underway today in Schoten, with rainy and overcast conditions overhead. The strong winds made for a nervous and fast start, with the peloton splitting early in the race and a group of around 20 riders getting clear. This saw a hard chase by the peloton over the opening hour of racing but with 70 kilometres to go the race was all back together again. More crashes marred the race as the bunch headed towards the closing circuits with 45 kilometres to go, and a solo rider…