Following last year’s challenging postponed cycling season, the Giro’s opening time trial in Turin earlier this month felt like a small victory in itself. Of course, for INEOS Grenadier Filippo Ganna, stage one was even more significant as he powered his way to a commanding win and into 2021’s first leader jersey. But if last year taught us anything, it’s that racing – even a time trial – is never a solo endeavor, a truth that would prove itself increasingly evident throughout the next three weeks en route to Milan.
A GRAND RETURN TO FORM
With the Giro back in its typical May time slot, a favorite heading into the race, Egan Bernal, was making a return of his own. Forced to end his last Grand Tour bid due to persistent back injury, Bernal had clearly been working hard in the off-season, alongside stage-one winner Ganna and fellow Grenadier teammates. He seemed to be in top form for Italy’s biggest race, which kicked off in typical style with some early leader exchanges.
Filippo Ganna’s blistering opening time trial pace earned him enough of a lead to keep the pink jersey through stages two and three, before the Maglia Rosa moved to the shoulders of Alessandro De Marchi and Attila Valter. But, as excitement ratcheted up and the Giro headed into the first big mountain stage at stage 9, all eyes began to shift to the grimpeurs.
With six big climbs and an uphill, off-road finish, stage nine was always going to be electrifying, but few may have predicted it would set the narrative for the remainder of the race. Following more than a few thwarted breakaways, the stage came down to the final gravel climb. As team INEOS upped the tempo, Egan Bernal launched his attack, sprinting away from the leaders for his first-ever Grand Tour stage win and confidently into the pink jersey.
IT TAKES A TEAM
Donning the Maglia Rosa takes strength, timing and strategy—holding onto it for twelve more stages takes tremendous resolve and teamwork. With Filippo Ganna leading the way through the flatter, fast-paced stages and Dani Martinez, Salvatore Puccio and fellow Grenadiers trading turns on offense and defense, Egan Bernal had the right team behind (and in front of) him to manage to do just that. Never was this more evident than in Martinez’s heroic pace on the penultimate stage, setting Bernal up with a comfortable lead to carry him through the final 30km time trial into Milan and onto the podium’s top spot.
Congratulations to Egan Bernal on his first Giro d’Italia win. To display such a commanding performance, stage after stage after stage, is all the more impressive considering the tremendous effort it took to return to form after the challenges of last season.
Congratulations to Dani Martinez, Filippo Ganna and every INEOS Grenadier for leading the way to victory while earning the top team distinction along the way. Congratulations to the trainers and coaches and support crew—and from our team at fizik, thank you to everyone involved in returning the Maglia Rosa to its rightful month, ensuring that pink continues to be the color of May. We’re proud to support the glory of the Giro d’Italia together.
Now is a strange time to be a professional cyclist, and the 2020 Season will go down in history as one of the most notable. For a sport that is all about discipline, trading the regular Grand Tour schedule for a training camp presents its own set of challenges, and the riders at Team INEOS have been spending their summer preparing for a delayed racing season, slated to start next month. For final tune-ups to the team’s high-altitude fitness, most members of the prospective INEOS Tour de France squad have assembled on the Spanish island of Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands and home to, at 3,718 metres, the formidable Mount Teide. On Tenerife, Russian rider Pavel Sivakov, one of the youngest members of Team INEOS, is readying himself to join the peloton again this fall. Pavel took some time out of his recovery to take us through a typical day of training camp, giving us a sneak peek at how top Tour teams prepare for cycling’s most competitive stages. Pavel’s Camp Diary At the moment, we are preparing for the upcoming season by riding on Mount Teide on Tenerife, which is one of the Canary Islands. The team has been coming here for years to prepare for some of the bigger races of the season. A typical day at training camp is pretty simple. Of course, it varies a little bit for the routines of each