Daily Cycling Facts 19.05.2012

Carlo Galetti

The 19th of May has seen the first stage of nine editions of the Giro d'Italia - 1912, 1929, 1934, 1951, 1956, 1960, 1962, 1963 and 2001. 1912 was the third edition and holds the record for the smallest ever number of riders with only 56 starting the race. They were split into fourteen trade teams (the first time trade teams were allowed) of four men each, with the fastest team being declared the winner rather than an individual rider. Atala-Dunlop (which became known unofficially as The Four Musketeers) was the team of Luigi Ganna (1909 winner), Carlo Galetti (1910/1911 winner), Giovanni Micheletto and Eberardo Pavesi and led through all nine stages - had the race have been run in a more conventional manner with a General Classification, Galetti would have won after completing the 2,435km in 100h2'57". Originally, only eight stages were to be run - however, organisers decided apparently on a whim to lengthen Stage 4 by 50km, which met with the disapproval of the riders who showed their displeasure by stopping at a station and getting on a train rather than riding the added section. Fans - who had paid for tickets to see the riders cross the finish line within a velodrome in Rome - were furious and made some very real death threats against the organisers. The stage results were disqualified and Stage 9 was later added as a result.

In 1929, Alfredo Binda won Stage 2 - and then the next seven stages too, eight in a row and still a record to this day. That was more than enough to secure his General Classification placing and he took first place after completing the fourteen stages and 2,920km in 107h18'24". Five years later in 1934, when the race next began on this day, he was favourite to win - but this time, fortune was not on his side and he abandoned at the end of Stage 6, leaving Learco Guerra to win after he completed the 17 stages and 3,706km in 121h17'17".

Fausto Coppi was considered the favourite a few months before the 1951 edition began, but the death of his beloved younger brother Serse left him so crushed many wondered if he would ever recover. However, Coppi loved cycling almost as much as he had loved Serse, and while the man who appeared on the start line was not the Coppi that Italy adored he still raced - and came a respectable fourth. With Bartali now long past his best years, the way ahead clear for Fiorenzo Magni to do battle with Rik van Steenbergen and claim the second of his three Giro victories when he finished the 20 stages and 4,153km in 121h11'37".

Charly Gaul and the 1956 Blizzard

Charly Gaul, 1932-2005

1956 brought one of the most remarkable victories in the history of cycling after the Luxembourgian climber Charly Gaul revealed himself to be made of far sterner stuff than mere mortals, pressing on through a blizzard on Monte Bodone (Charly also had a remarkable talent for swallowing amphetamine pills, which may have contributed a little). After he'd escaped the peloton and ridden off into the snow alone, it wasn't long before nobody had the slightest idea where he'd got to. Team managers and race officials scoured the mountain in their cars searching for him, but there was no trace. Eventually, it was 1934 winner Learco Guerra (who by then had become  manager of Faema) who found him: completely by chance, he'd spotted what looked like Charly's bike propped up against a wall of a little village bar and gone inside. There, he discovered the rider sat by the fire, wrapped in blankets and being administered hot, sweet coffee by the owners in an attempt to return him from  a near-comatose state.

Learco stripped Gaul out of his soaking jersey and shorts and had him vigourously rubbed down with hot water and, slowly, the rider began to return to life. Outside, the weather had worsened - the snow was coming down harder now and the wind was increasing in strength. So Gaul, being Gaul, went outside, got back on his bike and set off to complete the stage. Head down, his face devoid of expression, he kept on turning the cranks with his usual smooth, powerful style, on and on and on.

He suffered for it - when he got to the finish line, spectators say his face was wrinkled and pale, his extremities blue and stiff. In fact, was in such poor condition that he had to be physically lifted into a bath of hot water and it took more than hour before he was able to speak. 44 men, including race leader Pasquale Fornara abandoned that day. Charly rode alone in the blizzard for 88km and won by 7'44", securing overall victory.


Gaul was favourite in 1960, but a throat infection prevented him from riding at his full capability. Nevertheless, he remained a greater obstacle in Jacques Anquetil's quest for glory than the 2,006m climb to Cervinia (a ski resort on the Matterhorn, the mountain the Italians call Monte Cervino) and even the 2,621m Gavia Pass, featuring in the race for the very first time that year and the site of controversy: Italy was mourning the death of its greatest hero Fausto Coppi and desperately wanted an Italian - any Italian - to win, which persuaded organisers to look the other way when Gastone Nencini received a helping hand from fans on his way up the mountain. However, the Frenchman was on better form than ever before in the Stage 14 time trial, hammering around the parcours to take the win despite starting with a six minute disadvantage behind the Luxembourgian. From that point on, he was unstoppable and led the General Classification for the remainder of the race, completing the 3,481km and 21 stages in 94h03'54" as the first Frenchman to have won a Giro.

Franco Balmamion

The 1962 edition was unusual due to a lack of time trials and appeared to have been designed solely to promote tourism rather than to showcase professional cycling, twisting this way and that around the country and covering 4,180km in an attempt to visit as many of Italy's most famous attractions as could possibly be worked into the parcours. Anquetil was away, concentrating on winning a third Tour de France and Gaul had begun his long, slow decline that led ultimately to his later reclusive life in a forest hut, which left the race open for the next generation. The Belgian Armand Desmet looked set for the win after he won Stage 7 and then rode well enough to lead the General Classification for seven stages, but Graziano Battistini took it from him in Stage 14 and surrendered it to Franco Balmamion three stages later and hung onto it until the end of Stage 21 when he was declared winner with a time of 123h07'03". Balmamion won again the following year, 1963, when the race started on the same date after completing the 21 stages and 4,063km in 116h50'16". Pope Giovanni XXIII blessed the race that year, but at times the conduct of riders and organisers was somewhat less than godly - doping became an issue for the first time (one year after Pierre Dumas had highlighted the problem with the first public statement on the subject at the Tour de France) when the official race doctor began an investigation following news that a rider had administered himself an intravenous injection of a substance that remains unknown. There was also a serious row between organisers, the League of Professional Cyclists' chairman Mario Fontana and the Italian Federation boss Bruno Mealli battling one another in an effort to take overall control of the race. In the end, both men walked out and the Italian government was forced to take over.

2001 was also hit by drama. During the night between Stages 16 and 17, officers from the Comando Carabinieri per la Tutela della Salute (the Italian police department that deals with issues involving public health, food and drugs) mounted a raid that has become known as the San Remo Blitz. Raiding hotel rooms, they seized a huge pile of doping products including steroids, growth hormones and other drugs, blood transfusion equipment and assorted blood testing equipment intended to help teams get riders through controls. Among the 36 people (riders and team officials) to face charges related to the raid was Dario Frigo - the very same Dario Frigo who, four years later at the Tour de France, was arrested after police searched his wife's car and discovered ten doses of EPO. After the Giro offence he was handed a six-month ban; after the Tour offence (three years later, in fact), he and his wife received six-month prison sentences and a €8,757 fine. The race covered 3,356km over 21 stages, won by Gilberto Simoni in 89h02'58" and will be forever remembered as the worst in Giro history.

