2013 Cycling Thread

[Smallville22]

Porte snatches win and four seconds as Sky rule again

Richie Porte caught the leaders ****** to take the fifth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country for Team Sky and gain four seconds.
The Team Sky rider broke late after another tough day, made harder by *******ial rain, sleet and at one point snow, from Eibar to Beasain, as he sprung from a group of eight in the final kilometre to take the stage victory.
His team-mate Sergio Henao was third in the stage to hang on to his yellow jersey as Sky again showed their dominance.
High flying GC contenders Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) , Simon Spilak (Katusha) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) all finished with Henao. Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) lead home that group in second.
Porte is now just six seconds back in GC from his team-mate with Quintana the same time back.
Contador and Spilak are both 10 seconds back.
The race concludes on Saturday with a 24km time trial around Beasain with Porte's time trialling abilities making him favourite to overtake Henao for the overall win with Contador likely to be his main rival.
"It was the last road stage and everybody wanted to be in the breakaway. In the end the guys up the road were the guys who had the legs to be there. They were strong riders but (Vasil) Kiryienka and Xabi (Zandio) were just absolutely incredible. They controlled things all day," Porte said after the race.
"For Sergio and myself we just had to finish it off and it worked perfectly.
"(The weather) was the same yesterday and I think tomorrow could be much the same. At the end of the day everybody’s in the same boat. Everybody just got on with it and that’s what we do at Team Sky. I think there was no better place to be today than riding up at the front. The team were just incredible. We came here with a depleted team and I think everyone has stepped up and done a brilliant job.
"I guess that’s the goal now – to finish it off. I’ll enjoy today and winning this stage but tomorrow is going to be a whole different ball game. It’s not a typical time trial. There’s some climbs in there and I’ll take it as it comes. Regardless it’s been a brilliant Pays Basque. We’ve won two stages and Sergio’s had the jersey for three days now."

 

[Smallville22]

Oakley and Eurosport ask fans to 'Conquer the Road'

Oakley has teamed up with Eurosport to launch a search for two fit and motivated cyclists who will be asked to "Conquer the Road" to celebrate the 100th edition of the Tour de France in 2013.
It will represent a once in a lifetime opportunity for cycling fans to ride one of the iconic Tour de France stages with a professional rider as part of a new campaign by Oakley.
The winners will have their experience filmed and broadcast by Eurosport as part of a four-part mini-series called “The Ride” which will be shown during the channel’s 2013 coverage of the legendary race.
Stefano Bernabino, Eurosport’s head of cycling said: "This is a fantastic project and one that will make for great television. The winners will be attempting something every fan has probably dreamt of, which is riding alongside their heroes on the route of a Grand Tour stage.
"It will be a real challenge, physically, mentally and emotionally but I have no doubt it will be something they will remember for the rest of their lives and will make a fascinating accompaniment to our extensive live Tour de France coverage."
Oakley’s brand director for EMEA, Olaf Dunz, said: “The Oakley ****** of world-class cyclists continues to grow, and we want to create a movement around cycling and inspire a broader audience to get out on a bike.
"The “Conquer the Road” initiative is one of our most important campaigns this year and the concept we have developed with Eurosport, is one of the key tactics to support that.
"It enables us to deliver this initiative right at the heart of European cycling and to the millions of fans there who enjoy Eurosport's unrivalled coverage and broadcast expertise in the sport."
From Tuesday 26th March fans across Europe can visit a digital hub developed by Oakley - conquertheroad.eurosport.com - and register their profile. Using their own social media networks via Twitter, Facebook and Google+ the fans must then secure as many “kilometres” as possible through votes. The more “kilometres” they earn the higher up the leader board they will go.

