GB select five track champions for Para-cycling Road World Cup

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Five track world champions are included in Great Britain's team for the Para-cycling Road World Cup in Belgium.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/43951672

Fabio Aru flies the flag for Italy at the Giro d'Italia

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Fabio Aru will ride the Giro d'Italia wearing the Italian national champion’s tricolore stripes on his UAE Team Emirates jersey. In the absence of Vincenzo Nibali, and as the only Italian overall contender to have won a Grand Tour, the 27-year-old Sardinian carries the hopes of the home nation on his shoulders.

Domenico Pozzovivo leads the Bahrain-Merida team, Bora-Hansgrohe hope that Davide Formolo can impress, and Gianluca Brambilla leads Trek-Segafredo, but Italy expects Aru to step up and take on Chris Froome (Team Sky) and 2017 winner Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and fight for the maglia rosa.

During the winter Aru left Astana for UAE Team Emirates, joining Dan Martin and Alexander Kristoff as one of three well-paid, big-name team leaders. Martin and Kristoff will focus on the Tour de France in July after a quiet spring Classics campaign. UAE Team Emirates have only won two races this season and so the pressure is on Aru to deliver at the Giro d’Italia even against Froome and Dumoulin.

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Fortunately, after two difficult seasons, Aru is up for the fight. Third overall on the final podium in Rome would be a good result for Aru but he has loftier ambitions.

"I’m never satisfied with any second place and so there’s no way I’d sign on the line now for a podium place next to Froome or Dumoulin. I’d only be happy with that if I‘d know I’ve given my all to try to win and that they’d shown they’re stronger than me," Aru tells Cyclingnews.

Aru first indicated his Grand Tour potential when he won the Giro della Valle d’Aosta Mont Blanc in 2011, defeating Joe Dombrowski before finishing behind the American in the 2012 U23 Giro d’Italia. He developed rapidly at Astana while under Nibali’s wing, winning the Vuelta a España in 2015 after finishing second to Alberto Contador at the Giro d’Italia.

The Tiralongo influence

Taking on Froome

Overcoming the time trial handicap in the mountains

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/fabio-aru-flies-the-flag-for-italy-at-the-giro-ditalia

Paternoster wins Festival Elsy Jacobs

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Letizia Paternoster (Astana Women) sprinted to victory in an action-packed final stage of the Festival Elsy Jacobs. The win ahead of Lotta Lepisto was enough to give the 18-year-old the overall title, the biggest road win of her career so far.

The young Italian managed to win a chaotic bunch sprint at the conclusion of a very exciting stage, which saw the yellow jersey and local favourite Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) pushed down to second on general classification. Fourth on the day, American rider Alexis Ryan (Canyon//SRAM) finished third overall.

With many riders close together on the general classification, everything was to play for as the day started and the peloton headed out on a long opening loop. The first GPM brought no fireworks, though over the top Sofia Beggin (Astana Women) instigated a break of three women when she was joined first by Manon Lloyd (Trek Drops), then Jessy Druyts (Lotto-Soudal). The trio survived until the peloton reached the local laps around Garnich, only caught with 43km to go.

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Once on those circuits, and having remained hidden on the opening classified climb, Sofia Bertizzolo (Astana Women) won the second GPM, and in so doing secured the blue WMT Ceratizit Group climber’s jersey, crossing the line at the top of the Montée de Garnich first.

Her move to win the points drew out some of the race favourites, Majerus, Ryan, Eugenia Bujak (BTC-City Ljubljana), Sabrina Stultiens (Waowdeals) and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Cervélo-Bigla) all forming a break away, though the Italian was soon dropped. With a substantial lead Moolman-Pasio attacked, putting a now isolated Majerus under pressure.

Soon after Moolman-Pasio was caught, and a group of around 35 riders formed, though the attacks continued, with the Luxembourg champion forced to close each one down.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/festival-elsy-jacobs-2018/stage-2/results

Roglic wins Tour de Romandie

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Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) has won the overall classification at the Tour de Romandie, beating Team Sky’s Egan Bernal to take the title. Meanwhile, Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) took victory ahead of Michael Morkov (Quick-Step Floors) in a sprint finish in Geneva on the final day of racing.

Roglic had all but sealed his overall success on Saturday’s queen stage when he eked out a couple of extra seconds over Bernal by beating him in the sprint to the line. The final stage did not have the terrain to really test the general classification riders, but the LottoNL-Jumbo rider still had to keep an eye on his rival, particularly in the final when it looked like Bernal might try something before moving off in the final kilometre. As the sprinters battled it out for victory, Roglic eased over the line to take the title by eight seconds over Bernal.

“I think we are all really happy with this win. With the whole team I think that we showed we are really strong, we have really strong guys and it was a pleasure to work with them and to win in the end,” said Roglic.

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“Every day was a really hard day. I think that the prologue helped to decide things and then the next day was hard, and of course, the mountain time trial and yesterday completed the racing here in the Tour of Romandie. “I was optimistic before [the time trial]. I was really strong before and it was nice to see that I could do a good job.”

Ackermann had been relatively anonymous throughout the Tour de Romandie as he battled to hang on in the mountains. With many sprinters heading home after missing the time cut in Friday’s time trial, the German was one of the major favourites for success on the last day of racing. He was given an inch-perfect lead-out by Rudiger Selig and backed that up with a powerful sprint to take his first win of the season.

“I never will forget it. Two weeks ago after the Amstel Gold Race, I said to my team manager that I will win one stage in Romandie. I’m so happy. It’s amazing,” Ackermann said after the finish. “The team made an amazing job not only today but on the other days because they had to carry me all over the mountains and it was not just about today.

How it happened

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-de-romandie-2018/stage-5/results

No pressure for Miguel Angel Lopez at debut Giro d'Italia

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Ask anyone for their favourite to take the overall classification at this year’s Giro d’Italia, then Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) are likely to be high on their list. Probe a little further, though, and Miguel Angel Lopez will not be too far behind.

The 24-year-old turned professional with Astana three years ago, in 2015, and has been touted as a future Grand Tour winner for almost as long. Now in his fourth season, the Giro d’Italia is just Lopez’s third three-week race, but he already has a proven track record. After missing the entire first half of last season due to injury, Lopez emphatically bounced back to take two stage wins at the Vuelta a Espana and finish eighth overall.

Despite his breakthrough performance at last year’s Vuelta, Lopez says that he feels no additional pressure heading into his debut Giro d’Italia next week.

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“There is no pressure because I will be taking the Giro d’Italia day by day,” Lopez tells Cyclingnews, doling out a refrain he oft uses. “Obviously, I’m thinking about the general classification but I’ll be living it day by day. Every day I will enjoy it to the maximum. In the Vuelta a Espana, I went really well, and for this Giro, I have been working really well, but maybe things don’t go as well.

