So it's nearly the end of the season. Riders will be looking forward to a nice next few months spent at home with their families, relaxing and doing things they couldn't do during a full summer of work. There is still one obstacle however: The esteemed World Championships!
The women were up first and at one point it looked like there could be a Canadian eclipse with 4 of their riders showing in the top 5. As soon as the big guns rolled out though. things changed a little bit. Emma Pooley was the big British favourite being the reigning champion but the course was too flat and easy for her meaning it would play into the hands of the stronger riders more. She did however, ride to a Broze medal which shows positive signs for the future. Namely the Olympics Time Trial course which is also as flat as a pancake.
Silver went to Linda Villumsen of New Zealand, only 3 seconds ahead of Pooley. A further 20 seconds ahead though Gold was claimed by Judith Arndt who had been chasing the coveted rainbow jersey since 1997. Her well calculated ride made her the dominant winner and, interestingly, she had done it without the use of a radio. Take from that what you will but she seemed focussed on her goal the entire way through and she certainly got the result she wanted oh so much.
Next was the mens race. Going into it Fabian Cancellara had been the unchallenged Time Trial king with 4 world titles to his name. This season did not go all his own way though. He won time trials in the Tour De Suisse and Tirreno-Adriatico yes, but he had hopelessly lost to heir apparent Tony Martin in the Tour De France and Vuelta á Espana. Couple this Martin's storming form shown from a GC win at Paris-Nice and a Time Trial win at the Daupiné Libre and you could sense a changing in the wind coming.
Sure enough it was Martin who came off the ramp and destroyed the field. He caught and passed acclaimed Time Trialer and last years silver medalist David Millar even before halfway. In the end he won by well over a minute. But who would it be over that was the question...
It was between our very own Bradley Wiggins after posting the best time as he finished, and Sparticus himself Cancellara. Wiggins has been on form all year in Time Trials as well as climbing and as Fabian came round the last corner it was a real nail biter as to whether he would make it to the line before Wiggins' time passed or not. It ended up that it was Great Britain got a second consecutive silver medal and Brad had helped towards a double-dethronment of the Swiss powerhouse.
Martin though, still a young rider, looks set for big things in the coming years. Consider this though: Judith Arndt rides for HTC-Highroad. As does Tony Martin. One of the favourites for the womens road race is Ina Teutenberg of HTC-Highroad and the big favourite for the mens rainbow jersey is Mark Cavendish...you guessed it, of HTC-Highroad. Why then, has no company seen the opportinuty to save this historic and successful team? Who knows how the mind of a businessman works...
Saturday, 24 September 2011
Sunday, 11 September 2011
British epiphany in Spain and Gilbert shows he's human in Canada
When, just 20 months ago, a new team formed from a little known area in cycling terms called Great Britain did nobody expect two of its recruits to be standing on the final podium in a grand tour.
But here we are today. The Vuelta á Espana is one of the most prestigious races in the world and today Bradley Wiggins and Christopher Froome of Team Sky took the 2nd and 3rd places in the final general classification. It was anticipated that Brad would be the team leader and would earn his place in the time trial while having to hang on through the climbing stages. Froome began as the main man to martial Wiggins up the climbs and did a stellar job by setting a very high pace for the last few km's and then letting Brad take over. This would be the formula for the rest of the tour.
Then came the time trial where Wiggins was expected to take the lead after performing better than he had hoped on the early mountain stages; but it was Froome who placed 2nd on the stage behind Tony Martin and took the red jersey. Speculation was rife as to wether he would still ride for Wiggins or not and he ended up sacrificing himself and potentially a win for his leader. It turned out that Brad did not have the legs to stay with the eventual winner Juan Jose Cobo on the gruelling 23% Angrilu climb and unfortunately it appeared as though Chris Froome was stronger and if Team Sky had ridden for him after that oh so impressive time trial, then he could have worn the red jersey into Madrid.
A lot of people are saying that Dave Brailsford made a big mistake to stick with Wiggins as theeir guy for the GC but the fact of the matter is that they could not have known how strong Froome was. While Wiggins is a proven 3 week rider, Froome was a revelation in giving this class of performance and what would Sky have done if his fitness level had dropped off towards the end leaving them with no cards to play. Ultimately the critics have to ask themselves, would you rather have two riders on the podium albeit not on the top step, or have one rider in 4th or even lower?
Look at it from a different perspective...British cycling has reached new heights today. Before Team Sky there were only one or two cyclists at a time (E.g. Robert Millar, Chris Boardman, David Millar, Mark Cavendish) that could do anything on the European road scene. Now, much like the Leopard Trek did for Luxembourg in the Tour de France, we have two riders whose names will be spoken of worldwide. Along with the likes of Ben Swift and Geraint Thomas, these riders have out in world class performances on world wide stages and brought Britain to the fore in professional cycling; all in a time scale that other teams and countries could never dreamed of doing!
Now we can look forward to generations of talent flying the flag for us. Bradley Wiggins, David Millar and Mark Cavendish are the current big names but the likes of Froome, Swift, Thomas, Dowsett will all continue to develop and provide the stars of the future.
