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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, August 13, 2022

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2021 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia

Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words. - Goethe


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Arctic Race of Norway stage 2 team reports

We posted the organizer's report with the results.

Here’s the report from stage winner Dylan Groenewegen's Team BikeExchange-Jayco:

Dutch sprinter Dylan Groenewegen has stormed to his seventh win of the season for Team BikeExchange-Jayco in emphatic fashion on stage two of the Arctic Race of Norway.

Dylan Groenewegen wins stage two.

The 29-year-old demonstrated his rapid turn of speed once again to power away from his rivals and claim the victory in Brønnøysund after an impressive team performance.

Team BikeExchange-Jayco assumed control of the race as soon as a five-rider breakaway was formed in the early kilometres of the stage, with Norwegian Amund Grøndahl Jansen and Italian Alexander Konychev taking up their position at the head of the bunch, with the duo keeping the time gap in check throughout the day.

With stage two the only real opportunity for the pure fast men, the squad made sure the 154km stage came down to a bunch sprint, despite a series of attacks as the breakaway was swept up with 12km to go.

There was a scare for Groenewegen when he had to take to the grass inside the final 3km, but the Dutchman recovered well as Dion Smith guided him back to the front ahead of the final kilometre. Once in position, Groenewegen made no mistake as he launched his sprint early and held off the pack to take the victory in style.

Dylan Groenewegen (1st):
“It’s not a normal lead out train, we are also here with general classification riders, but we did an amazing job. It looked like a real lead out train with Schultz in the end putting me in position and then I started my sprint really early, but it was enough and it’s a nice win for me and also for the team.

"It was not a really easy day today, with a lot of rain, with some wind and also with the small climb in the end it was full gas, but the legs are still ok, at the Tour de France I had really good shape and my shape now is really good and I’m happy with my legs.”

"Yesterday was a hard day, we are also good in the general classification, now we have a stage win and I’m looking forward to the next two days."

Matt White (Head Sport Director):
“Today was a great team ride, obviously Amund and Kony did an incredible job of controlling the breakaway all day, got over the last climb and even helped in the final.

"All the boys played an important role in positioning, especially Dion in the final and when we gave Dylan a little bit of fresh air he certainly showed who had the fastest legs today. It’s a great win for Dylan and win number 21 for the team for the year.”

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Mads Pedersen and Juan Pedro López to lead Trek-Segafredo Vuelta a España Team

Here’s the team’s announcement:

Trek-Segafredo has announced the eight riders that will represent the Team at the Vuelta a España (19 August - 11 September).

After a stunning stage win at the Tour de France in July, Mads Pedersen will make his debut at the Spanish Grand Tour and will spearhead the team’s race ambitions alongside Juanpe López. The young Spanish rider will be lining up for his third Vuelta off the back of a thrilling performance at the Giro d’Italia which saw him finish tenth on the general classification, take home the white jersey and spend ten days in the Maglia Rosa.

Mads Pedersen wins 2022 Tour de France stage 13. ASO photo

The pair will be joined on the start line by Alex Kirsch (3rd participation), Antonio Tiberi (Grand Tour debut), Dario Cataldo (10th participation), Daan Hoole (Grand Tour debut), Julien Bernard (3rd participation) and Kenny Elissonde (7th participation).

Sports Director Steven de Jongh, Mads Pedersen and Juanpe López give their thoughts ahead of the race below:

Steven de Jongh:
“First and foremost, we want to win a stage. That’s our priority. I think with Mads and the guys who will join him on the squad for the lead-out, Daan and Alex, we have a good team more than capable of achieving that. Then, on the other hand, we have a strong climbers group with Juanpe free to race for the General Classification. After a good Giro, I am looking forward to seeing what he can do, I think he has a good chance to do a nice result here too.”

Mads Pedersen:
“I’m really looking forward to doing my first Vuelta. I had a strong Tour de France and came out of it with a really good feeling. After the Benelux Tour was cancelled, we looked into the possibility of me riding the Vuelta and decided it would be the best option for me for the last part of the season, especially with the Vuelta having eight stages that fit me quite well.

“I’ll give it a go and see how it works out. For sure, it’s going to be hot, and in the past, I struggled a bit with that, but after the Tour we saw that the heat adaptation work that I’ve done helped a lot, so I’m not too worried about the heat. We feel confident in this decision, and we have a strong, well-rounded Team going to the Vuelta. I think we can be in the mix of everything: sprint days, medium sprint days and climbing days. It should be a good three weeks and I think it will be a good experience to have two Grand Tours in one year. We will see how my body reacts and maybe it is something we think about for the future as well.”

