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[Tarazet]

Unfortunately, Falch, this seems like the year of the French. Though there is this young Belgian who's on an absolute tear..

Race results 3/17/10

Nokere-Koerse (1.1, Belgium), 192.9km

21 year-old Belgian neo-pro Jens Keukeleire (Cofidis) won the Nokere Koerse race in Belgium on Wednesday, his third win of the season after just two months of racing as a professional.

Keukeleire beat Kris Boeckermans (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Bobbie Traksel (Vancasoleil) in a hectic sprint on a cobbled finish. The USA's John Murphy (BMC) emerged from the scrum to finish sixth in the sprint.

Despite his lack of experience and tender age, the Cofidis team decided to set up Keukeleire for the sprint and yet again he did not let them down. Keukeleire has already won the GP Samyn and the opening stage and the overall classification at the Ronde van West-Vlaanderen this season. He has also taken top ten placings in both the Volta au Algarve and the in the Challenge Mallorca.

"Last week I said my season had already been a success after two wins but now this happens: I'm super happy," Keukeleire said on television after his win.

"I was not that strong today and not the best in the peloton but in the final four kilometres I had four teammates working for me. That they're willing to ride for is incredible and did a great job."

The race was marked by a high-speed crash ten kilometres from the finish when Nico Eeckhout (An Post- Sean Kelly Team) went down.

Results
1 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Cofidis 4:35:00
2 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Colnago
3 Bobbie Traksel (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cyclingteam
4 Kenny Dehaes (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
5 Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Colnago

 

[Tarazet]

News

Rating the Milan-San Remo contenders

Cyclingnews weighs the chances of 11 race favourites
For many, Milan-San Remo marks the true beginning of the Spring Classics season and it's a date circled on the calendars of both the Classics specialists as well as the peloton's sprinters.

While sprinters have prevailed at La Primavera in nine of the previous 13 editions, there's always a chance that a crafty rouleur seeking to avoid a mass finish can escape on the Poggio and power away to glory in San Remo, either alone or from a small group.

With the winners of the five previous editions on the start list plus a strong contingent of riders eager to taste victory in San Remo for the first time, Cyclingnews has rated the chances of 11 men we feel are contenders on Saturday.

Daniele Bennati (Liquigas-Doimo)
Age: 29
Why he can win: He's already won half as many races as he won in 2009 (four) so the question on everyone's lips is, is Bennati approaching the form which took him to stage wins in every Grand Tour before a succession of injuries took their toll? Last year the Italian finished sixth, so the power to survive the climbs and sprint is there and with Nibali, Kreuziger, Pellizotti and the under-rated Quinziato for support he'll have one of race’s strongest teams.
Why he can't win: Is he faster than Boonen or Petacchi? Nine times out of ten the answer is no and despite showing glimmers of form he’s still not the same rider he was in 2006 and 2007.
CN Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky)
Age: 22
Why he can win: He's the new 'Cannibal', isn't he? Last year he won Gent-Wevelgem before going on to a Giro d'Italia stage win and the overall titles in the Eneco Tour and the Tour of Britain - among other successes. A move from HTC to Sky followed, where so far this season he has won two stages of the Tour of Oman and the final stage in Tirreno. Bob 'Blue Chip' Stapleton doesn't usually let talent slip through his fingers but with Cavendish out of sorts he'll be ruing the day he was forced to let the Norwegian leave.
Why he can't win: Inexperience, perhaps? 298 kilometres is a long way to ride, and not always easy for young legs. Boasson Hagen does have experience in the race, working his socks off for Cavendish last year, but the biggest problem could be losing the services of Kurt-Asle Arvesen, who is still recovering from a collarbone broken in Qatar.
CN Rating: 8 out of 10

Tom Boonen (Quick Step)
Age: 29
Why he can win: Everyone under the Italian sun is tipping Boonen to take the win, including all of his rivals. His age and experience work for him, too. He will be riding Milan-San Remo for the ninth time, so he knows how to handle the long distance, pace himself and still have the power after almost seven hours of racing.
Why he can't win: Stats don't lie and he's ridden the race eight times and never won it. Boonen's highest placing over the years has been fourth (2006) and third (2007). The last two years, however, he has been off the pace. And while he says he is coming into this race in better form than last year, he also admits that San Remo is not his top priority.
CN Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank)
Age: 29
Why he can win: Fabian Cancellara is not a sprinter but is still a favourite for Milan-San Remo because of his proven ability to win with powerful late attacks. The three-time world time trial champion won Milan-San Remo in 2008 by accelerating away in the final two kilometres. His rivals saw him attack but nobody had the speed or courage to go after him. If he is allowed to gain a 50-metre gap before the finish, no one will be able to stop him.
Why he can't win: Everyone will be expecting Cancellara to go on the attack and they surely won't let themselves be humiliated yet again. Cancellara also loves the cobbled classics more than Milan-San Remo and so may not yet be at his very best. He won the Tour of Oman thanks to a strong ride in the final time trial but he has been quiet since. When he won Milan-San Remo in 2008 he also won Tirreno-Adriatico, this year he only finished 48th overall.
CN rating: 7 out of 10

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia)
Age: 24
Why he can win: Mark Cavendish was only the fourth rider to ever win Milan-San Remo on his debut in the race last year and he is so fast that he can win sprints even when he is far from his best. Cavendish could have pulled out of Milan-San Remo to avoid further scrutiny about his form but La Primavera is his favourite one-day classic and the Manxman rightly wants to honour the race. If he manages to make it over the climbs, it will be a huge boost to his morale and anything could happen in the sprint.
Why he can't win: Despite many of Cavendish's sprint rivals insisting he has a chance to win on Saturday, his problematic early season means he is at least a month behind on his training and racing schedule. His best result so far this year is second place to Theo Bos (Cervélo Test Team) in the Clasica de Almeria and he crashed in the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico before he could test himself in the sprint.
CN rating: 5 out of 10

Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions)
Age: 25
Why he can win: The American sprinter won the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg, Germany, last August with an impressive sprint. It was a highlight of a strong late season that had many predicting he was closing the gap on Cavendish. Farrar has put in a number of top ten finishes so far this season, with his best finish being third in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
Why he can't win: Farrar has always been more of a middle-to-late season sprinter, always getting off to a slow start in the season. He hasn't shown much so far this year, with the exception of the Omloop. A lack of experience at racing for 300km could be his biggest problem.
CN Rating: 3.5 out of 10

Oscar Freire (Rabobank)
Age: 34
Why he can win: He's won the race twice, in 2004 and 2007, so he knows exactly what it takes to finish first at Milan-San Remo. Arguably he's the strongest sprinter on the climbs, too, so the Cipressa and Poggio should be within his comfort zone. As for his finishing speed, when fit he's one of the fastest, canniest riders in the bunch. Still one of the most talented riders on planet and due a big win, too.
Why he won't win: 2009 was almost a total write-off when compared to 2008's storming performances. This year he's started off with three wins but illness leading up to Tirreno has hampered his training.
CN Rating: 5 out of 10

Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
Age: 27
Why he can win: The Belgian is a Classics specialist who has come close to winning Milan-San Remo several times, finishing third there in 2008. His most dramatic appearance was in 2007, when he attacked, along with Riccardo Riccò, on the Poggio climb for what looked like the winning break. Like Farrar, he ended 2009 with a bang, winning Coppa Sabatini, Paris-Tours, Giro del Piemonte and the Giro di Lombardia and can now be considered as one of the most aggressive and feared one-day specialists. Gilbert races with panache, too.
Why he can't win: While it's hard not to admire Gilbert's desire to race almost an entire season full gas, it does leave him with an acute problem in that riders pinpoint a month, or in some races, one day for their seasons. So far Gilbert hasn't hit top form, or at least hasn't shown top form, so a winning attack might have to wait for later in the Spring.
CN ranking: 6.5 out of 10

Thor Hushovd (Cervélo Test Team)
Age: 32
Why he can win: Last year's winner is out of sorts, while the runner-up (Haussler) has been ruled out through injury, meaning Hushovd, on paper at least, should be a favourite having finished third last year. One of the strongest sprinters around, he'll benefit from having a team that's not just built around him but one that's also lacking Haussler.
Why he can't win: Illness decimated the start to the Norwegian's season and when Cyclingnews caught up with him in Belgium last month he looked like an extra from a George Romero film. Without a win this season his confidence won't exactly be through the roof and you have to wonder if he has the training in his legs after missing so much racing.
CN Rating: 6 out of 10

Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini)
Age: 36
Why he can win: He’s fast and can handle the climbs. At 36, Petacchi is now the veteran sprinter of the peloton but could still have one last Milan-San Remo victory is his legs. He won with a powerful sprint on the old Via Roma finish in 2005 and was second in 2006. Petacchi looked leaner and meaner than ever before when he won the GP Costa degli Etruschi race for a sixth consecutive year in early February and has the experience and the endurance to win Milan-San Remo again.
Why he can't win: Petacchi's nasty training crash just two days before the start of Tirreno-Adriatico could hurt his chances in San Remo. The Italian hit a plant pot, needed five stitches in his chin, hurt his groin and ankle and has not been the same since, even if he made it through Tirreno-Adriatico. Petacchi's biggest problem could be the expected bad weather. After smashing his kneecap in the rain at the 2006 Giro d'Italia, Petacchi has always been one of the first to touch the brakes when the roads are wet.
CN rating: 7.5 out of 10

Filippo Pozzato (Team Katusha)
Age: 28
Why he can win: He's done it before, in 2006. Every Italian dreams of winning Milan-San Remo and the glamour of the race means it has always been Pozzato's first big goal of the season. Of all the classics, Milan-San Remo best suits Pozzato's style of racing and he knows the route like the back of his hand because he lives in nearby Monte Carlo.
Why he can't win: Katusha opted to leave Robbie McEwen at home and build the team around Pozzato. That will put extra pressure on Pozzato to perform and create a bigger polemic if he again comes up short. Katusha team manager Andrei Tchmil will probably be in the team car on Saturday. He won Milan-San Remo in 1999 with a perfectly-timed late attack and will be expecting Pozzato to win.
CN rating: 8 out of 10

"Dr. Mabuse" loses appeal

A French court of appeals has upheld the prison sentence of Bernard Sainz – also known as “Dr. Mabuse” – following his 2008 conviction on charges related to doping athletes in the late 1990s.

Sainz, whose background is in homeopathic medicine and acupuncture, does not hold a medical license. Sainz was convicted of practicing medicine without a license by prescribing and dispensing doping products to cyclists and sentenced to three years in prison, with half of that time to be served on probation. Thursday’s ruling reaffirms a prison sentence for Sainz, but reduces the amount of time he will spend behind bars from 18 months to 12.

Sainz was arrested in May of 1999, following a 10-month investigation that included several months of extensive wire-tapping. Sainz’s conviction was based in part on testimony from riders, including Philippe Gaumont and Frank Vandenbroucke.

Vandenbroucke, who died in October, told the court that his arrangement involved bonus payments to Sainz if he won races. In trial testimony, Vandenbroucke described Sainz as a “formidable doper” and an “evil guru.”

Sainz has consistently denied any involvement in doping, insisting that he offered riders only homeopathic remedies and the performance improvements were solely the result of riders’ improved health.

“This conviction goes against the very principles of anti-doping,” the 66-year-old Sainz said after Thursday’s hearing. “It’s ridiculous to believe that convicting me will change anything with regards to doping in sport. There are still undetectable substances being used. Punishing a homeopathic practitioner simply means that those of us who approach things in a healthy and natural way will be discouraged.”

Following Thursday’s ruling, Sainz said he will pursue his case through the full appeals process and possibly to the European Court of Human Rights.

Read more: http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/03/news/dr-mabuse-loses-appeal_108413#ixzz0iYhY1EJg

 

[Tarazet]

Milan-San Remo results are in:

1 Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank
2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step
3 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini
4 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox
5 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini

Freire had a huge gap, several bike lengths.

 

[Snoodaard]

Oscar does it again!

 

[Tarazet]

:lol No photo finish this time!

Milan-San Remo (HIS), 298 km

Spaniard takes his third Milan - San Remo victory

Oscar Freire (Rabobank) claimed his third and most emphatic victory in the Italian Classic, Milan-San Remo, on Saturday afternoon. The Spaniard positioned himself perfectly for a sprint finish from a select group of 25 riders to defeat race favourite Tom Boonen (Quick Step) and Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini).

Despite several spirited attempts by riders to get away on the ever-decisive Poggio, the favourites all regrouped in the three-kilometre dash towards the finish. Liquigas entered the final kilometre at the front, but it was a cagey Freire who benefited most from the lime green lead-out as he leapt out from third wheel to finish a bike length clear of Boonen.

Snap, crackle and pop on the Poggio

The sprint finish defied pre-race predictions of late attackers being able to stay away, though, it was not for lack of trying. A nervous-looking peloton appeared willing to delay hostilities on the Cipressa, and despite a move by Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha) towards the top of the penultimate climb, it wasn't until the Poggio that all-out war commenced.

A bold move by Yoann Offredo (Francaise des Jeux) on the descent off the Cipressa was met just kilometres later, on the Poggio, with a stampede from a Stefano Garzelli-led peloton. As the Acqua & Sapone man swung off, Michael Rogers (HTC-Columbia) tore off the front of the race, with Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Filippo Pozzato (Katusha) launching their own counter-attacks.

Pozzato led the race over the summit, but as he began the descent, the proximity of his rivals made it clear that a sizable group was going to make it to the finish. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) led a hair-raising descent into San Remo and although he took Gilbert, Thor Hushovd (Cervelo TestTeam) and Matti Breschel (Saxo Bank) with him, the race once again came back together as the terrain flattened out for the final kilometres.

A final flourish from Nibali was answered by Pozzato, who went clear with two kilometres to go. After a moment's hesitation by the pack, Liquigas took responsibility for drawing the Italian Champion back once more as its team led the way into the final kilometre. Around a minute later, Freire slid out of their slipstream and sprinted across the line for yet another famous victory at La Classicisma.

And so it begins

Just under seven hours earlier, the peloton had left a drizzly Milan for their journey to the coast. With the flag pulled in, the customary early attack followed just three kilometres down the road. Unsurprisingly, it was an all Italian affair as Fabrice Piemontesi (Androni Giocatolli), Aristide Ratti (Carmiooro NGC) and Diego Caccia (ISD-Neri) used the outskirts of Milan to make good their escape.