“It’s a race that I’ve always liked. The Giro is really beautiful. I’ve always watched it on television but I’ve never been there. I like it a lot, and let’s see what happens this year.”

Unlike last year, taking on the Giro this year meant that Lopez had to hit the ground running and, for the most part, he has done so. After a solid, if uninspiring, start at the Colombian national championships, he moved onto the Tour of Oman, where he won a stage and helped teammate Alexey Lutsenko take the overall victory. Lopez finished second himself. He went on to take third at the Abu Dhabi Tour before a slightly disappointing 16th at Tirreno-Adriatico.

The strength of Astana

The route

Colombian cycling

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/no-pressure-for-miguel-angel-lopez-at-debut-giro-ditalia

Tour de Romandie mountain stage – analysis

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With very few teams happy after the mountain time trial on stage 3, there was always going to be a major fight on the penultimate stage of this Tour de Romandie. This was the queen stage after all.

There were five cols on the menu, and it was the sort of race profile that riders who were willing to commit to aggressive racing would have been crying out for.

The first climb, Ovronnnaz, was sure to see a move, and after a host of failed attempts the break of the day established itself. Sure enough, Thomas De Gendt was present, along with his victims for the day, Hugh Carthy (EF Education First-Drapac), Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton Scott), Andrey Amador (Movistar) and Hermann Pernsteiner (Team Bahrain-Merida).

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The Belgian was on a mission for the climber’s jersey, in addition to the points competition he was already involved in. The others were sent out to get in the escape with ulterior motives for the big play that was going to come on the final mountain of the day.

Back in the peloton, and with so many plans still brewing, the break were never going to be given much leeway. And so it proved with the De Gendt quintet only afforded a maximum lead of 2:25. That was always going to be manageable as the bunch set about the final four climbs, with the LottoNL-Jumbo doing the majority of the work to keep things in check. Their objective was to get as far into the stage as possible before having to use up Steven Kruiswijk.

Eventually Team Sky decided enough was enough on the last of the 2nd cat climbs. They attempted to take control but this coincided with Bora sending Emanuel Buchmann up the road and EF Drapac doing the same with Martinez. This was the perfect time to get a minute or so lead on the peloton before the big boys attacked each other on the final ascent. Then it got interesting when Jon Izaguirre joined them, making it five out front and three chasing.

Team tactics came properly into play at this point. Carthy stopped riding as he was waiting for Martinez, and Pernsteiner did the same for Bahrain-Merida. It took a while, but eventually everything came together at the bottom of Les Collons and the theories were looking good. Now all they needed was a minute and a half and they would survive the accelerations from behind.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tour-de-romandie-mountain-stage-analysis

Tour of Romandie: Primoz Roglic wins second race of 2018

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Slovenia's Primoz Roglic wins the Tour of Romandie as German Pascal Ackermann takes victory in Sunday's final stage.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/43943239

Festival Elsy Jacobs: Majerus wins stage 1

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Overall winner of the 2017 Festival Elsy Jacobs, Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans), will start this year’s final stage on Sunday wearing the yellow jersey, after winning stage two in Steinfort today. In a repeat performance from last season, 31-year-old Majerus timed her sprint to perfection, just edging out Alexis Ryan (Canyon-SRAM) and Eugenia Bujak (BTC-City Ljubljana), who herself was second on this stage 12 months ago.

The 97.7km stage, starting and finishing in Steinfort, began at high pace, with no early breaks able to get away, but as the race progressed the action began.

Sofia Bertizzolo (Astana Women’s team) worked and was rewarded with the took the WNT Ceratizit Group Mountains jersey after winning the first two classified climbs at Kopstal and Koerich. Then, on the second of five closing laps around Steinfort, Monamine Eri (Maaslandster International) attacked to ride the rest of the lap alone.

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With the Japanese champion’s advantage shrinking the next time the peloton crossed the line she was joined by Marta Cavalli (Valcar-PBM) and former Dutch champion Anouska Koster (Waowdeals), the trio working well together.

However, as they reached the final ascent at Koerich they were caught and the stage was set for a sprint finish.

Canyon//SRAM, whose Lisa Klein started the day wearing the leader’s Skoda yellow jersey took charge at the front of the bunch, but with Majerus’s Boels-Dolmans protecting her in the final, she was able to take the win.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/festival-elsy-jacobs-2018/stage-1/results

Fuglsang wins Tour de Romandie queen stage

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Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) took victory on the queen stage of the Tour de Romandie after attacking solo on the final descent. The Dane’s win is the second of the race for the Astana team, which took stage 1 with Omar Fraile.

Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) beat Egan Bernal (Team Sky) in the sprint for second place, some 47 seconds behind Fuglsang, to extend his lead over the Colombian in the general classification. Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) and Richie Porte (BMC Racing) followed them across the line to take fourth and fifth, respectively, with Porte giving away two seconds plus bonus seconds to Roglic and Bernal in the GC battle.

Fuglsang looked intent on securing himself his first win of the season, following an earlier attack by Costa on the final climb. The pair was eventually brought back when Bernal launched a flurry of attacks towards the top of the ascent, taking the race leader Roglic with them. Another attack by Bernal dropped all but Roglic, and the two leading contenders in the overall classification were the first to crest the Basse-Nendaz.

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Costa and then Porte quickly bridged the gap at the start of the descent, but it took Fuglsang a little longer to make contact, using his notable descending skills to do the business. The Dane sat near the back of the group for much of the first part of the descent, biding his time to jump again as the road briefly headed upwards again with 15 kilometres remaining.

The road soon dipped down again and that is where Fuglsang did the most damage. He quickly extended his lead to almost 40 seconds, helped by a level of apathy from the riders behind. Costa appeared eager to bring Fuglsang back, but he was getting no help from the top three in the overall classification. Thanks to doing so much work in the chase, Costa was easily passed by Roglic and Bernal in the battle for bonus seconds, allowing Fuglsang to relieve him of his fourth place in the GC, having started the day 15th overall.

How it happened

It was another unusually sunny day at the Tour de Romandie as the riders sought out the shade while they waited for the start of the queen stage in Sion. After a tough mountain time trial, the organisers had mapped out a challenging route through the mountains for stage 4. Five climbs littered the route, with the first of them coming almost immediately after the start.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-de-romandie-2018/stage-4/results

Wild wins final sprint in Tour of Chongming Island

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Kirsten Wild (Wiggle-High5) got the sprint victory she had come for on stage three of the Tour of Chongming Island, beating Jolien D'hoore (Mitchelton Scott) and Giorgia Bronzini (Cylance Pro Cycling) to the line. The race overall was won by Charlotte Becker (Hitec Products-Birk Sport).

