Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, June 4, 2022
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2021 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia
There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare. - Sun Tzu
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Upcoming racing:
- June 5 - 12: Critérium du Dauphiné
- June 5: Brussels Cycling Classic
- June 8 - 12: ZLM Tour
Latest completed racing:
- June 2: Giro dell'Appennino
- May 6 - 29: Giro d'Italia
- May 24 - 29: Tour of Norway
- May 22: Rund um Köln
- May 21: Veenendaal - Veenendaal
- May 21: Tour du Finistère
- May 15: Tro-Bro Léon
- May 14: Grand Prix du Morbihan
- May 3 - 8: 4 Jours de Dunkerque
Here’s the announcement Dumoulin posted on Instagram:
“I decided that 2022 will be my last year as a professional cyclist. In 2020 I had a very difficult year and at the end of that year I got overtrained and burned out. At the end of 2020, beginning of 2021 I was only a shadow myself and thus decided at the time to take [a] break away from cycling to think about my future.”
When Tom Dumoulin was at his peak. Here he's just won the 2017 Giro d'Italia. Sirotti photo.
“But despite how good it occasionally still was: many times, and especially this year, it has been a frustrating path, at which my body felt tired and still does feel tired. As soon as the load in training or races gets higher, I suffer fatigue, aches, and injuries instead of improving. The effort in training did often not lead to the desired performances. For a while now there has been a disbalance between my 100 percent dedication, everything that I do and sacrifice for my sport, and what I subsequently get out of it in return.
"With a lot of patience and a very cautious approach, I’m convinced that I could get back to my full potential on the bike. But that would be a long and patient road, with no guarantees on success. I choose not to take that road, but to quit my active cycling instead and to take a new and unknown path.
I don’t know yet what I want to do after my active cycling career, and I also don’t really want to know at this moment. But I do know that my love for the bike will always keep me connected to the world of cycling one way or another. I’m very curious what the future will hold for me. I feel happy and grateful and I now already look back on my career with a lot of pride.”
Dumoulin’s contract with Team Jumbo-Visma runs until the end of this year. His biggest success was winning the 2017 Giro d’Italia. He was the first Dutchman to win the Italian Grand Tour. The next year he was second in both the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia. He crashed badly in the 2019 Giro, injuring his knee. Though he returned to racing, he was never again the rider he had been.
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Here’s the team’s news:
Israel – Premier Tech will line up for Critérium du Dauphiné with a motivated team, eager to challenge daily in the French WorldTour stage race.
With less than a month to the start of this year’s Tour de France, the eight challenging days of racing in Critérium du Dauphiné serve as the ideal place for the riders to test and fine-tune their shape.
However, this is not just a warm-up race for the Tour de France. Every day presents an opportunity to fight for glory and IPT sports director, Steve Bauer, assures that the team is ready to get in the mix.
“I’m excited for this year’s Dauphiné. This is always a fabulous stage race where all the WorldTour teams test their best riders heading to the Tour de France”, Bauer explains. “After a very tough spring campaign for us, our team is now in good shape and we are definitely looking forward to a competitive race. We know our work is cut out for us, as some of the top teams will bring their A-squads for the Tour de France here, but I’m sure that our guys are ready for the challenge.”
Leading the IPT team are Simon Clarke and Chris Froome. Clarke is fresh off a fourth place in Giro dell’Appennino, while Froome has won Criterium du Dauphiné overall on three previous occasions, taking six stage wins in the process. After showing good signs in Mercan’Tour Classic, finishing in 11th place after helping teammate Jakob Fuglsang to win, Froome says he’s eager to carry that momentum forward.
Chris Froome in the leader's jersey racing in the 2016 Dauphiné. Sirotti photo
“It’s great to be back at the Critérium du Dauphiné”, Froome tells. “I have some great memories from this race – with six stage wins and overall victories in ‘13, ‘15 & ‘16. Unfortunately, I’ve also had my fair share of bad ones with my big crash in 2019 and I’m hoping to finally put that behind me this year.”
“I’ve seen some big progressions in my form over the last two months, and I hope to continue to build on it to put myself in the best possible position for July. I had a good ride earlier this week at the Mercan’Tour Classic, and I look forward to carrying that momentum forward into the Dauphiné.”
Bauer explains that the main focus in the race for Israel – Premier Tech will be on chasing stage wins.
“Simon has been one of our top performers this year and he’ll have some stages marked that suit him. Chris is now feeling much better after his long come back. His fitness is good and we are excited to see Chris racing much better. All in all, we have solid group of riders here and we will challenge daily to see if we can get a stage win, which will be our primary goal for the race.”
Critérium du Dauphiné (June 5-12)
Lineup: Simon Clarke (AUS), Chris Froome (GBR), Omer Goldstein (ISR), Taj Jones (AUS), Guy Niv (ISR), James Piccoli (CAN), Guy Sagiv (ISR).
Sports directors: Steve Bauer, Dror Petakch, René Andrle.
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Here’s the Tweet the team posted today:
“Team TotalEnergies has come to an agreement with Alexandre Geniez to terminate his contract. As of today, he is no longer a member of Team TotalEnergies.”
There is no mention in the Tweet for the probable reason for the team’s disposing of Geniez, who was scheduled to retire at the end of this season, but it was most likely because in March he had been found guilty in French court of domestic violence.
Earlier, his wife had filed complaints with the police of physical abuse.
Good-by Alexandre. You won't be missed.
Geniez has won three stages of the Vuelta a España as well as the 2017 Tre Valli Varesine.
Alexandre Geniez in 2018. Sirotti photo
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Here’s the team’s update:
Created in 1893, ten years before the Tour de France was born, the Brussels Cycling Classic is one of the oldest races in the world, and throughout the years has seen some of sport’s biggest riders put their name on the roll of honour. Among these, are also three men who did it in the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl colours, most recent of these being the current Liège–Bastogne–Liège winner Remco Evenepoel, who took a spectacular solo victory last year.
Remco Evenepoel winning the 2021 edition of the Brussels Cycling Classic. Sirotti photo
The Belgian won’t be at the start of the 102nd edition, but that doesn’t mean the Wolfpack will be short of options Sunday afternoon, at it will line-up a strong seven-man squad comprising Davide Ballerini, Iljo Keisse, Stijn Steels, Bert Van Lerberghe, Stan Van Tricht, Ethan Vernon and Louis Vervaeke.
Starting and finishing in Brussels, the race will put on the table a challenging 203.9km route featuring ten climbs: Rue de Croiseau, Rue de Ronquières, Zavelstraat, a circuit taking in the Muur-Kapelmuur, Bosberg, Congoberg all set to be tackled twice, and Heiligekruiswegstraat. The last of these will be crested 14 kilometers from the finish, and despite being short (just 700 meters), it has the gradients needed for what could turn out to be a decisive attack.
“The race will see the riders take on a tricky course around Brussels, which often ends in a reduced bunch sprint. This is unless a very strong rider goes solo, like Remco did last year. We are motivated, as we have a couple of cards to play on Sunday, and hope to come out of the race with a good result”, said Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl sports director Brian Holm, himself a winner of the Brussels Cycling Classic, in 1991.
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