Janssen in yellow, 1968
(image credit: Pivos / P. Vossen CC BY 2.5)

Jan Janssen
Born in Nootdorp, Netherlands on this day in 1940, Jan Janssen earned a living digging foundations with his family's construction firm after he joined a cycling club at the age of 16. Before too long he started to win some races and it began to look as though he might be able to make a living from it, which resulted in an invitation to turn semi-professional with Locomotif-Vredestein in 1961. The next year, he won three stages and came third overall at the Tour de l'Avenir and was offered a professional contract with Pelforth-Sauvage-Lejeune.

Though he'd originally come to wider attention as a sprinter, Janssen soon showed aptitude in other areas after joining Pelforth; rapidly becoming known as a good all-rounder and likely General Classification contender. With his excellent French, sharp wits and natural leadership skills, he soon became team captain. In 1963, he was third at Paris-Roubaix - and finishing Paris-Roubaix in any position proves a rider's credentials. He also rode his first Tour de France that year and won a stage, an extremely rare achievement for any rider new to the race (unfortunately, he crashed the next day and was forced to abandon). The next year he won Paris-Nice, the World Championship and Stages 7 and 10 at the Tour (and finished top three in eight others); which only gave him 24th on the overall General Classification but won him the Points competition - and he won it the next year too, then came second in the GC the year after that.

He won Paris-Roubaix in 1967 and entered the Tour again, this time one stage and winning the Points for a third time. Then, in the 1968 edition, he beat Herman van Springel by 38" - which would remain the smallest margin by which a Tour had ever been won until 1989, but was more than enough: 32 years after Dutch riders first took part in the Tour, they had a winner.

For a description of Janssen's 1968 Tour, see
Granny Gear Blog
(image credit: Granny Gear Blog)

Four years later, Janssen found himself unable to keep up with the field at the Tour of Luxembourg. "I knew then that I was Jan Janssen, winner of the Tour de France and the championship of the world and that it was time for me to stop," he later said, and after reaching the finish line he retired from professional cycling forever. Later, he set up a frame building workshop in the little town of Putte which is position so precisely on the border that part of it lies within Belgium. He became friendly with a neighbour, Hennie Kuiper - who won the World Championship in 1975, Paris-Roubaix in 1983 and very nearly two Tours of his own - and they can still sometimes be seen riding together. Janssen says he likes it when people recognise him.

Anthony Doyle
Born in Ashord, Great Britain on this day in 1958, Tony Doyle rose to fame when he won two bronze medals (Pursuit and Sprint) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, turned professional in 1979 with KP Crisps-Viscount and then a year later when be became World Pursuit Champion, as he would a second time in 1986.

In 1988, Doyle was involved in a serious crash at the Six Days of Munich and suffered serious head injuries and numerous broken bones, remaining in a coma for ten days and being given the last rites. Defying medical expectations, he then began to recover, though he would spend six weeks in an intensive care ward and two months at a specialist rehabilitation centre. Nevertheless, he was not expected to ride again - but then in 1989 he won the Six Days of Cologne and, a year later, Munich.

A spine injury ended his career in 1994 but he remained closely connected to the cycling world - his hand-built frames are still highly sought-after and in 1996 he became president of British Cycling, later directing the 2004 Tour of Britain.

Other births: Klaas Vantornout (Belgium, 1982); Christian Murro (Italy, 1978); José Ferreira (Venezuela, 1934); Francisco Lozano (Mexico, 1932, died 2008); Anselmo Citterio (Italy, 1927, died 2006); Juan Arroyo (Venezuela, 1955); Philippe Vernet (France, 1961); Geir Digerud (Norway, 1956); Maciej Bielecki (Poland, 1987).

Daily Cycling Facts 18.05.12

Carlo Galetti

The Giro d'Italia started on this date nine times; in 1910, 1935, 1957, 1958, 1966, 1970, 1973, 1990 and 1996 - more than any other date It also ended on this date in 1939, making it the earliest date upon which the race has both started and ended. 1910, which covered 2,984km in ten stages, was the second edition and was won by Carlo Galetti, who has been second in the first edition. It could very easily have gone otherwise - for a start, Jean-Baptiste Dortignacq looked to be in with an excellent chance of becoming the first French winner after storming ahead in Stage 2. The Italian riders formed themselves into a pan-team alliance against him, but he was stronger than they thought and continued to challenge the race leadership. Until, that is, Stage 4; when he became suddenly and violently ill. The police suspected he'd been deliberately poisoned and found enough evidence to support their theory for 20 riders to be thrown out of the race. Galetti led for the last nine stages, but he too had misfortune - in the final stage, he crashed into hay wagon and suffered bad cuts and bruises. However, with the finish line at Milan not too far away, he got back on his bike and carried on; finishing fifth for the stage but first overall. 101 riders started but only 20 finished.

Vasco Bergamaschi

1935 included 18 stages and covered 3,577km. It was a pivotal year with one Great Age of Cycling giving way to another, for this was Alfredo Binda's last Giro and Gino Bartali's first. Binda's best days were long gone, but he rode well and took second place on four stages and finished 16th overall. Bartali, who was brand new and the lowliest of domestiques, electrified the race when he won Stage 6 and came seventh overall, 9'46" behind race winner Vasco Bergamaschi - who is all but forgotten today.

Fausto Coppi was the favourite for the 1957 edition which covered 3,926km in 21 stages, but he broke his leg in a crash in Sardinia before the race and was unable to start. That left Lousion Bobet, Charly Gaul and Ercole Baldini looking the likely victors, but all three were taken by surprise by the chain-smoking Gastone Nencini. Nencini was known as a good all-rounder who could hold his own in the mountains, but the real ace in his hand was the way he descended - gravity seemed to have a stronger hold over him than anyone else and he plummeted like a hawk. What's more, he had courage in spades and took steep downhill bends at full speed while his rivals would be grabbing the brakes. Gaul took the lead in Stage 16 after Bobet and Nino Defilippis had dominated for much of the race, but after three races it was wrestled out of his hands and Nencini kept it to the end.

Baldini won in 1958, taking 92h09'30" to complete the 20 stages and 3,341km with two summit finishes in the Dolomites proving decisive - he also won the National and World Road Race titles that year. 1966 saw the introduction of a Points competition, won by Gianni Motta who would also be fastest over the 22 stages and 3,976km to win the General Classification too. Italo Zilioli came second for a third consecutive year, which earned him the nickname The Italian Poulidor - Poulidor having come second to Anquetil so many times. Anquetil, meanwhile, was third; an unmistakable sign that his best days were over.

Merckx
(image credit: Nationaal Archief, public domain)

Just four years later, there was a new king: after the controversy of 1969 when he was disqualified after providing a positive sample (still disputed by him and the official in charge), Eddy Merckx came back for 1970, took the leadership in Stage 7 and kept it all the way to the end for his second victory. He would win three more General Classifications - equalling the record set by Alfredo Binda and Fausto Coppi, 24 stages and spend a total of 76 days in the lead (a record). There were 20 stages that year, covering a parcours of 3,292km and the Points competition's red jersey changed to mauve, taking the name Maglia Ciclamino - it would change back to red (the Maglia Rosso Passione) in 2010. Merckx won his fourth edition in 1973 after 3,801km, a time trial and 20 stages; leading the race through all of them. The Vuelta a Espana had been held between the 26th of April and the 13th of May that year, and Merckx had won that too - the first rider to win both races in a single season.

