FINAL KM: Etoile des Besseges St 5; Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana St 5; Bat Champs

Wrapping up those feisty early European stage races and delivering South African national championship news.

Stage 5, Etoile des Besseges

The 50th edition of Etoile finished with the traditional Ales TT – complete with a leg-breaker of an uphill finish. Alberto Betiol (EF Pro Cycling) left everything on the road to take victory in the final time trial, beating his teammate and points jersey winner Magnus Cort by 9secs. Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R La Mondiale) did more than enough to retain his race lead, Bettiol moved to second place with Alexys Brunel (Groupama FDJ) securing third step of the podium and the best young rider jersey. Georg Zimmerman (CCC) went home with the polkadots.

Everything given…

🇮🇹@AlbertoBettiol of 🇺🇸@EFprocycling wins stage 5 (ITT) of 🇫🇷@Etoile_Besseges #etoiledebesseges #etoiledebesseges2020 #EDB2020 (📺@lachainelequipe) pic.twitter.com/tQyzFxTQLb

— World Cycling Stats (@wcsbike) February 9, 2020

He never stops attacking

Après le @gplmarseillaise, @BenoitCosnefroy remporte la 50ème #etoiledebesseges ! 🏆⭐️

BRAVO ! #EDB2020🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/LxNxGjTMMb

— Etoile de Bessèges – Tour du Gard (@Etoile_Besseges) February 9, 2020

The men in pink had a successful week, here’s the news from one of their own.

View this post on Instagram

First race of the season and with @efprocycling is done and dusted. What a race we had as a team. And a big thanks to all my teammates and staff for the help and a very nice week. We won 2 stages and 2 second places and a third place on a stage as well. Second in GC, winner of teams classification and the points jersey. I Finish second on the ITT yesterday behind my teammate @albertobettio , it is never a good feeling to be second but I must also be happy that I did my best ITT ever. But it is unfortunately not all good this week, there was never any Doping control at this race!!! I don’t understand how it is even allowed to have a race on this level with 7 world tour teams on the start line without doping control? I my opinion that is simply not okay @uci_cycling photo credit: Katrine Junique and photosirotti #cycling #cannondale #itishardtobeacyclist #ITT #nocontrol #notgoodenough #etoilebesseges #NoDopingControl #stepitup #rapha #poc #vision #vittoria

A post shared by Magnus Cort (@magnuscort) on Feb 9, 2020 at 11:30pm PST

Let’s hope all their TT performance training bodes well for Monsier Bardet come July

🇫🇷 @Etoile_Besseges – Étape 5 / Stage 5

Grosse performance collective de l'équipe sur ce chrono : 3 de nos coureurs figurent dans le top 8 de l'étape.

It's a collective performance for the team on this ITT. 3 riders are in the top 8 of the stage. #allezALM pic.twitter.com/UqUdmssetM

— AG2RLM Pro Cycling Team (@AG2RLMCyclisme) February 9, 2020

Race Website @Etoile_Besseges #etoiledebesseges #EDB2020

Stage 5, Volta la Comunitat Valenciana

Fabio Jakobsen and his Deceuninck Quickstep squad finally get their sprint victory. The Dutch national champion was delivered perfectly by his poisson-pilote Davide Ballerini, leaving the not inconsiderable sprinting talent of Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) and John Degenkolb (Lotto Soudal) to second and third respectively. The final GC remained unchanged with Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates) taking the title by 6 seconds from Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos).

🚴‍♂️💨 @FabioJakobsen v @GroenewegenD 😲

We were treated to a thrilling sprint finish in stage five of #VCV2020 with the @deceuninck_qst rider coming out on top 💪 pic.twitter.com/gHDWscD0XG

— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) February 9, 2020

Third time’s the charm for Fabio…

Dutch Champion @FabioJakobsen became the fifth different Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider to clock up a victory this season, on the last stage of #VCV2020: https://t.co/qtCTDTN59t
Photo: @GettySport pic.twitter.com/0PwWNDRh5I

— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) February 9, 2020

LOVE THIS

A perfect @Lotto_Soudal teamwork today and as result the first podium of the season. Thanks guys. #dege #dgnklb pic.twitter.com/hmSWfzZI2C

— John Degenkolb (@johndegenkolb) February 9, 2020

Delight on the podium

🏆 @TamauPogi wins the @VueltaCV 🇪🇸.

🎙@TamauPogi : “This win means a lot to me, especially after all the hard work we did in the winter to prepare.”

📝Report & Quotes: https://t.co/WagJp7GSof #UAETeamEmirates #RideTogether pic.twitter.com/9ZyzqKegyO

— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamUAEAbuDhabi) February 9, 2020

REPORT 📰 "I am super happy to come away with second on GC, it is probably a better result than we even expected." – @jackhaig93 🎙#VCV2020 🇪🇸https://t.co/yaQhppKNjl

— Mitchelton-SCOTT (@MitcheltonSCOTT) February 9, 2020

"It's a pleasant surprise and a nice start to the year to build on."

We've added reaction from @taogeoghegan to our #VCV2020 report.

🗣️ https://t.co/9p0vLLdp3s pic.twitter.com/M3RShVOhpZ

— Team INEOS (@TeamINEOS) February 9, 2020

Final podiums

Embed from Getty Images

GC: Pogacar, Haig and Geoghegan Hart

Points: Groenewegen

Best Young Rider: Pogacar

Polka dots: Serrano Gonzalo (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA)

Team: Bahrain-McLaren

Full race report here

Race Website @VueltaCV #VCV

National Championships, Women’s South African Road Race

Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC- Liv) has all the racing jersey bases covered as she adds the RR title to her triumph in the TT

.@ashleighcycling overjoyed with the double. 😃

🗨️ "It's great that I will be able to show the South African colours both in the time trial and on the road."

▶️ https://t.co/l8uJlcixfE #RideForMore 📸 Cor Vos pic.twitter.com/9BH0gjMcYC

— CCC-Liv Team (@CCCLivTeam) February 8, 2020