______________
In other news, Phillipe Gilbert showed he was human in the second Canadian world tour classic around Montreal as a late breakaway unexpectedly succeded. Gilbert still managed to sprint to 3rd but that by his standards is a big loss. While the Belgian, who regained his place at the top of the world tour rankings the other day with his win in Quebec, had to settle for third it was Movistar's Rui Costa who took his opportunity to sprint to victory ahead of Pierrick Fedrigo of Francaise De Jeux. The question still looms over whether Gilbert thinks he could do anything in the world championships in Copenhagen later this month or if he'd rather concentrate on the final classics of the season.
______________
The Tour of Britain started today with a sprint stage that was a formality with Mark Cavendish easily winning and taking the first leaders jersey. Such was HTC's dominance that leadout man Mark Renshaw held on for 2nd place. Teams had to work together and fight to chase down the breakaway which, with only 6 riders per team, was more difficult than usual. Team Sky, Rabobank and HTC-Highroad all harboured interests in the final sprint though so together they reeled in the two breakaway riders in time but not before all the KOM and intermediate sprint points which go to Russel Hampton of Sigma Sport-Specialized and Pieter Ghyllebert of An Post-Sean Kelly respectively. Lets hope some of the smaller British teams can continue to show their faces during the week to come.
Thanks for reading!
But here we are today. The Vuelta á Espana is one of the most prestigious races in the world and today Bradley Wiggins and Christopher Froome of Team Sky took the 2nd and 3rd places in the final general classification. It was anticipated that Brad would be the team leader and would earn his place in the time trial while having to hang on through the climbing stages. Froome began as the main man to martial Wiggins up the climbs and did a stellar job by setting a very high pace for the last few km's and then letting Brad take over. This would be the formula for the rest of the tour.
Then came the time trial where Wiggins was expected to take the lead after performing better than he had hoped on the early mountain stages; but it was Froome who placed 2nd on the stage behind Tony Martin and took the red jersey. Speculation was rife as to wether he would still ride for Wiggins or not and he ended up sacrificing himself and potentially a win for his leader. It turned out that Brad did not have the legs to stay with the eventual winner Juan Jose Cobo on the gruelling 23% Angrilu climb and unfortunately it appeared as though Chris Froome was stronger and if Team Sky had ridden for him after that oh so impressive time trial, then he could have worn the red jersey into Madrid.
A lot of people are saying that Dave Brailsford made a big mistake to stick with Wiggins as theeir guy for the GC but the fact of the matter is that they could not have known how strong Froome was. While Wiggins is a proven 3 week rider, Froome was a revelation in giving this class of performance and what would Sky have done if his fitness level had dropped off towards the end leaving them with no cards to play. Ultimately the critics have to ask themselves, would you rather have two riders on the podium albeit not on the top step, or have one rider in 4th or even lower?
Look at it from a different perspective...British cycling has reached new heights today. Before Team Sky there were only one or two cyclists at a time (E.g. Robert Millar, Chris Boardman, David Millar, Mark Cavendish) that could do anything on the European road scene. Now, much like the Leopard Trek did for Luxembourg in the Tour de France, we have two riders whose names will be spoken of worldwide. Along with the likes of Ben Swift and Geraint Thomas, these riders have out in world class performances on world wide stages and brought Britain to the fore in professional cycling; all in a time scale that other teams and countries could never dreamed of doing!
Now we can look forward to generations of talent flying the flag for us. Bradley Wiggins, David Millar and Mark Cavendish are the current big names but the likes of Froome, Swift, Thomas, Dowsett will all continue to develop and provide the stars of the future.
______________
In other news, Phillipe Gilbert showed he was human in the second Canadian world tour classic around Montreal as a late breakaway unexpectedly succeded. Gilbert still managed to sprint to 3rd but that by his standards is a big loss. While the Belgian, who regained his place at the top of the world tour rankings the other day with his win in Quebec, had to settle for third it was Movistar's Rui Costa who took his opportunity to sprint to victory ahead of Pierrick Fedrigo of Francaise De Jeux. The question still looms over whether Gilbert thinks he could do anything in the world championships in Copenhagen later this month or if he'd rather concentrate on the final classics of the season.
______________
The Tour of Britain started today with a sprint stage that was a formality with Mark Cavendish easily winning and taking the first leaders jersey. Such was HTC's dominance that leadout man Mark Renshaw held on for 2nd place. Teams had to work together and fight to chase down the breakaway which, with only 6 riders per team, was more difficult than usual. Team Sky, Rabobank and HTC-Highroad all harboured interests in the final sprint though so together they reeled in the two breakaway riders in time but not before all the KOM and intermediate sprint points which go to Russel Hampton of Sigma Sport-Specialized and Pieter Ghyllebert of An Post-Sean Kelly respectively. Lets hope some of the smaller British teams can continue to show their faces during the week to come.
Thanks for reading!
Monday, 22 August 2011
Public Apology
I almost forgot, I would like to make a public apology to Team Radioshack for bringing on the curse of the commentator or in this case, blogger. I had bigged up their chances in the Tour this year with their four pronged attack on the GC and they had a torrid time with three of the team's leaders (Horner, Brajkovic, Kloden) abandoning due to crashes and Leipheimer losing significant time to the tarmac as well.
Sorry Mr Bruyneel and co!
Sorry Mr Bruyneel and co!
Saturday, 20 August 2011
Recap and Vuelta time!
