tour de france stage 5 profile

Tour de France stage 5 LIVE: Jonas Vingegaard drops Tadej Pogačar in the Pyrenees

After a couple of sprint days the race heads into the mountains and could see a shake up in the GC

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After a pair of days for the sprinters, dominated by Jasper Philipsen, it's a day for the GC men and the climbers as the race hits the mountains.

The finish will be on the fearsome Col de Marie Blanque.

We'll be here with minute by minute updates throughout the day.

Stage start: 12.05 BST

Finish: 16.20 BST

Situation: Jai Hindley is out front alone, around a minute ahead of major GC rival Jonas Vingegaard, who in turn has distanced Tadej Pogačar to the tune of around 50 seconds.

Stage five course

Today's stage features three climbs, but the hardest comes mid-way through the stage.

Will the GC teams choose to blow it up here? Perhaps unlikely this early in the race but Tadej Pogačar and his UAE Emirates team have been keen to race aggressively so far.

A day off for Jasper

Jasper Philipsen has won two of the two sprints that have been contested so far at this Tour de France. But today he'll have a break – if you can call climbing all these mountains a break. 

Not that it's all been simple. Both Philipsen and Mark Cavendish had some pretty choice words to describe yesterday's crash-marred stage. 

The Belgian told Cycling Weekly : "I’m just really happy and proud that we have such a strong team and leadout, even in a f***ed up situation like today, actually."

His British rival told the assembled press : "It was carnage. Every team would have had a plan for that final and I would bet there wasn’t any of them that went right, apart from Jumbo who were the guys into the narrow roads early."

IS 'SAFER' SAFE ENOUGH? RIDERS CALL FOR DOWNHILL FINISHES TO BE SCRAPPED

The riders have been talking about safety on this Tour, following the death of Gino Mäder in the Tour de Suisse. The Swiss rider crashed on a high-speed descent.

It is downhill descents to the finish that are attracting attention, such as stage 14 to Morzine and stage 17 to Courchevel. Tour de France organiser ASO has put extra safety measures in , but some riders don't think it is enough.

Matteo Jorgensen of Movistar says he thinks downhill finishes should be scrapped, while Soudal-Quick Step's Michael Mørkøv says he will "never appreciate downhill finishes", with others echoing their views.

See the full story here .

SO JUST WHO IS LAURENT GINA?

Laurent Gina is new rider in town, according to the numerous cardboard placards held up by roadside fans screaming his name.

Except there is no Laurent Gina on the start list.

There's not even a pro cyclist, man or woman, going by that name.

So who is Laurent Gina? Tom Davidson takes up the story.

ELISA LONGO BORGHINI ABANDONS GIRO DONNE AFTER CRASH

Elisa Longo Borghini will not start the Giro Donne this morning after falling heavily on the descent to the finish of yesterday's stage five in Ceres.

The Lidl-Trek rider went to hospital for check-ups, specifically for concussion and an x-ray on her pelvis.

In a post on social media last night the team said : "She underwent an x-ray of pelvis and right shoulder, which ruled out the presence of fractures. She also underwent a brain scan, as she hit her head during the crash (though without damage to her helmet), which came back negative of any injuries."

However, it decided this morning that due to the fact she was still in considerable pain, she would not start.

Longo Borghini had already won stage four, and was lying in 17th place on GC.

Let's have a look at today's climbs. First up – the Col de Soudet

The Col de Soudet is the first climb the riders will encounter today, and it's a beast. Hors-catégorie (the toughest category of climb there is), they'll begin climbing it at 72km and crest the summit 15km later, encountering slopes of up to 14.5% along the way.

This was first used in 1987, when Dutchman Erik Breukink won the stage in Pau, and was most recently used in 2020.

The stats Length: 15.2km Average gradient: 7.2% Steepest kilometre: 12.% two-thirds of the way up Height: 1,540m

162km to go: The riders are underway in the neutral zone, heading towards the start proper.

162km to go: And we're go for stage five of the 2023 Tour de France. Good luck and God speed. Sorry, thought I was in a NASA control room for a second there.

158km to go: A few tentative attacks going off the front. The latest from Magnus Cort.

He didn't make it stick but now Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) has a small gap. It's sticking.

Latour has nine seconds. Probably wishing someone would come with him at this point.

155km to go: Small line of eight riders clipping off the front, trying to bridge to Latour, who's hanging out there at just five seconds. 

154km to go: Mathieu Van Der Poel has attacked, with Victor Campanaerts, Ben Turner and others all going with him too.

Meanwhile at the back Matthias Skelmose has crashed. Not sure how that happened. He's straight back up though and on the bike.

152km to go: The chasing attack by MVDP et al has, it seems, come to nowt. Latour though, now has 14 seconds. 10km in to the stage now.

150km to go: Neilson Powless active on the front, resplendent and impossible to miss in that polka-dot skinsuit.

149km to go: The front of the bunch is chaos, with riders clipping away left right and centre, but nothing sticking.

And now Julian Alaphilippe goes, quickly surpassed by Wout Van Aert and Alberto Bettiol. Will this hold?

146km to go: Fabio Jakobsen, heavily bandaged, is already off the back. He crashed hard in yesterday's finale. It's going to be a long day for him, but he has a team-mate Michael Mørkøv, to help shepherd him.

144km to go: It all looks to be coming back together. That attack by WVA and co has come to nothing, and even Latour remains a mere eight seconds out front now. 

143km to go: Alaphilippe attacking again now, and Latour has been caught. That was a lot of hard work come to nothing for the Frenchman.

Rigoberto Uran is with Alaphilippe, as are others. But no, you guessed it, it's all back together.

140km to go: Tadej Pogačar has made an appearance at the front now, which of course has set the GC teams into a frantic scrabble to battle stations.

138km to go: Right now, the peloton is all together, save for poor Fabio Jakobsen and his shepherd Mørkøv. There are a few riders that keep appearing again and again, clearly keen to make something of the day. Alaphilippe, Powless, Latour, and Uran spring to mind.

Mark Cavendish and Astana team-mates part of a group that is threatening to lose touch at the back of the race as things get ever more hilly.

136km to go: Looks like there's a sizeable group up the road now. Not by much, but the gap is there. There are 13 riders, including Wout Van Aert, Rigo Uran, Dani Martínez, Jack Haig, Valentin Madouas, Julian Alaphilippe and Kasper Asgreen.

They're 20 seconds ahead.

37 riders in this first group is the latest count, at 22sec. Jai Hindley and Marc Soler are in there too. 

Those climbs again. Let's check out the third climb, the cat-one Col de Marie-Blanque

You can see from the swathe of black gradient that this is going to be a steep climb. It's also narrow and technical, in the typical style of the Pyrenees.

It's the third climb of the day, coming after riders have already tackled the Col de Soudet at 87km and the much smaller cat-three Col d'Ichère at 128km.

The Col de Marie-Blanque is a Tour de France legend, having already been used 15 times since 1978.

The stats Length: 7.7km Average gradient: 8.6% Steepest kilometre: 13.6% (km 6-7) Height: 1,035m

124km: Back to the action. That big group is now at 1.29 and still going out. The peloton seem happy enough to let that stand, even with the presence of GC threats like Hindley.

Further back, Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) has hit the deck after what looked like a touch of wheels. His jersey is shredded and he has some nasty road rash, but he's back on the bike.

119km to go: GC favourites Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), not to mention his maillot jaune team-mate Adam Yates, are all now a clear 1.55 behind GC hopeful Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) who, let's not forget, won the Giro d'Italia last year.

116km to go: Four riders have escaped the breakaway: Van Aert, Victor Campanaerts, Mads Pedersen and Bryan Coquard are 13sec out front.

They may, understandably, have felt the original huge group was doomed to failure with a GC rider like Hindley on board.

114km to go: The first, and only, intermediate sprint of the day coming up.

Pedersen goes, Coquard follows... and Coquard comes round the Dane to take the points.

Here's the full sprint result Lanne-en-Barétous, 114km

1. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) 20 pts 2. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 17 pts 3. Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) 15 pts 4. Victor Campanaerts (Lotto-Dstny) 13

100km to go: This is Vern Pitt taking over from James so he can have a break.

I can't help but wonder if UAE Emirates have made a grave error here. Hindley's group has two minutes and 33 riders in it (plus the ones off the front). He's got two solid domestiques with him and he's a mere 22 seconds off the yellow jersey. 

He won the Giro d'Itlia last year so he's not to be underestimated. 

Plus, Jumbo have Wout van Aert up there and so are wisely, and justifiably, playing the "well we don't have to do any work" card. That might change later if they too start fearing Hindley's position but will the two squads have enough fire-power by then.

Of course the members of the break might start looking at Hindley's Bora-Hansgrohe contingent to work a lot and that might prove their undoing but at least he has something to offer them in the form of a stage win if they work for him. In the peloton it's not so clear cut that Jumbo and UAE will have as much to bargain with.

That said, it's quite possible other teams such as Ineos decide it suits them to chase too and they bring it back.

It's all very delicately poised right now.

99km to go: Quinn Simmon's snazzy stars and stripes outfit (he's American road race champion) has been torn to shreds in a crash earleir nad he's back at the medical car getting some attention.

98km to go: The escapees are losing ground. The big group is only about 1-30 ahead of the peloton now as the break look at Bora-Hansgrohe to set the pace.

And now the attacks are coming in totally destroying the cohesion of the group. Bora have restored order for a bit though. 

Simmons' road rash

88km to go: We're on the climb and the three out front, Van Aert, Pedersen and Campenaerts have slightly extended their advantage on the Hindley group to 46 seconds.

The Hindley group have just under two minutes on the peloton.

87km to go: The weather is fairly grim up the top of this HC climb, with very minimal visibility.

Steve Cummings, Ineos Grenadiers DS, has been o the radio to warn his riders that the GC big hitters might make a move on this climb, even though its quite far out.

86km to go: Remi Cavagna (Soudal - Quick-Step) comes to the front of the Hindley group and pushes the pace out and the gap to the peloton has climbed over the two minute mark.

86km to go: There are, in case you were wondering, 11km to the top of this climb. 

As you can from the profile, the last 5km are the toughest.

85km to go: Mads Pedersen is falling off the back of the front trio, which is now a duo #quickmaths

85km to go: Sprinters are already falling out of the back of the peloton. We just saw Mark Cavnedish back among the cars. 

