#UCI World Tour

[dimensionsvelo]

Les Cervélo 2025 de Visma-Lease a Bike

L’équipe néerlandaise Visma-Lease a Bike utilisera quasiment les mêmes montages pour ses Cervélo pour 2025. Quasiment, car il y a du nouveau, Prologo arrive ! Jonas Vingegaard et ses coéquipiers de Visma-Lease a Bike rouleront en 2025 sur les Cervélo S5 et R5 sur les différentes épreuves de la saison. Sur Paris-Roubaix ce sera certainement le Soloist qui sera de sortie, tandis que sur les…

[gruppocompatto]

Giro d’Italia (2.UWT), Stage 1 (ITT): dominio assoluto di Remco Evenepoel. Il belga subito in rosa

Prima maglia rosa in carriera per il campione del mondo Remco Evenepoel che domina la cronometro di Ortona. Una prova contro il tempo dominata sin dal primo chilometro!!! Il campione del Mondo Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick Step) vince la prima tappa dell’edizione 2023 del Giro d’Italia (2.UWT) la cronometro individuale Fossacesia Marina – Ortona di 19,6 km lungo la splendida Costa dei…

[leslie-o-crieff]

C'est toujours aussi beau de voir un maillot à pois remporter une étape de montagne.

[womensworldtour]

Have you ever seen Mischa Bredewold more relatable than this photo before the start of the women's elite UCI championship race? This is how we all feel about biking in the rain.

Puck Pieterse had plenty to celebrate (she won the U-23 title) but after a long, hard, cold day on the bike, her face says it all.

[someinstant]

So being exhausted after work today, I decided to watch the replay of the mixed team time trial from this morning because I find time trials chill to have on in the background while I do other work, and I have the following thoughts:

I love the Afghanistan team so much for being there and I'm very proud of them, especially the woman who finished after falling at the start. Good job, guys! That's really hard, and you did so well!

I want more countries to try this discipline, because I think it's really cool, and also I love that this is a sport that forces countries to consider that ALL of their athletes, no matter their gender, are on the same team.

And yet it highlights some of those entrenched gender disparities that we absolutely know exist in sports-- like, I cannot tell you how annoyed I am when I see that the men's side of a relay all have fancy TT bikes and aero helmets and profile bars, and the women are on road bikes with minimal alterations. Like, you really aren't even attempting to invest, are you?

A million badass points to the Italian cyclist who unclipped and went 'round a corner with only one foot in because she was trying to fix her chain by kicking the derailer at the same time. Was it safe? No. Should you do that? Also no. Was it impressive as hell? Yeah, definitely.

I am very impressed by anyone who rode this time trial today who also rode the men's road race on Sunday. I have no idea how Bettiol and Kung and Craddock and Matthews and Powless et al didn't just, like, vomit at the thought of doing YET MORE circuits. (It should be noted, however, that I thought the men's road race was AMAZING and I loved watching it. Although I'm pretty certain it was literal hell to ride.)

Dude, Team USA: I know we got the money. Maybe we should make sure that Neilson Powless's skinsuit actually fits him? Considering that he's about the biggest name we sent to do any of the road race disciplines for these World Champs, it seems like we should maybe try a little harder. Because those shorts were ABSURDLY SHORT and I was about to die laughing.

Like, we are inching perilously towards booty shorts territory there, y'all.

And finally:

I have no idea what was going on with Switzerland on that podium. They were just absolutely vibing up there-- playing with the adorable Highland coo plushies everyone on the podium gets, chatting away while getting their jerseys, and it totally looked like Kung was making some sort of smart remark right as the anthem started playing and Marlen Reusser sort of turned to him, like, "You are gonna get us all in trouble with the teacher, pls shut up."

