EUROTRASH Monday: A Storm Over Bad Weather!

As the wind, rain and snow hit Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico this week, it caused quite a storm amongst riders, teams and the organisers, but we still had exciting racing – All the video action, plus reports, results and rider thoughts. Not forgetting the women’s Trofeo Alfredo Binda – Comune di Cittiglio.

TOP STORY:

• Patrick Lefevere on the ASO: “Pure race falsification”

Rider news:

• Tom Boonen thought the neutralisation in Paris-Nice was dangerous
• Tadej Pogačar: “Paris-Roubaix will be a surprise”
• Remco Evenepoel continues to work on his comeback in Spain
• Belgian champion Arnaud De Lie will miss Milan-Sanremo
• Cian Uijtdebroeks dropped and abandons Tirreno-Adriatico
• Groupama-FDJ leader David Gaudu has surgery
• Lars van den Berg ends professional career at 26 due to heart problems

Team news:

• Lotto Cycling Team partners with FSA Vision

Race news:

• Belgian Minister of Sport expresses doubts about World championships in Rwanda in letter to UCI

TOP STORY: Patrick Lefevere on the ASO: “Pure Race Falsification”
Patrick Lefevere has lashed out at ASO in his latest newspaper column. The organiser of Paris-Nice and the Tour de France, ASO, is getting the full brunt of the former Soudal Quick-Step team manager’s wrath. “You would think that organisations of that level would have enough know-how to ensure a proper restart. Not so”, he wrote in Het Nieuwsblad.

Lefevere is referring to stage four of Paris-Nice, where it was raining, hail-stoning and snowing, fifty kilometres from the finish. This meant that the stage had to be stopped. For most riders, that decision was logical, but what happened next was not. Naesen and Van Wilder complained about the lack of communication from the race organisers and believe that riders like Ben O’Connor and Aleksandr Vlasov got into trouble and lost time on GC.

“It was pure race falsification. Let me start by saying that I thought the decision itself was wrong. If you neutralise the race at that moment, really in the middle of nowhere, all those frozen riders have nowhere to go. The buses were at the finish, there is no room for seven people in the following cars and there was not a house to be seen anywhere,” Lefevere described the situation. “The chaos on Wednesday is unworthy of a race at WorldTour level. You would think that organisers at that level would have sufficient know-how to ensure a proper restart. Not so. Movistar was in the front row, Vlasov and Vingegaard were still in or between the cars.”

Lefevere also wrote about Saturday’s Queen stage. “I also read that the Queen stage will be drastically shortened. It’s good that they make that decision in time, but with permission: ASO also brings all that weather misery on itself. Last year, exactly the same stage to Auron was scheduled for Saturday and then too it could not go ahead in its entirety. The finish was then on the Madonne d’Utelle, after barely 104 kilometres of racing. This year, Auron will get its finish, but the Côte de Belvédère and the Col de la Colmiane will be cancelled along the way. Too bad, but predictable if you choose to race inland away from Nice and the Côte d’Azur. Auron is a ski resort, they usually pay good money to host the race, but you shouldn’t be alarmed if the weather there is actually unsuitable in mid-March. In the words of Oliver Naesen: It remains racing, not giant slalom.”

Neutralisation, was it the best decision?

Paris-Nice 2025
Matteo Jorgenson took the lead back in Stage 5 of Paris-Nice from his Visma | Lease a Bike teammate Jonas Vingegaard, who crashed earlier in the stage. The stage victory went to Frenchman Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), from Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana) and Jorgenson in third place.

The bad weather was still with the ‘Race to the Sun’ on Thursday. The fourth stage was temporarily neutralised and caused a lot of chaos and dissatisfaction among the riders and teams, but the conditions looked the same for the fifth stage. The stage started from Saint-Just-en-Chevalet in 2ºCelsius. There was also a tough finale, with the Côte du Château Jaune (1.2km at 9.2%), Côte de Sibuze (1.1km at 8.2%), Côte de Chavagneux (1.1km at 8.6%), Côte d’Arzay (1.3km at 8%, maximum 15%) and the final climb; the Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez in the last 50 kilometres. The finish line was on this 1.7 kilometre climb with its average of 11.1% and peak of up to 18%.

The first KOM points were taken by Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Wanty), but an early break took a very long time to form. A group with Michael Matthews and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) and the Frenchmen Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) took their chance on a long escape for a while, but after 50 kilometres it ended. Ben Swift (INEOS Grenadiers) and Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ) went away together. Yellow jersey, Jonas Vingegaard, crashed in the peloton, at first it toked like the Dane had escaped unscathed, as he was able to continue. But once he had returned to the group, the two-time Tour winner seemed to be suffering. Vingegaard was constantly at the back of the group, not at ease and talking with his teammates.

This was confirmed when the peloton started the difficult final. Tobias Foss (INEOS Grenadiers) wanted to join his teammate Swift at the front, Vingegaard was struggling in the peloton. On the descents he was in last position, with Victor Campenaerts with him. On the second to last climb of the day, the Côte de Chavagneux, Foss meanwhile went past the two early escapees. There was no real control in the peloton and so the strong Norwegian was able to take a lead of almost 1:30. On the penultimate climb of the day the pace in the peloton increased before the intermediate sprint. The Movistar team split the peloton in two. Vingegaard had been able to move up and was safe, for the moment. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R) had missed the move and it started to look bad for Foss. He was caught before the race started climbing.

On the way to the steep final climb, all the big teams tried to position their leaders. The road was quite narrow on the Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez and so positioning was very important. Jorgenson was in a good position, but Vingegaard was struggling again at the back. After strong work by Visma | Lease a Bike, Brandon McNulty (UAE Emirates-XRG) took the initiative. He not only dropped his own leader, Joao Almeida, but also overall leader Jonas Vingegaard and White Jersey, Mattias Skjelmose. Matteo Jorgenson the other leader of Visma | Lease a Bike put the pressure on. The American thinned the group to ten and then five riders. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) took advantage and jumped away in the final metres. Jorgenson finished in third and took over the lead on GC. Vingegaard lost half a minute.

Stage winner and 5th overall, Lenny Martinez Bahrain Victorious): “Today was just incredible! The whole team did a great job. On the last climb, I knew I wanted to launch with 150 metres to go. There were three of us, I told myself that I had to go all out, and when I looked back and saw the difference, I thought to myself: ‘That’s incredible!’ And raising my arms was a great moment. Yesterday, I was a little disappointed to come fourth. I thought that by being in Joao Almeida’s wheel, I could have done better. I told myself that I had to give it my all… I did everything I could with the team and it went really well. Unfortunately, we lost Santiago [Buitrago] yesterday after he fell. The team told me that I was the leader and I wanted to do well and not let them down. It’s off to a good start! I’m going to try and give it my all this weekend. But I’d rather win a stage than finish in the top 10 overall. It’s a box ticked. It’s been a long time since I won. It’s an incredible feeling to win here, in Paris-Nice with my new team. It’s the greatest victory of my career. To win in Paris-Nice, I didn’t think that was possible. It’s a major race with a very high level.”

Overall leader and 3rd on the stage, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike): “It’s mixed feelings. I felt personally very strong. But I saw Jonas [Vingegaard] crash and he came up to me in the race and he told me his hand might be broken. He had a lot of pain and he told me in the stressful moments he was probably not gonna be there, he told me to go for myself. I just tried to do my best on the last climb. I knew that a steady pace would be better for me. I’m happy that we kept the jersey in these circumstances but it’s definitely not what I imagined. I think we’re still in a good situation and I hope we can keep 1 and 2. That’s what we came for. I definitely feel really good, in control, and I try to stay present and enjoy the race as much as I can.”

5th on the stage and 3rd overall, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe): “I know those climbs don’t suit me well so I was surprised to be in the top 5 at the finish. I’m super happy with the team and the positioning, everything went super well. Tomorrow, luckily, we have an easier day, and then the week-end looks pretty hard. We’ll have to see how it goes but the legs are good. A podium is for sure a really big goal but we have to see… I would be happy with a top 10. That was my goal coming here.”

6th on the stage and 4th overall, Joao Almeida (UAE Emirates XRG): “It was a good day. It ward all day, with a big fight for the break. I didn’t have the best legs on the steep finish but I think it was alright and I keep the polka-dot jersey so it’s a positive. I feel overall okay. Tomorrow should be easier with a flat stage and I should be ready for Saturday.”

Paris-Nice Stage 5 Result:
1. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious in 4:36:23
2. Clément Champoussin (Fra) XDS Astana at 0:03
3. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma | Lease a Bike
4. Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue (Col) XDS Astana
5. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 0:06
6. João Almeida (Por) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:07
7. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:11
8. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 0:16
9. Magnus Sheffield (USA) INEOS Grenadiers
10. Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale at 0:18.

Paris-Nice Overall After Stage 5:
1. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma | Lease a Bike in 16:27:26
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 0:22
3. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 0:36
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:40
5. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious at 0:55
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek at 0:57
7. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Emirates XRG at 1:05
8. Thymen Arensman (Ned) INEOS Grenadiers at 1:14
9. Clément Champoussin (Fra) XDS Astana at 1:22
10. Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue (Col) XDS Astana at 1:24.

