Lesser known races 2026 edition

[Didinho]

How is De Lie gonna get boxed in with all this team support.

Probably Gaviria launching 700m out.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Gotta read the roadbook.....

 

[Salvarani]

Clever move from Laurance

 

[Didinho]

Girmay the fastest in Spain.

His leadout not moving to the other side almost made himself and other riders crash.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Provence stage:

1	Laurance Axel	INEOS Grenadiers	14	20		4:28:21
2	Jarnet Maxime	Van Rysel Roubaix	5	12		0:04
3	Manzin Lorrenzo	TotalEnergies	3	7		,,
4	Loulergue Victor	Groupama - FDJ United		5		,,
5	Carr Simon	Cofidis		4		,,
6	Davy Clément	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur		3		,,
7	Oomen Sam	Lidl - Trek		2	6″	,,
8	Peter Jannis	Unibet Rose Rockets		1	3″	,,
9	Årnes Daniel	Van Rysel Roubaix			3″	0:14
10	Müller Tobias	Unibet Rose Rockets				0:15

 

[Tim Cahill]

If your rider looks like he's making it in a group to the end then surely a quick look at the last km to see what's going on would be useful

It was a baller move at that speed to make it over to the short side though, I'd end up flat on my arse

 

[Samamba]

Girmay the fastest in Spain.

His leadout not moving to the other side almost made himself and other riders crash.

Askey should be punished. I'm so done with leadout riders doing this

 

[Rob5091]

Despite some bumping at the close Girmay gets the win in Almeria. Chapeau!

 

[RedheadDane]

So, in the end, the peloton was only 15 seconds behind Laurance, despite having around 40 seconds with around 1 k to go.
At some point EF - the strongest sprint team - disappeared from the front of the peloton.
Did that make the difference?

 

[yaco]

Grmay won that with the leadout. Groenewegen looked the fastest but lost position in the last 2kms.

 

[Tim Cahill]

The leadout just being punished isn't enough tbh, if the move contributes significantly to the win then they will just continue to take a tactical yellow card.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

GC:

1	1	-	Riccitello Matthew	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	125	100	10″	12:58:50
2	2	-	Rodríguez Carlos	INEOS Grenadiers	85	70	6″	0:04
3	3	-	Rivera Brandon Smith	INEOS Grenadiers	70	50	4″	0:20
4	4	-	Paret-Peintre Aurélien	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	60	36		0:24
5	5	-	Champoussin Clément	XDS Astana Development Team	50	28		0:38
6	7	▲1	Daumas Rémi	Groupama - FDJ United	40	24		0:54
7	8	▲1	Breuillard Nicolas	TotalEnergies	35	20		0:57
8	9	▲1	Scalco Matteo	XDS Astana Development Team	30	18		,,
9	10	▲1	Bernard Julien	Lidl - Trek	25	16		1:12
10	11	▲1	Mariault Axel	CIC Pro Cycling Academy	20	14		1:15

Good win for Riccitello. Congrats.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

For Bini, thats already 2 wins more than last year...

 

[Netserk]

de lie should probably be dsq

 

[Netserk]

Askey should be punished. I'm so done with leadout riders doing this

he didnt drop down so quickly that he was any danger, if not for de lie shouldering him and nearly causing a crash

 

[Samamba]

he didnt drop down so quickly that he was any danger, if not for de lie shouldering him and nearly causing a crash

De Lie shoulders him cause he get squeesed between a slower Askey and faster Mosschetti on the inside, He has nowhere to go. Riders always use their shoulders when they are out of balance for some reason. it's absolutely Askey's fault that riders are in danger there. He's doing that move with 1 goal, blocking other riders, and that's against the rules. It's that simple.

de lie should probably be dsq

LOOOOOOOL

 

[Netserk]

De Lie shoulders him cause he get squeesed between a slower Askey and faster Mosschetti on the inside, He has nowhere to go. it's absolutely Askey's fault that riders are in danger there.µ



LOOOOOOOL

askey unlike most leadout riders actually tries with all his might to keep up and go as fast as possible to the line. it was no worse than someone like gaviria going early and then going backwards in the last bit

 

[Samamba]

askey unlike most leadout riders actually tries with all his might to keep up and go as fast as possible to the line. it was no worse than someone like gaviria going early and then going backwards in the last bit

It is worse cause the intention is completely different. Gaviria's legs blow up and doesn't try to block other riders. Askey does, his one goal is blocking, which is against the rules and dangerous. Of course other sprinters who are faster are going to try to get through.

 

[Netserk]

It is worse cause the intention is completely different. Gaviria's legs blow up and doesn't try to block other riders. Askey does, his one goal is blocking, which is against the rules and dangerous. Of course other sprinters who are faster are going to try to get through.

he goes full gas. its nothing like e.g. pithie drifting back in front of others

teams are allowed to sprint with multiple riders

 

[Samamba]

he goes full gas. its nothing like e.g. pithie drifting back in front of others

teams are allowed to sprint with multiple riders

They are not sprinting with multiple riders, they are doing a leadout and intentially riding in the way of others, you perfectly know that. He looks behind him, and sees where the others are and perfectly positiones him there to block, not to race for his best result, he was never holding that sprint to the finish. You genuinly think he was like oh yeah I'm still gonna top 10 this after doing a full leadout?

 

[Red Rick]

De Lie shoulders him cause he get squeesed between a slower Askey and faster Mosschetti on the inside, He has nowhere to go. Riders always use their shoulders when they are out of balance for some reason. it's absolutely Askey's fault that riders are in danger there. He's doing that move with 1 goal, blocking other riders, and that's against the rules. It's that simple.



LOOOOOOOL

Rider wants to yeet through gap that doesn't exist.

 

[Samamba]

Rider wants to yeet through gap that doesn't exist.

He gets a slight bump from Mosschetti first, if you go by that logic it's Mosschetti doing that.

 

[tobydawq]

he goes full gas. its nothing like e.g. pithie drifting back in front of others

teams are allowed to sprint with multiple riders

He also does everything he can to squeeze riders in the barriers. It was obvious blocking with the sole intent of impeding the other sprinters. I can't believe you're encouraging such behaviour.

 

[Netserk]

with the speed he was going, it was a safe manoeuvre. de lie was far more reckless than askey was

They are not sprinting with multiple riders, they are doing a leadout and intentially riding in the way of others, you perfectly know that. He looks behind him, and sees where the others are and perfectly positiones him there to block, not to race for his best result, he was never holding that sprint to the finish. You genuinly think he was like oh yeah I'm still gonna top 10 this after doing a full leadout?

maybe he would run out of legs, but he hadnt when de lie took him out.

if he blew up and had to stop peddling, im sure he would move out of the way of others

 

[pablohidalgo7]

Grmay won that with the leadout. Groenewegen looked the fastest but lost position in the last 2kms.

This comment describes 8 out of 10 of Groenewegen's sprints (except for the periods when he had a dominant train in 2018-19). His lack of positioning is frustrating, although both here and in Besseges and Palma, the Rockets have done a poor job to be honest.