Dumoulin gets straight back on his bike for post-Tour race in Boxmeer

DutchNews, July 30, 2018

Tom Dumoulin (left) on the podium in Paris with Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome.
Photo: Stephane Mantey/ Belga via HH

Just a day after finishing second in the Tour de France, Tom Dumoulin is getting back on his bike for the Daags na de Tour race in Boxmeer. 

Organisers of the 80km race are hanging out yellow banners to welcome Dumoulin, who became the first Dutchman in 28 years to finish on the podium in Paris. Last year the town was decorated in pink to salute Dumoulin’s victory in the Giro d’Italia. 

Dumoulin ended the Tour 1 minute 51 seconds behind Welshman Geraint Thomas, the surprise winner, with Chris Froome, who edged out the Dutchman in this year’s Giro in May, a further 33 seconds behind. 

The 27-year-old from Limburg is one of several leading tour riders competing in Boxmeer, along with Steven Kruijswijk, who finished fifth overall, Bauke Mollema, Laurens ten Dam and Wout Poels. 

The short, flat course is best suited to sprinters such as last year’s winner, Dylan Groenwegen, who is also competing and claimed two stage wins in the first week of this year’s Tour. 

Race organiser Pierre Hermans said Mollema was a late addition to the start list after sponsors came up with extra cash to add his name to those of Dumoulin and Kruijswijk. ‘Initially he was out of our range. We had reached the limit of our budget. But the extra sponsorship money meant we were able to bring Bauke to Boxmeer,’ he told AD. 

Froome wins fourth Tour de France, 'honoured' to be with greats

Yahoo – AFP, CHESTERMAN, Jul 23, 2017

Great Britain's Chris Froome (C) flashes victory signs during the twenty-first and
last stage of the Tour de France on July 23, 2017 (AFP Photo/Jeff PACHOUD)

Paris (AFP) - Briton Chris Froome secured his fourth Tour de France title at the end of the 21st and final stage won by Dylan Groenewegen on Sunday and said it was a huge honour to be amongst cycling's greats.

Sky's Froome had previously won the 2013, 2015 and 2016 editions and sits fifth overall in the all-time list of Tour victors behind five-time winners Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.

"It's a huge honour to be talked about in the same sentence as those guys with their place in the history of the Tour de France," 32-year-old Froome, who will aim to match them next year, told ITV4.

"It is just a privilege to even be in the position to be going for that kind of record.

"Each time I've won the Tour it's so unique and so different and it is such a different battle to get to this moment.

"So they're all special in their own ways and this year I think will be remembered for being the closest and most hard-fought battle between the GC rivals."

At the end of three weeks, 21 stages and more than 3,500km, Froome rolled over the line on the Champs Elysees in Paris with a broad grin alongside his Sky team-mates, who wore a special kit for the occasion with their usual blue stripe replaced by a yellow one.

A look at the record of multiple Tour de France winner Chris Froome

(AFP Photo/Paul DEFOSSEUX)

It was Froome's closest Tour struggle yet as his final winning margin was less than a minute for the first time, Colombia's Rigoberto Uran finishing second at 54sec with Romain Bardet of France, the runner-up last year, third at 2min 20sec.

The 103km final stage began with a nod to history in Montgeron, where the very first stage of the inaugural Tour in 1903 also began, at a leisurely pace giving Froome, his team-mates and the winners of the other distinctive jerseys the chance to celebrate with glasses of champagne as they rode out of the town and towards the French capital.

By the time they got there the tempo had risen to the opposite scale of the spectrum and it was a full pelt bunch that rode to the finish, where 24-year-old Groenewegen struck out for home from a long way out and held off the hard-charging Andre Greipel, winner on the Champs Elysees in the previous two years, with Edvald Boasson Hagen third.

'Perfect'

"This is an amazing place for the sprinters. To win on the Champs-Elysees makes it a perfect day," said Dutchman Groenewegen of the Lotto NL Jumbo team.

