2013 Cycling Thread

[Smallville22]

Nibali extends lead after Santambrogio win

Vincenzo Nibali tightened his grip on the pink jersey with a second-place finish atop the Jafferau climb behind fellow Italian Mauro Santambrogio in a weather-affected stage 14.
The Italian duo emerged through the mist shoulder-to-shoulder with 500m remaining of the altered 180km stage in the Alps.
Having distanced his main rivals on the last and only climb of the day, Astana's Nibali was content to allow Santambrogio of Vini Fantini take a maiden win on the Giro d'Italia - and his wildcard team's first of the 96th edition of the race.
Consistent Colombian Carlos Betancur (Ag2R-La Mondiale) crossed the line in third place, nine seconds down, while Spaniard Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) finished fourth at 20 seconds.
Nibali is now 1min 26secs ahead of Australian Cadel Evans on GC after the veteran from BMC finished another sodden stage in sixth place, 33 seconds behind his rival.
Colombian Rigoberto Uran - the Team Sky leader following the withdrawal of sick Olympian Bradley Wiggins - finished three seconds quicker than Evans for fifth place and stays in third on GC, 2:46 down on Nibali.
Santambrogio rises to fourth on GC, 3:53 behind the maglia rosa.
Eleventh hour changes to the race profile made stage 14 longer but flatter with the cancellation of the Cat.2 climb to Sestriere replaced with a detour through the Susa valley that added 12km onto the stage while ensuring the fireworks would come down to the last and only climb of the day.
But spectators were left in the dark when the misty and wet conditions wreaked havoc with the live host broadcast TV images cut for the last 80km of the stage - and only resumed as the leading duo approached the penultimate hairpin bend of the decisive climb inside the final kilometre.
Seven riders had broken away shortly after the start in Cervere - although Spain's Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), Dutchman Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge) and American Peter Stetina (Garmin-Sharp) all crashed from the break and were subsequently caught by the peloton.
The incident left four Italians in front of the race, with Luca Paolini (Katusha), Daniele Pietropolli (Lampre), Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani Valvole) and Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) building up a maximum lead of 10 minutes over the peloton as the relentless rain that has hampered the entire race since Naples pounded down.
Adverse conditions may have been to blame for a high-speed crash in the peloton which saw both stage four winner Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani Valvole) and Alessandro Vanotti, one of Nibali's key Astana team-mates, withdraw. Both Italians were taken to hospital, Battaglin with suspected broken ribs and Vanotti with a fractures collarbone.
During the long, flat and wet drag to the uphill finale news filtered through that the race organisers RSC had made the reluctant decision to cancel Sunday's ascents of both Mont-Cenis and the summit finish of the Col du Galibier due to heavy snow in the French Alps. There were also yet-to-be-confirmed rumours that the whole stage would be cancelled and replaced with an enforced early second rest day while RSC came up with a contingency plan.
But the remaining riders were more concerned with the task in hand - and the leading quartet arrived at Bardonecchia, at the foot of the final climb of Jafferau, with a lead of five minutes.
Trentin, a key team-mate of Britain's Mark Cavendish, was the first to fall back, and he was soon followed by Pietropolli.
Back with the maglia rosa group, Colombian Sergio Henao (Sky) and Italians Diego Rosa and Franco Pellizotti (both Androni Giocattoli) attacked with four kilometres remaining.
Former race leader Paolini was hungry for a second stage scalp in his belated maiden appearance in the Giro - but the advantage of the two leaders was coming down fast, hovering below the minute-mark inside the last two kilometres.
The Henao trio was soon caught as Nibali made his decisive ****** with Santambrogio. They ****** their fellow Italian escapees inside the final kilometre and then burst through the mist with 500m remaining.
Victory went to 28-year-old Santambrogio, who finished second behind Nibali in the Giro del Trentino earlier in the spring.
But Nibali - also 28 - will be happy with his day's work after mopping up bonus seconds for second place, plus taking more than 30 seconds over Evans, his principal rival.
The big loser of the day was Dutchman Robert Gesink, who crossed the line surrounded by Blanco team-mates more than four minutes in arrears to drop outside the top ten and see his hopes of a podium finish left in tatters.
The 2011 champion Michele Scarponi (Lampre-Merida) also suffered an off-day, huffing and puffing his way over the line 1:28 in arrears. The veteran Italian stays in fifth place on GC, but is now 3:53 down on Nibali with one week of racing left.
Sunday's stage 15 was set to finish atop the Col du Galibier but snow and bad weather has led to the cancellation of the final climb as well as the earlier ascent of Mont-Cenis.
A shortened parcours will still climb the Col du Telegraph but will finish at the town of Verneys after a 3km climb from Valloire - although this is yet to be confirmed with some reports suggesting the Galibier will now be climbed up to 2,300 metres.

 

[Smallville22]

Boasson Hagen solos to yellow, green jerseys in Norway

Edvald Boasson Hagen surged into the overall lead at the Tour of Norway after a rousing stage four success.
On home ground, the Norwegian rider went clear over the top of the Kinnshaugen climb before linking up with Saxo-Tinkoff’s Sergio Paulinho on the trip back to the centre of Lillehammer.
A dozen cyclists attempted to reel in the duo, but despite getting close the gap began to stabilise in the latter stages.
From there, Boasson Hagen stepped up another gear and completed a popular solo victory by 11 seconds.
Boasson Hagen said after the win: "It's an amazing feeling to win here again. The team did a really good job today in controlling things from the start.
"After they'd done all the work other teams began attacking me and I decided to go by myself on the way to the finish.
“I'd planned to do that this morning and I wanted to try and either arrive alone or have someone to ride with. Everything went to plan."
The Norwegian national champion took both the yellow leader’s jersey and the green points leader’s jersey with the stage win.
Alexander Kristoff, the overnight race leader, lost contact with the pace-setters on Saturday after a brisk initial pace thanks mostly to Boasson Hagen’s Sky team.

