Ah, mechanical doping. It is real, to some degree. There have been people caught, but not in any major races that I am aware of. Why would someone do it? There are members of the press running around with infrared devices, allegedly, allowing them to see heat in frames. The bikes are checked and it is pretty hard to cover up a motor inside a bike. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/no-cases-of-mechanical-doping-at-the-tour-de-france-says-uci/ The UCI has confirmed that no cases of mechanical doping were discovered during the Tour de France after 3773 tests were carried out using the famous blue magnetic resistance tablet, with other checks done via thermal imaging in race and with x-rays at the end of a number of key mountain stages. Related Articles Thermal cameras to detect mechanical doping spotted mid-stage - Tour de France Shorts UCI uses X-ray machine to search for mechanical doping at the Tour de France UCI investigates possible bike fraud at cyclo-cross Worlds ADVERTISEMENT The UCI claimed that over 10,000 checks have now been carried out in different disciplines and in different gender and age categories. To date, only one case of mechanical doping has been revealed and sanctioned after a rudimentary hidden motor was discovered in one of the bikes of Belgian under 23 rider Femke Van den Driessche at the 2016 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Zolder in Belgium. That lead to her being given a six-year ban and a significant fine by the UCI Disciplinary Commission. The UCI and its Technical Manager Mark Barfield have tried to send out a strong message of deterrent to anyone thinking of using mechanical doping in the sport in recent months after reports that mechanical doping has been used in recent years in the professional peloton, with a difficult to find magnetic wheels apparently replacing hidden motors as the method of choice. Barfield came under fire from France Television programme Stade 2 and Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, who have investigated mechanical doping in depth. They suggested that Barfield had somehow disrupted a police investigation into mechanical doping by French police at the 2015 Tour de France by tipping off the CEO of Typhoon e-bike brand about the police activity and their search for ‘a Hungarian’, believed to be Stefano Varjas, who was working for Typhoon bicycles at the time and is considered the ‘mastermind’ of hidden motors in bikes. UCI President Brian Cookson claimed that the UCI has left no stone unturned as it tried to detect mechanical doping at the Tour de France
First stage of the Tour of Utah is complete. Looks like Dombrowski easily won it, with Bookwalter a near third. One of the more underrated domestic races, in my opinion. http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-utah-2016/ # Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 28:06:48 2 Michael Woods (Can) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 0:00:50 3 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:05 4 Frank Schleck (Lux) Trek Factory Racing 0:01:07 5 Christopher Horner (USA) Airgas-Safeway Cycling Team 0:01:09 6 Lachlan Norris (Aus) Drapac Professional Cycling 0:01:12 7 Natnael Berhane (Eri) MTN - Qhubeka 0:01:22 8 Daniel Martínez (Col) Colombia 0:01:41 9 Robbie Squire (USA) Hincapie Racing Team 0:01:46 10 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:01:50
No brakes, feet strapped in, fixed gear, inches aprat at 35mph? Awesome. Apparently the British team pursuit guys are breaking world records in practice, and as this powerhouse gang entrs the Olympic, can they lose? I think they are assured gold, multiple golds for Wiggo in all disciplines. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sal...aking-world-records-in-training-for-olympics/ Great Britain’s team pursuit coach Heiko Salzwedel has confirmed reports that the men's team have broken the world record in training and that his order for the qualifying round of the Olympic Games, which starts on August 11, will be Ed Clancy, Owain Doull, Steven Burke and Bradley Wiggins. The current world record was set by Great Britain at the London Games four years ago, when they set a time of 3:51:659. Related Articles Bradley Wiggins tips Chris Froome for Olympic glory Mark Cavendish: I'll make every pedal rev count for Rio Olympics Wiggins reflects on final Olympic Games - Video Salzwedel calls for Madison to return to Olympic programme - Track Worlds News Shorts Advertisement Mark Cavendish, who completes the endurance team and will ride in the Omnium, may still ride in the pursuit, according to Salzwedel, but a final decision will only be made during the Games. “They’re breaking the world record in training. That’s no secret and a couple of people have seen it. How much faster, I don’t want to elaborate,” Salzwedel told Cyclingnews just before leaving for Rio on Wednesday. The team held a pre-Olympic training camp in Newport, Wales, and used the local velodrome to prepare. “The camp has been a good environment and has provided some good memories for the riders from back in 2008 and 2012 when we used the same location,” Salzwedel added. Advertising If Wiggins and the team are to come away from Rio with their title successfully defended then they will need to see off the challenge from Australia. Their arch rivals inflicted defeat on home soil at the World Championships in London earlier this year, but Salzwedel insists that his team have moved on significantly since then. “Since the World Championships the riders have really stood up. Someone like Ed Clancy, for example, we don’t need to worry about his back injury anymore. He still has to do his extra exercises and has to pay attention but he’s really moved on. “I don’t know what the Aussies are Kiwis are doing. All I know is that we’re in a good place and riding at a high speed. It’s not just Ed who has improved. He’s back to where he was before his injury, if not better, but I’d say the other riders have all improved.” Salzwedel adds that it’s not just the riders who have upped their game. After the defeat to Australia in the final at the Worlds, Salzwedel was critical of some his own decisions but he has taken on board feedback from the riders and incorporated it into the team’s set-up. “I’m also learning to listen more and more to the riders and put their input into the programme. There’s a give-and-take and that’s helped our environment.” 'Cavendish can do the numbers' Cavendish heads onto the track after a hugely successful Tour de France in which he won four stages and wore the maillot jaune. He will target gold in the Omnium but Salzwedel still believes he has an important role to play in the team pursuit, despite the fact he will not ride the qualifying round. “We’ll see,” the German said when asked if Cavendish would ride in the later rounds. “He’s certainly capable so we’ll see if we include him. We’ll make a call on the day because it’s not something that you set in stone now. He certainly won’t do the qualification ride but we’re prepared for all eventualities. We’re prepared to include him, we’re prepared not to include him. We’re prepared to have Clancy as man one, we’re prepared to have Bradley as man two. We’ve gone through all kinds of scenarios. “As for Mark, it’s not a matter of numbers, it’s more about technique. He’s catching up with his lack of track miles but he’s an exceptional rider, which he proved at the Tour. He also brings a lot of high morale and he can do the numb