Colombia's Rigoberto Uran (L), Great Britain's Christopher Froome (C) and 

France's Romain Bardet celebrate on the podium on the Champs-Elysees 

avenue in Paris on July 23, 2017 (AFP Photo/Jeff PACHOUD)

"This is my first stage win at the Tour. When I was young, I was looking at the Champs-Elysees stage on TV. Now I'm the winner here, it's wonderful."

It was the biggest victory of Groenewegen's young career but the day undoubtedly belonged to Froome.

"It feels amazing. The Champs Elysees never disappoints, it's something magical," said Froome.

"When you've spent three weeks thinking about being here in this moment, it is so rewarding every time."

Alongside the yellow jersey winner, Australia's Michael Matthews won the sprinters' green points jersey, France's Warren Barguil triumphed in the polkadot king of the mountains competition and Simon Yates of Britain succeeded twin brother Adam as the best young rider in the white jersey.

Froome's Sky finished as the best team having claimed the yellow helmets on the first stage in Dusseldorf three weeks ago and never relinquished their lead in the competition, which they won for the first time despite claiming the yellow jersey in five of the last six years.

The last remaining prize went to Barguil, a winner of two stages, who was named the most combative rider of the Tour.

Vindicated Froome heading for Tour de France yellow record https://t.co/QC1Zo0ubBb #TDF2017 by @BarnyChesterman pic.twitter.com/bKdbOxKh6U

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 23, 2017

'Incredible' Froome wins second Tour de France

Yahoo – AFP, Chesterman, 26 July 2015

Tour de France winner Christopher Froome of Great Britain celebrates his victory

 on the podium on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, July 26, 2015 (AFP Photo/Kenzo

Tribouillard)

Paris (AFP) - Chris Froome said he felt "incredible" after winning his second Tour de France title following Sunday's 21st and final stage to Paris.

Briton Froome, 30, crossed the line on the Champs Elysees arm-in-arm with his Sky teammates to clinch a second Grand Boucle crown following his 2013 success.

"This is such a great race, what can I say? I feel a lot of emotion," said Froome after a Tour in which he was doused with urine, spat at, insulted and accused of cheating.

Great Britain's Christopher Froome rides 

past the Eiffel Tower in Paris during the 21st

 and final stage of the Tour de France on

July 26, 2015 (AFP Photo/Eric Feferberg)

"Of course it was a very, very difficult Tour, both on the bike and off it. I'm so happy to be here in yellow.

"There were a few difficulties, a few extra stresses outside of the race but that's cycling in 2015.

"I'm happy to be in this position to speak for cycling today."

Germany's Andre Greipel won the stage, his fourth this year and 10th in total, ahead of Frenchman Bryan Coquard and Alexander Kristoff of Norway.

Colombian Nairo Quintana finished second overall with his Spanish Movistar teammate Alejandro Valverde taking third, his best finish at the Tour at the age of 35.

"I'm not disappointed at all, I've confirmed my ability and my status within the team," said Quintana.

"I'm only 25 so I have many more opportunities to try to win the Tour.

"(Froome) is a great rival, he suffered a lot for his victory and was very strong -- he deserves it."

Neutralised finish

Rain had rendered the cobbles at the finish on the Champs Elysees dangerous so organisers neutralised the race from the moment it reached Paris.

Great Britain's Christopher Froome (C) embraces his wife Michelle Cound on

 the Champs-Elysees in Paris at the end of the Tour de France on July 26, 2015 

(AFP Photo/Lionel Bonaventure)

It meant the official timing was stopped just after riders passed the finishing line for the first time ahead of 10 laps of the famous Parisian avenue.

It allowed Froome and his teammates -- wearing a black kit with the traditional blue stripe replaced by a yellow one in hommage to their leader's feat -- to finish in a straight line, arm-in-arm, over a minute after the stage winner.

Having already won the Tour in 2013, finishing in the same way but then because his lead to Quintana -- second that time as well -- was sufficiently large to allow him to do so, Froome became the first Briton to win the Grand Boucle for a second time.

Quintana finished at 1min 12sec overall with Valverde third over five minutes back.