The stage consisted of an 11.5-km circuit that was raced 11 times for a total of 121.5 km. Bonus seconds were at stake in intermediate sprints after laps three and six, and after lap nine there was a single mountain point on offer. However, Lucy Garner (Wiggle-High5) had an unassailable lead in the queen of the mountains classification after taking a haul of pints on the previous stages and took home the polka-dot jersey.

Hitec Products-Birk Sport controlled the race for Becker, and nobody got away in the first half of the race. The intermediate sprint after three laps was won by Giorgia Bronzini (Cylance Pro Cycling) ahead of Chloe Hosking (Alé Cipollini) and Jolien D'hoore (Mitchelton Scott).

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Becker's team was joined at the front of the peloton by Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank, defending Shannon Malseed's second place overall, as well as by sprinters' teams Mitchelton Scott, Alé Cipollini, and Cylance Pro Cycling. Hosking won the second intermediate sprint ahead of Bronzini and Paola Andrea Muñoz (Swapit Agolico).

Attacks started flying on lap seven, and Minsk Cycling Club was particularly active. These moves were quickly brought back, but with 38 km to go it was Sarah Roy (Mitchelton-Scott) who put in a fierce acceleration and opened up a gap on the peloton.

Roy was chased by a group of five including Sheyla Gutiérrez (Cylance Pro Cycling) and riders from Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank, Alé Cipollini, Hitec Products-Birk Sport, and Team Dukla Praha Women. When the chasers bridged to Roy, there was no cooperation and the group was caught soon after.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-chongming-island-2018/stage-3/results

Fuglsang wins Tour of Romandie stage four, Roglic still leads

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Jakob Fuglsang wins the penultimate stage of the Tour of Romandie as Primoz Roglic retains the leader's yellow jersey.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/43937764

Giro d'Italia retro gallery

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The countdown to the Giro d’Italia continues with the official start in Jerusalem less than a week away.

Organisers RCS have lived up to their reputation by delivering a spectacular route with climbs such as the Monte Zoncolan set to shape the fight for the overall classification.

Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) returns to the race to defend his title but he will be up against the four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome (Team Sky), who is attempting the Giro-Tour double this season. There are a whole host of other pretenders to the throne with Miguel Angel Lopez heading up Astana’s challenge, while Esteban Chaves and Simon Yates are there for Mitchelton-Scott. George Bennet (LottoNL-Jumbo), Michael Woods (EF Education First-Drapac) and Domenico Pozzovivio (Bahrain-Merida) will also be ones to watch.

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This is the 101st edition of the Giro d’Italia and Cyclingnews has delved into the archives and put together some images from the past 20 years of the race.

 

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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/giro-ditalia-retro-gallery

Woods aiming to give Canadians someone to cheer for again at Giro d’Italia

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It would be difficult for Canadian sports fans not to have a soft spot for the Giro d’Italia. In 2012, Ryder Hesjedal claimed the country’s first, and only, Grand Tour victory there, in a triumph that acted as a beacon of inspiration for its cycling community. Six years on, it still does.

Back in 2012, for Ottawa-born rider Michael Woods (EF Education First-Drapac), Hesjedal’s three-week battle for pink with Spain’s Joaquim Rodriguez was one of the first races Woods watched as he was getting into the sport. Fast forward six years and as Woods heads to the Giro d’Italia for the second time, following his breakthrough seventh place at the 2017 Vuelta a España and second place in Liège-Bastogne-Liege last week, the 31-year-old still draws inspiration from the events of May 2012.

In fact, at the 2018 Giro, Woods tells Cyclingnews that he would like to be “that guy that’s on the front, that people can cheer for back home, that Canadians can get excited about when they watch bike racing.”

“Because it was cool, as a Canadian back in 2012, being able to turn on the TV and see a guy like Ryder on the front. I’m sure that was the same in the 1990s with guys like Steve Bauer in contention for the win. Seeing them on the TV and winning makes it all seem less exotic and distant to a guy who’s back home watching the race and getting into the sport.”

Woods knows exactly what he’s talking about, given that was what happened to him, coming into cycling as a 20-something-year old, prior to becoming one of the oldest ever neo-pros, at 29 in 2016.

“I remember when Ryder won, it was a huge deal in Canada and it was right when I was starting to race. I didn’t really understand how big a race it was because I didn’t understand the sport as much as I do now. [But] last year, when I was at the Giro d’Italia presentation, and you see the list of guys who’ve won in the past, how big the race is, that it was the 100th edition last year, and you think about how this dude from Canada won it, it’s a pretty big deal.”

Breaking ground for Canada

As for his own chances of raising the bar on Hesjedal, Woods is realistic, recognising that he is several rungs down the ladder from realistically conceiving that. “The only way I can improve on that, personally, is to win myself, but that’s a tall task,” he argues. Rather, as Woods puts it, “I’d like to be a guy who’s consistently at the front of the race and not just a participant. Even at the Vuelta in 2017, I was starting to show glimpses of how I could get to the front of the race. I was up there with Froome and Contador on some of the shorter climbs.

“That was a nice step forward for me because I wasn’t hanging on for third or fourth or fifth. I was actually there, if that makes sense.”

Woods himself has huge grounds for renewed optimism after taking another breakthrough result, second in Liège Bastogne-Liège last week. His achievement equalled Canada’s best ever result in a Monument, when Steve Bauer took second in Paris-Roubaix back in 1990. It was also Canada’s first ever podium placing in La Doyenne, too.

But after hitting the heights in Belgium, Woods is keeping his feet on the ground about his chances in the Giro d’Italia, with his main goal remaining stage wins. The GC, whilst not forgotten, is somewhat less of an aim than it might have been had he not been sick this spring.

“I had a great day on Sunday, but I still want to focus on stages,” Woods says to Cyclingnews post-Liège-Bastogne-Liège. “There are several stages that favour my style as a racer and I just want to take the GC one day at a time.”

The general classification at the Giro d’Italia might have been a clearer goal had he not contracted rotavirus at the Tour of Abu Dhabi.

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“It must have been something in the buffets because several riders got sick and it hit me really hard, I ended up going to hospital and losing a bunch of weight,” Woods told Cyclingnews before Liège. “My confidence took a bit of a knock, it was not a good situation and it took me a while to bounce back. At Catalunya, I was on my hands and knees and then in Pais Vasco. I started to get a bit more momentum.

“I’m not going to try and lose time in the Giro GC, but I don’t have the same expectations on myself as I did in the offseason.”

Yet, compared with this time last season, when Woods had not even ridden a single Grand Tour, the Canadian is streets ahead in terms of both results and race experience, despite the steepness of the learning curve.

“Going into the 2017 Giro, I had no expectations placed on my shoulders, maybe going after a stage win. That’s how we approached it, I came really close on stage six, I won from the group but the break managed to stay away.