Indeed, those cobbles were brutal. The heat was brutal. Seemed to be some epic chaos with disorganized teams and no radios which lent itself to a flat out race. I was pulling for Nibali, but that does not seem to have worked out for him. Broken collar bone was the last diagnosis I read. http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/2016-olympic-games/olympic-mens-road-race/results/ Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium) won the gold medal at the end of a pulsating men’s road race at the Olympic Games in Rio after outsprinting Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) and Rafal Majka (Poland). Related Articles Van Avermaet: Olympic gold makes up for all the misses Nibali breaks collarbone in Olympic Games crash The trio only came together in the final kilometre after Majka looked on course to win the gold medal. The Pole had been away with Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) and Sergio Henao (Colombia) on the final and they looked set to contest the medals before Henao and Nibali both crashed on the technical descent. A chase group, that had been left behind on the climb came off the climb 20 seconds in arrears with Majka looking to secure a famous win. However, with the race almost set, Van Avermaet and Fuglsang moved clear and caught Majka with under two kilometres remaining. Inside the final kilometre, Majka pulled over, settling for bronze, with Van Avermaet simply having too much power and speed for the Danish rider. Julian Alaphilippe (France) led the remnants of the break home to take fourth in his first Olympics but the day, and the gold medal belonged to Van Avermaet, who married a tactically astute race with strong legs, bravery and luck – the perfect ingredients needed to win on such a day. Heading into the Games Van Avermaet had admitted to Cyclingnews that on his day, although not being a pure climber, he could match the best, and he proved that. First he weathered the early crashes and then he anticipated the key moves when he jumped into a group that contained Geraint Thomas, Sergio Henao, Fuglsang and several other riders on the penultimate lap. When Vincenzo Nibali and Fabio Aru led a raid on the descent of the climb and bridged up to the leaders, it looked as though Van Avermaet’s race might draw to a conclusion but he rode at his own tempo – even briefly losing contact during Nibali’s quick-fire attacks - before rejoining the break before the summit of the final climb. When Nibali attacked for the third, and then fourth time, dragging Henao and Majka with him, it looked as though the medals were secure but the Italian and the Colombian overcooked it on a corner during the final descent, leaving Majka in the lead but sorely exposed with still over 10 kilometres to go. The Polish rider had little option but to press on but when Van Avermaet and Fuglsang made contact the only question was whether the Belgian – the strongest sprinter on paper - would finish the job. After over six hours of racing, finally a dose of predictability, and the Belgian had won gold. How it unfolded The road race was one of the toughest in the history of the Olympic Games. The men raced 241.5 kilometres starting and finishing in Fort Copacabana. The peloton rode 38km along the coast to the first set of circuits. The first circuit took the riders on a 24.8km loop around Grumari Natural Park with short, pitchy climbs and a rough cobbled section. They completed that four times. They then tackled the more challenging Canoas/Vista Chinesa loop of 25.7km that included an 8.9km climb followed by a tricky descent. They completed this loop three times, and after the final ascent, they contested the descent and a flat 12km run-in to the finish line. A breakaway set off almost right off the start line with six riders: Simon Geschke (Germany), Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland), Svan Erik Bystrom (Norway), Michael Albasini (Switzerland), Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia) and Pavel Kochetkov (Russia). They initially gained seven minutes on the field, but that was later reduced to a more manageable five minutes along the first circuits of the road race. Back in the field, several crashes and mechanicals happened mainly over the circuit’s rough cobbled section. Water bottles flew from the cages off the riders’ bikes over the bumpy terrain, while teams Turkey and Belarus had riders go down. Others were pushed off the cobbles onto the sandy dirt at the side of the road. The six-man breakaway held a five-minute gap over the last of the Grumari Natural Park circuits, but it signified the beginning of an active main field behind. Stybar and Czech Republic split field over Grumari cobbles The Czech Republic with Zdenek Stybar, put pressure on the field that caused major splits during the last trip over the windy, cobbled section. Ian Stannard and Geraint Thomas kept the speeds high over the pitchy climbs and down the tricky descent, and among those in the new group were Chris Froome, Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), and Philippe Gilbert and Van Avermaet (Belgium). The activity in the field caused the gap to the breakaway to drop to three minutes.
Once the final crash happened, which was pretty unbelievable considering what was at stake, I was rooting for Majka, all the way. There really was nothing else he could have done to stay ahead of Van Avermaet and Fuglsang, but he did he give it his all. Just watching him in the last 5km was exhausting in itself. You could almost see the lactic acid burning him up. I don't think he would have been too disappointed, within reason, with a bronze. Especially considering his excellent performances in the Tour. The course was both savage and utterly beautiful. Those drains running parallel to the streets on the descents looked horrid. Irishman Dan Martin claimed the Olympic road race was the most difficult day in my career'. Which is a testament to the victory by Van Avermaet. Magnificent race.
Annemiek Van Vleuten's crash in Women's Road Race. Warning! Quite graphic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp08WGXEGa4 The GB team manager was raging after the race at the lack of safety precautions, on what is considered to be one of the most dangerous Olympic course to date. Yesterday, in the men's race Vincenzo Nibali broke both collar bones on the same final descent. Both Nibali and Van Vleuten were in the gold position with under 10km to go to the finnish. They were two amazing races, but at too high a cost.