Paris-Nice’25 stage 5:

After a few good placings, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) took a stage victory in Paris-Nice. After a tough Stage 6, the peloton split into echelons due to Visma | Lease a Bike and the Danish ex-champion narrowly beat Joshua Tarling and Sam Watson (both INEOS Grenadiers) in the sprint. Matteo Jorgenson held the overall lead.

After two particularly tough days, the sprinters might get their chance on Friday, as stage six didn’t seem too hard. It was the longest stage of this Paris-Nice, the only stage over 200 kilometres and ‘only’ 1,400 metres of climbing, with 3 mountain points to be fought over. The last categorised climb, the Côte de Mouriès (1.2km at 5%), was about 50 kilometres from the finish. In the final there was a small climb (1km at 5.8%) before the intermediate sprint in Lançon-Provence, but there was still enough time for the sprint trains to form before the finish in Berre l’Étang.

In Saint-Julien-en-Saint-Alban, Jonas Vingegaard, second overall, wasn’t at the start. The Dane crashed halfway through the fifth stage on Thursday and after consultation with the medical staff of Visma | Lease a Bike, he left the race. Thomas Gachignard wanted to be in the early break. The Frenchman attacked at kilometre zero. The TotalEnergies rider was joined by Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ). Shortly afterwards, the duo was later joined by the Czech Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). The peloton, led by Soudal Quick-Step, kept the gap small. The Belgian team wanted a sprint for Tim Merlier again and kept the leading group within range. With a maximum lead of 3 minutes, Cavagna, Otruba and Gachignard, didn’t have too many illusions. Gachignard was mainly concerned with collecting mountain points. The Frenchman was first at the top of the Côte de Pouzilhac (1.8km at 5%) and took over from João Almeida. Gachignard had his KOM and dropped back the peloton. Otruba also called it a day not much later and so Cavagna was on his own.

Cavagna rode on solo and crossed the summit of the Côte des Baux-de-Provence (2.5km at 5.1%), to start the last 60 kilometres with a lead of more than 2 minutes. Cavagna not only had to contend with the peloton, but also with the bad weather conditions and a strong wind. Visma | Lease a Bike split the peloton into echelons, with a first echelon of 17 riders. With leader Jorgenson, Victor Campenaerts, Edoardo Affini, Per Strand Hagenes, Bart Lemmen and Axel Zingle, the entire Visma | Lease a Bike team (no Vingegaard) was present. INEOS Grenadiers was also up front with GC rider Thymen Arensman, Tobias Foss, Bob Jungels, Magnus Sheffield, Joshua Tarling and Samuel Watson. Mattias Skjelmose, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step), Florian Lipowitz and Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) were also there. João Almeida, 4th overall, had been surprised and was forced to chase in a second group. Lenny Martinez, was in an even worse position. The rider of Bahrain Victorious, who had beaten all the top riders in the difficult fourth stage on Thursday, followed in a third echelon 4 minutes behind the front group.

Martinez saw a good final overall disappear. In the second group it was mainly up to UAE Emirates XRG, Almeida and McNulty’s team, to pull things back together, but the gap to the Jorgenson group kept growing. With 30 kilometres to go, the Almeida group were looking at a loss of over 1 minute. In the first echelon was working well together and the pace was good. The first escapee, Cavagna, had been caught and the race situation was clear. The first group of seventeen riders (Cavagna had been dropped) started the last 20 kilometres with almost 1:30. There was also the intermediate sprint, where Jorgenson took 6 seconds. After the sprint, the final kilometres were at ‘full gas’ and there would be a sprint for the stage victory. Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step) tried to surprise the front group in the last kilometre, but couldn’t get away. In the sprint; top favourite Pedersen was the strongest, but Tarling came up strongly in the final metres. Pedersen had the fastest finish and Tarling came in second. Samuel Watson crossed the line in third. Almeida. crossed the line almost 2 minutes after Pedersen and can now forget about the final victory. Martinez lost almost 9 minutes and dropped down the overall.

Stage winner, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek): “After such a tough day it’s of course nice to win. It would have been a pity to be 2nd or 3rd. It’s really nice to take a victory with the team and Mattias Skjelmose moves up in GC. For us, it was a perfect day. No one likes to race with 5-6 degrees and rain. It was a tough day. I don’t care when it’s weather like this but I don’t really enjoy it… Now I enjoy, after the win! I did a long sprint but Tarling is so strong… You never take him out of the equation, even in a sprint like this. Anyway, it doesn’t matter if you win by half a centimetre or half a metre! I knew if we’d come here with Tim Merlier in a clean sprint, it would be hard to win so this was ideal.”

Overall leader and 8th on the stage, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike): “I’m impressed with the guys today, our commitment, just following the plan we made this morning, as riders. We looked at the course and made the plan. I knew we had the strongest team for this kind of conditions and it’s nice to take full advantage and make what was a very grim day, as far as weather conditions, a nice experience, at least results wise. The plan was to take the descent and see if there was enough wind at the bottom. I looked back a few times, saw some big gaps, and from there to the finish it was about pedalling as hard as we all could. I’m in a good situation for the week-end. Now I need to warm up and then tackle tomorrow’s stage head on, stay warm and take this yellow jersey back to Nice. I know the climb to Auron very well.”

KOM, Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies): “I’m very happy to have this polka-dot jersey, but it wasn’t easy to get it. I’ve been going flat out for three days and today, with the conditions we’re experiencing, when I got over the first hill, my legs gave up, there was no way I could continue. I know it’s going to be very hard to keep the jersey tomorrow, but I’m already very happy to be able to wear it once.”

Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ): “It was a hell of a day. We had planned for me to break away, but it wasn’t necessarily to play for the win. The aim was more to get a head start so that I would be in the right place in case of echelons and be able to help Guillaume. In the end, he wasn’t in the first group, so I was asked to get up so that I could ride with him. I would have liked to have ridden a few more kilometres at the front, but I followed the instructions.”

Paris-Nice Stage 6 Result:
1. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek in 4:25:37
2. Joshua Tarling (GB) INEOS Grenadiers
3. Samuel Watson (GB) INEOS Grenadiers
4. Axel Zingle (Fra) Visma | Lease a Bike
5. Matteo Sobrero (Ita) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
6. Magnus Sheffield (USA) INEOS Grenadiers
7. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek
8. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma | Lease a Bike
9. Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Soudal Quick-Step
10. Thymen Arensman (Ned) INEOS Grenadiers.

Paris-Nice Overall After Stage 6:
1. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma | Lease a Bike in 20:52:57
2. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 0:40
3. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek at 0:59
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Grenadiers at 1:20
5. João Almeida (Por) UAE Emirates XRG at 2:40
6. Tobias Foss (Nor) INEOS Grenadiers at 2:47
7. Magnus Sheffield (USA) INEOS Grenadiers at 2:54
8. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Emirates XRG at 3:05
9. Clément Champoussin (Fra) XDS Astana at 3:22
10. Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue (Col) XDS Astana at 3:24.

Paris-Nice’25 stage 6:

Michael Storer (Tudor) won the Seventh Stage of Paris-Nice. In the shortened mountain stage to Auron, the Australian managed to stay ahead of the favourites from the early break. The overall leader, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), lost three seconds to Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), but goes into the final stage with a lead 37 seconds on the German. Due to a crash and abandonment of Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) rose to third place overall.

The penultimate stage of Paris-Nice was the Queen stage, but was shortened due to the bad weather. The Côte de Belvédère and the climb to La Colmiane were removed from the route. This left a stage of only 109 kilometres. There was still a summit finish, because in the final the riders had to tackle the last climb to the winter sports village of Auron (7.3km at 7.2%). Overall leader Matteo Jorgenson started the stage with a lead of 40 seconds over nearest rival Florian Lipowitz.

The weather was bad again in the south of France on Saturday, but that did not stop the riders attacking. In the first, flat kilometres, ten riders escaped the peloton. They were Michael Storer & Marco Haller (Tudor), Kelland O’Brien & Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), Alexandre Delettre & Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies), Clément Izquierdo & Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R) and Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious). On the Côte d’Aspremont (9.3km at 4.9%), the leading group grew from 10 to 15 riders. Joshua Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers), Iván Romeo (Movistar), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) managed to cross. Storer was the best-placed rider at the front. He was 3:55 behind leader Jorgenson before the start of the stage.

Storer would never be the virtual yellow jersey. Visma | Lease a Bike, UAE Emirates and Lidl-Trek didn’t allow the escapees to increase their lead to more than 3 minutes. Lidl-Trek had to stop working, because their leader, Mattias Skjelmose, crashed into a traffic island in the middle of the road and crashed hard. The Dane was unable to continue and was taken by ambulance to hospital. With Skjelmose out, Thymen Arensman moved up to third place overall. Visma | Lease a Bike made no attempt to catch the escapees in the next kilometres. It was now XDS Astana, Bahrain Victorious and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe who controlled the race, while the rain was pouring down again. Little by little, the lead shrank, but with 10 kilometres to go they still had more than 2 minutes. They started the 7 kilometre long final climb with a nice advantage. In the first kilometres of the climb, Jhonatan Narvaez took the lead in the peloton. The UAE Emirates rider, with Mads Pedersen on his wheel, stepped on the gas, but the gap to the escapees only gradually decreased, but the front group started to split. Storer and Schmid stayed together. The Australian pushed hard and the peloton lost some time, despite the work of Tobias Foss for Arensman. Schmid was in trouble and with less than 3 kilometres to go he had to let Storer go.

