Emakumeen Bira 2012 Stage 4 and final General Classification

Report and full GC result here

Stage 4 Top Ten

  1.   Annemiek Van Vleuten  Rabobank  3h06'59" 
  2.   Emma Johansson  Hitec Products-Mistral Home  +1" 
  3.   Trixi Worrack  Specialized-Lululemon  ST
  4.   Sharon Laws  AA Drink-Leontien.nl  +4" 
  5.   Alena Amialyusik  Be Pink  +1" 
  6.   Judith Arndt  Orica GreenEdge-AIS  ST
  7.   Anna Sanchis  Bizkaia-Durango  +48"
  8.   Claudia Haüsler  Orica GreenEdge-AIS  +51"
  9.   Christelle Ferrier-breneau  Hitec Products-Mistral Home  ST
  10.   Kaat Hannes  Lotto Belisol   +52" 



General Classification Top Ten

  1.   Judith Arndt  Orica GreenEdge-AIS  08:30:59 

  2.   Emma Johansson  Hitec Products-Mistral Home  +00:07 

  3.   Annemiek Van Vleuten  Rabobank   00:14 

  4.   Alena Amialyusik  Be Pink  00:39 

  5.   Sharon Laws  AA Drink-Leontien.nl  00:42 

  6.   Lucinda Brand  AA Drink-Leontien.nl  00:55 

  7.   Trixi Worrack  Specialized- Lululemon  01:21 

  8.   Emma Pooley  AA Drink-Leontien.nl  01:50 

  9.   Anna Sanchis  Bizkaia-Durango  02:05 

  10.   Claudia Haüsler  Orica GreenEdge-AIS  02:30 

  11.   Ellen Van Dijk  Specialized-Lululemon  03:10 

Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco Stage 6 report and results

Sammy Sanchez

If you don't feel astounded right now, look at this...

Stage 6
1 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 28'48
2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank +6
3 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-Quickstep +7 (Full stage results when available)

That's right - climber Samuel Sanchez beat World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin in the closing time trial stage of the Tour of the Basque Country. And that means...

Overall General Classification
1 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 20h58'15"
2 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha +12"
3 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank +42" (Full GC results when available)

...which is, quite frankly, an incredible result. The two small climbs turned out to be surfaced with rather poor condition tarmac were far harder than the stage profile suggested, with heavy rain not helping on the tricky descents. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) went into the stage with a 9" advantage after getting the better of the Euskaltel captain in Stage 5 and rode what may prove to be the best time trial of his life; however, while Sanchez has developed into an enormously talented all-rounder, Rodriguez remains very much a climber and his efforts simply couldn't deliver what he needed

Euskaltel-Euskadi has suffered very public financial problems in the last year. While acting as the Basque national team, the economic recession has hit Spain and Portugal hard, with the autonomous Basque Country also experiencing problems - and with the Basques obsessed by the sport, the loss of this team would be a greater tragedy than is normally the case when any other team vanishes. With luck, this result will prove sufficient to bring a new backer onboard.

There'll be a lot of patxaran drunk in Euskal Herria tonight - and Sammy deserves every toast.

Interesting Stuff: Sky race report Katusha report

Tour of the Basque Country: 1 (video) / 2 (video) / 3 (video) / 4 (video) / 5 (video) / 6

Wiggins leads Paris-Nice GC

Having surprised the world with a stunning performance and second place at yesterday's rain-soaked opening time trial, British rider Bradley Wiggins has taken the yellow jersey of Paris-Nice after putting in a similarly impressive ride today.

(image credit: Haggisnl CC BY 2.0)

Wiggo broke away from the peloton with a select group of twelve riders halfway through the stage, a brave move for any General Classification contender that shows enormous confidence and a supreme ability to tailor tactics to a specific parcours. A number of other riders bridged the gap, swelling numbers to around 30 before a crash took out several men, but the peloton found itself outclassed and unable to reabsorb the group. By the time they reached the 10km to go marker, Wiggins' gang had an advantage of over 2' and the result began to look inevitable.

The 31-year-old, who was born in Belgium to British parents (his father Gary was also a professional cyclist) but moved to London with his mother following her divorce, was 11th over the line behind Bernard Hinault's top tip Tom Boonen while Sky team mate Geraint Thomas was 10th. However, he recorded the same time as the first 20 riders - giving him a 6" advantage over Levi Leipheimer in the General Classification.

Becoming Britain's first Tour de France winner has been Bradley's main aim for some years now. Last year he showed up at the start line of cycling's greatest event looking as though he was made of nothing but bone and sinew, ready to take on the likes of Contador and Schleck on the tough climbs in the Pyrenees and Alps, but his prospects were shattered when he suffered a broken collar bone during a mass pile-up in Stage 7. The Tour is still some months away, but if he can maintain the form he's currently on and with this year's race featuring plenty of time trial kilometres and fewer mountains it seems that 2012 offers his best chance to realise the dream that he and all British cycling fans share.

Women's Tour of Qatar Stage 2 Results

Here.