It's grupetto time!

Pedersen has been caught by the main breakaway group, which is being led by Julian Alaphilippe. 

84km to go: Van Aert looks fairly comfortable out front, Campenaerts less so, but is hanging on just fine.

Lidl-trek, who have Giulio Ciccone in the breakaway, have come to the front of that group.

The gap is now 2-30 to the peloton.

83km to go: Pogačar had to get a bike change a few kilometers ago but he's back at the front of the peloton now.

83km to go: The leading duo's margin is shrinking, it's come down to just 19 seconds.

82km to go: The race might be in France now but it's still fairly close to the Basque country and there are a few Basque flags at the side of the road still.

81km to go: Wout van Aert doesn't seem to be getting many turns from Campenaerts . 

That's not overly surprising given the Lotto-Dstny rider is much more a time trialist (he's a former hour record holder) than a climber but he's putting in a good uphill showing here staying with van Aert.

80km to go: Lidl-Trek continue to work on the front of the break as it approaches the hardest section of this HC climb.

79km to go: Marc Soler (UAE Emirates) has been recalled form the break to the peloton to work for his team leader(s) Tadej Pogacar and yellow jersey wearer Adam Yates.

78km to go: There are now just over 3km to the top of the climb for those out front.

77km to go: The break is really thinning down with Lidl-Trek atill o nthe front its close to just ten in the main part of it though those of the back are not far behind.

Wondering what this climb is like to ride? Let me colleague, Cycling Weekly contributor and Pyrenees resident/evangelist Peter Cossins tell you...

The Soudet is a beautiful climb up a very quiet valley. Consistently hard on the stretch up to the Col de Suscousse. Turn right at the top of the pass and the road leads to La Pierre St Martin, where Chris Froome annihilated his rivals in the 2015 Tour #TDF2023 July 5, 2023

77km to go: 2km to the top now and Felix Gall (AG2R Citroen) clips off the front of the main break group in a bid to get the KOM points. They overtake Van Aert. Only Ciccone, Hindley and Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech) can go with him.

Gall goes again!

76km to go: Just 1km to the top of the climb now and Gall is on his own. He'll claim the KOM jersey, virtually, if he makes this.

75km to go: Gall comes over the top first. Ciccone and Dani Martinez sprint for second and Martinez gets it.

Hindley is still with this lot. I expect they'll bridge to Gall on the descent.

72km to go: Dani Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers) is flying down here and there's a gap to the rest.

70km to go: Emmanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) is also there as this group out front has grown to about 10 or so. He's driving the pace for his leader. 

They have four minutes on the peloton now. That would give Hindley a commanding GC lead were it to remain that way (it wont' of course).

69km to go: The descent is twisty but the roads are pretty wide so it's being taken fairly swiftly.

67km to go: Wout van Aert, who'd fallen of the back of the break, is making his way back on on the descent.

64km to go: The front group has 14 riders now. There's a further trio with Alaphilippe about 20 seconds back.

Hindley is on the front railing this descent.

Jasper Philipsen's green machine

I missed this this morning and it's glorious.

The green machine 💚@JasperPhilipsen’s #CanyonAeroad ahead of stage 5️⃣ in @LeTour 🤤#AlpecinDeceuninck #JasperPhilipsen #TDF2023 #Canyon #MyCanyon #RoadCycling 📷 Stefan Rachow (Mr. Pinko) pic.twitter.com/snd8DVPfCp July 5, 2023

59km to go: There have been a few attack in the break now. Martinez is having to close a split.

53km to go: It has all calmed down a bit in the front group as Hindley comes to the front.

As soon as typed that Neilands goes off the front.

52km to go: That attack by the Israel-Premier Tech rider aside, it seems a little chilled, probably too chilled for Hindley's liking. They're not exactly working together right now.

51km to go: Neilands has built a gap of 27 seconds. Meanwhile the gap from the break to the peloton has fallen to around 3-30.

50km to go: It's noteworthy that Wout van Aert is willing to work in the break containing Hindley, despite his team leader Vingegaaard being in the peloton further back down the road. 

UAE are still chasing in the peloton.

48km to go: UAE Emirates still have numbers in the peloton, so the firepower is there.

48km to go: We're approaching the bottom of the third category Col d'Ichere, which is 4.2km long and has an average of 7%. 

45km to go: The peloton is strung out in one long line under the pressure of UAE Emirates here.

But there are attacks going off all the time in the front group now. Alaphilippe is the latest (I think).

Hindley is having to close gaps.

43km to go: Jonathan Vaughters who has joined the GCN commentary team, says a day like this is the only way any of the GC riders have of beating Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard.

41km to go: The break come onto the bottom of the third cat climb. The gap to the peloton behind is fluctuating all the time. It's not just over 3 minutes.

Neilands is still up front but van Aert and Alaphilippe are now in the gap between him and the break.

39km to go: Hindley and co are losing a bit of ground to those out front. Their gap to Neilands is 43 seconds.

36km to go: James back with you now for what should be an extremely watchable final 35km of stage five.

Van Aert, Neilands and Alaphilippe descending the narrow and sinuous Ichère. 

30km to go: Fraile pushing hard on the front of group two, presumably in the service of Ineos team-mate Dani Martínez. They remain 19sec behind the leading trio, with the major hurdle of the Marie-Blanque to come in around 10km.

Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar and their teams are going to have go hell for leather on the Marie-Blanque in an attempt to catch this big group out front and, most pertinently, Jai Hindley. 

At the moment the Aussie has more than three minutes on those big GC rivals, and if he is allowed to take anything like that to the end of the stage, Pog and Vingegaard are going to have what might be termed 'a situation' on their hands.

With the caveat that there is, of course, a long way to go.

23.5km to go: Unsurprisingly the UAE team is indeed working hard on the front right now, with Pogačar sitting pretty in fourth wheel. The gap to the Hindley group is coming down steadily – it's now 2.40, so 40sec has been wiped off in recent kilometres.

Fraile's work is done – he has dropped off the back. 

"Dani, the floor is yours", he may or may not have said to his team-mate.

22km to go: On the lower slopes of the Marie-Blanque now and the break is splitting. Van Aert, Alaphilippe and Neilands have been absorbed and the gap to the break (which includes Hindley, don't forget) is 2.29.

21km to go: Wout Van Aert has dropped off the front half of the break now. It's not going to be his day after all, it would seem.

Back in the peloton, Adam Yates is up at the front of the peloton too, and all the while the break is still around 2.30 ahead. 

It seems there was team strategy behind Van Aert dropping back – he took to the front of the bunch with the rest of the Jumbo-Visma team, pulling hard to help Vingegaard back up towards Hindley. 

Hindley, as if in response, has ridden away from Felix Gall, with whom he was riding off the front of the race. He has several seconds.

19km to go: WVA all done now, and Sepp Kuss is pacing a strong looking Vingegaard with Pogačar on the Dane's wheel.

No one else can live with them.

19km to go: 1km to the top of the Marie-Blanque for Hindley, who is alone but looking strong and has nearly three minutes over Vingegaard and Pogačar.

Vingegaard attacks!

Pogačar has no response.

It looks as though Pogačar is doing his level best to match the Jumbo-Visma rider but he is 6sec back already. Perhaps the Slovenian is starting to rue the training missed due to his wrist injury.

18.5km to go: Hindley now over the top of the Marie-Blanque, and the gap now appears to be 1.11 to Vingegaard. Some timing issues with the coverage earlier I think. 

Pogacar now over the top, around 25sec behind Vingegaard. Huge crowds at the top of this climb.

16.5km to go: It's now a common-or-garden 10 miles to the finish, a distance many reading this will be well familiar with riding against the clock. 

There is of course the small matter of the descent of the Marie-Blanque to be dispatched as part of it. How much time can Hindley conserve ahead of Vingegaard?

Right now the gap is 57sec.

9km to go: Tadej Pogačar now exactly a minute behind Vingegaard, who is now making very little headway against Jai Hindley, who is still 54sec ahead of the Dane.

5km to go: Vingegaard has now picked up Gall, Ciccone and Buchmann from the earlier break. The chances of them having the energy, or even the inclination to work with him now seem slim.

4.5km to go: The gap to Hindley has now been reduced to 43sec. In fact it's coming down fast enough that the Aussie will be far from totally confident in victory at this point.

Into the final kilometre for Hindley now. He's got this.

And Hindley wins! He'll be very, very happy with his ride today.

The Aussie wins the first major mountains day of his first Tour de France. Great ride.

Vingegaard comes in at the back of the foursome 34sec behind.

And now here's the Pogačar group – he's lost 1.38 on Hindley today, 1.04 on Vingegaard.

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Tour de France 2023 stage 5 preview: Route map and profile of 163km from Pau to Laruns

The 2023 Tour de France takes off for the high Pyrenees on Wednesday’s stage five.

After two hilly routes in Spanish Basque Country and two flat runs in French Basque Country, the serious yellow jersey contenders should come to the fore over the next two days, and we might find out a little more about the destiny of this year’s crown.

This 163km route from Pau to Laruns is flat for the first 70km, but then comes the first hors categorie climb of this year’s race, the Col du Soudet (15.2km at 7.2%). It is a long and gruelling drag to the top, and we can expect plenty in the peloton to get dropped here as the leaders crank up the pace. The yellow jersey, Adam Yates, said he expected “full gas” racing between the major contenders, despite the prospect of the giant Col du Tourmalet on Thursday.

That means two-time winner Tadej Pogacar , who is looking to win again after being dethroned last year, and reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard will likely go head to head and we could see some attacks here in the middle of the stage.

They may not be at the front, however: American rider Neilson Powless has made clear his desire to win the polka dot jersey and he will be determined to scurry up the road first to collect more King of the Mountains points to add to his early collection. Powless has generally be picking up one and two points for being the first over category three and four climbs, but the hors categorie ascents hold 20 KoM points for first place, and collecting those would put him in a strong position to go to the end of the race wearing polka dots.

Once over the Soudet, the riders will still face another tough climb, the category one Col de Marie Blanque (7.7km at 8.6%), shortly before the finish. If the breakaway is still at the front of the race by the top then it will have a strong chance of reaching the end for the stage win. The descent from Marie Blanque is fast, before a slight uphill drag of about 7km to the finish in Laruns.