 

[Smallville22]

Quintana fends off favourites in Vuelta al Pais Vasco

Colombia's Nairo Quintana fended off overwhelming favourite Richie Porte of Australia to take a surprise overall win in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco on Saturday.
The 23-year-old Movistar rider finished second in the final, hilly individual 24-kilometre time trial at Beasain, 17 seconds down on world champion Tony Martin which was enough for Quintana to claim the biggest win of his career.
Paris-Nice winner Porte, victorious on Friday's mountain stage, was a below-expectations fourth in the time trial, 40 seconds behind German Martin, and had to settle for second overall, 23 seconds adrift of Quintana in the final standings.
Porte's Sky team mate and former race leader Sergio Luis Henao of Colombia dropped to third at 34 seconds.
"I've been looking for a big win like this since Paris-Nice," Quintana told reporters. "I don't know if you can call this (victory) a surprise.
"This time trial definitely suited me, with so many hilly sections, and I've been ******** on a good performance here all week.
When a time trial is not flat, then I can be up there with the big names in races like this one."
Having beaten Sky's two favourites, while Spain's top contender Alberto Contador faded badly to finish 10th in the time trial, Quintana said he had bigger goals.
"I've got to go on learning, but my idea is to fight for a Grand Tour in the future."
In 2010, Quintana took the Tour de L'Avenir, cycling's top stage race for young riders and was snapped up by leading Spanish squad Movistar in 2012.
Last year, he inflicted a rare defeat on the all-powerful Sky in the hardest Alpine stage of the Criterium du Dauphine, the key warm-up race for the Tour de France.
Victorious in a mountain stage of the Tour of Catalonia two weeks ago, Quintana moved into second overall in the Basque Country race with a win on the Arrate summit on Thursday.
Martin repeated his 2011 victory in the Basque Country's final stage on a rain-soaked, technical course, but said he had come looking for a bigger prize.
"The week was not perfect for me, I crashed on the first stage and I'd wanted to go for the overall victory," the Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider told reporters.
"It was a dangerous time trial, with the bad weather and a lot of corners, so I really hope that in the Basque Country in the future there will be a better one."

 

[Smallville22]

Russian rider Serebryakov suspended after positive EPO test

Euskaltel-Euskadi's Russian rider Alexander Serebryakov has been suspended after traces of the ***** booster EPO were found in his *****.
"The UCI advised Russian rider Alexander Serebryakov that he is provisionally suspended," governing body UCI said.
The decision was taken following a report from a World Anti-Doping Agency accredited laboratory in Cologne, Germany that showed an "adverse analytical finding" of EPO in a sample collected in an out of competition test last month, they added.
"The provisional suspension of Mr. Alexander Serebryakov remains in ***** until a hearing panel convened by the Russian Cycling Federation determines whether he has committed an anti-doping rule ********* under Article 21 of the UCI Anti-Doping Rules," the UCI said.
Serebryakov, 25, had the right to request and attend the analysis of his B sample, they added.

 

[Smallville22]

Rui Costa wins Klasika Primavera, Contador third

Movistar rider Rui Costa won the Klasika Primavera in Amorebieta with Alberto Contador third in the bunch sprint.
The Portuguese rider triumphed in a 20-rider dash for the line after 171.6 kilometres. Saxo-Tinkoff rider Contador missed out on second to fellow Spaniard Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel).
"It was an exciting victory - I'm really happy since it's my first this season," said Rui Costa.
"The recovery after my crash in Paris-Nice was fast. I felt already well before País Vasco, where I had a good progression day by day, and today I could make it count with this win.
"The team's strategy was the two of us, Beñat [Intxausti] and me, going after the attacks in the final climbs, and it was him who responded when Contador made his move. That's why I waited calmly for the group to bridge the gap in the finale.
"Euskaltel was pushing behind and I followed Urtasun's wheel to look for my chances into a sprint. Once Beñat and Contador were caught, I waited until the final 50 metres to jump and overcome him."
Rubén Fernández (Caja Rural-Seguros) was the lone escapee of the day, caught ahead of the second half of the route - a 25.6km circuit featuring a pair of climbs, the Category 2 Muniketagane and Cat 3 Autzagane, each of which was to be tackled three times.
José Herrada (Movistar), Contador, Intxausti (Movistar), Delio Fernández (OFM-Quinta da Lixa) and Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi) then went out at the commencement of the third of these circuits.
Contador and Intxausti remained ahead on the final descent into Amorebieta, but were caught by the peloton and a sprint was then inevitable.
2012 Tour de Suisse winner Rui Costa, who took a solo stage win in the 2011 Tour de France, emerged from behind Urtasun's wheel to sneak the win in a race his team captain Alejandro Valverde has won three times. Intxausti was fourth.
It continues Movistar's excellent run of form in the Basque country after Nairo Quintana won the Vuelta al País Vasco on Saturday.
The Klasika Primavera has been held since 1946.

