Merlier wins bunch sprint on opening day of Paris Nice 2025
March 9th Sunday, 1st stage: Le-Perray-en-Yvelines – Le-Perray-en-Yvelines – 156.1km
Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) was head and shoulders above the rest of the sprinters to win stage 1 of Paris-Nice 2025 and be the first leader of the 83rd edition of “the Race to the Sun”, replicating his efforts in the 2023 edition.
Stage one of the 2025 Paris-Nice bike race kicked off with a 156.1km route starting and ending in Le Perray-en-Yvelines. The stage though designated flat was turned out to be quite technical and contained three short but steep climbs, altogether posing a challenge for the sprinters to contain any breakaways.
Early in the stage, such a breakaway group formed, comprising Alexandre Delettre (TotalEnergies), Samuel Fernández (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA), and Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty). This trio managed to build a significant lead over the peloton, with their advantage growing to over two and half minutes aided by a lack of ambition in the peloton.
Despite a hold out by Fernández teh break’s glory came to an end with 50km remaining. The peloton continued on for a further 26 odd kilometres untroubled by breaks but on the final climb, the second ascent of Cote de Villiers-Saint-Frédéric, Julien Alaphilippe chanced his arm, accompanied by defending champion Matteo Jorgenson. Jorgenson managed to cross the summit first.
At 10km to go the Jorgenson was presetend with an opportunity to take valubalke bonus seconds and manged to secure 4″ after coming second to Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) with Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers) third.
Merlier, the European champion survived the traps of the day, perfectly navigated the last kilometre to fly past everyone and take his fifth success of the season. Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Alberto Dainese (Tudor) complete the podium of the day. Defending champion Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) although finishing deep in the bunch took a 4″ time bonus en route to start his defence in sixth place on GC.
The unforgiving slopes of the ‘Green Mountain’ saw the fourteenth Tour of Oman reach its climax today. Known officially as Jebel Akhdar (5.7 km at 10.5%) it was the scene for the final brutal settling of accounts.
David Gaudu (Groupama–FDJ), who had earlier taken the stage three and the overall lead on Eastern Mountain, started the stage with a tenuous six second lead over Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates XRG) on GC. The Breton fought gallantly to defend his red jersey, but finally cracked under pressure from Yates with 700 metres to go.
The British rider finished stage 5 a couple of seconds behind the Frenchman Valentin Paret-Peintre, who secured his first win for new team Soudal Quick-Step but more importantly 43 seconds ahead of Gaudu. This was enough to propel Yates to his second consecutive overall victory in the Tour of Oman.
12/02/2025 – Tour of Oman 2025 – Stage 5 – Imty > Jabal al Akhdhar (Green Mountain) – (138,5km) – GAUDU David (GROUPAMA-FDJ)
Paret-Peintre’s efforts allowed him to leap-frog Gaudu to take second spot at 6 seconds, while Gaudu rounded out the final podium at 39 seconds.
12/02/2025 – Tour of Oman 2025 – Stage 5 – Imty > Jabal al Akhdhar (Green Mountain) – (138,5km) – RIES Michel (ARKEA-B&B HOTELS )12/02/2025 – Tour of Oman 2025 – Stage 5 – Imty > Jabal al Akhdhar (Green Mountain) – (138,5km)
Back on the plains after the previous day’s summit finish, the pancake-flat course of stage 4 of the Tour of Oman was a final opportunity for the sprinters, who did not let it go to waste.
After completing a winding run through ochre-hued mountains and catching the last survivor of the three-man breakaway —Kongphob Thimachai (Roojai Insurance)— 13 kilometres from the line, the fast men revved up for a drag race to the finish line outside the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Muscat.
Olav Kooij (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) was once again the speediest of the lot, charging to his second victory in the race three days after bagging stage 1 in another bunch sprint. The Dutchman outgunned Giacomo Nizzolo (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Orluis Aular (Movistar Team), at the top of the false flat in the final kilometre.
David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) held on to the red jersey with a six second margin over Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on the eve of the finale, where the race will reach its climax on Green Mountain.
