February is a huge month for every Pro Tour team, with the triple header providing a large amount of points on offer and forcing nearly every rider in the division into action, while later in the month we get the first monument of the year in Italy. There's also apparently a TTT event, but we're pretty sure that's an exhibition parade and doesn't giev any actual rankings points.
The triple-header began with
Tirreno-Adriatico, this year the mountainous option of the two February stage races as per the rotation. As such it provides the Xero debut of Daan Olivier, though if you watched the race you may not have been aware of this occurrence. A very quiet and slightly underwhelming (though it was a quality startlist) 11th for our Dutch Champion who didn't really get to show off the jersey - a true "best of the rest" performance as he was four minutes adrift of 10th place, and didn't achieve a stage Top 10 either. Roman Lutsyshyn was the highlight, continuing his streak of always doing something with a 2nd place on Stage 2.
Paris-Nice was a chance for Thomas Pidcock to shine in what has unexpectedly sort of become his specialty - the one-week stage race. He wasn't happy with his 14th place in Portugal, having finished on the Top 3 last year, and was hoping to return to the podium in the triple header, having done so in Italy last season. It was a quiet first half of the race for him and the rest of the team, but we leapt into life on Stage 5, as Mateo Frankovic took the KoM lead from the breakaway. Pidcock tried a couple of attacks but nothing was on and it would be a sprint finish he was too tired to truly compete in.
We were slightly worried at this point with many opportunities to gain time or stage victories in the first half of the race were left wanting, but Pidcock put the reserved energy to great use on Stage 6's hilly circuit. We thought of showing a screenshot of all of his four or five attacks, but one at the bottom of the final climb from a select group of escapees was the one which proved decisive, giving him the stage win and a small GC lead with an ITT and a final hilly stage to go. We feared it wouldn't be enough work done going into the ITT, but while you're in yellow you're never truly out.
In the end it was an average showing from Tommy P, losing 1'45 to stage and new race leader Dunbar, putting him 7th on GC heading into the final stage.
However it was, in the words of the commentator, "a rather lame last stage", which resulted in a sprint finish. The team got a 2-3 behind winner Guerreiro, however it was once again Pidcock's leadout who finished ahead of our leader - this time team legend Hugo Houle proving he still has it. We really must work on Pidcock overtaking his leadouts. Luckily here it didn't cost him any GC placings, as his bonus seconds lifted him from 7th to 5th on GC. Not what we or he wanted, but given everybody from 1st to 11th was a time triallist, a pretty good showing. We won't say where his rival Vansevenant finished, for reasons that will become clear soon.
Meanwhile Mateo Frankovic had held on to his KoM lead (not through any actual effort or further scoring), for our first KoM jersey win since 2021! A pretty poor stat but a streak we're happy to break - just our seventh ever and only our third from breakaways since 2017. What can we say, when our team-building tactic for many years was "have a leader in every race", we haven't always had room to chase breakaway points!
Last but certainly not least for us in the triple header was the
Classique du Grand-Duché, the first race of the year for our main man Joseph Areruya, and a first chance for the puncheurs to step into the ring together. Last year Areruya beat Lopez to the prestigious title of coming 2nd behind Herklotz - on paper that's a result we should be happy to take again, but in reality none of those three ever leave happy with less than the top step of the podium.
However, none of them would get that honour, as perhaps not for the first time they were more concerned with each other than a credible threat up the road - in this case, our former rider (and winner of that most recent previous KoM) Sergio Higuita, who we did enjoy seeing taking the biggest win of his career so far. In the sprint for second Herklotz was a clear winner, however the final step of the podium went to Champoussin, with a photo finish required to separate Areruya and Lopez, eventually ruling in the Rwandan's favour by a tire's width. It doesn't quite make up for the World Championships, but every bit counts.
[INSERT COMMENT ABOUT THE TTT BEFORE PUBLISHING]
The month finished with
Milano - Sanremo, a huge race for us and for all the cycling world, as Thomas Pidcock looked to defend his crown on the Italian Riviera. It's no secret we at Xero have a special affinity for Italian racing, and our first-ever monument victory is a huge part of that.
Unlike last year, no opportunity for a move came on the Poggio, and so it was on the descent that Pidcock, possibly the best in the peloton going downhill, decided to do anything possible to avoid a sprint. Tesfaye Herin used his knowledge of the local roads to also make the selection of 10, while the aforementioned Vansevenant lurked, also with a teammate. Our sprint leader Vermeersch waited near the front of the peloton, ready if a catch was made.
No catch was made and Pidcock put in a herculean effort to sprint after failing to shake any of his companions in the final kilometres, forced to lead out. And benefitting from that leadout was none other than Mauri Vansevenant, taking his first ever monument victory at Pidcock's expense, while the Brit settled for fourth - an unsettling trend of narrowly missing the podium this month taken to its ultimate conclusion.
Tesfaye was a career-highlight in seventh, while Vermeersch was sixth among the sprinters for 16th on the day - all together combining for a fantastic race for us, despite our disappointment in missing the victory. We must congratulate Vansevenant - while it is developing into one of the Pro Tour's most sumptuous and competitive rivalries on the bike, it's a cordial one off it and much like Areruya and Lopez there's few riders we'd rather see win, especially given Mauri's positive and aggressive racing. Chapeau - and here's to many more Sanremo wins between them!