With almost 300 kilometres on the day's agenda, the trio were given a wide berth. Lampre-Farnese Vini, Liquigas-Doimo, Katusha and HTC-Columbia were the teams patrolling the front of the peloton behind, but their tempo was tranquil enough to allow the leaders to push out to over 22 minutes. However, as they approached the Passo del Turchino the leaders' time gap commenced its gradual retreat.

Quick Step now making themselves visible at the front of the main group, the time gap began to drop. The leaders began the climb with 16:25 and they finished it with a little over 12 minutes. There was no rush to shrink that gap further, and the leaders were still out in front on the slopes of Le Mànie, with 100 kilometres to go. But their advantage was now a meagre two minutes.

While the leaders had been making their way between the Turchino and Le Mànie, the race behind had split after a crash on the descent of the Turchino, with reigning champion Mark Cavendish caught in the latter selection. The Briton's HTC-Columbia squad immediately came to the front in order to limit the damage. While Cavendish's men set to work, Murilo Fischer (Garmin-Transitions), who had also crashed in the incident, left the race with a broken collarbone.

As attention focussed on the gap between the pelotons, the leaders were brought back by the front section of the grim-coated group at 81 kilometres-to-go. Caccia, who had spent more than 200 kilometres out in front, had clearly developed a penchant for that position in the race. The Italian took point duty at the front and controlled the tempo of the 30-strong group for another five kilometres.

With no-one in the mood to push the pace in the front group, the two halves of the peloton reformed. But at 60 kilometres to go AG2R-La Mondiale's Maxime Bouet decided to attempt mission impossible as he fired off the front. The young Frenchman quickly built a 20-second buffer, which he gradually stretched out towards 40 seconds. Dimitri Grabovskyy (ISD-Neri) was one of the first to answer the move as seven riders attempted to bridge across to the lone leader.

Grabovskyy was the only one able to catch Bouet. He made brief contact before storming past the AG2R rider on the Capo Berta. Unfortunately for the Ukrainian, the peloton had started to sharpen the pencil and it wasn't long before he too was recouped after the town of Imperia, with 37 kilometres to go.

With Grabovskyy caught and the peloton once again back to status quo, Milram led onto the Cipressa and into what would be a fantastic finale for Freire.

 

[Falch]

Freire's still got it. Well done by Rabobank.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

I'm getting this bike in a few weeks once they ship it to Hawaii. I'm very excited. I'm going to commute to work (about 20 miles a day total)

Bianchi Via Nirone 7 Sora Compact

 

[Tarazet]

Nice bike! Can't think of a better place to ride your bike than Hawaii.

Race results 3/22/10

Volta a Catalunya (PT), Stage 1: Lloret de Mar (ITT) 3.6km

Milram's Paul Voß got an early birthday present in the form of a stunning stage 1 victory in the Volta a Catalunya today. The soon to be 24-year-old eclipsed RadioShack's Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden to claim his first ProTour win in the time trial and take the overall lead in the Spanish race.

"When I heard that I had won, I was totally surprised and overwhelmed," said Voß. "That's how it is when you win the first ProTour race of your career. I think I won't really realize it until I am at the start tomorrow wearing the leader's jersey. I actually didn't feel that great during the race, so the win is that much more of a surprise."

Milram placed another young rider in the top five, with 20-year-old Dominik Nerz edging out Omega Pharma-Lotto's Jan Bakelants for fourth place.

Vittorio Algeri, Milram's director was thrilled. "A fantastic result for us today, Paul Voß and Dominik Nerz gave us a really huge surprise. Despite the rain and difficult conditions, they both went all out. This is a great day for Team Milram."

"A huge compliment to both of them. I really had not seen this coming," said team manager Gerry van Gerwen. "That was a super performance from the two and is great for the morale of the whole team in Catalunya."

Voß joined Milram in 2009 and rode the Vuelta a Espana in his first ProTour year. A cyclo-cross specialist, he rode at the top of the U-23 rankings in the 2008/2009 season, but is now concentrating on the road.

Stage Results
1 Paul Voss (Ger) Team Milram 0:04:47
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack 0:00:01
3 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Radioshack 0:00:02
4 Dominik Nerz (Ger) Team Milram 0:00:04
5 Jan Bakelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto

Tour de Normandie Stage 1: coming later

News

Team RadioShack not invited to 2010 Giro d'Italia, Ricco "quarantined"

The organizers of the Giro d'Italia RCS Sport will announce the teams invited to ride this year's race on Monday, but Lance Armstrong's RadioShack squad will not be amongst them. There also seems little chance that Riccardo Riccò will be welcomed back to this year's Giro, despite his ban for doping ending on March 18.

In recent weeks, RadioShack team manager Johan Bruyneel had publicly hoped the RadioShack team would be invited to the Giro. However with Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer targeting the Tour of California at the same time as the Giro, the US-registered team failed to convince the Giro organisers they deserved a place and did not push particularly hard to have a team in the race.

"On Monday, we're going to announce 22 teams, but RadioShack won't be in the race," race director Angelo Zomegnan told Cyclingnews when asked about the teams expected to line up in Amsterdam for the start of the Giro on May 8.

Lance Armstrong rode the centenary edition of the Giro d'Italia in 2009 with the Astana team. It was his first ever start in the Giro, but his special relationship with Zomegnan seems to have soured following the rider protest over safety concerns during the Milan circuit stage.

Armstrong was brought into the protest by other riders but Zomegnan seemed to publicly chastise him, telling the Associated Press, "There's a certain age at which your legs start to get shorter and your tongue longer."

Armstrong was due to ride Milan-San Remo on Saturday, perhaps to help RadioShack secure a place in the Giro d'Italia, but pulled out less than 24 hours before the start. The team said in a press release that he was suffering from gastroenteritis.

Riccò: persona non grata

On Friday La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper, which is part of the same RCS media company that organises the Giro d'Italia, claimed that Riccardo Riccò (and perhaps as a consequence his Ceramica Flaminia team) would not be invited to the Giro.

When questioned by Cyclingnews, Zomegnan refused to use Riccò's name but he made it clear that any rider returning from a ban for doping would first have to serve a period of quarantine before being allowed to ride the Giro. It seems Riccò is in the doghouse.

"There was a story with Riccò's name in it in Gazzetta dello Sport. I didn't name names, and I won't until Monday," said Zomegnan.

"I just expressed the important point that in the past we've put our trust in a lot of riders by inviting them to our races when their suspensions had just ended. Yet they didn't pay us back for the faith we showed in them because they quickly made the same mistakes.

"As a consequence RCS Sport, the Gazzetta dello Sport and I will keep some people who have recently faced bans under control for a reasonable amount of time. After this kind of 'quarantine', we decide to invite them to our races or not."

Zomegnan refused to talk about Riccò but made it obvious to whom he was referring.

"For certain riders, the quarantine has just started. When I say a reasonable amount of time, I'm not talking about just a week," he added. "It's difficult to see how someone who isn't suitable for the Giro on March 22, can be suitable on April 22. It'll take longer than a month. It's very difficult that whoever isn't invited on March 22 will be at the start of the Giro."

The teams likely to be invited to ride the Giro d'Italia include BMC Racing, with world champion Cadel Evans, Team Sky with Bradley Wiggins, the Cervelo TestTeam with Carlos Sastre, and most of the major ProTour teams and leading Italian squads. However, Zomegnan admitted to Dutch media that only one team from the Netherlands will be amongst the 22 teams he announces on Monday.

Luis Leon Sanchez remains atop UCI world rankings

Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez remains atop the UCI's World Rankings after the year's first monument, Milan-San Remo, and the stage races Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico.

The Caisse d'Epargne rider, who took second overall in the Tour Down Under and third overall at Paris-Nice, sits 39 points ahead of German André Greipel, who won the Tour Down Under. Cadel Evans (BMC) is a further three points adrift after sixth in the TDU and third overall in Tirreno-Adriatico.

Oscar Freire's win in Milan-San Remo boosted Spain's lead in the overall country rankings, while Caisse d'Epargne maintained the teams classification lead over the Astana squad of Paris-Nice winner Alberto Contador.

The UCI's World Rankings combine the ProTour races with events of the Historic classification for a total of 26 races over the course of the season. Series leader Sanchez is currently competing in the next stop, the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya in his home country.

UCI Individual World Rankings 1 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 158 pts
2 André Greipel (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia 119
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 116
4 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone 109
5 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 107
6 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank 100
7 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 99
8 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step 86
9 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli - Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni 86
10 Greg Henderson (NZl) Sky Professional Cycling Team 85
11 Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz) Astana 82
12 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini 78
13 Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Team Katusha 68
14 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox 62
15 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo 60
16 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 58
17 Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Milram 54
18 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 53
19 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 51
20 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 46

Sastre returns to racing after eight months off

Carlos Sastre will return to racing for the first time in eight months at the Tour of Catalunya on Monday. The Cervélo TestTeam rider has not raced since finishing 17th in the Tour de France last July.

“It's the only race I'm going to ride before the Giro d'Italia and I'll use it to see how my training is going and what I have to improve on to arrive at the Giro in the best condition," the Spaniard explained to Europa Press. "It is a very important test for me, because I can see everything I have done well or what I still need to do.”

Catalunya “has always been a demanding race,” the 2008 Tour de France winner continued. “I decided to be here this year because I think it can give me the chance I am looking for, which is to be at the start of the Giro in the best condition.”

While Sastre did not elaborate on why he has stayed out of racing for so long, he gave an indication, saying, “I've regained the spark and desire to race and compete.”

Last year, Sastre finished fourth in the Giro d'Italia, moving up to third after Danilo Di Luca was disqualified for doping. He started his Tour de France title defence strongly, but faded in the race's final week, eventually finishing 17th overall. 26:21 behind overall winner Alberto Contador.

After reviewing the routes of the three Grand Tours for 2010, Sastre announced in December that he would concentrate his efforts on the Giro d'Italia. However, he subsequently added the Tour de France to his list of priorities.

 

[Get'sMad]

Man I wish I had more time to get out and ride. Stupid 8-5 job. I've become more of a runner in the past few months. Fortunately it's spring now, warmer temps. and longer days mean I can get out on the bike some more. I'll post my rides when I get home.

 

[mj1108]

Man I wish I had more time to get out and ride. Stupid 8-5 job. I've become more of a runner in the past few months. Fortunately it's spring now, warmer temps. and longer days mean I can get out on the bike some more. I'll post my rides when I get home.

Definitely get out and ride more. I did 37 miles on Saturday and about 40 miles yesterday (lots of climbing, great ride). I'm now sunburned like hell but it's worth it.

I'm sure there are more here on GAF that cycle.....

 

[subrock]

I know this is the road cycling thread but in my fervor to build a track bike for spring I realized that the UCI track championships are coming up this week. this might be the first time I actually watch them.

 

[speedpop]

Man how did I miss this thread? *slap*

 

[Tarazet]

I know this is the road cycling thread but in my fervor to build a track bike for spring I realized that the UCI track championships are coming up this week. this might be the first time I actually watch them.

I'll definitely make an exception and cover them.

 

[Tarazet]

Race results 3/23/10

Cav!!!

Volta a Catalunya (PT), Stage 2: Salt - Banyoles 182.6km

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) appears to have put his early season troubles behind with a victory in the second stage of the Volta a Catalunya on Tuesday afternoon.

The British sprinter had a difficult early season after a dental problem wrecked his January training but showed he on his way back by winning stage from Salt to Banyoles.

Cavendish beat Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) and Aitor Galdos (Euskaltel-Euskadi). Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) was fourth and Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Transitions) was ninth.

Milram's Paul Voß (Milram) kept the overall race lead, one second ahead of Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack). His teammate Andreas Kloden is second at two seconds.

Cavendish’s victory marked the end of his poor early season but directeur sportif Brian Holm insisted the team had not been under pressure to win. “We didn’t have any pressure. We’ve already won ten races but Mark has been quite ill. Everyone knew it was a matter of time before he started winning,” Holm told Cyclingnews.

“We’re happy he’s winning now and I’d say he’s at 90 per cent of his top form. You saw yesterday that he was strong in the prologue, where he got seventh.”

The 182km stage was dominated by a breakaway by the USA's Peter Stetina (Garmin-Transitions) and Spain's Jonathan Castroviejo (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

The two young riders got way after nine kilometres and the bunch let them go for a day of glory in the Spanish sun. They carved out a lead that reached 8:30 after the Alts Els Angel climb often covered by riders based in Gerona, but were then gradually reeled in by the bunch as the sprinters' teams. Stetina was first to the summit of the climb and so secured the lead in the climber's competition. He said in a tweet: "Leading the break up climb in front of all my friends & visiting family gave me the chills! Career highlight, gave KOM flowers to mom."

They two were eventually swept up 13km from the finish after 161km away as Lampre-Farnese Vini and especially HTC-Columbia rode to set up Cavendish.

Stage Results
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team HTC - Columbia 4:15:46
2 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank
3 Aitor Galdos (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
4 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne
5 Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin - Transitions

Overall Standings after Stage 2:
1 Paul Voss (Ger) Team Milram 4:20:43
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack 0:00:01
3 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Radioshack 0:00:02
4 Dominik Nerz (Ger) Team Milram 0:00:04
5 Jan Bakelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto

Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (2.1), Stage 1a: Riccione 81.2km

Damn, doesn't get much closer than that.

Stage Results
1 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 1:56:50
2 Mattia Gavazzi (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox
3 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) De Rosa - Stac Plastic
4 Marko Kump (Slo) Adria Mobil
5 André Schulze (Ger) PSK Whirlpool - Author

Stage 1b: Riccione (TTT) 15.6km

Stage Results
1 Liquigas-Doimo 0:17:51
2 De Rosa - Stac Plastic 0:00:09
3 Lampre-Farnese Vini 0:00:15
4 Ceramica Flaminia 0:00:24
5 ISD - Neri 0:00:25

Overall Standings after Stage 1b:
1 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 2:14:35
2 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:00:06
3 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
4 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Liquigas-Doimo
5 Tiziano Dall'antonia (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo

News

Andy Schleck pulls out of Catalunya

Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) pulled out of the Volta a Catalunya before today's second stage, compounding his already troubled start to the 2010 season.

Schleck finished 131st, 27 seconds slower than stage winner Paul Voss (Milram) in the opening time trial at the Volta a Catalunya, but failed to start the 182.6km second stage from Salt to Banyoles.