Juanpe López:
“In my opinion, I think we have a really good team for the Vuelta with a strong mix of riders from our Classics group and the climbers group. For this reason, we are ready for every stage, and I am super happy to be a part of this team. I have big ambitions this year for the Vuelta. My first objective at the Giro was to win one stage and I just missed that, so I want to try and achieve that here, for sure. I also want to do a good GC but that will be something that we will take day by day. I didn’t have the best of luck after the Giro as I caught Covid and I wasn’t at 100% in Burgos but I do believe that I will arrive in the Netherlands in good shape and ready to put in a good performance.”


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Dan Bigham to take on the UCI Hour Record in Switzerland

Bigham’s Team INEOS Grenadiers sent me this:

Dan Bigham is aiming to break the UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot on Friday 19 August as part of his continued work in pushing the boundaries in research and development for the INEOS Grenadiers.

Bigham, the INEOS Grenadiers’ performance engineer, will return to the scene of his 2021 successful attempt on the British record at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland.

Then Bigham set a new British record with a distance of 54.723 kilometres and this time he is aiming to overhaul Victor Campenaerts’ world mark: the Belgian rider’s UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot stands at 55.089km.

Bigham has played a key role in evolving and optimising the team’s time trial performance package across the 2022 season and will use the knowledge from this attempt to further boost the Grenadiers’ performance moving forwards.

The attempt will be streamed live on the INEOS Grenadiers’ YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Bigham said: “The UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot has been a massive thing in my life for the past few years, since I first attempted one as a student in 2014. I’m excited about the prospect of seeing what I can do against the clock again, with the support of the team behind me.

“Physically I’ve moved on since becoming a part of the INEOS Grenadiers. As much as my workload is high, it’s been nice to have everything I do consolidated within one place. It means I can be so much more organised in how and when I can train, while having the full support of the team - not just in allowing me to train, but enabling me to train efficiently. It’s been great to bounce ideas off so many fantastic people within the team and I’ve been welcomed with open arms.

“And having access to all of the team’s partners has been massive for me. The amount of support that Pinarello have put into this project by bringing a new, incredibly high-level bike to the table in such a short space of time is pretty astronomical. We’ve done a huge amount of skin suit testing with Bioracer over the past six months too. It’s been really impressive and I feel like I’m in a really good position on that front. Some of the ideas that we’ve implemented across the whole package have been left field but wholly adopted. It’s been such a progressive project to be involved in.

“We want to create a blueprint for future UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot attempts but it’s not just limited to track - every single week the team are competing in time trials on the road and there’s a huge amount of detail that we’ve gone into that will help improve our time trialling in many different respects. Whether that’s pacing strategies, thermal management or equipment development, it all ties in. There’s so much that we can bring forward to keep the team ahead on the road.”

INEOS Grenadiers Deputy Team Principal Rod Ellingworth said: “From the moment Dan joined the team we’ve been all in to support his attempts to break the UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot. His work both on and off the bike has been hugely beneficial to the team’s performance across 2022 and we’re excited to see how the lessons learned from this attempt can help us further push the boundaries of our performances.”


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Team Astana-Qazaqstan’s statement on suspended rider Michele Gazzoli

The team posted this:

Astana Qazaqstan Team received an official notification from the UCI regarding a 1-year period of ineligibility imposed on the rider Michele Gazzoli as the consequences of the presence of a Prohibited Substance Tuaminoheptane in the rider’s A Sample collected during an in-competition doping control on February 17th at the Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta.

As part of this case, Astana Qazaqstan Team received from Michele Gazzoli a full explanation on how the above-named substance entered his body. These explanations have also been presented and thoroughly reviewed by the UCI.

The UCI considered the explanations provided by Michele Gazzoli, namely the fact that the above-named substance entered the body unintentionally from the ingestion of a medication named Rhinofluimucil (a nasal spray for the treatment of rhinitis), purchased at a pharmacy independently without any implication of the medical staff of Astana Qazaqstan Team. The UCI decided this case was classified as an unintentional violation of anti-doping rule, which is why the disciplinary penalty was limited to one year of ineligibility and disqualification of the results of one race Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta only.

Astana Qazaqstan Team categorically emphasizes that the team has nothing to do with this unfortunate violation of anti-doping rule by the rider Michele Gazzoli.

Astana Qazaqstan Team, adhering to the zero tolerance policy, decided to immediately terminate the contract with Michele Gazzoli.

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