The fourteenth edition of the Tour of Oman tackled the first of two summit finishes in Monday’s 180.8-kilometre stage 3. Legs tingling in anticipation of their first real test of the season, the climbers went head to head on Eastern Mountain (1,016 masl), under the gaze of Jabal Sham, the highest peak in the Sultanate (3,018 masl). David Gaudu (Groupama–FDJ) proved strongest in the long-awaited duel that pitted him against the reigning champion, Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates – XRG).
After firing off multiple attacks within the last few hundred metres of the final ascent (4.8 km at 8.5%), the Breton outsprinted the British rider by 1 second, with Damien Howson (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) third at five seconds. Gaudu opened his account for the season and wrested the leader’s red jersey from Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step), who was dropped with three kilometres to go after going into the red for his teammate Valentin Paret-Peintre, fourth at 13 seconds. Gaudu has 6 seconds in hand over Yates and 12 over Howson going into the last two stages.
Decked out in their black-and-yellow livery, the Visma – Lease a Bike armada went full steam ahead to put their captain, Olav Kooij, on coarse to victory when the opening stage of the 2025 Tour of Oman reached the boulevard hugging the coast of the Sea of Oman.
Buoyed up by the efforts of his shipmates, the 23-year-old Dutchman seized the victory at Bimmah Sink Hole, stealing the wind from Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL) and Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) in a bunch sprint to claim the opening stage of the fourteenth Tour of Oman and pull on the inaugural red jersey.
With a stage win at the 2024 Giro d’Italia Kooij lived up to his status as the man to beat on Saturday. This is his first triumph of the season, his first since a stage at the Tour de Pologne and a maiden win in Oman —where he is racing for the first time— and his 37th career victory overall.
08/02/2025 – Tour of Oman 2025 – Stage 1 – Bushar > Bimmah Sink Hole (177,7km) -A.S.O./Oman Cycling Association/Pauline Ballet
Five men broke away as soon as the flag dropped and added some excitement to the 177.7-kilometre opener. The blistering sun and the mostly unfavourable winds prevented their advantage from increasing much beyond five minutes. The last two survivors of the breakaway, Rodrigo Álvarez (Burgos-Burpellet BH) and the leader of the combativity standings, Kane Richards (Roojai Insurance) were caught with 25 kilometres to go, not long after David Gaudu (Groupama–FDJ) took third place and a bonus second at the second intermediate sprint.
08/02/2025 – Tour of Oman 2025 – Stage 1 – Bushar > Bimmah Sink Hole (177,7km) – TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE – A.S.O./Oman Cycling Association/Pauline Ballet
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com – 07/09/2023 – Cycling – 2023 Tour of Britain – Stage 5: Felixstowe to Felixstowe (192.4km) – Wout van Aert of Team Jumbo-Visma celebrates winning the stage.
Wout Van Aert gave Jumbo-Visma it’s 960th team victory with the Stage 5 win in Felixstowe bring to end teammate Olav Kooij’s run to wins. The Belgian also took over the race lead after her managed to finish 3 seconds clear of the bunch, making it the only thing that didn’t change on the day.
Olav Kooij continues his dominance at the Tour of Britain
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com – 06/09/2023 – Cycling – 2023 Tour of Britain – Stage 4: Sherwood Forest to Newark-on-Trent (166.6km) – Olav Kooij of Team Jumbo Visma (Wearing the Leaders Jersey) Wins his fourth consecutive stage of the 2023 Tour of Britain at Stage 4 in Newark-on-Trent
Jumbo-Visma’s ace sprinter made it four from four with the win in Newark-on-Trent, equalling the record for consecutive stage wins set by Edvald Boasson Hagen at the 2009 Tour.
The Dutchman once again benefited from a brilliant lead-out from his Jumbo – Visma team-mate Wout van Aert after the likes of TRINITY Racing, BORA – hansgrohe, and INEOS Grenadiers attempted to form their own trains approaching the historic town’s finish line.
Casper van Uden (Team dsm – firmenich) placed second, with Ethan Vernon (Great Britain) continuing his consistent week by placing third.
Unsurprisingly, Kooij continues to lead the race’s general classification and tops the standings in the cottages.com points and Sportive Breaks best young rider competitions.
A bunch sprint was always on the cards after two TDT – Unibet Cycling Team riders – Brit Harry Tanfield and Belgian Abram Stockman – were caught 27.5 kilometres outside of Newark-on-Trent.