Lenny Martinez jumped away from the peloton. The Frenchman was pulled back, but he did provoke an attack from Felix Gall, which he tried to go with. The two rode away from the group of favourites, where João Almeida was in trouble. He dropped back together with Mads Pedersen. This was far behind Storer, who managed to hold Schmid and Steinhauser at bay in the final kilometres. The Australian took his first victory for Tudor. Schmid was second, Steinhauser third. Behind, Gall managed to ride away from Martinez. The Austrian would cross the line in 6th place almost a minute after Storer. Martinez followed a few seconds later. Then Lipowitz came in. The German had got away from Jorgenson in the final and gained 3 seconds on the leader. The yellow jersey wearer was in a group with Arensman, Brandon McNulty, Magnus Sheffield, Clément Champoussin, Almeida and the surprising Mads Pedersen.

Stage winner, Michael Storer (Tudor): “It was such an incredible day. When you have a two time World Champion pulling for you in the front group, it is super motivating. Also all my teammates helped me all week. The plan was to have Julian in the breakaway. I wasn’t supposed to follow the first attack but raced with my feelings and just went. It was a nice group and it became perfect when Julian came across. He has a perfect sense of the race and saw an opportunity there. He was the most important guy for the team today and I am happy I could finish it off. The 4th place in the GC is a nice bonus but the stage win is just incredible.”

Overall leader, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike): “We know very well that Paris-Nice is never over… until it is over! A day like today is always stressful and it wasn’t easy, the conditions were tough even if it was nothing like yesterday. But everything went well, and the situation remained under control as far as we were concerned. I think that this lead may be enough for me to win tomorrow, but I also know how nervous this stage can be. At the same time, it’s also an advantage for me to have already experienced this last stage, and I’m going into it with that in mind. And with confidence.”

Points leader and 10th on the stage, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek): “I came back from behind and I heard on the radio Skjelmose crashed. I saw him on the floor. I couldn’t do much there. I asked him how he was, and he was in a lot of pain. It’s really not nice. He did such a good race until now and we wanted a good week-end for him. It’s a pity to lose him on a crash like this. Now, I just hope it’s nothing too serious and he’ll be back fast. The weather played in my favour. In the end, I wanted to get as many points as possible and I ended up burying myself at one point. It was really good training actually. Tomorrow, Jorgenson will be in the mix so it’s gonna be really hard but I’ll do my absolute best to keep the green jersey.”

KOM, Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies): “I wasn’t expecting to keep the jersey today at all. It’s a really good day for the team, because we also had two riders at the front and Jordan Jegat finished 5th in the stage. During the final climb, I started thinking about the jersey and I told myself that, if there was a misunderstanding, I could get away with it and maybe even stay one point ahead. I’ll be able to show it off tomorrow, what’s more the weather is nice, and I’ll try to break away to score some points. I’ll do everything I can to defend it, there’s no choice.”

Paris-Nice Stage 7 Result:
1. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor in 2:43:31
2. Mauro Schmid (Sui) Jayco AlUla at 0:20
3. Georg Steinhauser (Ger) EF Education-EasyPost at 0:30
4. Ivan Romeo Abad (Spa) Movistar at 0:45
5. Jordan Jegat (Fra) TotalEnergies at 0:50
6. Felix Gall (Aust) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale at 0:57
7. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious at 1:04
8. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 1:11
9. Clément Champoussin (Fra) XDS Astana at 1:14
10. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek.

Paris-Nice Overall After Stage 7:
1. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma | Lease a Bike in 23:37:42
2. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 0:37
3. Thymen Arensman (Ned) INEOS Grenadiers at 1:20
4. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor at 2:25
5. João Almeida (Por) UAE Emirates XRG at 2:40
6. Magnus Sheffield (USA) INEOS Grenadiers at 2:54
7. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Emirates XRG at 3:05
8. Clément Champoussin (Fra) XDS Astana at 3:22
9. Tobias Foss (Nor) INEOS Grenadiers at 3:28
10. Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue (Col) XDS Astana at 3:36.

Paris-Nice’25 stage 7:

Matteo Jorgenson won the 2025 Paris-Nice, a repeat of last year. The Visma | Lease a Bike rider confirmed his final overall victory on the final stage to Nice, finishing second on the stage, which was won by Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers). Sheffield’s teammate Thymen Arensman finished third overall, behind the best young rider, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe).

Matteo Jorgenson had a lead of 37 seconds over his closest rival, Florian Lipowitz going into the last stage of Paris-Nice. The final stage started and finished in Nice and could provided a surprise, due to the climbs in the 119 kilometre stage: The Col de la Porte (7km at 7.2%), the Côte de Peille (6.5km at 6.9%), the Col d’Èze (1.6km at 8.1%, maximum ramps of 13%) and the Col des Quatre Chemins (3.6km at 8.8%). From the summit of the last climb, there were only 9 kilometres to the finish on the Promenade des Anglais, 7 of those kilometres were downhill.

Mads Pedersen was very active from the start. The Lidl-Trek leader was leading the points classification, but needed more points, because Matteo Jorgenson wasn’t far behind him. There was an intermediate sprint on the route, so Pedersen had to be in the action. The peloton pulled him back three times, but the fourth time worked. Pedersen was in a lead group with Jhonatan Narváez, Matteo Sobrero, Jack Haig and Georg Steinhauser. The Dane stayed with them for a short while, then before the start of the Col de la Porte, he went solo. He started the longest climb of the day with a lead, while Lenny Martinez, and others, were dropped by the peloton. Pedersen held on for a while, but 2 kilometres from the top he was caught by a small peloton of about 30 riders, led by INEOS Grenadiers. The British team led over the top, after which an attack came from Pedersen on the descent. He dropped like a stone and started the Côte de Peille with more than 1 minute in hand.

On the climb, Aleksandr Vlasov, who was no danger on GC, attacked. He had Ben O’Connor with him, who was later replaced by Harold Tejada. Thanks to the work of Tobias Foss, the other favourites came back further up the climb. Now there was a jump from Lipowitz, second overall. Jorgenson didn’t give him any space, so everything come to a standstill. Arensman lost a few meters, but was able to return together with a few other riders. Next it was Felix Gall and Vlasov again who got away. They crossed to Pedersen, who was able to stay with them and came over the top of the Peille with the two climbers. The trio rode away from the group of favourites, where the isolated Jorgenson did a bit of the chase work himself. Magnus Sheffield also managed to cross and the four started the Col d’Èze with a lead of more than 40 seconds. At the top of this 1.6 kilometre climb, Pedersen took the points, but in order to really make a difference, he had to stay ahead of Jorgenson, had counter-attacked from the favourites group. The Visma | Lease a Bike leader rode away from the others on the first slops and went after the lead group.

Pedersen had secured his green jersey, but he ride on with Sheffield. Behind them, Jorgenson joined Gall and Vlasov. The three chased Pedersen and Sheffield, but the two reached the foot of the Col des Quatre Chemins with a lead of 15 seconds. Sheffield left Pedersen behind and rode further away from Jorgenson, Vlasov and Gall, who had passed Pedersen. Gall rode away from Jorgenson for a while, but the North American returned before the top. Behind, there was also a battle for second place, between Arensman and Lipowitz. The Dutchman attacked halfway up the climb and gained a few meters on Lipowitz. The German then turned the tables and created a gap on Arensman. Despite the help of Vlasov, who had waited, he was unable to maintain the gap. The two crossed the top together. Lipowitz would hold his second place, while Arensman would be on the podium in third place. At the front, Jorgenson left Gall on the descent, but he was unable to get near Sheffield. The INEOS Grenadiers rider was strong in the final kilometres to the finish and took his first victory since the 2022 Tour of Denmark. Jorgenson crossed the line cheering a little later. He had secured his second final overall victory in Paris-Nice. Gall completed the top three of the stage results.

Stage winner, Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers): “It’s really unbelievable. I’ve been 2nd so many times now… It’s my first victory at World Tour level and it means so much. Cycling is really… It’s just so hard to win, in any race. The team has really always believed in me, in the tough times. Today, we made a really good plan. Josh [Tarling] was just incredible over the first climb. And then we had the numbers and it was about playing our cards right. Matteo [Jorgenson] was isolated. And I managed to cross to Mads [Pedersen] and I knew I was probably stronger the climb so I had to use him best as I could on the descent and flat and then go as fast as I could to the top. I did the best I could in GC. I’ve been preparing really well and then I suffered from the cold on the day of La Loge des Gardes. It shows again you can never give up in cycling.”