 

[Smallville22]

Col du Galibier curtailed due to poor weather

The Giro d'Italia's 15th stage will stop some four kilometres short of the summit of the Col du Galibier due to extreme weather in the Alps.
The legendary climb was originally left out by order of the government of the Savoie region in France, where the summit is based.
However, it has now been partially reinstated. The potentially decisive stage will now finish at the monument to Italian cycling legend Marco Pantani 4.25km from the top.
The start has been pushed back 30 minutes to 13:00 CET (12:00 UK time), and a race organisers' statement said: "Considering the ever-changing weather conditions, should the weather deteriorate during the night, the Direction of the Giro reserves the right to make further modifications in order to protect the riders’ and caravan’s safety."
The stage was meant to be a 149km route from Cesana Torinese to the Col du Galibier and was set to be one of the race's most punishing stages. The inclusion of the revered and feared Galibier was a nod to the Tour de France, which this year celebrates its 100th edition.
The 14th stage of the Giro on Saturday was also altered due to snow on the climb to Sestriere. A new route added 12km to create a 180km stage that finished with the scheduled summit finish of Jafferau.

 

[Smallville22]

König wins as Van Garderen keeps lead at Tour of California

Tejay van Garderen rode to a third-place finish on Saturday's summit finish at Mt. Diablo to keep the race lead with one day to go at the Tour of California.
The BMC Racing Team controlled the pace on the 16-kilometre climb at the end of the 147.1km stage, pulling back an early breakaway and several counter-attacks.
Only Leopold König (Team NetApp-Endura), who soloed to win by seven seconds, and runner-up Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman) were able to distance themselves from van Garderen, who crossed the line 12 seconds after König.
"I think it was a tough day for the team, but they made life easy for me," van Garderen said after pulling on the race leader's yellow jersey for the third straight day.
"The guys controlled things from the beginning of the race, right up until the end. I only had to hit the wind in the last couple hundred meters. So they made my life so stress free. It was an incredible day."
Sunday's 129.9km stage finishes in Santa Rosa.

 

[Smallville22]

Kristoff wins Norway finale as Boasson Hagen takes home tour

Alexander Kristoff won the final stage of the Tour of Norway as Edvald Boasson Hagen completed overall victory in his home tour.
The 173 kilometre stage from Gjøvik to Hønefoss had a single big climb halfway through and eight riders broke clear of the bunch.
IAM Cycling took the responsibility to conduct the pace of the pack and the escapees were swept up before a demanding undulating finale.
When the counterattacks began Boasson Hagen's Team Sky went to the front and picked up the pace but Lars-Petter Nordhaug (Blanco) launched a fierce ****** on the final climb and moved away with 12 kilometers to go.
He was chased by Jesper Hansen (Team Cult) and Fredrik Ludvigsson to form a front trio but Team Sky brought the escapees back and Katusha's Kristoff ensured it was a double celebration for Norway by claming the bunch sprint.
Kristoff beat Sondre Holste Enger (Plussbank) into second position with Boasson Hagen third for his third win of the week.
"Obviously I'm very satisfied," said Kristoff. "I closed this Tour of Norway with three victories and one second place, these results are beyond all expectations. That means I'm in a good shape and I'm working well in order to be at my top in the Tour de France.
"My team0mates brought me in a good position so in the end I could take the victory. It's a pity, if I wasn't dropped yesterday I could have fought for the general classification but I think we can be satisfied anyway."

 

[Smallville22]

