All the fun of the weekend’s stages of the Giro d’Italia – with gravel! Also video, race reports, results and rider quotes from the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque and the Rund um Köln.
TOP STORY:
- Wout van Aert takes his first win of 2025 – His 50th victory
Rider news:
- Johan Bruyneel: “Without Hindley, Primoz Roglič will have to Change Tactics”
- Patrick Lefevere thinks he knows the cause of Arnaud De Lie’s problems
- Arnaud De Lie’s comeback ends in disappointment after 40 kilometres
- Bahrain Victorious lose Andrea Pasqualon on the gravel stage
- New Contract for Jonas Rickaert with Alpecin-Deceuninck
- New World Record – Dr Sarah Ruggins cycles length of UK and back in 5 days 11 hours 14 minutes
Team news:
- Nienke Veenhoven extends contract with Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women by three years
- Soudal Quick-Step extends partnership with KetoneAid, the premier name in ketone ester drinks
Race news:
- European and Olympic Champions head to Lloyds Tour of Britain Women this June
- Santini unveils leader jerseys and three unique kits of La Vuelta 25
Plus:
- Too many cobblestones are being stolen from Brugge
Big EUROTRASH coffee time.
TOP STORY: Wout van Aert Takes his First Win of 2025 – His 50th Victory
Wout van Aert achieved his 50th professional victory on the road on Sunday. The Visma | Lease a Bike Belgian took his first professional victory on 25 May 2016 when he raced for Crelan-Vastgoedservice. In the Baloise Belgium Tour, the 21-year-old Van Aert beat Tony Martin. In the years that followed, Van Aert added one-day victories in the Schaal Sels, GP Cerami, Ronde van Limburg and Ride Brugge. In 2018, he added a stage victory and the final classification in the PostNord Danmark Rundt.
With Jumbo-Visma, the Belgian had WorldTour victories from 2019. In the Critérium du Dauphiné of 2019 he won twice, after which he achieved his first stage victory in a Grand Tour in the Tour de France a month later. He also won the Belgian time trial championship. Victories twelve to twenty-five were, apart from the Belgian championships in 2020 and 2021, all at WorldTour level. With Milan-San Remo, Van Aert won his first and so far only monument in 2020. That year he also added two Tour stages and Strade Bianche to his name. In 2021 he was first over the finish line in Gent-Wevelgem, the Amstel Gold Race and three Tour stages, including the stage over Mont Ventoux and the bunch sprint on the Champs-Élysées.
Recently Van Aert won seven stages of the Tour of Britain in 2021 and 2023, three stages in the Tour de France in 2022 and three stages in the Vuelta a España 2024. With Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the E3 Classic twice. On Sunday in the Piazza del Campo, where Van Aert won Strade Bianche in 2020, he was first again five years later. After a bit of a drought, the Belgian all-rounder adding the 9th stage of the Giro d’Italia. This was his fiftieth professional victory and he has now won a stage in every Grand Tour.
*Thanks to WielerFlits for the facts.
A very happy Wout van Aert on Sunday:
Giro d’Italia 2025
Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won a wet Stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia. The stage was partly neutralised due to a crash that put most of the peloton on the ground. After a restart, the Australian was the fastest at the finish in Napoli. There was no change to the overall classification, as the race jury decided that all finishers would receive the same time. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) didn’t contest the sprint, but held onto his leader’s pink jersey.
The sixth stage from Potenza to Naples is a long day in the saddle at 206 kilometres, it has a tough first 145km with the Valico di Monte Caruozzo (19.9km at 3.8%) and Monteforte Irpino (11km at 3.4%). These climbs should inspire attackers who want to get in the ‘break of the day’, which could go all the way to the finish. The last 82 kilometres of the stage are almost flat and the sprinter’s team should pull things back together before Napoli. Olav Kooij and Mads Pedersen won in Naples in 2024 and 2023.
There were a lot of attacks from the start of the stage. Joshua Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers) and Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty) wanted to be in the break, but they missed a move of seven riders. Tarling counterattacked, which kept the pace high in the peloton led by Visma | Lease a Bike. After 30 kilometres, everything came together again. Van der Hoorn saw his chance. The Dutch rider attacked and was joined by Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ). They quickly built up a lead of 3 minutes, but there was a reaction behind. KOM, Lorenzo Fortunato wanted to take the points on the Valico di Monte Caruozzo (19.9km at 3.8%), a Cat 2 climb. He was first joined by Lucas Hamilton, but then went after Van der Hoorn and Paleni on his own. He joined them before the summit and was the first over the top for the 18 points.
Having taken the KOM points, Fortunato, dropped back to the peloton and so Van der Hoorn and Paleni were the stage leaders again. Their lead, At one point they had 5 minutes, but this was brought down to 2 minutes. In the peloton, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Visma | Lease a Bike controlled the race for Kaden Groves and Olav Kooij. The Dutch sprinter also contested an intermediate sprint, but Jensen Plowright was faster. Mads Pedersen came through third in the peloton. The stage continued with the pair out front, until there was a massive crash 70 kilometres from the finish. On the slippery roads, Jan Tratnik crashed first. A large part of the peloton went with him. The pink jersey Mads Pedersen, Richard Carapaz, Derek Gee, Lorenzo Fortunato, Gerben Thijssen, Paul Magnier and Jai Hindley were among the fallers. Hindley was the biggest victim. Primoz Roglič’s mountain domestique had to abandon, as did Juri Hollmann (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Because so many riders fell, the race was neutralised and both Van der Hoorn, Paleni and the peloton were stopped where they were on the road. After all the crashed riders had been able to return, Paleni and Van der Hoorn were allowed to start. Then 53 seconds later, the peloton was also given the go again. The race jury decided not to include any time gaps at the end of the stage. Everyone who finished would be given the same time. Also, no points would be won for the points classification at the finish line in Napoli. Mads Pedersen decided not to get involved in the sprint as there was nothing to gain and a lot to lose if he crashed. Knowing that he would keep the lead on GC and points, he sat up with about 25 kilometres to go. In the peloton, Visma | Lease a Bike took the lead to close the gap to Van der Hoorn and Paleni, but the two were holding out. What was left of the peloton was giving it ‘full gas’, but the gap was 25 seconds with 10 kilometres to go.
The pair were riding so hard that the gap even grew to 30 seconds. It looked like they might take the stage win in Napoli. In the final kilometres the sprinter’s teams gave it all they had. Alpecin-Deceuninck increased the pace for Kaden Groves and Van der Hoorn and Paleni were caught with just under 3 kilometres to go. Sadly, their demise was also caused protesters on the route, who brought Van der Hoorn to a halt. It was now guaranteed to be a sprint finish. Just before the 1K flag, Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck) made a big gap, but it was Wout van Aert who closed him down. The Belgian went past Plowright and had a gap of his own, but it was too soon. Behind him, the sprint had started and the fast-finishers would catch and pass him. Kaden Groves was the fastest of that thundering group. The Australian won the stage by a large margin. Milan Fretin was second, Paul Magnier third. Olav Kooij was stuck against the barrier, after Matteo Moschetti closed the door on him. The pink jersey, Mads Pedersen rolled in knowing he would keep the lead.
# You can see more photos in the full ‘PEZ Stage Report’ HERE. #
Stage winner, Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck): “First win of the year, it’s a big relief. The team has believed in me. It hasn’t been a great start of the season. With the injury I missed a lot of racing. That’s why I came to the Giro without any win. We’ve had to use a few guys early to chase. The two breakaway guys did a super ride. With the help of two teammates at the I could slip back a few places. I launched the sprint early but I was quite confident. I felt better when it started raining. It’s super nice to win here in Napoli, an iconic city. For a sprinter it’s a dream to win here.”
Overall leader, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek): “If I could have sprinted, I would have liked to do so. But when you have just landed on the asphalt, it is not easy. I definitely feel the pain of the crash, it was not for today. It is never fun to crash at 70 kilometres per hour. I definitely feel my body now.”
2nd on the stage, Milan Fretin (Cofidis): “How much did he get ahead of me? A lot. I didn’t have Kaden Groves’ wheel, but he surprised everyone. While I hadn’t even started my sprint, he already had ten meters. I’m quite satisfied with my sprint and the team’s work today. Where we faltered in the first stage, this time we did well together. Maybe we arrived a little early because we didn’t have enough riders for the finish, but finishing second isn’t bad at all. The GC riders didn’t take any risks, and the sprint was slower. It was chaotic, but I managed to stay in the top five for the last five kilometres. I was afraid of being boxed in at the end, but I finally found my way to the barrier. Yes, this means my fitness is good. At first, I suffered a bit from the cold when it started to rain, but I felt like I had good legs. This means more; there are opportunities in the coming weeks.”
3rd on the stage, Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step): “It was a complicated stage with that crash that changed the way the finish unfolded, because the GC riders were no longer there and the peloton shrank quite a bit. The final kilometres were really fast, and we pushed hard to catch the breakaway. Together with Luke, we did a good job, and I was able to sprint—albeit somewhat confined—and get my first top-three finish, which makes me happy and gives me great motivation to fight for a win in the upcoming flat stages. I’m feeling better and better, and I hope to achieve more good results in this race with the team.”
5th on the stage, Giovanni Lonardi (Polti VisitMalta): “What happened between 70 and 60 km from the finish caused most of the peloton to ease off early, so we ended up with a reduced sprint rather than a bunch one. We delivered a great effort, winning is never easy here but we’ll keep working toward that!”
9th on the stage, Luca Mozzato (Ita) Arkéa-B&B Hotels): “The race was very close from the start, and everyone participated. Simon Guglielmi, Giosuè Epis, and Embret Svestad-Bårdseng supported me a lot in the final stretch toward Naples. They helped me get back on track, and I finished ninth in Naples. I’m a little disappointed because I fell into a hole in the last kilometre and couldn’t take full advantage of my opportunities. But it’s still a top-10 finish in a Grand Tour, and that’s not neutral.