“Still, I managed to set Pierre [Rolland] up for a win on stage 17, and that was really special. But the Giro was more a race that opened up my eyes to what I was capable of and how much deeper I was able to go. It set me up for the Vuelta.”

Learning lessons

Now into his third Grand Tour, Woods has some benchmarks when it comes to rating this year’s Giro’s route. “[It’s] not as insanely difficult as last year, even if each Grand Tour is still hard. Mentally, dealing with such a long period of time and distance is always a challenge regardless of the course,” he says.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/woods-aiming-to-give-canadians-someone-to-cheer-for-again-at-giro-ditalia

Klein wins prologue at Festival Elsy Jacobs

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Cayon-SRAM's Lisa Klein claimed the first leader's jersey of the Festival Elsy Jacobs on Friday, narrowly besting Dutch rider Amy Pieters (Boels Dolmans) on the short, technical course in Luxembourg City. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Cervelo Bigla) was third.

"It was a good course and very nice to hear the people cheering at the side of the road," Klein said. Last year, the German was second in the prologue and ended the weekend fourth overall, but hopes to improve on that result this year. With three teammates in the top 20 - Alexis Ryan in eighth, Alena Amialiusik in 12th, and Hannah Barnes in 17th and only seconds separating the bulk of the field, anything can happen.

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"We are very strong and we have a number of cards we can play over the next two days," Klein said.

Stage 1 is 97.7km long, starting and finishing in Steinfort.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/festival-elsy-jacobs-2018/prologue/results

Tour de Romandie: Bernal wins stage 3 time trial

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Egan Bernal (Team Sky) won stage 3 of the Tour de Romandie after he mastered the mountain time trial at Villars, while Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) produced a storming performance in the final kilometres to place second on the stage and retain the yellow jersey of overall leader.

Roglic recouped ground in the finale to limit his losses on Bernal to 4 seconds, and thus carries a lead of 6 seconds over the Colombian into the final two days of racing, while Richie Porte (BMC Racing Team) now lies third overall, 27 seconds down.

Friday's 9.9km test was a difficult one to gauge, but Bernal seemed to pace his ride perfectly on the road from Ollon. Porte had the quickest time at the 4.5km mark, and when Bernal came through the same point some 9 seconds down, it looked as though the Australian was set for the stage victory.

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Bernal took flight on the upper slopes, however, and he would recoup considerable ground by the summit. He rose repeatedly from the saddle in the closing kilometres and hit the finish line some 18 seconds quicker than Porte to depose the Australian from the hot seat. Bernal explained afterwards that he had raced according to his power-meter, and was not influenced by the time checks he heard out on the course.

"My coach told me you need to do your own numbers. It doesn't matter about the times of any other riders," Bernal said. "I just tried to do my numbers and I won, and I am so happy for that."

Even with six riders left to finish, it was already clear that only Roglic could deny Bernal the stage win. The race leader reached the checkpoint some 18 seconds behind Porte and nine behind Bernal, but he dosed his effort well over the closing kilometres. Although he was unable to prevent Bernal from winning the stage, Roglic did enough to retain his yellow jersey and maintain his hopes of final overall victory.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-de-romandie-2018/stage-3/results

Tour of Chongming Island: Charlotte Becker wins stage 2 from breakaway

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Stage 2 of the Tour of Chongming Island produced a surprising breakaway win. The sprinters' teams miscalculated, letting a group of five go too far up the road, from which Charlotte Becker (Hitec Products-Birk Sport) won the sprint and took the overall lead of the race. 

Shannon Malseed (Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank) finished second and Anastasia Iakovenko (BTC City Ljubljana) third, with Dalia Muccioli (Valcar PBM) and Coralie Demay (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) the other members of the break.

The 121.3km stage included the highest point of the whole race, but this was at the altitude of only 60 metres on a bridge crossing to Chongming Island from neighbouring Changxing Island, which hosted the start of the stage. Lucy Garner took the sole mountain point and is now certain to win the polka-dot jersey if she finishes stage 3 tomorrow.

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The first intermediate sprint after 37.7km was won by Jolien D'hoore (Mitchelton-Scott) ahead of yellow jersey Giorgia Bronzini (Cylance Pro Cycling) and Chloe Hosking (Alé Cipollini). Only halfway into the race did an attack stick when Malseed initiated a breakaway together with Becker, Iakovenko, Demay, and Muccioli.

The quintet continually increased their advantage on the peloton and a group of three chasers that were stuck in no-man's-land for much of the stage, but never got to the front. The second intermediate sprint was won by Becker ahead of Malseed and Iakovenko. With 27km to go, the gap was at its maximum of 3:34, and the peloton faced a frantic chase to bring back the escapees.

But the breakaway riders worked together well and lost ground only slowly. Though Muccioli stopped taking turns and only sat on at the back of the group in the last 12km, the other four continued their cooperation all the way to the finishing straight. The chase in the peloton was led by Wiggle High5, Mitchelton Scott, and Cylance Pro Cycling, but the escapees' teams, especially Hitec Products-Birk Sport and Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank, did their best to disrupt the chase.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-chongming-island-2018/stage-2/results

Bernal wins stage three of Tour de Romandie, Roglic leads

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Primoz Roglic retains the leader's yellow jersey in the Tour de Romandie but is beaten on the third stage by Colombian Egan Bernal.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/43928512

Giro d'Italia: Chris Froome defiant despite looming salbutamol case

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Chris Froome has told Cyclingnews he believes he will be fully exonerated when his ongoing salbutamol case finally reaches a conclusion.

Froome has to justify why double the permitted level of salbutamol was found in an anti-doping control at the Vuelta a España but he insists he has done nothing wrong. While his legal team fight his case with the UCI, Froome is focused on targeting both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France this summer to become the first rider of his generation to ever win three consecutive Grand Tours.

Froome came across as quietly defiant and determined during when he spoke with Cyclingnews before the Giro d'Italia.

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Normally soft-spoken and polite, Froome's voice and body language change when he is asked about his salbutamol case. He would rather talk about bike racing than revealing details of his legal defence, convinced that his case should never have been made public.

Despite risking a ban from competition if his salbutamol case is declared an anti-doping rule violation, Froome insists he is not thinking about losing any of the results he may secure at the Giro d'Italia if he is eventually banned from competition, as was the case when Alberto Contador was stripped of his 2011 Giro win.

"I'm planning for the best-case scenario, to be fully exonerated, coming from the basis that I know I've done nothing wrong. That's what I'm planning for," Froome tells Cyclingnews sternly, limiting his answers to questions about his case but showing determination in his body language and words that suggested he believes he has not done anything wrong.