So i havn't posted in a while but what an amazing Tour we had! Team Sky salvaged it from looking like they were going to have another uneventful trip round France, to being one of the most successful and exciting teams in the whole race. Edvald Boassen-Hagen's two stage wins helped this. He triumphed in a tricky sprint finish and then rode a superb breakaway ride, leaving his companions in his wake on the final climb and descending to victory.
The tour also saw heart in mouth or 'guts or glory' attacks from the likes of Andy Schleck. After a decisively average first week he was not in a dominant position to take the win, like he should have been with Alberto Contador underperforming massively. He rode himself back into the hot seat with an early attack and a solo 50km ride including the Col du Galibier. He did miss out on the yellow jersey that stage however to argueably the man of the tour Thomas Voeckler. Yes he lost it on the brutal Alpe D'Huez the next day but he, not a climber, had managed to ride through the Pyrenees and all but one climb of the Alpes holding that coveted yellow jersey by right.
Of course the eventual winner was Cadel Evans who defended and dragged all his rivals along for most of the three weeks and clinched victory in a blitzing time trial round Grenoble. He had looked like pulling this off all season long with wins in very difficult races that he had handpicked to give him the perfect tour preparation. Something of a Lance-esque approach perhaps? The team had been improved for him and the focus was entirely on the month of July. Sounds like Bruyneel's method is still working.
With minutes to the opening TTT of the Vuelta á Espania lets look at who's in contention now.
Vincenzo Nibali - He proved himself as a serious leader in winning last years race and then took 3rd in the Giro earlier this year for the second year running. Could he steal it again? He is an increddible descender and if the chance comes to take time out of people going downhill this is the man that will do it.
Igor Anton - Not if this man has anything to do with it. He was in the leaders red jersey until a crash took him out of the race last year. Not as strong a time trialist as Nibali put potentially a better climber although that is only marginal. What he does have is a kick going uphill that Nibali doesnt have. With a similar style to Alberto Contador he is one to watch out for.
Denis Menchov - The 2009 Giro and 2005/2007 Vuelta winner had a great 2010 with a podium place in the tour with Rabobank, however he moved to Geox for 2011 and has not looked like the same man. A strong climber but not as strong as the other he had a gruelling Giro and with Carlos Sastre there to play off Geox could be very dangerous of both riders perform better in Spain than in Italy where Menchov and Sastre came 8th and 30th respectively.
Then there are the tour crashers who are lucky enough to have a second chance.
Jurgen Van Den Broeck - He looked strong in the Dauphiné earlier but the question is has he managed to find the same sort of strength and form after recovering from his crash?
Bradley Wiggins - He was in such a good postion to do somehting in this years tour after winning the Dauphiné and looking so so dominant in time trials. He has said he is in similar feeling strength-wise to before the tour, maybe even better, but he lacks race fitness after not being in a single peloton since the tour. Brad holidays in Spain however and will no doubt have been riding the climbs as part of his recovery process. He is also by far the strongest time trialist of all the favourites so lets see what he can do!
The tour also saw heart in mouth or 'guts or glory' attacks from the likes of Andy Schleck. After a decisively average first week he was not in a dominant position to take the win, like he should have been with Alberto Contador underperforming massively. He rode himself back into the hot seat with an early attack and a solo 50km ride including the Col du Galibier. He did miss out on the yellow jersey that stage however to argueably the man of the tour Thomas Voeckler. Yes he lost it on the brutal Alpe D'Huez the next day but he, not a climber, had managed to ride through the Pyrenees and all but one climb of the Alpes holding that coveted yellow jersey by right.
Of course the eventual winner was Cadel Evans who defended and dragged all his rivals along for most of the three weeks and clinched victory in a blitzing time trial round Grenoble. He had looked like pulling this off all season long with wins in very difficult races that he had handpicked to give him the perfect tour preparation. Something of a Lance-esque approach perhaps? The team had been improved for him and the focus was entirely on the month of July. Sounds like Bruyneel's method is still working.
With minutes to the opening TTT of the Vuelta á Espania lets look at who's in contention now.
Vincenzo Nibali - He proved himself as a serious leader in winning last years race and then took 3rd in the Giro earlier this year for the second year running. Could he steal it again? He is an increddible descender and if the chance comes to take time out of people going downhill this is the man that will do it.
Igor Anton - Not if this man has anything to do with it. He was in the leaders red jersey until a crash took him out of the race last year. Not as strong a time trialist as Nibali put potentially a better climber although that is only marginal. What he does have is a kick going uphill that Nibali doesnt have. With a similar style to Alberto Contador he is one to watch out for.
Denis Menchov - The 2009 Giro and 2005/2007 Vuelta winner had a great 2010 with a podium place in the tour with Rabobank, however he moved to Geox for 2011 and has not looked like the same man. A strong climber but not as strong as the other he had a gruelling Giro and with Carlos Sastre there to play off Geox could be very dangerous of both riders perform better in Spain than in Italy where Menchov and Sastre came 8th and 30th respectively.
Then there are the tour crashers who are lucky enough to have a second chance.
Jurgen Van Den Broeck - He looked strong in the Dauphiné earlier but the question is has he managed to find the same sort of strength and form after recovering from his crash?
Bradley Wiggins - He was in such a good postion to do somehting in this years tour after winning the Dauphiné and looking so so dominant in time trials. He has said he is in similar feeling strength-wise to before the tour, maybe even better, but he lacks race fitness after not being in a single peloton since the tour. Brad holidays in Spain however and will no doubt have been riding the climbs as part of his recovery process. He is also by far the strongest time trialist of all the favourites so lets see what he can do!