The breakaway is likely to be caught be the sheer strength of the elite riders on what is a tough stage. Pogacar and Vingegaard could well win a stage like this and stamp their authority on the race. Look out for Tom Pidcock too; the Ineos rider can use the fast descents to his advantage.

Stage 5 route map and profile

The stage is set to begin at around 12pm BST and is expected to finish at around 4.30pm BST.

It is all set up for one of the big two to take hold of the yellow jersey. Vingegaard is so strong in the high mountains and is unlikely to get dropped at any point, but Pogacar has the speed to win on what is a relatively flat finish.

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Tour de France 2022 Stage 5 preview: Route map and profile as cobbles provide treacherous test

Stage five of the Tour de France presents one of the hardest tests of the entire 2022 race as the peloton takes on 11 sectors of cobblestones on a hilly 157km route from Lille to La Porte du Hainaut.

The cobbles – or pavé – provide an often brutal challenge on the Paris-Roubaix monument race, where crashes are frequent and injuries commonplace, and the riders will need all their bike-handling skills in order to stay upright and avoid an incident which could lose them time or even force them to abandon the race.

The stage begins with an early intermediate sprint after 37km, which could bring out some of the sprinters to the front of the pack looking to pick up the green jersey points on offer.

At the halfway point the cobbles begin. Most of the pavé sectors are around 1.3km long and take professional riders around two and a half minutes to complete, but there are some longer stretches of 2.5km which will take more than four minutes to get through.

They will be gruelling and physically demanding, and so riders must find a balance between caution in order to avoid trouble and aggression to pick up valuable time gains on the rest.

Who could profit on a stage like this? Of the yellow jersey contenders, Geraint Thomas is proficient on the cobbles while reigning champion Tadej Pogacar is inexperienced on this terrain but showed his skills when he nearly won the Tour of Flanders earlier this year.

The man who beat Pogacar there, Mathieu van der Poel, is the favourite here – as well as his two Flanders wins also finished third at Paris-Roubaix itself last year. But he will have plenty of competition, not least from the man in the yellow jersey Wout van Aert , who won so brilliantly on stage 4 in Calais , as well as Ineos’s cobbles specialist Dylan van Baarle, who won Paris-Roubaix this year.

Stage 5 profile

Stage 5 start time.

The stage is scheduled to begin at around 1pm BST and should finish around 4:30pm BST.

How to watch on TV and online

Tour de France coverage can be found this year on ITV4, Eurosport, Discovery+ and GCN+ (Global Cycling Network).

Live racing each day will be shown on ITV4 before highlights typically at 7pm each day. ITV’s website lists timings here .

Eurosport and GCN+ will show every minute of every stage. More on Eurosport’s coverage here and the GCN+ coverage here .

It is also being shown on Eurosport’s Discovery+ streaming service, with broadcast info here .

• Giro d'Italia

PREVIEW | Tour de France 2023 stage 5 - First high mountain stage with Pogacar and Vingegaard as main favourites

Preview . The Tour de France enters the Pyrenees. Stage 5 is the first of many high mountain days in this year's Tour de France, and it features plenty climbs where Adam Yates will have a challenge maintaining the yellow jersey against Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard .

Stage 5 of the Tour de France from Pau to Lauruns will be the first high mountain day, in the Pyrenees. The Tour has opted for a different formula this year, a route for the pure climbers. Stages 5 and 6 will be a tough challenge with real mountains. As is always the case at the Tour, the start of a Pyrenean stage is flat, coming from the city of Pau which never misses the race.

Estimated start and finish times for Tour de France stage 5: 13:05-17:20CET

Jasper Philipsen takes photo finish victory in crash marred sprint on stage 4 of the Tour de France

Whilst usually the first mountain stage at the Tour is blocked, it should not be the case here, as the stage will feature the tough Col de Soudet (15.1Km; 7.2%). A very hard climb, it summits with 76 kilometers to go, the pace won't likely be pushed too much but nevertheless, with this toughness the peloton could lose a few riders.

After a long descent the riders find the Col d'Ichère as a transition, it's 4.2 kilometers long at 6.2% and will summit with 38.5 kilometers to go. A small - but technical - descent will lead into the Col de Marie Blanque.

Prize Money Tour de France 2023 - Full guide to how €2.308.029 will be split between teams

This is the same finale as in 2020. The Col de Marie Blanque is a climb of two halves, very constant and a progressive rise of gradients. The final 4.8 kilometers average 10.5%, with only one hairpin. The first day in the mountains of a Grand Tour are usually very conservative, but on a climb like this differences can be made. The ramps are brutal, it's not a climb for big accelerations, but a tough pace will decimate the group.

The climb ends with 18.5 kilometers to go, and the descent will be quite technical, 11.5 kilometers long. Then the final 7 kilometers will be flat, there is time to close gaps, unlikely that gaps can be opened with serious damage, but as was the case in 2020 where Tadej Pogacar won his first Tour stage, it could be decided in a small group sprint.

Route Analysis | Profiles & Route Tour de France 2023

The Weather

Cool temperatures and a northern breeze. Covered in the climbs, however if anything it will see a tailwind in the final kilometers which will help those looking to make a difference on the day.

Tour de France 2023 Medical Report | Stage 4: Fabio Jakobsen among injured from crashes in fast sprint

The Favourites

Tadej Pogacar - Pogacar will certainly attack. If Jaizkibel showed anything it's that the roads don't have to be too hard to attack, and UAE in the lead will certainly again push all day long to chase a stage win. Sometimes it feels they burn too much, but with both Majka and Yates setting him up at Marie Blanque, big gaps can be cut to a breakaway. Will he be able to drop Vingegaard? I wouldn't bet on that, but surely he will try once again, and if anything, the stage win is surely up for grabs.

Adam Yates - Don't be mistaken, UAE is working for Pogacar. Yates is in yellow and in a great place at the time being, but he's a second card for the team. It's not an explosive stage and he's not an explosive rider, gapping Vingegaard again will be very hard as he will be watchful. If UAE race rather conservatively he could have a role in the final kilometers to attack and try to form an alliance, there he could prove quite useful as he is displaying incredible form.

Jonas Vingegaard - Vingegaard has raced the opening weekend conservatively and here I expect the same. It wasn't just for van Aert, no, Vingegaard knows that in any scenario Pogacar will outsprint him, which means bonification loss if they are fighting for the stage. But most importantly, by attacking and not dropping Vingegaard, Pogacar is having little motivation hits, and the Dane knows that, so he doesn't allow Pogacar to get any gains from those attacks. Yates or Pogacar in yellow, it makes no difference for Vingegaard as UAE will work both ways, he will continue to be on the defense and wait for the longer ascents to try and make a difference, he doesn't have to worry about the rest as the level difference should be very large.

TV Guide - Where and When to watch Tour de France 2023

In all reality, between the GC guys it's those three, who have so far looked a level above the rest. Simon Yates on both hilly days looked quite good, but he is one of many who will now see what is his real place in the GC battle. Marie Blanque is a climb to be ridden by pace, don't expect attacks from anyone else, but instead pace and survival. Afterwards a stage could perhaps be on display, but all the GC riders will be trying not to lose time. Fit in Mattias Skjelmose , J ai Hindley , Mikel Landa , Michael Woods , Romain Bardet , David Gaudu , Carlos Rodríguez , and who knows maybe Victor Lafay could again be up there...

What can however happen is a breakaway taking the win. Now, UAE has the habit of chasing unreasonably hard, which is ultimately bad for their three-week ambitions, but in the short term may lead to a stage win. I can see that happen tomorrow, if so a break will struggle to work, but it stands good chances. Think back to the Giro d'Italia, virtually every year the first mountain stage sees a breakaway win, specially when it's not a summit finish. This is the Tour de France, many quality climbers came over with goal of winning a stage and they know this is a good day for that.

Giulio Ciccone , Ion Izagirre and Alexey Lutsenko are examples of riders who came with those ambitions and will have good freedom already. However the very hard start to the race has already seen many others emerge. Neilson Powless will certainly try to be there and defend his KOM jersey, the likes of Thibaut Pinot and Tobias Johannessen may have dreamed to fight for the GC but at this point of the race have lost time and will likely focus on stage wins.

Then you've got a little group of riders who could have had task of supporting GC leaders but no longer. Esteban Chaves and Rigoberto Urán of EF now have that as the main goal, whilst Movistar has the talented climbers Ruben Guerreiro and Matteo Jorgenson . AG2R could be said to not have the need to protect O'Connor much at this point, Felix Gall and Aurélien Paret-Peintre will have green card. The problem for many is that, as is always the case in the Pyrenees, race organizers make a flat start which will allow teams to block the peloton when a reasonable break goes up the road.

Five teams look to sign Tour de France breakthrough Victor Lafay, INEOS Grenadiers in the lead

Prediction Tour de France 2023 stage 5:

*** Tadej Pogacar, Matteo Jorgenson, Giulio Ciccone ** Jonas Vingegaard, Rigoberto Urán, Neilson Powless * Adam Yates, Simon Yates, Mattias Skjelmose, Alexey Lutsenko, Ruben Guerreiro, Ion Izagirre

Pick : Matteo Jorgenson

Simone Consonni and Andrea Bagioli to join Jonathan Milan as Lidl - Trek's new Italian signings into 2024

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Tour de France 2024 Route stage 5: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - Saint-Vulbas

Saint-Vulbas saw it’s last pro-peloton finish in the 2016 Criterium du Dauphiné. Two riders who retired in 2023 battled it out for the win. Nacer Bouhanni bested Jens Debusschere with a tiny margin, while Sam Bennett sprinted to third place.

The people in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne are more used to large groups of superfit men in licra. The town in the foothills of the Alps saw two Tour de France stage starts in the last decade. On both occassions the riders were up for a day of hardships in the high mountains. The race went to La Toussuirre in 2015 (Romain Bardet win) and to Tignes in 2019 (Egan Bernal win).

The riders leave the Alps this time and head in the opposite direction. Saint-Vulbas is situated on the west bank of the Rhône.

Ride the route yourself? Download GPX 5th stage 2024 Tour de France.

Tour de France 2024 stage 5: route, profile, videos

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TOTAL: 3492 km

This will be the first Grand Départ in Italy and the 26th that’s taken place abroad  First finale in Nice. Due to the Olympic and Paralympic Games taking place in Paris, the race will not finish in the French capital for the first time.