Going for the Froome Slam

A brutal Giro d'Italia, a Grand Tour of Classics

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/giro-ditalia-chris-froome-defiant-despite-looming-salbutamol-case

Tour de Romandie: Mountain TT - Preview

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Stage 3 of the Tour de Romandie sees the riders tackle the 9.9km mountain time trial from Ollon to Villars. Primoz Roglic carries the yellow jersey into the stage but Rohan Dennis, Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas are among the challengers. Philippa York runs the rules over a day that is likely to prove pivotal.

Distance: 9.9 kilometres
Elevation: 785 metres
Average Gradient: 7.9 per cent

You would think that a mountain time trial would be every climber's dream stage but, like most things at WorldTour level, while it might look ideal on paper, not every member of the genotype copes with the special demands that this event requires.

If the same climb was the final ascent of a road stage then how the climb is tackled, and the unfolding race situation, would be completely different to today's stage. That's because the ability required to win directly against another rider, or a group of riders, isn't the same as what the lone effort requires.

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This Tour de Romandie stage will be a perfect indication of the difference between the explosive climbers and the guys who can climb at a high pace but won't necessarily be capable of following a big acceleration. And that's the key to riding this stage; no brutal changes in pace and - even more importantly - no going into the red before the finish line is close.

On a road stage there are a couple of options for the explosive climber but here, with such a steady gradient, the only one successful tactic is to take on the climb with a steady pace. That's not in the toolkit for everyone, hence my expectation that the winner, and probably the next race leader - although I doubt Primoz Roglic will crumble - will be one of the time trial specialists who can also climb in a very respectable manner. 

There are no ridiculous ramps and no tight hairpins to rest on, so for guys who work best with some out of the saddle time, this route isn't going to suit them. It'll be a grind, sitting down for the majority and, since it's only 10 per cent at its hardest, a good aero position will have an influence too.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tour-de-romandie-mountain-tt-preview

Third time the charm? George Bennett returns to the Giro d'Italia

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They say the third time is the charm, and George Bennett will hope that's the case when it comes to the Giro d’Italia in a week’s time. Although the Kiwi says he loves competing in Italy, the corsa rosa has not been a kind mistress to him.

Bennett will line up in Jerusalem next Friday as LottoNL-Jumbo’s general classification leader, and he is counted among the favourites, particularly after a strong ride at last week’s Tour of the Alps. It is a far cry from his first appearance at the race in 2013, his debut Grand Tour, where he finished a lowly 122nd overall.

"It was the worst three weeks of my life," Bennett tells Cyclingnews. "I managed to over-train myself at the Sierra Nevada. I started the camp being a hero and I finished it being the worst rider. I went to Romandie and I was last every day, and then I went to the Giro and I was shit. I just had the worst time. You learn a lot about what not to do."

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The record books will show that Bennett has only ridden the Giro d’Italia once before, but he was on the start list of another. He was set to line out at the 2015 edition but was pulled from the team on the eve of the race when a regular test by the Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Crédible (MPCC) showed that he had low cortisol levels.

Low levels of cortisol can be indicative of cortisone use as well as other health uses, and MPCC rules dictate that riders must be removed from racing if they register levels below the norm. Bennett worried that his reputation could be tarnished and underwent a series of tests to prove he hadn’t done anything untoward, with LottoNL-Jumbo soon leaving the MPCC.

"At the time I was upset about the Giro but I was more concerned about my reputation," Bennett says. "We worked very closely with this guy who used to run a WADA lab and was one of the leading anti-doping experts in the world. We went to somewhere in Maastricht and did the testing, and we measured my cortisol. You piss in a cup for three days. They measure everything and they relate it to everything and then they say you have not taken cortisone.

Chris Froome case

Breaking through

Building to the Giro d'Italia

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/third-time-the-charm-george-bennett-returns-to-the-giro-ditalia

Hagens Berman Axeon's Specialized Allez Sprint Comp - Gallery

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An entire generation of professional cyclists have now grown up, raced on, and perhaps even retired using exclusively carbon road bikes. However, US Pro Continental outfit Hagens Berman Axeon are showing that you don't need the latest and greatest carbon bike in 2018 by riding Specialized's Allez Sprint Comp frameset to victories in Europe and the US already this season.

Initially the Trek-Livestrong development team in 2009, Hagens Berman Axeon has evolved to one of the top developmental squads in the sport with alumni including Taylor Phinney, Ben King, Sam Bewley, Alex Dowsett, Ian Boswell, Jasper Stuyven, Tao Geoghegan-Hart, Logan Owen, Neilson Powless, Chris Lawless, and Jhonatan Narvarez, all of whom now race at the WorldTour level.

Headed up by former professional Axel Merckx since the team's inception, now in its 10th year, the team has shown a longevity that perhaps puts bigger and wealthier WorldTour teams to shame, and a continued success in its objective to consistently develop WorldTour riders.

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Previously racing on bikes from Trek and Cipollini, the team is on Specialized framesets for the third consecutive season in 2018, and while the Hagens Berman Axeon squad have previously raced on S-Works Tarmac full carbon framesets, they've have switched to the aluminium Allez Sprint Comp this year in a move to make the sport appear more accessible for younger, aspiring racers.

Hagens Berman Axeon pair the framesets with a full SRAM Red eTap groupset and Zipp provides the 454 NSW wheels and cockpit components, while Specialized also supply the team with tubular tyres and saddles.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/hagens-berman-axeons-specialized-allez-sprint-comp-gallery

Festival Elsy Jacobs start list

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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/festival-elsy-jacobs-start-list

Froome taking 'risk' by attempting Giro-Tour double

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Chris Froome concedes he "would regret it for the rest of his life" if he did not take "a risk" to try and win May's Giro d'Italia before defending his Tour de France title.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/43922630

Tour de Romandie: De Gendt wins in Yverdon-les-Bains

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Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) added to his portfolio of breakaway wins on stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie, going clear in the opening kilometres with four others before dropping them all in turn to celebrate a solo victory in Yverdon-les-Bains.

Sonny Colbrelli, whose Bahrain-Merida teammates had led a panicked chase, took second place from the bunch, which came in just over two minutes down, while Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale) finished third.

De Gendt, one of a dying breed of breakaway specialists, once again showed himself to be adroit in picking out the right days and moves. Thursday's 174km trip from Delémont to Yverdon-les-Bains was, on paper, the only real chance for the sprinters at the Tour de Romandie, but an upset was on the cards when the Belgian went clear on the early climb of the Col des Rangiers with Nathan Brown (EF-Drapac), Andrey Grivko (Astana), and Matteo Fabbro (Katusha), and - crucially - his own teammate Victor Campenaerts.

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As the roads undulated over the subsequent 80 kilometres, the gap back to the peloton yawned out to nearly eight minutes, and once up and over the second-category Col des Etroits - where Grivko was dislodged - they took to the undulating 35km finishing circuit with a lead of five minutes. For reference, De Gendt had predicted at the start of the day that two minutes might suffice at that point.