The 1990 edition covered 3,450km in 21 stages. Winner Gianni Bugno duplicated Merckx's domination, leading the race from start to end; a feat that only they, Costante Girardengo (1919) and Alfredo Binda (1927) have managed. 1996 covered 3,990km in 22 stages and was won by Pavel Tonkov, the second Russian rider to take the victory.


At a press conference in Brussels on this day in 1978, Eddy Merckx told his audience:

"I am living the most difficult day of my life. I can no longer prepare myself for the Tour de France, which I wanted to ride for a final time as a farewell . After consulting my doctors, I've decided to stop racing."

With that, he ended that most remarkable career in the history of cycling, and a new era began.

Niki Terpstra

Niki Terpstra
(image credit: Thomas Ducroquet CC BY 3.0)

Niki Terpstra, who was born in Beverwijk, Netherlands, on this day in 1984, gave all the signs of being destined for a career on the track when he first appeared in the cycling world back in 2004. He won a few road races prior to 2007, but three National titles for the Scratch and one each for Madison and Points suggested he was going to ride the boards. However, that year he also won the Mountains Classification at the Tour of Germany and revealed himself to have more than one string to his bow.

In 2008, he was 4th overall at the Three Days of De Panne and won the Combativity Award for Stage 13 at the Tour de France, then a year later he won a stage at the Criterium du Dauphine. In 2010, he took a sixth National Championship, this time in the Road Race, and was third at the Dwars door Vlaanderen. By now, it was obvious that his future lay on the road; as he proved in 2012 by winning the Dwars. He remains a talented track rider, meanwhile, winning the 2011 Amsterdam Six Days with Iljo Keisse.

Sean Yates
Sean Yates was born in Ewell, Great Britain, on this day in 1960 and represented his nation in the 1980 Olympics, where he was sixth in the 4km Individual Pursuit. Seeking a career on the road, he travelled to France where like so many prospective riders from Britain and outside Europe he joined the famous Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt; a wise move as only two years later (in 1982, when he was also second at the National Road Race Championship) he was invited to turn professional with Peugeot where he rode alongside Stephen Roche - who would become Ireland's first Tour de France winner and the second man to win the Triple Crown (the Tour, the Giro d'Italia and the World Championship in a single season - the other man to win it was, of course, Eddy Merckx) - and the legendary Scottish climber Robert Millar, the only Briton to have won the King of the Mountains at the Tour (and the Giro),

Sean Yates
(image credit: YellowMonkey/Blnguyen CC BY-SA 3.0)

In 1988, Yates moved on to Fagor and then to 7-Eleven the next year, then Motorola in 1991 where he rode with a young Lance Armstrong, remaining with them for the rest of his racing years. 1994 was his best year, despite a stage win at the Tour in 1988, because he became the third British rider to lead the Tour de France. Unfortunately, his results overall were not good and he was 71st in the General Classification when the race ended, far short of his 45th place in 1988. All in all, he would ride in twelve Tours; but although he climbed well for a man with his powerful physique he was outclassed by the dedicated grimpeurs in the high mountains.

Yates retired in 1996 but remained a part of the cycling world, becoming involved with the administration of numerous teams beginning with Linda McCartney, which would collapse in 2001, then the ill-fated Australian iteamNova outfit that looked all set to take on the world before running out of money and dying. Fortunately, Armstrong remembered him and took him on as a manager at Discovery following a short spell with CSC-Tiscali (which would later become Team SaxoBank); though he remained with Discovery for only a year before going to Astana. In 2009 he found his natural management home with the announcement of Sky, a British team that set out to do what he, Millar, Simpson and so many others from the ACBB had tried - propel a British rider to the top step of the Tour de France podium. He remains with Sky to this day. While he enjoyed some success in racing after his time as a professional, including becoming 50-mile TT Champion in 1997, Yates now has to limit himself to unchallenging events due to heart irregularities.


Erin Mirabella, born in Racine on this day in 1978, is an American track cyclist who has won six National titles and three events at the PanAmerican Cycling Championships.

Kate Bates, born in Sydney on this day in 1982, has held five National (2005 - Individual Pursuit, Scratch, Points; 2006 - Scratch, Points) and one World Championship (2007 - Points) titles. She retired during December 2011 following a hip injury sustained in a crash during her time with HTC-Highroad - an unfortunate end to a career from which she had planned to retire after the 2012 Olympics.

Other births: Jacques van Meer (Netherlands, 1958); Kiyofumi Nagai (Japan, 1983); Michael Maue (West Germany, 1960); John Trevorrow (Australia, 1949); Jimena Florit (Argentina, 1972); Cuauthémoc Muñoz (Mexico, 1961); Alberto Minetti (Italy, 1957); Miguel Samacá (Colombia, 1946); Romulo Bruni (Italy, 1871, died 1939); Martin Riška (Slovakia, 1975); Omar Enrique Pumar (Venezuela, 1972); Gary Dighton (Great Britain, 1968); Katsuhiko Sato (Japan, 1943); Dzintars Lācis (USSR, 1940, died 1992); Lothar Thoms (East Germany, 1956).

Daily Cycling Facts 17.05.12

The Giro d'Italia has started on this date eight times - 1930, 1940, 1952, 1975, 1979, 1984, 1989 and 1997. The 1930 edition consisted of fifteen stages - for the first time ever, some of them (Stages 1, 2 and 3) were held in Sicily - and covered 3,907km. The winner was Luigi Marchisio, who came third the following year, then scored three or four respectable results over the next two years before vanishing from the cycling world until his death at the age of 83 in 1992. He may very easily not have achieved his greatest win - Giro organisers had become worried that their race would be boring if Alfredo Binda won for a fifth time and paid him 22,500 lire (considerably more than Marchisio got when he won) to stay away. Aged 21 when he won, Marchisio is still the second-youngest victor ever: only Fausto Coppi, who was 20 when he won his first Giro in 1940, was younger. That year, the race had been extended to 20 stages but shortened to 3,574km. There are two versions of what happened that year.

Some say that, after the aging hero Gino Bartali crashed in Stage 3 and lost his chances of winning, Coppi set out to claim glory for their Legnano team. His chances too seemed to have been ruined after he broke his bike and lost significant time in Stage 5, but after a superhuman effort he successfully clawed his way back into contention and then took the race leadership from Enrico Mollo during Stage 10, after which the two of them worked together to ensure the younger man kept the lead all the way to the end of the race. Others say that, with the old hero Bartali out of the way, young upstart Coppi decided to grab the race for himself and the reason he road so hard was that he didn't want to share glory after Bartali sent the team after him. Either way, in the years to come the two men developed an intense rivalry that divided Italy.

Fausto Coppi

Coppi won again in 1952, the third of his five victories and a spectacular return after injury and the death of his younger brother Serse who had died after an accident at the Giro del Piemonte the previous year - having taken the lead in Stage 10, he attacked on every remaining climb and rode solo over the finish line, beating Fiorenzo Magni by 9'42" after 20 stages and 3,964km.

The 1975 Giro covered 3,933km in 21 stages and saw a superb win for a virtually-unknown Fausto Bertoglio  after taking the lead in Stage 13. The far more experienced Spanish climber Francisco Galdos did everything in his power to take the victory from him and eventually beat him to the finish line on the Passo del Stelvio - however, Bertoglio's overall time remained 41" shorter, and the race was his.