Schleck hurt his knee after being hit by a car in training in December. He was able to keep training during the winter but revealed he had seen several specialists for treatment. He then felt a slight pain in his knee in January and was forced to delay the start to his 2010 season. He had planned to kick-off his season at the Trofeo Mallorca in early February but instead headed home to Luxembourg for treatment. He also missed the Ruta del Sol and eventually made his season debut at the Giro del Friuli on March 3.

He seemed back on track when he rode the Strade Bianche race and comfortably finished Tirreno-Adriatico. He also started Milan-San Remo last Saturday. He did not finish the 298km Classic but headed to Spain to get in some extra racing as he build-up for the Ardennes Classics in the second half of April.

After pulling out of Catalunya, Schleck will only have the Vuelta a Pais Vasco as final training for the hilly Classics. With Amstel Gold Race just three and a half weeks away, time is running out for him to find the kind of form that allowed him to win last year's Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Track World's Preview: Titles will heat up Copenhagen

The game of poker leading to the 2012 London Olympics has begun, and this year's world championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, will be full of intrigue as the big players look for medals whilst keeping their cards close to their chest.

One of those riders playing down their chances with an eye on London is Sir Chris Hoy, the famed Scotsman returning to the world championships after missing the titles in Warsaw last year due to injury.

"You see riders really dominating their events in the period between Olympics," explained Hoy recently, "but you don't want to do too much in this period. I don't want to burn myself out in these interim years. I'm trying to hold something back, because what really matters is in two years' time.

"The world championships are important," he continued, "but London is more important. If you think back to the Bordeaux world championships [in 2006, at the equivalent stage of the Olympic ‘cycle'], a lot changed between then and Beijing.

"I'm very conscious of the fact that these world championships, though they're important in their own right, will be long forgotten by the time London comes around."

Despite this last statement, Hoy will still be out to beat all comers, which includes the French, who will again arrive at the world titles with a quality quartet of sprinters - Grégory Baugé, Michael d'Almeida, François Pervis and Kévin Sireau - intent on recovering some pride lost in recent years.

Add to the mix the Australians, which include Shane Perkins, Jason Niblett, Dan Ellis and Scott Sunderland, and the men's sprint events promise to melt the ice around the Ballerup Super Arena after a particularly cold European winter.

Another notable sprinter who will be competing in Denmark but looking towards London is Australia's Anna Meares. The 26-year-old is the reigning women's team sprint world champion and will be taking on three events in Copenhagen. One of those is her 'pet' event, the 500m time trial, in which she has been world champion and won the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

"From a personal perspective I think I have a lot of ground to improve on at this worlds in comparison to the last," said Meares. "I only had three months preparation for Poland after having a break post-Beijing. I won a silver in the 500m in 33.7 seconds which I'm hoping to improve on from both fronts but that will not be easy in any case given Lithuania's Simona Krupecaite is the defending world champ and world record holder."

She added that fans could possibly see a record fall. "The track is extremely fast and the 500m is the first event so fresh legs from both parties could result in a mammoth clash between us two but also on the clock."

Of the track, Meares explained, "It has been sanded recently and so has changed dramatically in terms of grip and speed on the boards. The temperature is cranking inside the velodrome and the combination is making it seem very fast, or at least a lot faster than Copanhagen has been in the past."

Meares is also the Olympic silver medallist in the women's sprint, and she'll be up against the woman who won gold in Beijing, Victoria Pendleton, whose form is largely unknown after a long break following her heroics at the last Olympics.

"The sprint is going to be hotly contested between Victoria [Pendleton], Willy [Kanis], Guo [Shuang], Simona [Krupecaite] and myself and the fast conditions will make that all the more intriguing. I'm very much looking forward to this event. I didn't ride it at last year's worlds so alot to be gained here for me," said Meares.

As for the endurance events, the men's team pursuit promises to be an interesting three-way battle between the Anglophones, with Australia, Great and New Zealand proving to be the form sides of the past 12 months.

Looking at the British sextet for the endurance events however, one aspect stands out: Jason Queally's inclusion, likely to be the beginning of that team's experiment with using a kilo rider in the team pursuit ranks. The South Australian team at the Australian national track titles in February did it with terrific results; look for the British to step that up a notch in Copenhagen.

The 40-year-old veteran will be matched with Steven Burke, Ed Clancy, Ben Swift and Andy Tennant in the team pursuit while Chris Newtown will be back to try and wrestle the points race title off talented Australian youngster Cameron Meyer. The event may have been controversially taken out of the Olympic program but still makes for a great race at world championships level.

In usual style, Meares sums up the approach - and the chances - of many of the teams at this year's UCI Track World Championships in Copenhagen, including that of the Australians. "I think everyone is looking - and should be - to always improve. Both on their own personal results and on the overall team performance," she explained.

"What makes this hard is that everyone else in the world is attempting to do the same. Do I think we can repeat last year's performances? Yes. The British are re-strengthened in the men's sprint with Sir Chris Hoy this year, but in saying that I think that slowly but surely that gap between him and the world is closing. Across the board, I think we are in for a fair showing."

 

[Tarazet]

Race results 3/24/10

UCI Track World Championships: Session 1

Australian rider Anna Meares scorched to gold on today’s opening leg of the track world championships in Ballerup, Copenhagen, winning the women’s 500 metre time trial with a time of 33.381 seconds.

The former Olympic champion was just .085 off the world record set by Simona Krupeckaite during last year’s worlds in Pruszkow in Poland.

Her time was .081 faster than Krupeckaite today, meaning that the Lituanian had to be satisfied with the silver medal. Meares took revenge for her defeat twelve months ago, and was delighted with the result.

The bronze medal went to the Belarussian Olga Panarina, who started eleventh and remained in pole position right until the last two riders – Meares and Krupeckaite – went off. She clocked up a time 0.4 off Meares’ pace, improving considerably from her eighth place of last year.

Hammer tops women's pursuit qualifying

American Sarah Hammer emerged from several years of struggle to take one step closer to reclaiming her mantle as the fastest female pursuiter in the world.

The two-time world champion bested Great Britain's Wendy Houvenaghel by more than two seconds in the 3km event, taking a slow start but then building toward the fastest final kilometre.

Houvenaghel did just enough to get into the gold medal final, getting ahead of defending champion Alison Shanks by just under one second.

"Her ride was governed by what she had to. She had seen a very fast time from Hammer and knowing she had to be top two, so it was a case of getting out and getting close to that time which she did with 17 second laps," said Team GB's Paul Manning.

"We had decided to give her a 30 schedule and she brought it home and did a 30. She used her catch very well (Ausrine Trebaite) and rode it intelligently and goes into the final with good confidence. Wendy holds her pace very well and maybe Hammer won't, it could be nip and tuck. For her to have committed to the team event and come out and get a medal in the individual is great."

Women's 500m Time Trial - Final
1 Anna Meares (Australia) 0:00:33.381
2 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 0:00:33.462
3 Olga Panarina (Belarus) 0:00:33.779
4 Willy Kanis (Netherlands) 0:00:33.801
5 Sandie Clair (France) 0:00:33.992

Men's Team Sprint - Qualifying
1 France 0:00:43.373
Gregory Bauge (France)
Michaël D'Almeida (France)
Kévin Sireau (France)
2 Germany 0:00:43.458
Robert Förstemann (Germany)
Maximilian Levy (Germany)
Stefan Nimke (Germany)
3 Great Britain 0:00:43.802
Ross Edgar (Great Britain)
Chris Hoy (Great Britain)
Jason Kenny (Great Britain)
4 People's Republic of China 0:00:44.017
Changsong Cheng (People's Republic of China)
Lei Zhang (People's Republic of China)
Miao Zhang (People's Republic of China)
5 New Zealand 0:00:44.450
Edward Dawkins (New Zealand)
Adam Stewart (New Zealand)
Sam Webster (New Zealand)

Women's Individual Pursuit - Qualifying 1 Sarah Hammer (United States Of America) 0:03:27.826
2 Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) 0:03:30.377
3 Alison Shanks (New Zealand) 0:03:31.259
4 Vilija Sereikaite (Lithuania) 0:03:31.905
5 Ellen Van Dijk (Netherlands) 0:03:33.704

Volta a Catalunya (PT), Stage 3: La Vall d'En Bas - La Seu d'Urgell 185.9km

Xavier Tondo (Cervélo) out sprinted Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) to win the third stage of the Volta Catalunya in La Seu d'Urgell on Wednesday after the two Spaniards escaped from the peloton in the hills behind Barcelona.

The two went away 50km from the end of the 185km stage and held off a late chase from Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne), who finished third at 48 seconds. Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux) brought home the leading group of chaser at 1:20, with Ireland’s Nicolas Roche (Ag2r-La Mondiale) finishing sixth in the same time as Casar.

“It was really important for me to win today as this stage is just seven kilometres from my home,” said Tondo after the race. “When I was young I dreamed of winning at the Catalunya, I know these roads very well. For me today it’s like a dream. I feel really good with this team with riders like Iñigo Cuesta supporting my efforts. Believe me that is very important. We all work for one goal and finally when you achieve something. It feels great.”

Thanks to his better placing in the opening time trial stage, Rodríguez is the new race leader. Tondo is 10 seconds behind, with Sanchez at 48 seconds. Roche is fourth at 1:20.

A hard day in the hills

The stage included four categorised climbs and many other minor ones, making for a hard day in the saddle after an opening time trial and a flat stage for the sprinters.

The first attack of the day went clear after only 13km when 21 riders opened a gap. They got over the Alt de la Trona climb but the race came back together after a fast first hour of action. Another group of 14 riders got away after 60km and this time the peloton eased its grip and they opened a three-minute lead. However that was as much as they could get as the climbs along the route and a constant pace by RadioShack and then by Liqiuigas-Doimo and Katusha, reduced their lead.

Five riders remained out front with 55km to go but behind, Tondo and Rodríguez attacked. Oscar Pereiro (Astana) joined them and they quickly opened a gap but then Pereiro dropped back on the final part of the Alt de la Josa del Cadí climb. Tondo and Rodríguez pressed on, committed to trying to win the stage.

They had a one minute lead with 10km to go after a fast descent towards the finish. Luis Leon Sanchez set off in lone pursuit but Tondo and Rodríguez worked well together and even gained more time before sharing the spoils of the successful escape.
Thursday’s 209.7km fourth stage is back near the Mediterranean, from Oliana to Ascó, but includes the Alt de Paumeres climb on the two finishing circuits.

Stage Results
1 Xavier Tondo (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 4:43:23
2 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha
3 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:48
4 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française Des Jeux 0:01:20
5 Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin - Transitions

Overall Results after Stage 3
1 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 9:04:12
2 Xavier Tondo (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:00:10
3 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:48
4 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:20
5 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Liquigas-Doimo

Dwars door Vlaanderen (1.1), Roeselare - Waregem 204km

Danish champion Matti Breschel scored an important victory for his Saxo Bank team, riding away solo from a group of favourites including Quick Step's Tom Boonen and then holding off the chase to the line.

The 25-year-old underscored the significance of the win even though the race is a relatively minor event compared to the upcoming Spring Classics.

"To me, it's very important and for the team also. We only have a few wins this season, and the Classics have started. For me and for the team, we needed this for the morale."

Breschel was part of an elite group which brought back two escape groups after the cluster of climbs which came inside the final 40km. With teammate Fabian Cancellara and previous escapee Anders Lund to help, the Saxo Bank team had a decided advantage over Quick Step who had only Boonen and Maarten Wynants.

Their group had 25 seconds over a larger chasing peloton, and Breschel slipped away off the front on the Tiegemberg while the rest of the riders played cat and mouse, with few riders willing or able to work.

"We knew that we had to stay in front there, and we knew that it was me and Fabian - and then Fabian came to me and said he'd do this for me, just sit on my wheel. I didn't really attack, just went easy away, and I got the gap."

Once clear, Breschel faced a strong challenge from the attacking Frenchman Steve Chainel (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) who had been a frequent aggressor. He pulled away Bjorn Leukemans (Vacansoleil) and Niki Terpsra (Milram), but the trio could not close the gap to the flying Dane.

"I was dying at the end, had a little cramping, but I had Torsten [Schmidt, sports director] on the radio and he gave me the confidence to believe I could go all the way. . I tried as hard as possible, and yeah - I won!"

Breschel will be a strong ally for Cancellara, who will be the team's undisputed captain for the Classics. He has no problem being a back-up to his Swiss teammate. "There's no problem at all - we're good friends, and we communicate well. It's always good to have more than one card on hand - that's how you win races nowadays as long as you're loyal to each other."

How it unfolded

The 65th running of the Dwars door Vlaanderen set off under decidedly improved weather conditions over the last Belgian races. During the rapid first 120km, the peloton stayed mostly together, saving its energies for the bergs which would pepper the last half of the course.

The first of the climbs, the Kattenberg, came at kilometre 108 and did not force any selections, but by the Berendries with 78km to go, a group of four managed to wrestle themselves clear of the bunch.

Gregory Habeaux (Verandas Willems), Jean Zen (Palmans-Cras), Steven Van Vooren (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) and Lloyd Mondory (AG2R La Mondiale) would stay clear for 50 kilometres over some of the toughest terrain that Flanders has to offer.

Their demise began when attacks from the peloton started with RadioShack's Markel Irizar and Andy Cappelle (Verandas Willems) with 51km to go. The attack did not last, but it provided a launching pad for Bbox Bouygues Telecom's Chainel to counter .

The attack pulled away a large group while most of the favourites decided to sit out the move and wait for the cluster of climbs which came with 40km to go to make a selection.

The group ahead was too big to stay away, although they managed to pull out a minute or so over the group with Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara over the coming kilometres.

The Oude Kwaremont at 35km to go provided a major selection across the board: it split the lead group, with Van Vooren and Mondory dropping Zen and Habeaux for good, while behind both the large chase group and the peloton fractured on the cobbled berg. With two more climbs in the next two kilometres, the action began to intensify.

After the Patersberg the chase group was down to just eight riders: William Bonnet and Chainel (Bbox), Bjorn Leukemans (Vacansoleil), Niki Terpstra (Milram), Anders Lund (Saxo Bank), Geraint Thomas (Sky), Fabio Felline (Footon Servetto) and Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto).

The climbs had also split up the peloton behind, leaving a group of just 28 riders chasing the two groups ahead.