[etapereine]

"On the Beach" by Mary Oliver + Brothers, Teammates, Rivals & Friends

"On the Beach" by Mary Oliver (x) | Matej Mohorič & Fred Wright, 2023 Tour de France, Stage 19 (x) | Jonas Vingegaard, Sepp Kuss, Christophe Laporte & Tiesj Benoot, 2022 Tour de France, Stage 20 (x) | Mathieu van der Poel & Jasper Philipsen, 2023 Paris-Roubaix (x) | Ivo Oliveira & Rui Oliveira, 2023 Portuguese National Championships (x) | Marc Soler & Tadej Pogačar, 2023 Tour de France, Stage 17 (x) | Jonas Vingegaard & Tadej Pogačar, 2022 Tour de France Podium Ceremony (x) | Wout van Aert & Mathieu van der Poel, 2023 UCI Cyclocross World Championships (x) | Mark Cavendish & Geraint Thomas, 2023 Giro d'Italia, Stage 21 (x) | Felix Gall & Ben O'Connor, 2023 Tour de France, Stage 17 (x) | Richard Carapaz & Michał Kwiatkowski, 2020 Tour de France, Stage 18 (x) | Ilan van Wilder & Remco Evenepoel, 2022 Vuelta a España, Stage 21 (x) | Mark Cavendish & Julian Alaphilippe, 2021 Tour de France, Stage 6 (x) | Primož Roglič & Tadej Pogačar, 2020 Tour de France, Stage 21 (x) | Julian Alaphilippe & Mirco Maestri, 2024 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 (x) | Valentin Paret-Peintre & Aurélien Paret-Peintre, 2024 Giro d'Italia, Stage 10 (x) | Juan Sebastián Molano & Rui Oliveira, 2023 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 (x) | Jonas Vingegaard & Wout van Aert, 2022 Tour de France, Stage 11 (x)

Thank you @arriere-du-peloton for answering the call when I asked for cycleblr's favorite hugging photos!

[greyattack]

How do you learn what a feeling means?

Frame Text: How to Draw a Horse by Emma Hunsinger References: Podium at Super Prestige Diem (2011) | "Aux racines de la rivalité entre Mathieu Van der Poel et Wout Van Aert" (L'Equipe) | Podium at Cyclocross World Championships Juniors (2012) | Wout trailing Mathieu at at Cyclocross World Championships Juniors (2012) | Podium at Cyclocross World Championships Elite (2017) | Wout winning an unknown race | "Van Aert: Van der Poel has always motivated me to beat him" (Cycling News) | Podium at Cyclocross World Cup Hoogerheide (2016) | Podium at Cyclocross World Championships Elite (2015) | Cyclocross Otegem Start Line (2017) | "Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert: The anatomy of a rivalry" (Cycling News) | Otegem (2017) | "Mathieu van der Poel en Wout van Aert, de koningen van de cross: 'Als je niet kunt afzien, moet je gaan voetballen'" (Humo) | Otegem (2017) | Cyclocross Otegem Start Line (2018) | Cyclocross Valkenburg World Cup (2016) | "LOENHOUT: Super Van Aert wins a Trofee 'super modder' + MORE PHOTOS & TV COVERAGE" (Cyclocross Rider) | "The van der Poel-van Aert rivalry: 'It’s impossible for us to be friends'" (Le Course en Tête) | Podium at 18th Superprestige Heusden-Zolder Elite (2022) | Wout and Mathieu after an unknown race (2014) | Mathieu and Wout during the Cyclocross World Championships (2016) | Wout touching Mathieu's back after the Cyclocross World Cup Namur (2020) | Wout and Mathieu after the Tour of Flanders (2020) | Wout and Mathieu after the UCI World Championships - Road (2023)

[pro-cycling-primers]

🏁 Types of races 🏁

As promised in my general introductory post, this is going to be an overview of the two different types of races that are contested in professional cycling.

One-day races 📅

Exactly what it says on the tin! Start in one town, finish in another, difficult stuff in between and the first rider across the line is the winner. That last bit's obvious but when we have a look at stage races it's not always that simple!