Nasty crash. Concussion and three fractures in her spine. It looks like there is an outside bank to the corner where she crashed. American Mara Abbott, who passed her after she went down, ultimately finished out of the medals. http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp...-abbott-of-u-s-just-1470600539-htmlstory.html Anna van der Breggen made it back-to-back golds for the Netherlands in the women’s Olympic road race. It took everything she had to do it. Van der Breggen joined Sweden’s Emma Johansson and Elisa Longo Borghini in a frantic race to catch American rival Mara Abbott, sweeping her up within sight of the finish line, then had just enough kick to win the sprint along Copacabana Beach on Sunday. Van der Breggen thrust her arms in the air as thousands of fans lining the course roared approval, and a light mist that had been threatening for hours finally began to fall. It would have taken a downpour to dampen her spirits. She was greeted moments later by Marianne Vos, who won the race at the London Olympics in 2012, the compatriots wrapping themselves in the Dutch flag. Abbott coasted across in fourth in another shattering disappointment for the United States, which entered the race as arguably the strongest team. American rider Shelley Olds was in position to medal four years ago before a puncture on the run-in to the finish line cost her. In Abbott’s case, it was simply a matter of tired legs. The climbing specialist shattered most of the field on the hard climb of Vista Chinesa, then stayed upright when Dutch race leader Annemiek van Vleuten crashed on the same ruthless downhill that claimed the leaders of the men’s race. Van Vleuten was conscious but there were no other reports on her health. Johansson added another silver to her one from Beijing in 2008. Borghini matched Imelda Chiappa’s performance at the 1996 Atlanta Games for the best finish by an Italian woman. World champion Lizzie Armitstead was among those dropped by Abbott on the final climb, though she chased hard enough to finish fifth. Katarzyna Niewiadoma of Poland was sixth, and Vos finished ninth — a strong performance after her 10-month hiatus because of injury. Unlike the men’s race, the women stuck together the first 100 kilometers, each attack quickly shut down by the powerhouse teams trying to set up their leaders. Lotte Kopecky of Belgium spent time off the front early, and Britain’s Emma Pooley tried in vain to animate the race. But the field was together again after two trips of the Grumari Circuit, where jarring cobblestones caused so much trouble in the men’s race. Seven riders sprung away in sight of Vista Chinesa, the hard climb and harrowing descent that helped crown Greg Van Avermaet a day earlier. Among them was Vos, Trixi Worrack of Germany and former road race world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot of France. The Americans missed the break and were forced to work hard to bring it back. Abbott accomplished it almost single-handedly, the world’s top climber quickly catching them as the race tilted uphill. She also succeeded in splintering the peloton, pushing a tempo so strong that Vos and Armitstead — the silver medalist at the London Games — slowly dropped off the pace. With stretches approaching 20% in grade, Abbott and Van Vleuten shook loose the survivors of the first part of the climb and turned it into a two-woman race on the slick downhill. On the last tight curve, Van Vleuten locked up her wheels and crashed hard off the road.
Armstrong, no, not that one, wins gold. She has had an amazing career, and wins her 3rd career gold. It always amazes me in long TT like this that there are mere seconds, in this case less than 6, that separates folks. http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/2016-olympic-games/olympic-womens-time-trial/results/ Kristin Armstrong (United States of America) made history to win her third Olympic gold medal with victory in the women's time trial in Rio Olympic Games on Wednesday. The American fought back to beat Olga Zabelinskaya (Russian Federation) by five seconds in a time of 44:26.42. The Russian, who returned to the sport in 2015 after serving an 18-month doping ban, had been leading the race at the second time check. Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands), who won gold in the women's road race on Sunday, was forced to settle for the bronze medal. Coming into the race Armstrong, who turns 43 a day after the race, had been among the favourites, and she started last along the 29.9-kilometre course. Riders, set off at 90-second intervals, along the wet and windy course that included two defining climbs of Grumari, and Grota Funda. Armstrong, who won gold in both the previous two Olympic time trials – in London and Beijing – started strongly, hitting the first time check after 10 kilometres in a time of 17:07:93, five seconds faster than the nearest competitor. However, at the second time check, at the top of the second climb of the race, Zabelinskaya had stormed into the lead, using the second climb of the race to kick-start her drive for the gold medal. She had Armstrong at two seconds at the 19.7-kilometre check, with Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) at nearly seven seconds back in third. On the approach to the line, Zabelinskaya had a nervous wait. She had posted the best time of 44:31:97, to sit top of the leader board and when world time trial champion Linda Villumsen (New Zealand) failed to beat her, only Armstrong remained with the Russian at least guaranteed a silver. However, Armstrong, who had been a controversial selection for the Olympic Games, stormed home to take her third gold medal, beating Zabelinskaya by five seconds and equalling Leontien van Moorsel’s record of three road gold medals. There was disappointment for former world time trial champion Ellen Van Dijk (Netherlands), who finished fourth. She was in contention for the medals but a mistake in the opening half of the race saw her ride off the road and lose precious time. Emma Pooley (Great Britain) who returned to full-time professional cycling with the Olympic time trial as her main focus had to settle for 14th place, over tw
Cancellara wins gold in the time trial. The Swiss spring classics expert seems to have capped off an amazing career with a second Olympics gold. http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/2016-olympic-games/olympic-mens-time-trial/results/ Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) closed his illustrious Olympic Games career with an emotional victory in the men's time trial. Cancellara put in a storming ride in Rio to beat pre-race favourites Tom Dumoulin (Netherland) and Chris Froome (Great Britain) with his time of 1:12:15. Related Articles It is the second Olympic time trial title for Cancellara, who took gold in Beijing eight years ago. Despite his pedigree in the discipline, Cancellara was by no means the favourite going in but he had shown that he was climbing well with a strong performance in the road race. Competing in the final Olympic time trial of his career, the Swiss rider was a man on a mission, posting the fastest time at the top of the Grumari climb by a hairs breath over Rohan Dennis (Australia). There was a brief blip at the second check, where he lost almost 25 seconds to Dennis, but that was quickly put behind him as he sailed back to the top by the time he hit the second lap. He would stay there right to the finish, demolishing the present fastest time of Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain) by over a minute. Cancellara had a few tense moments to see whether his time would actually be good enough to secure the gold medal. Dumoulin had pushed him close on a couple of occasions over the course but the flat run to the line proved enough for Cancellara to extend his advantage over the Dutchman to 47 seconds. Froome was the final rider to come complete the 54.6km course, but he had no answer to Cancellara and just slipped into third place. It was heartbreak for Castroviejo, who missed out on a medal by just four seconds. How it unfolded After clear skies and sunshine in the road race, there was no such luck for the time trial, with clouds blanketing the skyline and wind whipping up off the sea. The rain that had blighted the women's event had abated but the early riders were still subject to damp, drying roads. With two laps of the 29.9km circuit, the riders went off in two waves. First off the ramp was Namibia's Dan Craven, a late call-up after the departure of some injured riders. Only finding out that he would participate just days before, Craven lined up on his standard road bike with a helmet cover the only vestige of aero on his person. Craven's place in the time trial provided a nice tale in the early part of the time trial but the true story would come much later in the day. Leopold König (Czech Republic), one of the final starters in the first wave, set the early benchmark. He paced himself well on the opening lap, moving up the standings on the second