2nd on the stage and final overall winner, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike): “I feel relief, more than anything. There’s a lot of stress coming off. I’ve been thinking about this week for the last three months. It’s nice to do it, to know that I did everything I could, and that it worked out. I’m glad it looked like we had things under control. I have to credit my team. I was so well supported this week. We know I would be isolated today without Jonas [Vingegaard] but the rest of the week, I had a very strong team. Every one was committed from day 1. It feels really really good. I’m so happy to be on this team. And I won Paris-Nice two years in a row, it’s incredible to say that! It was really cool to fight with Magnus Sheffield. We were on the same junior team together, Hot Tubes Cycling. I was really trying to catch him and I’m happy to see him win. He deserves it. It’s really cool. Paris-Nice is turning into an American race! Yesterday and at La Loge des Gardes, I really suffered in the cold, for the first time in my career. Maybe I’m getting too skinny now. It definitely was not an easy week. Every stage presented its challenges. I took every day as a one day race and I’m glad to finish. I’ll let the public decide if Im’ stronger than in 2024.”

6th on the stage, 2nd overall and Best Young Rider, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe): “I’m very happy with my Paris-Nice. It’s a great result to finish second in the general classification and with the white jersey. Compared to last year, when I started getting results, it’s very different because I have to keep improving. I have to show that I’m still there and capable of performing.”

Points winner, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek): “I wanted to go in the break and do everything I could to get the 10 points in the intermediate sprint. If I could do that without Matteo [Jorgenson] scoring, then the jersey was secured no matter the result on the finish line. It’s super nice to win the green jersey. I already wore it a few times in the race but lost it on the last day. Now I can finally say I won the sprinters’ jersey in Paris-Nice. I never thought I could win the stage. I burned so many matches… I knew on the last climb I wouldn’t be able to do it. With this shape, going into next week, with Sanremo and the classics, it’s really nice. Now we just have to stay healthy and keep going.”

KOM, Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies): “This morning I almost didn’t believe anymore, even though I wanted to do everything I could to try and keep that polka-dot jersey. My idea was to break away and I tried really hard to do that at the beginning of the stage. Then once we reached the first summit, I completely crumbled because I had already given everything I had in me. At the end of the stage, I was ready to go and get changed on the bus, but I was told that I had to go to the podium because I was keeping the polka-dot jersey. I asked three or four times if it was true because I couldn’t believe it, it’s improbable. It’s a satisfaction for the team, we need it, and I also see it as a reward for all the effort I put in.”

4th on the stage and 5th overall, Michael Storer (Tudor): “I’m really happy with this week. We lost one spot in the GC today, but I still took another 4th place by winning the sprint in my group. This result is thanks to the incredible teamwork all week—my teammates gave everything to keep me safe and position me when it mattered most. I couldn’t be more grateful.”

Paris-Nice Stage 8 Result:
1. Magnus Sheffield (USA) INEOS Grenadiers in 2:48:37
2. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma | Lease a Bike at 0:29
3. Felix Gall (Aust) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale at 0:35
4. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor at 1:01
5. Clément Champoussin (Fra) XDS Astana
6. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
7. Thymen Arensman (Ned) INEOS Grenadiers
8. Aleksander Vlasov (-) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 1:04
9. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 1:40
10. Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale.

Paris-Nice Final Overall Result:
1. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma | Lease a Bike in 26:26:42
2. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 1:15
3. Thymen Arensman (Ned) INEOS Grenadiers at 1:58
4. Magnus Sheffield (USA) INEOS Grenadiers at 2:17
5. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor at 3:03
6. João Almeida (Por) UAE Emirates XRG at 3:57
7. Clément Champoussin (Fra) XDS Astana at 4:00
8. Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue (Col) XDS Astana at 4:53
9. Tobias Foss (Nor) INEOS Grenadiers at 4:59
10. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 5:26.

Paris-Nice’25 stage 8:

Tirreno-Adriatico 2025
Olav Kooij won Stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico. The Visma | Lease a Bike sprinter was the fastest of a thinned peloton, ahead of Rick Pluimers (Tudor) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), after rain and echelons split the race.

In a cold and rainy Norcia, the riders started a tough stage 4. Not that it was such a hilly stage. In the first part of the stage there were two serious climbs: The Forca della Civita (14.3km at 4.1%) and the Valico la Crocetta (12.4km at 5.7%), after that there were 85 kilometres to the finish, mostly downhill. Probably a sprinters finish.

After an attempt by green jersey Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), there were several other attacks in the first hour. Rui Costa (EF Education-EasyPost), Damien Howson (Q36.5), Rui Oliveira (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step) were among those who tried, but it still took more than an hour before a real break was formed. The five escapees were: Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty), Jorge Arcas (Movistar), Mirco Maestri (Polti VisitMalta), William Blume Levy (Uno-X Mobility) and Gijs Leemrzeize (Picnic PostNL). Rutsch was the best rider on GC, at almost 2 minutes, so INEOS Grenadiers, for leader Filippo Ganna, let them go. UAE Emirates-XRG eventually took control on the second climb. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), was dropped very early, maybe due to his crash the day before. Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla) was also in trouble on that first climb. The two would not be seen again for the rest of the day.

On the flat roads near the feed zone, INEOS Grenadiers lifted the speed in the peloton. Filippo Ganna’s men took advantage of the cross-wind to split the peloton into several groups. After a while, the first two echelons came together, so there was a group of about 50 riders. Some riders had missed the move: Sprinters Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) and 4th overall, Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech). INEOS Grenadiers made an attempt to make the peloton even smaller with 40 kilometres to go. Ganna and teammate Laurens De Plus attacked with UAE Emirates-XRG’s Juan Ayuso, Isaac Del Toro and Felix Großschartner and Groupama-FDJ’s Quentin Pacher, but it was Bahrain Victorious who quickly pulled them back. After that, there were many attacks in the peloton and break. Jonas Rutsch had been dropped by the leading group and the break continued to defend their small lead. INEOS Grenadiers refused to let the peloton rest, but the British team couldn’t stop the group with Kooij, Magnier and Gee, Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) after a puncture, rejoining just before the last lap of about 15 kilometres.

A fairly large peloton started the final. Arcas, Maestri, Levy and Leemreize were still struggling, but then there was a short, steep climb 5 kilometres from the finish. There, it was Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) saw his moment to test his legs. The former World champion responded to an attempt by Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost). Van der Poel then launched an explosive attack himself, but Ganna didn’t crack and brought the rest back to Van der Poel. The escapees had still not been caught at that point. The peloton eased off a little, but it was Healy again. He jumped to the remaining escapees Maestri and Levy, the only two early attackers who had survived the last climb. Behind them the domestiques were almost used up, so that the three could almost ride to the finish together. Soudal Quick-Step brought Paul Magnier in an ideal position to the finish. Magnier felt his legs buckle and had to sit down, the Frenchman saw Mathieu van der Poel and Olav Kooij pass him. Kooij took the win ahead of Rick Pluimers (Tudor), Van der Poel and Magnier.Ganna held the overall lead.

Stage winner, Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike): “I gave it my all today. Initially, everything went according to plan. Thanks to the pace set by my teammates, I was able to survive the climbs. Then, on the flat, I got caught off guard by the echelons. In those moments, I was torn between hope and despair—one moment, I thought we would make it back, and the next, I was losing confidence. At that point, I switched my mindset. I’m really happy. I had a slight dip in form recently, but now I’m feeling good again. The goal was to win a stage in this race, and we’ve done that. That gives me a lot of confidence.”

Maglia Azzurra and 7th on the stage, Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers): “Today, we wanted to win the stage. Yesterday and today, we wanted to do some efforts, we’ve done it! On the last uphill, I felt some cramps and Mathieu |van der Poel] made me hurt, therefore I couldn’t sprint for the victory as I wanted. If I had the cunning of Johnny [Milan], I could have managed to beat the others. I’m big so it’ll be difficult for me to win a Tirreno Adriatico overall, or this one. I’d probably need to lose five or six kilos. But we’re here and every day we show that the team is up there. When I’ll be in the red tomorrow, it’ll be time to think of recovering before Milano-Sanremo.”

Maglia Bianca and 2nd overall, Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates XRG): “On one side, I enjoyed riding in the echelons because I was at the front and it meant some stress that I avoided, but on another side I could have crashed very easily and it was a pretty stressful moment, especially the one at the top with a downhill coming up. When it happened again at the bottom we were only six riders. I’d say it was a very stressful day, very hard and very cold but I just passed the day. These temperatures make me super tired and today’s stage will have an impact on the coming two days of racing.”

5th on the stage, Mirco Maestri (Polti VisitMalta): “We kept a solid pace up front, which actually helped us avoid suffering from the cold that defined today’s race. I had the firm intention of going all the way, encouraging my fellow breakaway riders to do the same — never giving up until I had rivals right on my wheel. Actually, even when they arrived from behind I didn’t stop. Unfortunately I always seem to reach 99%, but I’m a fighter and I’ll keep pushing until I reach 100%!”

Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma | Lease a Bike): “This was a really tough day. I felt good on the climbs, but when INEOS started the echelons, it was all hands on deck. I managed to stay up there, and luckily, the other guys made it back. In the end, we even won the stage with Olav. It was total chaos today, but as a team, we had a perfect day.”

Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 4 Result:
1. Olav Kooij (Ned) Visma | Lease a Bike in 4:48:05
2. Rick Pluimers (Ned) Tudor
3. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck
4. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step
5. Mirco Maestri (Ita) Team Polti VisitMalta
6. Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale
7. Filippo Ganna (Ita) INEOS Grenadiers
8. Tom Pidcock (GB) Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
9. Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Team Polti VisitMalta
10. Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè.

