Hive Weekly Cycling News - June 1 2023

Well, we have our winner of the 2023 Giro d’Italia and it when down to the 20th stage before we had the overall pink jersey winner determined. I found it to be a great three weeks of racing and am now looking ahead of to the Tour de France, which is the next mens grand tour for the year, which will run from the start of July for three weeks. As for the women, they have been racing again during the past week, with big races in the UK and Germany, and all teams will be looking ahead to the Giro d’Italia Donne running from the 30th of June. You would assume, this event will have some better weather than the mens race, but it could be getting extra hot at that part of Summer.

As always, don’t forget about the Cycling Community on Hive. If you are not a member yet, make sure you Join the community and if you haven’t yet, post your #mybike post. I’ve added mine! There’s currently 27 active posters, so there is lots of content posted and more coming in every day.

Kool’s Overall Victory In RideLondon Classique For 2023

Charlotte Kool of Team DSM had the dream start to the first stage of the RideLondon Classique for 2023 by taking out the opening stage of the three day event, but wasn’t going to have it all her own way, finding herself away from the main break away in stage 2. The final stage of the race was a 91km, eight lap ride through the centre of London, was made for Kool, which would always come down to the sprint finish. Three riders made a break halfway through the race, which extended their lead to over one minute but were brought back by the peloton on the final lap. Chloe Dygert of Canyon-SRAM Racing started her sprint early, but Kool was able to sit on her wheel, taking the lead with 150m to go, winning the stage with Dygert second. The finish of stage 3 also decided the overall winner with Kool taking the overall race win, with Dygert 11 seconds behind in second place.

[Image Courtesy Getty Images]

Primoz Roglic Crownd Overall Giro d'Italia Winner

There were calls for the Giro to be cancelled part way through the race due to a number of factors including the poor weather, riders pulling out of the race due to COVID, among other reasons, but the race continued, and I agree with the decision. We saw an exciting finish to the event with the overall lead changing hands a number of times and we didn’t know the eventual winner until stage 20 of the race. For the final weeks breakdown, here are all the stage details from the Giro d’Italia of 2023.

If you need to catch up on the first two weeks of racing, check out the previous Cycling News Post: https://hive.blog/hive-177745/@run.vince.run/hive-weekly-cycling-news-may-25-2023

The 17th stage of the Giro for 2023 is the flattest, and actually decends gradually from Pergine Valsugana into Caorle for 197km. After the previous stage in the alps, the route is a battle between the sprinters again. The stage came down to a sprint finish again with Alberto Dainese of Team DSM making the main sprint, holding off a late surge and wining the stage in another photo finish. He was a fraction ahead of Jonathan Milan of Bahrain Victorious and Michael Matthews of Team Jayco AlUIa. After Mark Cavendish making his announcement to retire on the last rest day of the race, he was never able to clear the crowd and was frustrated by the result. Geraint Thomas kept hold of the pink jersey for another day still.

Stage 18 started fast a furious as the 161km stage started off flat, before heading up into the alps. All riders wanted to get into position or make a break before having to make some tough climbs over the stage. At the first major climb of the day, a group of five riders was able to make a break from the main peloton. The group was able to expend their lead to over 5 minutes but by the end of the stage there was only Thibaut Pinot of Groupama-FDJ and Filippo Zana of Team Jayco-AlUIa who were the superior climbers on the day. Although this is Pinot’s final Giro, he was not able to get the fairy tale send off, as Zana took the victory ahead of Pinot, with third place Warren Barguil of Team Area Samsic almost a minute behind. Primoz Roglic was able to jump up to second on the overall standings, but Geraint Thomas still remains 29 seconds ahead and holding onto the pink jersey.

The sun was shining for the 19th stage of the Giro which has been a nice change to a majority of the stages through Italy. The stage was one of the most mountainous stages with 183km from Longarone through the Dolomites with a number of big climbs. The stage saw a number of break made, starting with two riders in the first hour of the stage, being joined by a number of other riders, growing to over 10. In the end Santiago Buitrago of Bahrain-Victorious distanced himself from the rest of the field to finish first, with Derek Gee of Israel-Premier Tech almost a minute behind in second. The day saw Geraint Thomas keep hold of the pink jersey but he lost 5 seconds to Primoz Roglic.

It came down to stage 20 of the Giro to have our final overall placings decided with a 18.6km individual time trial to the top of Monte Lussari. Primoz Roglic had been in a similar place before, in the 2020 Tour de France, where he was expected to take the overall victory, but it didn’t pan out that way. It was a completely different situation where Roglic made his way into reducing the lead Geraint Thomas had made over the previous stages, and then the defining moment of the stage happened when Roglic dropped his chain as he started the climb into Monte Lussari. He needed to even dismount to get the chain back on and showed a lot of composure in the 20 seconds of delay, to get back onto the bike and continue to ride and still win the stage by 40 seconds. This also handed him the pink jersey with a lead of 14 seconds over Geraint Thomas, leaving Joao Almeida of UAE Team Emirates who finished the stage third and also saw him third place overall. With the final stage of all the grand tours being a formality for riders, it was a massive change for the race leaving Roglic to take the lead at the final possible chance.

The final stage of the 2023 Giro d’Italia, is held in Rome with a 17.6km out and back, five lap circuit, with the flat stage made for the sprinters to finish off the event where they started. With the overall winners already decided for the event, all that was left was for the final sprint finish to happen with Mark Cavendish of Astana Qazaqstan winning the sprint. Fernando Gaviria of Movistar was the first rider to jump, but was too early and faded, but it gave Cavendish the pull to the front and he won the sprint with no one else really pushing him for his final Giro stage before he retires at the end of the year. A fall occurred in the final straight and fortunately no riders were seriously injured. Alex Kirsch of Trek Segafredo came in second with Filippo Fiorelli of Green Project-Bardiani CSF finishing third. Primoz Roglic was clear of any drama to finish safely in the peloton and officially win the overall victory for 2023.

[Image Courtesy Gettin Images]

SD Worx Again Domenant As Lotte Kopecky Wins Thuringen

It wouldn’t be a week in cycling news without the SD Worx women’s team taking the win in a race in some part of the world. Well, they’ve done it again with the Lotto Thuringen Ladies Tour in Germany. A six day stage race, SD Worx kicked things off on day one with the fasted time in the 9.1km team time trial, setting the team up for a clean sweep of stages over the week. Stage 2, Mischa Bredewold won the stage with a solo attack in the final 10km of the stage. The following day it was then Barbara Guarischi who won a bunch sprint to win stage 3. Lonnie Uneken then pushed to victory in the final 100m climb to win stage 4. On the final day and stage it was then Lotte Kopecky who attacked late in the stage to cross the line 32 seconds ahead of the peloton, giving her the overall win as well, ahead of Lorena Wiebes and Mischa Bredewold. I know I have not mentioned any of the other riders and teams racing, but hats off to SD Worx for a dominant display of team racing for the event.

[Image Courtesy Getty Images]

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The Vespa OFM Podcast

This week Vespa OFM Podcast is interviewing Vespa / OFM Ambassador Bree Lambert Sanders, who is a nutritionist and coach in the San Jose area. Bree who, at 54 years young, still competes at the elite level including winding up with an overall win or a place on the podium.

About The Author
I am a DevOps Engineer, Endurance Athlete, Biomechanics Student and Author. We can all achieve amazing things, it's just a matter of trying, I want to change the world, one run at a time.