1979 consisted of 20 stages including a prologue, covering 3,301km. Francesco Moser was favourite, but the young Giuseppe Saronni shadowed him all the way and eventually gained a 1'24" lead in the Stage 8 time trial. Though doing so seemed an impossible task, he successfully retained his lead to the very end and even added to it; finally beating Moser by 2'09".

Francesco Moser
(image credit: Roadworks)

1984, a total of 22 stages and 3,784km, went to Moser. However, his win was controversial as there was some evidence - and many accusations - to suggest that race officials deliberately changed things to suit Moser and ensure that the Frenchman Laurent Fignon could not win. Among them are the allegations that the Stelvio stage (in which Fignon would almost certainly have beaten Moser) did not need to be cancelled - the reason given was snow, but photographs appear to show the road was clear; refusal to allow a team car to assist Fignon when he developed problems with his chain on Selva di Val Gardena; officials turning a blind eye when Moser was pushed up climbs by fans and even claims that the helicopter filming the race was positioned to provide Moser with a tail wind. It should be remembered, meanwhile, that while there is no doubt whatsoever that Moser was happy to cheat when he felt it necessary to do so, the 1984 parcours was far more suited to him that it was to Fignon and even if one assumes the Italian had temporarily turned over a new leaf the odds were in his favour. Felice Gimondi has identified three mistakes that, in his opinion, cost Fignon the race despite a heroic effort to change matters: 1. On the Blockhaus (Stage 5), a notoriously difficult climb in Abruzzo, Fignon attempted to set a pace too high for his own abilities and exhausted himself; 2. He attempted to out-sprint Moser and Moreno Argentin from 800m in Stage 6 and 3. He lost significant time after choosing too high a gear when trying to follow Roberto Visentini on a climb (Stage 13). Whatever happened, it would be Moser's sole Grand Tour triumph. Fignon, meanwhile, would win the next time the Giro started on this day in 1989 - when it was a refreshingly straight-forward 22-stage, 3,623km free of obvious skulduggery.

1997 victory for Ivan Gotti, who - despite another win in 1999, is almost entirely forgotten today, the reason being that his two Grand Tours were not won entirely fairly - he was caught out in a doping control in 2001, which brought his career to an end; then shortly afterwards his marriage broke up too. Today, Gotti is a sales agent for Ferrero, the well-known chocolate manufacturer. When discussing the way his cycling days ended and the way in which the cycling world went after dopers in the early years of the 21st Century, he sounds bitter; however, he seems happy enough overall with his new life.

Edvald Boasson Hagen

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

Edvald Boasson Hagen is a Norwegian cyclist who has found fame riding with the British Team Sky and is now considered to be one of cycling's greatest rising stars.

Born in Lillehammer on this day in 1987, Boasson Hagen became National Under-19 Road Race Champion in 2004 and then Road Race and Time Trial Champion the following year before turning professional with Maxbo-Bianchi in 2006. 2007 was his break-through year with fifteen victories; earning him a place with the legendary, tragically now-defunct Highroad for the next season - which also proved successful with three stages at the Tour of Britain, one at the Tour of the Benelux and, best of all, Stage 3 at the Criterium International.

In 2009 he won the prestigious Gent-Wevelgem, a Flanders Classic that ends with a sprint at the end of a very challenging parcours with several steep climbs and by doing so revealed his speciality - he was a lightning-fast sprinter but, unlike most sprinters, he could take serious abuse on the way to the final few metres. He also rode the Giro d'Italia, his first Grand Tour, that year. Most Grand Tour rookies will not finish, but Boasson Hagen won Stage 7, was second on two more, third on another and in the top ten in two others - an extremely impressive total, despite doing badly on others and coming 82nd overall. Later, he won the Points competition at the Tour of the Benelux - and, as the summer reached an end, announced that he would be joining the newly-formed Sky the following year.

During his first season with the British team, the young rider - still only 22 - did the unthinkable when he took on World Time Trial Champion Fabian Cancellara in a time trial at the Tour of Oman and beat him by an incredible 17", enough to win him the overall Youth category and Points competition. Sky would prove to be his ideal home, giving him room to learn from more experienced riders yet also plenty of scope to keep winning races - he has been National Time Trial Champion at Elite level every year since 2007, won Stages 6 (the first time a stage had ever been won by a British-registered team) and 17 at the Tour de France and the General Classification at the Tour of the Benelux in 2011 (and the Points for a second consecutive year). Since the start of 2012, he has won the Points competition at the Tour Down Under and stages at the Volta ao Algarve and Tirreno-Adriatico. It seems only a matter of time before he wins a Grand Tour.

Joan Llaneras
Joan Llaneras, born in Porreras, Spain on this day in 1969, was partnered with Isaac Gálvez in the Madison at the 2006 Six Days of Ghent - the meet at which Gálvez collided with Dimitri De Fauw, hit the railings and died (De Fauw suffered terrible depression after the accident and took his own life three years later). Llaneras, who started out as a road racer but subsequently decided to concentrate on track cycling, considered giving the sport up afterwards.

Llaneras and Gálvez
(image credit: Olimpiaduerme)

"It was the first reaction," he explained. "Logical... natural... Normal after what had happened, but life goes on, and giving it all up, unfortunately, will not solve anything. In addition, the track is my life, is my dream, my family, it is almost everything to me." The year after the tragedy, Llaneras returned to racing - and won the Points Race at the World Championships. He also won the same event at the 2008 Olympics, then retired.


The Swedish rider Fredrik Kessiakoff, having won his National Mountain Bike Championship four times, defected to road cycling in 2009 with a contract to ride with Fuji-Servetto, the team that became Geox-TMC. A year later, he switched to Garmin-Transitions (now Garmin-Barracuda) and then in 2011 to Astana - with whom he won the Tour of Austria.

Beñat Albizuri, born in Berriz, Euskadi on this day in 1981, joined Euskaltel-Euskadi as a trainee in 2005 and then earned himself a professional contract after he came second on a stage at the Vuelta a la Rioja. Unfortunately, his results in the following years were not impressive and the team released him at the end of 2008. He seems to have then vanished from cycling altogether.

Czesław Lang, born in Kołczygłowy, Poland on this day in 1955, won the Tour of Poland in 1980. Since 1993, he has been director of the race.

On this day in 2009, Steve Peat beat fellow British rider Gee Atherton by 0.02" at the third round of the UCI World Cup and became officially the most successful professional downhill mountain biker of all time.

On this day in 1941, Alfred Letourneur used a Schwinn bike at the Los Angeles Speedway to set a new World Motor-paced Bicycle Speed Record at 175kph.

Other births: Luke Ockerby (Australia, 1992); Michael McKay (Jamaica, 1964 - not to be confused with GreenEDGE CEO Michael McKay); Elisabeth Westman (Sweden, 1966); Wolfram Kurschat (Germany, 1975); Achille Souchard (France, 1900, died 1976); Mun Suk (South Korea, 1965); Junker Jørgensen (Denmark, 1946, died 1989).