Last year's winner Vincenzo Nibali finished fourth overall, ahead of two-time former champion Alberto Contador.

But on the final stage, a 109.5km run from the Parisian suburb of Sevres, Greipel emphasised his sprint superiority at this Tour.

The 33-year-old had already won the second, fifth and 15th stages in sprint finishes.

Germany's Andre Greipel (C) celebrates while crossing the finish line on the 

Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris on July 26, 2015 (AFP Photo/Jeff Pachoud)

Very proud

It made it Greipel's best ever Tour, eclipsing the three stages he won in 2012.

"I'm looking forward to a rest now," said the Lotto-Soudal rider.

"This Tour de France has been amazing for Lotto-Soudal, in five bunch sprints we won four of them.

"We can be really proud of this Tour de France, next year is another Tour de France but now I'm really happy and delighted with everything that happened in these last three weeks."

It continued German sprint dominance at the Tour as between Greipel's two outstanding seasons, compatriot Marcel Kittel was the top fast-man winning four stages in both 2013 and 2014.

Greipel's expected rivals Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan could only manage sixth and seventh respectively on Sunday.

Sagan did win the sprinter's green points jersey, though, for the fourth year in a row, despite not managing to win a stage for the second successive year.

Froome finished as king of the mountains -- only the sixth rider to finish in yellow and the polkadot jersey -- and Quintana, 25, was the best young rider as his Movistar outfit won the team competition.

Astana Retains World Tour License

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Dec 11, 2014

Kazakhstan’s Maxim Iglinsky of team Astana. (EPA Photo/Laurent Gillieron)

Paris. Doping-scandal tainted Astana, whose leading rider is this year’s Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali, was on Wednesday granted a World Tour license for the 2015 season by the International Cycling Union.

However, the UCI said that, while the license had been granted, Astana would have to agree to conditions, including being audited by the Institute of Sport Sciences of the University of Lausanne, who will “determine whether and to what extent the team and or/its management is responsible of the recent events” relating to doping offenses.

In addition, it must adhere from 2015 to the “internal operational requirements”, a set of measures which will be compulsory for all World Tour teams from 2017.

The future of Kazakh-based Astana had been hanging in the balance after the UCI asked for a full review of the team’s anti-doping policies.

That was after brothers Maxim and Valentin Iglinksy, and three riders from the Astana Continental team, tested positive for banned substances in the past year.

In addition, the UCI has also said it will study allegations made by Italian media that Astana met banned doping doctor Michele Ferrari last year.

UCI president Brian Cookson said: “This remains a very serious situation for our sport given the number of doping cases. We shall be following the situation very closely and are awaiting to review the results of the audit.

“Meanwhile, the team will have to comply with the two requirements imposed by the License Commission. The combined effect of this is that the Astana Pro Team can be considered very much to be on probation.”

Meanwhile, the sport’s governing body also denied a license to French outfit Europcar, estimating that “the team does not fulfill the financial criteria”.

Dutch cyclist Marianne Vos wins inaugural La Course in Paris

DutchNews.nl, Monday 28 July 2014

Marianne Vos (NOS/AFP)

Dutch cyclist Marianne Vos won the first edition of new cycling race La Course in Paris at the weekend, as arch rival Lizzie Armitstead crashed in the final kilometre.

'It was a dream come true, especially with the huge crowds, and it was an incredible race with a lot of attacks and that makes it even better to finish it off,' Vos was quoted as saying after crossing the finishing line on Sunday.

The Netherlands' Kirsten Wild took the silver medal.

World champion Vos is one of a group of women cyclists campaiging for the return of a stage race in France for women. The last women's Tour de France took place in 2009.

La Course took place before the arrival of the men in the final stage of the Tour de France and followed their route. In total, 119 riders started the 13-lap, 91-kilometre race through the centre of Paris.

Tour de France 2014: Lars Boom wins stage as Vincenzo Nibali keeps lead

• Full stage five results

• Froome out of Tour de France after crashes on stage five

The Guardian,  Staff and agencies, Wednesday 9 July 2014

Lars Boom celebrates as he crosses the finish line at the end of the 152.5km
fifth stage of the Tour de France. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

Lars Boom won the fifth stage of the Tour de France while Vincenzo Nibali finished third, 19 seconds behind him, and retains the yellow jersey.