rider, but the schedule is quite similar for everyone. I usually wake up around 7:00; then I have breakfast at 7:30. We’re lucky to have one of our chefs, Jon, at camp, so the food is excellent. The menus are always different and healthy. Our training rides don’t usually rides start until 9:30 but I go for some sort of activation core/mobility session forty-five minutes prior to heading out on the bike. The duration of our rides can be anywhere from four up to six-and-a-half hours, depending on the session we have planned for that particular day. On these days our partnership with fizik really comes in to its own. I ride a handmade Fizik Arione R1 Solid. It’s nice and stiff and distributes my body weight evenly for good power transfer. An effort session is shorter as the intensity is much higher while a general steady ride is longer since we’re riding at a nice, steady pace throughout the day. Since we are staying at altitude, and because of the terrain of the island, we don’t have any choice other than to get plenty of climbing in every day. That’s what we are here for, after all! We come back in the afternoon sometime around 16:00, and I then go straight for a shower. Our recovery is straight forward, we make sure that we refill our glycogen levels and repair the muscle damage immediately after each ride by having a recovery shake and a good high-carb meal. After that, we always get a massage, which is probably one of the nicest moments of the day! As you can see above our focus is our training and thankfully, we a mechanic here who takes care of everything like they would if we were racing. All we have to do is to put on our kits and push the pedals which frees up our evenings. I like to me time to relax, watch some movies, listen to podcasts or music, or chat with friends and family. Luke Rowe brought a poker set with him this year, so if we have the opportunity, we’ll probably get everyone playing and have a laugh together. You can follow Pavel’s training camp progress during his Instagram takeover at fizik Instagram profile and catch him and all the riders of Team INEOS at the Tour de France start in Nice at the end of next month. – On 28th July 2019, Egan Bernal stood on the top step of the podium in Paris, his face aglow with joy and the frenetic flash of cameras. For Team INEOS, it has been another successful year filled with moments of pride. Since the squad’s debut with its new title-sponsor at the Tour de Yorkshire, Team INEOS has maintained its winning form, claiming general classification triumphs, stage victories and jerseys alike. As always, it’s been a team effort – it’s not just Bernal making the headlines. In the absence of multiple Grand Tour winner Chris Froome through injury, Geraint Thomas made another huge contribution. The charismatic Welshman selflessly guided the young Colombian to his first Grand Tour victory in France while claiming the second step on the podium himself. Elsewhere, youth prevailed as Pavel Sivakov (22) took home the winner’s jersey at the Tour de Pologne. Not to be outdone, Iván Sosa, just 21, earned GC victory at the Vuelta a Burgos with two stage wins. Later, he took second at GranPiemonte, helping his countryman Bernal to the victory and securing a team 1-2. In collaboration with pro riders, including Team INEOS, we developed Vento – fizik’s performance racing series. Vento is guided by the same principles that have brought the British-based team seven Tour de France victories: strength, determination, passion and perseverance. With all the emotions that make cycling great – excitement, exhaustion and elation – Team INEOS rides Vento throughout the year. Photographs: Poci’s, Russ Ellis The 106th edition of the Tour de France has been a hugely exciting and successful Grand Tour for fizik riders, with overall victory for Egan Bernal of Team INEOS. The three-week race was very tightly competed throughout and the General Classification was impossible to call right down to the final exciting stages in the Alps. But from start to finish, Egan has ridden strongly with his Antares R1 saddle and been a leading contender, close on time and in a top-five position every day in what has been the most gripping Grand Tour contest for years! The whole 2019 Tour has been an amazing spectacle, thrilling from the Grand Départ in Brussels, through the Pyrenees and right to the decisive stages in the Alps before the final processional stage into Paris’ and along the iconic