Fabian Cancellara set a brisk tempo to pull the groups together as the roads leveled out, succeeding in bringing back both the group of eight and the two leaders up the road. But the Swiss champion wasn't happy with the work that the rest of the group was contributing as he tried to keep them clear of the chasing peloton.

With 23km to go, Cancellara sat up to scold his companions for failing to work, and while he lectured them his teammate Matti Breschel slowly rode off the front in a bit of a gamble: the team was clearly saving him for the sprint, but he didn't fancy his chances against the likes of Boonen.

He quickly built up a lead of 20 seconds as the group argued over who should work. Chainel was having none of it and attacked to go after the Danish champion.

Niki Terpstra and Bjorn Leukemans also went after him, but neither would see the Dane before the finish line. The chasing peloton nearly caught the three chasers just before the line, but Breschel was still a few seconds clear and was able to celebrate his victory with a long two-armed salute.

Leukemans was able to nip in ahead of Terpstra to take second on the day, and Chainel held on to finish fourth.

Results
1 Matti Breschel (Den) Team Saxo Bank 4:49:37
2 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 0:00:07
3 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Team Milram
4 Steve Chainel (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom
5 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Sky Professional Cycling Team

Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (2.1), Stage 2: San Lazzaro di Savena - Faenza 175.1km

Jose Serpa (Androni Giocattoli) won the second stage at the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi & Bartali in Italy on Wednesday, stopping Riccardo Riccò (Ceramica Flaminia) from taking his first win since the end of his ban for doping.

The Colombian climber outsprinted Italy's Fortunato Baliani (Miche) and Riccò after they were part of a six-rider attack that formed on the tough Monte Trebbio climb. Przemyslaw Niemiec (Miche) was fourth, Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-Csf Inox) was fifth and José Rujano (Isd-Neri) finished sixth.

Italy’s Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) brought home the front group of chasers, just 12 seconds behind. Switzerland’s Oliver Zaugg (Liqiuigas-Doimo) was also there and so took the overall race lead from teammate Francesco Chicchi. His teammate Ivan Santaromita is second at the same time, with Serpa third at 8 seconds. Riccò is fourth, also at 8 seconds.

"I have to thank my teammates. They looked after me all day and then made sure I was on the front for the decisive climb. We went really hard on the climb but I still had something left to win the sprint," Serpa said on Italian television.

Clearly out to prove a point after his Ceramica Flaminia team was not invited to the Giro d’Italia, Riccò was the first to attack on the Monte Trebbio and as the peloton exploded, Pozzovivo and the other four riders managed to get across to him.

They worked well together and opened a 35-second gap. Their lead fell to just 12 seconds near the finish in Faenza, but Serpa did not panic and was strongest in the sprint, coming past Ricco in the final hundred metres. After several placings, the Colombian won his first race of the season, denying an angry Riccò the comeback win he was so desperately looking for.

However Riccò will have another chance on Thursday. The third stage takes the race into the Apennines hills near Modena for what is considered the hardest stage of the race. The 185.3km stage covers several loops around the village of Pavullo, with the climb of Valico del Barigazzo likely to split the peloton before a steep climb up to the finish.

Stage Results
1 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Androni Giocattoli 4:11:09
2 Fortunato Baliani (Ita) Miche
3 Riccardo Ricco' (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia
4 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Miche
5 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox

Overall Standings after Stage 2
1 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Liquigas-Doimo 6:26:02
2 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
3 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Androni Giocattoli 0:00:08
4 Riccardo Ricco' (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia
5 Damiano Caruso (Ita) De Rosa - Stac Plastic 0:00:09

 

[Tarazet]

Race results 3/25/10

Volta a Catalunya (PT), Stage 4: Oliana - Ascó 209.7km

Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) won the Volta Catalunya's fourth stage today, outsprinting breakaway companion Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) in Ascó.

Milram's Paul Voß, winner of stage one, took the field sprint for third place 34 seconds later ahead of Michel Kreder (Garmin-Transitions) and Marco Marzano (Lampre).

"I am very happy about this win and I think it's the perfect answer to our bad luck yesterday where Fränk [Schleck] was stopped by a crash," said Voigt. "I knew that Taaramäe wanted to get to the finish line as fast as possible to gain time in the overall standings to get on the podium so he was really digging deep to keep up the pace. On the finish line, I could easily go past him."

"It was another tough stage with rocket speed," said Team Saxo Bank directeur sportif Kim Andersen. "The first hundred kilometers were done in less than two hours and the average speed on the finish line was no less than astonishing 45 km/h. Actually, Jens was dropped early on the stage but made it back to the group and right away he said to me that he wanted to go. And so he did - with big success."

Overnight race leader Joaquin Rodriguez (Team Katusha) remains atop general classification and holds a 10-second advantage over Xavier Tondo (Cervelo Test Team). Following his successful escape, Taaramae jumped from seventh to third overall and trails Rodriguez by 46 seconds.

Alt de Paumeres proves decisive

The 38-year-old German's winning move occurred on the peloton's second ascent of the Category 2 Alt de Paumeres, with its summit coming 20.8km from the finish. Voigt bridged solo to a four-man breakaway on the slopes of the Alt de Paumeres and dropped his companions near the summit. The German crossed the summit alone and was joined on the descent by Taaramae and Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo).

With 15km remaining the leading trio held a 15-second advantage over the field, with race leader Joaquin Rodriguez's Katusha squad prominent at the head of the 60-rider strong peloton.

Voigt and Taaramae dropped Kreuziger three kilometres later and managed to increase their lead to 20 seconds over their pursuers.

Kreuziger was swept up by the field with 10 kilometres to go, but the peloton continued to lose ground to the leading duo as Taaramae forced the pace, trying to eke out every second he could on his general classification rivals.

At the finish in Ascó the cagey Voigt dispatched Taaramae in the sprint for the German's first victory of the season.

Stage Results
1 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 4:43:28
2 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne
3 Paul Voss (Ger) Team Milram 0:00:34
4 Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin - Transitions
5 David Loosli (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini

Overall Standings after Stage 4:
1 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 13:48:14
2 Xavier Tondo (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:00:10
3 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne 0:00:46
4 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:48
5 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:20

UCI Track World Championships, Session 2

Many saw this year’s individual pursuit to be a likely battle between Taylor Phinney and Jack Bobridge, the first dominating last year’s championships and the second recording a blistering 4.14.27 in February, but Jesse Sergent tore that script up when he was quickest in today’s qualification round.

Sergent (New Zealand) set the fastest time of 4.15.988, beating his Trek-Livestrong team-mate Phinney (USA) by 0.114 in the last of the heats. The American was almost a second off his personal best and US record set at last years worlds.

Bobridge (Australia) was quickest of all the riders at 2000 and 3000 metres, but his pace tailed off slightly at the finish. He was the provisional leader but dropped to third after Sergent and Phinney scrapped it out.

His 4.17.169 beat the 4.18.356 of Alexander Serov (Russia), setting them up for a fight-off for bronze this evening.

Fifth and sixth went to Dennis Rohan (Australia) and Vitaliy Schedov (Ukraine).

Past champions through to next round of men’s keirin

Three former winners of the world championship keirin successfully progressed to this evening’s second round of the contest, with defending champion Maximillian Levy, 2007/2008 victor Chris Hoy and the 2005 victor Teun Mulder all qualifying this afternoon.

Britain’s Matt Crampton and Levy (Germany) were the two quickest in the first heat, while Francois Pervis (France) and the Kiki Sam Webster progressed in the second. Malaysian rider Azizulhasni Awang led Mulder (Netherlands) over the line in heat three.

However Awang’s compatriot Josiah Ng Onn Lam was involved in controversy in the final of the four heats, cutting across Hoy at the start and sending the Briton crashing to the ground. Following a short delay for the commissaires to check video footage, he was disqualified.

Hoy showed there was no lingering effects from his spill when he raced to victory in the restarted heat four. He was a long way back with two laps to go but thundered to the front in the finishing straight, showing that he means business.

Those who did not qualify will have a second chance this evening when the repechages are held.

Men's Individual Pursuit - Qualifying
1 Jesse Sergent (New Zealand) 0:04:15.988
2 Taylor Phinney (United States Of America) 0:04:16.102
3 Jack Bobridge (Australia) 0:04:17.169
4 Alexander Serov (Russian Federation) 0:04:18.356
5 Rohan Dennis (Australia) 0:04:19.292

Men's Keirin - Round 1

Heat 1
1 Matthew Crampton (Great Britain) *
2 Maximilian Levy (Germany) *
3 Jason Niblett (Australia)
4 Francesco Ceci (Italy)
5 Charlie Conord (France)
6 Zafeirios Volikakis (Greece)

Heat 2
1 François Pervis (France) *
2 Sam Webster (New Zealand) *
3 Denis Spicka (Czech Republic)
4 Kota Asai (Japan)
5 Carsten Bergemann (Germany)
6 Michael Thomson (South Africa)
7 Kasper Lindholm Jessen (Denmark)

Heat 3
1 Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) *
2 Teun Mulder (Netherlands) *
3 Christos Volikakis (Greece)
4 Michael Seidenbecher (Germany)
5 Simon Van Velthooven (New Zealand)
6 Adam Ptacnik (Czech Republic)
7 Kazunari Watanabe (Japan)

Heat 4
1 Chris Hoy (Great Britain) *
2 Shane Perkins (Australia) *
3 Roy Van Den Berg (Netherlands)
4 Andrii Vynokurov (Ukraine)
5 Travis Smith (Canada)
6 Saifei Bao (People's Republic of China)
DSQ Josiah Ng Onn Lam (Malaysia)

Women's Team Pursuit - Qualifying

1 Australia 0:03:23.161
Ashlee Ankudinoff
Sarah Kent
Josephine Tomic
2 Great Britain 0:03:23.369
Elizabeth Armitstead
Wendy Houvenaghel
Joanna Rowsell
3 New Zealand 0:03:24.405
Rushlee Buchanan
Lauren Ellis
Alison Shanks
4 United States 0:03:24.661
Dotsie Bausch
Sarah Hammer
Lauren Tamayo
5 Netherlands 0:03:25.156
Vera Koedooder
Amy Pieters
Ellen Van Dijk

Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (2.1), Stage 3: Pavullo 185.3km

Przemyslaw Niemiec (Miche) outsprinted his breakaway companion Ivan Santaromita (Liquigas-Doimo) to win stage three. Riccardo Riccò (Ceramica Flaminia) led home a three-man chase group for third place.

Santaromita's second place was enough to give him the overall lead by 58 seconds ahead of Riccò and Niemiec.

After the stage's start, six racers quickly launched themselves into a breakaway including Dmytro Grabovskyy (ISD - Neri), Simon Clarke (ISD - Neri), Cristiano Salerno (De Rosa - Stac Plastic), Rubens Bertogliati (Androni Giocattoli), Kristjan Fajt (Adria Mobil) and Giuseppe Muraglia (CDC - Cavaliere). During their time off the front, they got over a three-minute advantage, but staying away was not to be the day's outcome.

Of the leaders, only Clarke and Muraglia were able to stay away. Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago - CSF Inox) and and Bertogliati chased them as the rest of the initial break members were absorbed by the group.

Before long, Clarke was left alone at the front. Wall fell back into no man's land as Riccò, Giovanni Visconti (ISD - Neri) and Emanuele Sella (Carmiooro NGC) chased him.

The peloton came back together and then Niemiec (Miche) took a mountain contest ahead of Fortunato Baliani (Miche) and Ruslan Pydgornyy (ISD - Neri)

Luca Ascani (CDC - Cavaliere) then led a break effort and was joined by six other men. The group continued to grow and included riders like Visconti; however, there seemed to be little cohesiveness among the riders.

With 20km to go, 30 men found themselves together at the front and in control of the race. A further selection was made, leaving 11 riders at the front: Santaromita, Visconti, Clarke, Pydgornyy, Chiarini, Alessandro Bisolti (Colnago - CSF Inox), Ruggero Marzoli (Acqua & Sapone), Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Carmiooro NGC), Jackson Rodriguez (Androni Giocattoli), Niemiec and Davide D'Angelo (CDC - Cavaliere). Clarke, who's spent plenty of time at the front today, fell into difficulty.

When the group hit another climb, Santaromita and Niemiec found themselves at he front, chased by Chiarini, Pardilla and Rodriguez. Serpa Perez, Bisolti and Visconti followed.

Santaromita and Niemiec earned themselves a lead of 20 seconds with 10km to go. Pozzovivo and Serpa Perez formed the first chase group and Riccò, Visconti and Pydgornyy also chased, a bit further back at 35 seconds.

Riccò and Visconti seemed to recover, moving up to the role of lead chasers along with Pozzovivo and Serpa Perez. The leaders' gap fell to 18 seconds on a descent with six kilometres to go.

Yet with 2km to go, Santaromita and Niemiec were more comfortably still off the front, then with a 40-second advantage. The two entered the final straight together, knowing they couldn't be caught before the line and that one of them would win the stage.

Niemiec outsprinted Santaromita to win stage three.[/quote]

Stage Results
1 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Miche 4:47:44
2 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
3 Riccardo Ricco' (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia 0:00:48
4 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox 0:00:49
5 Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Spa) Carmiooro NGC 0:00:55

Overall Standings after Stage 3
1 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 11:13:40
2 Riccardo Ricco' (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia 0:00:58
3 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Miche 0:01:12
4 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Androni Giocattoli 0:01:27
5 Riccardo Chiarini (Ita) De Rosa - Stac Plastic 0:01:46

 

[Tarazet]

UCI World Track Championships: Session 4

It’s landed just one gold medal thus far, but the Great Britain is very much in the hunt for another this evening after it went quickest in the qualifying round of the team pursuit.

The quartet of Stephen Burke, Ed Clancy, Ben Swift and Andrew Tennant scorched around the track in a time of 3 minutes 56.869 seconds. This was over a second faster than second-placed Australia, who Team GB will meet in this evening’s gold medal final.

New Zealand and Denmark were third and fourth, clocking times of 3.58.616 and 4.02.259. The latter started last and was initially on the fastest pace, beating Britain. However the riders cracked and slipped behind, perhaps getting carried away with a very vocal home support.

These two teams will square up in the bronze medal fight this evening, while the Ukraine and Netherlands complete the top six.