Tirreno-Adriatico Overall After stage 4:
1. Filippo Ganna (Irl) INEOS Grenadiers in 16:14:00
2. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:22
3. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious at 0:29
4. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 0:34
5. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step at 0:36
6. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels at 0:41
7. Eddie Dunbar (Irl) Jayco AlUla at 0:44
8. Laurens De Plus (Bel) INEOS Grenadiers at 0:45
9. Ben Healy (Irl) EF Education-EasyPost at 0:48
10. Romain Gregoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ.

Tirreno-Adriatico’25 stage 4:

Fredrik Dversnes caused a huge surprise on Stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico. The Norwegian of Uno-X Mobility was part of the early break, he dropped his escape companions in the finale and held off the chasers to the line. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won the sprint for second place and Roger Adria (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) was third. Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) is still the overall
leader.

After two particularly hard days, the third and fourth stages turned into a war of attrition due to the bad weather conditions. Stage 5 was again a demanding stage. The stage to Pergola was a hilly stage with a series of steep climbs. The last 70 kilometres included four tough climbs and a mostly downhill finale. After a few early hills, the real finale started, with first the Salita di Barbanti (6.2km at 4.7%) and after a fast descent the Monterolo (3.9km at 6.6%). The last 300 metres of this climb were almost at 9%, that was where the difference could be made. The top was 7.5 kilometres from the finish. After the descent, the final kilometre was still slightly uphill, with a short stretch of 10%.

Seven riders attacked early, hoping to start the finale with a lead. Alpecin-Deceuninck had plans and opted for the attack with Xandro Meurisse and first-year professional Gal Glivar. They were joined by five other escapees: Paul Ourselin (Cofidis), Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Francisco Muñoz (Polti-VisitMalta), Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility) and KOM Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè). These seven were allowed to go by the peloton, and their lead increase to over 6 minutes. Dversnes was the best-placed rider at 1:30 and was the virtual leader and with a lead of over 6 minutes, they could think of the stage win. In the peloton, led by INEOS Grenadiers and Q36.5, they had a lot of work to do. With the climbs to Santa Marciana, Salita di Barbanti and Monterolo still ahead of them, the leaders were certainly not too far ahead. On the Santa Marciana (4.4km at 6.1%), little happened and Tarozzi was not hindered in his hunt for extra mountain points. In the kilometres towards the next climb of the day, that of Salita di Barbanti, the lead decreased visibly. This was partly due to the hard work in the peloton, but also due to disagreement in the leading group. At the foot of the climb of over 6 kilometres, the difference was only 2:30. The nervousness in the peloton increased and this was accompanied by a crash involving Eddie Dunbar, who had to abandon.

Once on the Salita di Barbanti, Q36.5 decided to ride hard for leader Pidcock, but the Swiss team could not continue its efforts to the top. This gave the riders the opportunity to attack, it was Nicolas Prodhomme and Chris Hamilton who made a move. They chased the remaining leaders Glivar, Ourselin, De Bondt, Dversnes and Tarozzi, who still had a lead of less than 2 minutes. The lead of the five was halved before the last climb of the day to Monterolo. First pursuer Prodhomme followed at the foot at just under 1 minute, the thinned out peloton was right behind him. Nairo Quintana made a brave attempt. The Colombian climbed like he used to do in his prime, but was caught by UAE Emirates XRG. Isaac del Toro decided to sacrifice himself for his leader Ayuso and the group of favourites thinned out considerably. Most of the top riders were able to follow without any problems and riders like Mathieu van der Poel and Filippo Ganna still had a chance of winning the stage. Although, they first had to catch Dversnes. The Norwegian had a perfect day and held his ground exceptionally well and came over the last climb with a lead.

It could have gone either way in the final kilometres, as his lead had shrunk to around 15 seconds. On the descent of the Monterolo climb, master descender Pidcock threw himself down the hill and almost brought the group back to Dversnes. With 4 kilometres to go, regrouping looked inevitable, but Dversnes refused to give up. In the chase group, they mainly looked at each other and so the Norwegian was able to extend his lead a bit further. This proved to be enough for Dversnes to stay out of the clutches of the pursuers. After an impressive ride, he crossed the finish line solo, his first victory in the WorldTour. The sprint of the pursuers was won quite easily by Van der Poel, second place, to go with his third place on Thursday’s stage. Van der Poel stayed ahead of Roger Adrià, Giulio Ciccone and Alex Aranburu in the sprint. Filippo Ganna suffered mechanical problems in the last kilometre, but was given the same time as the Van der Poel group and is still in the lead in the general classification.

Stage winner, Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility): “When I heard at the bottom of the downhill that there were six or eight seconds, with 4km to go I was thinking my chances were small but I heard on the radio that I had to keep it up, keep the pressure in case they’d stop behind and that’s what they did. To manage to take the win with my hands up in the air means everything. I was thinking about breakaway for sure but not about a stage victory at Tirreno-Adriatico to be honest. I was quite disappointed after stage 2 when I wasn’t able to fight for the win or help my team-mates. It’s a dream come true today.”

Maglia Azzurra Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers): “I hit a hole and my chain got squeezed between the ring and the frame. I gave a too strong pedal stroke that harmed the gear change at the back. Luckily I managed to stay in the group until the 3km to go mark. I had already called the judges to witness the incident and I call my team car when the peloton passed me. I think the mechanical was obvious. We have worked a lot during the off season to reach this level now. I hope to continue like this for at least one more week. I came to Tirreno Adriatico to do well in the time trial, stage 3 and stage 4. We’ve be present with the team. I called Geraint Thomas, he told me ‘with the condition you have, one more stage raced flat out won’t change anything, next week you’ll rest and it won’t change your shape’. I want to thank the team for having brought the leader’s jersey until here.”

Maglia Bianca and 2nd overall, Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates XRG): “The team did a great job and the descent was very tricky so I sped up in the last climb to get a good position in the downhill. It’ll be a different stage tomorrow. Today it was a very explosive stage, super windy. It was hard to make a difference. Tomorrow it should be a more tempo race at high pace and I hope to finish with the leader’s jersey, that’s the main goal.”

Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 5 Result:
1. Fredrik Dversnes (Nor) Uno-X Mobility in 5:04:56
2. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck at 0:07
3. Roger Adria Oliveras (Spa) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
4. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek
5. Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Cofidis
6. Tom Pidcock (GB) Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
7. Romain Gregoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8. Tobias Halland (Nor) Johannessen Uno-X Mobility
9. Pello Bilbao Lopez de Armentia (Spa) Bahrain Victorious
10. Simone Velasco (Ita) XDS Astana

Tirreno-Adriatico Overall After stage 5:
1. Filippo Ganna (Ita) INEOS Grenadiers in 21:19:03
2. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:22
3. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious at 0:29
4. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 0:34
5. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step at 0:36
6. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels at 0:41
7. Laurens De Plus (Bel) INEOS Grenadiers at 0:45
8. Romain Gregoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at 0:48
9. David De La Cruz Melgarejo (Spa) Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team at 0:54
10. Pello Bilbao Lopez de Armentia (Spa) Bahrain Victorious.

Tirreno-Adriatico’25 stage 5:

The Queen Stage 6 of Tirreno-Adriatico was won by Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates XRG). The Spaniard was by far the strongest in the mountain stage to Frontignano. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) was second, Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) third. Ayuso also took the blue leader’s jersey from Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers), with a flat final stage still to come. Ganna managed to limit his losses and is still third overall.

The finish line of the sixth and penultimate stage of Tirreno-Adriatico was on the summit of an 8 kilometre climb, with ramps of up to 10%. There were only two categorised climbs on the route, but between Cartoceto and Frontignano it was all up and down. The 163-kilometre long stage had 3,400 metres of climbing.

There were a lot of attacks in the opening part of the stage. Mathieu van der Poel also made a move, but the Dutchman missed the break. His teammate Gianni Vermeersch was there, as were Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), Samuele Battistella (EF Education-EasyPost), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), Chris Hamilton (Picnic PostNL), Andrea Pietrobon (Polti VisitMalta) and Andea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R), the winner of stage 3. This made a strong early break. The peloton didn’t hold them for very long and they built up a lead of almost 5 minutes. Thanks to the RedBull-BORA-hansgrohe team of Jai Hindley and the Q36.5 of Tom Pidcock, the lead started to shrink. Before the final climb, other teams joined them and the pace increased. At the foot of the 8 kilometre final climb, the leaders had 1:30.

At the front, they also realised that it was going to be close and Battistella attacked. Pietrobon and Thomas couldn’t react, the rest could follow for the time being. In the peloton, Bahrain Victorious was forcing the pace. Damiano Caruso set a high pace for Antonio Tiberi, but the group remained together. Then Isaac Del Toro took over the work from Caruso and the peloton started to split. Overall leader, Filippo Ganna was also in trouble, which meant that Del Toro and UAE Emirates XRG got what they wanted. Juan Ayuso was second overall and was the man to take over the blue jersey from Ganna, so he attacked with 4.5 kilometres to go. Pidcock and Hindley were able to follow and Landa managed to cross. The four came past Vendrame, who had managed to hold out the longest.