loop and going fastest at the finish with his time of 01:15:23. With over 45 minutes separating the final rider of the first group and the first of the following group, König would have plenty of time to enjoy his time in the gold medal position. As the next group of riders passed through the opening checkpoint on the top of the Grumari climb, the Czech rider knew it wouldn't last. Cancellara was the surprise quickest rider at the 10km mark, considering the steepness of the Grumari climb, going just 0.67 seconds quicker than the next best rider Dennis. Cancellara inexplicably lost time at the second check, moving below Dennis and Dumoulin in the standings. Dumoulin had made a slower start to his time trial, perhaps affected by his wrist injury, but began clawing his way back over the second half of the circuit. Froome went into the time trial as the big favourite but he gave himself plenty to do, losing 30 seconds on the opening lap. Whatever had happened to Cancellara in the second half of the opening lap was dealt with by the time he approached the Grumari climb for the final time. The Swiss specialist and 2008 Olympic champion was a whopping 18 seconds clear of Dennis at the top. There was still some hope for Dennis, who was the first of the medal contenders on the road, until disaster struck on the flat run to the final climb of the day. The Australian's left aero bar broke, forcing him to change bikes. His mechanic was on the ball and had his replacement off the rack before the car had come to a halt but the time lost left his medal hopes hanging by a thread. Behind the Australian, Dumoulin and Froome were snapping at his heels, and he would slip off the podium at the 44-kilometre mark. There was no slip from Cancellara on the second lap and he would only extend his lead as he progressed through the course. In the end, nobody could get anywhere near the Swiss rider, who won by a country mile over his competitors. Full Results # Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) 1:12:15 2 Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) 0:00:47 3 Christopher Froome (Great Britain) 0:01:02 4 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spain) 0:01:06 5 Rohan Dennis (Australia) 0:01:10 6 Maciej Bodnar (Poland) 0:01:50 7 Nelson Oliveira (Portugal) 0:02:00 8 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spain) 0:02:06 9 Geraint Thomas (Great Britain) 0:02:37 10 Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) 0:02:40 11 Leopold Konig (Czech Republic) 0:03:08 12 Tony Martin (Germany) 0:03:18 13 Simon Geschke (Germany) 0:03:34 14 Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland) 0:03:40 15 Jan Barta (Czech Republic) 0:03:41 16 Georg Preidler (Austria) 0:03:47 17 Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) 0:03:50 18 Andriy Grivko (Ukraine) 0:04:18 19 Christopher Juul Jensen (Denmark) 0:04:34 20 Tim Wellens (Belgium) 0:04:34 21 Hugo Houle (Canada) 0:04:47 22 Taylor Phinney (United States of America) 0:05:10 23 Brent Bookwalter (United States of America) 0:05:42 24 Andrey Zeits (Kazakhstan) 0:06:32 25 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus) 0:06:43 26 Eduardo Sepulveda (Argentina) 0:06:52 27 Damiano Caruso (Italy) 0:07:31 28 Pavel Kochetkov (Russian Federation) 0:07:52 29 Alexis Vuillermoz (France) 0:08:28 30 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway) 0:08:57 31 Ghader Mizbani Iranagh (Islamic Republic of Iran) 0:09:24 32 Julian Alaphilippe (France) 0:12:25 33 Mouhssine Lahsaini (Morocco) 0:12:56 34 Ahmet Orken (Turkey) 0:15:22 35 Dan Craven (Namibia) 0:15:33 'I am mostly disappointe
But really, this is the race! This time he is going to win it! After several years of hearing that Van Garderen is the next great American cyclist, he seems to always have a reason to not have won. Crashes (legit), sickness (questionable), but I do think that there is a killer instinct maybe just lacking. Anyway, this time he is doing something different. Not going for the GC. Seems pretty odd for more of a rouleur. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-garderen-plans-radically-different-approach-to-vuelta-a-espana/ After the setbacks of the Tour de France and his bad crash in last year's Vuelta a Espana, BMC Racing Team's Tejay van Garderen has returned to the Spanish Grand Tour with a very different mindset to other seasons. One which, as he sees it, is different to any previous stage race he's done. Related Articles The American finished well below expectations in 29th place in the Tour de France, but last July arguably was even more disappointing, given van Garderen was forced to abandon ill when he was on target for a podium finish. Van Garderen then had a first-week crash in the 2015 Vuelta, his comeback race, fracturing his shoulder in the same massive pile-up in Murcia that saw Belgian rider Kris Boeckmans (Lotto-Soudal) end up in hospital in a coma, and Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) also pull out injured. Now, having just turned 28, van Garderen is back in the Vuelta for a third time - he also finished 34th in the Vuelta in what was his first-ever three week stage race in 2010 for HTC. But as the BMC Racing Team rider told a small group of reporters on Thursday afternoon, he plans on tackling the Spanish Grand Tour differently this time around. "This Vuelta has been an entirely different approach to just about any I've ever done," van Garderen said. "The goal is not going to be GC, so that's an entirely different scenario to anything I'm used to. "The GC for us will be for Samu' [Sanchez, BMC teammate] and I'm going to do what I can to help him and also hunt for breakaway
And the Vuelta is on. Saturday was a TTT as the first stage, which I prefer over a GC style ride as it makes the race much more competitive from the start, giving all of the top riders different times and motivation to catch up. Kwiatkowski leads the GC going into today, with a plethora of other top riders nearby or slightly back. Supossedly today's stage finishes with a brutal 13.5% climb. http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-2/results/ A rather sleepy opening road stage of the Vuelta a España ended with a frantic bunch sprint finish that featured a couple of crashes and ended with Etixx-QuickStep's Gianni Meersman proving himself quickest of the pack, ahead of Bora-Argon 18's Michael Schwarzmann and Magnus Cort of Orica-BikeExchange. Meersman's teammates bided their time very well coming into a tricky finish, Yves Lampaert and Zdenek Stybar hitting the front just 500 metres from the line. Sitting on the left-hand side of the road barrelling into the sweeping left-hander up to the finish, they were perfectly placed to set up Meersman, who jumped out of their slipstream and never looked likely to be beaten. Fourth place went to Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski, who was rewarded for duking it out with the sprinters by moving into the overall lead as he finished ahead of Sky teammate Pete Kennaugh, with whom he was tied on time following the opening team time trial. Two riders went down at high speed coming into the finish. Katusha's Sergey Lagutin crashed with 2.5km left as someone appeared to clip his wheel. The Uzkek remounted and finished under his own steam. Direct Energie's Ryan Anderson hit the deck heavily on the final bend and lay in the road for some time before being helped over the line on foot by team helpers. Even though the Vuelta field lacks any of the sport's major sprint names, this opening road stage was always likely to finish with a bunch gallop with just a single third-category climb on the route at midway. Yet that didn't prevent the usual group of hopefuls trying their luck with a long-range breakaway. After a flurry of early attacks, Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Argon 1 and Laurent Pichon (FDJ) managed to get clear after five kilometres and were quickly joined by Brian Naulleau (Direct Energie). Given free rein by the peloton, the three leaders pushed their advantage out to a maximum of 4-20 with 40 kilometres covered. Sky initially set the pace in the main group in defence of Kennaugh's red leader's jersey until Trek-Segafredo and Giant-Alpecin joined them with a view to setting up their sprinters, Niccolò Bonifazio and Nikias Arndt, respectively. After Pichon had taken the points atop the third-category Alto de Fontefria at the stage's mid-point to guarantee himself the polka dot jersey on stage three, Sky were once again at the head of the bunch, which was now just 2-35 behind. The peloton continued to reel in the lead trio to the extent that the three leaders almost raised the white flag with 68km left until the group decided that was too soon to make the catch. What had hitherto been a quiet stage finally came to life when former world champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC) attacked from the peloton on a steep uncategorised climb near Mos with 39km left. The Belgian champion quickly bridged up to the three leaders, giving their venture more impetus. For the next few kilometres the reinforced group at the head of the race were held at around 30 seconds by the peloton. Gilbert took the three-second bonus at the intermediate sprint with 18km remaining, putting him just four behind Kennaugh on GC as the sprinters' teams began to mass. The lead quartet's escapade ended very soon after, but the constant twists and undulations offered scope for another attack. Katusha's Tiago Machado was the first to move, accelerating away on a short but sharp climb with 12km left, but his break lasted barely 4km until he was swept