Friday, 8 July 2011
Over In A Flash
"Guys that it, it's over. Brad has a broken collarbone"
These are the words that echoed through the remaining Team sky riders after another huge crash ended Bradley Wiggins' superb form and shattered all his hopes of a podium finish come Paris.
So what will Sky do now? Well they could put all their energy into sprints and other stage wins; or they could start working for Rogoberto Uran as new team leader. Whatever they do this is awful for them and can only be put down to bad luck. It's not nice for anybody to crash and be hurt, but when its a GC hopeful as well-liked as Brad then it's a terrible shame.
In a week where Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer and Samuel Sanchez all lose time from crashes as well as Tom Boonen abandoning and French champion Sylvain Chavanel hurting and struggling; you have to wonder if forcing a group of 180+ riders through small winding roads is safe. They may be supermen when it comes to cycling but they are still human.
Hopefully the rest of the tour won't be marred by this weeks events but there will certainly be aftershocks. Those who have lost time will have to attack hard through the mountains, however the likes of Andy Schleck who is still only on 12" could just sit back and defend.
Horrifying or fantastic, we'll have to wait and see.
These are the words that echoed through the remaining Team sky riders after another huge crash ended Bradley Wiggins' superb form and shattered all his hopes of a podium finish come Paris.
So what will Sky do now? Well they could put all their energy into sprints and other stage wins; or they could start working for Rogoberto Uran as new team leader. Whatever they do this is awful for them and can only be put down to bad luck. It's not nice for anybody to crash and be hurt, but when its a GC hopeful as well-liked as Brad then it's a terrible shame.
In a week where Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer and Samuel Sanchez all lose time from crashes as well as Tom Boonen abandoning and French champion Sylvain Chavanel hurting and struggling; you have to wonder if forcing a group of 180+ riders through small winding roads is safe. They may be supermen when it comes to cycling but they are still human.
Hopefully the rest of the tour won't be marred by this weeks events but there will certainly be aftershocks. Those who have lost time will have to attack hard through the mountains, however the likes of Andy Schleck who is still only on 12" could just sit back and defend.
Horrifying or fantastic, we'll have to wait and see.
Sunday, 3 July 2011
TTT Stage 2
It's stage 2-the Team Time Trial. This discipline may appear to be just a normal time trial but a bit easier as you have 8 other wheels to sit on, but don't be fooled! It requires so much concentration mistakes are easily made. Riders have to concentrate on their own bodies, the rest of their team, the road, the route and perhaps even misplaced spectators...
Team Sky will certainly be up there with 2 of the team pursuit world record holders, and the added incentive that a good performance could put Geraint Thomas in yellow which would be a huge step for the team as they continue earning respect amongst the pro peloton.
HTC-Highroad, the winners of the very similar course in the Giro d'Italia, will be amongst the favourites, as will Rabobank who won the TTT in the Tirreno-Adriatico.
Garmin-Cervelo also have David Millar and Dave Zobriske in their ranks, both formidable time trialists and Millar has said that this stage is one of his main goals for the tour.
Personally I still believe that Radioshack should be near, if not at, the top. Levi Leipheimer won the Tour du Suisse in the final time trial a few weeks ago. Chris Horner proved his solo ability in the Tour of California. Andreas Kloden has had countless good performances this year already. Janez Brajkovic is also the new national time trial champion. The team has a lot of things in their favour:
This basically being US Postal Team from a good few years back and they were prolific on these stages.
When most of these riders were at Astana they won the TTT in the 2009 Tour de France.
Radioshack seems to be a bit of a brotherhood and understanding is very important today.
Saxo Bank however do not have the quality needed and I think once again Contador is going to lose out. They've already rolled off the ramp (being lowest on the team classification) and they look ragged, messy and nervous. Can Contador really drag these along for 23km?
We'll see for ourselves very soon...
Team Sky will certainly be up there with 2 of the team pursuit world record holders, and the added incentive that a good performance could put Geraint Thomas in yellow which would be a huge step for the team as they continue earning respect amongst the pro peloton.
HTC-Highroad, the winners of the very similar course in the Giro d'Italia, will be amongst the favourites, as will Rabobank who won the TTT in the Tirreno-Adriatico.
Garmin-Cervelo also have David Millar and Dave Zobriske in their ranks, both formidable time trialists and Millar has said that this stage is one of his main goals for the tour.
Personally I still believe that Radioshack should be near, if not at, the top. Levi Leipheimer won the Tour du Suisse in the final time trial a few weeks ago. Chris Horner proved his solo ability in the Tour of California. Andreas Kloden has had countless good performances this year already. Janez Brajkovic is also the new national time trial champion. The team has a lot of things in their favour:
This basically being US Postal Team from a good few years back and they were prolific on these stages.
When most of these riders were at Astana they won the TTT in the 2009 Tour de France.
Radioshack seems to be a bit of a brotherhood and understanding is very important today.
Saxo Bank however do not have the quality needed and I think once again Contador is going to lose out. They've already rolled off the ramp (being lowest on the team classification) and they look ragged, messy and nervous. Can Contador really drag these along for 23km?
We'll see for ourselves very soon...
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Allez Le Tour De France!