Break rider, Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty): “We anticipated that this sixth long stage would be difficult to control, especially the finale. The predicted rain also favoured the breakaway. That’s why I seized my opportunity right from the start. Initially, I was part of a larger group that was caught. The moment we were caught was the ideal time to try again. Unfortunately, only Paleni came with me. We rode at a slower pace, hoping that someone else from the peloton would bridge the gap, but in the end, only Fortunato briefly joined us. We then conserved as much energy as possible for the final hour of racing. With a 50-second lead and 60 kilometres to go, nobody believed in our chances. However, we gave it our all, and it would have been incredibly close for the win if we hadn’t been stopped by protesters with a ribbon across the road in the final 3 kilometres. I’m very disappointed about that, but at the same time, my thoughts are with all the riders involved in the crashes today, especially my teammate Dion, who unfortunately cannot continue the Giro. I wish everyone a good recovery.”
Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike): “When Wout started with 800 meters to go, I decided to hold back a bit. I felt it was the right decision at the time. After he was caught, I saw a gap on the inside and went for it; it’s the fastest line, and a sprinter’s instinct is to take it. But unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one who thought that, and the gap disappeared quickly. It’s frustrating not to have had the chance to challenge for the win today.”
Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike): “It was a mistake. I thought we were closer to the finish; I should have waited a little longer to escort Olav to the last moment. I don’t know if he could have won, but I saw that he got boxed in and couldn’t make the sprint. It’s a shame he couldn’t show what he had, although Groves won, who is also quite strong, I’d say. It was raining at the start and not too cold, but at the end there was a very slippery descent and that crash, which unfortunately can happen anytime. I think they then made the right decision to have us slow down and neutralise the race so everyone could get back to the peloton, and then it was right to not take into account the times at the finish today.”
Mauro Vegni (Giro d’Italia Director): “We told the riders we would have a restart, and I can say we never had any arguments with them. That’s why we decided to neutralise the stage until the finish. When I got out of the car, I started to slide; it was really difficult to stay on my feet at that point. The asphalt, if you see, was very compact, but it was slippery, and this often happens in these areas when there’s little rain. If the asphalt doesn’t get wet enough, unfortunately, it becomes treacherous. But I repeat, we didn’t have any discussions with the riders; we listened to them and supported them, and the decision was made by consensus.”
Giro d’Italia Stage 6 Result:
1. Kaden Groves (Aus) Alpecin-Deceuninck in 4:59:52
2. Milan Fretin (Bel) Cofidis
3. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step
4. Max Kanter (Ger) XDS Astana
5. Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Polti VisitMalta
6. Maikel Zijlaard (Ned) Tudor
7. Martin Marcellusi (Ita) VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè
8. Luca Mozzato (Ita) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
9. Matevz Govekar (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
10. Olav Kooij (Ned) Visma | Lease a Bike.
Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 6:
1. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek in 20:11:44
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 0:17
3. Mathias Vacek (CZ) Lidl-Trek at 0:24
4. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:31
5. Isaac Del Toro Romero (Mex) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:32
6. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:35
7. Max Poole (GB) Team Picnic PostNL at 0:43
8. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious at 0:44
9. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor at 0:46
10. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 0:50.
Giro’25 stage 6:
Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates XRG) won the Seventh Stage of the Giro d’Italia. The Spanish rider was the strongest on a summit finish after a battle between the GC riders. Ayuso’a teammate Isaac Del Toro finished second, ahead of Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) in third. Primoz Roglič was fourth, but took the overall lead.
Stage seven has the first summit finish of the 2025 Giro d’Italia. The 168 kilometre stage starts in Castel di Sangro, the first climb is Roccaraso (6.6km at 6.4%), followed by the steep Monte Urano (4.5km at 9.4%) and the long Vado della Forcella (21.6km at 3.6%). The final climb begins after 155 kilometres, strangely the Red Bull kilometre is at the base of the Tagliacozzo (12.6km at 5.4%). The climb is not too difficult, but comes in two stages. In the last three kilometres, the road ramps up to 14% in places. The race will blow to pieces, maybe this won’t be the winning move, but the Giro could be lost on the steep finale.
Today should be a day for the GC men and also for the attackers. There were a lot of early moves as many riders wanted to be in the break. A group with Jay Vine, Lorenzo Fortunato and Diego Ulissi tried, but were not allowed to get away, mostly because of Vine and it was Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe who closed them down. Not long after there was another attempt, and this time Primoz Roglič let it go. Seven riders were in the next move: Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL), Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana), Paul Double (Jayco AlUla), Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Alessandro Tonelli (Polti VisitMalta), Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) and Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal Quick-Step). They couldn’t build up a good lead as Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe were now setting a hard pace in the peloton.
At the top of the Cat 3 climb, where Double was first, the escape had a lead of 2:30. On the descent, that lead increased, but it was going to be a difficult day for the break. Red Bull then had help from Mads Pedersen, the pink jersey was working for his Lidl-Trek teammates. On the way to the final climb, Romain Bardet and David Gaudu both crashed, the lead of the escapees was getting smaller. Due to them working well together, the break was able to survive on the first ramps of the Tagliacozzo (11.9km at 5.6%), the final climb. This Cat 1 climb was easy to start with, but in the last 3 kilometres the average gradient went up to 10%. At the start of the final climb, Pedersen in the pink jersey had to let go. The Dane would lose his pink jersey at the end of stage seven. In the peloton, INEOS Grenadiers had taken the lead, trying to put Thymen Arensman and Egan Bernal in good positions. Bahrain Victorious and Lidl-Trek were also riding at the head of the peloton.
With all these teams at the front there were no fireworks. The last escapees were caught 5 kilometres from the finish, then the pace went up, thanks to Bahrain Victorious, Lidl-Trek and UAE Emirates XRG. The peloton was then thinned out. Bardet and Daniel Felipe Martínez, along with other riders, had to let go of the GC group. No attacks came just yet, everyone was waiting for the final few kilometres. Giulio Ciccone was the first to make a move, but the Lidl-Trek rider was not given any space, so attacked again. The Italian had quite a few riders on his wheel, so there was a group of around 20 riders at the start of the final kilometre. Arensman was on the front of favourites group, working for Egan Bernal. The Colombian champion attacked with 700 metres to go. Ayuso was on Bernal’s wheel and went past him with only a few hundred metres to go. Ayuso looked very strong and no one could follow his powerful jump. Primoz Roglič also couldn’t follow, but held onto Ayuso’s UAE teammate, Del Toro and Bernal to finish fourth. The Slovenian is now the new overall leader, but Ayuso moved a little closer on GC.
# You can see more photos in the full ‘PEZ Stage Report’ HERE. #
Stage winner and 2nd overall, Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates XRG): “This is not only a victory, it’s my first in a Grand Tour. I’ll always remember it, as much as I’ll always remember my first pro win in Getxo [in 2022]. The team came with the ambition to win the Giro, I did too but the responsibility and the weight of the race remains on Primoz Roglič. On finals like today’s, he’s the strongest so I knew I had to be behind him so he wouldn’t take me off guard. When attacks started to happen, I just waited for my distance to arrive, which was more than I usually wait for, and I didn’t have to stop until the finish. Some guys wasted a bit of energy. I knew I had space for a 30 to 45 seconds maximum effort. On Sunday, it’ll be one of the most tense stages we have in this Giro, because you don’t only need good legs, good positioning or a strong team around you, you need some luck also. It can be a very difficult day if you a puncture at a bad moment, all the work of months can go away. I hope me and the team will pass the day with no issues.”
Overall leader and 4th on the stage, Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe): “I always want to win but today I still have the Maglia Rosa and I enjoy it. We never know when it’s the last one. I won’t do ten more Giro… I already knew that Juan Ayuso was a fast guy and that he’d be a tough opponent but it’s only the beginning of the Giro, life goes on. I was a bit too far back when he attacked. Jai Hindley was a big loss yesterday. He also won the Giro before. This is cycling, something you cannot change. The guys today were very impressive after yesterday when a lot of them went down so we’re ready to fight for this jersey.”
3rd on the stage, Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers): “I felt really good. I saw the finish line approaching and thought I could go for the stage. Obviously, finishing third is good, but I think we have to keep trying to win. I thought I could go for the stage to a certain extent. I was just a little short, and that’s what made the difference. Still, I had really good legs. The jersey gave me strength.”
Break rider, Alessandro Tonelli (Polti VisitMalta): “I used the start of this week in Italy to recover, today I went out again to strengthen my lead in the breakaway and intermediate sprint classifications. It was a very tough start to the stage in freezing conditions. The big teams wanted to control the race and reeled us in, but we believed in our breakaway and kept pushing for as long as possible.”
Crash victim, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ): “It sucks… I don’t know what to say. I don’t really know what happened. A rider swerved in front of me, I touched his wheel, and I fell. I’ve been focused all day. Pffff. I have no excuses.”
Giro d’Italia Stage 7 Result:
1. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG in 4:20:25
2. Isaac Del Toro Romero (Mex) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:04
3. Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) INEOS Grenadiers
4. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
5. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek
6. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
7. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
8. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost
9. Max Poole (GB) Team Picnic PostNL at 0:08
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor.
Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 7:
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe in 24:32:30
2. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:04
3. Isaac Del Toro Romero (Mex) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:09
4. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious at 0:27
5. Max Poole (GB) Team Picnic PostNL at 0:30
6. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor at 0:33
7. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:34
8. Mathias Vacek (CZ) Lidl-Trek at 0:37
9. Simon Yates (GB) Visma | Lease a Bike at 0:39
10. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost.
Giro’25 stage 7:
Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) won a tough stage eight of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday. The Australian rode away from a large leading group and crossed the finish line solo. Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike) was amongst the action all day, had to settle for second place. It was also a very good day for the XDS Astana team, as Diego Ulissi was third on the stage and took the overall lead. His teammate, Lorenzo Fortunato was 7th on the stage and is now second overall and King of the Mountains.
The eighth stage in the Giro is made for the ‘break of the day’. The stage through the Apennines has two Cat 3 and one Cat 4 climbs, but at the halfway point of the 197 kilometre stage, there is a Cat 1 climb. The top of the first climb comes after 60 kilometres into the stage, the Croce di Casale (8.6km at 4.6%). Next is the Valico di Santa Maria Madalena (13.2km at 7.2%) and the Montelago (5.5km at 7%). There are no more categorised climbs before the finish in Castelraimondo, but there are two uncategorised climbs that could be used as a spring-board for victory. The last climb it is only 6 kilometres to the finish.