1 Great Britain 0:03:56.869
2 Australia 0:03:58.185
3 New Zealand 0:03:58.616
4 Denmark 0:04:02.259
5 Ukraine 0:04:04.776

Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (2.1), Stage 4: Rovigo - Finale Emilia 183.8km

Stage Results
1. Marko Kump (Adria Mobil)

Overall Standings after Stage 4
1. Ivan Santaromita (Liquigas-Doimo)

Redlands Bicycle Classic (NE), Prologue: Redlands TT 3.1km

Stage Results
1 Benjamin Day (Fly V Australia) 0:09:16.1
2 Carter Jones (Jelly Belly P/B Kenda) 0:00:02.9
3 Kiel Reijnen (Jelly Belly P/B Kenda) 0:00:04.7
4 Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare pb Maxxis) 0:00:05.9
5 Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling) 0:00:13.5

 

[speedpop]

Damn you Brits!

 

[Tarazet]

Volta a Catalunya (PT), Stage 5: Ascó - Cabacés 181.2km

Davide Malacarne (Quick Step) won the fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya after being away virtually the whole race. First as part of a four-man group, he escaped again with 20 km to go and soloed his way to victory.

The peloton caught the other three shortly before the finish line, and Andreas Klöden (RadioShack) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne) took second and third. Joaquin Rodriguez of Katusha easily defended his overall lead.

Five ranked mountains were on the agenda, as the riders set out on a beautiful warm day. Four riders took advantage of the good weather to take off early. Davide Malacarne (Quick Step) and Javier Ramirez (Andalucia-CajaSur) took off only two km into the stage, and they were soon joined by Andres Sergio de Lis (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Gustavo Cesar Veloso (Xacobeo-Galicia).

The four quickly built up a significant lead, hitting a high of 10 minutes by km 97. The peloton was content to let them go, as Malacarne, the highest ranked of the bunch, was 29:02 behind overall leader Joaquim Rodriguez.

The lead started dropping after the quartet hit the top of the day's second climb, the Al de Porrera, and Katusha moved to head the chase in protection of Rodriguez' lead. Liquigas helped with the chase work, and the increased speed was enough to whittle the peloton down to some 50 riders.

Malacarne attacked out of the lead group with a little more than 20 km to go. He pulled away as the peloton came closer and closer to the other three, finally catching them.

The Quick Step Italian stayed away until the end. Sanchez and Klöden came out of the pack near the end. Klöden finished 36 seconds behind Malacarne, with Sanchez leading the decimated pack across the finish line one second later.

Full Results
1 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Quick Step 4:50:03
2 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Radioshack 0:00:36
3 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:37
4 Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin - Transitions
5 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne

Overall Results after Stage 5:
1 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 18:38:57
2 Xavier Tondo (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:00:10
3 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne 0:00:43
4 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:45
5 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:20

 

[Tarazet]

Weekend wrapup 3/28/10

Gent-Wevelgem (PT): Deinze - Wevelgem 219km

Bernhard Eisel (HTC-Columbia) has often sacrificed his chances to help his teammates but the friendly Austrian finally got his day of glory at Gent-Wevelgem, winning the six-rider sprint that decided the Belgian classic.

Eisel let George Hincapie (BMC) lead out the sprint and then hit the front hard with two hundred metres to go. It was still a little early but Eisel is an excellent sprinter and had the speed to beat Sep Vanmarke (Topsport-Vlaanderen) and Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto). Hincapie held on to take fourth.

"It was such a tough race," Eisel said to Sporza right after crossing the line. "I was sure it was going to be really hard in the end. Breschel punctured out of the lead and then we lost Oscar Freire when we put him in the wind. Then I knew I had a chance to win and I had to take it."

"In the sprint I waited and put Oss in front of me because I figured he was the fastest in the group. I stayed on his wheel and looking between my thighs I saw George coming. I was really going well and past him straight away. Then I thought: that's going to be a long way Bernie… This is the biggest win of my career. Actually I never liked this race. It was never my favorite. I've always been struggling. It's only the second time I finish this race in nine participations. It probably suits me and now I'll love it."

Crosswinds and dark clouds

Crosswinds and dark clouds were looming when the peloton left Deinze. Fabian Cancellara, winner of the E3-prijs Harelbeke 24 hours earlier was a late starter; the Swiss champion was still on the podium when the peloton rolled off. Luckily for Spartacus, the UCI forced the organizers to neutralize the first ten kilometres in order to make sure the race wasn't longer than the allowed 210 kilometers.

Several riders tried hard to get into the early breakaway and after 18 kilometers four riders managed to sneak away: Geert Steurs, Angel Madrazo, Tom Van den Hautte and Matthé Pronk. Despite the crosswinds the peloton didn't fancy to make it a daylong battle and no echelons formed near the coast and during the first hour the four leaders averaged just over 40 km/h.

The breakaway group - minus Tom Van den Hautte who got dropped - gained a lead of almost four minutes and when entering France, with 100 kilometers to go and the lead was down to 2'15". The narrow roads caused a lot of crashes and big guns like Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara didn't push hard to make it back to the front when being caught behind a crash; they wouldn't win Gent-Wevelgem.

HTC-Columbia's Lars Ytting Bak bravely launched a solo counter-attack when entering France. After tackling the Catsberg, the Berthen climb and the Mont Noir, the Danish rider joined the leading trio when turning back into Belgium; the four leaders had 1:46 on the peloton with 86 kilometers to go. Roy Curvers and Johnny Hoogerland were the next riders to sneak away. During the first ascent of the famous Kemmelberg the four leaders had a minute on the two chasers and almost two minutes on the peloton that was led by Luca Paolini.

Liquigas attack en masse

The Liquigas team put the pedal to the floor after the Kemmelberg and echelons formed in the crosswinds. About twenty riders joined the five Liquigas riders up front and big guns like Philippe Gilbert and Oscar Freire were caught napping. However the two chasers, and little later the four leaders, were caught back by the time the race reached the Scherpenberg.

The Liquigas riders in front were Manuel Quinziato, Tiziano Dall'Antonia, Aleksandr Kuschynski, Daniel Oss and Daniele Bennati. The other riders in the lead group were the former leaders Curvers, Hoogerland, and then Paolini, Matti Breschel, Tyler Farrar, Matthew Goss, Bernhard Eisel, Daniele Bennati, George Hincapie, Martijn Maaskant, Johan Vansummeren, Geert Steurs, Baden Cooke, Bobbie Traksel, Joost Van Leijen and Sepp Vanmarcke. A total of nineteen riders.

The gap between the leader's group and the chasing group of almost thirty riders remained about half a minute for a long time. When reaching the Mont des Cats the Liquigas riders sat back as many riders weren't co-operating in the breakaway. On the climb Enrico Gasparotto, then Gilbert and a bit later also Freire bridged back up to the leaders. Five kilometres further the rest of the second group connected with the Liquigas group. Maxim Iglinsky attacked on the Mont Noir and the Kazakh rider quickly received company from Liquigas' Oss. One by one more riders bridged up with these two leaders: first Breschel, then Freire and Hincapie, after the Baneberg also Sepp Vanmarcke, Jurgen Roelandts, Philippe Gilbert, Bernard Eisel and Kuschynski; forming an ten-man leader's group that had half a minute on the first chasers.

Matti Breschel clearly was the strongest man in the lead group when tackling the Kemmelberg for the second time. The Danish champion distanced the rest on the cobbles but he realized that the 35 kilometers to the finish in Wevelgem were a bit too much to cover on his own thus he waited for the others. Behind the ten leaders Farrar, Paolini, Christian Knees and Baden Cooke set-up a counter-attack and chased hard. Twenty-five kilometres from the finish line the ten leaders had just under half a minute on the four chasers.

Tricks and flicks

The race changed again with sixteen kilometers to go when Breschel's chances were ruined with a puncture. The neutral service had problems changing his rear wheel and by the time the Danish champion was back on his bike he was with the four chasers.

On the wide road towards Wevelgem, some of the riders were worried about Oscar Freire. Kuschinski flicked Freire out of the back of the group as he tried to force the triple world champion to join the work or drop back. Little later Iglinsky flicked himself out of the group when he tried to skip a turn.

The result was that there were only six riders left in front with ten kilometers to go: Gilbert, Roelandts, Oss, Hincapie, Eisel and Vanmarcke. Iglinksy was riding in no-man's land, followed by Breschel with Freire, Kuschinski, Cooke, Knees, Paolini and Farrar at almost a minute.

Vanmarcke opted not to take any more turns and then with three kilometres to go he jumped away. Roelandts reacted first and was marked by Eisel and the rest of the group. Roelandts led the group until half a kilometre to go, followed by Oss, Eisel, Gilbert, Hincapie and Vanmarcke.

Hincapie started the sprint from 400m to go but it was far too early and he faded before the real sprint had even began. Eisel took over on the front and had the power to go all the way. The Austrian took the biggest win of his career with two bike-lengths over Vanmarcke and Gilbert.

Results
1 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Team HTC - Columbia 5:17:12
2 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
3 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
4 George Hincapie (USA) BMC Racing Team
5 Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:00:02

E3 Prijs Vlaanderen Harelbeke (1.HC), Harelbeke 203km

Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) showed his classics rivals that he is at his very best just in time for the cobbled classics by snatching victory in the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke with his trademark late attack.

Cancellara got away with Tom Boonen (Quick Step) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) on the Paterberg climb, 42km from the finish. Boonen appeared to be the favourite to win the sprint but Cancellara attacked just before a tight left turn, with just over a kilometre to go. Flecha lost Cancellara’s wheel and eased up. Boonen gave it everything he had but was unable to close the gap.

Cancellara surged clear and had time to straighten his Swiss national champion’s jersey before celebrating his win. Boonen beat Flecha to take second place but was not happy with second place.

A fast start to the day

During the first hour of the race the peloton didn't allow any breakaways. The brisk 48 km/h average speed during the first hour was too high for Thor Hushovd, who pulled out after only 14 kilometres.

A large group of 24 riders eventually got away after more than 60 kilometres. Most teams had a man up front but still the peloton stayed in touch, allowing the group no more than two minutes before hitting the hills near Oudenaarde. Surprisingly the Basque adventurers from Euskaltel-Euskadi were setting the pace in the peloton for a while.

As a result of the continuous high speeds several crashes occurred as everybody tried to stay near the front on the hellingen. Nick Nuyens (Rabobank) and Andreas Klier (Cervélo TestTeam) were included in a serious crash, with the latter being forced to pull out.

After the first few climbs of La Houppe, Berg Stene and Boigneberg the Saxo Bank team took over control of the peloton and the gap on the leader's group dropped back to one minute. Sébastien Rosseler (RadioShack) increased the pace in the break on the Eikenberg and after the cobbled climb only six riders were left in front of the race: Rosseler, Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank), Kasper Klostergaard (Saxo Bank), Maxime Vantomme (Katusha), Stefan Van Dijk (Verandas Willems) and Steve Houanard (Skil-Shimano).

Stuart O'Grady (Saxo Bank) led the peloton over the Eikenberg, working hard for his leader Fabian Cancellara. Rosseler created another selection when hammering over the cobbles of the Stationsberg, dropping Houanard and Van Dijk. The peloton was still in touch with the leaders, trailing by one minute.

Boonen pushes the pace

When approaching the Taaienberg - Boonen's berg - the Belgian champion was well-positioned near the front when two Rabobank riders went down in the top-10 of the peloton in a left-hand corner; once more Nuyens hit the deck forcing the Belgian to abandon. Tom Boonen blasted up the Taaienberg with Greg Van Avermaet (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) in pursuit but failing to stay on Boonen's wheel.

Near the top of the climb Boonen caught up with teammate Kevin Hulsmans and other riders who were gapped by the leaders. Team Sky brought the peloton back to Boonen, but the Belgian's efforts reduced the numbers in the peloton down to approximately 40 riders.

Though many riders managed to return to the Boonen group they probably realized winning would be very difficult on Saturday. Quick Step made the whole peloton suffer when approaching the steep Paterberg with Stijn Devolder and Sylvain Chavanel setting the pace. At 30 seconds from the four leaders, Boonen was delivered in pole position at the foot of the Paterberg, with teammate Maarten Wynants on his wheel.

Winning break goes clear

The Belgian champion powered up the climb in the gutter and Wynants forced the others to go over the cobbles if they wanted to join Boonen. Only Flecha (Sky) and Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) bridged up to Boonen and after joining Rosseler (RadioShack), Klostergaard (Saxo Bank), Vantomme (Katusha) and Tjallingii (Rabobank) there were seven leaders.

Klostergaard gave all he had left at the foot of the Oude Kwaremont for teammate Cancellara but just like the other former leaders he quickly got dropped on the famous climb.

Italian champion Filippo Pozzato clearly was the best of the rest launching a late counter-attack on the 2200m long cobbled climb. When arriving on the national road after the Kwaremont Cancellara, Boonen and Flecha had a small gap over Rosseler and Pozzato. The two were within touching distance but when Cancellara upped the tempo at the front the two chasers were unable to respond and soon found themselves 15 seconds back.

On the penultimate climb, the Knokteberg, Pozzato left Rosseler behind but joining the leaders was a bridge too far for the Italian champion. With still 25 kilometres to go Pozzato quickly lost time on the three leaders, trailing by more than half a minute.

The other five chasers were chasing at more than a minute from the leaders, three Rabobank riders and two Vacansoleil boys: Paul Martens, Lars Boom, Sebastian Langeveld for Rabobank and Marco Marcato and Bjorn Leukemans for Vacansoleil. The five chasers picked up Pozzato and with less than 20 kilometres to go the gap between the three leaders and the six chasers was 40 seconds; the remains of the peloton followed at two minutes.

Fighting against the wind, the three leaders headed back to Harelbeke and with 10 kilometres to go the six chasers hadn't taken anything back. With six kilometres to go the leaders lost time, showing that some were saving some energy for the finale; half a minute was left between the two groups.

Cancellara was the first to attack just before the last kilometre and the Swiss time trialing machine blew the opposition apart. Flecha tried to respond but failed to get on Cancellara's wheel. Boonen took over but he failed, too.

Cancellara soloed to the finish line, earning his first win at the E3-prijs Harelbeke. Boonen beat Flecha for second place while Pozzato won the sprint for fourth.