After burying himself for his teammate, Campenaerts was soon dropped, while De Gendt made use of the second of three uncategorised climbs to drop Brown with 25km remaining.

From there, with the gap still at well over four minutes, victory was pretty much a formality, though it remained to be seen if the leader’s jersey would change hands. De Gendt had started the day just over three minutes down on Primoz Roglic’s (LottoNL-Jumbo) overall lead and the GC teams committed riders to the cause in the latter stages, though the greater threat was probably Brown, who'd started the day just 26 seconds down. In the end, the American was caught in the final kilometre.

How it unfolded

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-de-romandie-2018/stage-2/results

Bronzini wins opening stage at Tour of Chongming Island

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Giorgia Bronzini (Cylance Pro Cycling) won the first stage of the sprinter-friendly Tour of Chongming Island after a finale that was marred by two big crashes. Kelly Druyts (Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport) and Silvia Persico (Valcar PBM) rounded out the podium. Bronzini is the overall race leader ahead of stage 2.

The first stage of the three-day race was held entirely on the island in the mouth of the Yangtze river, just north of Shanghai, that the race is named for. The highest point on the 111.5 kilometres starting and finishing at Chongming Xincheng Park was below 20 metres, so a mass sprint was widely expected.

The sprinters' teams held the peloton together in the beginning. Kirsten Wild (Wiggle High5) won the first of two intermediate sprints after 29km ahead of Jolien D'hoore (Mitchelton Scott) and Chloe Hosking (Alé Cipollini), taking valuable bonus seconds.

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A mountain sprint was also included in the stage, held on a slight rise after 54.6km. It was won by Lucy Garner (Wiggle High5) who will wear the polka-dot jersey in tomorrow's stage 2. Not long afterwards, about a dozen riders broke free of the peloton. Their advantage grew only slowly and was just below one minute with 35km to the finish. It was mainly Wiggle High5 who controlled the race for Wild.

From the break, Jutatip Maneephan (Thailand Women's Cycling Team) won the second intermediate sprint ahead of Claudia Koster (Team Virtu Cycling) and Ingrid Drexel (Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank). As the break entered the last 30km, the peloton had relaxed a bit, and the gap increased to 1:44 minutes.

Wiggle High5 took over at the front of the peloton again and quickly reduced the gap. With 18km, escapees Charlotte Becker (Hitec Products-Birk Sport) and Karalina Savenka (Minsk Cycling Club) made a last attempt to hold off the peloton, but they too were caught after a short while.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-chongming-island-2018/stage-1/results

Tour of Chongming Island Women's WorldTour - Start list

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You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tour-of-chongming-island-womens-worldtour-start-list

Giro d'Italia: The apotheosis of Marco Pantani

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Marco Pantani's victory at the 1998 Giro d'Italia marked the apotheosis of his roller-coaster career, the sporting high-point of his tragic life story and the final moment of uninhibited, innocent celebration of a national sporting hero in Italy.

Pantani went on to win the 1998 Tour de France and so completed a historic Grand Tour double. But that race was marked by the Festina Affair, doping raids, arrests, scandals and a feeling that things finally had to change. It was the end of a doping era, even if Lance Armstrong quickly ushered in another.

The 1998 Giro d'Italia was Pantani's personal Icarus moment, before his dramatic downfall precisely a year later when he failed a haematocrit test in Madonna di Campiglio and was disqualified from the race while wearing the maglia rosa. Soon after he started to use cocaine, lost the desire to race and train, blamed everyone but himself for his problems, and started a downward spiral that would ultimately lead to his death on St Valentine's Day in 2004.

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Twenty years on from the 1998 Giro d'Italia and 14 years since his death, Pantani remains an almost legendary figure in Italy. His mother Tonina is still fighting to defend her son's honour but has gradually moved from denying to accepting that her son probably took EPO like most other riders in the 1990's. Pantani's death stopped him from growing old and revealing what really happened during his tumultuous career. His teammates and friends remain in embarrassed silence, preferring to let Pantani rest in peace.

Everything was so different and so naturally joyful for the tifosi in May, 1998. EPO abuse was widespread, despite the introduction of the haematocrit test, but Pantani seemed untouchable. The full extent of the use of EPO and other doping methods was still mostly unknown to the Italian public at the time. They only saw Pantani's melancholic smile and admired his ability to attack all his rivals in the mountains and solo away to victory. He was considered a skinny, climbing David, taking on the Goliaths of the Grand Tours. He was someone to cheer for, a nice guy who was losing his hair even in his twenties, who had risen from his humble roots on the Adriatic coast to inspire a generation and a nation.

Taking on Zülle, defeating Tonkov

Pantani in Rosa

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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/giro-ditalia-the-apotheosis-of-marco-pantani

Cummings keeping calm in the eye of the storm

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Entering his 13th season as a professional, Steve Cummings is in new territory. With Tirreno-Adriatico scrapped from his programme his preferred race schedule for finding form took a serious hit. Despite climbing up the pecking order in the team, which allows such choice, he’s found himself all too often replacing teammates who are injured, sick or unavailable due to visa issues.

After a difficult Vuelta Catalunya and a slightly better Pais Vasco, he’s at his first Tour de Romandie. Again, it’s a circumstance driven more by the bad luck that Team Dimension Data has endured lately than a desire to do something different.

Catching up with him at the start of the first proper road stage he cuts a fine figure in his British national champion’s jersey, and having won both the TT and the road title last year there’s no problem of having to remember which kit comes out for race day. It’s rare that someone wins both events, and quite rightly he’s proud to be in a distinctive jersey.

“It’s very, very nice to be national champion. I’m just disappointed that I’m not in the right form so far to show it off,” he told me as we sat outside the team bus and caught up. 

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“I didn’t like the start of the season. First it was the programme and then we had injuries and I got a late call for San Remo and started but felt like I hadn’t raced. I was pretty loaded up with training before I got there and probably started tired because of the late call. To be fair to the team, the late call was due to the injuries.”

When you reach Cummings’ level of experience you’ve learned what works for you and what doesn’t, so though he understands the reasons for the changes to the programme, it’s a challenge not only for him but all at the team.

The necessity to keep filling in for absent teammates means his established methodology has been derailed, and, as he explains, so has his confidence. He’s not in bad shape - his prologue ride was similar to Dan Martin’s - but he feels he’s just missing that little bit of spark that makes the difference.

With the absence of core riders like Bernie Eisel, and the crashes affecting Mark Cavendish, the weight of team expectations now fall onto his shoulders. But ever the realist, he’s handling the stress by making sure he’s doing what he calls ‘the basics’ right.

“I’m eating well, sleeping well and racing as best I can, but I know I’m still a little bit short,” he said.