Visconti victorious on Galibier as Nibali retains lead

Italy's Giovanni Visconti of Movistar defied the snow to take a remarkable solo victory at the Marco Pantani monument on the Col du Galibier in stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia.
Former Italian national champion Visconti rode the entire final climb alone as first rain - and then snow - fell on the 145km stage from Cesana Torinese into the French Alps.
Visconti finished 42 seconds ahead of a quartet of riders featuring two Colombians - Carlos Betancur (Ag2R-La Mondiale) and Fabio Duarte (Colombia) - and two Poles - Przemyslaw Niemec (Lampre-Merida) and Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff).
Maglia rosa Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) crossed the line 12 seconds further back alongside GC rivals Cadel Evans (BMC), Michele Scarponi (Lampre), Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini) and Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky).
Nibali retains a lead of 1min 26secs over Australian veteran Evans going into the second rest day of the race. Colombian Uran is third at 2:46 while stage 14 winner Santambrogio is one second further back in fourth.
"I wanted to squeeze out some more time on my rivals, and tried accelerating away from them at the end. But even if that didn't work, I'm still very pleased with how things stand overall," said 28-year-old Sicilian Nibali, who won the Vuelta a Espana in 2010. "Today was a good day, I've got a good advantage on my rivals."
Visconti's victory was the 30-year-old Italian's biggest win of his career - and his first on the Giro in six participations.
"I've sacrificed myself for a year and a half. I abandoned the Giro last year. It hasn't been easy," a tearful Visconti said. "I let it all out today, thinking my ******, my baby."
Visconti, who wore the blue king of the mountains jersey for six days earlier in the race, was part of a seven-man group that formed towards the summit of the first of three climbs, the Cat.1 Col du Mont Cenis.
It took 55 kilometres - and almost two hours of extremely sluggish riding - before the weather-affected stage sparked into action.
With the road to the summit of Mont-Cenis flanked by banks of snow, the peloton enforced a unofficial go-slow - even though the sun was out and the sky mostly blue.
In freezing temperatures, the current blue jersey Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole) jumped clear of the peloton 2km before the summit in search of valuable KOM points.
Colombia's Robinson Chalapud was first to reply - although he was pipped to second place over the summit by Pirazzi's team-mate Francesco Bongiorno.
Dutchman Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge), Colombian Miguel Angel Rubiano (Androni Giocattoli) and Italians Matteo Rabottini (Vini Fantini) and Visconti joined Pirazzi, Bongiorno and Chalapud on the descent and the leaders had soon build up a lead of six minutes.
With Lotto Belisol leading the chase in the peloton, the gap was reduced to just over two minutes ahead of the back-to-back ascents of the Col du Telegraph and Col du Galibier with 30km remaining.
Pirazzi and Weening attacked from the break on the Telegraph but were soon joined by Visconti and Rabottini. Back with the main pack, Lotto's plan came into effect when Belgian Francis de Greef rode off the front in pursuit of Dutchman Robert Gesink (Blanco), who was looking to save his race after losing more than four minutes on Saturday's stage to Jafferau.
Visconti made him move 27km from the finish and half-way into the Cat.2 climb. The Italian crossed the summit of the Telegraph almost three minutes ahead of the main pack, which trailed by one minute a second Gesink chasing group that also included Sky's Sergio Henao, Euskaltel's Egoi Martinez, Vini Fantini's Danilo Di Luca and RadioShack-Leopard's Robert Kiserlovski.
At the foot of the shortened final climb of the Galibier Visconti held 55 seconds over the Pirazzi chasing group and 2:15 over the second Gesink group.
Rabottini dropped Pirazzi and Weening in pursuit of the lone leader, while the Gesink group was mopped up by the main pack inside the final 8km.
Numerous riders attempted to break clear of the pack in the closing stages - including Blanco pair Wilco Kelderman and Juan Manuel Garate, Euskaltel's Samuel Sanchez, Cannondale's Damiano Caruso and 2011 champion Scarponi - but the pace setting by the Astana team of Nibali neutralised all efforts to blow the race apart.
With the rain having turned to slushy snow, Rabottini was the last chaser to be caught with 1.5km remaining. At this point Visconti had already ridden underneath the 1km-to-go banner and the stage - which finished alongside the Marco Pantani memorial - was his.
Unknowing of the fierce battle playing out behind him, an exhausted Visconti could hardly even muster a smile as he pumped his fists and crossed the line moments before slumping to the ground in heap of glorious fatigue.
The win marked the end of a difficult period for Visconti, who abandoned last year's Giro in the corresponding stage and was dealt a three-month suspension in the close season for working with the controversial ****** Italian doctor Michele Ferrari.
"I hope it marks the point where I can restart my career again and get things back on track," Visconti said.
Polish youngster Majka, the white jersey as best young rider, attacked inside the last kilometre to spark a reply by Betancur, who trailed his rival by just seven seconds on the overnight youth standings.
Betancur proved the strongest in the battle for second place - his third runners-up berth in the race enough to earn him the requisite 12 bonus seconds, take the white jersey and move five seconds ahead of Majka, who finished fourth behind compatriot Niemiec.
Visconti's points haul over the two final climbs of the day saw the Italian move into second place in the KOM standings where he trails blue jersey Pirazzi by 65 points to 42.
After Monday's second rest day the race continues on Tuesday with the 238km stage 16 from Valloire to Ivrea which includes two categorised climbs but a flat finish.

 

[Smallville22]

Van Garderen secures Tour of California title, Sagan wins final stage

Peter Sagan won stage eight of the Tour of California from San Francisco to Santa Rosa as Tejay van Garderen crossed the line in the main field to secure the overall title.
"It's a big relief [to win the overall]. I got the monkey off my back," said Van Garderen.
"Hopefully this gets the ball rolling and I can start racking up a bit more."
Sagan held off Daniel Schorn (Team NetApp-Endura) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) in a sprint finish for his 10th win of the season while Michael Rogers (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) finished in second with Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman) third in the general classification.
Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil), Jason McCartney (Bissell) and Antoine Duchesne (Bontrager) led an early escape that at 70km to go saw the gap at 4:30 but a collective effort from Omega Pharma-Quickstep, Cannondale, Garmin-Sharp and Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies whittled down the advantage to 1:20 with 30km remaining.
Cannondale – at the head of the peloton - reeled in the sole remaining escapee Duchesne with 10km to go to allow Sagan to sprint to the finish to secure the win.
"The last kilometer was pretty hectic, but my team did a great job bringing me to the front," said Sagan.
"They dropped me off with 200m to go. It felt good to get my 10th win. I want to dedicate the win to a friend of Cannondale - Alex Shepard, 11, from Oregon, who has cancer and is also a bike racer."

 

[Smallville22]

Former Giro and Vuelta winner Menchov retires

Russia's former Giro d'Italia and Vuelta winner Denis Menchov has announced his retirement from cycling at the age of 35, local media reported on Monday.
Menchov, Russia's best stage rider of the past decade, winning the Tour of Spain in 2005 and 2007 and the 2009 Giro, missed this year's Italian race with a knee injury.
"Winning the Giro was no doubt the pinnacle of my career," the Katusha rider was quoted as saying by local outlet R-Sport.
"This year I couldn't take part in the Giro because of the injury. The Giro was my main goal for this season, and I understood it was time to end my sporting career."
Neither Menchov nor his Russian team returned calls when contacted by Reuters.
Menchov started his professional career with Spanish outfit Banesto in 2000. Three years later, competing in his first three-week race - the Tour de France - he finished 11th overall and won the white jersey for the best young rider.
In 2005, a year after joining Dutch team Rabobank, Menchov won his first major crown when he was awarded overall victory on the Tour of Spain after Spaniard Roberto Heras was stripped of the title because of a positive test for the ****** **** EPO.
Two years later, the big Russian repeated his Vuelta triumph, then won the Giro in 2009.
He was less successful in the Tour de France.
He finished fourth in 2008 but was promoted to third after third-placed Austrian Bernhard Kohl was disqualified for doping.
In the 2010 Tour, Menchov came third overall but ended up in second spot after Spaniard Alberto Contador was stripped of his victory for doping.