Two time trials. 25 + 34 = 59km in total, the second of them taking place on the final Monaco>Nice stage. This will be the first time the race has seen a finale of this type for 35 years, the last occasion being the famous Fignon - LeMond duel in 1989.

Apennines (Italy), the Italian and French Alps, Massif Central and Pyrenees will be the mountain ranges on the 2024 Tour route.

The number of countries visited in 2024: Italy, San Marino, Monaco and France. Within France, the race will pass through 7 Regions and 30 departments.

The number of bonus points 8, 5 and 2 bonus seconds go to the first three classified riders, featuring at strategic points along the route (subject to approval by the International Cycling Union)these will have no effect on the points classification. Bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds will be awarded to the first three classified riders at road stage finishes.

Out of a total of 39, the locations or stage towns that are appearing on the Tour map for the first time . In order of appearance: Florence, Rimini, Cesenatico, Bologna, Piacenza, Saint-Vulbas, Gevrey-Chambertin, Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, Évaux-les-Bains, Gruissan, Superdévoluy, Col de la Couillole.

The number of sectors on white roads during stage nine, amounting to 32km in total .

The number of stages: 8 flat, 4 hilly, 7 mountain (with 4 summit finishes at Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet, Plateau de Beille, Isola 2000, Col de la Couillole), 2 time trials and 2 rest days.

The number of riders who will line up at the start of the Tour, divided into 22 teams of 8 riders each.

The height of the summit of the Bonette pass in the Alps, the highest tarmac road in France, which will be the “roof” of the 2024 Tour.

The total vertical gain during the 2024 Tour de France.

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A total of 2,3 million euros will be awarded to the teams and riders including € 500,000 to the final winner of the overall individual classification .

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Thomas takes biggest road win of his career on Giro stage 5 as Pocagar keeps leader’s pink jersey

France’s Benjamin Thomas celebrates on podium after winning the fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Genoa to Lucca, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Gian Mattia D’Alberto/LaPresse via AP)

France’s Benjamin Thomas celebrates winning the fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Genoa to Lucca, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the pink jersey of the race overall leader, pedals during the fifth stage of the of the Giro d’Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Genoa to Lucca, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

The pack of cyclists rides during the fifth stage of the of the Giro d’Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Genoa to Lucca, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

The pack rides along the coastline during the fifth stage of the of the Giro d’Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Genoa to Lucca, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

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LUCCA, Italy (AP) — Benjamin Thomas of France got the biggest victory of his career on the road as he won the fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia while Tadej Pogacar kept the leader’s pink jersey on Wednesday.

In a surprising result, Thomas won from a breakaway, sprinting to edge out Michael Valgren and Andrea Pietrobon at the end of the undulating 178-kilometer (111-mile) route from Genoa to Lucca.

“It was like a long, long, long team pursuit,” Thomas said with a laugh. “We did an amazing break and I don’t believe it. It was really, really hard in the finale, every pull was full gas. It’s unbelieveable.

“I think 10k to go we were with 50-40 seconds still and it was tailwind so we knew we could have played with the bunch. If we were going 60kph it was not for the bunch to close.”

The 28-year-old Thomas, who lives in Italy, is a four-time world champion on the track but had never won a stage in a grand tour. It was also a first win of the season for his team Cofidis.

Thomas almost won a stage in the Tour de France two years ago but was caught inside the final few hundred meters, in Carcassonne — a similarly stunning walled city to that of Lucca.

“I thought to Carcassonne in the last kilometer and I said ‘maybe today is my day’,” he said. “I think nobody bet on the attackers today.”

Pogacar, the two-time Tour de France champion, finished safely in the peloton to remain 46 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas and 47 seconds ahead of Daniel Martinez.

There were several crashes but no one appeared seriously injured and all the main contenders managed to avoid them.

The breakaway Thomas was part of was not the only one of the day as a group of four riders set off right at the start. However, they were never allowed much of an advantage as team Alpecin–Deceuninck led a fast pace in the peloton and they were caught shortly after the first of the day’s two categorized climbs.

Thomas and another trio of riders attacked with around 78 kilometers remaining and swiftly built an advantage.

They had a lead of just over a minute as they hit the Montemagno climb and continued to work well together on the 20-kilometer run-in to the finish as they managed to hold off the charging peloton, which had hoped to set up their sprinters for the finale but got it badly wrong.

“I knew all the road of the final because I train there sometimes,” Thomas said. “It was helping me to know with the cobbles and the corners and it’s a nice thing to win in Italy, it means a lot for me.”

Thursday’s sixth stage is flat for the first part but then has two categorized climbs in the undulating second half of the 180-kilometer (112-mile) route from Torre Del Lago Puccini — on the outskirts of Viareggio — to Rapolano Terme.

“Today was an interesting day,” Pogacar said. “The last hour was very quick with a very tense finish.

“The breakaway stayed ahead because it got away late and nobody managed to reel them in. Tomorrow will be a stage to raced with a lot of attention so as not to lose time.”

The Giro ends in Rome on May 26.

AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling

Results and Highlights from the 2024 Giro d’Italia

Check out stage-by-stage recaps and overall standings of the Italian Grand Tour.

Check out stage-by-stage recaps of the action below.

Stage 14: Castiglione delle Stiviere to Desenzano del Garda (Individual Time Trial), 31.2 km

Ganna gets his itt stage victory.

Stage Winner : Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) Race Leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

Eight days after he roasted on the hot seat for much of the day only for the maglia rosa to steal the spotlight at the last minute, Filippo Ganna was able to exact some revenge and get his time trial stage victory at the 2024 Giro d’Italia.

With just 150 meters of elevation gain, the stage certainly played into the hands of Ganna, the time trial specialist from INEOS. It was tailor made for a big performance. It was on the final climb of the Stage 7 time trial where Ganna lost crucial seconds to Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and finished second on the stage. There would be no stage victory stealing from Pog this time.

Ganna, in the Italian champion’s jersey, put down a time of 35:02 to set a strong early standard. Of course, with Pogačar, there are no guarantees. The race leader put down a solid performance—29 seconds off Ganna and enough for second on the stage, furthering his lead in the general classification.

Pogačar entered the stage with a 2:40 over second position Daniel Martinez (BORA-hansgrohe) and 2:56 over third position Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers). After the Stage 14 TT, Pogačar extended his lead to 3:41 over Thomas, who slipped into second place in the GC with a strong ride, and 3:56 over Martinez.

• Stage 12: Martinsicuro to Fano, 193 km

Julian Alaphilippe Takes Stunning Victory in Signature Style

Stage Winner : Julian Alaphillippe (Soudal-Quickstep) Race Leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

May 16, 2024— Stage 12 turned out to be a lightning-fast stage over a hilly course with 2,200 meters of elevation, leading to some animated racing from the breakaway, chase groups, and even the peloton, where GC riders sat hoping for the race to calm down. But for 193 km, it never really did.

The victory was taken with aggression and style by two-time World Champion Julian Alaphillippe (Soudal-Quickstep). Alaphilippe was part of a huge breakaway battle that started in the Marche region, and at an average of 47 kilometers per hour, it turned out to be one of the top ten fastest stages in Giro history. Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers) finished in second, and Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was third after the chase-group sprint in Fano.

This is the Soudal-Quickstep rider’s first win since last year’s Critérium du Dauphiné and his first at a Grand Tour since 2021. The win also completes his Grand Tour stage-win set and adds to his six Tour de France stage victories and one La Vuelta a España win.

Alaphilippe launched the first of many attacks about 138 km from the finish before meeting his breakaway companion Mirco Maestri (Polti-Kometa). Their effort would hold off the chasers until Alaphilippe attacked the last ascent 11.5 km from the finish.

“I didn’t plan it. I was expecting a big group to be in the breakaway. First, I have to thank my teammates who perfectly controlled the first 60 km. I was focused on being on the front,” said the Frenchman in the post-race interview.

Alaphilippe believed he could win the stage, but made sure to continue working and hold off the chasers. “Until the last kilometer, I had to keep pushing full gas because I hear Narvaez was close behind me,” he said. “It was my dream to win a stage of the Giro.”

While Maestri would have certainly liked to finish behind a champ like Alaphilippe, the chase caught up to him on the last climb, and he went on to finish in 9th place. “He also deserved to win today. He was amazing. We collaborated super well,” said Alaphilippe.

This is how the stage went down. At 140 km to go, Alaphilippe, along with Andrea Piccolo, sparked a decisive move on an uncategorized climb, prompting a group of former stage winners to join in the action. As the breakaway materialized, Alaphilippe initiated another acceleration, reducing the group’s size to just him and Maestri, leaving the peloton behind.

Although the breakaway initially held a substantial advantage, cooperation within the group was scarce, allowing the chasing peloton to gain ground. As the race approached the final climb, Alaphilippe made his move, leaving Maestri behind in pursuit of the stage win.

Jan Hirt (Soudal-QuickStep), who sits in 11th place in the GC, tried to get in the early break, but team Bahrain Victorious, who has rider Antonio Tiberi sitting in 5th in the GC, made sure Hirt wouldn’t get very far.

While Alaphilippe dominated the finale, Narváez showcased his strength by securing second place. Behind them, the GC contenders remained cautious; race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) stayed safe in the peloton alongside Dani Martínez (Bora-hansgrohe), and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers). Bora-hansgrohe did attempt to position Martínez for a potential attack, but it never materialized. With the flat stages ahead and a crucial time trial looming, the focus has shifted to preserving energy and maintaining position in the overall standings.

• Stage 11: Foiano di Val Fortore to Francavilla al Mare, 207 km

Jonathan Milan Beats Tim Merlier and Kaden Groves in Messy Sprint Finish

Stage Winner : Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) Race Leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

May 15, 2024—After a bit of whistle-wetting with Stage 10’s summit finish, the sprinters again took the spotlight for Wednesday’s Stage 11.

The 207-kilometer stage that started in Foiano di Valfortore kicked off with a few bumps in the road before the parcours sloped gently downward toward the sea, with the day’s final hundred kilometers offering more or less a flat run into Francavilla al Mare.

A small breakaway built a two-minute-and-forty-second lead heading into the day’s only classified climb, the category three Pietracatella, which pitched up at the stage’s fortieth kilometer. But they were slowly reeled in along the flat Adriatic coastline and fully caught one-hundred-and-thirty kilometers late, with just over thirty-five kilometers to go.

