Trofeo Internazionale Bastianelli

Large-scale, click for zoom

05.08.12 Official Site (with details of TV coverage)
Italy, UCI 1.2


Start list (subject to change)

One of the greatest non-classic events of Italian cycling and now in its 36th edition, the Trofeo Internazionale Bastianelli takes place on hilly roads north of Atina in Lazio - a beautiful hilltop town which, despite its Roman ruins, cathedral and ducal palace, hasn't yet been discovered by tourists and where the majority of the local population make their living through the production of wine and olive oil.

The race takes place in three parts: Giro 1 (blue) heads at first west, then north into the countryside and west again to Alvito, then turns north-west to loop around Posta Fibreno - which has a lake made famous by a naturally-formed floating island, mentioned by Pliny. The riders then head south-east to Casalvieri and Casalattico, then after 55km arrive back at Atina to begin the next part.

Giro 2 (red) leaves Atina and heads at first west, then north via Settefrati to San Donato Val di Comino, west again to Alvito and south via Casalvieri to Casalattico before turning east back to Atina, covering 62km.

Giro 3 is itself split into three parts, two laps beginning and ending at the start line and a third, slightly shorter lap ending at San Marciano. The total distance is 143km.

Click to enlarge.

A look at the altitude profile reveals that this is not a race for the sprinters, with numerous tough climbs dotting the entire parcours and three big GPMs coming in fast succession between 67 and 85km during Giro 2. The first of these is Gallinaro, its highest point 555m above sea level and situated 71km into the race; the second is Settefrati (79km), the biggest test the riders face today at 825m; the third is San Donato Val di Comino at 85km, 728m high - the profile suggests that the town is approached by a descent; however, while the riders will have been descending from Settefrati, there's a steep climb to reach the centre of the town. Giro 2 ends with a climb of 130m which must then be climbed three more times during Giro 3, draining the last dregs of strength from all the riders and ensuring that only the strongest climbers stand any real chance of being first across the finish line after they climb it for the final time.

Results when available...

IG Markets London Nocturne

For a full version of this write-up centred on the Rapha Women's Criterium race, click here.

Today is the 9th of June - and that means tonight is the night of the unique, spectacular and enormously popular IG Markets London Nocturne in which the best riders Britain has to offer go head-to-head with the best of the rest of the world.

The Parcours

The parcours (click the image to enlarge)

The races takes the simple, familiar criterium format that is so ideally suited to TV on a 1.05km circuit around Smithfield Market with the women racing for 30 minutes plus three laps from 20:45 (race programme here). They begin on Long Lane (51°31'7.61"N 0°6'5.29"W) at the Rotunda Garden, now a tranquil place among the insane London traffic but for centuries the site of public executions, then head south-west and follow the curve of the road as it leads for 237m to a tight right corner after onto Snowhill before an even tighter right 80m and mere moments later back onto Long Lane. After passing the Poultry Market on the left, they turn 90 degrees left into East Poultry Lane and under an 81m covered section (signs at both ends say "DEAD SLOW," but the riders won't be paying much attention to those) and then right again onto Charterhouse Street for a straight and almost flat 210m blast along the northern side of the Meat Market. Another 90 degree right turn takes them onto Lindsey Street, then 90m later they arrive at the last right turn back onto Long Lane to pass by the VIP area and pass the finish line to begin a new lap. To add to the fun, the race features the IG Speed of Execution Challenge a an alternative to intermediate sprints - timing chips fitted to each bike will measure the speed at which they cross the line after each lap, the fastest riders winning £500. For many of the riders, especially in the women's race, that's a lot of money: expect it to be hotly contested (it's also an excellent idea aimed at making the race more thrilling to those spectators who are watching the race simply because they happen to be in the area but don't follow the sport - exactly what cycling needs to gain new fans).

Profile - click to enlarge

Hazards

This being one of the world's busiest cities, there is street furniture aplenty all along the parcours - it'll all be covered in thick padding, of course, but it still hurts if a rider hits it. One obviously hazardous point, especially on the first and last laps when a large number of riders are altogether and traveling at speed, is the intersection between Snowhill and Long Lane where riders are squeezed into a narrow section bending to the right: a place where it will be very easy to collide with the crowd barriers. An added danger, and one far harder to predict than street furniture, is diesel spills left by the hundreds of trucks that make deliveries to and pick up from the Meat Market - this is especially likely to be the case along Lindsey Street where riders will pass through the loading bays right after the corner (look for the painted "HQ" on the white wall to the left). If the roads are wet, diesel can be lethal. There are more loading bays all along Long Lane, making the Lindsey Street/Long Lane corner (by the brasserie) another potential dangerpoint. There's also a tricky bottleneck section just before arrival back at the Rotunda Garden where the footpath juts right out into the road, reducing the width of the road from 10m to 4m - if all the riders try to get through at the same time, there'll be problems.

Weather
Well, how about that? After nearly a week of rain and with another week of rain expected to start tomorrow, it looks as though Saturday is going to be dry and even quite warm at 20C - which will come as good news to the participants of the London Naked Bike Ride also taking place today. It'll be a little cooler this evening when the race kicks off, but since large cities remain a few degrees warmer than surrounding countryside and the buildings provide shelter from the wind around 16C can be expected during the women's race.

Spectating
All points along the parcours are easily accessible and the event is free to watch. Obvious vantage points are the start line (especially due to the Speed of Execution Challenge), though large crowds will gather here (51°31'7.61"N 0° 6'5.11"W); the Snowhill/Long Lane corner (51°31'3.87"N 0° 6'16.84"W); the exit of East Poultry Lane (especially if the cafe over the road is open, 51°31'9.59"N 0° 6'10.61"W) and the Charterhouse Road/Lindsey Street corner (51°31'12.48"N 0° 6'0.86"W).

TV
Channel 4 will be showing highlights of all the races - including the women's criterium, penny-farthing race and the longest fixie skid contest - in a 55-minute programme to be broadcast at 07:10 on Sunday the 17th, the first time they've covered cycling since they gave up the right to broadcast Tour de France coverage eleven years ago. Channel 4 is available via online streams around the world and the programme will be made available on their 4OD catch-up service.