 

[Smallville22]

Intxausti surges to stage 16 victory

Spain's Benat Intxausti won a three-way sprint to take stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia ahead of Tanel Kangert and Przemyslaw Niemiec in Ivrea.
Intxausti - who wore the leader's pink jersey for one day during the opening week's individual time trial - gave his Movistar team their third stage win of the race after playing his cards right at the conclusion of the long 238km stage from the French ski resort of Valloire and back onto Italian soil.
The 27-year-old all-rounder waited for Lampre's Niemiec and Astana's Kangert to launch the final sprint before putting in his decisive surge to take the biggest win of his career and consolidate his position in the top ten on GC.
"It's a great day for the Movistar team. We have now won three stages, finished second in the team time trial and have worn the pink jersey," a delighted Intxausti told Eurosport after adding to previous Movistar wins by team-mates Alex Dowsett and Giovanni Visconti.
As he crossed the line, Intxausti made an X with his fingers in remembrance of his former team-mate and friend Xavi Tondo, who was ****** in a training accident almost two years ago.
"It's May 21st today and May 23rd is a sad but special day for me because it's the second anniversary of what happened. I'm sure he would have celebrated my victory and so this win is for him, my grandfather and my team," Intxausti said.
Italian race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) finished another flawless stage in a select group alongside his main rivals 13 seconds down on the leading trio to retain his maglia rosa with five stages remaining.
But stage 14 winner Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini) cracked on the second of two climbs 20km from the finish to concede more than two minutes and drop from fourth place to sixth on GC.
Australian veteran Cadel Evans (BMC) still trails Nibali by 1:26 in second place, with Colombian Rigoberto Uran (Sky) in third at 2:46.
Twenty-two riders formed a strong break off the front of the peloton on the first climb of the day, the Cat.1 ascent of the Col du Mont Cenis - this time tackled from the reverse side - as the riders (minus BMC's Taylor Phinney, who was ****** to retire with saddle sores) made their way back into Italian territory.
Boasting the likes of blue jersey Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole), Italian veterans Danilo Di Luca (Vini Fantini) and Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli), Dutch youngster Wilco Kelderman (Blanco) and stage 11 winner, the Lithuanian Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp), the break built up a maximum lead of five minutes.
They were kept in check by the Astana-led peloton, however, due to the presence of Italy's Damiano Caruso (Cannondale), who trailed Nibali on GC by just under 10 minutes.
Pirazzi inevitably took maximum points going over the summit of Mont Cenis to consolidate his lead at the top of the KOM standings ahead of a long descent towards the Susa valley.
The gap stood at four minutes as the leading 22 riders hit the long, flat 120km drag that characterised the stage's mid section. But pressure from RadioShack and Katusha - both without riders in the break - saw the lead tumble and created tension amid the escapees.
Only seven of the 22 fugitives remained on the front of the race for the second test of the day, the Cat.3 ascent of Andrate, 25km from the finish.
Danny Pate (Sky), Sella and Kelderman had made an initial move but were joined by Pirazzi, Navardauskas, Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel), Grega Bole (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Jose Herrada (Movistar).
Team Colombia's Fabio Duarte broke clear of the main pack in pursuit of the leaders - and soon Duarte and Pirazzi were the only riders left out ahead of the streamlined group of race favourites.
Santambrogio suffered on the steep 13% mid section to drop off the pace as Nibali defended a series of attacks by Lampre's Michele Scarponi, with the likes of Evans and Uran sticking firmly to his wheel.
In the hunt for more KOM points to extend his lead in the blue jersey competition, Pirazzi put in a final dig close to the summit but he was rounded by Colombian Carlos Betancur, wearing the white jersey as the race's best youngster.
Ag2R-La Mondiale's Betancur crossed the summit 18km from the finish with an eight-second gap over the chasing group but was soon caught on the technical descent by Spaniard Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel).
Nibali showcased his supreme descending skills on the sinuous ride back to the final flat run into the finish. But with all the main favourites shadowing each other's every move, Dutchman Robert Gesink spotted a chance to pounce and nipped clear alongside Poland's Niemiec, Estonian national champion Kangert and Intxausti.
Entering the cobbled streets of Ivrea, Gesink suffered a terribly unfortunate puncture inside the two kilometres ending his chance of glory.
The leading trio entered the final straight knowing that one of them would take the spoils. The pace slowed accordingly before Niemiec - the most experienced of the three - launched his sprint from far with Kangert hot on his heels.
Realising he had gone too early, Niemiec slowed and Kangert followed suit. But Intxausti simply supplemented his momentum with a powerful drive out of the saddle to secure his first victory on a Grand Tour.
Santambrogio crossed the line 2:09 down on the Nibali group to drop out of the top five. The Italian is now in sixth place, 4:57 down on Nibali. Lampre duo Scarponi and Niemiec rise to fourth and fifth at 3:53 and 4:13 respectively.
Britain's Mark Cavendish retains the red jersey but sees his advantage over Evans cut to just six points. The Omega Pharma-Quick Step sprinter will get a chance to build up a small cushion ahead of three back-to-back mountain stages in Wednesday's 214km stage 17.
Despite one Cat.4 rise towards the finish in Vicenza, the stage should conclude with the kind of bunch sprint that has seen Cavendish bring home four stage wins to date.

 

[Smallville22]

Georges's failed ***** test confirmed by B sample

An analysis of Sylvain Georges's B sample has confirmed his failed ***** test during the Giro d'Italia, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said on Tuesday.
Georges, the French AG2R rider, tested positive for the stimulant Heptaminol in a ***** sample taken on May 10 and was ****** to pull out of the Giro by his team.
He was not provisionally suspended by the UCI because Heptaminol, a **** that widens ***** vessels and can be used in the treatment of low ***** pressure, is a "specified" substance that can be used in certain circumstances.
But now the UCI wants the French Cycling Federation to take action against the 29-year-old.
"The analysis of the sample B of Sylvain Georges's ***** has confirmed the result ... In accordance with the anti-doping rules, the UCI will request the French Cycling Federation opens a disciplinary procedure against the rider," the UCI said in a statement.
Georges had no intention to dope and took a product to cure his heavy legs, according to AG2R team director Vincent Lavenu.
Georges has already been barred from riding by AG2R, who are part of the Movement for Credible Cycling, which has a strong anti-doping stance.