Despite a fruitless late attack from EF Education-EasyPost’s Andrea Piccolo, the peloton stayed together at a blistering pace of well over sixty kilometers per hour (occasionally over seventy).

With 4 kilometers to go to the finish, the course bent a hard ninety degrees, a brief wrench thrown into an otherwise straightforward day. And other than a bit of slowing, the peloton came through the turn unscathed.

Movistar’s Fernando Gaviria launched first with just a few hundred meters to go, but by the time the final meters ticked down, the race came down to Soudal Quick-Step’s Tim Merlier and current and reigning maglia ciclamino Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek. It marks Milan’s second win in this year’s Giro.

“Our team put me in a really good position,” Merlier said immediately following the stage.“Perfect job from the guys. It’s just a shame that I couldn’t win for them.”

One developing non-racing story to keep an eye on is just how many riders have abandoned due to an illness that is spreading through the peloton. Twenty-one riders have thus far dropped out of the Giro d’Italia, several due to crash-related injuries. However, an inordinate amount of riders have packed it in, citing fevers and viral symptoms.

Just one day after winning Stage 9, Visma-Lease a Bike’s Olav Kooij abandoned with illness during Monday’s rest day. The following day, his team leader, Cian Uijtdebroeks, suffered the same fate. Visma’s main leadout man, Christophe Laporte, crashed out on Stage 4, leaving last year’s world beaters with just four riders left and two weeks still to race.

Stage 10: Pompei to Cusano Mutri, 142 km

Stage 9: avezzano to naples, 214 km, stage 8: spoleto to prati de tivo, 152 km, stage 7: foligno - perugia (individual time trial), 40.6 km, stage 6: torre del lago puccini - rapolano terme, 180 km, stage 5: genova - lucca, 178 km, stage 4: acqui terme - andora, 190 km, stage 3: novara - fossano, 166 km, stage 2: san francesco al campo - santuario di oropa, 161 km, stage 1: venaria reale - torino, 140 km, paret-peintre claims his first professional win.

Stage Winner : Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) Race Leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

Fresh off a rest day, it was all out from the flag drop on today’s stage. With 142 km to cover, it was a relatively short stage. Riders had a long warmup before the climbing started. This stage featured a summit finish on a new climb, the Category 1 Bocca della Selva, with a deceiving 4.6-percent average gradient. Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease a Bike) led for more than 25 km, but it was Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) who finally caught him and took his first professional win.

Despite pleasant temperatures, riders had to contend with wet roads and rain. Staying upright required all the bike handling skills and smart choices on turns and descents. Riders also had to maneuver around a dog on the course—likely a stray.

The first sprint came at 52 km in Arpaia. Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco-AlUla) took first, Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) took second, and Kaden Groves (Alpecin Deceuninck) crossed the line in third.

At 73 km, the lead group and the chase group were still fairly chaotic. Alessandro De Marchi and Simon Clarke remained the lead duo, followed by many attacks. Eventually, we saw a breakaway group of 27 riders.

The 6.1 km category 2 climb at Camposauro saw Simon Geschke (Cofidis) take first, Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group–Bardiani–CSF–Faizanè) second, and Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ) third.

Eventually, Simon Clarke was dropped by the breakaway and caught by the peloton. With 28 km to go, Tratnik took a solo lead. Tratnik took the bonus sprint points at Cusano Mutri with 20 km to go. He remained out front into the final climb of the stage.

The Bocca della Selva climb started with just under 18 km to go. Riders climbed 976 meters (3,202 feet) with a maximum gradient of 10 percent. A plateau broke up the climb a little over halfway through.

With less than 3 km to go, Tratnik was finally caught by Paret-Peintre, followed by Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL).

Following in his brother (and teammate) Aurélien’s footsteps, and just ahead of his idol, Bardet, Paret-Peintre took his first professional win. Previously, his best Giro stage result was 31st place. This was the 15th win for Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale. It’s like they gained superpowers by abandoning the brown bibs.

In his post-race interview, Paret-Peintre said that he decided to go for it in the final kilometers because it was the toughest section, and he felt like he had it in his legs. “I can’t describe what I feel now. It’s just amazing,” said Paret-Peintre. “I was there to go for a good result and why not win? Now, I have a Giro stage win for my first pro win. It’s amazing.

“I saw that the last 4 km was the hardest, so I said, ‘ok, if I want to attack, it’s in the last 4km, so I was waiting waiting waiting for all the last climb, then when I see the last 3 km, I attacked.”

Tratnik took third at the summit, after a strong and successful ride. There were lots of changes in the top ten, with a huge scramble for seconds with the chase group. But no change in the pink jersey going into Stage 11. Is it possible that Tadej Pogačar is finally riding a bit conservatively?

Olav Kooij Takes First-Ever Grand Tour Stage Win

Stage Winner: Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) Race Leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

The longest stage so far is arguably one of the easier stages despite covering 214 km. Compared to the gravel stage, a short, hard time trial, and the brutal summit finish in yesterday’s stage, Avezzano to Naples may have a lot of distance, but it was relatively flat and fast. While a valiant effort from Polti Kometa’s Andrea Pietrobon and Mirco Maestri kept the two riders away for most of the race, Julian Alaphilippe and Jhonathan Narváez both made impressive attacks in the final kilometers. But it came down to a sprint finish that was played perfectly by Visma-Lease a Bike’s Olav Kooij.

The long, flat start meant plenty of attacks from early on, with Soudal-QuickStep, EF Pro Cycling and Bahrain Victorious as some of the early teams to head to the front. But the first early attack that stuck came from Polti Kometa’s Andrea Pietrobon and Mirco Maestri—they grew a gap of over two minutes, but the peloton behind seemed unbothered. As always, kudos to the Giro Twitter feed for gems like this:

The two led for much of the race, maintaining a nearly two-minute gap at 65 km to go—a no man’s land with the intact peloton behind and charging hard. The Alpecin-Deceuninck team led the peloton behind Pietrobon and Maestri as the two teammates continued to sweep up sprint points.

A crash at 57 km to go saw three Ineos Grenadiers, including Geraint Thomas—currently third in the general classification—go down. But with his teammates, Thomas was unconcerned and was back on and riding back to the peloton quickly.

Meanwhile, the peloton began to pull the Polti Kometa riders back, dropping the gap to 1:20 with 53 km to go. UAE Team Emirates and EF Education-EasyPost took control of the front of the peloton as the three Ineos Grenadiers, including Thomas, made their way back into it.

At 27 km to go, Julian Alaphillipe launched an attack with the two leaders just 10 seconds ahead. He swiftly chased them down with teammate Nicola Conci as they closed on the top of the punchy climb. Alaphilippe raced past the Polti Kometa riders, continuing his attack up the road. Kevin Vermaerke (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Lewis Askey (Groupma FDJ) were able to launch themselves from the peloton and attach themselves to the now-six-man strong lead group.

Behind them, attacks came fast and furious from the peloton as the clock ticked down on Stage 9, and riders tried to bridge up to the lead group. Arkea-B&B Hotels’ Ewen Costiou made his way across the now-lowered gap, and the peloton struggled to get organized to chase with Lidl-Trek on the front.

Costiou and Alaphillipe attacked, spearing themselves from the lead group, opening a 15-second gap to the five riders behind them. The peloton continued to reel in the leaders, tightening the gap between them and the now-chase group to only four to 10 seconds.

While Costiou and Alaphillipe made a valiant effort, on the final climb with 10 km to go, Costiou couldn't hold the pace, and Alaphillipe was forced to continue his attack solo, reestablishing a 10-second lead on the peloton as he raced out of the saddle and towards the finish.

But he couldn't quite make it. He was absorbed by the peloton at just over 7 kilometers to go, as Ineos Grenadiers’ Jhonatan Narváez made an attack, opening a five-second gap as the peloton splintered on the climb.

Stage 1 winner Narváez hit the final descent at 3 km to go, enjoying the use of the entire road on the downhill. He held an 8-second gap as the peloton started to organize for the final sprint.

With 1400 meters to go, Narváez had a 12-second gap as the small peloton, including Pogačar, tried to prepare for the sprint. But Narváez was unable to hold on to his gap as the teams massed behind him, swallowing him up with under a hundred meters to go.

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Olav Kooij ultimately took the sprint win ahead of Lidl-Trek's Jonathan Milan and Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates), who was led out by race leader Pogačar. (“If I can help… it’s better for me to be in front and help my friend,” he said in the post-race interview, adding, “I’m really looking forward to the rest day tomorrow.”)

Pogačar Sprints to Victory and Maintains Overall Lead

Stage Winner: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) Race Leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

We know he can win races with dramatic breakaways, but it turns out Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) also can perfectly play out a sprint. In today’s race, he just narrowly outsprinted Daniel Martínez (Bora-hansgrohe) and Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) for the win at the top of the steep final ascent to the finish.

In case you were wondering, Pogačar has continued to opt for the full pink kit after the sartorial debacle earlier this week .

Today marked the first major mountain stage of the Giro, with some of the classic climbs we love to see. Right from the start, it was clear that riders were going to be attempting breakaways before, during, and after every climb. Mountain stages at the Giro are often where we see unlikely stage winners thanks to a breakaway that comes as a surprise and actually sticks.

By 20 km into the race, a large group had formed at the front, but only 20 seconds separated them from the full might of the peloton. The group ebbed and flowed, and was cut down to 14 riders by just under 100 km to go. Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Romain Bardet (dsm–firmenich PostNL) and Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers) were a few of the riders making moves in the lead group, and their lead stretched to over 2 minutes ahead of the peloton at 61 km to go.

But when a team like UAE Team Emirates is chasing the breakaway to preserve Pogačar’s overall lead, does it stand much of a chance?

“We thought the breakaway had a good chance, to be honest,” said Thomas in a post-race interview . “Obviously, UAE set a good tempo on the climb, and I guess because it was still quite close, I don’t know if they decided to go for the stage in the beginning, but they certainly decided to go for it in the end.”

As the group hit 15 km to go, heading towards the final climb into Prati di Tivo, the gap had dropped to just over 30 seconds. While several riders made valiant efforts to hold off the peloton, Pogačar sped into the finish with a group of seven riders and ultimately took the sprint.

However, the GC remained relatively unchanged, since seven of the top finishers on the stage were in the top eight in the GC, which is now led by Pogačar by 2:40 over Martinez and Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers).