Exergy Tour Stage 1 Review and Stage 2 Preview

Tara Whitten

The Exergy Tour is all over for favourite Kristin Armstrong (Exergy-Twenty12) already after a crash in the peloton left her with a broken collarbone. The 38-year-old, twice World Time Trial Champion and the last down the start ramp, was halfway through a blisteringly fast lap of the 3.2km parcours in Boise, Idaho when her front tyre lost grip, causing her to land hard on her left shoulder.

"We are all absolutely heartbroken for Kristin, but we are ready to rally and do this for her and her hometown." (Tayler Wiles, Exergy-Twenty12)

Ignoring the pain, she was up in seconds and back on her bike to finish the stage; the combination of lost time and reduced speed in the latter half making her eventual 13th place and time of 4'17.88" remarkable. She'll undergo surgery today, during which stabilising pins will be inserted into the bone, and will then begin to concentrate on making a full recovery in time for the Olympics - get well soon Kristin!

Gillian Carleton (Canada) looked to be in with a good chance of winning when she set the bar at 4'9.98", which remained fastest time for 30 minutes until team mate Tara Whitten shaved off 0.34" - which, following Armstrong's misfortune, earned her the victory. Fellow Canadian Clara Hughes (Specialized-Lululemon) took third with 4'10.55", her team once again achieving their now customary domination of the top ten with no fewer than five placings. Nicole Cooke (Faren-Honda), the only British rider in the race, was 61st with 4'38.56".

Top Ten

  1.  Tara Whitten Team TIBCO 4'09.64"
  2.  Gillian Carleton Canada +0.34"
  3.  Clara Hughes Specialized-Lululemon +0.91"
  4.  Ina Yoko Teutenberg Specialized-Lululemon +2.52"
  5.  Evelyn Stevens Specialized-Lululemon +2.77"
  6.  Alison Powers Now & Noverstis +2.84"
  7.  Shara Gillow Orica GreenEdge +4.27"
  8.  Jade Wilcoxson Optum p/b Kelly Ben. +5.54"
  9.  Trixi Worrack Specialized- Lululemon +5.86"
  10.  Amber Neben Specialized- Lululemon +7.01"
(Full result)

Friday's Stage 1 extends over a 120km parcours starting and ending at the Recreation Centre in Nampa, Idaho. Riders will first head south and west on straight roads, then follow the banks of Lake Lowell for 14.5km before once again turning south. After 8.21km, they arrive at the beginning of a 33.9km loop running along the Snake River before turning north and back to the start of the circuit for a second lap. The stage's "Queen of the Mountains" climb comes at the southern end of the circuit; not a huge one at around 150m, but it's steep. Once done, they start the 23.12km journey back to Nampa by heading east along Deer Flat Road which, were it not for a wide bend and climb in the first 4km, would be perfectly straight and almost entirely flat; then it's flat all the way. It looks, therefore, rather like a sprint finish is on the cards - and Carmen Small is the Les Déesses top pick.

It doesn't look as though the weather will be to many people's tastes - maximum temperatures of around 14C aren't too bad (though a north-north-westerly 16kph wind will make it feel a good 2-3C cooler than that), but rain and thunderstorms look extremely likely.

Giro d'Italia Stage 16

The Giro heads for Limone sul Garda for 2012's final medium mountain stage on Tuesday, taking a 173km route that ends at Falzes - which, despite being in Italy, is better known as Pfalzen since it's 20km from the Austrian border and around 97% of the local population speak German as their first language.

Limone sul Garda feels far more Italian; it's famous for its locally-produced olive oil and lemons (although grown here in large amounts, lemons did not give the town its name - "limone" is probably derived from limes, meaning bounday, or lemos, meaning elm). Until the 1930s, the town was largely cut off from the outside world with the only ways to get there being by boat across Lake Garda or via the difficult passes across the mountains. This proved advantageous to the locals: a 17th Century inhabitant named Giovanni Pomaroli added to the Limone gene pool a mutant blood apolipoprotein, which enables the liver to produce a greater amount of high-density lipoprotein and reduces heart disease. Pomaroli's descendents, in the time-honoured way of mountain towns that have no contact with the outside world and little for people to do for several months each year, set about passing on their mutant genes and now Limone's residents are famous for their longevity. It has become famous as a health resort, attracting the rich and famous and benefiting enormously from their spending - what must have been a poor, one-horse town within living memory is now an impressive place of grand villas built along the thin strips of flat land between the lake and the mountains.

The stage's first two climbs come just before Trento, neither is especially high nor steep and, as such, neither is categorised. The summit of the second is 489m above sea level and is followed by a 7km into the city

Castello del Buonconsiglio

Trento is also rich - in fact, it frequently makes it into Italian top ten quality of life lists and its university is often ranked best in the country. The local architecture is exactly what might be expected of a town pulled between Italian and German influences; buildings that look quintessentially Italian stand next to others that wouldn't look out of place in Bavaria, while others happily combine elements of both traditions - and usually do so successfully. Trento's most famous son (who was in fact born 10km away at Palu Giovo) is Francesco Moser, who broke Eddy Merckx's Hour Record and smashed the old stereotype that Italians couldn't ride well in the Northern Classics. Palu Giovo is also the birthplace of Gilberto Simoni, who won the Giro d'Italia in 2001 and 2003 and might well have won in the intervening year too had he - like Moser - not preferred to ride with a little chemical assistance: a positive test for cocaine saw him kicked out of the race, though the Italian Federation later cleared him. Trento's finest site is the Castello del Buonconsiglio, the seat of the local Bishopric for half a millennium after construction began in the 13th Century, then a barracks and a prison when the Austrians ruled this part of Italy and since the 1920s a museum. Much enlarged over the years, it has become a vast complex of towers and palaces.