Top 10

1. Rui Costa (Movistar) 4:07.58

2. Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel-Euskadi)

3. Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff)

4. Beñat Intxausti (Movistar)

5. José Herrada (Movistar)

6. Rory Sutherland (Saxo-Tinkoff)

7. Eduard Prades (OFM Quinta da Lixa)

8. Julien El Fares (Sojasun)

9. Edson Calderon (Colombia)

10. Shalunov Evgeny (Lokosphinx)

 

[Smallville22]

Cancellara pips Vanmarcke to win Paris-Roubaix

Fabian Cancellara beat Sep Vanmarcke in a sprint in the Velodrome to win a dramatic Paris-Roubaix.
The Queen of the Classics came down to the death for the first time since 2008 and the Swiss came around the outside of the Belgian to become the ninth rider to win this race at least three times.
A bike's length was the victory margin for the Swiss at the end of the 254.5km route as he become the second rider to win the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix in the same year twice.
After matching his achievement from 2010, and also winning his fifth cobblestone classic to equal Roger De Vlaeminck, Rik Van Looy and Eddy Merckx, 'Sparcatus' fell off his bike and had to be helped away by Radioshack-Leopard staff.
The 111th edition of the Hell of the North lived up to its' billing with a number of crashes which included Omega Pharma Quick Step's Stijn Vandenbergh hitting a fan and crashing out while in a four-man lead group inside the final 20km.
That left his Czech team-mate Zdenek Stybar in the lead with Cancellara and Vanmarcke but the former world cyclo-cross champion also collided with a fan in the closing stages and had to settle for sixth.
His team-mate Niki Terpstra took third, 31 seconds behind the winner, beating Greg van Avermaet (BMC) and Damien Gaudin (Europcar) in a sprint for the final podium position.
Stybar had to settle for sixth, just ahead of Sebastian Langeveld (Orica GreenEdge) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM).
The cobblestone Monument was as incident-packed as ever with an average speed of 47km/h and Yoann Offredo crashing heavily into a traffic island in the middle of the rode even before the peloton hit the first of 27 sections of pavé which determine this event.
The Trouee d’Arenberg, with 95km remaining, is the most famous and hazardous of those cobbles and Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma Quick Step), Matthew Hayman (Sky), Stuart O'Grady (Orica GreenEdge) and Clement Koretzky (Bretagne-Séché) lead the peloton by 1:30 at that point.
Steegmans and Hayman pressed ahead and were joined by BMC's Michael Schar on the exit of cobbled sector 12 but Cancellara raised the tempo at the 200km mark and ****** the selection as a group of 13 riders emerged after sector nine.
After 2012 runner-up Sebastien Turgot punctured, the dozen split amidst a flurry of attacks and three groups of four formed with Cancellara in the last of those and apparently under pressure after midweek crashes in Scheldeprijs and in a reconnaissance ride.
But as Gaudin, Vanmarcke, Langeveld, Vandenbergh, Van Avermaet, Flecha, Stybar and Luca Paolini formed an eight-man lead group, Cancellara bridged the gap to them on his own with 28km remaining.
As he made contact, Vandenbergh and Vanmarcke attacked and held a lead of 35 seconds prompting Cancellara to ****** on sector six with race debutant Stybar the only man able to stay on his wheel.
The Carrefour de l’Arbre, the fourth sector and the last rated at the most difficult level of five-stars, saw Vandenbergh crash into a fan at the side of the road and hit the cobblestone hard to end his challenge.
Then Stybar made contact with another fan whilst riding on the side of the pavé and although his bike handling ability meant he stayed upright, his challenge was over.
That left Cancellara and 24-year-old Vanmarcke, whose victory in the 2012 Het Nieuwsblad is his only professional success, to contest the victory.
They crossed the last three sections of pavé together and although the four-time world time-trial champion make an attempt to shed his rival with 4km to go, they played cat and mouse on entering the Velodrome.
With 52.6km of cobblestones in their legs, it was a battle of sheer toughness as Cancellara sat on Vanmarcke's wheel as they meandered around the banking.
Finally the man from Kortrijk made his move as he looked to emulate injured Belgian compatriot Tom Boonen but it was Cancellara who found one last gasp of energy to grab a famous victory before falling off his bike in exhaustion.
"There was nothing called instinct at the end, it was just a fight," Cancellara, who started the day as the overwhelming favourite in the absence of holder Boonen.
"I went to a level sometimes you don't know how you can do it. I went beyond my limits. I'm happy but I was probably more happy that the race was finished.
"Then I had a minute to lie down on the grass, back to planet earth. I damaged myself probably more than ever."