Stage 1...go!
The Tour de France have just rolled out of Vendeé and it is looking as iconic, serene and beautiful as ever. Let's take a look at who might feature today:
First of all we will see the new sprints system put into practice. As i write this the bunch (HTC, Garmin-Cervelo and Lotto) are chasing down 3 breakaway riders before the intermediate sprint, or maybe just controlling things at the front for the minor placings but then you know that because you're watching! That should become more exciting as we get further into week 1.
Then of course there's the thing everybody's talking about; the stage win and of course the first yellow jersey. Due to the lack of a prologue this year the two go hand in hand so this stage will be fought for with that extra bit of bite! A category 4 finish promises to mix things up a bit and we should see an interesting dash for the line. Who's in with a shout then? A lot of people, but I'll try and run through the favourites...
Phillipe Gilbert is my personal pick for the day. He couldn't have had this stage any more gift wrapped for him unless it was in Belgium! He will be wanting to showcase those new Belgian colours so expect to see him up at least somewhere towards the front.
Thomas Voeckler's team Europcar are based in this area so this stage is increddibly important for them. They showed they mean business as soon as the banner was cut when Perrig Quemeneur instigated the breakaway. So Tommy can certainly perform well on these short sharp climbs and you'll be seeing his tongue wagging style later.
Then in the event that any sprinters can keep up with the climbers of course they should desstroy the field at the line. So we're looking at riders like Matt Goss a.k.a 'the sprinter who can climb', Edvald Boassen-Hagen, maybe Mark Cavendish, Allesadro Pettachi, André Greipel and Tyler Farrar to name a few. The finish might favour a slightly stronger sprinter and in this event you'd be looking for world champion and apparent greek God Thor Hushovd and Tom Boonen.
There's plenty of other names such as Samuel Dumoulin, Johnny Hoogerland, Sandy Casar, Jose Rojas Gil and John Gadret (who won on a very similar finish at the Giro this year) who will all be looking for that coveted yellow jersey.
Exciting stuff and check back for reaction!
...
Well that was exciting wasn't it?! As predicted Gilbert destroyed the field and Hushovd was well up there, sprinting to 3rd, but there were a few suprises. Well I don't know who it was most suprising for, the riders or the man standing a bit too close to the road but with just under 10km to go a massive crash caused an even bigger split in the field that caught some of the favourites napping. This included....Alberto Contador.
Now a lot has been said about the weakness of this years Saxo Bank Sungard team but the strength of their leader has been enough to hush the critics. This however proved to be his downfall today as Contador was in completely the wrong position in the peloton. All the other favourites teams had moved their men up to the front in order to stay out of trouble but Saxo Bank were well down and asking for trouble. Well trouble they duly got. Another notable rider in this group was last years fourth place Samuel Sanchez.
There was another crash with just under 3km to go which involved almost all of the GC riders and a few of the picks for todays stage but they were fortunate enough to be given the same time as the main peloton and so it was only Cadel Evans (who put in a very late dig in the final few hundred metres) to gain from the day.
Welshman Geraint Thomas also stayed upright and grabbed himself the white young riders jersey for the second yeah running, and coming into the TTT tomorrow could that turn into yellow? The intermediate sprint also livened things up although it was obvious that Mark Cavendish wanted to save energy and improve his chances of making it up the last climb (he was caught out in the second crash).
A very good start to the tour and the man of the moment is undoubtedly Phillipe Gilbert who has now not lost a race for an increddible 91 days!
The Tour de France have just rolled out of Vendeé and it is looking as iconic, serene and beautiful as ever. Let's take a look at who might feature today:
First of all we will see the new sprints system put into practice. As i write this the bunch (HTC, Garmin-Cervelo and Lotto) are chasing down 3 breakaway riders before the intermediate sprint, or maybe just controlling things at the front for the minor placings but then you know that because you're watching! That should become more exciting as we get further into week 1.
Then of course there's the thing everybody's talking about; the stage win and of course the first yellow jersey. Due to the lack of a prologue this year the two go hand in hand so this stage will be fought for with that extra bit of bite! A category 4 finish promises to mix things up a bit and we should see an interesting dash for the line. Who's in with a shout then? A lot of people, but I'll try and run through the favourites...
Phillipe Gilbert is my personal pick for the day. He couldn't have had this stage any more gift wrapped for him unless it was in Belgium! He will be wanting to showcase those new Belgian colours so expect to see him up at least somewhere towards the front.
Thomas Voeckler's team Europcar are based in this area so this stage is increddibly important for them. They showed they mean business as soon as the banner was cut when Perrig Quemeneur instigated the breakaway. So Tommy can certainly perform well on these short sharp climbs and you'll be seeing his tongue wagging style later.
Then in the event that any sprinters can keep up with the climbers of course they should desstroy the field at the line. So we're looking at riders like Matt Goss a.k.a 'the sprinter who can climb', Edvald Boassen-Hagen, maybe Mark Cavendish, Allesadro Pettachi, André Greipel and Tyler Farrar to name a few. The finish might favour a slightly stronger sprinter and in this event you'd be looking for world champion and apparent greek God Thor Hushovd and Tom Boonen.
There's plenty of other names such as Samuel Dumoulin, Johnny Hoogerland, Sandy Casar, Jose Rojas Gil and John Gadret (who won on a very similar finish at the Giro this year) who will all be looking for that coveted yellow jersey.