Bolzano and the Rosengarten massif

Bolzano, around 60km from Trento, is the next town of any size - in fact, it's the largest city in the South Tyrol. It too was subject to German influence and is still sometimes known as Bozen despite extensive "Italianisation" under Mussolini and the Fascists. Now, around three quarters of the population speak Italian as their first language; the majority of the remainder speak German and a tiny minority speak Ladin, a language closely related to Swiss Romansch and spoken by fewer that 20,000 people in total. The Fascists left another legacy - the city was once home to the Polizei- und Durchgangslager Bozen transit and labour camp, where thousands of Jewish and political prisoners were kept under appalling conditions during the Nazi era. This is perhaps why today Bolzano exhibits such tolerance: a unique statute preserves the identity of the German-speaking minority whilst integrating them in society, a measure that has been hailed as a potential solution to inter-ethnic conflict in other parts of the world and which has been praised by the Dalai Lama who has visited the city many times and advocates the same system for Chinese-controlled Tibet.

After Bolzano, the route begins to climb, imperceptibly at first, then more steeply until it reaches Ponte Gardena, an attractive and extremely Tyrolian village of 192 inhabitants that once had a statue of Mussolini on horseback entitled The Genius of Fascism, which was somehow overlooked after the Second World War and stood until the 29th of January 1960 when it was destroyed by the Bergisel-Bund für Südtirol Schutzverband group (who were, unfortunately, rather among the terrorist category of political groups). Trostburg, a 12th Century castle, is a considerably more attractive landmark. The parcours then crosses a plateau at 545m above sea level, then reaches a steeper ascent just past Brixen (where remnants of the 11th Century town walls and several castles can be seen) and climbs to 760m. A second plateau leads to Kiens at 168.1km, then the riders reach the last climb and get to 980m at the final right hand bend. The remaining 2.35km rise slightly to a maximum of 1,004m at the beginning of the last 0.5km, then the parcours descends gently to the finish line. If there was ever a stage for Joaquim Rodriguez, this is it.

Falzes - or Pfalzen - is around 50km from Bolzanoa the crow flies but more like 71km on the road. It's a region rather than a village and includes the hamlets Issing and Greinwalden. The former is home to the Burg Schöneck, a 12th Century castle that is now a private residence and, when glimpsed from the nearby roads, can be mistaken for a large church. Nearby is Sichelburg, a tall and imposing fortified manor house thought to have once been the home of the local lords. The building has undergone extensive renovation in recent years and has been returned to its former grandeur.

Giro d'Italia Stage 15

Lecco

Today is the first day of the third week of the Giro and the race returns for a second day in the high mountains with a 169km parcours that takes in four tough categorised ascents and numerous uncategorised climbs to sap the rider's strength and make the big ones even harder. (Map, profile)

The stage starts in Busto Arsizio, a city that can proudly claim to have been a real thorn in the side of the Fascists during the Second World War as the locals took to the hills and fought savagely for freedom, then in April 1945 set up the first free radio station in Italy since the Fascists took power. The city escaped bombing during the War - it was hit by only one bomb - and as a result many of the Art Nouveau villas built by the wealthy in the early 20th Century survive, as do numerous older buildings. It was the birthplace of cyclist Michele Mara (02.10.1903), a sprinter who won the silver medal at the World Championships of 1928, Milan-San Remo, the Giro di Lombardia and five stages (1, 9, 10, 12, 15) of the Giro d'Italia in 1930, then two more stages (5 and 9) in the Giro d'Italia of 1931; his younger and less talented brother Enrico (07.08.1912), who was 11th in the Giro di Lombardia of 1940; Luigi Casola (11.07.1921), winner of four stages of the Giro d'Italia between 1948 and 1951; Albino Crespi (03.01.1930), winner of Stage 3 in the Giro d'Italia of 1953; Valerio Lualdi (31.08.1951), who raced in ten Giri d'Italia and finished nine, won various other races and rode as a domestique for Francesco Moser; Dario Andriotto (25.10.1972), the 1994 amateur World Time Trial Champion and also a veteran of ten Giri d'Italia (he finished six). Unsurprisingly for a city that ha produced so many world-class cyclists, it once boasted a race - the Coppa Città di Busto Arsizio was first held in 1923, when it was won by Libero Ferrario, and last held in 1967 when Dino Zandegù won.

Valico di Valcava

The first 70.2km were relatively flat with Albese con Cassano the highest point at 398m - none of the climbs in this section looked challenging. Lecco, on the banks of Lake Como at 61.9km, is familiar from the Giro di Lombardia. It would be a beautiful city no matter where it was located, but with the high mountains the riders are about to climb providing the perfect backdrop to the lake and grand buildings, it's a contender for most beautiful in Italy. The first of those mountains was Cat 1 Valico di Valcava, rising to 1,340m, 11.8km in length with an average gradient of 8% and - according to Italian Wikipedia, a maximum of 18% around 4km from the top.

Cat 3 Forcella di Bura began at 113.5km, climbs to 884m with an average 3% gradient over 7.4km, then Cat 2 Culmine di San Pietro began at 144km and is 23.3km in length, long enough to create a low average gradient of 4.4km (max. 12%) despite the 1,254m altitude. Finally, Piani dei Resinelli began at 161.2km and climbs over 7.8km to the finish line located on a plateau at an altitude of 1,280m, giving an average gradient of 6.6%.

The stage's highest profile was the man who wasn't supposed to be here - Frank Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan), who increasingly looks as though he's never going to recapture the form he had in the past this year, abandoned after 28km due to pain from a shoulder injury suffered in Stage 11... or could it be that he's decided to chalk this one up to experience and go home to concentrate on training for the Tour with Andy? We shall see.

