Weekly Recap

A tripleheader for most of the week.

The first race to get going was the AlUla Tour in Saudi Arabia. This is the Saudis’ version of a national tour. As mentioned in my February Preview, it is a 2.1 race.

Stage One was a bunch sprint surprisingly taken by Casper van Uden of DSM.

Stage Two was an uphill bunch sprint won by Soren Waeronskjold of Norway and Team Uno-X Mobility.

Stage Three was a crosswind day but finished in a reduced peloton sprint won by Tim Merlier of Belgium and Soudal – Quick Step.

Stage Four was yet another bunch sprint won again by Merlier. He looks good going into some bigger goals the rest of the season, but his team seems unlikely to take him to the Tour de France this year, which I do not understand. He could compete in the bunch sprints and help Remco Evenepoel in the crosswinds/gravel/etc. But I digress.

The GC battle was all going to come down to the final stage, which was flat until a brutally steep 2-ish kilometer finishing climb followed by a 10k plateau. The peloton made short work of the breakaway, ensuring the top climbers would contest the stage and the final GC. Simon Yates of Australia and Jayco – AlUla was the favorite. However, when he started going hard on the front of the group, he could not shake his competitors. Young William Junior Lecerf (with a suitable middle name) of Belgium and Soudal – Quick Step attacked and opened up a good gap, before Finn Fisher-Black of New Zealand and UAE – Team Emirates bridged up to him. Eventually, when the leaders crested the climb, Yates and Rafaj Majka (Black’s teammate) caught the leading pair. The group of four hammered away and worked well together until the finish. Simon won the sprint with Lecerf second and Fisher-Black third. That was also the order of the final General Classification.

Most of the racing in Saudi Arabia was pretty dull, and the scenery in the harsh desert was not my cup of tea either. Nor was the level on the final climb much to write home about. But it was better than having no race to watch early in the mornings.

Yates did his duty and won the home race for his sponsor, though not in impressive fashion having dropped on the only climb of the week. Lecerf really surprised me with his climb and Fisher-Black is improving as expected. This probably still does not mean much for the big guys as they think about the impending European season. For Yates, Twenty-One Days in July is quite a long way away.

In the French race Etoile de Besseges – Tour du Gard (also 2.1), the only real hitters (that we knew of before the race commenced) on the start list were Mads Pedersen of Denmark and Lidl -Trek and Ben Healy of Ireland and EF Education – EasyPost, with the course suiting Pedersen better and the Dane occupying a much higher position on the UCI ranking than the Irishman (6 vs. 22).

Stage One was sadly canceled due to French farmers protesting in the region.

Stage Two had a steep punch to the line, offering a lighter puncher a chance to dethrone Pedersen. Axel Laurance (66kg) of France and Alpecin – Deceuninck did just that by going early and narrowly hanging on to beat Pedersen by less than a wheel length. Laurance is a big talent, and we will see how he progresses. He is down to ride the Ardennes this year, though probably will be second-in-command after Mathieu van der Poel.

Stage Three was a hilly affair suiting Pedersen perfectly. Trek controlled the race all day and Pedersen won the bunch sprint to take the leader’s jersey from Laurance.

Stage Four was an amazing viewing experience. A strong-ish breakaway of six riders including Stefan Bissegger of Switzerland and EF (who has defeated Filippo Ganna in time trials in the past) was up the road without a huge gap most of the day. The peloton looked to have things well in hand for most of the day with Trek doing most of the work. The uphill finish again suited Pedersen and he looked like he was going to snag another stage. But the breakaway just kept chipping away at it and on the finish line, they survived by two seconds. It was not Bissegger who did the job (he finished second) but Samuel Leroux of France and Van Rysel – Roubaix (a Continental – Third Division – team) who won the sprint for his first professional victory! It was a truly heartwarming moment for everyone in and around the race.

So let’s talk about this one. This is absolutely the most beautiful moment so far this season. Sadly, it is extremely rare for 29-year-olds to get their first professional victory, especially Conti riders in a .1 race with WorldTour competition. Leroux will surely remember this day forever, and he should. Not many people win a professional bike race in Europe. He will have worked his entire life for it, and for him to finally get it done is a feel-good result.

Stage Five was a 10k Individual Time Trial with a hill at the end. Kevin Vauquelin of France and Arkea – Samsic surprisingly took the win over Mads Pedersen by 10 seconds, but Pedersen won the General Classification by two seconds over Vauquelin. Alberto Bettiol of Italy and EF took third on the stage and in the GC.

Pedersen did not look to be in dominant form this week in France, but his bigger targets are some time away, so he should be happy with his form for now.

Over in Southern Spain, the Volta a la Communitat Valenciana was the highest-ranked race of the week (2.Pro). This is important because it offers more UCI points for stage wins and General Classification placements than the 2.1 races. That, and the nature of the course resulted in a stronger field.