On a day of wet weather, the route took the riders over slippery cobbled streets and last year’s winner Chris Froome was forced to abandon the race after two crashes.

The Ypres to Arenburg Porte du Hinaut stage commemorated 100 years since the start of World War One and featured many of the cobbles used in the Paris-Roubaix one-day race ‘the Hell of the North’.

Wet weather forced race organisers to remove two of the nine cobbled sections, but Froome’s falls came prior to the first, where the day’s racing drama began.

Boom (Belkin) was in the day’s breakaway and proved the strongest over the cobbles on an epic day’s racing to win by 19 seconds from Nibali and his Astana team-mate Jakob Fuglsang.

Nibali’s was a sensational ride from the Italian as he preserved his place in the leader’s yellow jersey, by two seconds from Fuglsang and 44 seconds from Peter Sagan (Cannondale).

Race organisers removed sectors seven and five - two sections totalling 2.4km - reducing the stage distance to 152.5km, 3km less than originally planned.

Froome’s exit came prior to the first cobbled section, after around 70km, with seven riders in the early breakaway. Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) lost contact with his fellow escapees on the first cobbled section, but a 16-rider group formed with 25km, and four cobbled sections, to go. It included Nibali, Sagan, Boom and Fabian Cancellara (Trek), many people’s tip for the stage win.

The two-time winner Alberto Contador was over a minute behind, but as the 16-rider lead group was stretched and then joined back together in a frantic period, the Spaniard lost further ground.

Nibali’s rivals continually tried to shed him from the group, but the Italian dug deep to stick with them and his team-mates Lieuwe Westra and Fuglsang did a sterling job at the front.

Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte, Team Sky’s leader after Froome’s withdrawal, tried to bridge the gap by escaping from the Contador group, the Welshman dragging along the Australian.

The Astana trio went ahead with Belkin’s Lars Boom with 12km to go before Westra fell away from the leading group with 8km left.

Boom held a commanding lead as the riders exited the final cobbled section and soloed to victory as Nibali enhanced his advantage with support from Fuglsang. Sagan led the second group home in fourth, 1min 01sec behind Boom, and Porte finished 20th, 2:11 behind, to move up to eighth overall, 1:54 behind Nibali.

Sky Procycling team rider Christopher Froome of Great Britain

 gets medical assistance after crashing down during the 4th stage of

the Tour de France 2014. (EPA Photo/Kim Ludbrook)

Related Article:

Froome Out, Nibali in Command After Tour Mayhem

Kittel takes the yellow jersey as 101st Tour de France gets rolling in northern England

German Marcel Kittel won the first stage of the Tour de France, which is being held in England for the first time since 2007. Local favorite Mark Cavendish crashed at the finish.

Deutsche Welle, 5 July 2014

On Saturday, the 198 competitors in this year's Tour de France started their grueling three-week ride through four countries. Among them was 42-year-old German Jens Voigt taking on his record 17th ride.

By the end of the day, German Marcel Kittel had claimed the first yellow jersey of the tour, comfortably holding off Slovakian Peter Sagan. Kittel won four stages in last year's competition and has now twice claimed the yellow jersey.

"It's unbelievable I've won stage one again. I had good legs today and my guys did an excellent job," said Kittel afterwards.

The day ended traumatically for local lad Mark Cavendish though.

Cavendish, cycling in his mother's home town of Harrogate, seemed too eager to succeed in the closing stages and collided with Australian Simon Gerrans and both riders tumbled.

The moment Cavendish and Gerrans
 took a tumble, with the former heading
to hospital

After being helped by the race doctor, Cavendish crossed the finish line with his right arm folded and clearly in pain, before he left in an ambulance shortly afterwards.

Busy start in excited countryside

The 190.5-kilometer (118.4-mile) Stage 1 took the pack on a wide tour of the bucolic English countryside from Leeds to Harrogate in Yorkshire, England - a layout tailor-made for sprinters.

