Welcome back to Pro Log. There’s been quite a lot of racing since the last edition. Following their victories at the Amstel Gold Race, which marked the opener for Ardennes Week, both Demi Vollering (SD Worx) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) won La Flèche Wallonne.
Conversation quickly turned to whether the duo could complete the triple and win all three of the Ardennes Classics races in the same season, a feat only completed by Anna van der Breggen with Boels-Dolmans in 2017, Philippe Gilbert for Silence-Lotto in 2011 and Davide Rebellin for Gerolsteiner in 2004.
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Demi Vollering won Liège-Bastogne-Liège in a sprint against Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) to complete the set on her side, but Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) soloed to victory in the men’s race ahead of Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).
1. Demi Vollering completes Ardennes triple at Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Raymond Kerckhoffs
On Sunday, Demi Vollering became the second woman in history to complete the Ardennes triple – winning Amstel Gold Race, Brabantse Pijl and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in one season. It’s the cherry on top of a phenomenal Classics campaign for the 26-year-old. Since winning Strade Bianche at the beginning of March, Vollering has either won or placed second in every race she has participated in.
Her star continues to rise and rise. Up next on her calendar is the first women’s Grand Tour of the year in La Vuelta Femenina.
2. Tadej Pogačar breaks hand during Liège-Bastogne-Liège
After Vollering’s success, all eyes turned to Tadej Pogačar to repeat the feat. It was not to be. Before live images were broadcast, EF Education-EasyPost’s Mikkel Honoré crashed hard, with Pogačar caught behind with no way out. Pogačar fractured multiple bones in his wrist and, after having successful surgery yesterday, will be out for four to six weeks. Education-EasyPost last reported that Honoré has a concussion and is undergoing further tests on elbow and shoulder injuries.
It’s an abrupt end to the winning rampage Pogačar was unleashing on the peloton. The 24-year-old had already won 12 races this season before his crash at La Doyenne, looking in sensational form ahead of the Tour de France in July. He congratulated Evenepoel and posted a photo of his cast on Instagram, saying ‘shit happens’ and that Remco’s and his ‘battle will wait until next time’.
3. Tour de France Netflix series to be released in June
The Tour de France series on Netflix, which will document the 2022 race won by Jumbo-Visma’s Jonas Vinegaard, will hit screens in June, with the eight-episode project due to coincide with the start of the Criterium du Dauphiné on Sunday 4th June to build hype before the Tour.
The first episode was screened at international television festival CanneSeries on 17th April and mostly centres on QuickStep Alpha Vinyl (now Soudal-QuickStep) and their sprinter Fabio Jakobsen. Be prepared: there will also be an episode focusing on Thibaut Pinot and the Groupama-FDJ team.
4. Jumbo-Visma announce Jonas Vingegaard’s contract extension with creepy AI
Jumbo-Visma announced Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard’s contract extension by putting together a creepy AI version of the Dane as a young child, although he has an American accent in the video.
Vingegaard will remain at Jumbo-Visma until the end of the 2027 season. He won the Tour de France in 2022 by over two minutes ahead of Tadej Pogačar, topping both the general and mountains classifications and winning two stages.
5. Vuelta a España 2023 official song
More races should have official songs. For the 2023 Vuelta a España, which begins in Barcelona on the 26th August, the official song will be ‘Corazón sin Salida’ by Spanish band Estopa. It was revealed at the Barcelona Open tennis tournament. The song is described as an ode to emotions and optimism and was released as part of the album Fuego in 2019. The music video (above) was created during lockdown in 2020.
Estopa is a Spanish band consisting of brothers José Manuel and David Muñoz from Barcelona. Their first album Estopa was released in 1999 and sold two million copies, setting the Spanish record at the time for the highest-selling debut from a group. The band’s style is a combination of flamenco and urban rhumba.
I propose Måneskin for the next edition of the Giro d’Italia. See you next week!
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