Matteo Rabottini

For Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), meanwhile, the race went better than he could even have hoped: he attacked early on, then rode hard to keep his lead all the way to the finish line. It looked as though his efforts were in vain when ‏Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) caught him with 400m to go, this sort of uphill ending being precisely the sort of terrain over which he's all but unbeatable; which is probably why he looked so surprised when the Italian found a new reserve of strength and then hung on in his slipstream before swinging out just metres from the line and taking the most unexpected victory of the 2012 Giro so far with a time of 5h15'30". Alberto Losada was 23" behind them for third place. Rodriguez, who equaled Rabottini's time, took the maglia rosa from Ryder Hesjedal and now has an advantage of 30" in the General Classification. Mark Cavendish, who was 172nd for the stage, remains leader of the Points competition

Top Ten

1 RABOTTINI Matteo FAR 5:15:30 0:00
2 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin KAT 5:15:30 0:00
3 LOSADA ALGUACIL Alberto KAT 5:15:53 0:23
4 HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis SKY 5:15:55 0:25
5 SCARPONI Michele LAM 5:15:55 0:25
6 BASSO Ivan LIQ 5:15:55 0:25
7 PIRAZZI Stefano COG 5:15:59 0:29
8 KREUZIGER Roman AST 5:15:59 0:29
9 GADRET John ALM 5:15:59 0:29
10 TXURRUKA Amets EUS 5:15:59 0:29 
(Full stage result and GC)


Monday is a rest day - and with three more high mountain stages, one medium, one flat and an individual time trial till to go, the riders will welcome it.

Elsy Jacobs starts Friday

For anybody who cares about women's cycling, it's very easy to feel miserable at the moment - we've just had news that another race has been cancelled, the prizes on offer at the majority of the races are a joke compared to what the men win (and frequently about the same amount the riders could earn for putting in a full week in a fast food restaurant, provided they got a bit of overtime) and the salaries they receive (those who are lucky enough to receive salaries, that is; which is why some of them have to put in a full week in a fast food restaurant and hope for a bit of overtime) are quite frankly an insult in many cases. Be thankful, then, that this week brings us that celebration of all things good in women's cycling, the Festival Luxembourgeois Elsy Jacobs.

Combined, this is a two stage race with a TT prologue. However, in the Elsy Jacobs each stage is a race within its own right to a far greater extent than in any other event and every day has an entirely different feel to the others. The prologue has the feel of a party, not least of all because it takes place in the evening on a 1.7km parcours on Luxembourg city - and as that parcours is both stupendously fast and passes by some of the city's most vibrant bars, it's a full-on party in celebration of speed.

Stage 1 follows the famous parcours of the GP Elsy Jacobs, the one-day race named in honour of the world's first Women's Road Race World Champion and from which this festival grew. It heads north out of Garnich, Jacobs' hometown, then follows a 53.6km loop up to Mersch and back to Garnich again where riders complete five laps of a 9.8km circuit. Those in the know say that it's impossible to predict how this race will end, and more than once the fates have conspired to allow a relative unknown to take the glory.

“The courses are actually pretty aggressive, they provide very good races. I asked the girls to be aggressive at certain points, and they didn’t have to look too hard to find the opportunity to do that. There a million and one little climbs that provide a chance for groups to get away.” - David McPartland, GreenEDGE directeur sportif

Stage 2, named in honour of twelve-time National Champion and twice winner of the Tour de France Nicolas Frantz, uses the same 53.6km loop as Stage 1 but this time sets off from Frantz's hometown Mamer, ending with five 8.9km circuits through the narrow streets.

It's sometimes difficult to follow women's races as many simply don't have the budget to provide the sort of coverage many men's events enjoy - which is, of course, a serious problem for the sport. However, this one rivals the Grand Tours with an expertly-designed website that provides full details of the three courses, results and just about everything else a fan might wish to know.

One day, all women's races will be like this - but the Festival will always be unique, and there really is no other race quite like it.

Official site

Technical details

Teams

Cycling Evening News 25.04.12

Tour de Romandie - Tour of Turkey - Van Dijk wins Gracia prologue - Froome still has bilharzia - Minougou Noufou triumphs in Tour of Togo - 2012 Tour de Pologne biggest ever - Maxifuel partners Tour of Britain - Another blow for women's cycling as Tour du Languedoc-Roussilon cancelled - Kathryn Bertine on racing - Korean stage cancelled - Bus driver who forced student off road may face action - Manchester to benefit from "bike hub" - Geraint Thomas, ambassador for dubious alternative medicine gadget - Newswire

Racing
Tour de Romandie

If Wiggo does at the Tour de France
what he did today...

Stage 1 saw the riders ace a 184.5km parcours beginning at Morges, flat for the initial 70km and then swinging  sharply upwards for a climb to Rochefort at 750m above sea level before reaching Category 2 Les Bugnenets after 90km (1,116m), Cat 2 Haut de la Cote at 156km (1,035m) and Cat 3 Le Communal de la Sagne at 171km (1,158m). Sky's Geraint Thomas set out in the yellow jersey after achieving the best time of 3'29" for the prologue time trial, but did so with a lead insufficient to guarantee he'd keep it at the end of the stage; especially as - with a flat final section on the way to the finish line at La Chaux-de-Fonds, this one looked like being a day for the sprinters.

It wasn't, however, because Sky's Bradley Wiggins (with a little help from the weather, to be fair, because the sprinters won't have enjoyed the wind) decided today was the day he was going to show the world what he plans to do in the Tour de France - and if he does there what he did today, British cycling might just get the winner they've been hoping for ever since Tom Simpson died in the witches' cauldron of Mont Ventoux. Mark Cavendish, who on paper looked to be the team's best hope today, once again came off worse in a battle with a climb and was irretrievably dropped 30km from the finish line on the Haut de la Cote, as was team mate Geraint Thomas, leaving Sky's chances looking distinctly shaky when as the race entered the final 20km.

When Wiggins got into mechanical difficulties and had to be helped back to the front, it looked like it was all over - but Wiggins has the one ability that sets the greatest all-rounders apart from the rest, and that's the power of speedy recovery. Entering the final sprint, he found an untapped reserve of strength and literally catapulted himself past the bunch to cross the line solo with a lead of seven seconds; and while there will be those who rapidly point out that it was a sprint free of the real Points competition specialists (they're right, and Wiggo will be under no illusions that had the weather have been more to their liking this stage would not have been his) it remains a very impressive win.

Team mate Michael Rogers took second place, Rabobank's Bauke Mollema and Stef Clements were two seconds behind Rogers. The rest? Er - who?