Results
1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank 4:44:34
2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step 0:00:03
3 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Sky Professional Cycling Team
4 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Team Katusha 0:00:50
5 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank

Criterium International (PT, 2 days, 3 stages)

Stage 1: Porto-Vecchio - Col de l'Ospedale 176km
1 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom 5:19:45
2 Tiago Machado (Por) Team RadioShack 0:00:11
3 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:15
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
5 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne

Stage 2: Porto-Vecchio 75km
1 Russel Downing (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team 1:42:20
2 Michael Albasini (Swi) Team HTC-Columbia
3 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
4 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne
5 Florian Vachon (Fra) Bretagne-Schuller

Stage 3: Porto-Vecchio ITT 7.7km
1 David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Transitions 0:09:50
2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 0:00:02
3 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC-Columbia 0:00:03
4 Liéuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 0:00:09
5 Benat Intxausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:11

Final Results
1 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom 7:11:59
2 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC-Columbia 0:00:14
3 Tiago Machado (Por) Team RadioShack 0:00:15
4 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:19
5 David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Transitions
...
47 Lance Armstrong (USA) Team RadioShack 0:05:05

Pierrick Fédrigo (BBox Bouygues Telecom) won the Criterium International two-day race in Corsica, France on Sunday thanks to successfully defending his slim overall lead in the final 7.7km time trial stage.

Britain's David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) was fastest on the technical course around Porto Vecchio in the southern tip of Corsica. Millar set a time of 9:49, beating Alberto Contador (Astana) by two seconds. Australia's Michael Rogers (HTC-Columbia) was third at three seconds.

"It felt really good. I really enjoyed it," Millar said. "I spoke to Christian Vande Velde, he’s been coaching me over the last few days. I tend to overanalyze my stuff. He told me: just ride with controlled panic, so that’s what I did. It’s why I rode like a bat out of hell, and didn’t think about it. I just ran hard. Thanks to my size and my aerodynamics, it’s hard for people to go faster than me, when it’s going fast downhill with a tailwind and I used that to my advantage."

Fédrigo set a time of 10:07 and so held onto most of the 17-second lead he had accumulated during the first two stages. Rogers' third place in the time trial allowed him to snatch second place overall at 14 seconds, with Tiago Machado (RadioShack) slipping to third at 15 seconds. Millar's strong ride lifted him to fifth overall, at 19 seconds. World champion Cadel Evans (BMC) was eighth in a time of 10;01 and finished sixth overall, at 22 seconds.

Armstrong 15th in time trial

Lance Armstrong set a time of 10:08 and finished 15th in the time trial, one place and one second behind Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana). Armstrong was not satisfied with his ride but noted he had improved since the Vuelta Murcia. After losing five minutes on the hilly stage, Armstrong finished 47th overall at 5:05.

“It was not a consistent time trial with lots of turns, and ups and downs and roundabouts but it was much better than in Murcia, much steadier. Yesterday was very hard you don’t usually have such a long hard climb at this time of the year. It would probably have been better to have a longer race than just two days but I always wanted to come to Corsica. It’s just great. Next to Texas there is nothing better than the Mediterranean,” Armstrong said. lol wtf?)

His teammate Chris Horner was best American. He was 11th in a time of 10:04 and finished eighth overall at 25 seconds.

Volta a Catalunya (PT): Stage 7 Circuit de Catalunya 117.8km

Spain's smallest rider, Joaquin Rodríguez (Katusha) stood tall on Sunday after sealing overall victory at the Volta a Catalunya stage race.

The little climber is best remembered for winning on the steep finishes at Tirreno-Adriatico but showed his wider ability as a rider by winning the seven-stage Volta ahead of fellow Spaniard Xavier Tondo (Cervelo TestTeam)

The two went on the attack together during stage three. Tondo won the stage but Rodríguez took the lead and never let it go, going on to beat Tondo by ten seconds. Estonia's Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) was third overall at 43 seconds, with Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne) a close fourth at 45 seconds.

The final stage ended on the Montmelo motor racing circuit near Barcelona, with Argentina's Juan Jose Haedo giving Saxo Bank yet another victory, less than 24 hours after Fabian Cancellara's win at the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen – Harelbeke.

The former US-based rider beat Robert Forster (Milram) and Ireland's Nicolas Roche (Ag2r-La Mondiale). His brother Lucas gave Juan Jose a lead out and also managed to finish fifth in the sprint.

Stage Results
1 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank 2:32:21
2 Robert Forster (Ger) Team Milram
3 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
4 Davide Vigano (Ita) Sky Professional Cycling Team
5 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank

Final Standings
1 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 25:16:03
2 Xavier Tondo (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:00:10
3 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne 0:00:43
4 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:45
5 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:20
...
38 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:04:36

UCI Track World Championships, Session 9

Men's Sprint Final - Gold Medal Race 1
1 Gregory Bauge (France) 0:00:10.406
2 Shane Perkins (Australia)

Men's Sprint Final - Gold Medal Race 2
1 Gregory Bauge (France) 0:00:10.361
2 Shane Perkins (Australia)

Men's Omnium - Final Standings
1 Edward Clancy (GBr) 24 pts
2 Leigh Howard (Aus) 32
3 Taylor Phinney (USA) 33
4 Robert Bartko (Ger) 36
5 Tim Veldt (Ned) 37

Women's Keirin Final - 1st-6th
1 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania)
2 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain)
3 Olga Panarina (Belarus)
4 Kaarle Mcculloch (Australia)
5 Miriam Welte (Germany)
6 Clara Sanchez (France)

Women's 25km Points Race Final
1 Tara Whitten (Can) 36 pts
2 Lauren Ellis (NZl) 33
3 Tatsiana Sharakova (Blr) 33
4 Elena Tchalykh (Aze) 26
5 Paola Munoz (Chi) 22

 

[Tarazet]

What's up with all these Frenchies winning? Did they buy a bunch of Italians?

Three Days of De Panne-Koksijde (2.HC), Stage 1: Middelkerke - Oudenaarde 198km

France's Steve Chainel (BBOX Bouygues Telecom) was the surprise winner of the opening stage of the Three Days of De Panne on Tuesday, beating several bigger names in a seven-rider sprint in Oudenaarde.

Chainel timed his sprint perfectly and won by more than a bike length ahead of Italians Luca Paolini (Acqua & Sapone) and Enrico Gasparotto (Astana), finally nabbing his first major professional victory and bettering his fourth place in last week's Dwas door Vlaanderen.

“It's a real surprise to win. There were some fast sprinters up there like Paolini and Gasparotto but I've got a good jump and today it worked," said Chainel.

“It's a dream to win in Belgium because I love riding cyclo-cross here. I hope things carry on like this 'til Sunday because I hope to do well in the Tour of Flanders too. I'm not a time trial specialist but I treated this stage more like a one-day classic. I'll try and defend the lead.”

Chainel made the decisive move that formed on the final Korte Keer climb, nine kilometres from the finish. David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) was also in the move and worked hard so the move gained as much time as possible. Millar is aiming for the overall victory on the final 14.5km time trial on Thursday, and so also led in the final kilometre.

Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) hit out early in the sprint but then Chainel blew past him and nobody was able to get a near him.

Millar finished seventh on the stage. With the first chase group finishing 45 seconds behind and with the bunch at over two minutes, Millar has set up a great chance for overall victory.

12 climbs and twisting, narrow lanes

The 169 riders on the KBC-Driedaagse De Panne - Koksijde start list rolled out of Middlekerke under dark skies and rain but the weather brightened up as the race progressed and headed to the Belgian coast.

With 12 climbs and lots of twisting, narrow lanes on the way, the first stage was a mini Tour of Flanders and the riders rode aggressively as they fought to get in the break they knew could perhaps stay away and so shape the final overall standings of the three-day race.

Several early breaks went off the front of the bunch but they were never allowed to get away and the first serious move only formed after 100km. 10 riders were in it and quickly got a two-minute gap but Liquigas, Quick Step and Acqua & Sapone dragged the peloton after them.

The 10 became seven over the Berendries, 40km from the finish and then Liquigas sprinter Daniel Bennati led the chasers up the steep cobbled Valkenberg, taking a select few other riders. 13 riders formed at the front. Adam Hansen (HTC-Columbia) was there but lost contact after touching a wheel and crashing.

The Kruisberg, 16km from the finish and then Korte Keer split the front group into two as the strongest climbers emerged. Frederic Amorison (Landbouwkrediet) had opened a small gap before it and so stayed up there with Millar, Paolini, Westra, Gasparotto, Chainel and Daniele Oss (Liquigas) getting across to him over the top. The others tried to chase and get back on with the help of some motorbike slipstreams but the seven worked together to make sure they would fight out for the stage win.

Paolini and Gasparotto must have thought they were going to win but then Chainel burst through to surprise them. Chainel won two stages of the Tour de la Manche and the Circuit de Lorraine in 2008 but his win in De Panne, confirmed he is more than just a cyclo-cross rider.

Thanks to time bonuses, he leads Paolini by four seconds, with Gasparotto third overall, at six seconds. Chainel will wear the race leader’s jersey during Wednesday’s 214km second stage from Zottegem to Sint Idesbald.

Stage Results
1 Steve Chainel (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom 4:34:28
2 Luca Paolini (Ita) Acqua e Sapone
3 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Astana
4 Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas - Doimo
5 Frédéric Amorison (Bel) Landbouwkrediet
...
7 David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Transitions 0:00:03

 

[Tarazet]

I'm sorry to say that I'm mostly lost interest in keeping this up for a mere handful of people, but...

Enough said.

 

[perryfarrell]

Yep amazing performance. How he rode away from Boonen on the cobbles of 'De Muur,' simply amazing. Boonen was standing, mashing. Cancillara stayed seated & accelerated seemingly effortlessly. Very dominating performance.

 

[Tarazet]

Yep amazing performance. How he rode away from Boonen on the cobbles of 'De Muur,' simply amazing. Boonen was standing, mashing. Cancillara stayed seated & accelerated seemingly effortlessly. Very dominating performance.

What do you think, are we going to be treated to a Flanders-Roubaix double? I don't see anybody stopping Cancellara when he's on form.

 

[subrock]

just picked this up on the weekend. rides fantastic.
(this is right after I picked it up so the fit was wonky and I have since ditched the stupid tri bars and bottle cage.)

 

[Tarazet]

Looks like we might have another Operacion Puerto on our hands..

Ballan and Santambrogio pulled from racing

The BMC Racing Team has announced on Friday morning that Alessandro Ballan and Mauro Santambrogio will not be racing pending the outcome of the Mantova police investigation, an anti-doping investigation currently being held in Italy.

The team management, represented by team president Jim Ochowicz, announced in a press release that the squad decided to put both Ballan and Santambrogio on inactive status until the matter is resolved.

"It has come to our attention that two of our riders, Alessandro Ballan and Mauro Santambrogio, are the subject of an investigation by Italian authorities stemming from incidents that took place more than two years ago - when they were members of the Lampre team and not affiliated with the BMC Racing Team," the team said.

"The BMC Racing Team and its members were not aware of this investigation until a few days ago and we hope to obtain more information about the proceedings. However, we have already made the decision to withhold the two from competition, in accordance with the BMC Racing Team's own policy and the UCI's Code of Conduct (Section IX, Item 2). This should not be seen as pre-determination of guilt in connection with the Italian investigation. Both will have to personally address the accusations."

The decision means that former world champion Ballan, who was planned to race Paris-Roubaix this Sunday, will miss out on the event. A replacement rider has not yet been announced.

Cyclingnews caught up with Ballan immediately after the news broke, and found out the rider hadn't been notified yet by the team. "I don’t really want to say anything," Ballan said on the phone. "I haven't heard anything from the team since last night. I'll just respect the decision of the team because they pay my wages."

In the Mantova investigation, the Italian Tour of Flanders winner is believed to have ties to Guido Nigrelli, the pharmacist at the centre of the investigation. Nigrelli has admitted this, but consistently denies having provided anyone with performance-enhancing substances, saying all he did was "threshold tests, advice on nutrition and recovery, homeopathic stuff."

On Friday, BMC president Ochowicz also gave a statement to the Gazzetta dello Sport, saying that the team management continued its internal examination of Ballan's past, and added, "We didn't know who his coach was."

 

[subrock]

yikes. the question is always in my head, how many people in these races are cheating? my guess is a lot.

 

[subrock]

and I appreciate the maintenance of this thread tarazet, I'll get more into it when the giro and the TDF come around.

 

[Tarazet]

Sunday wrapup or holy shit, Cancellara is fucking bonkers and woooow Chris Horner!

Paris-Roubaix

Fabian Cancellara stamped his absolute authority on the 2010 Classics season as he claimed his second Paris-Roubaix title in France on Sunday afternoon. In a sublime display, the Swiss champion simply rode his rivals off his wheel near the Mons-en-Pévèle sector, with still more than 50 kilometres-to-go. A little over an hour later he rode solo into the velodrome at Roubaix.

The peloton had held a minutes silence at the start of the race in Compiegne to honour the memory of two-time winner Franco Ballerini. After securing his first Tour of Flanders/Paris-Roubaix double, Cancellara paid his own homage to the man with whome he will now forever share the honour of multiple Roubaix titles.

"I wanted the double, I wanted to do something that left a mark in the history of cycling," said Cancellara after his win. "Many great riders have won this race and it’s an honour for me to now have won it twice like the late Franco Ballerini did. That's just one of the reasons why I wanted to do the double."

For the second week in a row, Cancellara was in a class of his own. The E3 Prijs-Harelbeke and Tour of Flanders Champion's race-winning surge gave way to a more than hour-long time trial, which, at points, saw him put three minutes into a select group of the best Classics riders on the planet.

"I hadn't planned to attack in that moment," said Cancellara, echoing his comments after Flanders a week prior. "But that's racing, it's important to seize the right moment and I got it exactly right. When I went, the gap was there and it was increasing, so I went full gas but with a little left just in case because there was a long way to go. But I made it."

Of those left in his wake, Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) and Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) proved the strongest as they rode clear of a six-man chase group on the Carrefour de l’Arbre sector of pavé to secure second and third.

Behind them, the chase group also fractured under the strain of almost 250 kilometres of racing. Hushovd's teammate Roger Hammond finished fourth, on the same time as pre-race favourite and defending Champion, Tom Boonen (Quick Step). Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil) and Filippo Pozzato (Katusha) were the last to finish of the former six-man group.