Kooij said; “We’re just going day by day and it’s been amazing so far. The hat trick was already special and now four out of four is amazing.” He continues “I’m really happy with what we’ve done so far and I hope to keep it going.”
Jumbo – Visma started to lose position at the three-kilometre mark but he always trusted his team to get him back into perfect position. “The guys in front of me are strong enough to move through the wind and move up if it’s necessary. It’s never really smooth to get through the last few hundred metres, so sometimes you need to stay calm and know when it’s your time to move up. If we stay together, it’s a big advantage”
Stockman (TDT – Unibet) and Pinarello King of the Mountains leader James Fouche (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) attacked from the official start with Stockman’s teammate Harry Tanfield joining the duo one-kilometre later.
Tanfield and Fouche make this day number three in the break so far after spending most of stage one and three out the front together, and TDT – Unibet keeping up their appearances of being in a breakaway of every stage of this year’s Tour of Britain
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com – 06/09/2023 – Cycling – 2023 Tour of Britain – Stage 4: Sherwood Forest to Newark-on-Trent (166.6km) – Harry Tanfield of Team TDT Unibet Cycling before the start of Stage 4 of the 2023 Tour of Britain in Sherwood Forest wearing a Robin Hood Hat
As expected Fouche took maximum points at the first classified climb on Kilton Hill. Shortly after Tanfield rolled through to victory at the cottages.com intermediate sprint in Broughton.
Fouche extended his lead in the Pinarello King of the Mountains classification by being the summit of the second classified climb at Red Hill Lane. The Kiwi decided his race was over after collecting his points, sat up and retreated back to the peloton, leaving the duo of TDT – Unibet riders ahead with 80-kilometres left.
The duo kept the gap between themselves and the peloton at around the minute mark until the break was eventually caught at the 27km mark, when Dimitri Peyskens (Bingoal WB) and Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo – Visma) attacked from the peloton to end the duo’s hopes.
TRINITY and INEOS Grenadiers were the biggest antagonists of the bunch, pushing the pace in the peloton, but it was Jumbo – Visma once again who took control into the final right-hand corner with a perfectly drilled lead out.
Super domestique turned super lead out man Wout Van Aert led out his sprinter from 700 metres to go, the Belgian peeled away at 150 metres to go with his sprinter in perfect position to power to victory and make it four from four.
Highlights of stage four will be broadcast on ITV4 in the UK at 20:00 on Wednesday 6 September and available on demand via ITVX for 30 days.
Stage five of the Tour of Britain sees the race return to Suffolk for the first time since 2017. Felixstowe will host both the start and finish of the longest stage of the 2023 Tour at 192 kilometres. The stage begins at 10:45 with more details here.
About the Tour of Britain
Stages
Stage one Sunday 3 September Altrincham to Manchester
Stage two Monday 4 September Wrexham to Wrexham
Stage three Tuesday 5 September Goole to Beverley
Stage four Wednesday 6 September Sherwood Forest to Newark-on-Trent
Stage five Thursday 7 September Felixstowe to Felixstowe
Stage six Friday 8 September Southend-on-Sea to Harlow
Stage seven Saturday 9 September Tewkesbury to Gloucester
Stage eight Sunday 10 September Margam Country Park to Caerphilly
Teams
UCI WorldTeams: BORA – hansgrohe (Germany), INEOS Grenadiers (Great Britain), Jumbo – Visma (Netherlands), Movistar Team (Spain), Team dsm-firmenich (Netherlands)
UCI ProTeams: Bingoal WB (Belgium), Bolton Equities Black Spoke (New Zealand), Equipo Kern Pharma (Spain) Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team (Switzerland), Team Flanders – Baloise (Belgium), Uno-X Pro Cycling Team (Norway)
UCI Continental Teams: Global 6 Cycling (New Zealand), Saint Piran (Great Britain), TDT-Unibet Cycling Team (Netherlands), TRINITY Racing (Great Britain)
Here is a summary of the road racing results so far at the 2023 UCI World Championships in Glasgow
89th World Championships Women’s Junior – Road Race (WC)
Saturday, August 05 2023, 10:00 Glasgow – Glasgow (70.km)
Julie Bego (France/Cofidis Women Team) has won the Women’s Junior Road race in Glasgow, beating 17 year old Briton Cat Ferguson and Belgian Fleur Moors by nine seconds.