DNF numbers can be relatively high and racing can be very aggressive with no need to save energy for the next day (except for other races that might be happening in the next few days), with different races favouring different kinds of riders. Women's races are usually 150-200km, and men's are typically 180-250km (but can be longer)

A couple of recent ones with good highlights clips that I think are worth watching: men's Milano-San Remo 2022, women's Paris-Roubaix 2023, the Amstel Gold Race both the women's in 2024 and men's in 2019. Also the 2023 World Championships men's road race but WCs and how they work warrants another post.

Stage races 🗓

As if one day wasn't hard enough, much of the cycling calendar is made up of races that range from less than week to nearly a month: the longest are the men's Grand Tours, 21 stages across 23 days (two rest days).

The overall winner of a stage race is the rider with the lowest combined time across all stages, but every stage also has an individual winner. Stages are usually shorter than one-day races, and a rider must finish each stage within a time limit (percentage of the winner's time) in order to start the next.

In the aim of giving a thorough explanation but at the risk of being patronising; I've drawn up a simplified and exaggerated results table for a stage race to illustrate how General Classification works. Skip the bullet-pointed section if you get it.

(Unlike the very real five or six stages of the 4 Jours de Dunkerque, it actually lasts the stated number of days.)

Through some shocking organisational misfiring, only three riders are competing in the TJT. The UCI will likely be fining me several thousand Swiss Francs for this and preventing me from organising any further events, but we press on.

Annemiek Generieke takes a definitive victory in stage 1, her closest competition coming in nearly ten minutes down.

As she has the lowest accumulated time, Generieke starts in the leader's jersey for stage 2 (underlined). Perhaps exhausted by her previous efforts the day before, she finishes in last place with Ciclista beating Blanks by only one minute.

Blanks made up enough time on Generieke to now have the lowest accumulated time - she is leading the GC, so wears the leader's jersey for stage 3.

Ciclista wins her second stage but Blanks rides tactically to ensure she doesn't lose time and thus keeps the leader's jersey.

Brody Blanks wins the inaugaural (and final) Trois Jours de Tumbler with a time of 8 hours 55 minutes!

It's certainly for a GC winner to win a race without winning any stages - see 2017 men's Tour de France - but they'll usually win at least one. Successful GC campaigns require a team to work together to protect their leader and ensure they don't lose time to their rivals. GC riders are often exceptional climbers as the mountains are where the biggest time gaps are created, decent time-trialists, and especially gifted at recovery, staying consistent enough throughout a race to remain competitive.

Not every rider or team in the race is there to win GC: some will be teammates of leaders, others will be there to win as many stages as they can, or target one of the secondary classifications: points, climber's, youth, and team, (plus some other prizes) which I'll go into in a different post.

Thanks for reading, and see you later in the season!

[blueteams]

The Cycling AU, Part 1: Macklin Celebrini

Hello and welcome to the first in what I hope will be a series of posts wherein the San Jose Sharks are a struggling UCI WorldTour men’s road cycling team.

In order that half of this post isn't just a guide to men's road cycling, I'm attaching a couple primers. This article is about the Tour de France but it does a pretty good job at explaining how the sport works as a whole. This post by @pro-cycling-primers explains the two main types of races on the cycling calendar. This section of the road cycling Wikipedia page lists the types of road cyclists and their specialties - just like hockey has centers, wingers, d-men, and goalies, cycling has its own roles for team members.

TLDR: There are two types of races - stage races and one-day races; teams will usually have 20+ riders but only 7 can participate per race (8 for Grand Tours); cycling is, against all odds, a team sport.

Now, on to the RPF!

While I think that it's very tempting to think that Macklin Celebrini would be an all-rounder, it's also important to note that while having 18-year-olds playing isn't out of the ordinary for the NHL, least of all for a 1OA, such a concept is practically unheard of in pro cycling. Most riders will stay in the under-23 racing categories (often in the ProSeries or Continental Series) before they debut in the WorldTour. Even then, those who elect to skip the under-23 category are unlikely to make their debut at a Grand Tour (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, or Vuelta a España) before they hit their twenties. For someone to make it to a Grand Tour before hitting 20, they would have to be exceptionally good at one thing. For Mack, I think that would be time trialing.