 

[Smallville22]

Erstwhile Armstrong team-mate Kjaergaard avoids doping sanctions

Steffen Kjaersgaard, a team-mate of Lance Armstrong for four years, will not face sanctions despite admitting to using performance-enhancing *****.
The Norwegian admitted doping between 1998 and 2003 at a news conference last October, one day after the UCI confirmed it would not appeal against the stripping of Armstrong's seven Tour de France titles.
However, Anti-Doping Norway said in a statement that an eight-year statute of limitations applied to Kjaersgaard's doping offences and as the last transgression took place in 2003, he would not face any further action.
"The decision was not difficult," Anti-Doping Norway disciplinary committee chief Anstein Gjendgedal told the Verdens Gang newspaper. "Everything that happened prior to 2005 is obsolete."
The 39-year-old renowned time-triallist retired from professional cycling in 2003 with Anti-Doping Norway saying they felt there was no reason to believe he had offended after quitting the sport.
"Anti-Doping Norway's investigations and conversations with Kjaersgaard have not given any information that (he) has used ****** substances since the spring of 2003," the statement added.

 

[Smallville22]

Sky fail to have it their way in demanding classics

Team Sky prepared in unconventional fashion for the Flanders classic races this season, hoping to crush the competition as they have been doing on stage events, but results let them down.
The British team have only Mathew Hayman's third place in the Dwars door Vlaanderen race to boast about while Geraint Thomas managed fourth in the Het Nieuwsblad and the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen-Harelbeke.
In the biggest European classics - Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix - they sometimes were a factor, like Ian Stannard at Milan-San Remo, but they were never true contenders.
"It shows it's not just about being physically fit," Thomas told a handful of reporters as he reflected, his face covered with dust, on his classics performances after finishing a distant 79th in Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.
Sky, who powered Bradley Wiggins to Tour de France glory last year, held a training camp in Tenerife under the guidance of head of performance support Tim Kerrison to prepare for the 2013 season.
The method raised a few eyebrows, with Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen's race time entering Milan-San Remo being reduced by a third compared to last year.
"To prepare for the classics you need to 'eat' stress and cobbles," Europcar sports director Andy Flickinger told Reuters, explaining the need for race time heading into the classics, which this year have taken place in tough weather conditions.
In Boasson Hagen and Welshman Thomas, Sky have two of the biggest prospects for the classics.
British champion Stannard also headed into the season in ominous form but it did not help, even if Thomas felt great at the start of Paris-Roubaix.
"I was just too far back going into one of the (cobbled) sectors and then there was a crash ahead of me. It took me a while to get my bike together and that was it then - it was the end of the day," he said.
"I should have been further forward, I learnt it the hard way."
Classics are particular in that luck and jockeying for position play a big role - something long rides in the Spanish sun cannot make up for.
"In the (grand) tours and stuff you can have a good threshold in the time trials and the mountain (stages), you know you're going to be there or thereabouts," Thomas explained.
"Here, position, crashes, luck all come into play. I think we've given everything since November. It's frustrating in the way it ended.
"It's just so hard. You've got to be positioned (near the front of the peloton) all the time. You can't have one second when you're off a bit."
Sky also paid dearly for a strategic failure.
Just like Omega Pharma-Quick Step and BMC, they did not race for a designated team leader, preferring to place their eggs in different baskets.