There was a distinct sense of déjà vu as Cancellara stormed across the final 11 sectors alone. Despite a few bobbles on the uneven surface and one or two excursions onto the grass verges, his smooth style was reminiscent of a week earlier when he rode away from Boonen at the Tour of Flanders. However, he upped the ante this week to humble the men considered contenders in the lead-up to the weekend.

Overcome by emotion after crossing the finish line, the dust on Cancellara's face was broken by streams of tears as he embraced his wife and team management on the infield of the velodrome, which just moments before had erupted in celebration as he had swung left onto the track for his one-and-a-half laps of honour.

Cancellara became the first man in five years to claim both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix titles in the same season, Boonen the man to precede him, in 2005.

From Paris to the pavé

Some five hours earlier on a clear day in northern France, a large breakaway group had opened the first selection of the race. Nineteen riders featured in this leaders' group, including:

Romain Zingle (Cofidis), Maarten Wynants (Quick Step), Gorik Gardeyn (Vacansoleil), Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha), Jeremy Hunt (Cervélo TestTeam), Sebastian Lang (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Chris Sutton and Gregory Henderson (Sky), Matthew Goss and Adam Hansen (HTC-Columbia), Rick Flens and Tom Leezer (Rabobank), Yohann Gene (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Inaki Isasi (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Mitchell Docker and Roy Curvers (Skil-Shimano), Kasper Klostergaard (Saxo Bank), Stephane Poulhies and Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur Sojasun).

A strong head wind kept the race close to its slowest estimated time schedule, but upon reaching the first pavé sector after almost hundred kilometres of racing the gap to the leaders' had managed to carve out an advantage of more than four minutes. However, the arrival of the cobbles began the gradual grind on the leaders' advantage.

Despite the reduction in the gap, the lead group were still the first to enter the Arenberg forest (sector 17). Behind, Saxo Bank took the approach of the forest as their cue and increased the speed in the peloton - the gap on the leaders dropping below two minutes.

The Trouee Arenberg wasn't as slippery as it has been in previous editions and there much fewer crashes on the 2400 meters long pavé sector. However, it retained its ability to re-shape the race. Cancellara and Boonen led the peloton through the forest and by the time they appeared on the asphalt, the gap to the now nine remaining leaders was less than a minute.

Team Sky accelerated at sector 14 (Tilloy à Sars-et-Rosières – at 167km), causing several riders – among them David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) – to get dropped from the peloton.

After passing the second feed zone at 68 kilometers from the finish the last four breakaway riders – Wynants, Hansen, Hunt and Sutton - were caught back by the now 30-rider front peloton. Boonen laid down several accelerations in the ten kilometers that followed, but the Belgian Champion's attacks were easily neutralized by Cancellara and the other favourites.

"Boonen's attacks didn’t bother me and I didn't want to play his game. He tried to do his race and I did mine," said Cancellara afterwards of Boonen's moves.

What didn't work for Boonen was no problem for three other riders. Leif Hoste (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil) and Sebastien Hinault (Ag2R-La Mondiale) created a small gap over the favourites group – which was proceeding without Stijn Devolder (Quick Step) or Matti Breschel (Saxo Bank.

In between sector 11 and 10, Boonen took a breather at the back of the main group and that's when the race was decided. Cancellara sneaked away from the front and consolidated his sudden advantage on 3000 meters-long sector at Mons-en-Pévèle. The Swiss Champion quickly bridged up with Hoste, Hinault and Leukemans. Of the trio, only Leukemans was able to keep up with the Swiss champion, but in time he too was dislodged.

In the chase group, Boonen's attempt to bridge to Cancellara was unsuccessful in its major objective, but created a selection of eight men. Flecha, Leukemans, Pozzato, Hoste, Hushovd, Hammond and Hinault the men with the tickets to ride. Despite the organisation behind, by the time Cancellara entered the next pavé sector (Mérignies à Le Prez at 216km) his gap was already up to more than half a minute.

George Hincapie and three HTC-Columbia riders were trailing in the second group, but failed in their bid to bridge up to the eight chasers.

As the rest of the race scrambled to defend their position, Cancellara was forging ahead in an impromptu individual time trial, which saw him build a lead of more than two minutes as he commenced the last 20 kilometres.

In the chasing group Leukemans was dropped after suffering a flat tyre. An acceleration from Flecha saw the numbers in the chase group reduced even further, as both Pozzato and Hoste lost contact with the group.

Flecha's attack typified the apparent desperation of the chase group, who could do nothing to pull back time on the Swiss locomotive that was forging his own path across the pavé. The advantage wavered between 2:30 and 3:00, with almost all the momentum in Cancellara's favour.

When Cancellara hit the Carrefour de l’Arbre with 16 kilometres to race, he had almost three minutes advantage on the bunch. And when he hit sector 3 (Gruson at 244km) the buffer had grown to 3:12, and despite the grimace fixed to his dust covered face he looked every bit a man in control of the situation.

Behind, Pozzato and Leukemans had rejoined the chase group, but as they hit the Carrefour the race for places was reshaped. Flecha and Hushovd setting off together, as Boonen, Pozzato, Hammond and Leukemans formed a second chase group. Again, the acceleration behind had a momentary effect on the gap to the leader, but at 2:45, it was hardly any threat to the Swiss Champion.

With the final sector of cobbles negotiated, Cancellara sacrificed some of his advantage as he drifted across towards his team car to throw several well-earned high-fives. The little gold Angel trinket given to him by his wife and daughter prior to his Flanders win was again extracted from his jersey pocket as a broad grin stretched across his face.

Sweeping around the final right-hand turn and into the velodrome Cancellara rode his half lap with his hands firmly attached to his handlebars, but as the final loop began so did his celebrations. He first clutched his helmet in disbelief and then raised his arms to salute one of the most commanding Paris-Roubaix victories in recent years.

Two minutes later, Flecha led Hushovd into the velodrome. As expected, the Norwegian used his superior sprint prowess to swing inside on the final banking to grab second place from the exhausted Spaniard.

Results
1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank 6:35:10
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team 0:02:00
3 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Sky Professional Cycling Team
4 Roger Hammond (GBr) Cervelo Test Team 0:03:14
5 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step

Vuelta al Pais Vasco (PT), Stage 6: Orio (ITT) 22km

Christopher Horner of Team RadioShack came from behind to win the closing time trial and overall title in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. The American blasted his way over the 22km time trial course to beat Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) by eight seconds on the stage, and by seven seconds on the overall. Maxime Monfort of HTC-Columbia was third on the stage, 13 seconds down.

"I love this race. Every year, I want to come early to see the courses," said Horner to the TV cameras after the race.

Euskaltel's Benat Intxausti used a blistering time trial to move up to third place overall, with the previous third placed Joaquim Rodriguez dropping off the podium to fifth.

At least two riders were not at the start of the time trial, nursing broken collar bones instead of taking to the course. Arets Txurruka of Euskaltel-Euskadi had the King of the Mountains ranking wrapped up. But he went down on a descent yesterday near the end of the stage, breaking his collarbone. He had hoped to ride today, but the pain was too great.

Also missing was HTC-Columbia's Kanstantsin Sivtsov, who broke his collarbone in a crash while checking out the course this morning.

The weather was once again perfect, sunny and 20 degrees Celsius. David Zabriskie of Garmin-Transitions put in an early good time, but it was soon blasted by HTC-Columbia's Michael Rogers. Bradley Wiggins (Sky) was unable to catch the speedy Australian, coming in 23 seconds slower. Even Andreas Klöden (RadioShack) couldn't top the former World Champion.

It took one of his HTC-Columbia teammates to break his time. Belgian Maxime Monfort came in five seconds faster, at 32:46.

Things got interesting as the top five riders took to the rolling course. They all put in good times, topping all the previous best intermediate times. Stage five winner Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) jumped ahead of his rivals at the first time check. More ominously, though, RadioShack's Chris Horner had already started picking up time on race leader Alejandro Valverde, who had gone into the day just one second ahead of the American in the standings.

Rodriguez had gone out too fast, and saw his lead melt away. He crossed the finish line 28 seconds slower than Monfort's time.

Horner was burning up the road, building up his lead over Valverde. He crossed the finish line eight seconds ahead of his Spanish rival, enough to give the American the stage win and the overall title, for his first victory of the year.

Results
1 Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack 32:33:00
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:08
3 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Team HTC - Columbia 0:00:13
4 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia 0:00:18
5 Beñat Intxausti (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:00:21

Final Standings
1 Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack 23:27:30
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:07
3 Beñat Intxausti (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:00:58
4 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:01:06
5 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:01:10

Klasica Primavera (1.1)

Euskaltel-Euskadi's Samuel Sánchez won the 2010 Klasika Primavera on Sunday afternoon. The Spaniard soloed across the line Amorebieta after attacking a small group of riders late in the 171 kilometre race.

He finished five seconds ahead of his teammate Igor Anton, who won a sprint from a group of 12 riders. Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) finished third.

Earlier, Schleck's brother Andy had formed part of a nine-man escape group which had escaped after five kilometres of racing. That group was caught with 25 kilometres to go, with the counter attacks splitting the peloton in the closing stages of the race.

Results
1 Samuel Sánchez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 4:04:19
2 Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:00:05
3 Franck Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
4 David Bernabeu (Spa) Barbot - Siper
5 Javier Moreno (Spa) Andalucia - Cajasur

 

[Kabouter]

Vino :bow:

 

[Tarazet]

Vino! Wow, that's a surprise. Climbed his way out of the rubbish heap.

 

[Tarazet]

96th Liège-Bastogne-Liège: Liège - Ans 258km

Kazakhstani captures 'Doyenne' for second time
Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) bested breakaway companion Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha) to win Liège - Bastogne - Liège for the second time.

Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) bested breakaway companion Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha) to win Liège - Bastogne - Liège for the second time.

view thumbnail gallery

Five years after his first victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) has sealed his comeback to the sport with his second career 'La Doyenne' today. Overpowering his breakaway companion Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha) in the final 500 metres of the uphill finish in Ans, the 36-year-old Astana rider proved his team tactics to be perfect.

Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) was fastest in the chase group, outsprinting Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and World Champion Cadel Evans (BMC) on the line 1:04 later.

"I gave my best in this race," said Kolobnev. "I worked together with Vinokourov very well for us to take a solid gap. I knew everything would be decided in the final metres. I tried to follow him but he was too strong for me today. I want to thank the whole team because they worked very well."

"Three riders named Alejandro on the podium!" said Valverde. "I would have liked the order to be different but this time it was not possible to win. I am nevertheless happy with my result, which shows how consistent I am in this race."

Vinokourov made his move with 17 kilometres to go on the descent of the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons, after his teammate Alberto Contador duped his rivals on the climb by launching a powerful attack. As the Kazakhstani went, focus remained on the Spaniard, but instead his teammate pulled off a fantastic raid in the company of Kolobnev, and continued on until the finish.

Gilbert was the first to realize the danger coming from the Russian-Kazakhstani duo and set off to chase them on his own with 15 kilometres to go, soon joined by Valverde and Evans. But it was too late: the gap was 30 seconds at the bottom of the Côte de Saint Nicolas, where Gilbert again tried to bridge up on his own, in vain.

The remaining favourites such as Andy and Fränk Schleck, Contador, Chris Horner (RadioShack) and Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi) nearly caught the chasing trio on the line for the remainder of top ten placings.

Eight men gain eight minutes

A 198-strong peloton left the Place Saint-Lambert square in Liège for an initial 9km neutral section before reaching kilometre zero on their 258km trek through the Ardennes. Soon after the official start, under overcast skies, a group of seven riders formed the early breakaway. Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen), Maxime Bouet (AG2R La Mondiale), Alan Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Jussi Veikkanen (Française des Jeux), Dries Devenyns (Quick Step), Niki Terpstra (Milram) and Mauro Finetto (Liquigas-Doimo) built up a lead of eight minutes.

One rider, Dirk Bellemakers (Landbouwkrediet), missed the train but continued chasing the leader's group for more than an hour before finally joining them. The BMC Racing squad of world champion Cadel Evans controlled the peloton's tempo and after 100km the gap was steady at six minutes.

When approaching the important duo of climbs, the Côte de Wanne and Côte de Stockeu, the speed increased both in the breakaway group and in the peloton. It wasn't too fast for Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank), though, who attacked solo from the peloton. Caisse d'Epargne and Omega Pharma-Lotto set the pace in the field to keep the German locomotive within reach but that chase was hampered when Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) crashed at the second feed zone.

As the leaders approached the longest climb of the day, the 6.4km long Côte du Rosier with 71km remaining to the finish in Ans, a brush fire made the race jury opt to take a different route. The five remaining leaders - De Gendt, Perez, Devenyns, Terpstra and Bellemakers - didn't seem bothered by the incident, working well together and keeping Voigt and Veikkanen at one minute.

The peloton gained back time on Voigt and on the Côte du Maquisard, with 60km remaining, the gap between the leaders and the peloton dropped to a little over one minute. Voigt and Veikkanen were still riding in between these two group while Belgium's Maxime Monfort (HTC-Columbia) forced himself into the racing action with an attack on the Maquisard.

With 50 kilometres to go Devenyns showed that he was the strongest man in the breakaway group as the young Belgian dropped the rest of the group on the Mont-Theux. At the top of this climb Devenyns had 50 seconds on the peloton where riders from HTC-Columbia, Rabobank and Omega Pharma-Lotto tried to form a new breakaway, anticipating the famous Côte de la Redoute.

Lieutenants launch on La Redoute

Their escapees' efforts were in vain and with 37km to go, at the foot of La Redoute, everybody was back together at the front of the race. On the La Redoute the big guns kept quiet while their lieutenants went out on the offensive. After the famous climb a group with Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas-Doimo), Carlos Barredo (Quick Step), Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank), Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) and Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone) lead the race.

Ten Dam would drop his breakaway companions and continue alone in the lead towards the penultimate climb of the day, the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons at 238km. Ten Dam's former break companions were absorbed and Russian champion Serguei Ivanov (Katusha) set off in pursuit of the Dutchman but couldn't reduce to gap further than 28 seconds to the race leader.

Fireworks on the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons

Once the field began its ascent of the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons, the fireworks commenced amongst the race favourites. Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) and Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) launched a blistering attack and flew past Ivanov and Ten Dam into the race lead. The pair were soon joined by Tour de France champion Alberto Contador (Astana) to form a very threatening lead trio, but their attack was neutralised over the top of the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons.