Stage One was a hilly day with a descent followed by a flat finish. The large breakaway worked away at it and eventually gained nine minutes over the dawdling peloton. The big teams never really got things together and despite some late efforts from the peloton and one of the two Italian riders in the lead briefly taking a wrong turn in the final kilometers, the breakaway survived. Alessandro Tonelli and Manuele Tarozzi from the ProTeam Bardiani stayed away for the 1-2 finish and gained over a minute in the General Classification. It is really nice to see a small team get a big result like this. This is just the second and biggest win of 31-year-old Tonelli’s career. It’s another victory that is really nice to see. My Man Oier Lazkano attacked out of the peloton and caught a breakaway straggler to snag third place, gain some time, and four bonus seconds.

With Tonelli in the leader’s jersey, Stage Two was a tricky descent finish that suited Matej Mohoric (who won Milan-Sanremo in 2022 with a daredevil descent of the Poggio). Despite some efforts from the big climbers in the race on the final easy-ish ascent, the peloton was mostly together over the top. Mohoric did what he does and soloed away on the descent to win the stage by 13 seconds over the reduced peloton. Tonelli did not lose a single second. Lazkano punctured and lost his place in the GC.

Stage Three was a bunch sprint won by the heavily favored Jonathan Milan of Italy and Lidl – Trek. He won the points jersey in the Giro d’Italia last year, and the sprint field in this race was weak, so it would have been a shock if he had not taken this stage.

Stage Four was a difficult day finishing with a fake-news (read: irregular) climb at 5.8 kilometers averaging 9.2 percent. The first 1.8k were 13.8 percent before a respite and then another brutal ramp to the finish line. In all, the stage had over 3,300 meters of elevation gain in 160k. A pretty weak breakaway went up the road but was given no leash by the peloton. Bora – Hansgrohe had the race favorite in Aleksandr Vlasov. However, I thought Santiago Buitrago of Colombia and Bahrain – Victorious but even more so Brandon McNulty of the United States and UAE Team Emirates had a really good shot too. The peloton more or less arrived at the final climb together. After numerous attacks, the field was whittled down to the three riders I just mentioned. McNulty opportunistically attacked on a flatter section and opened a sizable gap. But there was still an agonizingly long and steep ramp to be conquered and the chasers did not give up. McNulty grimaced the whole way but did the business and won the stage by 12 seconds (also taking crucial bonus seconds) over his two opponents. He took the leader’s jersey off of Tonelli who fought valiantly and stayed in the top five with one day to go. The big question was whether McNulty could keep the lead on a tricky final stage and win his second (and biggest) career GC title. He led by 14 second over Buitrago and 17 over Vlasov.

A weak-ish-looking breakaway stole a few minutes on a charging peloton on the 93-kilometer final stage characterized by a 5k 9.3 percent climb halfway into the stage before the descent and a long flat run-in. The heaviest hitters did not climb La Frontera as fast as they perhaps could have, with only Vlasov trying an attack. McNulty was strong enough to cover it with relative ease and the peloton eventually shrunk to about a dozen riders at the top of the climb.

Oier Lazkano was still in the group (mashing a monstrous 528 watts for over 15 minutes to stay in the bunch). That is around 6.6 watts per kilogram, assuming he’s heavier than he is listed at. That’s a strong pace but not a historic one for the GC contenders.

Back to the racing action, Will Barta of the United States and Movistar held a minute advantage on the bunch with 45 kilometers to ride including a lot of flat in which the group would have a massive advantage over the 61-kilo solo man out front. The big teams took turns chasing and Milan eventually caught the peloton, which meant Trek went to work on the front to tee him up for a bunch sprint. Barta’s advantage dropped to under 10 seconds with five or so kilometers to go, but he kept chipping away at it. I was biting my nails for what seemed like an eternally long final six minutes of pedaling for Barta. But impossibly, he stayed away!

Barta won his first professional race (at the age of 28… this is perhaps as beautiful a victory as Leroux’s) with an epic solo raid as the peloton was relegated to fighting out the minor places with Milan sprinting to second, eight seconds behind the hero of the day.

McNulty finished safely in the group and wrapped up the GC title with America winning three races in two days. Buitrago and Vlasov settled for second and third.

McNulty looks excellent heading into the UAE Tour and Paris-Nice. I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. The watts do not lie. He should go to the Giro d’Italia as a shadow leader with Tadej Pogacar.

The heaviest hitters have not yet opened up their 2024 campaigns yet, but this period of racing is quite exciting. Many dreams came true this week. What more can a cycling fan ask for?

All in all, it’s great to have racing back.

I want to finish with a comment on the emotions of two French riders I’ve mentioned here. The contrast between the tears of Samuel Leroux and the tears of Kevin Vauquelin could not have been more stark. The difference between the narrow victory of both was that Vauquelin was devastated to have lost the General Classification, while Leroux was overjoyed to have won his first (and likely only) professional bike race. There is something ethereal about the opposite visceral reaction to the result of a bike race resulting in the same outward display of emotion. On consecutive days, each man hunched over their bikes and cried, shamelessly, in front of the cameras, their teammates, rivals, and spectators. That, to me, shows that this is more than a sport. For those humans who have dedicated their youth to racing bicycles in Europe, winning or losing a race is comparable to life or death.

The only difference is that Vauquelin is quite young, and obviously quite talented, so he will have plenty more opportunities to win. I’m not worried for him. Leroux might never get another shot, but with that twist of fate on February 3rd, 2024, his career changed instantly and became a success *Everybody Liked That*.

More soon,

Jamie