Welcome to the latest edition of Pro Log, where we look at the pro cycling news from the past week. Here’s a rundown of the latest results before we get started:
- Simac Ladies Tour, 8th-13th October: 1st Lotte Kopecky, SD Worx-Protime, 17h 25min 53sec; 2nd Franziska Koch, DSM-Firmenich-PostNL, +02sec; 3rd Zoe Bäckstedt, Canyon-SRAM, +07sec.
- Simac Ladies Tour, Stage 6 (145.8km), Sun 13th Oct: 1st Lotte Kopecky, SD Worx-Protime, 3h 44min 49sec; 2nd Lorena Wiebes, SD Worx-Protime, +0sec; 3rd Marthe Truyen, Fenix-Deceuninck, +0sec.
- Chrono des Nations, Men’s Race (45.4km), Sun 13th Oct: 1st Stefan Küng, Groupama-FDJ, 51min 53sec; 2nd Jay Vine, UAE Team Emirates, +04sec; 3rd Johan Price-Pejtersen, Bahrain Victorious, +05sec.
- Chrono des Nations, Women’s Race (27.2km), Sun 13th Oct: 1st Grace Brown, FDJ-Suez, 35min 26sec; 2nd Vittoria Guazzini, FDJ-Suez, +51sec; 3rd Anna Kiesenhofer, Austria, +55secs.
- Il Lombardia, Monument (255km), Sat 12th Oct: 1st Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates, 6h 04min 58sec ; 2nd Remco Evenepoel, Soudal-QuickStep, +03min 16sec; 3rd Giulio Ciccone, Lidl-Trek, +04min 31sec.
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Calm and chaos at Il Lombardia
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Tadej Pogačar rode to victory at Il Lombardia with a 48km solo attack. He became only the second man in history to win in four consecutive years, the only other being Fausto Coppi between 1946 and 1949.
The Slovenian attacked on the Colma di Sormano climb and no one could follow. After crossing the finish line, he had plenty of time – over three minutes – to climb off his bike and raise it over his head in celebration before the arrival of second place Remco Evenepoel. Further back still, Giulio Ciccone jumped away from his group to claim the final podium spot.
This win marks Pogačar’s 25th of the season, but his domination wasn’t the only talking point surrounding the race. Before the race, Tom Pidcock revealed he had been ‘deselected’ while on the team bus to Lombardy despite his second place behind Pogačar at Giro dell’Emilia the week prior.
Teammate Geraint Thomas later said on his podcast, ‘He’s not happy. The team’s not happy. How has it got to this point? I don’t know… People who are around Tom I don’t think help.’
Rumours have been swirling that Pidcock could be departing Ineos Grenadiers this offseason. The team’s best-placed rider at Il Lombardia was Thymen Arensman in 15th.
Zoe Bäckstedt impresses at Simac Ladies Tour
Zoe Bäckstedt was a fighting force at the six-day Simac Ladies Tour. She won the opening stage individual time-trial and wore the yellow leader’s jersey but was left without any teammates by the end of Stage 2.
Chloé Dygert broke her nose on the hotel bathroom door while roommates Maike van der Duin and Soraya Paladin both withdrew through illness. Finally Alex Morrice was caught out early on Stage 2 and abandoned.
Despite having four stages still to go, Bäckstedt persevered. She was only overtaken on the general classification after Stage 4 by DSM's Franziska Koch. At the end of the race, she sat third on GC behind winner Lotte Kopecky and Koch and was also the best young rider.
Racing alone is no issue for the 20-year-old, who is the current U23 World and European cyclocross champion.
CX rider Eli Iserbyt disqualified for stamping on rival’s bike
Here’s the reason Eli Iserbyt was disqualified from Exact Cross round 1 in Beringen today 😳 pic.twitter.com/EoajX4VHHO
— Eurosport (@eurosport) October 12, 2024
Belgian Champion Eli Iserbyt was disqualified from Exact Cross Beringen this weekend after deliberately stamping on Ryan Kamp’s bike.
Video footage circulated online that showed Iserbyt and Kamp crashing on lap five. After picking up his own bike, Iserbyt stomped on Kamp’s derailleur – Kamp then pulled Iserbyt back to exchange some harsh words. On the following lap, Iserbyt was pulled from the race.
Taking to social media, Iserbyt said, 'I understand the decision of the jury to DSQ me today in Beringen. My acts after the hard crash were made in a rage of anger and don’t belong in this sport.’
I understand the decision of the jury to dsq me today in Beringen. My acts after the hard crash were made in a rage of anger and don’t belong in this sport. For this I want to apologise to everyone involved. Now I’ll focus on the positivie things and look frwrd to the next races!
— Eli Iserbyt (@IserbytEli) October 12, 2024
Speaking to Sporza, he added, ‘This is something that’s been an issue for previous seasons. He [Kamp] cuts corners more often, and he did it again now.’
The race was won by Lars van der Haar of Baloise–Trek Lions. In the women’s race, Visma-Lease a Bike’s Fem van Empel soloed to victory by 42sec.
Velo d'Or finalists announced
The finalists for the men and women's Velo d'Or award – given to the best cyclists of the season – have been announced, with ten male and ten female nominees. The men's category includes riders such as Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Biniam Girmay, Marc Hirschi and Tim Merlier with Lotte Kopecky, Marianne Vos, Kasia Niewiadoma, Lorena Wiebes and Kristen Faulkner included as five of the ten women nominated.
Other awards include the 'Eddy Merckx Trophy' for the best one-day racer as well as the 'Bernard Hinault Trophy' for the best French road rider of the season. This year, there is also a new trophy awarded to the best cyclists in Olympics disciplines – essentially not road cycling – and finalists include Ellesse Andrews, Harrie Lavreysen and Tom Pidcock.
Find the full list at lequipe.fr. The winners will be announced on 6th December.
Retirements aplenty
Multiple riders have retired in the past week. SD Worx-Protime’s Christine Majerus and Human Powered Health duo Audrey Cordon-Ragot and Alice Wood all retired at the Simac Ladies Tour.
Grace Brown, world and Olympic ITT gold medallist, chose to do so after winning at Chrono des Nations while Domenico Pozzovivo finally hung up his cleats after finishing 38th at Il Lombardia aged 41.
See you next week.