Daily Cycling Facts 16.05.12

The 25th edition of La Flèche Wallonne took place on this day in 1961, running from Liège to Charleroi for a second consecutive year. However, the parcours had been altered and as such was 15km shorter at 193km - the shortest in the 76-year history of the event. The winner was Willy Vannitsen who won more than 110 races during his 13 professional years, including Stage 1 at the 1958 Giro d'Italia and Stages 10 and 15 at the 1962 Tour de France, yet is virtually forgotten outside his native Belgium.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the oldest and - according to some - greatest Classic of them all took place on this day in 1909. Eugène Charlier was the first over the line, but when officials discovered he hadn't finished the race on the same bike he started with his victory was disallowed - rather than being disqualified, as some sources claim, his time was recorded as being the same as that of Victor Fastre (and the next seven men, this being the first time that the race had ended with a bunch sprint) and he was relegated to second place. In third place was Paul Deman, winner four years later of the Ronde van Vlaanderen and then Paris-Roubaix in 1920 and Paris-Tours in 1923.

Alfredo Binda

The Giro d'Italia began on this day seven times - 1925, 1936, 1959, 1969, 1974, 1985 and 1998. The 1925 edition started and ended in Milan, with twelve stages covering a total of 3,520km. It is remembered - by those few people fortunate to have seen it and still be with us - as one of the most exciting ever due to an epic battle between Costante Girardengo, who fought long and hard through the mountains and won five stages, and Alfredo Binda who matched every attack he made to take the race lead from him and keep it for the final eight stages to win by 4'58".

1936 covered 3,745km in 19 stages, though Stages 15 and 17 were split - 15a was a short road stage, 15b an individual time trial, 17a and 17b were short road stages. Gino Bartali, who had won the Mountains classification the previous year, returned and performed even better to win the Mountains and his first General Classification, leading the race through the final twelve stages and winning two of them. Olimpio Bizzi won Stage 6 at the age of 18 years and 299 days, making him the youngest Giro stage winner ever.

Charly Gaul

1959 was made up if 22 stages and 3,657km - another epic year in which Luxembourg's Charly Gaul once again proved himself unbeatable in the mountains (or, as many will point out, proved himself capable of consuming larger quantities of la bomba), driving hard over the snowy peaks and continuing to push himself when others had exhausted themselves. Gaul was almost as good in a time trial as he was in the climbs, but he wasn't quite as good as Jacques Anquetil who took a 1'30" lead after Stage 2, then proceeded to slowly grind down his opponent's advantage until the race leadership passed to him in Stage 15. Going into Stage 20, the Frenchman still had the lead and many believed the race was as good as his. Then, in Stage 21, Gaul crushed him. Pushing so hard over three challenging mountain that nobody could get near him, he won by 9'48" and took back the leadership. Rolf Graf won the final stage, but Ancquetil may as well have not bothered - bettering what Gaul had done was far beyond even his capabilities.

1969 covered 3,851.3km in 22 stages and would be one of the most controversial editions ever due to a sample provided during Stage 16 by Eddy Merckx, found to be positive for N-ethyl-3-phenyl-norbornan-2-amine, a stimulant prescribed under the name Reactivan and still used, though rarely, in medicine today. For reasons that remain unknown, news of the sample and the rider's expulsion from the race was supplied to the press before he and his team management were notified and when he revealed that he had been offered money to throw the race by an un-named Italian rider the day before, suspicions that something nefarious was going on began to pick up speed. Prince Albert of Belgium sent his own aeroplane to bring him home and the government got involved, demanding an investigation from the Italian Foreign Minister. The Italian Federation continued to insist it had acted correctly and, while Merckx was subsequently given the go ahead to ride in that year's Tour de France, which he won, the official reason for his Giro expulsion has never been retracted. Many believe that the Belgian rider would have won but, with him out of the way, Felice Gimondi dominated the remainder of the race and took the overall General Classification. 43 years later, Merckx still says that the stage was such an easy one that he had no reason to resort to cheating, as does appear to be the case when we take his abilities into account, and to this day he insists he is innocent. So does the official who was in charge of the positive sample.

From left to right: Hinault, Maertens, Merckx and de Vlaeminck
(unknown copyright)

In 1974, Merckx won for the fifth time after 22 stages and 4,001km. While he led from Stage 14 to the end, it was noticeable at several points during the race, especially when Jose-Manuel Fuente and Gianbattista Baronchelli got into a duel in Stage 20 and raised the pace so high that Merckx nearly exhausted himself in his attempts to keep the leadership (in fact, Baronchelli was "leader on the road" for a while during the stage), that his reign was beginning to crumble. He would win the Tour as well that year, becoming for the fourth time one of the few riders to have won two Grand Tours in a season.

1985 came during the reign of the man commonly considered the second greatest cyclist after Merckx, Bernard Hinault who won for a third time. Taking third place after the 22 stages and 3,998km was Greg Lemond, who would slay the Badger the following year when he became the first American to win the Tour de France. When Hinault won the Tour later in the year, he won two Grand Tours in a season for the third time. Strangely, when the Giro next started on this date in 1998, winner Marco Pantani took the first step in adding his name to the list too because he also won the Tour that year. 1998 covered 3,868km in 22 stages.

Simon Gerrans
Simon Gerrans, born in Melbourne on this day in 1980, took up cycling after injuring his knee during childhood; the sport having been recommended to him by his neighbour, who was a reasonably successful rider himself - Phil Anderson, the first non-European to wear the maillot jaune at the Tour de France. It soon turned out that he wasn't bad at it either and he was awarded a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport, where he began to develop into a world-class road racer.

Simon Gerrans
(image credit: GreenEDGE)

Gerrans' first major success was the Under-23 title at the National Championships of 2002, where he also took 5th in the Elite race. The big European teams were not slow in taking note and in 2003 he was invited to join Carvalhelhos-Boavista as a trainee after spending a short while with the Norwegian team Ringerike, then a year later AG2R Prévoyance with whom he turned professional in 2005 and entered the Tour de France for the first time, surprising many by coming third in Stage 17 and leaving no doubt that he was a new talent - one that could very easily have been ended in February the next year with a crash at the GP d'Ouverture la Marseillaise which left him with pins in his collarbone and shoulder as well as several stitches to repair flesh wounds to his head. He recovered quickly and rode his second Tour that year, improving his General Classification result from 126th to 79th, then dropped to 94th in 2007.

In 2008, having moved on to Crédit Agricole, he won Stage 15 after sprinting to the finish without challenge from the other surviving two riders of a four-man break that had escaped early in the stage and managed to stay out in front. The next year he joined the legendary Cervelo Test Team, but managers mystified fans by failing to pick him for the Tour squad. However, he did go to the Giro d'Italia, where he won Stage 14 (Cervelo's first Grand Tour stage win), and the Vuelta a Espana where he won Stage 10; thus becoming the first Australian rider to have won a stage at all three Grand Tours. 2010 saw him depart for the new British team Sky, with whom he went back to the Tour. Another crash ended his chances in Stage 8 and left him with a broken arm. He stayed with Sky through 2011 and began to show promise as a Classics rider, taking third at the Amstel Gold, second at the Waalse Pijl and 12th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, then third for Stage 2 at the Tour.

In 2011, it was announced that a new team, GreenEDGE, was being put together and stood a very good chance of being the first Australian team to receive a ProTour licence from the UCI. Gerrans was invited join and did so - which, in 2012, looked to have been a very wise decision. With them, he became National Champion for the first time, won a second Tour Down Under and then added the highlight of his career so far - victory at the legendary Milan-San Remo Monument when he beat Fabian Cancellara.