Today was a stage made for a successful break, so there were a lot of early attacks. Among those who tried was: Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen. The points leader escaped after a few kilometres with Davide De Pretto (Jayco AlUla) and Matteo Cattaneo (Soudal Quick-Step). The three made a good gap, but behind them the race was on. Several groups tried to cross, which kept the pace high in the peloton, but the difference fluctuated around 30 seconds. After 50 kilometres, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe looked to have put a block on in the peloton. But with a new attack, Van Aert got the race going again. Pedersen took full points in the intermediate sprint, but 145 kilometres before the finish there was another regrouping. On the Croce di Casale (8.6km at 4.6%) the battle to get into the break started again. It was not possible to get away on the climb, although riders kept trying. Just after the summit, a leading group of six got together. When this group was also caught, Kelderman tried again, but unfortunately, the peloton did not let it go. The Dutchman stayed at the front and went with a large group which managed to get away after 80 kilometres.
The break was made up of 20 riders: Kelderman & Dylan van Baarle (Visma | Lease a Bike), Koen Bouwman & Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla), Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL), Stefano Oldani, Jonathan Lastra & Sylvain Moniquet (Cofidis), Nicolas Prodhomme & Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R), Mikkel Honoré & Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ), Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), Davide Formolo (Movistar), Damien Howson (Q36.5), Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta), Igor Arrieta (UAE Emirates-XRG), Diego Ulissi and KOM, Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana). The break had a 1:30 lead on the peloton, where Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe were in control, at the Valico di Santa Maria Madalena (13.2km at 7.2%). On the toughest climb of the day, the group split again. An acceleration by Van Baarle led to a thinning out. Bouwman was dropped with some others, but the Dutchman was able to return before the top. On the summit there was a sprint between Fortunato and Bardet for the KOM points. The Italian was first.
Fortunato and Bardet didn’t hold back and shot down the descent together. The other’s had to chase. Steinhauser and Vendrame quickly crossed to the two leaders. Fortunato was also ‘virtually’ in pink at this point. He was almost 3 minutes behind Primoz Roglič, but the lead was at 5 minutes. Four riders had got away and the two Visma | Lease a Bike riders would have to chase, but they succeeded. First Kelderman crossed with Frigo and others, then Van Baarle followed with another group of riders, the lead group now consisted of fourteen riders. There were more attack attempts. Van Baarle tried first, but it was Kelderman who was with him when seven riders escaped, Ulissi was also there. On the Montelago (5.5km at 7%), the penultimate climb of the day, Arrieta and Plapp rejoined. The Australian came right through and was the first to cross the summit and pushed on to take more than 1 minute from the three chasers. Arrieta then left Kelderman and Ulissi on a short climb, to chase Plapp on his own. The Spaniard got a little closer, but then Plapp pulled away again. Arrieta dropped back to Kelderman and Ulissi.
Ulissi was still the ‘virtual’ leader with 10 kilometres to go, but his teammate, Fortunato, could also take the pink jersey, although Roglič could also keep his jersey. It was all very close. Plapp, who still had a lead of more than 1 minute on the Kelderman group. when he started the last short climb. His stage victory was assured at that point. The 24-year-old soloed to Castelraimondo without any problems and won his first Grand Tour stage. Behind Plapp, Ulissi and Kelderman dropped Arrieta. They finished second and third, and Ulissi was hoping for the pink jersey. Behind them Tom Pidcock accelerated from the GC group on the last short climb. The British rider didn’t continue his attack, so there was hope for Ulissi’s pink dream. In the sprint for second place, the Italian had to let Kelderman pass him to take 6 bonus seconds. Ulissi only 4 seconds. In the end he didn’t need the bonus seconds. The XDS Astana rider had 15 seconds on Roglič to take the pink jersey for the first time in his career. It is the first time since 2021 that an Italian rider has worn the pink jersey, it was Alessandro De Marchi. The sprint in the peloton was won by Juan Ayuso. The Spaniard took 1 second on Roglič and the difference between the two top favourites; Roglič and Ayuso is now only 3 seconds.
# You can see more photos in the full ‘PEZ Stage Report’ HERE. #
Stage winner, Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla): “It’s pretty crazy, I still can’t believe it to be honest. It’s been a long time coming, I’m always targeting the Aussie summer and I’ve just never been able to make a result happen in Europe. Last year I got so close at the Giro so many times and for today to happen, it is so, so special. We marked it as a stage for a few weeks now and then this morning on the bus we were really excited, so to make it happen, it’s a dream come true. It was unbelievable, the fight to get in the breakaway! It just kept going and going, there was one point there where I was following Wout [van Aert] so many times that I was almost dropped myself. Then I gave it one more chance to try and get in there and there was a massive group that made it. It was such a fight to get in the breakaway, but it was all worth it in the end and to have Koen in there as well with me, it was amazing. I knew I couldn’t beat any of them in a sprint, so I had to go at some stage pretty early and I think the way the racing has being going this year, the long moves have been really successful so that was sort of in the back of my mind. The first one to make a move I think always has an advantage, so I just thought I’d give it a crack. To be honest I just wanted a bit of a head start on the descent as well, so to stay away all the way to the finish is definitely not what I expected. I think from the Olympics last year to wrist surgery in February and now crashing in the first TT, it makes everything almost worth it. I mean the lows in cycling are super low and there’s a long time between highs, so to have a result like this is amazing.”
Overall leader and 3rd on the stage, Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana): “I don’t easily let myself taken by emotions but when I was presented with the Maglia Rosa and saw XDS Astana stamped on it, I became emotional, I have to admit. I’m 35, soon 36 years of age, I’ve had nice satisfactions in my cycling career with eight stage wins at the Giro, I’ve built a nice family with three daughters, so when I first saw this jersey, I’ve thought of all my family members, especially those who took me to races when I was a kid. Today, we started with the stage win in mind. I had to enter the right breakaway, all our team-mates have done a great job for Lorenzo [Fortunato] and I to be present. For the stage win, Luke Plapp was superior. I’m happy with how I went on such a lumpy terrain. When I heard that I had to ride flat out till the finish, I understood that I had a chance to take the Maglia Rosa. The choice of not communicating to me the exact gaps was the best thing to do in order to not disturb me. I have a long experience in cycling but I never had the Maglia Rosa before. Tomorrow, I’ll try to give everything to defend it but it’s a complicated stage that requires come luck as well. It’ll be special to arrive in Tuscany with the Maglia Rosa.”
2nd on the stage, Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike): “I actually had a pretty good day”, Kelderman said. “I didn’t expect that this morning, to be honest—I didn’t feel great when I woke up. I made a few moves early in the stage, which cost a lot of energy. You just have to hope you make the front group at the right moment, though that’s never entirely in your control. In the end, we had a strong group, and Dylan did an excellent job. Luke was just a bit stronger today, so his win is definitely deserved.”
3rd overall, Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe): “It was a hot, tough day. In the end we had to let that group go. The boys were super strong. We did our best. Sometimes you have the jersey, sometimes you don’t. There are many more days to come. The difference between car 1 and 2 is not that big. Luckily we don’t have follow-up car 30.”
4th overall, Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates XRG): “A second is always better than nothing. But it was a very difficult day. Now I hope to recover well, because tomorrow is a day that will count in this Giro. A day on which you also have to be lucky. Luck has to be on your side, because you can have a puncture or a mechanical problem at a critical moment, and then… things can go wrong. We hope that luck will be on our side tomorrow, and we’ll want to be at the front all day. Have I known Igor (Arrieta) for that long? We’ve been racing together since we were 10 years old, we’ve done all the lower categories, and we’ve always been rivals. To reunite at this Giro d’Italia as teammates on the best team in the world is fantastic.”
4th on the stage, Igor Arrieta (UAE Emirates XRG): “Well, I gave it my all. It was hard to break away; there were almost 20 of us, and it was all about surviving. Attacks weren’t in the plans today, but with such a large breakaway, we had to be alert in case someone dangerous got in. That’s partly the reason for that.”
9th on the stage, Romain Bardet (Team Picnic PostNL): “It’s true that I can ride more or less normally. I’m feeling some discomfort, but it’s not too serious. It’s difficult to manage today. It was one of the toughest stages I’ve done in a Grand Tour. And with 60km to go, my lights went out. It’s a shame because I thought I’d have a chance. There was still a large group, so I tried to isolate myself quickly at the front. After a while, I lost a lot of ground physically. It’s difficult when the stage win slips away.”
Giro d’Italia Stage 8 Result:
1. Luke Plapp (Aus) Jayco AlUla in 4:44:20
2. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Visma | Lease a Bike at 0:38
3. Diego Ulissi (Ita) XDS Astana
4. Igor Arrieta Lizarraga (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG at 1:22
5. Nicolas Prodhomme (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale at 1:35
6. Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale at 1:48
7. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) XDS Astana
8. Georg Steinhauser (Ger) EF Education-EasyPost at 2:59
9. Romain Bardet (Fra) Team Picnic PostNL at 3:02
10. Alessio Martinelli (Ita) VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè at 4:37
Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 8:
1. Diego Ulissi (Ita) XDS Astana in 29:21:23
2. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) XDS Astana at 0:12
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 0:17
4. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:20
5. Isaac Del Toro Romero (Mex) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:26
6. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious at 0:44
7. Max Poole (GB) Team Picnic PostNL at 47
8. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor at 0:50
9. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:51
10. Mathias Vacek (CZ) Lidl-Trek at 0:54.
Giro’25 stage 8:
The strade bianche Stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia was always going to be a spectacle. At the end of a dynamic gravel stage, Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) crossed the finish line in Siena first. The Belgian beat Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG) after the two had dealt with the others. Del Toro took the pink jersey from the dropped Diego Ulissi, as his teammate, Juan Ayuso and Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) lost time.
The 2025 Giro d’Italia has a Strade Bianche stage. The finish, just like the one-day race, is in Siena. The finale is also the same, with the Colle Pinzuto and the finish line in the Piazza del Campo. There was only five sections sterrati in the stage. With 70 kilometres to go, the riders hit the first sterrato, the Pieve a Salto, a stretch of 8 kilometres with some climbing. The second section is over 9 kilometres long and comes very soon after the first. There is another stretch of 9 kilometres, before the Strade Bianche finale. It could be a dangerous stage for the GC men.