Aru in the lead, with plenty of other climbers hanging on within striking distance. Is Contador done with? The once great climber seems to have never fully regained form after his 2 year forced vacation, and now, at the end of his career, just seems to struggle to hang on to relevancy. http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/ Frenchman Alexandre Geniez won his second career Vuelta a Espana stage atop the Mirador de Ézaro with Movistar's Ruben Fernandez moving into the leaders' red jersey. The GC group of Alejandro Valverde, Chris Froome and Esteban Chaves were next across the line, followed by Nairo Quintana, while Alberto Contador lost more time to hurt his chances of a fourth career Vuelta victory. Stage 3 Results # Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ 4:28:36 2 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:21 3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:26 4 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 5 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-BikeExchange 6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:32 7 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Dimension Data 0:00:44 8 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:00:54 9 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff Team 10 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step General classification after stage 3# Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 9:16:07 2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:07 3 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:11 4 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-BikeExchange 0:00:17 5 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 6 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:00:46 7 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:47 8 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 0:00:51 9 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:58 10 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:01:01 Race organisers revealed the full route of the 2016 Vuelta a Espana, which will include 10 summit finishes - one more than the 2015 edition of the race. The race as a whole will be less mountainous than the previous year, but the majority of the harder stages are scheduled into the second week, which means that we could see a potential overall winner before the final week or the finale stage in Madrid. The final Grand Tour of the 2016 season will start with a 29.4km team time trial in Galicia in the north west of Spain, where the terrain is unforgivably undulating. The race then moves into the mountains of the Asturias region, into the Basque Country, a trip to the Pyrenees and into Aubisque. The climbing during the second week of the race will be the most decisive. After already completing four summit finishes, the peloton will embark on stage 10, the most difficult as it finishes on the Lagos de Covadonga, widely rated as one of Spain’s toughest single climbs. That ascent will be followed by climbs in subsequent stages over Peña Cabarga (a summit finish), Alto del Vivero in Bilbao, and summit finishes in Aubisque and Formigal. The final week will head through the south east regions Valencia and Alicante. It will include the final two summit finishes on in Mas de la Costa on stage 17 and on Alto de Aitana on stage 20. There is also a decisive 39km time trial on stage 19 that will finish in Calp, before the traditional sprint finish in Madrid. Fabio Aru (Astana) beat Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) in the 2015 Vuelta a Espana but won't defend his title. Final general classification for the 2015 Vuelta a Espana # Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 8:36:13 2 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:00:57 3 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:09 4 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:42 5 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica GreenEdge 0:03:10 6 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:03:46 7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:06:47 8 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky 0:07:06 9 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:07:12 10 Louis Meintjes (RSA) MTN - Qhubeka 0:10:26
And some guy I have never heard of won the stage! Indeed, some first year pro managed to ace a few top riders out of a stage. Froome remains 0:33 back, with Quintana 6 seconds behind him. http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/ First year neo-pro Lillain Calmejane won his first grand tour stage atop the Alto Mirador de Veixia for France's second win in as many days. For Direct Energie, it was its first WorldTour victory since 2013. Calmejane held off Darwin Atapuma who missed out again on a stage win in a three-week race but had the leader's red jersey waiting for him. In the battle for the overall, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) remains the best placed rider with Ruben Fernandez the biggest mover in the top-ten, dropping from first to seventh. Stage 4 Brief Results # Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie 4:05:19 2 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing Team 0:00:15 3 Benjamin King (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 4 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:19 5 Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:23 6 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:24 7 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:33 8 Chad Haga (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:37 9 Jaime Roson (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:40 10 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Argon 18 0:00:42 General classification after stage 4# Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing Team 13:23:10 2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:29 3 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:33 4 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-BikeExchange 0:00:39 5 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 6 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:01:08 7 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:11 8 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 0:01:13 9 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:15 10 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:01:23
Quintana briefly held the overall, after a stunning trouncing of Froome on Saturday, but lost it yesterday to De La Cruz. Quite the exciting race. http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-9/results/ David de la Cruz gave Etixx-QuickStep its third stage victory of the Vuelta a España, also parlaying the day's successful breakaway into the overall race lead. It was the Spaniard's first professional win. De la Cruz was the best placed rider in the 12-man breakaway, and escaped with Dries Devenyns (IAM Cycling) on the Alto del Naranco, the final climb of a five-mountain day. Devenyns suffered a miss-shift at a critical moment and De la Cruz leapt away to take out a spectacular home soil victory. He now leads the overall by 22 seconds on Nairo Quintana and his Movistar teammate Alejandro Valverde by 41 seconds. "It way my objective today but to be honest, I wasn’t thinking about the race leadership towards the end. I was just thinking about winning the stage," De la Cruz said. "It was very hard to ride with Devenyns because he was very hard to beat. I can’t believe that I won. "I felt good sometimes, other times I didn’t feel so good and I didn’t think that I would have enough to finish it off, with so many good riders in the break. I thought to myself, ‘let’s try and go to the end’ and I won. I’ve been close a few times and I’ve not won - but today I got the stage and the race lead, so let’s see how long we can keep it." Devenyns was disappointed not to have added to his team's success in the race, but said de la Cruz was simply stronger. "I'm disappointed. This was a great opportunity," Devenyns said according to Sporza.be. "We rode with a nice group. "The collaboration with De La Cruz went well, but in the end, certainly in the last kilometer, he was just stronger. I'm more of a puncheur. He simply climbs better than me. I'm going to try to get in an escape in the later stages still, but now I am mainly disappointed." Movistar's Ruben Fernandez, who led the race after stage 3, was not worried that the team had lost the red jersey.