Top Ten
  1.  Bradley Wiggins Sky 4h53'51"
  2.  Michael Rogers Sky +7"
  3.  Bauke Mollema Rabobank +9"
  4.  Stef Clement Rabobank ST
  5.  Andrew Talansky Garmin-Barracuda 0+11"
  6.  Wilco Kelderman Rabobank ST
  7.  David Zabriskie Garmin-Barracuda +12"
  8.  Simon Spilak Katusha ST
  9.  Ruben Plaza Molina Movistar ST
  10.  Tiago Machado RadioShack-Nissan +13" 
  Denis Menchov (Katusha) and Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM) did not finish. (Full results and GC)

Tomorrow, the race moves over the border and into France to start at Montbéliard (with a castle that should not be missed), then covers 134.6km across Cat 3 Bourrignon (876m), Cat 2 Les Ecorcheresseses (920m) and and Cat 2 La Caquerelle/Col del Rangieres (856m) before ending with a 14.5km uphill drag to Moutier in the Swiss Jura.

Tour of Turkey
Stage 4 pitted the riders against one another on  parcours along the craggy south-western coast of Muğla Province. As a complete contrast to Stage 2's 1,850m ascent of the Göğübeli Mountain Pass, the highest climb, located at Göcek, was only 300m - Göcek, according to legend, is the place that Icaraus fell into the sea and drowned after flying too close to the sun; with a steady gradient of 10% this climb, though not high, is equally capable of ending the dreams of inexperienced would-be high-flyers. No fewer than seven similarly steep climbs of varying length were spaced evenly across the 132km route with the second biggest of the day, rising to around 260m, coming in the last 20km before a steep descent and arrival at Marmaris an the finish.

Mark Renshaw

Mark Renshaw proved that Rabobank knew exactly what they were doing when they signed him up for 2012, despite the nay-sayers who claimed he was no good for anything other leading out Mark Cavendish, crossing the line with a lead no greater than a spoke's thickness ahead of fellow Australian Matthew Goss (GreenEDGE) - and since Goss is one of the fastest sprinters of the current crop, it was a victory that leaves no doubt that Renshaw has more than one string to his bow.

Top Ten
  1.  Mark Renshaw Rabobank 3h14'01"
  2.  Matthew Goss GreenEDGE ST
  3.  Daniele Colli Team Type 1-Sanofi ST
  4.  Boy Van Poppel UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis ST
  5.  Davide Vigano Lampre_ISD ST
  6.  Alexey Tsatevitch Katusha ST
  7.  Florian Vachon Bretagne Schuller ST
  8.  James Vanlandschoot Accent Jobs-Willems Veranda’s ST
  9.  Lucas Sebastian Haedo SaxoBank ST
  10.  Sébastien Turgot Europcar ST
Coen Vermeltfoort (Rabobank), Michael Schwarzmann (NetApp) and Javier Francisco Aramendia Lorente (Caja Rural) did not finish. Muhammet Atalay (Konya Torku Sekersport) did not start. (Full results and GC)

Stage 5 begins at Marmaris, heads across country and then continues along the coastline before heading north across the Bodrum peninsula to the medieval city of Beçin where the riders turn west to Turgutreis. The 177.8km parcours features numerous steep climbs right from the start, rising to 400m at the highest point.

Brits do well in Gracia Orlova as Van Dijk wins prologue

Ellen van Dijk, now with Specialized-Lululemon

The Gracia Orlova began with a 2.2km individual time trial in the Czech city Havířov; the long straight off the start line leading into a short twisty section with a fairly steep climb before a lightning-fast straight back the way the riders came apparently suiting Specialized-Lululemon's Ellen van Dijk very well indeed as she blazed around the course to finish in 2'47". Team mate Trixi Worrack finished only a second slower while GreenEDGE's Melissa Hoskings was 3" down.

It proved a good day for the British riders, too, with Laura Trott (Ibis) taking fourth place, also +3", followed by Katie Colclough (Specialized-Lululemon) in fifth at +5". Sharon Laws (AA Drink-Leontien.nl was 13th with +10" and Laura's older sister Emma Trott (Dolmans-Boels) was 18th, also +10".

Top Ten
  1.  Ellen Van Dijk Specialized-Lululemon 2'47"
  2.  Trixi Worrack Specialized-Lululemon +1"
  3.  Melissa Hoskins GreenEDGE +3"
  4.  Evelyn Stevens Specialized-Lululemon ST
  5.  Laura Trott Ibis ST
  6.  Katie Colclough Specialized-Lululemon +5"
  7.  Marijn De Vries AA Drink-Leontien.nl +7"
  8.  Alexandra Burchenkova S.C. Michela Fanini Rox +8"
  9.  Laura Van Der Kamp Dolmans-Boels ST
  10.  Isabelle Soderberg AA Drink-Leontien.nl +9" (Full results when available)

Froome still has bilharzia
Team Sky's Chris Froome is still suffering from bilharzia, the tropical disease that affected his 2011 season and from he thought he'd recovered. Also known as schistosomiasis, the condition is caused by a parasitic trematode worm that enters the body usually via contact with infected water inhabited by snails that carry the parasite. Symptoms include diarrhoea, fever, fatigue, genital lesions and a high white blood cell count as the worms feed on red cells while in the liver.

A chest infection that lasted longer than expected prevented Froome from taking part in Paris-Nice this year. On his website, the rider says that tests "revealed active bilharzia parasites in my system, which I have been trying to get rid of for the past 18 months. This would explain why the chest infection affected me so severely and it took me so long to get over.”

Minougou Noufou triumphs in Tour of Togo
Minougou Noufou won the 21st International Tour of Togo yesterday (Tuesday) after leading the General Classification since the second stage, while his Burkina Faso squad won the Teams Category against competitors from Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, France, Nigeria and Togo. It's the third Togo victory for the 24-year-old rider as he also won in 2010 and 2011.

Biggest Tour de Pologne ever
25 teams will take part in this year's Tour de Pologne - the most in the 84 year history of the race, which was held sporadically after 1928 before becoming an annual event in 1952.

