Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
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2018 Tour de France | 2018 Giro d'Italia
It always seems impossible until it's done. - Nelson Mandela
Current racing:
- June 9 - 16: Critérium du Dauphiné
Upcoming racing:
- June 12 - 16: Baloise Belgium Tour
- June 13: GP Kanton Aargau
- June 15 - 23: Tour de Suisse
Latest completed racing:
- June 5 - 9: Tour de Luxembourg
- June 9: G.P. di Lugano
- May 11 - June 2: Giro d'Italia
- May 28 - June 2: Tour of Norway
- June 2: Rund um Köln
- May 24 - 26: Tour de l'Ain
- May 14 - 19: 4 Jours de Dunkerque
- May 12 - 18: Tour of California
- May 10 - 12: Vuelta de Madrid
Critérium du Dauphiné stage two team reports
We posted the organizer's race report with the results.
Stage winner Dylan Teuns' Bahrain-Merida team posted this update:
Craponne-sur-Arzonne (France), June 10th – What a special day for Team Bahrain Merida at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Dylan Teuns wins stage 2 and he is also the new overall leader.
Dylan Teuns wins stage two. Sirotti photo.
“I’m super happy with this” the Belgian rider comments after beating Guillam Martin in a two-up sprint “This is something special. My last win was in Poland almost 24 months ago and this one is also a really nice victory”.
Today’s stage featured a rolling course and according to TBM Sports Director Vladimir Miholjević it could suit to Dylan “In fact our team’s strategy was that Dylan follows the attack of the best riders on the last climb, but attacks came earlier, so when the breakaway was brought back, he was clever to move on a counterattack and anticipate the last climb with a group of twelve riders. Then he went clear on the final climb with Martin, that was a good companion for him in the break. They collaborated and the chasers – that included big names as Froome and Quintana – didn’t manage to bridge the gap of 15” to them”.
Then it was a man on man sprint with Martin that opened it earlier and Dylan that showed to be the strongest, taking a very beautiful win and the yellow jersey too: “It’s a dream come true. I’m really proud to wear this jersey and to win my first lion. I will fight and give everything to keep it”.
“We’re all very happy with this great result achieved in a great way” SD Miholjević adds “He won like a great champion. It was a matter of power. It gives us great hopes for the next days. We will for sure try to defend the leader’s jersey. Dylan and the team really deserve it”.
Team Bora-hansgrohe sent me this report:
The second stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné was another challenging day for the peloton. 180 km with eight categorized climbs awaited the riders on the way from Mauriac to Craponne-sur-Arzon.
The day's profile was certainly challenging.
Already after 15 km of racing, on the first climb of the day, 13 riders went up the road. Gregor Mühlberger and Emanuel Buchmann were able to follow the attacks and joined the breakaway of the day.
The leading group worked well together but the reduced bunch, with Team Ineos leading, wanted to give the breakaway not too much space and pulled hard to close the gap. With less than 80 km to go, the break fell apart into two groups followed by many attacks. Emanuel and Gregor rode in the chasing group trying to bridge across.
The race faced the last 58 km as the breakaway came back together and at this moment Emanuel attacked with three other riders. Unfortunately, they have been caught by the reduced bunch with 35 km to go.
The race exploded on the final climb of the day, 20 km before the finish line, when many riders lost contact to the group of the favorites. After pulling the whole day at the front, Emanuel had to ride his own rhythm. Still the German was able to hang on to the second chasing group, while D. Teuns and G. Martin battled at the front for the stage win. It was Teuns who claimed victory in Craponne-sur-Arzon, with Buchmann crossing the line in 16th place, 44 seconds down on the stage winner. In the GC Emanuel now sits in 12th position 55 seconds behind the leader.
From the Finish Line:
“I felt quite good today, and as the attacks started I went with them because we knew it will be a day for breakaways. In the breakaway we worked well together. But as the break fell apart, I gave it a try and attacked once again, unfortunately it didn’t work out. And on the final climb, on the last meters, everything exploded. After being the whole day in the strong breakaway, I missed some power and was in the third group. Therefore, I decided to go with my pace to limit any time losses. Tomorrow is a chance for Sam followed by a time trial day.” – Emanuel Buchmann
“It was a really tough stage today with challenging climbs and bad weather conditions. We wanted to race offensively to achieve a good result. Therefore, we sent two of our climbers into the day’s break. It was a strong breakaway. However, the group was too strong and Team Ineos took over control in the main bunch. On the final climb the race went on fire, but Emanuel kept fighting and finished just seconds behind the stage winner. It is still a strong result after being the whole day in the break. If you never try, you will never know.” – Steffen Radochla, Sports Director
Jumbo-Visma headed to Tour de France with with sprint and GC ambitions
The team sent me this update:
Just like last year, Team Jumbo-Visma is heading to the Tour de France in July with big sprint and GC ambitions. In 2018, this resulted in a fourth and fifth place in the general classification and two sprint stage wins with Dylan Groenewegen. Besides this, Primoz Roglic won the queen stage over the Tourmalet and Aubisque on the penultimate day. The number three and two-time stage winner of the Giro d’Italia is going to skip the French stage race this year.