 

[Smallville22]

Newton excited with team pursuit stars

Chris Newton has expressed his excitement as he attempts to help an all conquering Great Britain women's pursuit team raise the bar even higher.
It was Paul Manning who coached the trio of Laura Trott, Dani King and Joanna Rowsell to six consecutive world records, ending with gold at London 2012.
But with Manning now switching over to coach the men, Newton, who had previously overseen the British
Cycling men's Olympic Academy Programme and coached the men's team pursuit to silver at the 2013 Track World Championships, has stepped into the breach.
It is all change for Newton and his squad as the event moves from three people over three kilometres to match the men’s distance of four kilometres with four riders.
And while admitting he faces a challenge of living up to high expectations, Newton is adamant he has the talent at his disposal to do just that.
"It's really good, I'm very excited for the future and it's a great group to work with," Newton said.
"Obviously, with the history of the team, I've got some big shoes to fill there but the way we have restructured this, we will be working closely together and Shane [Sutton] is more closely involved too so we have got a really tight group there. Looking at the next three years, it's exciting times.
"Obviously we have got to increase our pool of riders as a starting point. We have enough numbers now but we really want to push that on and we obviously want the level to move on again.
"We are still in a bit of an unknown as to what this line-up is going to look like with regards to four-kilometre until we get onto the boards, when we will certainly see that. I think it’s a good opportunity and it opens the door for more riders to get more experience racing.
"We have Laura [Trott], Dani [King], Joanna [Rowsell] and Elinor [Barker] who are all proven champions in their own right but we also have Amy Roberts, Lucy Garner and Emily Kay.
"I would say that there is a lot of experimentation to be done but it has come around quite early and we have got three years to work at it so I think we are in a good place in that sense.
"There are also riders from the Olympic Development Programme coming through and we have even had a few athletes from other sports who have expressed their interest.
"Ideally it would be nice to have around ten riders to help push things on. I think every rider needs to feel pushed, not necessarily threatened, but to know that there is a need to perform."

 

[Smallville22]

Rasmussen takes Bayern-Rundfahrt opener

Alex Rasmussen won the opening stage of Bayern-Rundfahrt in Muhldorf in a bunch sprint.
The Garmin-Sharp rider took the first stanza of the five-day German stage race ahead of Ben Swift (Sky) and Juan-Jose Lobato del Valle (Euskaltel).
Henning Bommel (Rad-Net Rose), Grischa Janorschke (Nutrixxion) and Javier Megias Leal (Novo Nordisk) escaped shortly after the start of the 193.8km stage from Pfaffenhofen to the north of Munich.
Team Heizomat's Alexander Grad bridged the gap and the quartet built up an 11-minute lead after 85km on an undulating day in the hills.
But the advantage gradually dwindled with Team Sky really pushing pace in the peloton on three finishing circuits and the escapees were caught with 5km remaining.
And it was the 28-year-old Dane who was quickest on the uphill drag to the line for his first victory of the year.
Team Sky's Geraint Thomas, who became the first British winner of the event in 2011, finished safely in seventh.

 

[Smallville22]

Greipel captures first stage in Belgium

German powerhouse Andre Greipel claimed the opening stage of the Tour of Belgium.
A strong field has assembled for the five-stage race and a bunch sprint finish in Knokke-Heist saw the Lotto-Belisol sprinter beat Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma QuickStep) and Ramon Sinkeldam (Argos-Shimano) to the line.
A pancake flat 194.2km stage from Lochristi saw an early break featuring Alphonse Vermote, Pieter Uyttersprot, Laurens De Vreese and Olivier Chevalier.
But they were not allowed a lead in excess of four and a half minutes and despite a renewed effort from the latter duo, the escape finished with 25km to go.
A string of counter-attacks in the final stages failed to stick and the Lotto-Belisol train set up an eighth win of the year for Greipel.
“It was a victory from the text book," Greipel said afterward.
The final was hectic with many turns, but we were well organized and could stay together. The guys perfectly prepared the sprint. My gear was a bit too big, but I finished it off.
"I am very happy with this win. We work together very well, other riders search us in the way up to the sprint because we have such an excellent train.”
He continued: “We are racing together again for the first time since Tirreno-Adriatico. From now on it’s one line to the Tour de France via the Tour of Zeeland Seaports, Berlin and the ZLM Tour.
" We now have to get confidence and sharpen the automatisms. Tomorrow’s stage suits Jürgen Roelandts very well, but it will also be difficult to get rid of me on the climbs.”
Thomas Voeckler, who only returned to action last week after fracturing his collarbone in mid-April, crashed midway through the stage due to a malfunction with his attached water bottle and trailed home behind the peloton.

 

[Smallville22]