His grounded approach sounds reassuring, but as is the norm in a pro bike team, they want results, and with Cavendish temporarily side-lined, the management are beginning to ask questions of everyone involved.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/cummings-keeping-calm-in-the-eye-of-the-storm

Giro d'Italia: Simon Yates relishing leader's role with Michelton-Scott

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Britain's Simon Yates is hoping to make an impact in the general classification standings at next month's Giro d'Italia

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/43908466

Tina Pic: The unlikely queen of the criterium

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Tina Mayolo-Pic's name is one that is synonymous with criterium racing, sprinting, and stars-and-stripes jerseys. With a career that spans nearly 25 years, she is one of the most successful cyclists to come out of the US and has an illustrious resume that includes a record six US professional criterium titles.

In an interview with Cycingnews, Pic discussed her decision to continue racing at the elite level into her 50s, despite a brief retirement in 2009, and the support of her husband, Chris Pic. She also highlighted a hard-to-pick list of five of the most memorable criteriums of her career.

It's hard to believe, but Pic wasn't always cagey or fast on a bike, and she says that she often couldn't even find the rhythm of a 60-minute criterium. She hasn't always been a bike racer either, which is also hard to believe because it seems like she's won hundreds of races since she started in 1994.

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She grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, and completed a Bachelor's Degree in Finance and Marketing from the University of Virginia. She finished the IRONMAN twice, worked at Club Med and then Molson for four years before enrolling at the University of Georgia with hopes of becoming an orthopaedic surgeon. She completed two years of post-graduate studies and then before medical school, decided to try cycling: it stuck.

"Here I am, in what feels like a million years later, still racing," Pic says. "I just love this sport. Sometimes I ask myself why I didn't continue with med school or why I'm still doing this, and I don't know the answer.

"Maybe it's the goals or the excitement. And you know what the funny thing is? The last thing I thought I would ever be was a criterium rider. I used to be so bad at criterium racing, so bad that my former teammates used to say 'she can't ride a criterium to save her life'.

Athens Twilight Criterium - victory in 2004

Gastown Grand Prix - Victory in 2016

Tour of Somerville (Mildred Kugler Women's Open) - Victories in 2000, 2006, 2008 and 2009

Clarendon Cup - Victories in 2006 and 2014

USA Pro Criterium Championships - Downers Grove: Victories 2002-2005, 2007 and 2009

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tina-pic-the-unlikely-queen-of-the-criterium

Tour de Romandie: Fraile wins in Delémont

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Omar Fraile took Astana’s 14th victory of the 2018 season after he beat beat Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) on stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie. Fraile went long on the run-in to the line Delémont and held off the Italian with Rui Costa taking third.

Astana have enjoyed a strong start to the season and dominated last week's Tour of the Alps. The Kazakh team looked determined to do something today and Dario Cataldo launched a brief attack near the top of the final climb with 11 kilometres remaining.

They had a second bite of the cherry after bringing back a number of late attackers in the final two kilometres with Fraile opting to kick out as they rounded the final corner. The Spaniard's surge of pace caught Colbrelli by surprise, who might have assumed he was the fastest rider remaining in the dramatically reduced peloton, and he quickly nudged in front of the Bahrain-Merida rider.

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"I am so happy with this win," Fraile said. "After the Classics I did not feel great, but today everything went well and I managed to do a good stage. In general, our team was super today, we did a strong race. After all these climbs we still had many riders in the leading group and my teammates did a big job for me."

Colbrelli did his utmost to overhaul Fraile, but the frenetic finish had taken its toll and he had to settle for second place. He fared better than race leader Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb), who was distanced on the final climb, leaving Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) in perfect position to take control of the general classification. He is equal on time with Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) while Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) sits in third place at four seconds.

"In the final part of the stage I realized our group can come to the finish for a sprint, so Dario Cataldo and Jakob Fuglsang worked hard to chase all attacks and to bring me in front," Fraile explained. "I knew Sonny Colbrelli was my biggest rival today since he is a very fast guy. So, I followed his wheel and started my sprint with around 300 meters to go.

How it happened

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-de-romandie-2018/stage-1/results

Tour of Romandie: Astana's Omar Fraile wins first stage of Tour of Romandie

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Astana's Omar Fraile edges a sprint finish to win the opening stage of the Tour of Romandie.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/43896537

Philippa York's Romandie prologue analysis

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The Tour de Romandie has a reputation of kicking off proceedings with an entertaining prologue. This 2018 edition was no different, and served up a technical course with descents, cobbled climbs and a blast across the historically important and wooden Pont de Berne.

The dilemma for the riders, and subject of much discussion beforehand, was which bike to use: the road bike for the cobbled parts or the TT machine, which suited almost all the rest of the course.

Having walked the sections of the course open to the public and media - certain narrow sections were closed for safety - my choice would have been the TT bike. Let me explain how I reached that conclusion.

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The downhill start was all doable on the lo-pro, the first two corners were bumpy but that was solved by a good turn-in point and line selection to avoid the worst sections. Then it was into a false flat that the roadies were riding out the saddle, using a bigger gear but one that didn't look any faster. The riders on their specialist time trial bikes spared themselves and saved energy by staying in the tuck and spinning a smaller gear quicker. Once over that section, the following descent down to the river allowed the time trial bikes to come into their own. The riders who opted for their TT machines looked notably faster. A tailwind and gentle descent helped make the most of the better aero positions but it also helped save energy before the final kilometre and the climb towards the line.

From the descent, riders were forced to brake going into another cobbled corner, race over the wooden bridge then move back down into their TT tuck before hitting the cobbles and the 15 per cent gradient. At that point, unless you're a strong Dutch or Belgian Classics type you had to sit in the saddle in order to get traction. So, while it might have been more comfortable to take on the cobbled climb on the road bike it wasn't fast enough to negate the advantage gained on the fast section by the river.

The real difference, however, was made on the flatter section just after the top of the climb as riders headed towards the finish line. By now everyone would have been on the limit and hurting but with the aero energy saving riders had a chance to get the last drops of power out. The best time triallists could stay seated, turning a lower gear until the final 100 metres of flattish sprint to the line. The TT bike definitely looked the way to go.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/philippa-yorks-romandie-prologue-analysis

Tour de Romandie: Matthews wins prologue

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Michael Matthews (Sunweb) won stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie after pipping Tom Bohli (BMC Racing) and Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) in the testing 4km time trial in Fribourg.

The surprising Bohli spent much of the afternoon in the hot seat after setting the quickest mark early on, and his closest challenger was his teammate Rohan Dennis, who finished just fractions of a second outside his time, good enough for fourth place come the end of the day.

Bohli was ultimately denied the biggest win of his career by Matthews, who delivered a perfectly-timed effort on the stiff climb to the finish to come home a second inside the Swiss rider’s mark.