Quintana attacks and takes the lead back. Good lord this guy can climb. Whatever was wrong with him during the TdF seems to have passed. In this climb heavy Vuelta, I am not sure anyone can keep up with him. http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-10/results/ Nairo Quintana (Movistar) won stage 10 of the Vuelta a Espana atop Lagos de Covadonga and took back the leader’s red jersey by distancing all of his overall rivals in a show of strength on the 12-kilometre climb to the line. Quintana attacked his rivals with a clear show of strength and then danced up short final climb after the flat road along the lakeside, catching and dropping Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo), who had been part of the day’s 16-rider attack. The Colombian pushed hard all the way to the line to gain precious seconds on his rivals. Chris Froome (Team Sky) opted not to follow the early pace on the climb and was distanced with nine kilometres to go but then produced a personal time trial and huge effort on the way to the finish. He swept up and swept past many of his rivals but could not catch Quintana. Gesink proudly attacked Froome to take second place but Froome limited his losses to just 25 seconds after looking in serious trouble early on the climb. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) attacked first and went away with Quintana with five kilometres to go but later paid for his effort when Froome caught him. He cracked as he tried to push a big gear and finished eighth, 1:05 behind Quintana. The Movistar leader now leads teammate Alejandro Valverde by 57 seconds, with Froome up to third at 58 seconds. Esteban Chaves (Orica-Bike Exchange) fought hard to finish ahead of Contador and is fourth at 2:09. Contador is fifth at an ever more distant 2:54. Quintana pulled on an oversized race leader’s jersey on the podium but was happy to be back in charge and back in red after a under-par Tour de France. "What I felt today gives me more confidence to keep fighting and defending this jersey. I had very good sensations, my team worked really well, and I was motivated to win the stage. I’ve always dreamt of winning here, and today I’ve managed to do it," Quintana said post stage. "I felt good. I saw that there weren’t many of us left, then the attacks came and I went with Alberto. Froome is still very close when you look at what’s to come. We’re going to have to keep doing what we’ve been trying to do up until now to distance him further because with that time gap he’s still the favourite. I’ve always have confidence in my ability. At times I’m better, at other times worse. But at the moment I feel better than him and that’s a real bo
Interesting point. Riders know exactly what their maximum sustainable wattage is, running at it during racing. They know how much power they can put out and how many calories they need to take in to maintain it, making things a bit predictable. Why not ban power meters, mixing it up a bit? http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/quintana-calls-for-power-meters-to-be-banned-from-racing/ Vuelta a España leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar) has called for power meters to be banned from competition, a move backed by his teammate Alejandro Valverde, who currently lies second overall. "They take away a lot of spectacle and make you race more cautiously," Quintana said. "I'd be the first in line to say they should be banned." "I think they’re really useful for training, but they take out a lot of drama from the sport," added Valverde. "In competition you should be racing on feelings." Quintana and Valverde made their joint call during Tuesday's rest day press conference in the Vuelta, 24 hours after Quintana regained the overall lead thanks to a spectacular solo win at the Lagos de Covadonga. He is now 57 seconds ahead of Valverde, with Chris Froome (Team Sky) in third, at 58 seconds. For some, the Movistar duo's comments may add spice to their sporting rivalry with Froome, who is felt by some to rely heavily on power meter data when tackling climbs. As Froome told reporters on Monday and repeated at his own Tuesday press conference, however, his climbing strategy of riding at his own pace at Lagos de Covadonga had been based mainly if not entirely on his sensations, rather than on data from his power meter. “I was riding more by feeling today,” Froome said after stage 10, where he had ridden at his own pace very successfully to limit the damage caused by Quintana's attack. “I was just riding with what I felt I could do on the climb in the most efficient way to get up there and not to lose even more time.” Speaking on the rest day, Froome said: "The power meter's there and I'm aware of the numbers I'm doing, but at the end of the day it is more on feeling and I've got to judge that." Third week Quintana's comments came after he had repeated that he would have to take more time on Froome should he wish to win the Vuelta, although he was cautious when it was put to him that he could improve in the third week of the Spanish Grand Tour, as he has done previously in other big stage races. "Normally that's true," Quintana observed, "but at this point in the season, it's late, we've got a lot of kilometres in our legs, and I have no real idea how I will go in the third week. All I know is I have to make the most of my good moment. "For example tomorrow's stage that finishes the Peña Cabarga, there may not be very big time gaps, although if I'm feeling good, I could maybe get some time." As for Froome, Quintana noted: "His form is good, he's racing in his own way, and he's going very steadily and then getting better and better on the climbs. So I have to keep a very close eye on what he does." Quintana said that he is recovering quickly from his crash early on stage 10, "although it still hurts a bit." He was still upset, he added, at having to sacrifice the Olympic Games in order to recover better from the Tour de France and build for the Vuelta. "But it was for the best and I knew my teammates and compatriots could make the most of this situation. It was looking good for us and the medals too [in the road-race], until Sergio [Henao] was unlucky enough to crash." Going to Rio, Quintana explained, would not have helped his Vuelta preparation. "Getting a stage win here at Covadonga was very good for my morale." In another intriguing comment, Quintana also revealed that he is weighing up a possible attack on all three Grand Tours in one year, as his teammate Alejandro Valverde has done this season. "At the moment I have other objectives, but it's something that has attracted my attention," he said, while Valverde noted with a grin that racing the Giro, Tour and Vuelta is not something he would repeat in 2017. "At my age, once is enough. It's a real challenge, an interesting one, and I don't know how I'll go in the third week, but I'm 36, and that's as far as it goes," Valverde said. "We're doing well here for now, there, with first overall, second, the lead in the team classification and a stage win. That's a lot of energy for the team to use up, but we're here to win the Vuelta." Valverde agreed with the widely-held sentiment that the Vuelta is now coming down to a straight duel between his team-mate Quintana and Froome. "Alberto [Contador] is up there, also [Esteban] Chaves, but the two who are closest are Nairo and Froome," he said. Team manager Eusebio Unzue warned that Foome was not the lone rivals. "Contador is never predictable and he never gives up. I have no doubt that before this race is over, he'll have turned in one of his trademark performances." For now, though, it seems that Movistar are concentrating mainly on how much time they can gain on Froome before the stage 19 time tria