Exciting stuff and check back for reaction!
...
Well that was exciting wasn't it?! As predicted Gilbert destroyed the field and Hushovd was well up there, sprinting to 3rd, but there were a few suprises. Well I don't know who it was most suprising for, the riders or the man standing a bit too close to the road but with just under 10km to go a massive crash caused an even bigger split in the field that caught some of the favourites napping. This included....Alberto Contador.
Now a lot has been said about the weakness of this years Saxo Bank Sungard team but the strength of their leader has been enough to hush the critics. This however proved to be his downfall today as Contador was in completely the wrong position in the peloton. All the other favourites teams had moved their men up to the front in order to stay out of trouble but Saxo Bank were well down and asking for trouble. Well trouble they duly got. Another notable rider in this group was last years fourth place Samuel Sanchez.
There was another crash with just under 3km to go which involved almost all of the GC riders and a few of the picks for todays stage but they were fortunate enough to be given the same time as the main peloton and so it was only Cadel Evans (who put in a very late dig in the final few hundred metres) to gain from the day.
Welshman Geraint Thomas also stayed upright and grabbed himself the white young riders jersey for the second yeah running, and coming into the TTT tomorrow could that turn into yellow? The intermediate sprint also livened things up although it was obvious that Mark Cavendish wanted to save energy and improve his chances of making it up the last climb (he was caught out in the second crash).
A very good start to the tour and the man of the moment is undoubtedly Phillipe Gilbert who has now not lost a race for an increddible 91 days!
Sunday, 26 June 2011
National Championships
So it's national championships day, a day where national pride kicks in and suddenly the entire rule book of cycling is thrown out of the window. Forget teams, alliances and working for your leader...this is every man for himself, battling to be able to pull on those home colours and represent your country around the world. So results are still coming in but lets have an early look at who did what:
Probably the most successful team of the day were Leopard-Trek with Frank Schleck retaining the road race jersey in his and their home race in Luxembourg. Spartacus (a.k.a Fabian Cancellara) retook the Swiss national champions jersey that he wore in his increddible 2009 and spring classics 2010 seasons. Robert Wagner also won a suprise win in a bunch finish in Germany from more formidable sprinters such as André Greipel and John Degenkolb.
Elsewhere world tour leader Phillipe Gilbert finally took the Belgian title and Tommy Voeckler tried but couldn't chase down breakaway specialist Sylvain Chavanel for the red, white and blue tricolour.
Now it was fairly apparent that Team Sky were going to dominate in Britain with the only other pro tour rider being Mark Cavendish who was always going to struggle with no team mates to back him up. This ultimately proved to be the downfall of the Manx Missile as he punctured, making any attempts at the jersey futile and so he abandoned. A 12 man group went away, half of which were clad in black and blue and from there-in nobody could touch them. This group was whittled down to just 3. Thomas, Kennaugh (the top 2 from last year) and one Bradley Wiggins. Experience proved to be the winner of the day as Wiggo, not wanting to leave it to the gamble of a sprint, attacked in the final few km's and when you're the beating Fabian Cancellara in time trials...no one is going to catch you. So the team leader showed who's boss to take the stripes and continue his amazing run of form that gave him his biggest major win at the Criterium Du Dauphiné recently.
Now with these races being so different to the formats of normal stage races, you might think that you couldn't forsee much from this weekend but Wiggins showed he is still smoking and must be bursting with confidence for the month ahead, Gilbert also looks to have carried his form and will be exciting us all from stage 1 and Chavanel will be trying to impress the home crowds by taking the Mailot Jaune once again.
It's certainly building nicely...
Probably the most successful team of the day were Leopard-Trek with Frank Schleck retaining the road race jersey in his and their home race in Luxembourg. Spartacus (a.k.a Fabian Cancellara) retook the Swiss national champions jersey that he wore in his increddible 2009 and spring classics 2010 seasons. Robert Wagner also won a suprise win in a bunch finish in Germany from more formidable sprinters such as André Greipel and John Degenkolb.
Elsewhere world tour leader Phillipe Gilbert finally took the Belgian title and Tommy Voeckler tried but couldn't chase down breakaway specialist Sylvain Chavanel for the red, white and blue tricolour.
Now it was fairly apparent that Team Sky were going to dominate in Britain with the only other pro tour rider being Mark Cavendish who was always going to struggle with no team mates to back him up. This ultimately proved to be the downfall of the Manx Missile as he punctured, making any attempts at the jersey futile and so he abandoned. A 12 man group went away, half of which were clad in black and blue and from there-in nobody could touch them. This group was whittled down to just 3. Thomas, Kennaugh (the top 2 from last year) and one Bradley Wiggins. Experience proved to be the winner of the day as Wiggo, not wanting to leave it to the gamble of a sprint, attacked in the final few km's and when you're the beating Fabian Cancellara in time trials...no one is going to catch you. So the team leader showed who's boss to take the stripes and continue his amazing run of form that gave him his biggest major win at the Criterium Du Dauphiné recently.
Now with these races being so different to the formats of normal stage races, you might think that you couldn't forsee much from this weekend but Wiggins showed he is still smoking and must be bursting with confidence for the month ahead, Gilbert also looks to have carried his form and will be exciting us all from stage 1 and Chavanel will be trying to impress the home crowds by taking the Mailot Jaune once again.