A three-man breakaway got out early, including two Frenchmen, Benoit Jarrier and Nicolas Edet, and Germany's Jens Voigt, the oldest rider in the pack this year, who established a three-minute lead after 35 kilometers.

And although the peloton weren't far behind, Voigt did eventually make a move - one that earned the 42-year-old the polka dot jersey for the mountain classification.

The stage was no walk in the park and several riders, including Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez and top French hope Thibaut Pinot, were caught off guard when the peloton split.

They made it back to the bunch who were slowed by the big crowds on some narrow roads.

Defending champion Chris Froome of Britain was sixth, although Team Sky chief Dave Brailsford will be trying to shepherd Froome to glory in Paris later this month.

Brailsford said the excitement in Leeds was extra special for Britain's home team.

"To have the Tour here is incredible for us considering where we were just a short time ago," said Brailsford. "We need to remain focused and dialed, but we will take it in and enjoy it."

A royal start got the 101st Tour de
France underway in Yorkshire

Royals do scissor-work

The Duchess of Cambridge cut the race ribbon at the start of the leg, under the watchful eye of her husband Prince William and his brother Prince Harry.

Sunday's second stage is a 201-km ride between York and Sheffield with some two million spectators expected along the route.

In all, the riders will cover 3,664 kilometers (2,277 miles) of roads in England, France, Belgium and Spain.

bk/jh (Reuters/AP)

Mark Cavendish receives help after a fall near the finish line of the first

stage of the Tour de France. (AFP)

Related Article:

Mark Cavendish pulls out of Tour de France after crash in first stage

Lance's legacy: No Tour de France winners 1999-2005

Deutsche Welle, 26 October 2012

The 1999-2005 Tours de France will remain winnerless after Lance Armstrong's disqualification. With cycling on the brakes after the doping fallout, next year's Road World Championships have an odd mascot: Pinocchio.

The decision surprised few: Many riders who finished behind Armstrong also doped. Cycling's governing body called on Armstrong and others to return prize money they had received - in his case, up to three million euros ($3.9 million), an extra hit considering that he has lost so many lucrative sponsorships since the scandal broke.

"A cloud of suspicion would remain hanging over this dark period," a statement from the International Cycling Union (UCI) read, but "while this might appear harsh for those who rode clean, they would understand there was little honor to be gained in reallocating places."

The UCI also announced that it would set up a "fully independent external commission" to investigate allegations made against the body over the Armstrong affair.

"UCI is determined to turn around this painful episode in the history of our sport," said the body's president, Pat McQuaid. "We will take whatever actions are deemed necessary by the independent commission, and we will put cycling back on track.

"Today, cycling is a completely different sport from what it was in the period 1998-2005. Riders are now subject to the most innovative and effective anti-doping procedures and regulations in sport."

Though Armstrong never failed a test, witnesses, including former teammates, testified against him. On Monday, the UCI formally stripped Armstrong of his seven titles after ratifying the United States Anti-Doping Agency's decision to ban the 41-year-old Texan for life and nullify his results from August 1998 onward.

'Proud of my second places'

Germany's Jan Ullrich, who finished second to Armstrong in 2000, 2001, 2003, remains indifferent. Ullrich, Tour champion in 1997, was himself found guilty of doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in February, in relation to the Operation Puerto blood-doping scandal that engulfed cycling six years ago.

"I've ended my career and I have always said that I'm proud of my second places," Ullrich said in August. "It doesn't really bother me that much."

Among other second-place riders, Alex Zuelle's Festina team was thrown out of the 1998 race after manager Bruno Roussel confessed "an organized doping system." Ivan Basso sat out a two-year ban for his involvement in Spain's Operation Puerto.

As for the puppet representing the 2013 Road World Championships, organizers said: "Ours is a Pinocchio connected to his origins, happy, athletic and attentive. He is looking at the horizon, expressing an optimistic attitude versus the future. The expression of his face is smiling, happy, positive and at the same time astonished."

mkg/jr (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)

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