Derek Gee and Ben Healy managed to return to the quartet at the front, but then Ayuso attacked again. The UAE Emirates leader dropped the others for good. Pidcock, who had been sitting on his wheel, had to let go. Pidcock, Hindley and Landa slowly lost more time to Ayuso. The young Spaniard was the virtual leader with 3 kilometres to go. Ganna fought bravely, but he would not keep the blue jersey. The overall lead went to Ayuso, who also won the stage. With only one flat stage left, the final victory in Tirreno-Adriatico looks safe. Behind; Tom Pidcock out-sprinted Jai Hindley, to claim second place on the stage. Ganna managed to finish within a minute, which puts him in third place overall, just behind Antonio Tiberi.

Stage winner, Maglia Azzurra and Maglia Bianca, Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates XRG): “We worked really well. The team did an amazing job. The last kilometre or so I suffered a bit but I’m glad I made it. In the final we knew we had to make it hard. It was quite windy, and on a wheel you could save a lot. I am glad I got on the wheel of Del Toro because I was really suffering on his wheel, but everybody else was suffering also. I just went for it and I knew I just had to put in my tempo to the top. It feels great to be back in the leaders jersey. Last year I had it all week and lost it at the end to a stronger rider. This was one of my big goals this year leading up to the Giro so I’m really happy and proud of my team for all they’ve done. We’ll aim to finish things off tomorrow.”

Maglia Ciclamino, 2nd on the stage and 6th overall, Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5): “I could have stayed with Ayuso to be honest. I was trying to pace at an easier time around the corner. I just let a wheel go a little bit. Ayuso was the strongest but I think I could have stayed on his wheel, especially with the flat part before the final one and a bit kilometres. I was stronger than ever today on a climb. I’m a bit frustrated, it’s always difficult when you try to pace yourself on a climb like this”

Break rider, Andrea Pietrobon (Polti VisitMalta: “With the pace, the elevation gain and the fatigue accumulated throughout the week, this was a tough stage! The initial plan was to stay together in the peloton for the finale, but seeing riders like Thomas, Stuyven, Cort, Vendrame and others moving, we decided to try and join them. I was feeling good and went for it, successfully. However, with so many GC contenders, the top teams had an interest in keeping the race controlled. Going all the way wasn’t possible, but we showed spirit and legs.”

Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 6 Result:
1. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG in 4:14:02
2. Tom Pidcock (GB) Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team at 0:13
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
4. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 0:15
5. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious at 0:20
6. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech
7. Isaac Del Toro Romero (Mex) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:36
8. Ben Healy (Irl) EF Education-EasyPost at 0:42
9. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility at 0:45
10. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) XDS Astana at 0:50.

Tirreno-Adriatico Overall After stage 6:
1. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG in 25:33:17
2. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious at 0:37
3. Filippo Ganna (Ita) INEOS Grenadiers at 0:38
4. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 0:42
5. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 0:53
6. Tom Pidcock (GB) Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team at 0:56
7. Mikel Landa Meana Soudal (Spa) Quick-Step at 1:05
8. David De La Cruz Melgarejo (Spa) Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team at 1:32
9. Pello Bilbao Lopez de Armentia (Spa) Bahrain Victorious
10. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step at 1:38.

Tirreno-Adriatico’25 stage 6:

Jonathan Milan won the Final Stage 7 of Tirreno-Adriatico. The Lidl-Trek sprinter, who won the second stage, was faster than Sam Bennett (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) and Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike). Juan Ayuso’s overall lead was in no danger during the final stage. The UAE Emirates XRG rider was the final the overall winner with 35 seconds on Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) and 36 seconds over Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious).

Not much was expected to happen during the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. The route was made for the sprinters. In the first half of the stage there was the climb to Ripatransone, but this was far too far from the finish to make a difference. Juan Ayuso seemed certain of the final victory, baring any bad luck.

A bunch sprint was the most likely finish to the stage, there was still action during the stage. Mathieu van der Poel chose to attack shortly after the start. The Dutchman, who used Tirreno-Adriatico as preparation for Milan-Sanremo and the cobbled Classics, ended up in a leading group of five. He was accompanied by Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Bjoern Koerdt (Picnic PostNL), KOM Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) and Lucas Hamilton (INEOS Grenadiers). The five only got a limited lead of 1:30. This was probably due to the presence of Vauquelin. The Frenchman was 12th overall, less than 2 minutes behind leader Ayuso. It was INEOS Grenadiers, who had Filippo Ganna in 3rd place, that kept the leaders close. At the foot of the climb to Ripatransone (8.4km at 4.7%) the five only had a lead of 30 seconds.

INEOS Grenadiers kept going in the first few kilometres of the climb. This put some riders in trouble, including sprinters Dylan Groenewegen, Casper van Uden, Olav Kooij and Paul Magnier, but also Cian Uijtdebroeks. The young Belgian of Visma | Lease a Bike rode on for a while, but eventually abandoned. He had complained about a ‘dull’ feeling in his legs on Saturday. Van der Poel left his fellow escapees on the hill, but his solo didn’t last long. Due to the high pace in the peloton, which was now led by INEOS’s Laurens De Plus; Van der Poel was caught before the top by a thinned-out group. Kooij was still at a small gap, but was able to return. A group with Groenewegen, Magnier and Van Uden needed longer to get back. They rejoined with just under 70 kilometres to go. The peloton remained together after that. INEOS Grenadiers kept everything together, because there was still an intermediate sprint coming up. By taking the bonus seconds there, Ganna could move up to second place, Antonio Tiberi was only 1 second ahead of him.

Coming to the sprint, at 43 kilometres from the finish, there was a fierce battle between INEOS Grenadiers and Bahrain Victorious. Jonathan Milan also helped Ganna, who managed to win the sprint. Because Milan came second and Tiberi third, Ganna turned his 1 second deficit into a one-second lead. The INEOS Grenadiers rider thus moved up to second place in the general classification. In the final, it was Visma | Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek at the front of the peloton. Steven Kruijswijk and Amanuel Gebreigzabhier in particular towed the peloton. Later, other teams also appeared at the front, including Tudor, who recently had a second place with Maikel Zijlaard. In the last kilometre, it was Filippo Ganna who took the lead, with Edward Theuns and Jonathan Milan on his wheel. Theuns increased the pace into the last 200 metres. It was Jake Stewart who started the sprint first, but Milan quickly passed him, so did Sam Bennett, who made it quite difficult for Milan. The Italian still had more speed and took his second stage victory in the 2025 Tirreno-Adriatico. Bennett was second, Kooij third. Paul Magnier and Jasper Stuyven crashed just before the finish. Ayuso finished in the peloton to secure the overall victory. Ganna moved up to second place thanks to the bonus seconds, and so Tiberi had to settle for third place.

Stage and points winner, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek): “For us it was important to finish this Tirreno Adriatico well. It was a goal. We would have liked to do something more during the week but, due to crashing, we’ve looked at wasting the less energy possible. I’ve been scared as I felt pain on my elbow and ankle and I couldn’t use my strength on the left side nothing was broken so I was reassured. The team work has been crucial all week. I’m happy with the outcome. To sprint today without Simone Consonni was a bit different but we’ve trained in the winter to be ready even if someone was missing in the train. We’ll arrive at Milano-Sanremo with a united team. I’ll try to hold the pace on the Cipressa. I won’t start for finishing second even though Tadej Pogačar will be there.”

Final overall winner and Best Young Rider, Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates XRG): “I think this Tirreno Adriatico has made me grow a lot, also mentally because I didn’t have much of cold and rainy experiences before and I needed this towards the Giro where we’ll probably have some days like this. There were hard moments but looking at other riders suffering as well, it’s a learning path. I knew I had to go through it and keep concentrated for yesterday’s stage. I’ve had a great help from my team, particularly Isaac Del Toro who will be with me at the Giro as well and I hope to race along with him again after to pay him back. This year the pressure falls on me and I like that.”

2nd overall, Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers): “Second is not a victory but it’s one of the best performances of my career. We’ve done an amazing job as a team. The guys have given the whole chance to make the podium. They’ve believed in it. I tried some attack before the sprint today but there was a rider behind me… We’ll try to do well in Milano-Sanremo too.”

3rd overall, Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious): “Third of Tirreno Adriatico is a new step in my career. I’ve started this season really well, better than last year. We tried to compete against Filippo Ganna to remain second, we did our best but he was stronger.”

Maglia Verde (KOM), Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group BardianiCSF-Faizanè): “When I’ve seen Mathieu van der Poel attacking I’ve decided to follow him but INEOS brought us back to contest the second place overall through the intermediate sprint. This KOM jersey crowns a beautiful Tirreno Adriatico for me and the team. We’re happy.”

2nd on the stage, Sam Bennett (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale): “It came up short. The guys did an amazing job today. I feel like I have juice again. It was great today and everything is going in the right direction. We kept the positioning cool and came late with speed in the final but it wasn’t enough in the end. I think I was a little bit overgeared. At the moment I just waited, I have lost a little bit of speed. So change the speed a little earlier would have been better. It’s a good step, there is still work but we know what we have to do.”

6th on the stage, Giovanni Lonardi (Polti VisitMalta): “We did a great job, managing to stay in the bunch and save energy for the tricky finale on the San Benedetto circuit. I was in a great position at 3 km to go, but then I got boxed in a bit. Still, I’m happy with my comeback on the finishing straight and with the performance we delivered as a team.”

Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 7 Result:
1. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek in 3:08:07
2. Sam Bennett (Irl) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale
3. Olav Kooij (Ned) Visma | Lease a Bike
4. Jake Stewart (GB) Israel-Premier Tech
5. Paul Penhoët (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
6. Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Team Polti VisitMalta
7. Maikel Zijlaard (Ned) Tudor
8. Natnael Tesfatsion Ocbit (Eri) Movistar
9. Casper van Uden (Ned) Team Picnic PostNL
10. Clement Venturini (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels.

Tirreno-Adriatico Final Overall Result:
1. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG in 28:41:24
2. Filippo Ganna (Ita) INEOS Grenadiers at 0:35
3. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious at 0:36
4. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 0:42
5. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 0:53
6. Tom Pidcock (GB) Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team at 0:56
7. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 1:05
8. David De La Cruz Melgarejo (Spa) Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team at 1:32
9. Pello Bilbao Lopez de Armentia (Spa) Bahrain Victorious
10. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step at 1:38.

Tirreno-Adriatico’25 stage 7:

Trofeo Alfredo Binda – Comune di Cittiglio 2025
Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) won the Trofeo Alfredo Binda for the third time on Sunday. The Italian was the fastest in a group sprint, after Demi Vollering, Puck Pieterse and Anna van der Breggen had all tried to attack. Blanka Kata Vas (SD Worx-Protime) came in second, Cat Ferguson (Movistar) third.

The start of the Trofeo Alfredo Binda was in Luino this year, the finish in Cittiglio. There was a finishing circuit of 18 kilometres, including the Orino climb (2.6km at 4.9%) and the steep Casale climb (800 metres at 7.1%). After the last climb was only 10 downhill kilometres from the finish, after 152 kilometres.

In the run-up from Luino to Cittiglio, nothing much happened. Fem van Empel took a mountain sprint, but the peloton stayed together. Once on the finishing circuit, several riders chose to attack, including Van Empel. The Visma | Lease a Bike rider eventually rode away with 13 other riders. Among them Elizabeth Deignan (Lidl-Trek), Sara Casasola (Fenix-Deceuninck), Nina Buijsman (FDJ-SUEZ), Mareille Meijering (Movistar) and Femke Gerritse (SD Worx-Protime). The fourteen leaders gained a lead of more than 1:30. They couldn’t get any more time from the peloton, where AG Insurance-Soudal set the pace. Soon the difference started to shrink. The Van Empel group held on for a while, but a regrouping occurred with 30 kilometres to go. Dominika Włodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) and Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly) then went on the attack, but the favourites also s.

Demi Vollering, Elisa Longo Borghini and Puck Pieterse each made a move. First Vallieres and then Włodarczyk were caught again. From the already somewhat thinned out peloton we then saw an attempt by Anna van der Breggen. The SD Worx-Protime took a lead of 20 seconds, but was on her own and there was still quite a large group behind, where several teams shared the work. It turned out to be a pointless fight for Van der Breggen. Just before the last ascent of the Casale climb she was caught, after which she had to let go on the climb. It was Longo Borghini who attacked next, but Vollering went past her. The Italian champion was able hold on, while Puck Pieterse and Marianne Vos were close. They were able to return just after the summit.

There was a new attack by Vollering, who briefly had a gap with Pieterse and Longo Borghini. Once again, several riders joined the front group, including Vos, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Silke Smulder. The co-operation in this elite group of about 10 riders wasn’t good. Thanks to the work of SD Worx-Protime, Van der Breggen in particular did a great job, the rest of the peloton also came back. Everything was together at the foot of the Orino for the final time. First there was an attack by Evita Muzic, but the real acceleration came from Longo Borghini. The Italian champion gave it a good shot. Pieterse responded, while Włodarczyk, Kimberley Le Court, Marta Cavalli and Demi Vollering were able to follow. Vollering came through just before the top and took a small gap, but didn’t get away, so 6 riders started the descent. There was another regrouping, but immediately after that Pieterse attacked again. She escaped with Vollering, Longo Borghini and Ella Wyllie of Liv AlUla Jayco. The four looked like they would fighting it out for the win, but again it was SD Worx-Protime and Van der Breggen who closed the leaders down. There was a sprint from a small group and Elisa Balsamo was the fastest. She won the Trofeo Alfredo Binda for the third time. Blanka Kata Vas came second, Cat Ferguson third.

Race winner, Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek): “I’m speechless. Honestly, it was one of the hardest races ever for me. The last two laps were crazy. I’m happy. My teammates did a great job. It’s always so nice to win in Italy, and at this race, so it’s a perfect day. I really like this race. I know every single metre of the race. Today, a lot of friends and all my family were there. They were pushing me on the last climb, every 10 metres there was someone. I’m so happy.”

2nd, Kata Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime): “The whole team did a great job today. They positioned me well throughout the race. In the final lap, we were dropped due to the attacks from several teams, but luckily Anna van der Breggen and Femke Gerritse were there to bring me back and close the gap to the breakaway. Great job from them to bring me back! I felt good today. I had strong legs, but my positioning on the climbs wasn’t perfect. That’s why I’m really happy with how the team worked today to still bring me in a good position to sprint for the victory! It’s only my second road race of the season. Actually the first real one where I could fully compete the way I wanted to as I had a flat tire in Strade Bianche early in the race. This is an amazing start to my first real classic campaign. Riding podium in a WorldTour one-day race gives confidence, so I’m really looking forward to the next classics!”

Trofeo Alfredo Binda – Comune di Cittiglio Result:
1. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Lidl-Trek in 4:00:19
2. Kata Blanka Vas (Hun) SD Worx-Protime
3. Cat Ferguson (GB) Movistar
4. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma | Lease a Bike
5. Pfeiffer Georgi (GB) Team Picnic PostNL
6. Letizia Paternoster (Ita) Liv AlUla Jayco
7. Noemi Rüegg (Sui) EF Education-Oatly
8. Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck
9. Monica Trinca Colonel (Ita) Liv AlUla Jayco
10. Kimberley Le Court de Billot (Maur) AG Insurance-Soudal.

Alfredo Binda’25:

Tom Boonen Thought the Neutralisation in Paris-Nice was Dangerous
Several riders were not amused by the organisers decision to continue racing after a neutralisation during the fourth stage of Paris-Nice, but Tom Boonen has a different view. “By not continuing to race, it became even more dangerous,” he said on the Wielerclub Wattage podcast.

On the fourth stage of Paris-Nice on Wednesday, it started raining, hailing and snowing heavily, 50 kilometres from the finish, which meant that the stage had to be stopped. For most riders, that decision was logical, but what happened next was not, as several riders disagreed with the decision to continue racing. The weather did cleared up in the final kilometres, but the neutralisation caused a lot of chaos and extra cold for the riders. Oliver Naesen and Ilan Van Wilder were among the riders who lashed out at the organisers and colleagues after the finish. Jonas Vingegaard also disagreed with the decision to continue.

Tom Boonen, on the other hand, has a different opinion. “By not continuing the race, the riders got even colder and it became even more dangerous. Moreover, those men could not warm up in the team bus. With that neutralisation, they actually created the opposite of what they wanted to achieve,” Boonen believes.

Jan Bakelants was co-commentator on the stage and also spoke about the neutralisation with Wielerclub Wattage. “There was melting snow that you could ride through perfectly, but there had also been an accident with a motorcyclist. And a team car from Decathlon-AG2R had crashed into something. I think the organisation took the leap forward because they thought: Something might happen, a crash for example.”

There seemed to be no unanimity in the peloton on Wednesday either. “Why is it never possible to get the riders on the same page? Because the stakes are so high,” Boonen explained. “It is then up to the jury to ensure that the entire peloton is together at the restart.” Bakelants: “The riders and the team DS could not properly discuss with each other what the plan was to follow. Everyone rode a bit all over the place.”

Paris-Nice stage 4 was neutralised…

Tadej Pogačar: “Paris-Roubaix will be a surprise”
Will Tadej Pogačar ride Paris-Roubaix or not? This question is still being asked, but Pogačar himself is also feeding the rumours. It started with his reconnaissance of the Forest of Wallers, but now the Slovenian is adding fuel to the fire with a new statement: “It will be a surprise,” he told RMC.

The Pogačar/Roubaix rumours started a month ago, by Pogačar when he shared a video of his reconnaissance of the Wallers cobbles on social media. After that, both he and his UAE Emirates XRG team remained mysterious about the ‘Hell of the North’. After his crash in Strade Bianche, his team did say that they preferred not see the World champion on the Roubaix cobbles.

In an interview with RMC, Pogačar talks about how his participation is possible. “I did a reconnaissance. I have to say that it caught my attention. Is that enough to start? Maybe in the near future, yes. There is a big chance that I will be at the start. Whether that is this year or next year, I cannot say. There is always a chance,” the world champion continued. “We will see. It will be a surprise. In any case, I like the race. At first I thought it would be too difficult for me to compete for the prizes, but during the reconnaissance I saw that it is possible. If I am in shape, I can maybe try. I think we will make the decision after Milan-San Remo.”