The race has been scheduled three weeks earlier than its usual late July/early August start this year to avoid clashes with the Olympics. All 18 ProTour teams - Ag2r-La Mondiale, Astana, BMC, Euskaltel-Euskadi, FDJ-BigMat, Garmin-Barracuda, GreenEDGE, Katusha, Lampre-ISD, Liquigas-Cannondale, Lotto-Belisol, Movistar, Omega Pharma-QuickStep, Rabobank, RadioShack-Nissan, Sk, Team SaxoBank and Vacansoleil-DCM - will attend, as will wildcards the Polish National team, Argos-Shimano, Caja Rural, Colnago-CSF Inox, Farnese Vini-Selle Italia, Team Type1-Sanofi and Utensilnord Named.

Originally oganised as an amateur event and entered chiefly by Polish riders, the Tour has attracted an international field ever since 1993 when it was opened up to professionals and has grown into one of Europe's most anticipated stage races, becoming part of the UCI's ProTour in 2005 with results counted towards the World Ranking since 2009.

"We received many inquiries about the possibility of taking part in this year's Tour of Poland. We're very happy about this, because it shows that the race is growing every year," says race director Czeslaw Lang.

Maxifuel partners Tour of Britain
Maxifuel - "the UK’s preferred endurance brand from sport nutrition experts Maxinutrition," according to the official press release (I rely on tea and cakes personally, but there you have it) - has announced that it will be the new sports nutrition partner to the Tour of Britain and the Halfords Tour Series. Financial details have not been revealed, but the manufacturer "will provide amateur riders with individually-tailored nutritional support to complement their lifestyle, training and racing schedules as well as support professional participants and race enthusiasts through sampling opportunities at the various events."

"I’d like to welcome Maxifuel to The Tour family of events, and we look forward to working together in what is a very important year for British sport," says Tour director Mick Bennet. "I am sure spectators and our Tour Ride participants will be looking forward to exploring Maxifuel’s range of products with the aim of helping them to improve their performance."

Other News
The 2012 Women's Tour du Languedoc-Roussilon has been cancelled, further evidence that while the UCI are busily slapping each other's blue-blazered backs over the financial health of men's cycling the women's sport continues to suffer.

"That's bike racing? Really?" (Kathryn Bertine on racing and the Energiwacht Tour, ESPN-W)

Stage 4 at the Tour of Korea was cancelled today (Wednesday) due to torrential rainstorms. Organisers issued a press release shortly after the announcement, stating the following: "Due to adverse weather conditions, Tour de Korea race officials made the difficult decision to cancel today’s fourth stage from Yeosu to Geochang shortly after the race left the neutralized zone."

Cycling
Bus forces Leicester cyclist off the road
A Leicester student, who wishes to remain anonymous, says he was cycling on the city's Belvoir Street when a bus overtook him at a narrow "traffic calming" point and forced him onto the pavement - and the driver then stopped the vehicle, got out and started shouting at him for riding in the middle of the road.

The incident was captured on the rider's helmet-mounted camera and the driver could now face disciplinary action.

Manchester to benefit from "bike hub"
Manchester is to spend part of a £4.9 million grant awarded to promote sustainable transport on the construction of a 200-space "bike hub" in the basement of the city's Piccadilly Gardens - the first of thirteen planned bike hubs throughout the city.

The facility will be accessible to cyclists who pay for a smart card and will include secure cycle parking, a changing area and a bike shop which will also offer repairs - and it could be open as early as this summer. (more from the Manchester Evening News)

Geraint Thomas, Bioflow ambassador

Geraint Thomas, star cyclist and hippy

Sky and Team GB's Welsh star Geraint Thomas says he's "delighted to be teaming up with Bioflow and joining their stable of elite athletes" and adds, "I wore my Bioflow Sport wristband for the first time when I was out in Melbourne and we broke the World record and won gold! I‟m looking forward to enjoying more success with them as well as the long-term benefits Bioflow's magnotherapy technology has to offer."

Magnotherapy, for those who remain ignorant of its supposed benefits, is a pseudoscientific "alternative medicine." Practitioners claim a range of desirable effects including pain relief and even cancer management, but there is no reliable, peer-reviewed scientific evidence that it has any effect whatsoever - which is why most countries ban practitioners from calling it medicine.

Newswire
Britain: Halfords, Britain's biggest bike retailer, has announced a 5.7% increase in sales of bikes and bike accessories during the final quarter of the last financial year. Meanwhile, overall sales - which includes car parts and motoring accessories - fell by 2.7%. (More from Bike Europe)

Britain: Revealed: the country’s worst roads for cyclists (The Times)

Britain: Don Maclean (34) from Liverpool is to be part of a team of 8 wounded personnel who will compete in the 3,051 mile cycle Race Across America (RAAM) this June (Click Liverpool)

Pakistan: Punjab University dominate second day at Women's Cycling Championship (Daily Times)

Tibet: Explore Tibet, a sustainable Tibetan-run travel company based in Lhasa, introduces a 20-day cycling and camping tour across the most scenic landscape in the world (SFGate)

USA: National and international professional cycling returns to St. Louis May 11-13 with the Missouri Professional Cycling Series (West End Word)

USA: Share the road with cyclists (Times-Standard)

La Doyenne 2012

Intro - Climbs and Parcours - points of interest and sights - Weather - Favourites - Coverage

The parcours - click to enlarge
(for a zoombable .pdf, click here)

It's that time of year again. The Flanders Classics, Milan-San Remo and the lunacy that is Paris-Roubaix are all over, as is the first of the Ardennes Classics La Flèche Wallonne; which means it's time for La Doyenne, the oldest of the Monuments, Liège-Bastogne-Liège. First held 120 years ago, La Doyenne was like many races from the latter half of the 19th Century and the first of the 20th originally organised with a view of promoting newspaper sales, in this case L'Expresse - the fact that it was published in French is the reason that the race remained within the French-speaking Walloon region rather than venturing into Flanders, where the cycling-mad natives speak various dialects of Dutch.