Visconti doubles up with victory in stage 17

Italy's Giovanni Visconti took a second - and his Movistar team's fourth - triumph on the Giro after an audacious solo ****** on the only climb of day near the finish in Vicenza.
Just three days after his glory on the gruelling Galibier, 30-year-old Visconti used a smaller climb as the platform for a third successive stage win for the Spanish Movistar team.
Visconti attacked the main pack on the punchy Cat.4 ascent of Crosara 20 kilometres from the finish of the otherwise largely pan-flat 218km stage from Caravaggio.
Having swept up Colombia's Miguel Angel Rubiano (Androni-Giocattoli) and fellow Italian Danilo Di Luca (Vini Fantini) on the steepest 12% section of the climb, Visconti crested the summit in pole position before riding with real gusto to hold off the chasing pack all the way to the finish.
It was Visconti's second stage win of the race following victory in Sunday's stage 15 - and his team's fourth after additional scalps for Spain's Benat Intxausti in Tuesday's stage 16 and Britain's Alex Dowsett in the opening week's individual time trial.
Lithuania's Ramunas Navardauskas crossed the line with arms aloft to take second place 19 seconds down on the winner, the Garmin-Sharp rider clearly believing he had notched his own second scalp of the race.
Maglia rosa Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) finished safely in the main pack to retain his race lead by 1:26 over Cadel Evans (BMC) and 2:46 over Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) ahead of Thursday's decisive 20.6km uphill time trial.
Visconti's Movistar team started the stage on a role having picked up wins in the previous two stages either side of Monday's rest day.
But with the sun shining high in a blue sky, it was the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team of the red jersey Mark Cavendish who controlled the tempo of the stage as a break of four riders rode clear after just six kilometres of racing.
The only team with more success that Movistar in the 96th Giro d'Italia, OPQS clearly fancied delivering their man Cavendish to a fifth win of the race.
Russia's Maxim Belkov (Katusha) - himself a previous winner of last week's sodden stage nine to Florence - joined ****** with the peloton's youngest rider, 22-year-old Australian Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge), the Belgian Gert Dockx (Lotto Belisol) and Rubiano to build up a maximum lead of five minutes over the peloton.
Leading the chase alongside OPQS was Movistar and the Argos Shimano team of Slovenian sprinter Luka Mezgec. With the quartet's lead cut to just one minute ahead of the only climb of the day, the bright yellow jerseys of Vini Fantini moved to the front of the pack as the roads became ever lumpier and narrower.
Belkov was first to pop and was quickly followed by both Dockx and Durbridge. Vini Fantini's Alessandro Proni then burst off the front as the pack hit the initial slopes of the Crosara, with 23km remaining. Proni's move acted as a springboard for Di Luca, who burst clear of the pack to join Rubiano 30 seconds up the road.
Meanwhile, Cavendish dug deep to stay in touch with the fast-slimming main pack on the steepest section of the climb. While Cavendish grimaced in pain off the back, the in-form Visconti made his move and danced off the front.
Powering up the slope as if it were a mere small incline, Visconti quickly caught the leading duo. Di Luca cracked one kilometre from the summit before Visconti rode ahead to cross over the peak with a 16-second lead over Rubiano and a 32-second advantage over the pack.
Once Rubiano was swept up on the descent the attacks came thick and fast - but there was no unified effort from the chasing group and Visconti, perhaps digging even deeper than he did on the Galibier three days earlier, managed to maintain a gap of just over 20 seconds.
With Spanish sprinter Francesco Ventoso present in the chasing group, Movistar had a second card to play should Visconti come up short.
The lone leader suffered a heart-in-mouth moment when overcooking a tight left-hand bend entering Vicenza with 2km remaining - but Visconti managed to readjust his line before continuing on his way to glory.
"It's an incredible feeling," Visconti said. "This was definitely a stage which suited both me or Ventoso and we had targeted it in the morning."
The chasing pack crossed the line 19 seconds down with Navardauskas, the stage 11 winner, edging out Mezgec for what he believed to be the victory. Behind the Lithuanian Ventoso could be seen celebrating his team-mates win as he coasted to a ninth-place finish ahead of Evans.
The Australian veteran took five points over the line and now moves to within four points of Cavendish in what is proving to be a thrilling battle for the red jersey.
Earlier in the day, Cavendish had taken maximum points for fifth place at both intermediate sprints behind the escapees to move 10 points clear of Evans.
One day after his 28th birthday, the British sprinter would also have hoped for a chance to contest both the final sprint and mop up more points in Vicenza - but despite his best efforts he lost touch on the Cat.4 climb and came home 1:39 down on Visconti.
"There are climbs that put the sprinters on the limit and there are GC climbs - and that was a GC climb," Cavendish told Eurosport after a disappointing day in the saddle.
"There's nothing we could have done more. We always knew it was going to be hard and it was. I cracked on the climb. The guys were excellent and stayed with me - but what can you do? I'm so proud of them. At the end of the day it doesn't always work out."
With two back-to-back days in the mountains following Thursday's 20km time trial, Cavendish will have to wait until the final flat stage into Brescia on Sunday to see if he can win the red jersey.
Last year Cavendish missed out on the jersey by one slender point - and with Evans sure to pick up points on Friday and Saturday it now looks very much an uphill struggle for the Manx Missile.

 

[Smallville22]

Evans to lead BMC team

Australian Cadel Evans will get the nod ahead of American Tejay van Garderen as BMC Racing's number one rider at the Tour de France, team president Jim Ochowicz said.
Evans, the first Australian to win the Tour in 2011, was blown away by Briton Bradley Wiggins last year and finished seventh behind van Garderen, who took fifth place and was the best young rider on the Tour.
The 36-year-old Evans, however, has recovered well and is in second spot overall in the ongoing Giro d'Italia, which proves his worth, Ochowicz said.
"It (Evans' Giro performance) solidifies that - you have to have the confidence and he does," Ochowicz told Fairfax Media.
"This is a great performance here.
"Tejay is a great young athlete coming up (and) he is learning from Cadel."
This year's Tour will start in Corsica on June 29 and is expected to suit pure climbers.