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“It was a little bit of a surprise because I didn’t have such a good day in Liege on Sunday,” said Matthews. “I had one easy day yesterday and then straight back into it today. I didn’t know how my legs were going to feel but I just gave it my best and it was enough to win.”

It was Matthews’ maiden victory of a 2018 campaign that began on a trying note when he fractured his shoulder in his first race, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The Australian returned in time to place seventh at Milan-San Remo and battle in the cobbled Classics, but he endured further ill fortune when a late puncture ended his challenge at Amstel Gold Race.

A fine fifth place at Flèche Wallonne last week suggested that Matthews had hit something approaching top form, although he was some nine minutes off the pace in the finale of a tough Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday.

GC battle

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com

via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-de-romandie-2018/prologue/results

Michael Goolaerts: Cyclist's funeral held in Belgium

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Leading figures from the cycling world are among the mourners at the funeral of Belgian cyclist Michael Goolaerts.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/43888768

Tour of Romandie: Michael Matthews wins prologue, Geraint Thomas sixth

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Australian Michael Matthews wins the Tour of Romandie prologue as Team Sky's Geraint Thomas finishes five seconds behind in sixth.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/43885848

Giro d'Italia 2018: Chris Froome's Team Sky squad named

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Chris Froome leads Team Sky as Giro d'Italia race organisers announce the provisional start list for the 2018 edition, starting on 4 May.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/43882939

Top 10 contenders for the 2018 Giro d'Italia

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With just 10 days to go until the start of the Giro d’Italia, Cyclingnews begins its annual countdown to the first Grand Tour of the season. From here to the eve of the race on May 3 we’ll have a string of special features, interviews, and previews to build up to the big occasion.

We start with those who have designs on wearing the iconic maglia rosa and lifting the famous trofeo senza fine in Rome in a month’s time. 2017 champion Tom Dumoulin is back for more, and he’s joined on the start line by four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome in the first instalment of a hotly anticipated rivalry between the riders who shared last year’s Grand Tours.

Yet this is not just a case of Froome vs Dumoulin; Fabio Aru and Thibaut Pinot add proven Grand Tour pedigree to the start list, while there’s also a string of up-and-coming riders who may well come of age this May.

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Here are Cyclingnews’ top 10 contenders for the Giro d’Italia. 

Chris Froome (Team Sky)

2018 race days: 17
Wins: 0
Best result: 4th overall, Tour of the Alps

Chris Froome has reportedly been paid 1.4 million Euros to ride the Giro d'Italia, yet their star attraction brings with him a cloud of controversy as he prepares to take to the start line in Jerusalem 'subjudice' - that is, competing while his salbutamol case remains unresolved.

Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb)

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ)

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana)

Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates)

Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida)

Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott)

Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)

George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo)

Michael Woods (EF Education First-Drapac)

The best of the rest

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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/top-10-contenders-for-the-2018-giro-ditalia

Philippa York meets Allan Peiper

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Cyclingnews writer Philippa York is at the Tour de Romandie and will be doing a series of articles and podcasts this week. In the first installment, York sat down with former racer turned BMC Racing directeur sportif Allan Peiper to reminisce about the old times.

It's been almost a quarter of a century since we were both at a bike race together, the 1993 TdF to be exact. I was still a rider on the TVM team, racing what would be my final Tour but Allan Peiper was already retired and on the other side of the fence, trying to figure out what was going to replace the highs and lows of racing. It's a situation that comes to most riders because not everyone has the chance or wants to stay involved in the pro cycling world.

The adaption difficulties associated with the end of the athletic career are numerous but the lack of daily focus coupled with no more exercise-induced endorphins can mean a troubling period not only professionally but also in the personal lives of the newly retired. Just what can replace the sensations and passion of racing is a question that you don't or can't deal with until the day comes and pinning on a number is over. Suddenly every day is a grey one, no more excitement, no more adrenaline, and, probably the most difficult to manage, no more adulation.

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Institutionalised is maybe too strong a statement for the seasoned professional racer but there's a parallel with soldiers leaving the military and returning to Civvy street. Except they have people easing that transition via various organisations, the ex-rider, rich or poor, famous or not, is all too often left to their own devices.

Philippa York: I don't think I've seen you since 1995. No, 1992.

Allan Peiper: That's right. I stopped in 1992. I might have seen you at a Tour in the first couple of years after I stopped, in maybe 1993 or 1994, because I was doing some work for television then. Which was the Tour when you went the wrong way? Did you go into the deviation instead of the finish?

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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/philippa-york-meets-allan-peiper

Langvad doubles up in Sea Otter

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via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/sea-otter-classic-2018/xc-women/results

Cooper solos to Sea Otter victory

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via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/sea-otter-classic-2018/xc-men/results

Langvad shines in Sea Otter Short Track

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Rohrbach wins Sea Otter Short Track

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Britton takes his second Tour of the Gila overall victory

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Rob Britton (Rally Cycling) claimed his second Tour of the Gila victory on Sunday to go with his win there in 2015. Britton finished second on the final Gila Monster stage to Gavin Mannion (UnitedHeathcare) after the duo distanced the select lead group on the second-to-last climb of the day. Britton's teammate Kyle Murphy finished third on the stage.

In the general classification, Britton topped Mannion by 52 seconds, with Murphy climbing into third at 2:14.

Mannion and Britton bridged to a late move by stage 1 winner Oscar Sanchez (Canel's Specialized) and James Piccoli (Elevate-KHS) after a day of hard racing on the hilly course decimated the peloton. Britton and Mannion caught the lead pair just before the top of the second-to-last climb and then quickly dispatched them as they set out of the finish at Pinos Altos.

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"I knew he would ride to the line, and he knew I would ride to the line, so we pretty much didn't say anything and just TT'd from there on," Mannion said.

The effort paid off for both riders, as they finished 30 seconds ahead of Murphy and UnitedHealthcare's Daniel Jaramillo. Piccoli held on for fourth, while Sanchez faded to 13th, 1:29 back.

For Britton, the win is redemption from a tough European campaign earlier this spring.

How it unfolded

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Tour de Yorkshire: Anna van der Breggen, Katie Archibald & Dani Rowe to race

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Olympic champion Anna van der Breggen will race in May's Tour de Yorkshire, along with Britain's Katie Archibald and Dani Rowe.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/43868681

Cyclefest 2018: Elliot Baxter completes hat-trick of titles

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Former Commonwealth Games cyclist Elliot Baxter seals his third Cyclefest title after victory in the Grand Fondo.

via BBC Sport - Cycling http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/43865730

Hall wins Tour of the Gila overall

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More to come!

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Balsamo wins EPZ Omloop van Borsele

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Cullaigh wins Rutland - Melton Cicle Classic

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Ciccone wins Giro dell'Appennino

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