It's certainly building nicely...
Friday, 24 June 2011
The Tour De France
Now personally i think Radioshack are the team to beat after the season so far (see pot: '2011 continued...') but lets take a look at who might just do it:
Contador is the obvious answer. His preperations seemed to have been marred by the ongoing doping trial that made him hide out in Spanish races alone. However all doubts were shattered when he ripped the entire peloton apart in the first grantour of the year, the Giro d'Italia. Best in the mountains, on top in the time trials...if his recovery program goes well enough its hard to see who can stop him winning another yellow jersey this year.
The Schleck brothers are again the favourites, along with Berty, to dominate this year. Frank has, admittedly, had the better start with a victory at the Críterium International and a fairly good performance at the Tour de Suisse; but the brothers did manage to work over the entire peloton bar Phillipe Gilbert at Liége-Bastógne-Liége and they lit up the Tour of the Basque Country on several occasions. While Andy's Tour of California was less than brilliant and his Tour de Suisse team duties and mechanical mishaps perhaps making a high GC finish attempt futile, Leopard-Trek insist that both brothers are on track and ready to attack Contador in the mountains. It will have to be there as everybody knows their time trialing is STILL not up to scratch and the fact that Andy Schleck skipped the teams home race to scout out some of the mountain-top finishes backs this up.
So those are the bookies picks but who else could be the contenders for at least a podium finish?
We have Cadel Evans who will be very hungry to finally wear that yellow jersey in Paris after twice coming second best. He has had by far the best build up so far with overall victories at the Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour of Romandie so far. This year has been dubbed his last realistic chance to win it so we'll see if the forever-battling Aussie can be the popular winner this year.
Bradley Wiggins is another who's recent win at the Criterium du Dauphiné suprised a few but impressed much more. Overnight his odds were slashed and he will now be one to watch he he battles to get onto that roster which he so nearly did 2 years ago. He will have to just hang onto the strong men in the mountains and rely on his formidable time trial pedigree to make up any lost time. That seems difficult but this is the man who has beaten Fabian Cancellara already and who took well over a minute out of Evans and Vino on the very same course that will be in the Tour this year.
Alexandre Vinoukerov has at last been given the chance to be a GC leader at the Tour de France and in probably his last year before retirement. The question is can he handle the long gruelling grand tour mountains as well as he could in his youth, and can he find the kind of form that won him the Vuelta á Espana?
Ivan Basso has had a difficult season so far after crashing while descending Mt Etna and various other injuries, all of which led to poor showings in Romandie and the Dauphiné but Luiquigas has said that he should be right up with the best come July.
Others such as Robert Gesik and Jurgen Van Den Broek have had very good seasons so far, both showed their faces a lot in the Dauphiné and they could be the dark horses for that podium spot. Gesink certainly has some increddible names behind him, Luis Léon Sanchez, Tjallingi, Tan Dem to name a few!
Roman Kreuziger could also be the main man for Astana giving them a couple of options although he may well be tires from winning the young riders classifications at the Giro.
Don't count out the Olympic Road Race champion Samuel Sanchez either after narrowly missing out on 3rd last year due to a bad time trial, and expect to see the flamboyant Thomas Vockler putting in attacks left, right and centre to show the tricolour he'll hope to be wearing again.
Only time will tell and personally I can't wait!
Contador is the obvious answer. His preperations seemed to have been marred by the ongoing doping trial that made him hide out in Spanish races alone. However all doubts were shattered when he ripped the entire peloton apart in the first grantour of the year, the Giro d'Italia. Best in the mountains, on top in the time trials...if his recovery program goes well enough its hard to see who can stop him winning another yellow jersey this year.
The Schleck brothers are again the favourites, along with Berty, to dominate this year. Frank has, admittedly, had the better start with a victory at the Críterium International and a fairly good performance at the Tour de Suisse; but the brothers did manage to work over the entire peloton bar Phillipe Gilbert at Liége-Bastógne-Liége and they lit up the Tour of the Basque Country on several occasions. While Andy's Tour of California was less than brilliant and his Tour de Suisse team duties and mechanical mishaps perhaps making a high GC finish attempt futile, Leopard-Trek insist that both brothers are on track and ready to attack Contador in the mountains. It will have to be there as everybody knows their time trialing is STILL not up to scratch and the fact that Andy Schleck skipped the teams home race to scout out some of the mountain-top finishes backs this up.
So those are the bookies picks but who else could be the contenders for at least a podium finish?
We have Cadel Evans who will be very hungry to finally wear that yellow jersey in Paris after twice coming second best. He has had by far the best build up so far with overall victories at the Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour of Romandie so far. This year has been dubbed his last realistic chance to win it so we'll see if the forever-battling Aussie can be the popular winner this year.
Bradley Wiggins is another who's recent win at the Criterium du Dauphiné suprised a few but impressed much more. Overnight his odds were slashed and he will now be one to watch he he battles to get onto that roster which he so nearly did 2 years ago. He will have to just hang onto the strong men in the mountains and rely on his formidable time trial pedigree to make up any lost time. That seems difficult but this is the man who has beaten Fabian Cancellara already and who took well over a minute out of Evans and Vino on the very same course that will be in the Tour this year.