 

[Smallville22]

'Mission accomplished' after Cancellara captures third title

Swiss star Fabian Cancellara is looking forward to rest and a holiday after winning his third Paris-Roubaix title.
Cancellara, who won the Queen of the Classics in 2006 and 2010, entered the Roubaix outdoor velodrome for 1 1/2 laps against Belgian Sep Vanmarcke.
The RadioShack-Leopard rider, who achieved his second Tour of Flanders/Paris-Roubaix double, ****** his opponent to a standstill on the velodrome as both men played mind games for position.
Vanmarcke was tricked into starting the sprint and the Blanco rider was leapfrogged on the home straight.
Cancellara, 32, then collapsed to the ground after his huge effort, taking a moment to recover and savour his victory.
"I was in another world of riding! I still don’t know how I did it," he said.
"I had to play with him in the end because I tried to go away but he followed so then I knew it was man against man. I’m happy for the team and for me. Now I look forward to rest and a holiday. Mission accomplished."
On a sunny yet cold day in northern France, the battle started early but Cancellara, who crashed earlier this week in the Scheldeprijs and again while checking out one of the 27 cobbled sections of the Paris-Roubaix, remained focused all day.
Vanmarcke and fellow Belgian Stijn Vandenbergh built up a decent gap in front but Cancellara made his effort in the Bourghelles-Wannehain cobbled sector with only Czech Zdenek Stybar able to follow his pace.
Stybar eventually cracked as Vanmarcke and Cancellara powered away towards their duel on the track to raucous applause from the capacity crowd.
“I was dropped and pretty far back but then I started to move up. This is a race you can never give up on until the end," Cancellara added.
“It’s amazing having a third victory. When I see how in this race everyone was against our team, against me, I just had to do a selection. The team came into a little bit of difficulty because we lost a few guys because of bad luck.
"But that’s Roubaix. It’s always nice to win alone but today there was pure fighting until the very end. I could not believe it when I crossed the finish line. My legs and my head wanted to bring me here.”

 

[Smallville22]

Reade and Phillips head British team for BMX World Cup

London 2012 Olympians Shanaze Reade and Liam Phillips head up a nine-strong British team for the upcoming UCI BMX Supercross World Cup at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester.
Reade, who crashed in the BMX final on her Olympic debut at Beijing 2008 before finishing sixth at London 2012, joins Abbie Taylor as the two British females chosen for the home World Cup.
Phillips meanwhile is one of seven male riders selected with Kyle Evans, Grant Hill, Quillan Isidore, Dan McBride, Curtis Manaton, Liam Phillips and Tre Whyte completing the line up.
The World Cup runs from April 19-20 in Manchester and Olympic BMX coach Grant White is interested to see how his young charges perform just as much as Reade and White.
"Preparations for the first round of the World Cup season have been going well and I was pleased to see Shanaze take two wins at last weekend's UEC series event opener in France," said White.
"An additional benefit to having a home World Cup is that the younger riders who haven't made selection to represent GB can still compete for their trade team.
"So our Olympic Development Programme riders will all get to experience racing at an elite level which is invaluable for their progression.
"This will be a world-class event. We're all looking forward to the racing being underway."

 

[Smallville22]