Time trialing is an interesting aspect of cycling to say the least. Unlike in a regular road race, where you're racing against the other riders on the road, in a time trial, you're racing against the clock. What's more, unlike in a regular race, you can't rely on your teammates for help. The Wikipedia page puts it nicely: "ITTs are also referred to as 'the race of truth', as winning depends only on each rider's strength and endurance, and not on help provided by teammates and others riding ahead and creating a slipstream." Time trialing is extremely competitive, prioritizing aerodynamics and speed above all else (something which is reflected in unique kit and posture). If that doesn't sound like something Macklin "Yogurt king" "Brags about beating children in ministicks" "I don't get why nobody else cares that we're losing" Celebrini would be obsessed with, I don't know what else to tell you.

In this universe, Macklin is widely considered one of the best time trialists of his generation. At 17, he sweeps the men's junior time trial at the UCI World Championships. At 18, he is promptly signed to SAP-NetApp (cycling teams are named after their sponsors, unfortunately), a UCI WorldTour team coming off of a historically poor season. With their greatest time trialist and all-rounder set to retire at the end of the season, Macklin seems like the perfect addition to a team hoping for a miracle-level comeback. For now, he's a wunderkind time trialist. For directeur sportif Ryan Warsofsky, if all goes according to plan, Macklin might just bring the SAP organization its first Grand Tour stage win in 3 years.

It doesn't hurt that he's been getting on really well with the other members of the squad - especially Will Smith, the blonde-haired sprinter who's just been called up from the SAP development team. What could go wrong?

[pinkpogiclub]

hi!! 📋🔄❔?

hiya! thanks for the asks :))

📋 You can add, remove or change one rule in the UCI regulations. What do you do?

I feel like we're all on the same page on this one but definitely GPS tracking!! it honestly seems ridiculous that it doesn’t exist yet despite how advanced technology is.

Also. Hate hate hate the new rule on team kits colours! I understand not wanting riders to wear yellow/pink/red, but to apply the rule to all the other classifications jerseys feels a bit over the top.

🔄 What team kit would you like to completely redesign for next season?

Here! Please enjoy my horrible drawing skills https://www.tumblr.com/pinkpogiclub/768397713205313536/hello-hello-hehehe-3-hot-takeunpopular

❔ Do you have a favorite obscure/lesser-known cyclist?

I’ve said tao geoghen hart BUT now that I think about it!!!! Domenico pozzovivo!!!! He has JUST retired at 41 after being a pro cyclist for 19 years: he’s participated in the Giro EIGHTEEN times and he’s always been THEE perfect domistique (lately he’s been helping out Giulio Pellizzari). Super hard working and honestly such a nice, humble guy….he’s accumulated a series of truly TERRIFYING injuries throughout his career and if you go look them up you’ll genuinely start wondering how the hell he’s managed to get back on the bike everytime. Very inspiring and very insane.

[dimensionsvelo]

Des Lapierre Xelius DRS pour le Team PicNic-Post NL en 2025

LeTeam PicNic-Post NL, équipe de Romain Bardet et Warren Barguil, utilisera les vélos Lapierre à partir de 2025. L’Aerostorm DRS pour les chronos et le nouveau Xelius DRS pour les autres épreuves. La marque dijonnaise retrouve le World Tour par la grande porte ! Changement d’équipementiers en 2025 pour le Team PicNic-Post NL qui roulera donc sur vélos Lapierre. Le cheval de bataille sera le…

[gruppocompatto]

Paris - Roubaix (1.UWT): il percorso e i protagonisti

257 km, 29 settori sul pavé per un totale di 55 km sulle pietre. Dylan Van Baarle lo scorso anno stacco tutti vincendo in solitaria a Roubaix Dylan Van Baarle  (Photo by Bas Czerwinski/Getty Images) Una delle classiche più attese, la più dura e imprevedibile!!! Questa domenica sarà davvero una domenica di passione per coloro che saranno impegnati nella centoventesima edizione dell’Inferno del…

[leslie-o-crieff]