Surprisingly the ‘break of the day’ was formed quite quickly. Kaden Groves attacked at kilometre zero and took his teammate Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Dries De Bondt (Decathlon-AG2R) and Milan Fretin (Cofidis) with him. Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty) and Luke Lamperti (Soudal Quick-Step) went after them. In the peloton there were a few attempts to get across, but the peloton stayed together. Van der Hoorn and Lamperti successfully closed the gap and the six leaders worked well together, but were not allowed to get too far away. The peloton, led by Q36.5 Pro Cycling, kept the escape in sight. The Swiss team had one of the favourites, Tom Pidcock, and took responsibility for the chase. The lead quickly dropped below 2 minutes, but the break kept pushing hard. On the first climb of the day (4.3km at 7.5%) to La Cima, De Bondt took the KOM points. On the descent of the La Cima climb Fretin crashed on a sharp bend, but the Cofidis rider managed to rejoin the break. The first gravel section of the day, the 8 kilometre sector of Pieve a Salto was on the horizon. In the run-up to this section, the nervousness increased in the peloton. The race was now on as Mads Pedersen, for Giulio Ciccone and Mathias Vacek, split the peloton to pieces. Most of the GC riders were ready, as were Wout van Aert and the other possible stage winners. There had been one important victim: The pink jersey, Diego Ulissi, the pace was too high for him to hold on. The Italian was dropped and he didn’t see the front of the race again. The leading group had also split as Groves and Hermans left the others. What was left of the first chase group wasn’t far behind. Pedersen’s acceleration had reduced the lead of the two Alpecin men to 45 seconds.
On the first gravel section, most of the GC riders were prepared and so the damage was manageable, but before they turned onto the second section to Serravalle, there was chaos. Michael Storer (Tudor) crashed into his teammate Florian Stork. Then in another crash on that section, two other favourite riders came down: Tom Pidcock and Primoz Roglič. Soon after, the first group split into several pieces and Egan Bernal and his INEOS Grenadiers teammates Thymen Arensman and Brandon Rivera, UAE Emirates’ Isaac Del Toro and Wout van Aert rode away. Roglič and Pidcock also had mechanical problems, so they were well down. For both of them it was now a case of limiting the damage. In all the chaos there was no organised chase. Bernal, Arensman and Del Toro were moving themselves up the overall, while behind, the other GC men were in trouble Arensman also had bad luck. The Dutchman had a mechanical problems with about 38 kilometres to go and had to drop back to the first chase group with Ayuso, Richard Carapaz, Antonio Tiberi, the Yates brothers, Simon and Adam and Giulio Ciccone. The leading group with Riveira, Bernal, Van Aert and Del Toro were a minute ahead at that moment. Pidcock and Roglič were at around 1:30. The four leaders: Bernal, Van Aert, Del Toro and Rivera were joined by Mathias Vacek, who had been looking in good form working for Pedersen in the last few day. The Czech jumped away from the Ayuso group and rode to the front group on the short, but tough Monteaperti section. It was Del Toro who put in an attack, but a very strong Van Aert was on him. Bernal and Vacek were unable to hold them, but after the summit they re-joined. This didn’t last long, because on the Strade di Colle Pinzuto, Del Toro put in another big attack. Van Aert had to give it everything he had to follow the Mexican, but he managed. For Bernal and Vacek it was too fast and so Del Toro and Van Aert were heading to the finish with all the gravel behind them.
Del Toro was on his way to the pink jersey, so there was every reason for the UAE Emirates XRG rider to keep the pressure on. Van Aert was only concerned with the stage victory, but he did work with the Mexican. This didn’t last long, as the Belgian let Del Toro do most of the work in the final kilometres. Van Aert seemed to have the advantage for the final steep kilometre in the centre of Siena, but had to deal with the tough Del Toro as he had no intention of ‘gifting’ the stage to the Belgian and did everything he could on the steepest sections to drop Van Aert. The Belgian gritted his teeth and managed to pass Del Toro after the top and hold the Mexican off in the finale. The 30-year-old Belgian ended a frustrating period in his career and took his first victory of 2025. The frustrated Del Toro missed out on the stage win, but did take the pink jersey. The next to finish was Giulio Ciccone, 58 seconds after Van Aert. Behind Ciccone; Carapaz, Simon Yates, Tiberi, Ayuso, Arensman, Bernal and Adam Yates finished in that order. They had lost over a minute, but limited the damage. Pidcock finished 15th and Roglič was 19th and the damage was much bigger, they had lost more than 2 minutes to Del Toro and now face a lot of work for the pink jersey.
# You can see more photos in the full ‘PEZ Stage Report’ HERE. #
Stage winner, Wout Van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike): “It’s without saying that to win a stage of the Giro after a long period with no win feels very good. I’m an emotional person. A lot of emotions passed through my mind when I got this victory. Siena is almost the best place to finish a bike race. It’s amazing to feel the fans so closely, it’s like an arena. I was emotional for many reasons. Had I had the legs for it, I would have tried to pass Del Toro before the right corner on top of steep part. I had the experience to have raced here before. I felt good in this stage, but if I compare to my best level, I’m still quite far from it. I thought my biggest chance to win today was out of a breakaway, but after I missed it, Q36.5 controlled with the eyes on the stage win and on sector 2, it turned my way. I love Italy, it’s my preferred country to go on holiday and ride a bike. I find cool during this Giro to discover new places, yesterday I liked the area [Marche] where we finished, it’s nice to win here in Tuscany.”
Maglia Rosa and 2nd on the stage, Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG): “It’s unbelievable, it’s so difficult to describe my feelings. It was a childhood dream to lead a Grand Tour. It’s insane. I just kept going after a crash. I found myself in a group with Egan [Bernal] and I told them I couldn’t push because I had team-mates behind. In the radio, I was told to stay there and wait. My other team-mates tried to help Juan Ayuso to come back, so I heard on the radio. Then it was Van Aert who couldn’t pull because he had Simon Yates behind. I tried my best. I have no regrets, I went full gas in the last climb but I was not able to drop him off. Ayuso and Adam Yates have showed before that they’re able to do a great job in three weeks racing. I have a lot of respect for them. I’m in a good situation but I don’t think I’m the leader now. I’ve never done such a long time trial like we have on the next stage. But let’s see if I can do something crazy again during this Giro.”
7th overall and 9th on the stage, Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers): “I don’t think our race strategy was very complicated. It was important to start the first gravel section in a good position, and then just ride flat out to the finish. It’s like a piñata, you have to keep hitting it until it breaks. Today was really a day to be at the front and try to finish the gravel sections without any problems. We managed to do that, so we can be happy. We got through the stage well and that’s the most important thing. Definitely, Del Toro is a great rider. I really like his way of racing. He’s super intelligent, he rides easily in and through the peloton, he’s a good descender and he’s always at the front. He’s one of the best riders in this Giro. He can definitely win this race.”
10th overall, Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe): “It was tough. The pace was incredibly high and I certainly didn’t feel like the strongest rider in the race in the background. We have to accept this. The stage is over now. Now we’re going to see how we can continue in this Giro. We’ll see. Today we lost time, but sometimes you also gain time. The Giro d’Italia is still long. I’m going to look at my injuries first and then it’s a matter of recovering.”
Davide Piganzoli (Polti VisitMalta): “I haven’t crashed and had no mechanical issues in an extremely complicated stage, we had some great confirmations today that give us fresh confidence heading into a well-deserved rest. On Tuesday, a new Giro basically begins!”
Giro d’Italia Stage 9 Result:
1. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma | Lease a Bike in 4:15:08
2. Isaac Del Toro Romero (Mex) UAE Emirates XRG
3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 0:58
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost
5. Simon Yates (GB) Visma | Lease a Bike at 1:00
6. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
7. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG at 1:07
8. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Grenadiers at 1:10
9. Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) INEOS Grenadiers
10. Adam Yates (GB) UAE Emirates XRG.
Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 9:
1. Isaac Del Toro Romero (Mex) UAE Emirates XRG in 33:36:45
2. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG at 1:13
3. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious at 1:30
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost at 1:40
5. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek at 1:41
6. Simon Yates (GB) Visma | Lease a Bike at 1:42
7. Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) INEOS Grenadiers at 1:57
8. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Emirates XRG at 1:59
9. Adam Yates (GB) UAE Emirates XRG at 2:01
10. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 2:25.
Giro’25 stage 9:
Quatre Jours de Dunkerque – Grand Prix des Hauts de France 2025
Lewis Askey won Stage 2 of the Four Days of Dunkirk. The British Groupama-FDJ rider made a very long sprint in Crépy-en-Valois and also pulled his foot out of the pedal in the last meters, but still took the victory. Axel Zingle (Visma | Lease a Bike) held the overall lead.
Stage two of the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque went from Avesnes-sur-Helpe to Crépy-en-Valois. The stage had more climbing than the opening stage won by Axel Zingle and the final was tough. With 6 kilometres to go, the climb to Fresnoy-la-Rivière (1.6km at 4.4%) was the final climb. A sprint from a large group was expected.
A leading group of five formed well before the climb to Fresnoy-la-Rivière. The best-ranked rider at the front was Nans Peters. The 31-year-old Frenchman of Decathlon AG2R was joined by Victor Papon (Wagner Bazin WB), Kenny Molly (Van Rysel Roubaix) and Gorka Sorarrain (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Nicolás Alustiza (Euskaltel-Euskadi). Their lead increased to a maximum of 3 minutes.
The five escapees were off the front for a long time and start the last 10 kilometres with a small lead on the peloton, but they were pulled in with 5 kilometres to go, just after the climb to Fresnoy-la-Rivière. This was partly due to the hard work of Israel Premier-Tech, who were looking for victory with Pascal Ackermann. Towards the final kilometres, INEOS Grenadiers took over from Israel Premier-Tech for sprinter Samuel Watson, but the British team was still surprised by an attack from Askey before the final bend. The Briton started his jump with about 450 metres to go and held on. With 50 metres to go, the Briton pulled his foot out of his pedal, but the stage victory was his. This was Askey’s second victory in a week.