Champs-Elysées. Congratulations to Egan for claiming the yellow jersey and thanks to all our riders for their enormous efforts and delivering such an entertaining competition and a great result! After 17 stages, the General Classification battle in this year’s Tour de France couldn’t be more finely balanced! Tensions are beginning to show in the peloton as the temperature soars, with the lead riders hiding their exhaustion, elation, hopes and fears behind poker faces and the season’s oversized mirrored eyewear. The pressure is on Team Ineos and Infinito R1 Knit-wearing defending champion Geraint Thomas with a 1:35 deficit and threats from every angle. The main GC contenders, including Team Ineos’ “G” and Egan Bernal, and Team Jumbo-Visma’s Steven Kruijswijk (just 12 seconds behind in third) survived the heat and stress of stages 16 and 17, maximising efficiency to save energy for the decisive three Alpine stages. Going into Stage 18 there are just 39 seconds between positions 2 and 6, with the Movistar Team duo of Mikel Landa and Alejandro Valverde following closely behind, and ready to attack. With Ineos and Jumbo-Visma both caught between the conflicting demands to attack and defend, and that challenge amplified by depleted squads, it’s also a tactical minefield. The main protagonists might not always see eye to eye, but they share a focus: Ahead of them on today’s 208km Stage 18 are four increasingly high climbs, culminating in the 2,642m Galibier that steepens throughout its 23km and offers bonus seconds at the top before 20km of descent to the line. Then, shorter at 126.5km, Stage 19 is dominated by the single, long HC climb of 2,770m Col de l’Iseran with its steep finale… which could make or break dreams ahead of the uphill finish in Tignes. After that, anyone still in contention on Saturday will face multiple opportunities to attack – or demands to defend – on the 4,450 metres of ascent packed into the 130km of pain to the high altitude summit finish in Val Thorens. On Sunday’s processional roll-in to Paris, only the final sprint is contested and the GC champion will be toasted with champagne. But who? The biggest race of all rarely fails to excite, and this year’s edition has already brought thrills and spills for fizik riders, with a lot more potential over the coming stages, with a short time trial before the challenges and opportunities of the mountains that put the finest riders under extreme pressure to produce astonishing, mesmeric performances. Jumbo-Visma riders have been grabbing the headlines with four stage wins so far. ‘Unlikely hero’ Mike Teunissen surprised everyone by swapping his yellow team jersey for the official ASO shade in the 100th year of the maillot jaune. Following an imperious TTT victory Dylan Groenewegan bossed a chaotic sprint on in Chalon-sur-Saône, and Wout van Aert’s powerful dash to the stage 10 line with his Antares R1 sent shivers up the spine before his nasty crash in the closing stages of the ITT. His brave efforts add another dramatic twist to today’s lumpy 27.2km Individual Time Trial at Pau, where the beautifully poised General Classification battle hots up ahead of the remaining Pyrennean and then Alpine stages. Team Ineos’ TTT second place set up the good early GC positions for joint leaders Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal. Staying on the right side of stage 10’s sidewind-induced split ensured they go into the ITT in second and third respectively. Even without the absence of some strong chrono-men, “G” would be amongst the favorites to win today. He’s been playing cool with the media but make no mistake, he is immensely proud of the number 1 dossard he earned last July, riding in his super-ventilated Infinito R1 Knit shoes. Van Aert and his GC lead Steven Kruijswijk are both on form: “If you look back at the Dauphine time trial, I gained time on most of the GC guys… Hopefully I can do the same.” said De Kleerhanger. Movistar Team’s joint leader Nairo Quintana is also ready to pounce: “It’s going to be all about going flat out, and there are no other options,” said his director sportive Txente García Acosta. The Lion aims to head into the final two Pyrenees climbing stages in his Infinito R1 Movistar shoes in a position to threaten for the overall, and complete his Grand Tour ‘set’. Although it’s ‘only’ 117km long, Saturday’s Stage 14 includes a punishing 19km ascent of the iconic Col du Tourmalet – could its summit finish