 

[Smallville22]

Manning taking clean slate into new coaching role

British Cycling's Paul Manning might have won Olympic gold alongside two of the men he may well now instruct, but he insists he will approach his new role as men's team pursuit coach with a clean slate.
In a coaching reshuffle at British Cycling, Manning is now in charge of Great Britain's men’s team pursuit, having led the women to six consecutive world records in 2012, ending in gold at the London Olympics.
Before he was a coach Manning won three Olympic medals, the highlight being team pursuit gold at the Beijing Games.
Manning's title came alongside Sir Bradley Wiggins, Ed Clancy and Geraint Thomas – the latter two having gone on and defended their crown in London last summer.
But despite this familiarity with some of the athletes now under his tutelage, Manning is adamant being their coach is an entirely different prospect.
"I'm excited but it almost feels familiar to me, you've been in the squad so there is an association with it," he said.
"My first tasks are the obvious things really, getting to know the athletes. I've known some of them as teammates but I need to come at it with a different perspective.
"I'm starting with a blank sheet of paper – where they are at, a chance to review what was achieved last summer in London and look to try and plan something bigger and better for Rio.
"Various things have been said about whether people will be back in the squad or not. I think time will tell on that one.
"There are opportunities for me to engage with anybody who has aspirations, that's the main thing at the minute, taking stock of who's out there and who wants to be a part of it."
During his tenure as women's team pursuit coach Great Britain were denied the world title just once – in Copenhagen in 2010.
Chris Newton is now in charge of that squad that boasts the likes of Laura Trott, Dani King and Joanna Rowsell and he admits it was hard to walk away from such a talented bunch.
"It's not an easy decision to leave athletes like that behind," Manning added.
"They're young, enthusiastic and really driven individuals and they obviously combined really well last summer as a team with their track record and Olympic success.
"The continual improvement through 2012 was probably one of the most impressive things; how they kind of gelled and kept pushing each other further on."

 

[Smallville22]

McQuaid: Long way to go to repair Armstrong damage

Cycling has a long way to go to repair the damage done to the sport by the Lance Armstrong case, International Cycling Union (UCI) president Pat McQuaid said following the publication of the UCI's stakeholder consultation.
A summary of the findings by Deloitte identified six "critically-important recommendations" and a further five "high priority" ones, including restoring cycling's credibility, improving relations with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and strengthening the anti-doping culture in the sport.
"We need to acknowledge that there's a lot that the UCI needs to do to repair the damage caused to our sport after the Armstrong affair," McQuaid told Reuters in a telephone interview from Geneva on Thursday.
"We didn't set out to find a report which was going to be a whitewash and we obviously expected that there were going to be some criticisms," he added.
"The UCI are already working on some of the high-priority recommendations, such as increasing the independence of the cycling anti-doping foundation, the points system for the pro-teams and the calendar."
McQuaid thought the consultation findings, which will be discussed by the UCI management committee next month, were just the start of a rebuilding process for the sport as the governing body struggles to placate critics who feel it did not do enough to catch Armstrong.
The UCI plans to set up an external audit of itself and its work during the Armstrong period.
"That independent audit into the UCI should clarify a lot of the issues which are still, in people's minds, doubtful," said the Irishman.
"We would hope that will then ensure the public and the cycling ****** in particular has faith in the fact that any decision the UCI took concerning Armstrong, or indeed any other rider, was taken in compliance with the known facts, with the science available at the time and according to the rules applicable at the time.
"If we can get that message out of that independent audit, that would be a good thing. Then we can concentrate on where we go from there, in terms of looking at the past as well and more, concentrate on the future."
The Deloitte report said 72 percent of respondents believed cycling's anti-doping measures had strengthened in the last five years, although the public perception of the UCI's performance in the fight against doping was less positive, with the same percentage rating the performance either 'poor' or 'very poor'.
McQuaid, who has been UCI president since 2006 and is seeking a third term, said communication was key to improving perception of the UCI.
"We need to do a much better job in communicating our anti-doping programme and reassuring people that we are doing everything possible to ensure a clean sport and to protect clean riders and that the peloton today is completely different from 10-15 years ago," he said, adding that the UCI spent 7.5 million euros annually on anti-doping.
Cycling has long been tarnished by doping but the sport hit a new low when Armstrong was last year stripped of his seven Tour de France titles following an investigation by the United States Anti-Doping organisation (USADA).
The American later admitted to taking performance-enhancing ***** throughout his career in a televised interview.
The UCI took a further blow when, embroiled in a bitter row with the WADA, it disbanded a three-person independent commission set up to investigate whether or not the world governing body had helped Armstrong to conceal his ****-taking.
McQuaid conceded the body needed to work harder to get its anti-doping message across to the public, including using social media.
"The UCI...wouldn't be the most advanced in social media or new technology," he said. "We have a programme to develop that whole area and improve how we operate in social media as well as traditional media. That's an area which we can use to get our message across.
"It's also important that we use athletes as well. There's a new generation of riders that have nothing to do with doping and can win races."
The consultation, called 'A bright future for cycling', took responses from those within the cycling ****** as well as the general public and looked at anti-doping, globalisation, riders and the sport's calendar.
McQuaid's overall assessment of the findings was positive.
"What the report has given us is that there's a bright future for cycling and there's quite a lot of positive things to take out of the report.
"This report shows that there's a huge appetite for the sport.
"I don't think this is it, it just gives us a framework, a framework upon which we can build," he said.

 

[Smallville22]