Stage winner and 2nd overall, Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ): “It was a stressful race. I wanted to be in front, so we went in the lead quite early, and that really gave me confidence. I still had fresh legs thanks to the guys’ work. The plan was to make a long, hard sprint coming out of the last hairpin. After the corner, I saw that there was a small gap behind, I thought ‘now is the moment to go’, and I got a gap straight away. I unclipped on the finish line because I wanted to give it my all, maybe even too much. Last week’s victory really gave me confidence. I knew today’s finish really suited me. We put the pressure on ourselves this morning, the whole team worked really hard for me, and that gave me a real boost for the sprint. This year, the team gave me the opportunity and the chance to race as the leader, and it’s very nice to be able to pay back everyone. The general classification will mainly be decided on stage 4 and we will try to do our best.”
Overall leader and 4th on the stage, Axel Zingle (Visma | Lease a Bike): “After that corner in the last kilometre, it was very difficult to pass Askey. Maybe I was a little too cautious. We knew it would be difficult to win the stage if you weren’t in the top three at the final corner. It is what it is. I’m happy that we’re still well positioned in the overall standings with the team. At the end, I lost a bit of contact with the peloton. Then Per brought me back, even up to the front row. That was really good. I think tomorrow’s stage suits us well as a team. We’re here with a strong squad. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Quatre Jours de Dunkerque Stage 2 Result:
1. Lewis Askey (GB) Groupama-FDJ in 3:51:36
2. Sakarias Koller (Nor) Loland Uno-X Mobility
3. Samuel Watson (GB) INEOS Grenadiers
4. Axel Zingle (Fra) Visma | Lease a Bike
5. Matys Grisel (Fra) Lotto
6. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Tudor
7. Cedric Beullens (Bel) Lotto
8. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis
9. Jake Stewart (GB) Israel-Premier Tech
10. Pierre Gautherat (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale.
Quatre Jours de Dunkerque Overall After Stage 2:
1. Axel Zingle (Fra) Visma | Lease a Bike in 7:42:36
2. Lewis Askey (GB) Groupama-FDJ
3. Ben Swift (GB) INEOS Grenadiers at 0:02
4. Nans Peters (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale
5. Per Strand Hagenes (Nor) Visma | Lease a Bike at 0:03
6. Tobias Lund Andresen (Den) Team Picnic PostNL at 0:04
7. Sakarias Koller Loland (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
8. Stian Edvardsen-Fredheim (Nor) Uno-X Mobility at 0:06
9. Samuel Watson (GB) INEOS Grenadiers
10. Gil Gelders (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 0:07.
Dunkerque’25 stage 2:
Pierre Gautherat won the Third Stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk on Friday. The Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider rode away from the peloton 1.5 kilometres from the finish and then held on for the win. This was the 22-year-old Frenchman’s first professional victory.
On Friday the stage went from Valenciennes to Famars, with a lot of cobbled sections and lots of short climbs and sharp ramps.
Soudal Quick-Step tried to dominate stage 3 of the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque. Casper Pedersen and Antoine Huby were in the early break. The duo were joined by two others, they quickly gained a good lead. It was an impossible task for the four leaders, because the peloton rode a steady pace. They were eventually caught more than 50 kilometres from the finish. Several riders tried to get away in the last hour of racing. Matis Louvel, Alec Segaert and Ben Swift attacked, as did Gil Gelders for Soudal Quick-Step, again.
The peloton certainly didn’t have control in the finale. Cédric Beullens and Elia Viviani (Lotto) attacked on the last cobbled section, but they were also caught, after which Alberto Bettiol tried again with 2 kilometres to go. The Italian split the bunch, but no one reacted to an attack by Gautherat. When the Frenchman went, the rest looked at each other and the peloton came back together while Gautherat was making a gap. In the final meters, the 22-year-old Frenchman was giving it all he had left, but he still held off the fast finishing Jake Stewart and Axel Zingle, who held onto the overall lead, partly due to his third place on the stage. For Gautherat, the victory in Dunkirk was his first as a pro, he also finished second in the Tro-Bro Léon last week.
Stage winner and 2nd overall, Pierre Gautherat (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale): “I had told myself I would win this week, and I did.”
2nd on the stage and 8th overall, Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech): “I’m really happy with the sensations, but it’s a bit frustrating to win the bunch kick when there’s one guy in front, but I’m happy with how the legs are, it’s all about building for the Tour, so there’s still some more to come. It was a pretty hectic day – three-and-a-half hours of racing, first cobbles after six kilometres, so it was a big day of concentration and making sure to race from the front. The boys did a really good job positioning in the final cobbled sector, as we knew that was going to be pretty important. Riley [Sheehan] followed the key guys on the last kicker with around three kilometres to go to keep his GC hopes alive in case they moved there, then Matîs did a great job moving me up coming off the cobbled sector. Unfortunately, that guy just nipped off the front. The boys – PA [Pier-André Côté] and Louvel – committed from behind, but it was too late at the finish. He was just a bit too strong to bring him back. It’s a really big GC day tomorrow – it has been the stage that has decided the race in previous years. I was third in it in 2022, which put me on the podium on GC, although tomorrow’s parcours is a bit harder. If the legs are good, it should be a stage that I should be able to survive. We can play it by ear with Riley and me, but we’ve got a strong team here to give ourselves the best opportunity for the GC.”
4th on the stage and 7th overall, Tobias Lund Andresen (Team Picnic PostNL): “Today was pretty much an all-out day all stage: with a cobbled section after only four kilometres of racing and from there two sections every lap. I had a puncture early on the second section the first time around, and broke my wheel so I had to run the last couple of hundred metres of that section. You could say the race was pretty hard from the start for me. We kept fighting as a team and the guys kept coming back to me and bringing me into position. In the end it’s not super satisfying to finish fourth and just outside the bonus seconds but we showed good legs today. Hopefully we can keep that up and get the stage win in one of the last two days.”
Quatre Jours de Dunkerque Stage 3 Result:
1. Pierre Gautherat (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale in 3:22:35
2. Jake Stewart (GB) Israel-Premier Tech
3. Axel Zingle (Fra) Visma | Lease a Bike
4. Tobias Lund Andresen (Den) Team Picnic PostNL
5. Lewis Askey (GB) Groupama-FDJ
6. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Tudor
7. Benjamin Thomas (GB) Cofidis
8. Samuel Leroux (Fra) TotalEnergies
9. Jordi Warlop (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
10. Matys Grisel (Fra) Lotto.
Quatre Jours de Dunkerque Overall After Stage 3:
1. Axel Zingle (Fra) Visma | Lease a Bike in 11:05:07
2. Pierre Gautherat (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale at 0:04
3. Lewis Askey (GB) Groupama-FDJ
4. Ben Swift (GB) INEOS Grenadiers at 0:06
5. Nans Peters (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale
6. Per Strand Hagenes (Nor) Visma | Lease a Bike at 0:07
7. Tobias Lund Andresen (Den) Team Picnic PostNL at 0:08
8. Jake Stewart (GB) Israel-Premier Tech
9. Sakarias Koller (Nor) Loland Uno-X Mobility
10. Samuel Watson (GB) INEOS Grenadiers at 0:10.
Dunkerque’25 stage 3:
Samuel Watson (INEOS Grenadiers) won the Queen Stage 4 of the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque on Saturday. On the Mont Cassel, the British rider held off Carlos Canal (Movistar). Overall leader, Visma | Lease a Bike’s Axel Zingle, had to abandon so Watson will start the final stage in the leader’s jersey.
A fierce battle between the GC riders was expected in the penultimate stage of the Dunkerque race. The cobbled climb of the Mont Cassel on the Rue de Tambour, and the even steeper side of the Mont Cassel (1 km at 8.8%) would be perfect for the battle. The finish was on the steeper Cassel asphalt climb.
A leading group of four escaped in the run-up to the final circuit, with: Fabian Lienhard (Tudor), Matis Louvel (Israel-Premier Tech), Tom Portsmouth (Wagner Bazin WB) and Paul Hennequin (Euskaltel-Euskadi). Of these, Louvel and Portsmouth had the best legs. After Lienhard and Hennequin were caught, the French and the British pair rode off the front for a while. At 45 kilometres from the finish line, just after Mike Teunissen had shaken things up a bit in the peloton with an attack, their break was over. That offered an opportunity for other riders. Killian Théot of Van Rysel Roubaix took off on his own, but his solo didn’t last long.
Sam Maisonobe (Cofidis) and Ben Swift (INEOS Grenadiers) then made a serious bid for the stage and final victory. The two worked well together and gained 20 seconds on the peloton, Zingle and second placed Pierre Gautherat were missing. Zingle had crashed and had to abandon, while Gautherat had been dropped. Swift and Maisonobe made it exciting in the final kilometres of the stage. The gap to peloton fluctuated continuously at about 10 seconds, but never really got any closer. It all came down to the final kilometre, on the climb of the difficult Mont Cassel. Swift and Maisonobe cracked there, after which Watson attacked with 500 metres to go. Per Strand Hagenes was able to follow for a while, but then blew up, while Watson was able to keep up his effort. His win earned him the stage win and the leader’s jersey.
Stage winner and overall leader, Sam Watson (INEOS Grenadiers): “Thanks to the boys and especially Swifty. I had the easiest ride there – they were always up the road so I could just sit back. As I saw Swifty coming back, I knew if I just took it on, on the steep part and keep accelerating all the way up that I could hold everyone off and I managed to do that. I knew deep down that a course like this was right up my street so I knew I had to be patient all day. I’ve done this race the past two years and I’ve always got a bit too excited so this year I really sat back and let the race unfold and do one effort and that was the winning effort. We’re really unfortunate to have lost Bob and Connor in a nasty crash. But our team is here for the GC so we hope to keep the jersey.”