“I wasn’t expecting this today,” Pogačar said in the post-race press conference, making him pretty much the only person in the world who wasn’t expecting it.

Pogačar Strengthens Grip on Pink Jersey

165 riders rolled down the little pink ramp this morning, each one minute apart, for the first time trial of this year’s Giro.

Vicious crosswinds pushed riders across the road at points, their giant disc wheels acting as windsails, slowing down even some of the most skilled time triallists around.

And there is arguably no rider more skilled on a TT bike than INEOS Grenadiers’ Filippo Ganna, one of the world’s fastest men in the race against the clock.

“Top Ganna” is what the commentators called him, saying that everyone else looked like a passenger plane next to the fighter jet that is Ganna.

However, the 40.6-kilometer stage included a mighty pitch in the final stretch, gaining over two hundred meters over the last four kilometers, whose multi-digit grades benefitted some of the punchier riders in the bunch. After all, today’s time trail ran from Foligno to Perugia, across the undulating hills of Umbria.

By the time Geraint Thomas—who started the day in second place in the GC standings—rolled down the ramp, his INEOS Grenadiers teammates held all three positions on the podium (Ganna, Thymen Arensmen, Magnus Sheffield). By the time he crossed the line, those results held.

But there was only one rider left in the starting tent behind Thomas: current pink jersey, race favorite, and generational talent across a variety of disciplines, Tadej Pogačar.

Going back to his stunning time trial on the penultimate stage of the 2020 Tour de France, where he snatched the yellow jersey from Primož Roglič, Pogačar has displayed that he, too, is one of the world’s great time triallists.

And today, that skill on a TT bike threw a wrench directly into the works of INEOS’s 1-2-3 day, as Pogačar made up over a minute on the stage’s final six kilometers. Pogačar finished seventeen seconds ahead of Ganna, giving the UAE Team Emirates superstar the stage win.

A bunch of INEOS riders who couldn’t quite nip Pogačar. Seems to be one of the themes emerging from this year’s Giro.

Pogačar’s ride put nearly two additional minutes into his nearest rivals in the GC standings, increasing his overall lead from 46 seconds to 2:36.

Meanwhile, BORA-hansgrohe’s Dani Martinez, who entered the day in third place overall, bested Geraint Thomas by thirteen seconds on the stage, putting him ten seconds ahead of Thomas in the GC standings.

“There was a lot of preparations for this, a lot of ups and downs,” Pogačar said. “I’m super happy that today I felt good. I paced myself until the climb and then the climb, full gas.”

Geraint Thomas, meanwhile, wore a subtle look of disappointment after the race.

“I tried to ride within myself, and when it was time to go, I just lacked it a little bit. It is what it is. It’s just one of those days.”

Thomas ended his post-race interview abruptly when the interview reminded him that his teammates did an excellent job on the day, without actually asking a question

“Thanks,” he said sternly, taking a sip of his drink.

Underdog Victory: Pelayo Sánchez Triumphs in Giro’s Gravel Stage

Stage Winner: Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar) Race Leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

May 9, 2024—Looking at the profile of Stage 6, you might think that the day would have been relatively mellow. One-hundred-eighty kilometers, minimal elevation, a pair of category-four climbs. However, thanks to a trio of gravel sectors—the strade bianche of Tuscany—today’s stage was anything but.

What many thought might be a launching pad for Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), who won March’s Strade Bianche with a stunning eighty-kilometer solo break, ended up seeing a series of breakaways, none of which stuck.

Until one did. And, for the second day in a row, the break stayed away.

The trio of Movistar’s Pelayo Sánchez , Soudal Quick-Step’s Julian Alaphilippe, and Jayco AlUla’s Luke Plapp had a lead that stretched out to as much as two and a half minutes as the race entered its third and final gravel sector. But INEOS Grenadiers set a blistering pace behind, quickly whittling the three-man breakaway’s lead to less than thirty seconds with just a few kilometers to go.

But the gap stayed at around twenty seconds as the Plapp, Alaphilippe, and Sánchez passed under the 1 km to go banner. Alaphilippe launched early, and Sanchez responded. Though Plapp was hanging on their wheels, it was clear that this was a two-man race to the finish.

In his post-race interview, Sánchez was asked if he knew what he had just accomplished. “No,” Sánchez replied. “This is amazing. I don’t have words. Crazy, crazy day for me. I thought today that I could be in the breakaway, but I could never imagine winning here.”

Sánchez also admitted that, even though he spent the last several dozen kilometers working with Plapp and Alaphilippe, he tried several times to put time into his mates in the breakaway. “I tried to drop [Plapp and Alaphilippe], but it was impossible for me,” he said. “So, I tried at the end with the sprint. Luckily, I was the fastest.”

Plapp, who spent much of the day in the virtual pink jersey, said after the race, “That was an insane day. The race was out of control, the whole race. It was ridiculous for the first eighty kilometers.”

“The three of us worked reasonably well to the finish,” Plapp added. “We played games a bit. I was half-eyes looking for time and half-eyes looking for the stage, so I ended up riding a bit harder.”

Asked if he was thinking about the pink jersey during his breakaway, Plapp said, “No, no, no. I know (UAE Team Emirates) were never going to let it go. You could see from the gaps they were keeping, they weren’t willing to let the jersey go.”

A Win for the Breakaway as the Peloton Couldn’t Get It Together

Stage Winner: Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) Race Leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

May 8, 2024—Another flat-ish day, another sprint finish. That was supposed to be the script for Wednesday’s fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia. But if there’s a theme emerging from the early stages of this year’s Giro, it’s to expect the unexpected.

Because in a move that seems ever more rare, the day’s breakaway stuck, the charging group of sprinters behind unable to catch up.

At the end of the 178-kilometer stage, Benjamin Thomas captured Cofidis’s first win this season. Behind him were EF Education-EasyPost’s Michael Valgren, Andrea Pietrobon of Polti Kometa, and Groupama-FDJ’s Enzo Paleni. The group spent about half of the day with a lead of around one minute over the peloton.

Eight seconds behind Paleni, Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan—the current maglia ciclamino— led the rest of the peloton across the line.

With 5 kilometers to the finish, the four-man breakaway had a solid forty-second lead, and it seemed as though the peloton couldn’t organize themselves enough to reel them back in. Ineos Grenadiers had the most notable attack, but pulled off after the 3-kilometer mark, ostensibly working to protect their lead man Geraint Thomas’s time.

From there, nothing much materialized, and the breakaway was allowed to duke it out themselves for the win.

“I said maybe today’s my day,” said the French Thomas, who captured both his first WorldTour and Grand Tour victories with the win. “Everything is perfect today. I knew the final because I trained there sometimes. I knew the Montemagno in the final, and it helped me, knowing the cobbles and the corners. It's a nice thing to win in Italy. It means a lot to me.”

Thomas, who is a seasoned track racer, likened the four-man break to a “long, long team pursuit.”

Valgren added that the topography of the parcours aided the breakaway’s chances.

“It was actually only with three or four ks to go (that we thought we could win) because you always think the peloton will take 10-seconds-per-kilometer more or less,” Valgren said after the race. “We kept working well together and there was in our favor kind of downhill. Chapeau to the other guys for working well together. We didn't start to play the games, so it was nice.”

The one thing that was expected was that nothing much changed in the GC battle. UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogačar remains forty-six seconds clear of Geraint Thomas and forty-seven seconds ahead of BORA-hansgrohe’s lead man, Dani Martinez.

Jonathan Milan Wins Sprint Finish

Stage Winner: Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) Race Leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

May 7, 2024—For the second straight day, the Giro d’Italia ended with a flat sprint that was almost nabbed with a daring and unexpected last-minute attack.

The 190-kilometer route from Acqui Terme to Andora started with a gradual ride into the day’s only categorized climb, the category 3 Colle del Melogno, where the KOM points were taken by Intermarché-Wanty’s Lilian Calmejane. After that, it was an almost wholly downsloping back half of the stage, ending with a straight, flat shot into the seaside town of Andora.

If the peloton felt a bit jumpy heading into Andora, it no doubt had to do with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Geraint Thomas’s (INEOS Grenadiers) almost successful late break in yesterday’s sprint stage.

And then, just like yesterday, a solo attack was launched with plenty of racing left. Today, it was Ineos-Grenadiers’ Filippo Ganna, one of the fastest solo bike racers that’s ever lived, who attacked at the foot of the day’s final pitch, the Capo Mele, with 4 km to go. However, the long-distance attack was once again in vain, as he was caught and swallowed up with just a few hundred meters to go.

Moments later, another Italian, Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan, launched a furious and commanding 300-meter sprint that would net him his second Giro stage win, exactly one year to the day from his first.

Meanwhile, Dani Martínez, who entered the day in third place in the GC standings, suffered a late-stage mechanical. Lucky for the BORA-hansgrohe racer, it was within the final 3 kilometers, meaning he was awarded the same time as the bunch ahead and lost no extra time to Pogačar and Thomas.

In sad news, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) slid out on a slick descent with about 62 kilometers left, crashing out of the race with an injury. It was a brutal reminder of the Eritrean’s luck, who, moments after becoming the first Black African rider to win a Grand Tour stage in 2022’s Giro, suffered a freak injury when the cork from his celebratory champagne bottle shot him in the eye, causing him to abandon the race with a hemorrhage in his eye.

“We saw Ganna going full gas in the last climb, and we just had to catch him,” said Milan of his Italian track teammate. “Today, the guys did such an amazing job. This experience was special because my parents were here today. I’m really happy about it,” Milan, who won last year’s maglia ciclamino, added.

After the race, second-place finisher Kaden Groves said the day’s blisteringly high speeds made the stage “quite scary at times.” And when asked about how his Alpecin-Deceuninck team was shaping up over the Giro’s first week, Groves said, “We’re getting there.”

Soudal Quick-Step’s Tim Merlier Takes Sprint Victory Amidst GC Favorites’ Late Attack

Stage Winner: Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) Race Leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

May 6, 2024 – The sprinters had their first chance to shine, as the race’s third stage from Novara to Fassano featured just 750 meters of elevation over 166 kilometers.

However, it wasn’t without a bit of drama, as the race’s biggest GC favorites launched a thrilling attack over the last four kilometers, throwing a wrench into what was expected to be a straightforward day. After an early move from EF-Education EasyPost’s Mikkel Honore, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) followed, forming a small, three-man breakaway that, for a moment, looked as though it might stay away from the group.