Fedrigo claims Paris–Camembert

French veteran Pierrick Fedrigo won the 74th Paris–Camembert.
The FDJ rider beat Sylvain Georges (AG2R) and Pierre Rolland (Europcar) at the end of the 206.5km race in wet conditions.
They were part of a four-man group that made a decisive move on the final climb of the Mur des Champeaux and finished 21 seconds clear.
"At the top of the climb, Pierre (Rolland) had revived like crazy. It was a good wheel to take," said Fedrigo.
The semi classic, a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour, was particularly active after the start in Magnanville, near Paris, with a host of short-lived attacks.
A group featuring Guillaume Bonnafond (AG2R La Mondiale), Perrig Quémeneur (Europcar), Fabien Schmidt (Sojasun), Alexandre Blain and Rob Britton (Raleigh), Kevin Lalouette (Roubaix-Lille Métropole), Romain Hardy (Cofidis), Cedric Pineau (FDJ) and Tim Declercq (TopSport-Vlaanderen) eventually established a lead close to two minutes.
That advantage was inside a minute with 45km remaining before the group split with new riders bridging the gap to Britton, Pineau and Declercq.
Mike Terpstra (Team 3M) broke away from his fellow escapees and had a 12-second lead but his bid to shock the three World Tour teams in attendance was foiled as he was caught on the Champeaux which peaked with 10km to go.
Eventually a four-man group formed on the run-in, also featuring Julien Antomarchi, and it was the 34-year-old from Lot-et-Garonne who had the legs to record his first success since clinching stage 15 of last year's Tour de France.

 

[Smallville22]

Giro d'Italia - Team Katusha get green light, 207 riders to take part

Katusha have officially been given the all clear to take part in the forthcoming Giro d’Italia which means a field of 207 riders for the race starting on May 4.
All ProTour teams are automatically included in the field for World Tour races but Katusha were excluded from the original line-up after the UCI withdrew their top flight license.
But after the Court of Arbitration for Sport granted the Russians a ProTeam license on appeal, they will become the 23rd team at the Corsa Rosa.
The 19 ProTour teams will be joined by the four wildcards announced in January - Androni Giocattoli. Bardiani Valvole – CSF inox, Colombia and Vini Fantini.
Previous rules stated the maximum number of riders participating in a race could not exceed 200 but an exemption has been made to allow 207 riders to start in Napoli next month.

Below are the 23 teams participating at the Giro d’Italia:

AG2R LA MONDIALE (FRA)

ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI – VENEZUELA (ITA)

ASTANA PRO TEAM (KAZ)

BARDIANI VALVOLE – CSF INOX (ITA)

BLANCO PRO CYCLING TEAM (NED)

BMC RACING TEAM (USA)

CANNONDALE (ITA)

COLOMBIA (COL)

EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI (ESP)

FDJ (FRA)

GARMIN – SHARP (USA)

KATUSHA (RUS)

LAMPRE – MERIDA (ITA)

LOTTO BELISOL (BEL)

MOVISTAR TEAM (ESP)

OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP CYCLING TEAM (BEL)

ORICA - GREENEDGE (AUS)

RADIOSHACK LEOPARD (LUX)

SKY PROCYCLING (GBR)

TEAM ARGOS – SHIMANO (NED)

TEAM SAXO - TINKOFF (DEN)

VACANSOLEIL – DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM (NED)

VINI FANTINI – SELLE ITALIA (ITA)

 

[Smallville22]