Fairly epic finish to yesterday's stage. Froome and Quintana duel up the final climb, with Froome winning the stage but Quintana retaining the overall. Great video of the last kilometer at the link. http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-11/results/ Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) continued to slug it out at the Vuelta a Espana, with the two attacking each other and distancing their rivals on the short but steep finish to Pena Cabarga overlooking the northern Cantabria coastline. Froome managed to kick away and win the stage, just as he did in his break through season back in 2011 but Quintana kept the leader's red jersey and indicated that he is ready to take on Froome whenever the road heads into the mountains. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) finished third, just six seconds back, with Leopold Konig (Team Sky) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) in the same time. Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), who tried to revive his overall chances with a solo attack in the final two kilometres, finished eighth at 19 seconds. Thanks to the time bonuses awarded at the finish, Froome moved up to just 54 seconds back on Quintana, with Valverde third overall at 1:05. Chaves is fourth at 2:34 and Contador is fifth at 3:06. Froome punched the air as he crossed the finish line, happy to win again on the terrible Pena Cabarga climb and happy to be in contention to become only the third rider to win the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in the same season after Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault. "I've got some special memories from 2011 here. To add to that here is an incredible feeling," Froome said. "Quintana is really strong at the moment. He has the leader's jersey and I'm just trying to do as much as I can day by day to get closer to him. I want as much time as I can get, he wants as much time as he can get and that makes the race exciting."
Fairly uneventful. Everyone expecting Contador to attack, but the race leaders just sat on his wheel. More mountains this weekend in this already mountain heavy race. http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-12/results/ Jens Keukeleire (Orica-BikeExchange) delivered a fine sprint to win stage 12 of the Vuelta a España after a breathless finale in Bilbao. The Belgian opened his effort from distance and held off Maxime Bouet (Etixx-QuickStep) and Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo) to claim the most prestigious victory of his career from a reduced front group. Related Articles "I've been going pretty well the last couple of days, but I still knew it was going to be hard to win today," said Keukeleire as he waited to mount the podium, adding that he had not been lacking in motivation. "I just became a father four weeks ago and my girlfriend and son are both here so to win when they are watching like this is an amazing feeling." The demanding stage brought the peloton into the heart of the Basque Country by way of some rugged terrain, and though the anticipated ambush on Nairo Quintana's red jersey never materialised, it provided some compelling racing nonetheless. The presence of Sky's Pete Kennaugh and David Lopez in the day's early break had compelled Quintana's Movistar team to maintain an active brief at the front of the peloton, and the seven-man move was only finally snuffed out inside the final 20 kilometres, ahead of the second of two ascents of the Alto El Vivero. Sensing the briefest of lulls in preceding, the on-form Dries Devenyns (IAM Cycling) forged clear just as the climb began, and he carved out a 45-second lead for himself as the gradient began to stiffen. Behind, George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Andrey Zeits (Astana) were among the most active pursuers, though the greatest frisson arrived when Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) accelerated in familiar bobbing style at the head of the vastly reduced peloton. Dani Moreno (Movistar) was prompt in bringing Contador to heel, and then joined a counter-attack led by Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and featuring Bennett, Jan Bakelants (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) over the summit, with 12 kilometres remaining. Bennett pressed on alone on the sweeping descent back into Bilbao, but he could make little inroads into Devenyns' 30-second lead and it appeared as though the Belgian, who was second at the Alto del Naranco last weekend, was destined to claim stage honours. When the road flattened out in the final five kilometres, however, Devenyns' lead dwindled dramatically, as local rider Haimar Zubeldia (Trek-Segafredo) and Simon Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) battled to forge across, with a mini peloton of 30 or so riders just behind. They duly caught Devenyns with 1,500 metres, but by that point, the main group was already upon them, and the scene was set for a rather confused group finish, where Kristian Sbaragli (Dimension Data) was the man with the most obvious sprinting pedigree. Keukeleire had been given the green light by Orica-BikeExchange management to try his luck in just such a scenario, and the Belgian gauged his effort perfectly in the finishing straight by opening his sprint from distance and gaining an insurmountable lead. A frustrated Bouet and Felline gained ground in the final 50 metres, but it was a forlorn effort as Keukeleire took the stage, while Sbaragli had to settle for fourth ahead of Luis Leon Sanchez. "Neil Stephens said to me: 'If you're still there in the final, you can give it a crack,'" Keukeleire said. "I'm not going to say I was feeling very good today because everybody was suffering but I made it over the climb and knew I could get a good resu
Forget the Vuelta, anyone catch the Tour of Britain yesterday? Epic attack on a tough climb by Rohan Dennis, bridging over a minute up to the break. http://www.bmc-switzerland.com/int-...action_packed_day_on_tour_of_britain_stage_2/ There was no lack of BMC Racing Team action on Tour of Britain Stage 2 as Loïc Vliegen was part of an early breakaway before Rohan Dennis launched an attack on the day’s final climb to close the gap to the breakaway before finishing just outside the top ten in Kendal. Almost as soon as the race hit KM 0 a group of 15 riders, including Vliegen, attacked off the front of the peloton and quickly extended an advantage of 5 minutes 20 seconds. With 100km to go, the peloton had brought their lead down to under one minute and it looked like the group would be caught but as they went onto Whinlatter Pass, the first of day’s categorised climbs, their advantage had risen once again to 1 minute 26 seconds. As the breakaway headed onto the slopes of the final climb, a wheel change for Vliegen saw him slip off the back of the group before the chase from the peloton started to heat up behind them. Appropriately named The Struggle, the Category One climb saw the peloton disintegrating along the road as Rohan Dennis launched a strong attack to ride solo across to the remaining breakaway riders. Eventually the leading group grew to 13 riders and the attacks soon followed with Julian Vermote (Etixx - Quick Step) and Stephen Cummings (Team Dimension Data) able to distance themselves to take first and second place respectively. A short and sharp climb to the line saw the chasers being forced to dig deep with Dennis crossing the line in 12th place, 1 minute 7 seconds behind the new race leader Vermote.