Some also call it the toughest Classic, tougher even than Paris-Roubaix. Moreno Argentin, who won four times, said, "Riders who win at Liège are what we call fondisti - men with a superior level of stamina. [The climb of] La Redoute is like the Mur de Huy in that it has to be tackled at pace, from the front of the peloton. The gradient is about 14 or 15 per cent, and it comes after 220 or 230 kilometers, so you don't have to be a genius to work out how tough it is. Liège is a race of trial by elimination, where it's very unlikely that a breakaway can go clear and decide the race before the final 100km. You need to be strong and at the same time clever and calculating - in this sense it's a complete test of a cyclist's ability."

Profile

The Parcours
The race follows its usual format this year with a relatively straight-forward 98km route south to Bastogne that has little in the way of challenging climbs, then a tough 159.5km with ten hard climbs on the way back to Liège. Riders start out from the Place Saint-Lambert in Liège before riding out into the Province of Luxembourg (not to be confused with the Grand Duchy, which it borders), the least-populated part of Belgium; reaching first climb the Côte de La Roche-en-Ardenne after 70km before arriving at the little village Ortho (which has a very interesting medieval church, incidentally). The parcours between La-Roche-en-Ardenne and over the hill to Ortho is around 9km with an average gradient of 5.2% but the steepest part, just before 72km into the race, reaches 17% and it hits 12.5% another half a kilometre up the road.

Climbs with official gradients (gradients in the text refer to absolute maximums, measured on the inside of bends, and are taken from Cycling.be)  

Km 70.0 - Côte de La Roche-en-Ardenne - 2.8 km climb to 6.2 %
Km 116.5 - Côte de Saint-Roch - 1.0 km climb to 11 %
Km 160.0 - Côte de Wanne - 2.7 km climb to 7.3 %
Km 166.5 - Côte de Stockeu (Stèle Eddy Merckx) - 1.0 km climb to 12.2 %
Km 172.0 - Côte de la Haute-Levée - 3.6 km climb to 5.7 %
Km 185.0 - Col du Rosier - 4.4 km climb to 5.9 %
Km 198.0 - Côte du Maquisard - 2.5 km climb to 5 %
Km 208.0 - Mont-Theux - 2.7 km climb to 5.9 %
Km 223.0 - Côte de La Redoute - 2.0 km climb to 8.8 %
Km 238.0 - Côte de La Roche aux Faucons - 1.5 km climb to 9.3 %
Km 252.0 - Côte de Saint-Nicolas - 1.2 km climb to 8.6 %

With the first hill completed, it's only 27km to the turning point at 97km. The feed station is at 98km, then the riders head north on the much hillier return journey. They arrive at the Côte de Saint-Roch after 116.5km, a notoriously harsh climb with an average gradient of 11% and a maximum of 20%, then continue for 43.5km to the Côte de Wanne at 160km, average 7.5% and maximum 13% and into Wanne.

6km after the village is the Côte de Stockeu, sometimes known as the Jewel of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. It's 2.3km in length with an average gradient of 9.9% and a maximum, halfway along, of 21%. Just past the steepest section stands a monument to Eddy Merckx, a likeness of the rider emerging from a rough-hewn lump of granite that also bears a plaque outlining his 525 professional victories - hence the Col's other name, Stèle Eddy Merckx. A cyclist formed from granite no doubt has artistic significance but, as great as he was, even Merckx experienced difficulties on Stockeau; which means there's no shame for those who abandon here.

Côte de la Haute-Levée lies 5.5km ahead, a comparatively easy climb with its average 5.6%; however, the steepest part is still hard-going at 12%. There's a welcome and much flatter 15km section - including the second feed stage at 175km - between it and the Col du Rosier (approached from the south) is by the standards of the Ardennes Classics an easy climb with an average gradient of 3.9% and a maximum 10%. Having passed Spa - hometown of Hercule Poirot and one of Europe's most beautiful cities - the race reaches the Côte du Maquisard at 198km, slightly steeper than the last climb with an average of 5.1% but an equal maximum.

Mont-Theux is 10km further on, average 5.3% and maximum 11%, then at 223km the legendary Côte de La Redoute with its average gradient of 9.7% and maximum 22%. The Côte de La Roche aux Faucons is 15km ahead at 238km - near enough to the finish and steep enough (average 9.9%, maximum 16%) to sometimes prove decisive to the race's outcome - if a strong climber can get a lead here, then keep it over the final climb and through the last 5km, he may take victory. There remain 14km to the Côte de Saint-Nicolas with a steep average of 7.6% and maximum of 13%, followed by the last 5km to Ans - the final 1.5km climbs 79m, which by my reckoning creates an average gradient of 5.5% with the steepest part rising to 13%.

Places of Interest

Montagne de Bueren, Liège

Liège, a city of almost 200,000 inhabitants, once the industrial and now the economic centre of Wallonia, traces its history back to at least 558CE and has much to see, despite having been the destination of 1,500 V1 and V2 missiles after the Allies took the city from Germany at the end of the Second World War (a time during which the people of Liège showed the humanity and bravery, often at great personal risk, by refusing to let the Nazis round up and ship off the city's Jewish population - most of whom would survive the war hidden away in monasteries). The city's most important buildings are St. Paul's Cathedral, dating from the 10th Century but a cathedral only since the early 19th C.; the vast Palace of the Prince Bishops, dating from the 16th C. and the Montagne de Bueren - an outdoor flight of 400 stone steps (maximum gradient 44.2% - who's up for a go at climbing those on their bike, then?). 1.5km away, near Embourg, is a 19th C. fort, one of several surrounding the city, but it's not open to the public and there's little to see.

La Roche-en-Ardenne

Sougné-Remouchamps (called Sougné-Remonchamps on the course guide) at 20km is famous for its caves, which are open to the public who can join tours completed partially by boat along the subterranean River Rubicon. Harzé (27.5km) has a castle which is much younger than it looks, dating from the 16th C but resembling an 11th or 12th C. structure. Manhay (46.5km) has a preserved Panzer tank positioned on a plinth, a memorial to the 1944/5 Battle of the Bulge which saw black American serviceman placed into active combat positions for the first time. La Roche-en-Ardenne (66km) had a 12th C. castle that now lies in ruins, largely as a result of the 19th C. locals who stripped it of masonry to build their homes.