Sagan beats Gilbert in De Brabantse Pijl

Peter Sagan added another big race victory as he beat world champion Philippe Gilbert in the 53rd edition of De Brabantse Pijl.
The prolific Slovak, who claimed the biggest one-day victory of his career in Gent-Wevelgem last month, followed it up by taking his eighth victory of the year in the Ardennes semi-classic.
The 23-year-old, who before the race apologised to the podium girl whose bottom he pinched after finishing second in Ronde Van Vlaanderen with a bouquet of flowers, narrowly edged out Belgian Gilbert, winner of Brabantse Pijl in 2011.
The BMC rider launched the head-to-head sprint but Cannondale's Sagan pipped him to the line.
The 200km race featured 25 short climbs with a parcours similar to Sunday's opening Ardennes World Tour race, the Amstel Gold, for which Sagan will start as favourite.
Following the start in Leuven, an escape group formed just before the quarter mark of the race and featured Kenny DeHaes (Lotto Belisol), Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step), Ben Hermans (RadioShack Leopard), Youcef Reguigui (MTN Qhubeka), Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis) and Ireland's Philip Deignan (UnitedHealthcare).
They built up a 4:30 lead but that advantage was down to 75 seconds with 55km remaining, by which time Reguigui had been dropped.
Three 23.4 kilometre laps, with five climbs on each lap, completed the race and moves began to be made in the peloton with Radioshack's Stijn Devolder, Bjorn Leukemans (Vacansoleil), Paul Voss (NetApp-Endura) and David Malacarne (Europcar) bridging the gap to the lead group with only Maes and Dehaes remaining of the original escapees.
The race completely split after a massive turn of pace from Gilbert's team-mate Greg van Avermaet inside the final 20km.
Sylvain Chavanel, a former winner of the race, along with Simon Geschke (Argos-Shimano), Gilbert, Sagan and Van Avermaet joined the leaders with 12km to go and an 11-man group held off chasers including last year’s winner Thomas Voeckler and Milan-San Remo champion Gerald Ciolek on the run-in to the finish in Overijse.
Maes and Van Avermaet went off the front with 2km to go but they were caught by Sagan, on the final climb of the Schavei, inside the final kilometre.
The Slovak then accelerated and only Gilbert was able to hold on to his wheel. The Belgian almost immediately opened out the sprint, only to find Sagan able to react and then come off his wheel to take the victory.
Leukemans was three seconds back in third after almost reaching the front two at the summit of the final climb.
Chavanel, Geschke. Van Avermaet, Malacarne, Devolder, Voss and Dehaes completed the top 10.

 

[Smallville22]

European track champion Kaikov sacked for doping

European track cycling champion Valery Kaikov has been fired by the Rusvelo team for failing a ***** test.
"Kaikov had his contract terminated after testing positive for a prohibited substance," the Russian team said in a statement.
"Rusvelo has a zero tolerance for doping and had already informed the International Cycling Union (UCI) about Kaikov's dismissal," added Katusha's reserve team who compete on the second-tier Continental Tour.
The 24-year-old rider, who won gold at last year's European track cycling championships in the team pursuit and finished second in the Madison, becomes the second Russian rider in five days to fail a ***** test.
Alexander Serebryakov, 25, who rides for Spanish outfit Euskaltel-Euskadi, was provisionally suspended by the UCI on Sunday after testing positive for the ***** booster EPO.
Russian officials have been told to get tough on doping after the UCI rejected Katusha's application to compete in the top flight because of the team's doping record over the past four years.
Katusha, who finished second in the World Tour standings last year and have world number one Joaquim Rodriguez in their ranks, were reinstated in February after appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

 

[Smallville22]

Demare claims GP de Denain win as Sagan withdraws

Arnaud Demare claimed victory at the 54th GP de Denain in Northern France.
The FDJ rider beat Bryan Coquard (Europcar) and team-mate Nacer Bouhanni at the end of the 199km race with Benoit Drujon (BigMat-Auber93) making up an all-French top four.
Flamboyant Slovakian Peter Sagan (Canondale) was the favourite to win but the youngster abandoned the race.
The four escapees of Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix-Lille Métropole), Vegard Laengen (Bretagne-Séché Environnement), Flavien Dassonville (BigMat-Auber 93) and Sven Jodts (Colba-Superano Ham) dominated the first half of the French one-day race but the peloton reeled them in with 11km to go.
Cyril Lemoine (Sojasun) and Yannick Martinez (La Pomme Marseille) attacked to open up a five-second advantage with 7km of the race left, but were swept up by the chasing peloton and in the hectic bunch sprint Demare won out.
Seven of the last nine winners of this race have been French, with the now-retired Jimmy Casper claiming it five times.