Then Cavendish led out Cummings on the same climb, and Cummings attacked, passing the break and taking off with Vemote in tow, totally unchecked, only to have Vemote come around inthe last 100 meters to steal the stage. http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-britain-2016/stage-2/results/ Julien Vermote (Etixx-QuickStep) claimed stage victory and the yellow jersey on day two of the Tour of Britain, while Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) signalled his intentions for final overall victory with a powerful display as he took second place on the tough leg to Kendal. Related Articles Tour of Britain: Cummings gains time on GC rivals in battle on the Struggle Tour of Britain stage 2 highlights - Video Vermote continues Tour of Britain winning streak The 167-kilometre stage was run off in wet conditions, as it brought the peloton from Carlise through the rugged terrain of the Lake District, and it was always likely to prove a day for the strongmen. Vermote was among the survivors of the 15-man break that went up the road early on and stayed out in front for the duration, while Cummings was impressive in forging across to the reduced front group over the top of the days principal difficulty, the Struggle. Cummings was able to shake loose men of the calibre of Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) as he soloed across to the five leaders with 14 kilometres remaining, though the group swelled to eight shortly afterwards. The Briton, however, seemed a man on a mission, and he attacked three times in quick succession on the rolling terrain near Kendal. Cummings' decisive acceleration came on a rise with 12 kilometre remaining, and only Vermote could hold his wheel. "I knew I couldn't give Cummings a metre, I had to follow him," Vermote said of the man who has enjoyed a remarkable four WorldTour wins this season.
After a disappointing season Van Garderen abandons the Vuelta. He has at times shown flashes of brilliance, but as of late, well, is he really the guy the team wants to support for a podium finish? http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-garderen-abandons-the-vuelta-a-espana/ Tejay van Garderen has abandoned the Vuelta a Espana, with his BMC team suggesting he was suffering with fatigue after more than two weeks of intense racing. The American Grand Tour rider climbed off early into the stage, before the showdown on the steep Mas de la Costa finish. BMC still raced aggressively, with Ben Hermans attacking on the final climb and Samuel Sánchez is seventh overall after limiting his losses on the 12 per cent gradients of the climb to the finish. Van Garderen has endured a difficult season after showing his Grand Tour potential with fifth place overall in both 2012 and 2014. However, he failed to finish both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana in 2015. He was consistent in the first half of the 2016 season, finishing second overall in the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol and sixth in the Tour de Suisse as he prepared to ride the Tour de France alongside Richie Porte. However, van Garderen suffered at the Tour de France, lost time in the final mountain stages and finished 29th overall. He struggled to understand why but spent time at home with his family in the USA and then return to Europe for the Vuelta a Espana, with the goal of helping Sanchez and possibly targeting stage victories. He failed to make an impact in Spain and his abandon could mark the end of his difficult season. “The bad news is that we lost Tejay van Garderen. He was not good at the start of the stage and he was dropped,” directeur sportif Valerio Piva explained after talking about BMC’s race strategy for the stage and their decision to defend their lead in the team classification. Advertising “He came to the Vuelta not with the best preparation but we hoped day by day he was better. I think it is due to fatigue and the rest day, which is every time a difficult day for him. That is racing and we need to stay concentrated on the next days for the goals that we can achie
And Quintana wins the overall. Despite Froome making up major time in the ITT, he could not overcome Quintana's lead. http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/ It was smooth sailing for Nairo Quintana on the final stage of the 2016 Vuelta a España, and the Colombian finished off his overall victory together with his Movistar teammates in Madrid. Magnus Cort Nielsen (Orica-BikeExchange) claimed his second stage victory of the race, topping veteren Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff) and double stage winner Gianni Meersman (Etixx-Quickstep) in Madrid. Quintana ended the race with 1:28 over second placed Chris Froome (Sky), with Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange) in third at 4:08. Race organisers revealed the full route of the 2016 Vuelta a Espana, which will include 10 summit finishes - one more than the 2015 edition of the race. The race as a whole will be less mountainous than the previous year, but the majority of the harder stages are scheduled into the second week, which means that we could see a potential overall winner before the final week or the finale stage in Madrid. The final Grand Tour of the 2016 season will start with a 29.4km team time trial in Galicia in the north west of Spain, where the terrain is unforgivably undulating. The race then moves into the mountains of the Asturias region, into the Basque Country, a trip to the Pyrenees and into Aubisque. The climbing during the second week of the race will be the most decisive. After already completing four summit finishes, the peloton will embark on stage 10, the most difficult as it finishes on the Lagos de Covadonga, widely rated as one of Spain’s toughest single climbs. That ascent will be followed by climbs in subsequent stages over Peña Cabarga (a summit finish), Alto del Vivero in Bilbao, and summit finishes in Aubisque and Formigal. The final week will head through the south east regions Valencia and Alicante. It will include the final two summit finishes on in Mas de la Costa on stage 17 and on Alto de Aitana on stage 20. There is also a decisive 39km time trial on stage 19 that will finish in Calp, before the traditional sprint finish in Madri
What the heck happened on Stage 15 of the Vuelta, where Froome and Sky seemed to be asleep at the back and let Quintana and a big break get away and ended up losing almost 3 minutes to Q? Froome appeared to be mildly blaming his Sky team afterwards, making the excuse for them that "they'd had a hard season and are tired". Is that about the size of it?