The strong rumour is that if he win in Sanremo, he will start Roubaix:

Remco Evenepoel Continues to Work on his Comeback in Spain
Remco Evenepoel is still in rehabilitation after he collided with a post office van door in early December, but the Soudal Quick-Step rider continues to make progress with his recovery. The double Olympic champion is on the Costa Blanca in Spain to continue working on his fitness.

Evenepoel isn’t training on his own. Video by Artem Shcherbyna, a Ukrainian YouTuber who often rides with professionals, shows the Belgian training in the company of Freddy Ovett, who is a good friend and regular training partner of Mathieu van der Poel, and Axel Laurence. Evenepoel’s rehabilitation will take a long time. In his accident he suffered several broken bones, and was unable to ride the bike for a very long time. His first outdoor ride was on the 2nd of February, but things are going better now.

The duration and intensity of his training is being increased every day. The intention is for Evenepoel to travel to the Sierra Nevada for an altitude training camp at the end of March/beginning of April. There he will accompany Mikel Landa and Valentin Paret-Peintre and others. They will prepare for the Giro d’Italia, Evenepoel has set his sights on the Ardennes Classics.

Evenepoel will make his comeback, if all goes well, in the Brabantse Pijl. This will be followed by the Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and possibly the Tour de Romandie. After a short, Evenepoel will then start preparing for his main goal of 2025: the Tour de France.

Evenepoel training in Spain:

Belgian Champion Arnaud De Lie will Miss Milan-Sanremo
Arnaud De Lie will not ride Milano-Sanremo, next Saturday, just like in 2024. The Belgian champion has been struggling with his health in recent weeks and has opted for a different program. De Lie will race in the Nokere Koerse (19th March) and the GP Denain (20th March).

De Lie will return to racing next week, but will not be at the start of La Primavera after Nokere Koerse and the GP Denain. “Arnaud doesn’t feel 100% ready for Milan-Sanremo and has therefore decided to focus on Nokere and Denain, as two crucial races towards the remaining spring classics,” Lotto announced on X (Twitter).

With Nokere Koerse and the GP Denain in his legs, De Lie hopes to perform well in the most important weeks of the Flemish spring, with the E3 Saxo Classic (28th March), Gent-Wevelgem (30th March), Dwars door Vlaanderen (2nd April), Ronde van Vlaanderen (6th April) and Paris-Roubaix (13th April). De Lie started his season with a stage win in the Etoile de Bessèges and then finished fourth in the Clásica de Almería. In the Volta a Algarve he also raced to two top five places, but he also suffered from allergies and withdrew from the race “as a precaution for the upcoming Classics.”

The Omloop Het Nieuwblad, his first real main goal of the spring, ended in disappointment. De Lie had to deal with mechanical problems during the race, got back in the race, but then had to let go of the peloton and finished well down. In Le Samyn, De Lie was no where in the sprint.

No Sanremo for Arnaud De Lie:

Cian Uijtdebroeks Dropped and Abandons Tirreno-Adriatico
The final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico was another tough day for Cian Uijtdebroeks. The young GC rider had to let go of the peloton very early in the seventh stage on a small hill. Uijtdebroeks said after Saturday’s stage that he is suffering from his old injury again.

Uijtdebroeks had to hold back the tears after the sixth stage. “I had to deal with the symptoms of last year again,” Uijtdebroeks said afterwards to Sporza. “My heart rate was 150, but I didn’t make any progress and had that dull feeling in my legs again. It’s a replay of what happened to me last year. That sucks.”

There seems to be no improvement the next day. Uijtdebroeks had to let the peloton go on a small climb after around 40 kilometres. Before the start of the last stage, Uijtdebroeks told Het Nieuwsblad, that there is no reason to panic. “After the effort, I was already a bit more emotional, but now I have been able to put everything in its place and have been able to discuss it well with the medical staff. The symptoms were similar, so it is just a matter of building on that and continuing to search. I remain optimistic,” the young rider continued. “There is no reason to panic. It is frustrating of course. That is normal as an athlete. You do everything for it and want to get the most out of it and if the body then says no, that is of course quite annoying, but we will find the solution for that. It just takes some time and I have to accept that. Good times are coming again, so I am not worried about that at all. It is now a matter of undergoing it and finding the solution with the team.”

Uijtdebroeks couldn’t finish Tirreno-Adriatico. After he was dropped early in the final stage, the Belgian rider abandoned.

Things not going well for Cian Uijtdebroeks:

Groupama-FDJ Leader David Gaudu has Surgery
Groupama-FDJ had to continue in Tirreno-Adriatico without its GC rider David Gaudu. The Frenchman crashed on the second stage and was unable to continue.

During the second stage of the Italian stage race, with less than 40 kilometres to go, there was a crash in the peloton. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step) were the main victims. The two riders took time to recover from the crash. While Reinderink was eventually able to continue, Gaudu was too battered to get back on his bike. The French climber had to abandon, only a few days after he had already given up in Strade Bianche due to a crash. For Gaudu, this is his second setback in a few days. The 28-year-old rider had a good start to the season, with a stage win in the Tour of Oman. He also finished third in the final overall classification.

David Gaudu had to have surgery:

Lars van den Berg Ends his Professional Career at 26 Due to Heart Problems
Lars van den Berg will not return to the professional peloton. The 26-year-old Dutchman had not been able to compete since February 2024, because he was diagnosed with heart problems after a sudden fall in the Faun Ardèche Classic. The cardiologists consider the risk of Van den Berg returning to the peloton too great, and therefore he must give up his dream.

Van den Berg’s ordeal began when he suddenly became unwell in the French race. “After examinations in the Netherlands it turned out to be an inflamed heart muscle. I was not allowed to exercise until October. Then I slowly built it up again. In the beginning a maximum of two hours, later to a maximum of four hours. In December and January I went on a training camp with the team again, always with a view to returning to the peloton,” he told the NOS.

Unfortunately, he didn’t get the green light to race again. “The inflammation has caused scar tissue and that can lead to cardiac arrhythmias. That can lead to cardiac arrest. The cardiologist thinks the risk of that is too great. If I had been a footballer, a pacemaker would have been possible. Look at Christian Eriksen and Daley Blind. If you fall on a football field, the consequences are less serious than if you do that in a peloton with 180 riders around you.”

This decision is hard for Van den Berg. “I would have liked to be a professional for at least another ten years, to ride the Tour a few more times, to win a race. I would also have liked to ride in the same team with my brother Marijn. But unfortunately that was not given to me. You don’t expect that when you’re 25. That was very difficult.”

Van den Berg has been working as a co-commentator for Eurosport and NOS, so he will still be part of the cycling world..

Lars van den Berg has to stop:

Lotto Cycling Team Partners with FSA Vision
Lotto Cycling Team is excited to announce its new partnership with FSA Vision. The team’s bikes will now be equipped with various components, including handlebars and cranks, from their new partner.

This season, the riders of Lotto Cycling Team will use a wide range of components from FSA (Full Speed Ahead) and Vision. The team bikes will feature the Vision Metron 5D Evo handlebar, K-Force Power Box and K-Force Team Edition cranksets, TT Custom chainrings, and TT Vision Extensions for time trials. Thanks to this collaboration, the team will have access to top-quality equipment that further enhances the performance of their Orbea bikes. FSA Vision is a key and established name within the cycling industry.

Claudio Marra, Global Vice President of FSA/Vision: “We are proud to start this collaboration with Lotto Cycling Team, a project that embodies passion and dedication to excellence in cycling. Equipping their bikes with FSA and Vision components is a great source of satisfaction for us. This partnership is not only an opportunity to support the athletes with cutting-edge products but also a chance to continuously push the boundaries of innovation. We are confident that together we will achieve great milestones.”

Stéphane Heulot, CEO of Lotto Cycling Team, looks forward to the new partnership: “The expertise of FSA Vision in terms of innovation perfectly aligns with our ambition. Our performance team is always striving for improvement, and FSA Vision’s equipment is now an essential part of that process. This partnership allows our riders to race with the very best gear in the peloton, and we are excited for what’s to come.”

Belgian Minister of Sport Expresses Doubts about World Championships in Rwanda in Letter to the UCI
There has been a lot of talk about the 2025 World Cycling Championships in Rwanda recently. UCI President David Lappartient is not considering moving the event, but the European Parliament has already called for the cancellation of the World championships in a motion. Now the Flemish Minister of Sport has also expressed her concerns in an open letter.

In the letter, Minister Annick De Ridder (N-VA) asks the president of the International Cycling Union for a thorough safety analysis and to think about an alternative. “The current situation in Rwanda is currently unstable and it is highly uncertain how that situation will evolve during the World championships. The concerns about stability and safety in some regions also raise questions about the suitability of the country as a location for a large-scale international sporting event.”

The minister asks the UCI to make a comprehensive evaluation of the safety conditions in the African country. “Safety must always be the priority, especially when it comes to an event that brings together so many athletes, staff and supporters from all over the world.”

The minister also calls on the UCI, if the situation in Rwanda cannot be considered safe enough, to look for alternative locations to host the World Championships. There have been rumours that the UCI might move the event to Switzerland, but according to Lappartient, this is not true. In an exclusive interview with Cyclingnews, the UCI president left no room for doubt. “There is no plan B.” The upcoming World Championships in Rwanda are scheduled for 21 to 28 September.

Is Rwanda safe?

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