 

[Smallville22]

Pinotti returns to action

Marco Pinotti will return to action for the first time since a high speed crash knocked him out of the Tour Méditerranéan at the Giro del Trentino on Tuesday.
Pinotti broke two ribs and his left collarbone during the individual time trial in February.
The five-time Italian national time trial champion has been training for six weeks to rebuild his fitness.
"I guess I'm halfway in the recovery process," he said.
"Having been sidelined four-and-a-half weeks, I need about 12-13 weeks to get back to my former level."
Pinotti's BMC team-mate Cadel Evans said the race is an important part of his preparation for the Giro d'Italia.
"I look forward to racing on long and hard climbs in a good field," the Tour de France winner in 2011 said.
"I just want to be able to ride well with the team and use it to get ready for the Giro d'Italia."
Evans will face last year’s Tour de France winner, Bradley Wiggins, as well as Vincenzo Nibali, Michele Scarponi, Stefano Garzelli, Domenico Pozzovivo and Ivan Basso in the four-day race which will serve as an appetiser for the fight for the pink jersey.
Six WorldTour Teams (Lampre-Merida, Cannondale Pro Cycling, Astana, Ag2r La Mondiale, BMC Racing and Team Sky) will be at the start in Lienz, sharing the stage with some of the top Italian and International Pro-Continental outfits: Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela, Bardiani-CSF, Vini Fantini-Selle Italia and Team Colombia plus Europcar, MTK-Qhubeka and Champion System.

 

[Smallville22]

Urtasun wins Castilla y Leon opener

Pablo Urtasun of Euskaltel-Euskadi won the opening stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon in Valladolid.
Urtasun won a sprint finish to the line at the end of the 195km stage, holding off Francesco Lasca of Caja Rural and Enrique Sanz of Movistar for a first win of the season.
The stage looked set to be won by one of the members of a seven-man breakaway group - comprising Kevin De Mesmaeker (Team Novo Nordisk), Pavel Kochetkov (RusVelo), César Fonte (Efapel-Glassdrive), Luis Mas (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon), Dalivier Ospina (Colombia), Igor Merino (Euskadi) and Robert Sweeting (5 Hour Energy p/b Kenda) - who built a ten-minute lead at one stage.
But Movistar led the peloton's efforts to close the gap, and the group was caught with 6km to go, leaving the way clear for the sprint finish.
The three-day race continues on Saturday with a 164km stage from Urena to Palencia.

Stage one results:

1. Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Euskaltel Euskadi

2. Francesco Lasca (Ita) Caja Rural

3. Enrique Sanz (Spa) Movistar Team

4. Jose J. Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team

5. Carlos Barbero (Spa) Euskadi

6. Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Euskaltel Euskadi

7. Jérémie Galland (Fra) Sojasun

8. Wilson A. Marentes (Col) Colombia

9. Javier Moreno (Spa) Movistar Team

10. Andre Cardoso (Por) Caja Rural

 

[Smallville22]

Gautier wins Tour du Finistere

France's Cyril Gautier (Europcar) won the Tour du Finistere after outsprinting eight rivals at the finish.
In a race of a number of fragmented groups, Gautier edged out Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil - DCM) and Anthony Geslin (FDJ) to take the victory.
Remi Cusin (IAM Cycling), Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ), Florian Senechal (Etixx -Ihned), Tim Declercq (Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise) and Christophe Le Mevel (Cofidis) all finished in the leading group who were over two minutes ahead of the field.
The race is a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour and also part of the Coupe de France series.

 

[Smallville22]

Lobato ensures more Euskaltel joy at Castilla y Leon

Euskaltel-Euskadi made it two wins from two at the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon as Juanjo Lobato won stage two from Urueña to Palencia.
With Pablo Urtasun having won Friday's opener, Lobato ensured more joy for the Basque team by outsprinting Francesco Lasca (Caja Rural) and American Ken Hanson (Optum Pro Cycling) after the 164.1km stage.
However, the overall leader of the race is actually Lasca after he again picked up some time bonuses for his second place finish.
Lasca has a two second lead over both Lobato and Urtasun with Enrique Sanz (Movistar) and Hanson eight seconds back.
Sunday's third and final stage is a 183km trek from Aguilar de Cam to Cervera del Pisuerga.

 

[Smallville22]

Voeckler breaks collarbone

Europcar's Thomas Voeckler suffered a broken collarbone during the Amstel Gold Race in Valkenburg.
The Frenchman, 33, fell heavily around 100km from the finish in an incident that also ended Andy Schleck's race.
Voeckley is expected to be out for at least a fortnight, depending on how serious the fracture proves to be.
Reports that he had also suffered a broken leg were denied by his team.