Matthias Kessler

The German rider Matthias Kessler, born in Nuremburg on this day in 1979, was little known outside his own nation until 2000 when he turned professional with Deutsche Telekom. In 2001 he finished in the top 5 for two stages at the Giro d'Italia but remained little known - until he was widely proclaimed an outside favourite for the Classics in 2003 on the strength of 6th place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2002 and soon caught the public's attention for his habit of unzipping his jersey and deliberately ripping his undershirt to keep cool. He finished the Amstel Gold Race in 5th place in 2003, then La Flèche Wallonne in 3rd a year later.

Unfortunately, what could have been a great career was marred by bad luck and doping. In the 2004 Tour de France he was left in agony after a bad crash and, while he finished the stage, didn't start the next day. In 2007, he provided a sample that was shown to contain unusually high levels of testosterone; leading to his dismissal from Astana a short while later. Things began to fall apart from that point on and he experienced difficulty in finding a new contract once his two-year ban came to an end. In 2010, while on a training ride in Algaida, Mallorca, he accidentally collided with a cat. The resulting crash left him with serious head injuries.

Other births: Roger de Beukelaer (Belgium, 1951); Roberts Plūme (Latvia, 1897, died 1956); Im Sang-Jo (South Korea, 1930); Pål Henning Hansen (Norway, 1953); Juan Reyes (Cuba, 1944); Wilhelm Rabe (Germany, 1876); Antonio Hernández (Mexico, 1951); Lennie Kristensen (Denmark, 1968); Gustavo Guglielmone (Argentina, 1971).

I'm on a course...

...training to be a National Cycling Standards Instructor (long term aim being to encourage more girls to take up and stick with competitive cycling, form them into a team, win loads of stuff, enter and win some men's races, persuade the UCI to let 'em do the Tour, win that, then achieve world domination mwa ha ha ha ha!).

So I won't be blogging until the weekend. Go and read something else.

Daily Cycling Facts 15.05.12

Carlo Galetti

The Giro d'Italia has started on this date seven times - 1911, 1926, 1927, 1948, 1965, 1980 and 1999. The 1911 edition was the third and marked the 50th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, starting and ending in Rome to mark the occasion and covering 3,526km in twelve stages - an increase on the first two editions when it had been eight and then ten stages. Carlo Galetti won for a second consecutive year (he would have won again in 1912, but the organisers decided that year that only team results would be counted) and Lucien Petit-Breton, who headed the General Classification during Stage 9, became the first French rider to have led the race. 86 riders started, only 24 finished.

1926 retained the twelve stage format and covered 3,429km. The winner, Giovanni Brunero, became the first rider to three Giro victories after gaining 20' on 1925 winner Alfredo Binda, winning Stage 8 and then working hard to keep Binda from the General Classification leadership for the remainder of the race after Costante Girardengo - then drawing towards the end of his career but still very capable of winning races, including two stages in this one) - abandoned having led for three days. Binda was unstoppable the next year, 1927, when he won twelve of the fifteen stages and led the General Classification throughout the full 3,758km starting and ending in Milan, beating Brunero by 27'24".

Fiorenzo Magni

Fiorenzo Magni won in 1948, covering the 19 stages and 4,164km in 124h51'52", but it was not a popular victory. For a start, he was never a popular figure among other riders on account of his political views, which are said to have been shockingly right-wing. Secondly, he received a little bit of assistance from his fans who had been seen pushing him up some of the climbs, which in turn caused a third factor - furious at the cheating, Italian cycling's new darling Fausto Coppi withdrew in protest. The 1965 edition was held five years after Coppi's death. To mark it, organisers introduced the Cima Coppi prize which is still awarded for the fastest rider to the top of each edition's highest point - Graziano Battistini won it, being the first man over the Stage 20 finish line on the Passo Stelvio. The race covered a total of 4,051km in 22 stages and the overall winner was Vittorio Adorno, a victory termed the finest since Coppi by the press.

1980 was again 22 stages and covered 4,025km. Attention was immediately turned to a new rider in the race, Bernard Hinault who had already won two editions of the Tour de France. Having won Stage 14, Hinault proved what he was capable of by gaining 8' with help from team mate Jean-Rene Bernaudeau on Stelvio and thus took the race lead - which he kept for the rest of the race, becoming the first man to have won all three Grand Tours on his first attempt.

Marco Pantani
(image credit: Aldo Bolzan CC BY-SA 3.0) 

1999 had 22 stages over 3,757km and saw controversy when Marco Pantani - who had won the Giro and the Tour the year before - recorded a suspiciously high haematocrit reading prior to Stage 21; indication of a blood transfusion or (more likely in this case) EPO for which he was ejected from the race. His entire Mercatone Uno-Bianchi went with him. In Stage 13, Pantani's chain had come off as he climbed the Dolomites, causing him to lose 30" - however, once he'd fixed it he got back on and powered straight past the other riders to win the stage, leading Laurent Jalabert to claim, "Pantani is too strong!" and the press to dub the race The Pantani Show. With him and his team out of the way, the race became a free-for-all as numerous riders and squads realised that all of a sudden they were back in contention. Ivan Gotti won with a 3'35" advantage over Paolo Salvodelli, but to this day there are many who will argue that the race should have been Pantani's.

Yvonne Hijgenaar
(image credit: Nicola CC BY-SA 3.0)

Yvonne Hijgenaar
Like so many Dutch cyclists, Yvonne Hijgenaar - born in Alkmaar on this day in 1980 - came to cycling from speed skating, a sport in which she represented her nation. She made the switch in 2001, having taken up track cycling as a training regime and realising that she was able to beat male opponents and that same year became Dutch 500m Champion. In 2002 she added the Sprint title, then kept both in 2003 and took the Keirin too. Retaining all three in 2004, she went to the Olympics with high hopes but with track cycling a relatively minor sport in the Netherlands found herself outclassed, missing out on medals.

2005 brought bronze medals for the 500m and Keirin at the World Championships and she once again won 500m, Sprint and Keirin the Nationals. Realising that she was a serious talent, the National Federation gave her permission to train with the Australian team. However, 10th place in the qualifying round prevented her going through to the Sprint final at the 2008 Olympics, but a bronze for the Omnium at the Worlds in 2009 - the first time the event had featured - showed she still had form.

Hijgenaar won a total of twelve National Championships, but has not regained them in the years since - though a selection of silver and bronze medals illuminate her palmares. She says that if she doesn't win a medal at the 2012 Olympics, she will retire.


Niklas Axelsson
Niklas Axelsson, born in Västerås on this day in 1972, finished in sixth place at the 1999 Giro d'Italia; a remarkable result since it was his first Grand Tour. When he was third at the Giro di Lombardia a year later, it began to look as though a serious new Swedish talent was on the scene - and the next year he won a silver medal at the National Road Race Championship, apparently confirming it. Unfortunately, he didn't attain those early victories entirely through his own effort. At the World Championships in 2001, he became one of the first athletes to be caught out by the then-new cyclelectrophoresis and isoelectric focusing methods of detecting EPO and confessed. His honestly was not viewed favourably by the Svenska Cykelförbundet, which handed him an unusually long four-year ban.