prove instrumental? And who will attack where on Sunday’s 185km mountains stage that takes in the back-to-back pain of the Port de Lers, Mur de Péguère and the Prat d’Albis with another 12km ascent? With Monday’s rest day to recover, all our riders know they could decide to go full gas on either to make the difference… but the following six stages mix sprints with some increasingly tough Alpine adventures, which those GC contenders will also have in mind when they work out how much, if anything, they could leave ‘in the tank’ in the Pyrenees. They are risks to take, decisions to make and opportunities for glory! The 102nd Giro d’Italia has served up plenty of talking points in its first 12 stages. After winning the first of three Individual Time Trials in Bologna, Primož Roglič of Team Jumbo-Visma held the first Maglia Rosa until the GC table was shaken up by a breakaway on Stage 6. The Slovenian showed his form again on the second ITT (34.8km into San Marino), moving up to second, 1:50 behind the Maglia Rosa, but importantly with an increased advantage over his main GC rivals, 1:44 to the nearest threat, Nibali. The overall standings were shaken up on Stage 12, a break triggering splintered groups and some unexpected names hitting the top 10. Roglic is still in second, now more than 4 minutes down – maintaining his advantage over his recognised GC rivals. STAGE WINS We saw an impressive win for Richard Carapaz of Movistar Team on Stage 4, the Ecuadorian climber dancing away from a high class breakaway bunch to claim his second Grand Tour stage victory. It was soon followed by a podium on Stage 6 for his team-mate José Rojas who sits in fourth on GC. Both remain dedicated to their Spanish team leader Mikel Landa who has work to do as the climbing starts. The next day it was the turn of AG2R La Mondiale’s Tony Gallopin to step up on the podium, taking second place from the remnants of a brave breakaway in an exciting finish in l’Aquila. Meanwhile, his team-mate and fellow Frenchman Nans Peters was riding high, third on GC and looking good in the Maglia Bianca of the best young rider until Stage 12’s breakaway and overall reshuffle. We’ve seen Team Ineos’ young lead duo – Pavel Sivakov and Tao Geoghegan Hart – holding station on the GC despite getting caught in crashes, and their more experienced team-mate Christian Knees making a late break ahead of the sprint finish on Stage 11 into Novi Ligure before 22-year-old Irishman Eddie Dunbar’s brilliant performance to take third place on Stage 12. NEXT, THE MOUNTAINS There’s a lot of climbing this week. On today’s Stage 13 the climbing keeps on coming with three hard KOMs, while Saturday’s Stage 14 features five KOMs and a total elevation of 4,000m culminating in the summit finish of Courmayeur. Sunday’s stage is the longest. Its 237km from Ivrea to the shores of Lake Como includes ascents familiar from Il Lombardia: Madonna del Ghisallo, Colma di Sormano, Civiglio and San Fermo. Monday 27 May is the second rest day of the 102nd Corsa Rosa, before the climbing continues ahead of the final day’s concluding time trial in Verona. The mercury is rising ahead of the ‘grande partenza’ of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday 11th May. The 102nd edition of the Corsa Rosa immediately pitches the riders into its relentlessly combative route, with the first of three Individual Time Trials, an 8km test from Bologna up to the hilltop San Luca sanctuary to claim the year’s first Maglia Rosa. 21 stages later the riders reach Verona – with so much to be won or lost along the 3,518.5km route. The General Classification fight will be fierce, but as this year’s race, almost entirely ridden in Italy, also features six mountain stages with around 46,500m of climbing, the Points and Mountains classifications will make for epic battles. The updated start lists are submitted to the race organisers – here’s what to expect: Team Jumbo-Visma ’s Primož Roglič was recently reminiscing with media about his days as a fan, watching the 2013 Giro from the roadside. Back then the Colombian was riding for Team Sky, on a fizik Aliante saddle, and looking for a GC podium, now it’s the Solvenian’s turn on his Antares 00. And it’s the three time trials combined with the climbing that could well play into the 29-year-old’s favor. While the Italian riders will naturally attract the most of the fans’ attention, this year’s route pushes the riders north-east in the final