Honoré was swallowed up by the group with about 1 kilometer to go, and given the day’s high pace and series of breakaways, there was some thought that Pogačar and Thomas’s attack might just stick. However, the two GC men were caught with about 400 meters to go, setting up the bunch sprint everyone expected the day to end with.

Soudal Quick-Step’s Tim Merlier nipped a group at the line that included Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan and Intermarche Wanty’s Biniam Girmay, who rounded out the day’s podium, along with Arkea’s Jenthe Biermans and dsm-Firmeninch PostNL’s Tobias Lund Andersen.

After a masterful recovery from a late crash to win Sunday’s second stage, Pogačar started the day in the maglia rosa , forty-five seconds clear of Dani Martínez of BORA-hansgrohe and Geraint Thomas of Ineos Grenadiers. By the time stage 3 was over, those standings remained exactly the same.

“It wasn’t the plan,” Thomas said of the two-man attack over the closing kilometers. “We just wanted to stay out of trouble.”

He added that, over the final few hundred meters, it took everything he had to keep contact with Pogačar. “I was just trying to hold his wheel,” Thomas said, admitting that the attack was never part of the day’s plan.

“It was the hardest victory so far,” stage winner Merlier said of the unexpected chase he and his group of sprinters found themselves in as Thomas and Pogačar rode away. Merlier said he hesitated, causing him to miss out on his leadout man, and eventually forcing him to attack directly into the wind without any support.

Tadej Pogačar Wins Stage 2 and Takes the Maglia Rosa

May 5, 2024 - Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates wins Stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia 2024 and takes the Maglia Rosa. Twenty-seven seconds behind, Dani Martínez (Bora-hansgrohe) takes second, and Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) is third.

It was a masterful performance by UAE Team Emirates once Pogačar made it back to the front of the peloton after a small crash due to a front flat tire. The Slovenian leads Thomas and Martinez by 45" in the General Classification.

In the post-race interview, Pogačar was asked if he panicked after crashing in the lead-up to the last climb. “Not really. I was quite calm. I hit a hole in the city and had a super fast flat tire. There was a bit of confusion. I wanted to stop before the corner, but the DS said, ‘No, no, after the corner.’ I was feeling good. The team was super good today. And then we set the pace that we like and it was perfect,” said the race leader.

“I didn’t know the climb well. Everybody was maybe doing this climb for the first time, and it was hard to guess where to do the [hard] pacing, but I think we did a really good job today. And it was super good the last pull of Rafał Majka in the hard part so that I could attack,” Pogačar added.

“I just wanted a stage win today and some gap. Test the legs a little bit. And the [goal] was to take the pink jersey. Now I can relax a little bit in the next few days with the team and we stay safe in the sprints.”

Watch the final kilometer of Stage 2 on the Giro d’Italia’s YouTube Channel

Geraint Thomas of INEOS Grenadiers found himself meeting his limit in today’s stage. “It was so hard to follow, but I knew if I tried to keep going I would completely blow up. I felt bad for sitting on Ben [O’Connor], but I was on the limit for a while there,” said Thomas in the post-race interview.

Regarding Pogačar’s crash, Thomas said, “Honestly, I didn’t know until I was on the climb, and someone said Tadej was back. The plan was to go to the front, not to attack, but to stay safe on the front.”

Narváez Upstages Pogačar to Secure Stage 1 Victory and Maglia Rosa

Stage Winner: Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers) Race Leader: Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers)

May 4, 2024 - The opening stage of the Giro d’Italia produced plenty of fireworks and a surprise winner on the line. Team UAE Emirates set it up perfectly for Tadej Pogačar on the opening stage. After some long-lasting breakaways were caught, Pogačar broke free in the last four kilometers with Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers) and Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe). The Slovenian just couldn’t gap those two rivals, and it set it up for a sprint finish. In a bit of a surprise, it was Narváez, the 27-year-old Ecuadorian national champion, outsprinting Schachmann (second on the stage) and Pogačar (third). Narváez earns the first Maglia Rosa of the 2024 Tour of Italy.

Though he didn’t win the stage, Pogačar will head into Stage 2 with an advantage over many of his top GC rivals. Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) was 10 seconds behind Pogačar on the stage and, after factoring in time bonuses, 14 seconds behind Pogačar in the GC standings.

Watch Stage 1 Highlights on the Giro d’Italia’s YouTube Channel

“It was a great feeling. We knew it was going to be a stage for me, and I worked a lot on it,” Narváez said in the post-race interview. “Following the best guy in the world on the climb was really hard, so it’s a special victory today. It’s still hurting me now. It was really hard—really, really hard. But in the end, I made it.”

“I think [Pogačar] went too long in the sprint, 200 meters after a really hard stage, and I did a short sprint, and in the end, I took the victory. For me, it’s amazing. There aren’t many opportunities in a Grand Tour to get the maglia rosa on the first day because you have a bunch sprint, a TT, or a different stage. Today was a good opportunity. I worked really, really hard for it,” added Narváez.

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Giro d'Italia 2024 Stage 15: How to watch on Sunday, TV and live stream details as Tadej Pogacar moves on from ITT

Published 18/05/2024 at 22:28 GMT

Following the second individual time trial at the Giro d'Italia on Saturday, GC contenders such as Tadej Pogacar and Geraint Thomas now turn their attention back to the overall picture ahead of the next rest day on Monday, and they are sure to give it everything once more. Here are the details on how you can watch Stage 15, the route profile, and when the coverage starts...

Giro d'Italia 2024 - Stage 15: Check out the route ahead of key day of racing

Ganna clinches ITT victory as Ineos star edges out Pogacar on Stage 14

18 hours ago

How can I watch Stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia?

Giro d’italia 2024 tv schedule and route details, how to watch stage 14 of the giro d'italia as gc contenders tackle second itt.

Yesterday at 11:07

Pogacar says team sat off on Stage 10 as 'people were complaining we win too much'

Paret-peintre emulates brother with stage 10 win as pogacar cruises in pink.

14/05/2024 at 17:29

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• learn all about the stage15

Manerba del Garda - Livigno (Mottolino)

Giro d'Italia 2024

Stage 15, arguably the hardest of the entire Giro, sees the start of a tough week of mountains. The route from Manerba del Garda to Livigno amounts to 220 kilometres and takes in an elevation gain of 5,700 metres.

Livigno - Santa Cristina Val Gardena/St. Christina in Gröden (Monte Pana)

A high mountain fraction broken up by the Adige and Isarco valleys, basically a 3-part stage: mountain, with Foscagno Stelvio (this year’s Cima Coppi, the highest point of the race); plain, from Prato allo Stevio until shortly after Bolzano; mountain, with the ascent of Passo Pinei and the finish in Val Gardena.

Selva di Val Gardena/Wolkenstein in Gröden - Passo del Brocon

Intense climbing stage with brutal amount of elevation gain despite its short distance. The route climbs from the start on the Passo Sella, followed by a flat section in the Fassa and Fiemme Valleys all the way to Predazzo.

Fiera di Primiero - Padova

This stage features a single, rather modest climb in the opening half of the route (the KOM of Lamon) followed by about 150 km of slightly downhill false flat.

Mortegliano - Sappada

The stage begins by riding up the Tagliamento Valley, heading north and crossing the towns of San Daniele del Friuli, Forgaria nel Friuli and Peonis. After Tolmezzo, the succession of climbs leading to the finish line begins: Passo Duron, Sella Valcalda and Cima Sappada.

Alpago - Bassano del Grappa

Relatively flat opening at Lake Santa Croce, heading downhill to Vittorio Veneto and the Muro di Ca' del Poggio, which leads into the Prosecco area. After crossing the Piave River, the route reaches the slopes of the brutal Monte Grappa, which will be tackled twice.

Roma - Roma

The final stage is divided into two parts: the first is the peloton’s outing to Lido di Castel Fusano on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It's 16 kilometres one way and another 16 kilometres back before the stage enters its second and final part, the finishing circuit (8 laps) of 9.5 kilometres, which very much resembles last year’s lap through the eternal city.

Venaria Reale - Torino

Stage 1 kicks off in the suburbs of Turin and finishes in the centre. After a flat initial phase of around 45 km, the riders will tackle three climbs.

San Francesco al Campo - Santuario di Oropa (Biella)

Challenging stage featuring the first summit finish. After a flat run-up across Canavese and Vercellese areas the pink caravan will reach Valdengo, where a succession of minor climbs begins.

Novara - Fossano

Predominantly flat stage with some minor ups and downs in the central part.

Acqui Terme - Andora

A fairly flat stage, the only obstacles are the Col di Melogno climb (8 km at around 5%) midway through the stage and the final Capo Mele, which is tackled from the same side as during the Milano-Sanremo.

Genova - Lucca

The riders leave the city of Genova and travel along the coast on the Aurelia state road in the first 50 km. The stage has just two climbs on the menu.

Torre del Lago Puccini (Viareggio) - Rapolano Terme

A demanding stage characterised by a hilly second part and three gravel sectors totalling almost 12 km. The first two are shared with the Strade Bianche, the third is a new one.

Foligno - Perugia TUDOR ITT

Individual time trial clearly divided into two parts. The first 32 km, flat and largely non-technical, lead to the foot of Umbria’s capital city of Perugia. The riders then tackle the ascent of Casaglia, with gradients up to 16%.

Spoleto - Prati di Tivo

Short stage with no flat ground to play with and plenty of elevation gain.

Avezzano - Napoli

Stage clearly divided into two parts. The first 180 km are the run-up to a demanding finale with short and punchy climbs.

Pompei - Cusano Mutri (Bocca della Selva)

The stage begins calmly with the first part of the race as good as flat.

Foiano di Val Fortore - Francavilla al Mare

Stage clearly divided into two parts. The first crosses the Apennines to Termoli and the second, entirely flat, is played out along the ss.16 state road and the shores of the Adriatic Sea.

Martinsicuro - Fano

A flat stage for the first 50 km and then studded with walls and hairpin bends to the finish. After a rather simple initial part along the Adriatic coast, the stage moves away from the sea to face repeated short, steep climbs that come in the final two thirds of the route.

Riccione - Cento

Completely flat stage through the plains of Emilia-Romagna.