89th World Championships Men’s Junior – Road Race (WC)
Saturday, August 05 2023, 13:00 Glasgow – Glasgow (127.7km)
Albert Withen Philipsen (Dernmark/Tscherning Cycling Academy) wins the junior men’s road race, beating Paul Fietzke (Germany/Team Auto Eder) and Felix Ørn-Kristoff (Norway/Stavanger SK)n by 1’19”.
89th World Championships Women Elite Individual Time Trial
Thursday, August 10 2023, 13:55, Stirling 36.2km
Chloe Dygert (USA/Canyon//SRAM Racing) takes gold in the women’s elite ITT with a time of 6″ faster than Australian Grace Brown (FDJ – SUEZ). Switzerland’s Christina Schweinberger (Fenix-Deceuninck) took bronze.
A review of the Road Book 1989, a comprehensive record of the 1989 Professional Road Racing Season
The Road Book 1989 is the inaugural cycling almanack in the Blue Series celebrating one of the most exciting years in the sport, the year of the closest Tour de France finish and the year the Berlin Wall fell.
When the first Road Book was published covering the 2018 season it immediately identified a gap in the market few realised was there and brought a unique level of insight into the sport of professional road cycling. With it though came one point of frustration – why did no one do this years before?
Well, the creators of the Road Book listened and the Blue Series of Road Books was born, with the flag dropping on 1989. A year that reminded American audiences, again, that the biggest sporting event in the world wasn’t the Super Bowl or the World Series, but the Tour de France.
As with the ‘Red Series’ the book is chock full of statistics and essays by those in the thick of the action. All the big races are in there and with each a description of what happened that day both on and off the bike, the latter a reminder that while professional road cycling can seem like a bubble it happens in public life goes on around it. Here’s an example:
TOUR DE SUISSE
Stage 4
17 June 1989
Liestyal-Bad Zurzach
166.5kmThe city of Liestal is famous for its Chienbase traditional parade held annually on the Sunday night after Ash Wednesday. Often characterised as a pagan spring festival, it features the startlingly dangerous-looking sight of people processing through the cobbled streets of the old town clutching huge flaming torches of strips of pine.
p 196
Of course 1989 is the year that a certain American with a French surname, Greg Lemond, broke French hearts in the most painful way when he bested French ‘national treasure’ the late Laurent Fignon by a mere eight seconds, on the final day, in Paris. Three hammer blows that struck deep into the French psyche. It was the closest the French have come to winning their home race in the 33 years since. It was also the year of the Tour de Trump versus the Tour de Rump, not a typo – see page 121.
A gallery of photographs from some of the best photographers in cycling bring 1989 to life and remind us that this was the era not just of steel frames but before shell helmets and the ubiquitous presence of sunglasses, when the suffering and glory was there for all to see. Everything changes, but nothing changes.
Happy Reading!
More details on the Road Book Series can be found on the official website here: https://theroadbook.co.uk/
Nogaro, Tuesday, July 4th –Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) took his second win of the 2023 Tour de France, and his fourth Tour de France sprint finish in a row, in a finale littered with crashes.
From the start in Dax —home town of the legendary sprinter André Darrigade, who won 22 Tour de France stages— to the finish on the Circuit Paul-Armagnac race track in Nogaro, everything pointed to a sprinter taking the spoils in stage 4, sandwiched between three gruelling stages in the Basque Country and the race’s first foray into the Pyrenees. The super-speedsters did not let this golden opportunity go to waste. Barrelling down the flat roads of the Landes and Gers departments, the sprinters’ teams kept a tight rein on a stage in which the breakaway took its sweet time to form.
The Norman duo of Benoît Cosnefroy and Anthony Delaplace took off with 86 kilometres to go and added some excitement to the race before getting reeled in about half an hour before the finish. The European champion, Fabio Jakobsen, was among those who hit the tarmac in the crash-marred finale, leaving Jasper Philipsen to surge to his fourth Tour de France bunch sprint win on a trot, one day after raising his arms in triumph in Bayonne and a year after coming out on top in Carcassonne and on the Champs-Élysées. It was a double whammy for the Belgian rider, who cemented his status as the king of sprints and wrested the green jersey from Victor Lafay, while Adam Yates stayed in yellow.