Alexandre Vinoukerov has at last been given the chance to be a GC leader at the Tour de France and in probably his last year before retirement. The question is can he handle the long gruelling grand tour mountains as well as he could in his youth, and can he find the kind of form that won him the Vuelta á Espana?
Ivan Basso has had a difficult season so far after crashing while descending Mt Etna and various other injuries, all of which led to poor showings in Romandie and the Dauphiné but Luiquigas has said that he should be right up with the best come July.
Others such as Robert Gesik and Jurgen Van Den Broek have had very good seasons so far, both showed their faces a lot in the Dauphiné and they could be the dark horses for that podium spot. Gesink certainly has some increddible names behind him, Luis Léon Sanchez, Tjallingi, Tan Dem to name a few!
Roman Kreuziger could also be the main man for Astana giving them a couple of options although he may well be tires from winning the young riders classifications at the Giro.
Don't count out the Olympic Road Race champion Samuel Sanchez either after narrowly missing out on 3rd last year due to a bad time trial, and expect to see the flamboyant Thomas Vockler putting in attacks left, right and centre to show the tricolour he'll hope to be wearing again.
Only time will tell and personally I can't wait!
2011 continued...
So then we come to the first real tests for stage racers, the clashing Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Addriatico. You can think of them as a 'mini tour and giro' and that was proven when the organisers of the French event decided to start with a bunch race and the Italians used a team time trial, preluding the main events to come later. Fortunately both seemed to go off without a hitch and Tony Martin put in an impressive climbing and time trialing in France display while Cadel Evans laid down a marker for what has been built up to be his big year by dominating in Italy. Bradley Wiggins' first real test also went well as he helped himself to third place on the GC due to his time trial performance. While last year he seemed to have lost a bit of his strength in that area it looked like there was no such occurance this year.
Now Paris-Nice saw Andreas Kloden take second place which was the start of a domino effect where the teams are lining up and Radioshack are pushing them down. Impressive performances from their 4 (yes 4) team leaders in the various races including a strong showing from Horner in Catalunya, a 1-2 GC finish in the Tour of the Basque Country and another 1-2 finish with 2 stage wins in the Tour of California. Add to that the dramatic wins on time trial day for Sebastien Rosseler in the De Panne tour and Levi Leipheimer in Switzerland and Radioshack really look like the form side going into this years Tour de France. The question is who can stop them?
Now Paris-Nice saw Andreas Kloden take second place which was the start of a domino effect where the teams are lining up and Radioshack are pushing them down. Impressive performances from their 4 (yes 4) team leaders in the various races including a strong showing from Horner in Catalunya, a 1-2 GC finish in the Tour of the Basque Country and another 1-2 finish with 2 stage wins in the Tour of California. Add to that the dramatic wins on time trial day for Sebastien Rosseler in the De Panne tour and Levi Leipheimer in Switzerland and Radioshack really look like the form side going into this years Tour de France. The question is who can stop them?
Thursday, 23 June 2011
2011
So there's been a lot of hype in this country about the year 2012. This has been, among reasons of apocalyptic nature, mainly about the olympics. Now yes, 2012 should be a great year for every sport including cycling but personally 2011 has and will hopefully continue to be brilliant as well. Here's a round up of the goings on so far and a look to the rest of the season.
January was a great month for the Brits with young prodigy Ben Swift coming through with 2 stage wins at the sprinters Tour Down Under. Not only was this good for Swifty but also for the entire Team Sky. They showed textbook leadouts that led to a 1-2 finish with Swift and Greg Henderson respectively.
This proved to be the start of what's been a much better year for Sky in 2011. After the disappointment of last year they went away in the winter, regrouped and came back stronger than ever with a whole new mentality. Still focussing on the Tour De France but with a wider view to possible victories the success started to come thick and fast...
The next headlines were at the Tour of Oman where superman Edvald Boassen-Hagen took the sprinters jersey and an impressive 2nd place in the GC to an in form Robert Gesink. This looks even better when you realise that, unlike the other middle eastern tour around the same time the Tour of Qatar, this was in no way a flat race and included a 13.5% average climb up 'Green Mountain'.
In the Volta ao Algarve jaws were made to drop further when Steven Cummings beat the one and only Alberto Contador to the line on a category 3 mountaintop finish. Yes Team Sky were well and truly rocking with the big boys...
More to come.
January was a great month for the Brits with young prodigy Ben Swift coming through with 2 stage wins at the sprinters Tour Down Under. Not only was this good for Swifty but also for the entire Team Sky. They showed textbook leadouts that led to a 1-2 finish with Swift and Greg Henderson respectively.
This proved to be the start of what's been a much better year for Sky in 2011. After the disappointment of last year they went away in the winter, regrouped and came back stronger than ever with a whole new mentality. Still focussing on the Tour De France but with a wider view to possible victories the success started to come thick and fast...
The next headlines were at the Tour of Oman where superman Edvald Boassen-Hagen took the sprinters jersey and an impressive 2nd place in the GC to an in form Robert Gesink. This looks even better when you realise that, unlike the other middle eastern tour around the same time the Tour of Qatar, this was in no way a flat race and included a 13.5% average climb up 'Green Mountain'.
In the Volta ao Algarve jaws were made to drop further when Steven Cummings beat the one and only Alberto Contador to the line on a category 3 mountaintop finish. Yes Team Sky were well and truly rocking with the big boys...
More to come.
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