Nibali wins stage 18 time trial to cement lead

Italy's Vincenzo Nibali convincingly won the 20.6km uphill time trial to move more than four minutes ahead of closest rival Cadel Evans in the battle for the Giro's maglia rosa.
Defying heavy rain, Astana's Nibali was the only rider in the peloton to complete the demanding race against the clock in less than 45 minutes as he moved closer to a first Giro d'Italia crown.
Despite rolling down the start ramp in the Velodrome of Mori a full three minutes behind BMC's Evans, Nibali finished just moments after the Australian veteran. Punching the air with his fist, Nibali crossed the line in Polsa to set a blistering time of 44mins and 29secs - a full 58 seconds ahead of the target time set by Spaniard Samuel Sanchez of Euskaltel.
Nibali's belated first stage victory in a race that he has largely dominated since the opening week saw the 28-year-old increase his lead to 4:02 over Evans on GC, with Colombian Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) a further ten seconds back in third place.
With just two mountain stages remaining ahead of the final processional ride into Brescia on Sunday, the Sicilian looks all but certain to add the Giro to his extensive palmares, which also includes the 2010 Vuelta a Espana crown.
Trailing the race leader by 1:26 in the overnight standings, 36-year-old Evans was expected to vie with Nibali for the stage victory on Thursday. Although he may have been dreaming of the pink jersey, Evans would have known that anything higher than 12th place would have put him back into the top of the red jersey points standings at the expense of Briton Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step).
But with rain starting to fall soon after the final riders rolled down the start ramp, Evans - just hours after being promised the BMC leadership over Tejay van Garderen in next month's Tour de France - struggled to make an impact en route to finishing in 25th place, 2:36 down on the impressive Nibali.
Michele Scarponi (Lampre-Merida) had ridden the first half of the climb with gusto to beat Sanchez's time at the 9.5km split by seven seconds before Nibali showed his strength by shaving 31 seconds off his compatriot's effort.
Scarponi, the 2011 winner, slowed on the second steeper section of the time trial to post the fourth best time, 1:21 down on Nibali and one second slower than third-place Damiano Caruso (Cannondale).
Uran struggled to get into a decent rhythm in the initial climb, setting only the 17th best time at the split at Brentonico. But the Colombian recovered on the harder slopes towards the finish and posted the sixth best time, 1:26 seconds down on the winner.
The Team Sky leader stays in third place on GC but moves within 10 seconds of Evans - but will have to defend his place on the podium from the threat of Scarponi, who lies just over a minute behind in fourth place.
Scarponi's Lampre team-mate Przemyslaw Niemiec of Poland is fifth at 6:09 after a solid if spectacular ride.
If the battle for the pink jersey now looks all but over, then the ultimate destination of the white jersey remains very much gloriously unknown after Colombian Carlos Betancur (Ag2R-La Mondiale) and Poland's Rafal Majka (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) continued their enthralling duel during the gripping ITT.
Separated by just five seconds on GC going into the test, the pair swapped places - and jerseys - at the end of the day when Majka managed to take back seven seconds after digging seep in the second phase of the race.
The Polish youngster rises to sixth place on GC, two seconds ahead of Betancur, after Italy's Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini) could only post the 24th best time. Stage 14 winner Santambrogio is now eighth on GC, 7:30 down on Nibali.
After his second-place ride Sanchez moves into the top ten behind stage 16 winner Benat Intxausti at the expense of Dutchman Robert Gesink (Blanco), who disappointed in 29th place.
With Nibali sitting pretty in pink with more than four minutes to play with, the race now enters its final decisive phase with two back-to-back stages in the high mountains.
Friday's 139km stage 19 was due to feature the gruelling climbs of the Gavia and Stelvio ahead of a summit finish in Val Martello - but heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures have ****** the race organisers to change the route at the 11th hour.
The amended stage will still start in Ponte di Legno but the revised 160km route will feature the Passo Tonale and Passo Castrin climbs ahead of the Cat.1 summit finish at Val Martello Martelltal.
Saturday's stage 20 - which includes the unforgiving Passo di Giau and a summit finish on Tre Cime di Lavaredo - could also be rescheduled due to the weather.

 

[Smallville22]

Greipel wins second straight stage at Tour of Belgium

Andre Greipel won the second stage of the Tour of Belgium from Danny van Poppel to make it a second win from two in the five stage event.
Tom Boonen came in third but is second behind Greipel in the general classification with Van Poppel third.
The first ****** in the 181km stage from Knokke-Heist to Ninove came from Arman Kamyshev (Astana), Mikhail Ignatiev (Katyusha), Stijn Steels (Creland – Euphony), Alexandre Pichot (Europcar) and Sebastien Turgot (Europcar) with 143km to go.
With 88km the gap was at 4:55 but Lotto Belisol, team-mate of Greipel, led the peloton and the lead was down to 3:31 with 60km to go.
Ignatiev led on his own as the riders started on the Bosberg ascent but was reeled in to leave Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) and Francesco Gavazzi (Astana) to lead the last 10km but they were caught in the final kilometre to leave a three-way sprint that Greipel took.

Stage result:

1 Andre Greipel 4:11:29

2 Danny van Poppel +0

3 Tom Boonen (BEL) +0

4 Alexander Porsev (RUS) +0

5 Adrien Petit (FRA) +0

6 Simone Ponzi (ITA) +0

7 Alexey Tsatevich (RUS) +0

8 Ruslan Tleubayev (KAZ) +0

9 Niki Terpstra (NED) +0

10 Ramon Sinkeldam (NED) +0

 

[Smallville22]

Impey takes stage two of Bayern-Rundfahrt

Daryl Impey won stage two of Bayern Rundfahrt, taking his third win of the season in commanding fashion.
The Orica rider took the second stage of the five-day German event ahead of Gerald Ciolek (Team MTN) and Adriano Malori (Lampre), and the victory puts him in the overall leader’s jersey with three stages to go in the tour.
“I would like to dedicate this win to my wife and newborn *** Ayden,” said Impey. “They give me extra motivation.”
The early escape of seven riders – including Jay Thomson (MTN-Qhubeka), Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Dominic Klemme (IAM Cycling), Cedric Pineau (FDJ), Michael Schwarzmann (Team NetApp-Endura), Grischa Janorschke (Nutrixxion Abus) and Cyril Lemoine (Sojasun) - were reeled in at the 30km mark and a break of nine ensued.
Blel Kadri (AG2R La Mondiale), Davide Cimolai (Lampre-Merida), Nikias Arndt (Argos-Shimano), Stefan Denifl (IAM Cycling), Jerome ****** (Europcar), Russell Downing (Team NetApp-Endura), Jan-Niklas Droste (Heizomat), Tobias Dohlus (Nutrixxion Abus) and Jean Marc Marino (Sojasun) opened up an advantage of 4:20 before the category one climb of the Sankt Englmar.
Kadri dropped his breakaway companions on the descent but with 35km remaining 60 riders were together, which was then whittled down to 28 riders with 6km to go and Impey won to take the leader's jersey from stage one winner Alex Rasmussen (Garmin-Sharp)