Quatre Jours de Dunkerque Stage 4 Result:
1. Samuel Watson (GB) INEOS Grenadiers in 4:17:01
2. Carlos Canal Blanco (Spa) Movistar
3. Lewis Askey (GB) Groupama-FDJ at 0:03
4. Alexandre Delettre (Fra) TotalEnergies at 0:05
5. Tobias Lund Andresen (Den) Team Picnic PostNL
6. Victor Langellotti (Pol) INEOS Grenadiers at 0:06
7. Per Strand Hagenes (Nor) Team Visma | Lease a Bike
8. Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Cofidis
9. Thibaud Gruel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at 0:08
10. Nicolas Breuillard (Fra) St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93.
Quatre Jours de Dunkerque Overall After Stage 4:
1. Samuel Watson (GB) Grenadiers in 15:22:08
2. Lewis Askey (GB) Groupama-FDJ at 0:03
3. Carlos Canal Blanco (Spa) Movistar at 0:08
4. Tobias Lund Andresen (Den) Team Picnic PostNL at 0:13
5. Per Strand Hagenes (Nor) Visma | Lease a Bike
6. Alexandre Delettre (Fra) TotalEnergies at 0:19
7. Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Cofidis at 0:20
8. Victor Langellotti (Pol) INEOS Grenadiers
9. Nans Peters (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale
10. Thibaud Gruel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at 0:22.
Dunkerque’25 stage 4:
Jake Stewart (IPT) won the Final Stage 5 of the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque. The 25-year-old British rider sprinted to victory ahead of Alberto Dainese (Tudor). Samuel Watson (INEOS Grenadiers) defended his leader’s jersey to win the final overall ahead of Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ).
The final stage is often made for the sprinters and this year was no exception. After the start in Wormhout, the riders had 185 kilometres on mainly flat roads, with the exception of two early, short climbs to the finish in Dunkerque. The battle for the final victory was not yet over as the top riders were still close.
Samuel Watson started the final stage as overall leader, but the difference to Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) was on 3 seconds. With three bonus sprints on the route, a last minute upset could take place. Four riders chose to attack early: Abraham Stockman (Unibet Tietema Rockets), Baptiste Planckaert (Van Rysel-Roubaix), Axel Narbonne Zuccarelli (Nice Métropole Côte d’Azur) and Ander Ganzabal (Euskaltel-Euskadi). The break was caught with 42 kilometres to go, and Watson and Askey could sprint for the bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint.
It was overall leader, Watson who was too fast for his countryman. He extended his lead by a second on Askey, so he was now 4 seconds. In the final flat laps there were several attempts to attack, including Victor Papon trying to get away. The pace of Lotto in the chase made the attempts futile. In the final kilometres, Askey and Watson kept a close eye on each other, although this at the back of the peloton. At the front, the sprinter’s teams moved up to the front. Picnic-PostNL, Decathlon-AG2R, Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto were all at the front with 2 kilometres to go. It was Jake Stewart of Israel-Premier Tech who won with a long sprint. Alberto Dainese (Tudor) and Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ) were unable to pass him and finished second and third. Watson took home the final leader’s jersey.
Stage winner, Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech): “It feels like a long time coming, I’ve been close, but I’ve never managed to get the job done. In this new role I’ve got in the lead-out, it’s not often I get the opportunity to sprint for a win, so when you get one you want to take it with both hands. It has been quite a tough couple of days with the crashes we had, and we really had to rally ourselves during the stage after Ackie went down. It got a bit messy coming into the finish, but we know this finish as we raced it last year. We ended up being short on guys last year, and with the riders we were missing today, we knew we had to make our move a bit later than normal. We used Schwarzi [Michael Schwarzmann] and his race-craft to move us up, and then [Matîs] Louvel pulled a big turn. G [Guillaume Boivin] and I got boxed in a bit coming into the final kilometre, but we managed to wriggle our way out of that. Coming out of the last corner I told him to commit to the line. I knew I was in a good position and I backed my legs. I knew from the sprint on Friday that I had the speed. I kicked and saw that I had a gap when I looked under my legs, so it was all about taking it to the line. It’s always a nice feeling when you win with clean air, and you don’t have to worry about nailing a bike throw!”
Final overall winner, Sam Watson (INEOS Grenadiers): “All I had to do to win was keep Askey in sight and not let him finish in the top three. To be honest today, I wanted to play it safe and secure the GC win. It was better staying behind the bubble of all the guys going crazy in the sprint finish. It’s nice to make a little bit of history as the first English rider to win this.”
Quatre Jours de Dunkerque Stage 5 Result:
1. Jake Stewart (GB) Israel-Premier Tech in 4:07:57
2. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Tudor
3. Thibaud Gruel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
4. Tobias Lund Andresen (Den) Team Picnic PostNL
5. Daniel McLay (GB) Visma | Lease a Bike
6. Alexander Konijn (Ned) Nice Métropole Côte d’Azur
7. Mike Teunissen (Ned) XDS Astana
8. Erlend Blikra (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
9. Gianluca Pollefliet (Bel) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale
10. Romain Cardis (Fra) St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93.
Quatre Jours de Dunkerque Final Overall Result:
1. Samuel Watson (GB) INEOS Grenadiers in 19:30:05
2. Lewis Askey (GB) Groupama-FDJ at 0:04
3. Carlos Canal Blanco (Spa) Movistar at 0:11
4. Tobias Lund Andresen (Den) Team Picnic PostNL at 0:12
5. Per Strand Hagenes (Nor) Team Visma | Lease a Bike at 0:16
6. Thibaud Gruel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at 0:18
7. Alexandre Delettre (Fra) TotalEnergies at 0:22
8. Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Cofidis at 0:23
9. Victor Langellotti (Pol) INEOS Grenadiers
10. Nans Peters (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale.
Dunkerque’25 stage 5:
Rund um Köln 2025
Matthew Brennan won the Rund um Köln on Sunday. The 19-year-old neo-pro from Visma | Lease a Bike was the fastest in the sprint from a large group after a fiercely contested race. The British revelation beat Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Itamar Einhorn (IPT).
Rund um Köln had its 107th edition on Sunday. In this German one-day race, most people were looking at the Belgian champion. Arnaud De Lie made his long-awaited comeback on Sunday after a difficult period in which he was looking for some form. “For now, my main focus is to do what I love, racing”, he said in the run-up to his return.
The course would suit De Lie, in and around Cologne, with a few short climbs, including the double climb of the Agathaberg (900 metres at 7.8%) and the Bensberg (600 metres at 6.5%) and an almost flat finale towards the finish in Germany’s fourth-largest city. Other riders to watch were Biniam Girmay, Matthew Brennan, Pavel Bittner and Jordi Meeus. Six riders went on the attack: Dominik Röber (Benotti Berthold), Ole Theiler (REMBE | rad-net), Pierre-Pascal Keup (German nat team), Lennart Jasch (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe Rookies), Vinzent Dorn and Anton Schiffer (both BIKE AID), an all-German lead group. They were quickly caught by the first part of the peloton in the hilly opening section. With Brennan, Girmay, Nils Politt, Jenthe Biermans and Jonas Rutsch, most of the big names managed to survive the first selection, but De Lie was not. The Belgian champion had to chase early, but was able to take advantage of a moment of calm.
Seven other riders took the opportunity to attack. This time, home riders Jakob Schmidt (MYVELO Pro Cycling Team), Lukas Meiler (Team Vorarlberg), Patrick Reißig (Benotti Berthold), again Theiler (REMBE | rad-net), Ben Felix Jochum (Team Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank), Frenchman Jean-Loup Fayolle (Arkéa-B&B Hotels Continentale) and Belgian Jelle Vermoote (Wagner Bazin WB). The peloton was happy to let them go, knowing that it was still a long way to the finish and that it would take away the attacking from other riders, and allowed the difference to increase to more than 2 minutes. The Devo team of Visma | Lease a Bike and Tudor made sure with combined forces that the leading group didn’t have too much room, so that it was only a matter of time before a regrouping. The attackers were caught with 40 kilometres to go, but not by a full peloton. On the Agathaberg, the group split due to a few accelerations by the better climbers. This created a first group of 40 riders, including Brennan, Girmay, Rutsch, Meeus, Politt, Biermans, Amaury Capiot, Pavel Bittner, Hugo Hofstetter, Henri Uhlig and cyclo-crosser Toon Aerts.
De Lie was now missing from the race. The lead of the 47 riders continued to increase. With 20 kilometres to go, it was clear that the winner was in the first group. Despite the thinning of the group, there was going to be a sprint from a large group, but Theiler had another idea. The escapee from the first hour clearly still had something left in the tank, he hoped to surprise the opposition. The 22-year-old German rode for a few kilometres ahead of the pack, but he was eventually caught and a sprint turned out to be inevitable after all. In the sprint, Matthew Brennan was unbeatable. The 19-year-old was faster than Biniam Girmay, who is still looking for his first victory of the season, and Itamar Einhorn after four hours of racing. For Brennan, it is his seventh victory of 2025.
Race winner, Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike): “This is a real team victory. We were here at the start as a development team, but if you see how the guys rode today, it could have been the WorldTour team. Everyone gave the full 110 percent and was eager to prove themselves today. The compliments are for the whole team. I’m glad I was able to finish it off.”
2nd, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “Today we did a great job as a team, taking our responsibility to control the race. It wasn’t easy, as the other teams challenged us from the beginning. I saw them talking to each other, so we anticipated the acceleration on the first climb and were well represented in the front. The attacks continued until the final, but we were always in control and my teammates also did a great job to prepare my sprint. It is of course frustrating to finish again so close to the victory, but at least I can reward my teammates with this nice podium. Congratulations to Matthew Brennan, he has already shown that he is one of the top contenders in the sprint.”
Rund um Köln Result:
1. Matthew Brennan (GB) Visma | Lease a Bike in 3:56:56
2. Biniam Girmay Hailu (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty
3. Itmar Einhorn (Isr) Israel-Premier Tech
4. Henri Uhlig (Ger) Alpecin-Deceuninck
5. Milan Menten (Bel) Lotto
6. Amaury Capiot (Bel) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
7. Pavel Bittner (CZ) Team Picnic PostNL
8. Lucas Boniface (Fra) TotalEnergies
9. Jordi Meeus (Bel) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
10. Valentin Retailleau (Fra) TotalEnergies.
Köln’25:
Johan Bruyneel: “Without Hindley, Primoz Roglič will have to Change Tactics”
Johan Bruyneel sees the loss of Jai Hindley as a great loss for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe and leader Primoz Roglič in the Giro d’Italia. The Belgian ex-rider and team manager said on the The Move podcast.
On Thursday, it was Jan Tratnik, teammate of Hindley with Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, who was the first to crash at about 70 kilometres from the finish. A large part of the peloton came down with him: The pink jersey Mads Pedersen, Richard Carapaz, Derek Gee, Lorenzo Fortunato, Gerben Thijssen, Paul Magnier, Jay Vine and Jai Hindley were all included. Hindley couldn’t to get up. The Australian got into the ambulance and had to abandon the race.