In time, the National Federation relented and allowed him to return to competition in 2004. He then experienced two dry years without wins before coming second at the 2006 Giro della Romagna and third at the following year's GP Industria Artigianato e Commercio Carnaghese. This did not prove to be a sign that his luck had returned, because in 2007 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer - thankfully, the disease was detected sufficiently early for therapy to enable him to make a full recovery, and he once again began racing.

This time, his results were immediately better. He came third in two stages at Tirreno-Adriatico, won a stage at the GP Industria Artigianato e Commercio Carnaghese and outright at the Swedish Solleröloppet race, then took a silver medal at the National Championships in 2008. In 2009 he was 7th overall at the Tour of Qinghai Lake, then 9th at the GP Industria & Commercio di Prato - the race that would be his downfall. Apparently worried that, as had been the case after his first ban, he once again turned to EPO; and it was announced in 2010 that he had failed a test on the 20th of September, the day the race had been held.

As a four-year ban hadn't taught him a lesson, the Svenska Cykelförbundet banned him for life.

Anna Blyth

Anna Blyth
(image credit: Prendas Cyclismo)

Anna Blyth, born in Leeds on this day in 1988, began track racing in childhood and was good enough to come to the attention of British Cycling during a race at her school, Benton Park. Having been invited to join their development program, it wasn't long before she began to repay them - in 2005 she won the National Junior 500m Time Trial and sSprint titles and took a silver medal for the Sprint and bronze for Keirin at the Junior Worlds.

She kept her British titles in 2006 and added gold for the Scratch race, took three silver medals in the Nationals racing at Elite level and a bronze in the 500m TT at the European Championships  - and, better still,  silver for the Sprint and gold for the Keirin at the Junior Worlds. 2007 brought gold in the Keirin at the Under-23 European Championships along with two silver medals at the Nationals and another at the Track World Cup, then she won the National 500m TT and Team Sprint in 2008 and the Under-23 Scratch at the European Championships in 2009. 2010 and 2011 have been quieter, her best result a bronze medal for the Scratch at the Commonwealth Games in India; but as she now moves into Elite level racing we are likely to see more victories in the coming years.


Bruno Pires, born in Redondo, Portugal on this day in 1981, had ridden for numerous UCI Continental teams before moving up a level when he was invited to join the emergent LeopardTrek at the end of 2010. LeopardTrek had been founded around the Luxembourgian Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank, who took several riders with them when they departed their previous home SaxoBank. When LeopardTrek merged with RadioShack for 2012, Pires was not one of the riders to make the transition and instead moved to SaxoBank. His best results to date have been winning the 2006 National Road Race Championship and third place overall at the 2008 Vuelta Ciclista Asturias.

Pierre Trentin, a French cyclist born in Créteil on this day in 1944, started racing at the age of 14. Having set up a leather-working business when he left school, he won a Junior National Championship title when he was 17 and a bronze medal for the 1km TT at the 1964 Olympics, then two golds in 1968 - also setting a new Amateur 1km World Record - and another bronze in 1972.

Edy Schütz, born in Tetange, Luxembourg in this day in 1941, won the 1964 Österreich-Rundfahrt and then two years later the Tour of Luxembourg, Stage 18 at the Tour de France and the National Road Race Championship - which he retained for the next five years until 1971.

Other births: Maurizio Casadei (San Marino, 1962); Hussain Mahmoudi Shahvar (Iran, 1962); Gustaaf de Smet (Belgium, 1935); Anton Gerrits (Netherlands, 1885, died 1969); Masamitsu Ehara (Japan, 1969); Alain van Lancker (France, 1947); Ivan Trifonov (USSR, 1948); Jørgen Marcussen (Denmark, 1950); Tomas Pettersson (Sweden, 1947); Sergey Lavrinenko (Kazakhstan, 1972); Ferdinand Duchoň (Czechoslovakia, 1938); Jaramillo (Colombia, 1951); Piotr Przydział (Poland, 1974); Francisco Valada (Portugal, 1941); Henry Kaltenbrunn (South Africa, 1897, died 1971); Jan Chlístovský (Czechoslovakia, 1934); Alain Moineau (France, 1928, died 1986).

Giro Donne 2011 videos

Organisers of the Giro Donne - probably the greatest women's cycling race in the world - have uploaded several high quality videos from the 2011 edition on Facebook. See them all here.

Cav gets a hand from the tifosi

The boy Cavendish has always said he loves the Italian fans and the support they've shown him since he got to wear the rainbow jersey. Who wouldn't when they give you a bit of typical tifosi treatment, usually reserved solely for their own riders?

 

Cycling Evening News 14.05.12

Racing: Giro d'Italia Stage 9 (+ video) - Tour of California Stage 2 - Top Bakersfield cyclist killed in women's race - Downing wins Lincoln GP - New Grimsby team - Brad Wiggins burglary - Saiz sells cycle selection - Horses like cycling too - Other news Cycling: the news you might have missed

Racing
Giro d'Italia Stage 9
On Monday, the race returned to the flatlands again for a reasonably short 166km stage (profile) between San Giorgio del Sannio, beginning with a 244m descent over 8.6km (so expect a fast start!) and no hills of any note along the way. Whereas a couple of the earlier "flat" stages turned out to be rather more difficult than they looked on paper, today's stiffest climbs - 87m over 7km from Benevento (site of a Roman triumphal arch, considered the finest example of its type, and a Roman theatre) at the bottom of the initial descent and, at the other end of the stage, 86m over 6.9km into Frosinone - weren't expected to create any problems. Combined with a a short descent leading into the last 2km, a right turn with 1.65km to go and then a left into the final 500m, it looked set to be another sprinter's stage.

Pierre Cazaux (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Brian Bulgac (Lotto-Belisol) and Martjin Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM) broke away early on and stayed out for much of the stage, but the peloton picked up the pace after 135km and swept them up. Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) tried to get away on the last climb but got nowhere; Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) also liked the lie of the land and blasted away to an eight second lead, but he'd misjudged the hill which turned out to simply not be steep enough to prevent the real sprint specialists easily catching him. 22-year-old Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela) had a go after that, but was caught immediately.

Francisco Ventoso

Mark Cavendish was, of course, believed to be in with a pretty good chance of winning today, but once again a crash in the final stretch kept victory from him. Taking place on the last left corner, it also took down Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE), Filippo Pozzato and several others; but it soon became apparent that it had looked worse than it actually was, the doctor who was left behind once all the riders had got up and headed for the finish line looking pleasantly surprised that he had nothing to do. Cav appeared to glance off the barriers and avoid the worst of the impact, but Goss fell hard on his elbow - he'll be off for X-rays this evening.

Matt Goss ‏ @mattgoss1986Well, that was a chance gone begging. Haven't seen the video to see what happened yet, but someone come in way to hot and forgot to turn.

After the race, Pozzato accepted full responsibility for the crash. "The crash was solely my fault," he explained to RaiSport. "I am very sorry to the other riders for my mistake, and I ask them to forgive me.

That Francisco Ventoso of Movistar can sprint is no secret - he proved as much when he won Paris-Brussels two years ago. However, Cav, Goss, Bos and the like have upped the sprinters' game so high over the last few years that men such as him, who a decade or so ago would have been among the best in the world, are more often than not outclassed in competitions such as this one. Today was his chance: with the rocketships caught up behind him, he found himself surrounded by a mixture of non-sprinters and sprinters more his calibre, saw the opportunity and grabbed the win.

