Preview Highlights Report Alexander Kristoff was the fastest in the first stage of the Tour de France, hitting a fantastic double with a stage victory and sealing the yellow jersey. The 156 km of the inaugural stage of the Gran Boucle were characterized by numerous crashes due to the heavy rain that featured throughout the entire race. The group moved cautiously along the descents of the course, only to put the hammer down again in the final 20 km. In Nice, on the final straight, Kristoff unleashed his power with a perfectly timed sprint, where he overtook Mads Pedersen (Trek…
Author: Henri Giroud
Henri Giroud
Fifty years of pro cycling journalism and television commentary. It gets easier after the first forty years.
In a move that’s sure to ruffle the feathers of UK cycling fans, neither Chris Froome nor Geraint Thomas have been selected for the INEOS Grenadiers (yuck) Tour de France squad. Geraint Thomas will instead ride the Giro d’Italia, and Chris Froome will ride the Vuelta a Espana. Froome has previously won the Vuelta in 2017, and retroactively became the first British grand tour winner when the 2011 edition was awarded to him many years later. INEOS will be taking the following riders to the Tour: Andrey Amador Egan BernalRichard Carapaz Jonathan CastroviejoMichal KwiatkowskiLuke RowePavel SivakovDylan van Baarle So, start seething on…
10-rider lineup stays in France after Dauphiné, looking to take all health precautions before travelling to Nice for ‘Grand Depart’ After the end of the Critérium du Dauphiné last Sunday, the Movistar Team is gathering nearly its whole group for the 2020 Tour de France for a final preparation block in the Alps. The Telefónica-backed squad will recon some stages of the upcoming ‘Grande Boucle’ before travelling to Nice in the days leading up to the ‘Grand Dpe’art. The squad managed by Eusebio Unzué aims to take all precautions from a health standpoint, to reach the start of the Tour with all…
Report Sepp Kuss has given Team Jumbo-Visma a third stage victory in the Criterium du Dauphiné. The 25-year-old American soloed in Megève to his first victory of the season after having been on the attack all day. For Team Jumbo-Visma it was a nice boost after race leader Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk had abandoned the race. Roglic crashed hard on Saturday and did not start today. Kruijswijk literally dropped out yesterday with an injured shoulder. In addition to the three stage victories, the team of Grischa Niermann and Arthur van Dongen also won the team classification and the points…
Report The second Monument of the season, Il Lombardia took the peloton from Bergamo to Como today on a course that covered more than 230 demanding kilometers and offered six tough climbs, like the Colle Gallo, Muro di Sormano or Civiglio. All of the climbs were around seven kilometers long with pitches of over 9% and, on top of this tough course, the weather forecast expected temperatures of around 30 degrees. It took quite a long time until a group of 11 riders formed the breakaway of the day and opened up a gap of more than three minutes. As…
Report No fewer than six tough categorised climbs dotted today’s Queen Stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The climbing started straightaway on the 153.5km route with a mix of first, second, third and Hors Catégorie climbs – the toughest being the Montée de Bisanne – while the finale would take place on the second category ascent into Megève. Bridging to an early break, Lennard Kämna joined the escapees, forming a group of fifteen that could have proved pivotal further up the road when the GC riders started making their moves. However, disaster struck on the descent of the Côte de…
Report A long, solitary winning ride gave Davide Formolo his fourth career success with the Italian champion crossing the finish line of stage three of the Criterium del Dauphiné, from Corenc-Saint Martin de Belleville of 157 km, in first position, after cycling for 65 km alone at the head of the race, climbing the Col de la Madeleine and the final Cat 1 ascent. Already after 30 km of racing, Formolo had jumped from the peloton in the company of 8 other riders. With the average pace very high (50.3 km / h after the first hour of racing), the…
Report Primoz Roglic has claimed yet another victory for Team Jumbo-Visma. The Slovenian leader was supreme on the Col de Porte and climbed to the second consecutive stage victory for his team in the Criterium du Dauphiné. The national road champion also takes over the overall lead from teammate Wout van Aert. It is the twelfth victory for Team Jumbo-Visma in 2020 and the eighth in the last thirteen days. For Roglic it is his fifth victory of the season. In the stage with the finish on top of the Col de Porte, an early breakaway was successfully controlled by…