Castiglione delle Stiviere - Desenzano del Garda TUDOR ITT

The second time trial test is predominantly flat with several undulations within it and an elevation gain of roughly 250 metres. The riders cross a few villages and a series of minor ups and downs. The road is almost constantly slightly downhill heading towards the shore of Lake Garda.

Jersey Wearers

POGACAR Tadej

MILAN Jonathan

TIBERI Antonio

Giro d'Italia 2024 | Stage 15 | Giro Express

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I flew from LA to Paris to see Taylor Swift. I was only in the city for 48 hours but it was worth it and easier than I expected.

• I left LA on a Thursday, saw Taylor Swift in Paris on Saturday, and returned to LA on Sunday.
• The Eras Tour was as good as everyone says, but I was disappointed one album was left out.
• Overall my 48 hours in Paris was worth it, for Swift and for the food.

I'm not exactly what you would call a Swiftie — so why did I fly 11 hours each way from Los Angeles to Paris for a couple of days just to see Taylor Swift on the opening weekend of the latest leg of her record-shattering Eras Tour?

For one, my soon-to-be mother-in-law invited me on a girls' trip and bought great tickets. Two, because I have been a fan of Swift's for years. (I saw her open for Rascal Flatts in 2008. Yes, open!) And three, because, well, who wouldn't want to see the biggest pop star of her generation at the top of her game?

In 2023, Swift's Eras Tour was estimated to have generated more than $1 billion in ticket sales, the most ever for a tour. Even her film adaptation of the show drew in $250 million, making it the highest grossing concert film of all time. And in the US alone, the Eras Tour was estimated to have generated $5 billion in economic impact.

Taylor Swift is an event, and I didn't want to miss it.

Flying nonstop from LA to Paris on Air France was a breeze

I flew from LA to Paris on Thursday, May 9, and only had to take two days off work — not bad for a trip to Europe. My Air France flight left LAX at 3:20 p.m. and was scheduled to land in Paris the following day, Friday, at 11:15 a.m. local time.

I had an aisle seat in Premium Economy. While nothing like the first-class cabin, where the seats fully reclined into a flat bed, the premium economy seats were wider, had more leg room, and reclined a bit further than the seats in the main cabin. It also had a footrest that could be extended out.

At the start of the flight, Air France offered complimentary glasses of Champagne to all passengers, which I passed on. During dinner, I did have a free glass of red wine, which to my surprise, was actually pretty good.

Dinner was served less than two hours after takeoff. I had mushroom ravioli, which was served with a salad, soft French cheese, biscuits, a roll, and cheesecake — all of which were much better than what I'm used to having on flights. There was coffee and tea service after dinner, which came with a piece of dark chocolate.

I watched "The Lord of the Rings" for the 100th time before and during dinner, which made the time fly by. After the meal, the lights dimmed in the cabin, and it was time to try to sleep.

Armed with eye covers and noise-cancelling headphones, I was able to sleep for around five hours or so, even though it was probably only around 6 p.m. my local time when I fell asleep.

I woke up only when the lights had been turned on, and breakfast was being served, around an hour and a half before landing. Breakfast was a warm spinach and cheese pastry, a roll with butter and jam, orange juice, a fruit cup, and a yogurt drink.

I watched more "Lord of the Rings" and the flight landed on time.

Paris was full of Taylor Swift fans

We went straight from the airport to our hotel, had lunch at a café, and were walking to the Eiffel Tower by around 3 p.m. local time.

I was feeling a little sleepy, but it was surprisingly tolerable. The weather was amazing in Paris and there were people everywhere taking in the sunshine.

Swifties were also everywhere. I spotted plenty of Swift merch and the beaded friendship bracelets that have become a staple of the Eras Tour — which was unsurprising, considering some 42,000 people were expected to attend one of the four dates at La Defense Arena.

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It was clear the Swifties had come from all over too, including other countries in Europe and the US. Swift was even expected to attract five times as many luxury American travelers to Paris than the Olympics will when it kicks off in the city in July.

Speaking of the Olympics , several areas near the Eiffel Tower and other surrounding areas had temporary scaffolding, as seating and other infrastructure are being put in place to host the games.

After walking around Paris all afternoon, we went back to the hotel to take a quick nap, and then went out for dinner at a classic French brasserie, La Rotonde de la Muette. I had beef tartar with french fries that was so good it alone may have made the trip worth it.

Struggling to stay awake by the end of the evening, I went to sleep that night around 11 p.m. and slept a solid 11 hours — which I am convinced helped me get through the next day and avoid jet lag.

I woke up Saturday morning ready to go. After an amazing café breakfast, more walking, shopping, and croissants, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the concert.

The concert was over three hours, and she played songs from the new album

Before we even left the hotel, an adorable little girl from the US approached us and asked if we wanted to trade friendship bracelets, the first of several times that would happen that night.

We took an Uber to La Defense Arena, located northwest of the city center and about 15 minutes from our hotel. As we got closer to the arena, the streets were packed with people and police.

The huge crowds outside the arena, waiting to buy merch or lining up to be let in, were decked out in sparkles, sequins, and cowboy hats. I spotted several outfits that looked almost exactly like ones Swift has worn herself, or that were clearly inspired by a specific album.

We finally got in around 5:45 p.m. With our tickets, we had access to a quite bougie lounge that had free food (delicious) and drinks (also delicious). Inside the lounge, we spotted a famous TikToker whose videos of the show that night racked up millions of views, and I casually started chatting to a former top executive of one of the big five tech companies.

We stayed in the lounge while watching the opener, Paramore. When the countdown appeared on the screen for Swift, we went to our actual seats, which were right outside the lounge, stage left.

I won't describe the concert in detail — there is, after all, an entire movie of it — but needless to say, it was as striking as everyone says. The set pieces, the outfits , and the dance numbers were all incredible.

But the real sight to behold was Swift herself, running up and down the stage in heels for more than three hours, never appearing out of breath or even very sweaty, frequently smiling so big and expressing so much gratitude that it was easy to forget this was just one of dozens of tour dates.

There were also some changes to the show, most notably the addition of songs from her new album, "The Tortured Poets Department."

I was shocked and a bit disappointed to realize Swift was not playing any songs from her first album . I was also baffled to learn that she's never explained why she chose to omit her self-titled debut that launched her into stardom from a tour meant to celebrate all the eras of her career.

Theories abound (though most of them also apply to her second album, "Fearless," which she did include), but perhaps the most convincing is simply that the album is not very popular with her fan base compared to her newer work.

But besides making this millennial feel a bit old and a little sad by not playing those songs, the show was still great.

I flew back to LA just two days after arriving and somehow avoided jet lag

We went back to the hotel right after the show to get some sleep before our flights. My Air France flight took off from Paris on Sunday, May 12, at 10:40 a.m. and was set to land in LA the same day at 1:05 p.m. local time, some 11 and a half hours later.

The flight went almost exactly the same as the first, with dinner served less than an hour and a have after take off — this time, it was a mashed pea vegetable dish, salad, roll, biscuits, and a lemon pastry. I watched more "Lord of the Rings" until the lights went out and it was time to sleep again. (I finished the entire trilogy during the flights to and from Paris.)

Surprisingly I was able to sleep on-and-off for around four hours, until eventually the light came back on and it was time for breakfast, about an hour and a half before landing.

We again landed right on time at LAX. I got through customs in about 15 minutes and took an Uber home. It was around 3 p.m., and I was definitely feeling a little bit out of it. Still I forced myself to stay awake and just lounged on the couch the rest of the day — something that I think also helped me avoid jet lag.

I went to sleep at a normal time that Sunday night, about 80 hours after I had first taken off for France, with 22 of those hours spent in the air.

I woke up Monday morning well-rested, feeling exactly how I do after a normal weekend.

Watch: A glitch in air traffic control left thousands of travelers stranded

• Main content

Giro d'Italia stage 15 Live - GC battle on the Mortirolo and savage Livigno finish

4 jours de dunkerque: sam bennett wins again on stage 5.

Irishman takes third stage win in four days ahead of Penhoët and Berckmoes in Cassel

Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) secured his third stage win at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque , attacking on the short final Mont Cassel climb while wearing the overall leader's jersey. The Irishman won the stage and extended his lead in the overall classification.

Bennett was the fastest of the five riders who sprinted for the finish line leaving Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ) in second, Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto Dstny) in third place, Luca Van Boven (Bingoal WB) in fourth and Alexandre Delettre (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93) in fifth on the day.

Bennett leads the overall classification into the stage 6 final on Sunday, 28 seconds ahead of Penhoët and 31 seconds ahead of Berckmoes.

The fifth stage at 4 Jours de Dunkerque was a 179.1km race from Arques to Cassel. It included an opening 60km and then nine finishing circuits, which included cobbled sectors, three ascents on each lap, and a finish on Mont Cassel.

In the opening kilometres, three riders, Fausto Masnada (Soudal-QuickStep), Jeremy Lecroq (St Michel-Mavis-Auber93), and Enzo Leijnse (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), formed a small gap.

The gap opened to three minutes on a trio of chasers: Rait Ärm (Van Rysel-Roubaix), Gwen Leclainche (Philippe Wagner/Bazin), and Enzo Boulet (CIC U Nantes Atlantique), and then five minutes on the main field with 120km to go.

While the peloton caught the chase group as they entered the circuits with 112km to go, the breakaway continued to maintain its gap.

Masnada attacked his companions inside 70km, opening a small five-second lead on Leijnse and 25 seconds on Lecroq. And with the trio refusing to work together, the peloton slashed the gap to under three minutes.

The peloton led by Israel-Premier Tech swept up Leijnse and Lecroq at 47km to go, and Masnada was soon reeled in with 35km to go.

The late-race attacks began, which led the way to another breakaway that included Samuel Watson (Groupama-FDJ), Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep), Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies), Joris Delbove (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93), Alexis Guerin (Philippe Wagner/Bazin).

The five riders held 20 seconds on the run-in to the finish as Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale pulled the peloton into the final eight kilometres.

The attackers were caught inside the final two kilometres and a reduced field barreled into the final ascent. Overall race leader Bennett launched his attack, quickly followed by Penhoët, Van Boven, Delettre, and Berckmoes.

Bennett proved to be the strongest of the late-race breakaway and sprinted for the stage victory in Cassel.

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Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews , overseeing the global racing content plan.

Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.

She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.

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