“When you saw Hindley sitting there, you knew straight away that he wouldn’t get on the bike anymore,” says Bruyneel. “A big blow for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe and Primoz Roglič. Hindley was his main lieutenant, as a former winner and former number two who now wanted to ride completely for Roglič. Hindley had announced that several times in recent weeks.”
And so Roglič now has a problem, Bruyneel thinks. “They’re going to have to adjust their strategy. Losing such an important rider in the first week is difficult. For a team like Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, with the number one favourite, according to some the only favourite, your second best climber is not easy, especially mentally. They’re going to miss him from today.”
“I’ve only seen Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari with Roglič when the road went uphill in the first stages. The rest weren’t there. Dani Martinez will have to step up to fill that role. There will be a lot of pressure on his shoulders. But Pellizzari will also get more responsibility now. It will be very interesting to see how they will race at the team. They can no longer ride very defensively.”
No Hindley to work for Roglič:
Patrick Lefevere thinks he knows the cause of Arnaud De Lie’s problems
Patrick Lefevere thinks he knows what is going on with Arnaud De Lie. In his column in Het Nieuwsblad, the former manager of Soudal Quick-Step talks about a discrepancy between the money De Lie earns and the performances he can deliver. Lefevere also takes a few digs at the Lotto team. “That would never have happened with our team.”
Lefevere starts his column by saying that he has a soft spot for De Lie. It is common knowledge that Lefevere has tried to recruit De Lie several times, without success. De Lie chose Lotto. “With today’s knowledge, I dare say that the problems De Lie is currently facing would have been much less of an issue in our team. I won’t claim to know all the subtleties or intrigues, but I do note that Arnaud is single-handedly – or almost single-handedly – carrying the weight of the Lotto team.”
“Take him away and at the moment only Lennert Van Eetvelt remains. That is too much weight on the shoulders of a rider who is barely 23 years old,” Lefevere continues. “I don’t know what De Lie earns and I don’t need to know, but I do know the offer we made at the time. That was already a lot of money and I can only suspect that Lotto went even higher. In my experience, I have never known anything other than that riders get into trouble when there is an imbalance between what they perform and what they earn.”
Arnaud De Lie made his comeback on Sunday in the Rund um Köln. Before De Lie rode that race, he wanted to reflect on the past few months. “I had to rediscover the joy of cycling,” said the Belgian champion.
“Riders feel that pressure, even though the salary after signing the contract is in principle an acquired right. I fear that we have ended up there with De Lie as well,” Lefevere believes. At the end of the column, Lefevere talks about his relationship with the Lotto staff. According to him, it is not all that good. “Anyone who knows me knows that the Lotto triumvirate of Jannie Haek, Stéphane Heulot and Kurt Van de Wouwer are not in the top hundred of my favourite guests at the table. Let’s just say that we are different characters.”
Lefevere also adds that he hopes that De Lie can quickly return to his old level. “I hope so for the Lotto team too. Apart from the people who call the shots, it’s a shame that a team that has existed for so long and that works so well with the youth only makes the news for the wrong reasons. No victories, no new co-sponsor, the leader out of the race. I don’t take any malicious pleasure in it. A healthy Lotto team is still very important for Belgian cycling.”
Lefevere knows what the problem is with De Lie:
Arnaud De Lie’s Comeback Ends in Disappointment after 40 Kilometres
Arnaud De Lie was looking forward to his comeback to the peloton, but after only 40 kilometres of the Rund um Köln, the Belgian champion disappeared from the race. What is wrong with De Lie? “It just didn’t work”, team manager Nikolas Maes told Het Nieuwsblad.
De Lie got into trouble early on the first climb of the day and was unable to hold the pace. “On the toughest part he was still with us, but on the outskirts he immediately had trouble and had to let it go”, Maes explains afterwards. “He had difficulty breathing, his heart rate was very high, it just didn’t work. He also had no ambition to return. He really wasn’t feeling okay. Arnaud turned off, cycled on his own for another hour and a half and then went to the bus.”
De Lie didn’t feel like talking after the race. For the 23-year-old, it is yet another mental setback. The big question is: what will happen next to sprinter? Maes is also at a loss. “To be clear, this was not factored in either. We may not have thought about winning, but we did think he would play along and race. That did not work out. Those are the facts.”
For the time being, the team is in the dark about what exactly is going on with their rider. “That will be our first job on Monday,” Maes looks ahead. “With the entire staff, we are going to have to dissect Arnaud’s situation again. Zoom in on his problem again. Examine him again. It is clearly necessary.”
No improvement for De Lie:
Bahrain Victorious Lose Andrea Pasqualon on the Gravel Stage
Antonio Tiberi did well in the gravel stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday, but there was bad news for the Bahrain Victorious team. His teammate, Andrea Pasqualon had to abandon.
Pasqualon crashed during the hectic stage with its gravel sections, his team announced on ‘X’ (Twitter). “He probably suffered a broken collarbone. Andrea is now undergoing medical examinations. We wish him a speedy recovery after the fantastic work he has done for Tiberi and the team.”
The 37-year-old Pasqualon plays an important role as road captain with the Bahrain Victorious team and for leader Tiberi. The experienced Italian is the thirteenth rider to have to leave the Tour of Italy.
Andrea Pasqualon out of the Giro:
New Contract for Jonas Rickaert with Alpecin-Deceuninck
Alpecin-Deceuninck has extended the contract of Jonas Rickaert. The 31-year-old rider from West Flanders signed a new three-year contract this week, which will keep him with the Belgian team until the end of 2028. Rickaert is an important domestique with Alpecin-Deceuninck, especially in the sprint train for Jasper Philipsen.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck said they are very happy with Rickaert’s loyalty, strength and experience in the announcement of the contract extension. In 2019, Rickaert made his debut for the then Corendon-Circus, after having raced for Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise for five years. Since then, Rickaert has been an indispensable part of the team, including Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel.
“One of the reliable engines in our sprint train, a road captain with guts and a teammate you want in the trenches,” Alpecin-Deceuninck wrote in the press release. Rickaert himself calls the WorldTeam his home. “That has been the case for the last seven years and I still feel good here. I see many challenges and opportunities with this selection and I am proud to extend my contract for another three years.”
Rickaert also has wins in his palmarès: the GP Marcel Kint and the Dwars door het Hageland.
Jonas Rickaert to stay with Alpecin-Deceuninck:
New World Record – Dr Sarah Ruggins cycles length of UK and back in 5 days 11 hours 14 minutes
- Sarah has taken the overall record*, beating the fastest man by 6 hours 43 minutes and fastest woman by 4 days 17 hours 40 minutes
- Astounding ride took her from Scotland’s John O’Groats to England’s Land’s End and back with less than 8 hours of sleep
*Subject to official verification
The total time taken for Dr Sarah Ruggins, 37, a Canadian based in Gloucestershire, UK, to travel the 2700 km from John O’Groats to Lands End and back again, improves on the men’s record (5 days 18 hours 3 minutes) – held by James MacDonald since 2017 – by 6 hours 43 minutes.
She beat the former women’s record (10 days 5 hours) – held by Louise Harris since 2023 – by an incredible 4 days 17 hours 40 minutes.
On crossing the finish line at 19:14 on Friday 16 May, Sarah said: “I honestly don’t know how to describe how this feels. I can’t quite believe that this experience is over – it was so, so hard. The support I experienced across the UK from the moment I set off last Sunday in Scotland both online and in person was incredible; hundreds of people took time out of their day to wave and cheer me and the crew past both on the way down the country and back up again. There were some incredibly hard moments along the way but seeing people out on the roadside and watching donations to our fundraiser come in on my phone while I was on the bike was a huge motivator. I’ve been riding a bike for over five days so right now I mostly want a shower and to brush my teeth! It’s crazy to know I’ve actually now finished the thing I set out to do all those months ago.”
Incredibly, Gloucestershire-based Sarah, 37, only began riding bikes two years ago. A promising track athlete in her youth in Canada, her ambitions were cut short at age 15 when she developed a rare and debilitating autoimmune disease, one so painful it cost her the ability to walk, use her hands, or move without help.
After years of recovery and regaining her mobility, she began training to break the Land’s End to John O’Groats running record, however a series of major injuries ended this dream. Refusing to back down, she has taken the chance to find out what she can achieve on two wheels instead.
Sarah has used this record attempt to raise money for The Bike Project and Bikes for Refugees, two organisations that use cycling to support people rebuilding their lives in the UK. So far, she has raised more than £14,000 to help provide refugees with the freedom, independence and access to essential services that a bike brings. Supporters can donate via GiveWheel on www.lejogle.org.
Sarah’s journey from hospital bed to the brink of cycling history is also the subject of a forthcoming feature documentary (working title: UNBREAKABLE), currently in production by Sourcy, a Gloucestershire-based, multi-award-winning team known for its powerful storytelling in sport.
Her record attempt has been made possible thanks to MOJU, with additional support from Liv Cycling, Restrap, and Precision Hydration.
Veenhoven Extends Contract with Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women by Three Years
Nienke Veenhoven has extended her contract with Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women by three years, committing to the team through 2028. The 21-year-old sprinter has been part of the squad since 2023 and showed strong development over the past year.
With this contract extension, Veenhoven expresses great confidence in her future with the team: “I truly feel at home here. I have a great connection with my coach, the team management and staff, and I get along really well with the other riders.” The Dutch rider is ambitious about what lies ahead: “I hope to continue developing, with the goal of competing for podiums in every sprint.”
Since joining Team Visma | Lease a Bike, Veenhoven has made significant progress. In addition to her physical development, her positioning in both sprints and the peloton has notably improved—something both Veenhoven and the team are clearly benefiting from. She’s not only becoming a better racer, but also learning how to race as part of a team: “We start each race with a clear plan and try to execute it as well as possible. Positioning plays a big role, but so do communication, trust in your teammates, and staying calm.”
Team manager Rutger Tijssen sees great potential in the young sprinter. “Nienke has developed into a strong sprinter over the past two years. She’s made impressive strides and is showing she has the potential to compete in bunch sprints at WorldTour level.” Tijssen also sees her progressing in the Flemish Classics: “I expect she can be a contender for victory in races like Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Gent-Wevelgem in the future.”
