Daily News Digest 09-10.03.2012

Edvald Boasson Hagen
(image credit: Petit Brun
CC BY-SA 2.0)

Matthew Gos retains lead at Tirreno-Adriatico as Sky win Stage 3
Team Sky are enjoying an absolutely stellar start to the 2012 season - Mark Cavendish is wearing the rainbow jersey and won a Classic, Bradley Wiggins is riding better than ever at Paris-Nice and now 24-year-old Edvald Boasson Hagen has taken a stage at Tirreno-Adriatico after beating André Greipel to the line, adding it to Cav's Stage 2 triumph.

Meanwhile, Australian Matthew Goss of GreenEDGE took 6th place - sufficient to hang onto his General Classification lead by a small margin. (Wielerland.nl have the full results.)

Stage 4 of the race, due to take place on Saturday, has been rerouted due to snowfall on the Passo Lanciano today, raising concerns that conditions might prove hazardous. The parcours will instead climb the Valico della Forchetta after 212km, leaving the entire length of the stage unchanged at 252km. Please note that this is Stage 4 and not Stage 5, as reported in some sections of the press and online (Stage 5 doesn't climb either of these mountains and is "only" 196km). (More details here.)

Luis León Sánchez bests Jens Voigt at Paris-Nice 
Rabobank's Luis León Sánchez won Stage 6 today after spending most of the race in a seven-rider breakaway that finally fell apart on the last climb of the day, leaving him alone with RadioShack-NissanTrek's veteran hardman Jens Voigt. The two worked well together and resisted numerous attacks as the peloton tried to pull them back in until the last kilometre when they began testing one another, with Voigt using his infamous strength and power to fire up what looked to be a devastating assault on the finish line. However,  Sánchez responded in kind and matched him all the way; then made a last-ditch effort that succeeded in beating the ever-popular 40-year-old German by mere centimetres.

Levi Leipheimer
(image credit: Pirker CC BY-SA 3.0)

Sky provided more evidence that they've spent most of the off-season practicing drill with another superb lesson in how a General Classification contender should be protected by his team, making sure the Sánchez  group didn't get too far away and keeping Bradley Wiggins' 6" lead intact. The full General Classification and Stage results are available here.


Levi Leipheimer pays tribute to Sky rivals
Having been left to battle alone after the Stage 4 climb to Mende got the better of his Omega Pharma-QuickStep team at Paris-Nice. "I have to say that Team Sky did a great job on the climb to Mende," says the 38-year-old American who has finished within the top ten in the Tour de France General Classification four times. "Richie Porte made a really hard rhythm until the last kilometer and then Wiggins took things into his own hands -they were impressive." Sky have ridden at the very top of their game ever since the team started to compete back in January 2010, but early indications this year suggest that the squad now stands a real chance at setting out to do what it was always intended to do - propel a British rider to a Tour victory.

Sky name Milan-San Remo squad
Nobody will be surprised that Cav's leading Sky in the first of 2012's Monuments - he's been saying that this race is one of his primary targets this year since, well, last year. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Bernhard Eisel, Thomas Löfkvist, Mathew Hayman, Jeremy Hunt, Christian Knees and Ian Stannard will join him, forming a strong team of tried and trusted men all of whom have ridden well in the Classics in recent years. On paper at least, Sky appear to have as good a shot at victory as anyone else - and with Cav at the wheel (or, more importantly, at the accelerator), they may prove t have an advantage.

Theo's the Bos of the Dwars door Drenthe

Theo Bos
(image credit: McSmit CC BY-SA 3.0)

28-year-old Rabobank rider Theo Bos lived up to his name when he took charge of the final sprint at today's Men's Dwars door Drenthe, beating Barry Markus of Vacansoleil-DCM in a high-speed joust. Seven riders broke away early in the race and for a while built a lead of seven and a half minutes, but despite trying hard to stay away they were all reeled back in as the race drew to a close.

Last Dwars door Drenthe?
Just days after the salvation of the Basque Country's two most important races was confirmed, a number of Dutch events are on the block - including the Dwars door Drenthe where organisers are considering whether this year should be the last. "With reduced income from both government and sponsors, it's increasingly difficult to organise an event of this calibre," says John Van Den Akker of the Cycling Service race management company. (More details here.)

Other news

Amber Neben
(image credit: James F. Perry
CC BY-SA 3.0)

Amber Neben has won the individual time trial at the UCI PanAmerican Champions. The 37-year-old American rider completed the 20km parcours in 26'50.86" with Canada's Rhae Shaw taking 27'47.38" while Clememcia Fernandes da Silva of Brazil was third with 27'57".

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