En 2022, Charlotte Kool rejoint la formation DSM pour devenir la poisson-pilote de la meilleure sprinteuse du monde, Lorena Wiebes. C'est elle qui lui servira de rampe de lancement pour ses sprints désormais. Et cette année-là, Wiebes est imbattable, remportant régulièrement des sprints massifs avec plusieurs longueurs d'avance. En 2023, Lorena Wiebes quitte la formation DSM pour rejoindre SD-Works. Les deux néerlandaises anciennes co-équipières se retrouvent pour la première fois sur le Tour UAE où elles se rendent coup pour coup, Kool étant devenue la sprinteuse attitrée chez DSM. Cette année-là, Charlotte Kool montre que Wiebes n'est pas invincible, même si cette dernière reste au-dessus. En 2024, c'est plus compliqué pour Kool qui fait une saison très maigre en victoire. Jusqu'à ce qu'arrive le Tour de France. Première étape, Lorena Wiebes a un ennui mécanique, Charlotte Kool quant à elle lance son sprint trop tôt mais elle est tellement puissante que sans Wiebes, personne ne peut la battre. Elle s'impose avec plusieurs longueurs d'avance sur la deuxième, comme Wiebes l'a fait tant de fois. Pour déterminer qui est la meilleure, on repassera mais en attendant, Kool savoure la plus belle victoire de sa carrière, dans son pays - le Tour ayant célébré son tout premier Grand Départ à l'étranger chez les femmes en partant de Rotterdam, au Pays-Bas - ainsi que la joie de se saisir du maillot jaune tellement iconique. Le lendemain, courte demi-étape, promise aux sprinteuses. Cette fois-ci Wiebes n'a pas d'ennui, elle est même très bien emmenée par le train de son équipe. Kool quant à elle n'est pas terriblement bien placée quand sa compatriote lance le sprint. Mais elle a pris les bonnes roues et elle produit son effort dans les 75 derniers mettre. Elle remonte son ancienne co-équipière, centimètres par centimètres, tandis que la ligne d'arrivée s'approche à grande vitesse... Puis elle la double et franchit la ligne une fraction de seconde plus tard. C'est fait, elle s'est imposée à la régulière face à Wiebes sur la course la plus médiatisée du monde. Ce n'est pas la première fois qu'elle y parvient mais cette fois elle le fait savoir au monde entier. Le titre, honorifique, de meilleure sprinteuse du monde est disputé.

[iwaoiness]

Where's the good in goodbye

His mother gently pinches his cheeks once more, makes him promise for the thirtieth time that he will take care of himself and beat up any racist he encounters, and hugs him tightly before finally letting go and joining his husband, who continues to keep his sunglasses on in an attempt to disguise his tear-reddened eyes. They tell him they're going for coffee and Hajime nods.

Iwaizumi hastily brushes away the tears from his cheeks, gathering his resolve before turning to confront Oikawa. His eyes remain fixed on the ground, his brow furrowed, his lips drawn into a trembling line, and his nose tinged with red. Hajime smiles, a bitter mixture of sadness and love, because he has not yet boarded the plane and already misses him so much that it hurts where his heart dwells.

"What a crybaby" He says, his voice too hoarse and too low to get the mocking effect he wanted.

But it's enough for Oikawa to glare at him, his chocolate eyes wrapped in a crystalline coating on the verge of shattering.

"You're one to talk, Cryjime."

Iwaizumi laughs, stretching his arms out towards the love of his life.

"Come here, Tooru" And all it takes is those three words to make Oikawa collapses into sobs before hugging Hajime, who also holds him close, as if he wanted to rebuild him, as if he wanted to cage Oikawa inside him so as never to lose it.

They feel that something is torn inside them, that their hearts are now not beating, but stabbing. Not only Tooru is saying goodbye to Hajime, Hajime is also saying goodbye to Tooru because in ten days, when Iwaizumi starts his classes at UCI, Oikawa will be on his way to San Juan, and there won't be time or enough money yet to be able to travel. And this is what hurts them the most because it is the first time they're separated without knowing when they will be able to see each other again, whether it will be weeks, months or even years from now. Despite leaving Japan because there is not enough room for so much ambition, they are still children. Children on the other side of the world, in a foreign land, where culture is alien and language a barrier to be broken. Where they will have to learn by themselves to anesthetize loneliness and nostalgia in order to continue walking without feeling so much pain.