Within the sprint squad, Veenhoven forms a duo with Martina Fidanza. “We’ve built a great connection. We genuinely support each other’s success,” Veenhoven says. “We’re both eager to lead out for one another. We haven’t been racing together for that long yet, but the trust is growing and we get better with every race. I learn a lot from her, which makes it all the more valuable.”
Tijssen is also enthusiastic about their partnership: “I see Martina and Nienke as a promising and dynamic duo. They’re two different types of sprinters who can complement each other. In lead-outs they can support one another, and in training they help each other raise their level. I believe they can bring out the best in each other.”
Nienke Veenhoven to stay with Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Soudal Quick-Step Extends Partnership with KetoneAid, the Premier Name in Ketone Ester Drinks
Soudal Quick-Step is pleased to announce the continuation of its successful partnership with KetoneAid, the world leader in ketone fuelling for athletic performance. KetoneAid is widely recognised for its cutting-edge drinkable ketone ester – the most scientifically studied and effective form of exogenous ketones available today.
Ketones are a unique source of energy, naturally produced by the body under certain metabolic conditions. KetoneAid manufactures the original ketone ester – the King of Ketones – offering athletes a powerful alternative energy source to support performance, recovery, and cognitive function.
For several years, our riders have integrated KetoneAid into their routines to enhance recovery after racing and training, support deep, restorative sleep, and maintain consistent next-day energy levels. The collaboration has gone far beyond product use – KetoneAid’s team works closely with our nutritionists and doctors to fine-tune dosing strategies and explore emerging research, while also using feedback from the field to shape the future of ketone product innovation and usage protocols.
Speaking of the agreement, Frank Llosa, CEO of KetoneAid, said: “It’s an honour to continue working with Soudal Quick-Step. Their dedication to science-backed performance and willingness to innovate makes them the ideal partner. We’re excited to keep pushing the boundaries of what ketones can do at the highest level of sport.”
Dr. Philip Jansen, Head of Medical at Soudal Quick-Step, added: “We are very happy to continue working with KetoneAid. Their knowledge of ketones is unrivalled, and this is reflected in the extensive research and development surrounding ketone ester, which has been widely used in numerous studies across the world. They are also always happy to sit down with us and discuss the latest research on how to use ketones most effectively and get the best from their use.”
KetonAid for Soudal Quick-Step:
European and Olympic Champions Head to Lloyds Tour of Britain Women this June
Reigning European champion Lorena Wiebes (Team SDWorx – Protime), double Olympic gold medallist Kristen Faulkner (EF Education – Oatly), and recent Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Kimberley (Le Court) Pienaar (AG Insurance Soudal) are among the star names to be confirmed for the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women, which gets underway on Thursday 5 June.
With 20 days to go until Britain’s biggest professional women’s cycle race begins, organisers have announced the first batch of star riders who will be lining up for stage one from Dalby Forest in North Yorkshire, to Redcar on the Tees Valley coast.
Wiebes, who is ranked third in the world and will be racing in the European champion’s jersey, won the third stage of last year’s Lloyds Tour of Britain Women, and has a fine record when racing in Britain, having taken another dozen victories in UCI races in the UK since 2019.
Joining her on the start list is fellow 2024 stage winner and former Australian road race champion Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco), and Kimberley (Le Court) Pienaar. The latter’s win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in late April came at the end of a strong spring campaign, that saw her finish in the top six in each of Paris Roubaix, the Ronde van Vlaanderen, and La Flèche Wallonne single-day races, highlighting her strong form as the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women approaches.
While hailing from Mauritius, where she is a three-time national champion, the final pair of stages in the Scottish Borders and Glasgow will be extra special for Pienaar, whose mother hails from Scotland.
Also familiar with Scottish roads is Danish rider Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto), who won a bronze medal in the World Championship road race that finished in Glasgow city centre in 2023, and the mountains jersey at the Women’s Tour of Scotland in 2019.
Completing the first batch of riders to be confirmed for the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women is Kristen Faulkner, who is from Alaska originally, and will be racing in the stars and stripes jersey of American national road race champion.
Faulkner took a memorable solo victory in road race at the Paris Olympics last summer, before a few days later winning her second gold medal in the team pursuit event in the velodrome.
Commenting on racing at the Lloyds Tour of Britain, Faulkner said; “I’m really excited for the Tour of Britain Women. It is going to be a lot of rolling terrain which is unique to the UK and I actually really like that so I’m quite excited. After a slow start to my season and coming back from an injury this winter, I’m really excited to have a big goal and I’m hoping to peak for the Tour of Britain so that’ll be a really exciting goal for me to look forward to and to have as a key race in my season.”
Further team and rider announcements for the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women will be made in the coming days.
To discover the routes of all four stages of the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women in more detail, and more information about the race, host venues, and participating teams, please click here.
The Lloyds Tour of Britain Women gets underway in the Tees Valley and North Yorkshire on Thursday 5 June, with a stage between Dalby Forest and Redcar across the North York Moors National Park, before the second stage from Hartlepool ends with an uphill finish at Saltburn-by-the-Sea.
The race concludes with a pair of stages in Scotland, the first in the Scottish Borders, starting and finishing in Kelso, before the final stage in Glasgow on Sunday 8 June.
Following the final leg, fans and cyclists of all ages and abilities will have the chance to take part in the free Lloyds Tour of Britain Family Cycling Festival, building on Glasgow’s cycling legacy, and providing a unique chance to ride on the same closed road, traffic free, circuit as the world’s best. For more information on the Lloyds Tour of Britain Family Cycling Festival, please click here.
Santini Unveils Leader Jerseys and Three Unique Kits of La Vuelta 25
The official leader jerseys for La Vuelta 25 were unveiled today in Madrid at a special presentation event. Alongside the iconic classification jerseys, Santini introduced three exclusive kits: one marking the race’s 90th anniversary, another celebrating the opening stages in Italy’s Piedmont region, and a third paying tribute to the legendary climb of the Alto de l’Angliru.
During today’s official launch event in Madrid, Santini Cycling and Unipublic revealed the leader jerseys for the 2025 edition of La Vuelta, set to run from August 23 to September 14. For the first time in the race’s history, the Grand Tour will begin in Italy, departing from the breathtaking Reggia di Venaria near Turin, in the heart of Piedmont. GO fit, sponsor of the Gran Depart of La Vuelta 25, hosted the event at its Peñagrande center.
This year’s jersey lineup once again reflects the strong and ongoing partnership between Santini and La Vuelta, now in its ninth year. “We’re honoured to once again dress the leaders of La Vuelta and to celebrate nearly a decade of successful collaboration” said Monica Santini, CEO of Santini Cycling. “This partnership highlights our commitment to the highest levels of professional cycling”.
“Santini is already one of our longest-standing partners. Year after year, this collaboration allows us to dress our leaders in garments that are at the forefront of technology and reflect La Vuelta’s spirit of innovation through one of the race’s most iconic symbols: its leader jerseys” – said Javier Guillén, director of La Vuelta.
The 2025 jerseys were designed and manufactured in Bergamo, Italy, at Santini’s headquarters. The red La Roja, sponsored by Carrefour, will be worn by the general classification leader. The green jersey, featuring Škoda branding, goes to the points classification leader. The best young rider will wear the white Plenitude jersey, while the polka dot jersey, backed by Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, honours the King of the Mountains.
Three kits, three stories to wear
In addition to the official jerseys, Santini unveiled three special-edition kits created for passionate fans of the race. Designed for cyclists who want to ride in the spirit of La Vuelta, these kits combine cutting-edge performance fabrics with meaningful storytelling. The jerseys are made from lightweight and elastic Polartec® Power Stretch
, while the bib shorts feature medium compression and a high-performance Foam Bio chamois.
To mark 90 years since the very first edition of La Vuelta in 1935, Santini created a striking orange kit, a nod to the original leader’s jersey. The back features the route of the inaugural race, the number 44 worn by Gustaaf Deloor – the first ever winner – and the Flemish lion, symbol of his homeland.
The Salida Oficial Piemonte kit pays tribute to the historic Italian start of this year’s race. The design takes inspiration from the flag of Piedmont, with a white cross over a red background, bordered in blue. The back of the jersey includes the full elevation profiles of the first four stages, which will see the peloton cross the region’s spectacular landscapes.
The Alto de l’Angliru kit is a homage to one of the toughest climbs in pro cycling. Known as “El infierno” for its brutal gradients of up to 23.5%, the Angliru returns in Stage 13 of La Vuelta 25. This dark, dramatic kit features three dancing devils on the back and the word El infierno boldly emblazoned on the chest.
Additionally, during the event, the jerseys of the winners of the four jerseys of La Vuelta Femenina 25 by Carrefour.es, held at the beginning of May, were showcased.
The official replica jerseys and the three special-edition kits are available now at www.santinicycling.com and through select cycling retailers worldwide.
Too Many Cobblestones are Being Stolen from Brugge
Too many cobblestones are being stolen from the historic city centre of Bruges and the municipality is calling on people to leave the stones where they are. According to Franky Demon, the alderman for Public Domain in Brugge, it is estimated that 50 to 70 cobblestones are disappearing every month in an interview with De Standaard. This spring, the Tour of Flanders started in Brugge.
The city believes that many tourists take the cobblestones home as a ‘souvenir’. “At locations such as the Minnewater, the Vismarkt, the Markt and the Gruuthusemuseum, an estimated 50 to 70 cobblestones disappear every month. And that figure may be even higher. The phenomenon increases noticeably, especially during busy tourist periods such as spring and summer,” says alderman Demon.
“It is a trend in Brugge over the past two years that is also taking place in other historic cities: in Paris, Barcelona and Amsterdam, things disappear from the public domain such as street signs, but also paving stones,” he continued. The disappearance of the cobblestones has more consequences for the city. “That not only leads to a lot of extra work and costs, about 200 euros per square meter of reconstruction, but also to real safety risks. People can trip over loose stones.”
And that is why Demon is making a special appeal on behalf of the city. He asks for respect. “Anyone who walks through Bruges steps over centuries of history. Leave those cobblestones where they belong,” he said.
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