2005 Liège - Bastogne - Liège champion Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) launched an attack on the descent of the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons and was soon joined by Alexandr Kolobnev with 17km remaining.

Sensing the danger in this attack, Gilbert, Valverde and Evans set off in pursuit of the Russian/Kazakhstani duo. As Vinokourov and Kolobnev approached the final climb, the Côte de Saint-Nicolas with 6km to go, they led the three-man chase group by 30 seconds while the field already conceded more than one minute. Vinokourov attacked Kolobnev near the climb's summit, but the Russian was able to real in the Kazakhstani on the descent. Meanwhile, Valverde attacked Gilbert and Evans on the climb and got a small gap. While Evans struggled to answer the Spaniard's move, Gilbert caught Valverde and launched an attack of his own which proved successful in distancing himself from his two breakaway companions.

Gilbert closed to within 22 seconds of Vinokourov and Kolobnev, but would draw no closer. With two kilometres remaining Gilbert dropped back to 40 seconds behind the two leaders and would be caught by Evans and Valverde at the flamme rouge.

As Vinokourov and Kolobnev tackled the gradual ascent to the finish line inside the final kilometre, the Kazakhstani attacked and Kolobnev had no answer. Vinokourov powered to the finish line to win Liège - Bastogne - Liège for the second time, distancing Kolobnev by six seconds.

The chasing trio of Valverde, Gilbert and Evans began a game of cat-and-mouse in the final several hundred metres as they vied for the final podium position. Just as the Andy Schleck-led chase group behind them was about to make contact at 250m to go, Valverde launched his sprint and held off Gilbert and Evans for third, 1:04 behind Vinokourov. Schleck outsprinted his four chase companions three seconds later to secure sixth place.

Results

1 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 6:37:48
2 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:06
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:01:04
4 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
5 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team

Vino's Victory overshadowed by questions about his past

Astana rider insists he's now racing clean

Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) was booed by some of the crowd at the finish of Liège-Bastogne-Liège today and was then grilled by the press about his remarkable victory.

Vino officially returned to racing last summer after a two-year ban for blood doping in the 2007 Tour de France. He has shown little remorse since then and countered every question about doping with a stone face. He denied he is back working with Dr Ferrari and insisted he was now racing clean and that his victory was believable.

"Of course I'm clean now. To win without doping you have to work, I've always done it this way. I want to show the young riders that it is possible this way," he said.

"I'm winning now because I've got the class to do it. I served my time. I've been suspended for two years but I've turned that dark page. I don't want to talk about that subject once again, it's behind me now. Now there's a Vino without doping.

"Since last year I'm back at a high level, after being out for two years. The hard work in training paid off, proving that thanks to hard work it's possible to win too. I wanted to prove that I deserve the confidence from you, and the crowd. Winning here is a bit of a revenge for us."

Why Tenerife?

More doping questions followed about why Vinokourov had recently been training in Tenerife, where disgraced sports doctors Eufemiano Fuentes and Michele Ferrari are alleged to work. Vinokourov specifically denied working with Dr Ferrari.

"Fuentes might be in Tenerife, and Ferrari could be in Saint-Moritz but those are great training locations and I can still train where I want to," Vinokourov insisted.

"I was in Tenerife with a group of about twenty-five riders, including riders from Liquigas. The hotels were full. Who knows, maybe next year some French riders might even join us…

"I've been going to Tenerife since 2003 because it's the ideal location for me. There's the altitude, the weather and the accommodation to focus on training. I can't concentrate on training when I'm at home in Monaco because the family and children don't allow that. I'm not working with them (the doctors). After 2007 I realized that I don't need a coach. In 2008 and 2009 I trained on my own and this year I'm sometimes asking advice from the team coach. But I've got ten years of experience and I'm even passing on my experience to the younger riders in the team."

Next, the Giro d'Italia

Vinokourov was eventually asked some questions about the race and how teammate Alberto Contador rode for him by covering attacks from Andy Schleck.

"I didn't win because of Alberto but thanks to the whole team. It wouldn't have been possible to win today without all of them. Of course it was easier to control the attacks in the finale with the two of us. Alberto marked Schleck and I was able to counter-attack," Vinokourov said.

"After my victory in Trentino I dreamed about winning in Liège but I was worried that I had lost too much energy in Trentino. This is a beautiful day for me, my country and my team. This is an emotional day for me."

Vinokourov is now 36 but will target overall success at the Giro d'Italia in May. He also hopes the Tour de France organisers ASO, who also organize Liège-Bastogne-Liège, will allow him to return to cycling's biggest race. "Today I realized my dream. Taking part in the Tour de France, supporting Alberto and winning the Tour with him is my next one," Vinokourov said.

"After riding the Giro d'Italia I will try to recover as much as possible. I hope to be at the start of the Tour and I'll try to support Alberto. He's young and has the potential to win again. I've won enough races... although after the Tour de France the time-trial world championships could be another goal. Beating Fabian Cancellara seems impossible but I might have a go there."

 

[Tarazet]

Now this is interesting. A completely unknown Australian, a former triathlete, blasted the field in the Tour de Romandie's individual time trial.

Tour de Romandie (PT), Stage 3 ITT: Moudon 23.4km

Richie Porte of Saxo Bank blew away the competition in the stage three time trial at the Tour de Romandie, as the only rider to break 31 minutes on the 23.4km long course. The 25-year-old Australian needed only 30:54 to take his first professional win. Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) was second in 31:20, with Katusha's Vladimir Karpets third at 31:21.

The time trial brought about major changes in the overall rankings, as HTC-Columbia's Michael Rogers used a fourth place finish to take over general classification. The Australian is now two seconds ahead of Valverde, and five seconds ahead of third-placed Karpets.

The win was "a massive surprise for me," Porte said. "I can't believe it. I was 30 seconds down at the first time check, the winds must have changed. It's unbelievable!"

The Australian credited his success to training with Bradley McGee, who he said "was a big help. I have done everything he said." It wasn't his first major time trial win as Porte won a time trial stage at last year's Baby Giro d'Italia.

Former world champion Bert Grabsch of HTC-Columbia put in an early best time, but the course was actually too short for his skills. Porte came arrived at the finish about half an hour later, blasting the German's time by an amazing minute and a half.

Later riders brought in good times, but no one was able to come close. Caisse d'Epargne's Alejandro Valverde set top times at the intermediate time checks, but still was able to cover the course in only 31:20.

Denis Menchov of Rabobank was said to be suffering from allergies, but the problem was not evident in his ride, as he finished fifth with a time of 31:25.

Ivan Basso (Liquigas) put in a disappointing time of 32:44, putting him well down in the rankings.

A visibly nervous Peter Sagan (Liquigas) was the last to take to the course, clad in the leader's yellow from top to bottom. His time of 32:29 was only good for 30th place, dropping him out of the overall lead.

Marco Pinotti, who won the prologue for HTC-Columbia, was unable to come close to his top performance. The Italian time trial champion finished 1:22 down in 19th place.

Brief Results
1 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank 0:30:54
2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:26
3 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:27
4 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia 0:00:28
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0:00:31

General classification after stage 3
1 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia 9:56:03
2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:02
3 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:05

 

[subrock]

Crazy about that Aussie in the tour de romandie. I can see him becoming part of someones TTT machine.

Forgot to dig up this thread a couple weeks ago but kudos to my hometown boy Ryder hesjedal on a second in the roubaix.

 

[Tarazet]

The Giro d'Italia is underway!

Stage 1: Amsterdam - Amsterdam (ITT) 8.4km
Stage 2: Amsterdam - Utrecht 209km
Stage 3: Amsterdam - Middelburg 224km

Stage results:

Stage 1 (ITT)
1 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:10:18
2 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:02
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
4 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 0:00:05
5 Greg Henderson (NZl) Sky Professional Cycling Team

Leader: Bradley Wiggins (GBR)

Stage 2
1 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Transitions 4:56:46
2 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia
3 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
4 André Greipel (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia
5 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini

Leader: Cadel Evans (AUS)

Stage 3
1 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step
2 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
3 Robert Förster (Ger) Team Milram
4 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre-Farnese Vini
5 Adam Blyth (GBr) Omega Pharma-Lotto

Leader: Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ)

Stage 1:

Stage 2:

Stage 3:

 

[perryfarrell]

Giro mania is underway!

Too bad of all the crashes in stage 2. Riders just kept crashing, even on straight, flat roads.

 

[subrock]

stage 3 was craaaazy. vandevelde out with a broken collarbone is bad news for garmin. wiggins is a force to be reckoned with. <3 giro.

Tour of cali is coming soon too. love this time of year.

 

[speedpop]

Damn missed the start of the Giro. My sleeping habit will be gone.

 

[Tarazet]

Liquigas win TTT, Nibali and Basso in 1-2. Long day so no time to update properly, sorry!

 

[perryfarrell]

One of the best online sources for current pro cycling videos is: http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone

 

[Tarazet]

Evans!!!!

Jesus Christ, absolute devastation today. Only 35 riders finished within five minutes of Evans, and over a hundred finished 20+ minutes behind.

Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) won a mud fight on Saturday in Tuscany, as the region's famed Strada Bianche were turned brown by heavy rain on stage seven of the Giro d'Italia.

After leading throughout the final kilometre of the 222km stage, Evans surged away from Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Farnese Vini) and Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) to claim his first ever Giro stage win.

The day's biggest loser was Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo), who crashed with 32km to go, and was never able to get back near the front. Vinokourov took over the race lead with Evans second at 1:12 and David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) third at 1:29.

The race suddenly changed with 32km to go, as Maglia Rosa Vincenzo Nibali and three of his teammates came down on a slick right-hand bend. By the time he was back up and had a new bike, the field had a good lead on him heading onto the Strada bianche five kilometres later.

The roads were misnamed today, though, as the rain turned them into mud, with the riders and their bikes soon adorned in a matching layer of dirt. Vinokourov kept the pressure up, attacking several times to create an ever-smaller selection.

Five riders arrived at the finish together: Evans, Cunego and Vinokourov followed across the line by Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia) and David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne).

Nibali struggled along, often left to push on alone. Ivan Basso was often at his side, and the duo worked hard to limit their losses.

Stage Results
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 5:13:37
2 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini 0:00:02
3 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana
4 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Team HTC - Columbia 0:00:06
5 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:12

Overall Standings after Stage 7
1 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 24:09:42
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:01:12
3 David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Transitions 0:01:29
4 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 0:01:30
5 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:01:33

 

[Tarazet]

Remember that Richie Porte guy? The Australian neo-pro who won a time trial at the Tour de Romandie? He's leading the Giro d'Italia now... and Vinokourov, Evans, Cunego, Basso, all got completely blown away!

Giro d'Italia: Stage 11 (Lucera - L'Aquila 262km)

Team Katusha's Evgeni Petrov won an extraordinary 11th stage of the Giro d'Italia from Lucera to L'Aquila in which the general classification was turned on its head with Richie Porte (Saxo Bank) taking over from Alexandre Vinokourov (Katusha). Porte finished in the lead group while Vinokourov came in with a group of favourites, including Cadel Evans (BMC), Ivan Basso and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas - Doimo) at 12:42. Porte now leads from David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) and Robert Kiserlovski (Liquigas-Doimo) in third.

Petrov took the stage win with a daring attack in the final kilometre but the major talking point came after 20 kilometres when 56 riders escaped off the front of the peloton and built up a lead of over 17 minutes.

The group contained Porte, Bradley Wiggins (Sky), Carlos Sastre (Cervelo) and Linus Gerdemann (Team Milram) amongst others with Sky, Caisse d'Epargne, Saxo Bank and Cervelo driving at the front. Astana and Liquigas were unable to reduce the gap enough to keep the status quo in the overall.

With eight kilometres to go the leaders began to attack each other with David Millar the first to try his luck. He was quickly dragged back with Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step) the next to catapult himself off the front. The stage five winner's lead wasn't more than a hundred meters before he was swept up as Sastre and Gerdemann both played their cards.

Under the kilometre banner the German had a small lead but he was caught and passed by Petrov who timed his move perfectly and hung on to take the stage on a tough uphill finish.

"I'm very, very happy. I have to thank all the team," Petrov said at the finish. "They helped me a lot today. Anna, I won!" he shouted out live on television in Italian to his wife before also adding something in Russian.

Alexandre Vinokourov could hardy talk after crossing the line after the long stage in the rain. He was tired but defiant: "The Giro is not over yet...I did my best but I've had the jersey for a few days. It was a bad day for the team but now we'll see what happens. There's still ten days to go."

Brief Results
1 Evgeni Petrov (Rus) Team Katusha 6:28:29
2 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quick Step 0:00:05
3 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team
4 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:00:07
5 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale
6 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Milram
7 Jerome Pineau (Fra) Quick Step
8 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne

General classification after stage 11

1 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank 45:30:16
2 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:01:42 !!!
3 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Liquigas-Doimo 0:01:56
4 Xavier Tondo Volpini (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:03:54
5 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Liquigas - Doimo 0:04:41

 

[Tarazet]

Jesus.

:lol

 

[Tarazet]

Basso am win. I thought he was sensational before he got caught doping.. I just have trouble getting as excited about him now that he's come back. I know it's hypocritical, he confessed and did his time graciously but there's still that nagging doubt..

 

[Tarazet]

Valverde retroactively banned for 2 years starting Jan 1, 2010. About time.

 

[Chris R]

Just saw the Cavendish crash on Youtube. Damn, that could have ended up a lot worse than it did. I can't believe that the Tour de France is only half a month away at this point.

 

[Tarazet]

That crash was brutal, you don't usually see something like that right in front.

Good write-up on the Tour de France contenders' chances:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/top-twelve-tour-contenders

 

[Tarazet]

Tour de France starts this Saturday. Time to launch a new thread, or keep using this one? Maybe with a title change to "Official Road Cycling Thread of Final Tour de Lance."

 

[Chris R]

Tour de France starts this Saturday. Time to launch a new thread, or keep using this one? Maybe with a title change to "Official Road Cycling Thread of Final Tour de Lance."

New thread for sure (well at least in my opinion).

 

[Falch]

Yeah I'd like to see an official thread too, don't have the time to do a proper one unfortunately.

Can't wait for tomorrow's prologue, hoping for an upset with Lars Boom (won a Vuelta stage last year). After that, it's the mountain stages I can't wait for. I wanne see how good Geesink has become.