Bastogne (98km), a city of 14,000 people, is also famous for its role in the Battle of the Bulge. It was here that the Nazis, led by crack SS troops, briefly gained the upper hand over the Americans and, for three weeks, surrounded General McAuliffe's troops. The Nazis sent a negotiator to ask him to surrender, but the General replied "Nuts!" and ordered his men to keep fighting. There are several monuments to their eventual victory in the city, including a preserved Sherman tank on a plinth. There's another Panzer tank commemorating the meeting of Generals Patton and Montgomery during the Battle of the Bulge at Houffalize (114.5km), a town considered the centre of Belgian mountain biking - a round of the World Cup was hosted here in 2010.

Tavigny

Tavigny (121km) has a grand chateau with two turrets (your esteemed author, then aged 11, camped in the grounds of the chateau during a family holiday, fell in love with an American woman aged at least 45 and befriended a white goat). Another castle, the Château des Comtes de Salm, once lay a short distance north of Salmchâteau (146.5km) but only the gatehouse and a few ruins exist today - this one too has a goat connection, as legend claims that treasure buried in the grounds is protected by a golden goat. Excavations have indeed turned up numerous gold coins, but it appears the goat prefers to remain a legend. In Stavelot (165.5km) is an unusual Benedictine monastery, founded in 1951, where the monks make a living not by brewing and cheese-making as tends to be the way in Belgium but from the manufacture of latex emulsion paint. The area, including Francorchamps (175.5km), is world famous for the Spa-Francorchamps motor racing circuit which has been in use since 1921 - incredibly fast and, before changes were made, notoriously dangerous, many drivers called it the most beautiful track in the world.

Spa (192km), also known as the Water City, is the place that gave its name to all other places in the world that have water with supposedly health-promoting effects. The water here has been famous since Roman times and wealthy people from across Europe would come here to bathe in it, claiming various medicinal benefits. In the 18th C. the first casino opened up to give them something to do at night as well (aristocrats get up to all sorts of no good if you don't keep them amused, after all) and the rich began building chateaux, rapidly making the city very prosperous indeed. I have swum in the waters at Spa, which a guide said would relieve and possibly even cure my arthritis. It did not.

Franchimont Castle

11.5km from Spa lies Theux, site of Franchimont Castle. Of great military importance since the 11th C., the castle lost strategic value in the 17th C. when improvements in artillery brought it within range of guns on the other hills nearby and it was put into use as a prison until the Napoleonic era when it was sold to a wealthy business man who used it as a quarry, turning it quickly into a ruin. Though unfortunate, this destruction may well have been of aesthetic benefit; and it's a beautiful sight today. Boncelles (241.5km) has another of those 19th C. forts protecting Liège, part of the same network as the one at Embourg. Mostly subterranean, its grey aeration tower gives away its presence and acts as a landmark. Seraing (242km) became a manufacturing centre during the Industrial Revolution, home to factories and mills established by Lancashire-born John Cockerill - the same man who produced the cast iron (not bronze from captured French cannon, as locals will try to tell you) lion atop the Butte du Lion as seen in the Brabantse Pijl two weeks ago. Though not so well-known in Britain, Cockerill is famous throughout Wallonia as the Father of Belgian Industry (and unlike most entrepreneurs of his day, he wasn't a greedy, exploitative fatcat either - by all accounts, he took an active interest in the well-being of those who worked in his factories and by the standards of the times treated them very well). Finally, having passed through the centre of Liège, the riders arrive at the finish line at Ans (257.5km), a contiguous suburb of the city and home to the medieval Château de Waroux which was at the centre of the Guerre des Awans et des Waroux in the 13th C., a private feudal war between enemy noble families that left 30,000 people dead (hence the point above about keeping the aristocracy amused).

Weather
La Doyenne has seen some atrocious weather during its long history, most notably in 1980 when heavy snow fell along the entire parcours and commentators renamed it neige-Bastogne-neige ("snow-Bastogne-snow", which they probably thought extremely witty). It won't snow this year (probably; you never can tell in the Ardennes) but it's not going to be what anyone would call a nice day either. Temperatures at Liège as the riders set out won't be much above 6 or 7C and a 19kph south-westerly will take the edge off that, making it feel more like 1 or 2. There's a very high chance it'll be raining, too. It should be warmer when they get back, around 11C, but it'll still be raining. Bastogne is set to be at least a degree or two colder and rain look equally probable here.

Favourites

Samuel Sanchez

The Brothers Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) said on Friday that they intended to win, but their form thus far this season suggests they're going to have a hard job making it happen - however, let's not forget that both of them can climb like angels and if they do suddenly start performing well they could both do well. Frank in the top ten? Perhaps. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) also climbs like an angel and he can ride like a demon on the flat sections too - he won't like the weather, being from warmer climes, but rivals will have to work hard to keep him at bay. Unless the unforeseen happens, his team mate Oscar Freire will as always be lurking around at the front of the pack when the finish line draws within site and he's shown time and time again that if an opportunity arises, he'll grab it. Philippe Gilbert (BMC), last year's winner, enters the race as many people's favourite and he's started showing a return to form recently after a slightly lacklustre start to the season, so this may prove to be his day. Finally, my choice: Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) - the Tour of the Basque Country is, oddly, not as far removed from this race in terms of similarity as it is geographically: the hills are bigger, but along the way there are a lot of tough little ramps. This was especially the case on the final stage which on paper looked flat, but in reality turned out to be a series of nasty surfaces and cruel little climbs. Upon it, Sammy was in his element and performed far beyond expectations, slaughtering the opposition and gaining a decisive victory. He's also one of the very few climbers able to descend every bit as quickly, which while this is a race that does not tend to give rise to successful breakaways might still give him the advantage he needs to at least remain well-placed for the final uphill sprint. (Start list here)

Coverage
British Eurosport are covering the race live between 14:00 and 16:00BST. Online feeds of varying legality will be up from around 13:00BST (14:00 local time/CEST) and as ever, Sports-Livez is a good place to look for them. The official race ticker will be available at the official race website; Eurosport, Sporza and Cycling News all have their own in English. Twitterers seem to have decided on #LBL as the hashtag of choice.