"Don't forget to do the house tour" Tooru whispers, the voice raspy and wet, as his hand strokes the hair at the nape of Iwaizumi's neck. Iwaizumi chuckles softly, his fingertips tracing soothing patterns along Oikawa's back, as he knows he likes.

"I won't."

"And call me once you arrive."

“Okay”

"And make sure to take good care of the lucky charm Takeru and I made you."

"Mmh" Hajime hums, sinking his face deeper into Oikawa's shoulder, taking a deep breath of his soft perfume, straining to remember it until they meet again.

"And you suck at doing laundry.” Oikawa continues, nestling deeper into the hug, sniffling through his nose before running the back of his hand across his cheeks. “I know you'll put white and coloured clothes together, so I stuffed colour catcher wipes in your suitcase."

"Are you my mom now?" teases Hajime, his smile growing wider as he feels Tooru's laughter reverberate against his chest.

"You wish, Iwa-chan"

They don't know how long they're still there, hugging and talking. Neither still able to look each other in the eye without feeling the urge to tear up the tickets and make the stay a little longer.

But the mechanical voice over the public address system alerting the passengers of the flight to Los Angeles, reminds that time is running against them.

Hajime holds onto Tooru a little tighter before reluctantly pulling away, though his hands remain linked around Oikawa's waist. They search each other's gaze, tattoo the colours of their eyes in their memory for fear that they will fade until they meet again, and then, Oikawa cradles Hajime's face between his hands, caresses his wet cheeks with his thumbs and they both close their eyes before kissing.

It's soft, it involves everything they can't express by speaking and it makes it seem like saying goodbye is less difficult.

"I have to go now" Hajime murmurs against his lips before kissing him once more.

"I know" Tooru whispers back, stealing yet another kiss.

They had hardly slept the previous night, etching their presence onto each other's skin, kissing until their lips hurt, transforming words into unbreakable promises. They had gazed at each other, committing even the smallest mole to memory, smiling and embracing as if tomorrow would never arrive.

"Wait, I have one last thing for you" Hajime interrupts, stepping away to retrieve his backpack, which he had left nearby, leaning against one of the pillars alongside the rest of his luggage. He crouches down in front of it, unzips the large pocket, and retrieves his favourite cap—the one adorned with the embroidered Godzilla figure next to the kanjis. With one swift shake, he unfolds it before standing upright and returning to Oikawa. Iwaizumi smiles at his confused expression before placing the cap over his hair. "Give it back to me when we meet again, Trashykawa."

Tooru blinks, reaching up to touch the cap before mirroring Iwaizumi's smile and nodding.

There's one last hug, a take good care of yourself, eat well and don't overdo like the idiot you are and an I love you too, Iwa-chan. Then Hajime's parents return. Tooru joins them, slipping an arm around Iwaizumi's mother, who reciprocates by wrapping her arm around his waist, while exchanging smiles with Iwaizumi's father, who offers encouraging pats on the back. They watches as Hajime swings his backpack behind his shoulders and hoists up his large suitcase, before turning to face them one last time.

There are no more words.

They wave goodbye, and as Hajime bows respectfully to his parents, tears well up in their eyes once more. Oikawa blinks rapidly, determined not to succumb to tears again. With that, he resumes walking towards the first security checkpoint, alone and without looking back.

The three of them linger in silence amidst the bustling Narita International Airport. Hajime's father noisily blows his nose with his sixth handkerchief of the day and his wife takes a deep breath.

"It seems like only yesterday when I first held him in my arms" She murmurs, her voice still tinged with moisture, yet softened with the tenderness only a mother can have.

Oikawa gives his second mother a gentle squeeze, tilting his head over her.

"Hajime will be fine. Even though he's a brute, he's responsible and strong."