Primoz Roglic wins stage 19 of the 2018 Tour de France. Sirotti photo
Team Jumbo-Visma again counts on the fast legs of Dylan Groenewegen and the steady Steven Kruijswijk. The Dutch leaders will be supported by their compatriot Mike Teunissen, the Norwegian Amund Jansen, the German Tony Martin, the New Zealander George Bennett and the Belgian Tour newcomers Wout van Aert and Laurens De Plus. The team starts in Brussels after a specific high altitude training.
For Van Aert, his Tour debut means the next step in his career. After his strong spring classics, the 24-year-old rider from Herentals is now participating in Critérium du Dauphiné. “Wout is ready for this next step”, Team Jumbo-Visma's sportive director Merijn Zeeman explains. “He makes our team stronger. He hasn’t had a lot of race days yet and Wout has prepared himself in an ideal way. After the Tour, he will ride the Prudential Ride London and after that, the preparation for his cyclocross season starts.”
Team Sunweb's upcoming racing
The team sent me this schedule:
Tour de Suisse: JUN 15-23
Luke Roberts - Team Sunweb coach:
"The Tour de Suisse this year sees a variety of stages; with days for the sprinters, two time trials, some intermediate stages and tough days in the mountains. We bring a very strong and motivated team to the race and we'll be aiming for stage success throughout the week. We have a good team for the time trials and the more rolling, intermediate stages. The team will aim to set up Michael for sprint stages, and he'll be well supported by Søren, Lennard and Nikias. This will also be Marc's first time racing on home roads in the pro peloton and he is looking forward to the opportunity to leave his own mark on the race. Wilco makes his return to racing after injury and along with Nicholas, they will fly the Team Sunweb flag in the mountains."
Michael Matthews (shown winning a stage at this year's Tour of Catalonia) will rde the Tour of Switzerland.
Line-up:
Søren Kragh Andersen (DEN)
Nikias Arndt (GER)
Marc Hirschi (SWI)
Lennard Kämna (GER)
Wilco Kelderman (NED)
Michael Matthews (AUS)
Nicholas Roche (IRL)
Dreiländermeisterschaft (German U23 Road Race): JUN 15
Sebastian Deckert - Team Sunweb coach:
"The parcours for the race this year are a lot tougher than last year's race that we won with Max Kanter, as there is a lot of climbing throughout the day. Max starts with the elite this year now he is on the WorldTour program, but we start with a strong group of riders who want to show that they belong with the best riders from Germany. With only four riders at the race we will need to be attentive throughout the day and take a more open approach, racing on the front foot and see how the day unfolds."
Line-up:
Leon Heinschke (GER)
Niklas Märkl (GER)
Marius Mayrhofer (GER)
Martin Salmon (GER)
Ronde van Limburg report
UAE-Team Emirates sent me this update:
UAE Team Emirates played a key role in the final of the Ronde van Limburg (201.1 kilometers starting and finishing in Tongeren), but came up just short of the win in the final sprint, which went to Eduard Grosu (Delko Marseille).
Second place went to Simone Consonni: the Italian sprinter,who was recently third in the 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia. Consonni tried to react as quickly as possible when Grosu hit out for a very long sprint, but ran out of road to haul him back.
Before the sprint, the UAE team had representation up from with the lone leader Philipsen. The young Belgian talent led with 5 km to go by a margin of 15 “over the chasers, but was caught in the closing metres.
Consonni’s comment: “I’m dissapointed to miss out on the win – second place is a little bitter. In the week after the Tour of Italy I was a little tired, but today as the race went on I felt better, despite the rain and a puncture with15 km to go.
Grosu took the final corner really well and unfortunately I couldn’t take his wheel”
Results:
1 Eduard Grosu (Rom) Delko-Marseille 4h34’29”
2 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates s.t.
3 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Corendon-Circus s.t.
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