week, closer to Roglic’s homeland. Team Ineos’ roster of riders remains constant from the Team Sky days, but the leadership of its first Grand Tour team is unfamiliar, youthful and exciting. With Chris Froome electing not to defend his title, Geraint Thomas also concentrating on the Tour de France, and the highly talented 22-year-old Colombian Egan Bernal – who was expected to lead for the Giro 102 – suffering the misfortune of a broken collarbone, it’s a serendipitous opportunity for a young duo sharing the helm of the GC charge for the 102nd Giro: Pavel Sivakov, 21-year-old Russian winner of April’s five-stage Tour of the Alps, and the British rider with whom he combined so successfully in that race, Tao Geoghegan Hart: the 24-year-old came second overall, having picked up two stage wins. Movistar Team’s line-up also features a late change. With World Champion Alejandro Valverde, who was initially planned to be a GC lead, forced to withdraw as he recovers from injuries sustained in a crash on his 39th birthday, leadership duties fall solely to the Spaniard’s compatriot Mikel Landa, who is hoping for a return to his brilliant best form, after a tough 2018. Landa has previously hit the final GC podium at the Giro, as well as winning three individual stages and the Mountains Classification; and there is no doubt that his motivation is high to regain the winning feeling for himself and team team. AG2R La Mondiale have decided to keep their powder dry on their most experienced General Classification campaigner, Romain Bardet, enabling him to focus purely on riding the Tour de France this season, rather than compete the Giro d’Italia as well. So after fighting eight Tours de France, 30-year-old Tony Gallopin is set to start the Corsa Rosa for the first time, as the GC leader. Having already achieved stage wins at the Tour and Vuelta, he’d love to ‘complete the set’, although the stage hunting may come from elsewhere in his predominantly French pack: Alexis Vuillermoz is a dangerous puncheur and one to watch. There will also be poignancy in the 2019 Giro, with a number of riders wearing special edition shoes – called Infinito R1 19 19 – that commemorate the centenary of the historic 1919 edition. Their eye-catching design includes a reflective material – see if you can spot them. Team Sky’s goals were always huge, but over the seven years fizik supported them, our riders went deeper than deep to transcend every expectation. They rode, raced and lived cycling in ways only the absolute best of the best can. Created from a desire to snatch Tour de France victory for Britain within five years, Team Sky truly gave it everything – a flood of sweat, no small amount of blood and yes, tears of both joy and pain – for their passion. The result? A massive six Tour de France wins, victory in the Giro d’Italia and victory in the Vuelta de España. Alongside came a slew of hard-fought, beautifully-won road and track dominations around the world. Amazingly, that first Tour victory came not with five years but just three, in 2012, and was in fact a British one-two for Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. The team then only had to wait twelve months for a second success, as Froome scooped the historic 100th Tour de France in sensational style. In Team Sky’s final seasons it dominated the Grand Tours, starting with Froome’s 2017 Tour and Vuelta wins, and continuing into 2018 with his gutwrenching fightback for Giro d’Italia laurels. Welsh legend Geraint Thomas then made it four in a row at that year’s Tour de France. There’s nothing quite like bowing out at the top of your game… While success made household names of the squad’s highest-profile riders – and a ’Sir’ of Bradley Wiggins, knighted at Buckingham Palace in 2013 – it’s impossible to overlook the achievements, drive and spirit of everyone involved. With its 2019 roster of 29 riders spanning 14 nationalities, Team Sky emphasises team work above all else. So it’s been an emotional ride, and while the Team Sky story concludes on May 1, 2019, for fizik – as for riders and staff – it’s a new beginning. This summer, London-based multinational Ineos step in as title sponsor, with Team Ineos’ official debut coming at the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland. Fizik’s partnership continues as strong as ever, and we take this opportunity both to thank Sky for seven fantastic years and welcome Ineos. Here’s to another magnificent seven!