"I know" She smiles warmly, patting his hand gently. "And I know you'll be fine in Argentina too, but saying goodbye to him and you will still hurt so much."

And Tooru understands that feeling so well. After all, he has just bid farewell to his soul.

...

i think i didnt wrote about iwaoi saying goodbye at the airport until now omg, hope u enjoyed it!!

u can find this and me on my ao3 🌻

🍉

[womensworldtour]

Happy new year to Brodie Chapman, the 2025 Australia time trial champion! Australia's national championships are such an outlier, coming in January, but we really appreciate how much excitement it brings to this quiet corner of the race calendar. (We appreciate the Aussie riders that lose their off-season and time with friends/family as they train for nationals, that's probably tough but kudos to Chapman for a huge 30+ second victory in the ITT, after two years on the podium!

In the elite women's road race, the bunch let a breakaway of five young riders go up the road early. The break immediately got big gap of nearly 5 minutes, and then cooperated together very well. The breakaway was made up of Lucinda Stewart (LivAlUla Jayco Continental), Ella Simpson (St. Michel - Preference Home - Auber93), Cassia Boglio (Pas Racing), Katelyn Nicholson (Butterfields Ziptrak), and Sophia Sammons (Praties Cycling), and they took turns smoothly on the front, while indecision behind hampered the chase.

Eventually, Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) and Amber Pate (LivAlUla Jayco) gave chase, but were still two minutes back when the breakaway came into the final kilometers. Sammons had dropped off, and so the finale was a four-up sprint. Lucinda Stewart was the fastest on the day, edging out Ella Simpson, with Cassia Boglio and Katelyn Nicholson taking third and fourth, respectively. Other teams, particularly Lidl-Trek, had plenty of regrets about how the race played out, and would have liked to had Amanda Spratt or Lauretta Hanson in the finale. But they will definitely learn their lesson and take that into the season.

Looking forward, the UCI Women's World Tour season officially begins this weekend with the Tour Down Under! This year's course includes a double-climb on Willunga Hill, and we can't wait!

[etapereine]

It is fire's nature to strive upward

Mathieu van der Poel, 2024 Paris-Roubaix (Gruber Images) | Dictionary.com | Remco Evenepoel, 2022 Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Gruber Images) | Jonas Vingegaard, 2022 Tour de France Stage 11 (Team Jumbo Visma) | "Fire and Ice" (Robert Frost) | Tadej Pogačar, 2023 Tour de France Stage 9 (Gruber Images) | Jonas Vingegaard, 2023 Tour de France Stage 17 (Gruber Images) | Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World (John Vaillant) | Felix Gall, 2023 Tour de France Stage 17 (Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images) | Tour de France: Unchained, Episode 4 | Mathieu van der Poel, 2023 UCI Road World Championships (Gruber Images) | "Horses" (Wendell Berry) | Dictionary.com | Marc Soler and Tadej Pogačar, 2023 Tour de France Stage 17 (Gruber Images) | "Horses" (Wendell Berry) | Giulio Ciccone, 2023 Tour de France Stage 14 (Marco Bertorello/Getty Images) | Tadej Pogačar, 2023 Tour de France Stage 9 (UAE Team Emirates) | "Tour de France races on to Carcassonne despite 40°C heatwave" (CyclingNews) | Dictionary.com | Jonas Vingegaard, 2022 Tour de France Stage 13 (Tim de Waele/Getty Images) | "Tour de France races on to Carcassonne despite 40°C heatwave" (CyclingNews) | "Soaring temperatures turn up the heat on Tour de France peloton: ‘It was a furnace’" (Velo Magazine) | "Tour de France 2022 Climate-Related Risks" (Janice Kai Chen/Washington Post) | Tom Pidcock, 2022 Tour de France Stage 14 (Gruber Images) | Romain Bardet, 2022 Tour de France Stage 17 (Gruber Images) | "Soaring temperatures turn up the heat on Tour de France peloton: ‘It was a furnace’" (Velo Magazine) | Gilberto Simoni, 2004 Tour de France Stage 17 (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)