Top Ten
  1.  FranciscoVentoso Movistar 3h39'15"
  2.  Fabio Felline Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela ST
  3.  Giacomo Nizzolo RadioShack-Nissan ST
  4.  Damiano Caruso Liquigas-Cannondale ST
  5.  Daniel Schorn Team NetApp ST
  6.  Alexander Kristoff Katusha ST
  7.  Ryder Hesjedal Garmin-arracuda ST
  8.  Matthias Brändle Team NetApp ST
  9.  Manuel Belletti AG2R-La Mondiale ST
  10.  Daryl Impey Orica-Green Edge ST
(Full stage result and GC)

Stage 10

Stage 10 takes us back into the medium mountains for a 166km run between Civitavecchia and Assisi (profile). There's only one categorised climb, right at the end of the parcours and it's only a Cat 4. However, those riders who dismiss it as unchallenging without looking more closely are in for a surprise, because it's a lot harder than its category and small size (422m) suggest - the gradient is 15% for a 600m section just after the 3km to go point, then the first half on the final kilometre is cobbled. It is, by no means whatsoever, an easy climb. Earlier on, the terrain is best described as rolling with no point higher than 555m (Montecchio, 145.5km) and nothing too tough, though the combined effect may prove difficult for the riders who really don't like to climb. Civitvecchia, on the Tyrrhenian coast, is one of Italy's most important ports and the entry point for many tourists who arrive by sea, its most noticeable feature the massive Forte Michelango that protects the harbour - it looks impressive and impregnable rather than attractive. The city was the birthplace (in 1971) of the cyclist Roberto Petito, whom some fans will remember as the winner of the 1997 Tirreno-Adriatico race. Viterbo, 55.4km away, is famous for its 13th Century papal palace and the almost perfectly preserved Medieval Quarter. Amelia (97.9km) retains its medieval walls, solid and constructed of vast stones without cement, punctuated by a number of gatehouses of which the most impressive is Porta Romana. Amelia is beginning to become known as a tourist destination, but today the local economy is primarily based on the growing of figs.

The Basilica, Assisi

Finally, Assisi is best known for its association with 12th/13th Century Saint Francis, who spent his whole life in the city, but it was also the birthplace of Saint Clare (co-founder, with St. Francis, of the order now known as the Poor Clares) and 19th Century Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows along with no fewer than four other saints. The city traces its history back far beyond the invention of saints to around 1000BCE when Umbrians built fortified villages on the hilltops, these then being developed and combined first by Etruscans and then by the Romans. The greatest sight the city has to offer is the Basilica of St. Francis, begun two years after the saint died and of vast importance for its architecture and art in addition to being a place of religious significance (St. Francis deserves the respect of those of us who are not Christian, too; he believed that Christians should seek to emulate Christ by showing humanity to all living things and remaining tolerant of other beliefs - his attempts to have Muslims recognised and respected by the Church as "custodians of the Holy Land" after the fall of the Crusader Empire did more good for  Christian/Muslim relations than just about anything before or since).

Weather
High winds that have affected the region should drop to a manageable 25kph on Tuesday with temperatures ranging from 12 to 17C. Rain is not expected anywhere along the parcours.

Tour of California Stage 2
Stage 2 begins in San Francisco Marina and passes the Golden Gate Bridge en route for the Pacific coastline, with the first of three intermediate sprints at Pacifica 27.9km into the race. The second is at Half Moon Bay after 41.6km, then the race continues south down the coast through San Matteo County and on to Santa Rosa County. Having turned north-east, the riders face a climb up Cat 1 Empire Grade to 800m after 112km, followed by a fast descent to the next climb beginning at 144.8km - Bear Creek Road, rising to 686m. The third sprint begins at 165.6km, then the race arrives at Soquel and, after a right turn at 188.3km, the final straight 200m to the finish line. (Map, profile)

Stage results when available

Stage 3 begins in San Jose, the only city to have been a stage town in every Tour of California to date, but this year the riders don't have to face the difficult Cat 1 Sierra Road, instead climbing  Calaveras Road to 455m (8.4km). The stage's first intermediate sprint is at Livermore (45.5km), after which there are 42 rolling kilometres to the biggest climb of the day, Cat 2 Mount Diablo. The Midway Road sprint starts at around 158km and is followed 12km later by Cat 3 Patterson Pass, topping out at 460m and followed by a long descent back into Livermore. The 500m after the final left turn are straight and slightly downhill, making a high speed finish likely. (Map, profile)

Top Bakersfield cyclist killed in women's race
Reports say that a woman described as "one of Bakersfield's best women cyclists" was killed on Sunday morning in an accident during Stage 4, the Bootjack Road Race, of California's Mariposa County Stage Race (formerly known as the Kern). The rider's family have confirmed the fatality and originally asked the race organisers and press not to reveal her name for the time being. She has since been identified as Suzanne Rivera, a 48-year-old member of the BT49 team, who took up cycling only nine months ago.

Eyewitnesses say that the rider apparently failed to notice that a support vehicle had stopped on the parcours to assist another cyclist, then braked hard and lost control before colliding with the vehicle. It is not known which class she was racing in. A doctor and three nurses competing in the race attempted to resuscitate her.

Russell Downing

Russell Downing wins Lincoln
Russell Downing (Endura Racing) scored a fourth victory at the Lincoln GP yesterday, beating second place Marcin Bialoblocki (Node 4-Girodani) by 15". Bialoblocki caught him on the final lap, but Downing powered away up the tough Michelgate climb. (British Cycling results and report)

Top Ten
  1.  Russell Downing Endura Racing 3h55'38"
  2.  Marcin Bialoblocki Node4-Giordana +15"
  3.  Kristian House Rapha-Condor-Sharp +1'18"
  4.  Simon Richardson IG Sigmasport +1'21"
  5.  Russell Hampton Raleigh-GAC +1'28"
  6.  Pete Williams Node4-Giordana +2'38"
  7.  Dan Craven IG Sigmasport +2'44"
  8.  Dean Windsor Endura Racing +2'47"
  9.  Scott Thwaites Endura Racing (U23) +2'50"
  10.  Liam Holohan Raleigh-GAC ST

New Grimsby team
Grimsby businesses Ettridge Cycles and Alp Action have joined forces to create a new cycling team which will give local riders a chance to compete in national competitions. (More from This Is Grimsby)

Brad burgled
Thieves broke into the home of Bradley Wiggins in Chorley yesterday and stole the commemorative medal he was awarded for competing in the 2008 Olympics. It's not known if they were opportunists, taking the medal simply because it looked valuable, or if they knew whose home it was and mistook the medal for one of those he won at the Games in 2000, 2004 or 2008.

Catherine Wiggins broke the news on Twitter: "Phone went on way back from rugby, Lancs Police informing me we'd been burgled. Brads participants medal from Beijing Olympics most ... distinctive thing taken so if anyone hears of it please inform police, who were brilliant this morning. Raging! That is all."

Saiz sells collection

One of the rarer Saiz machines is this one, fitted with a
mid-90s Black Hole hubless wheel and steering

Manolo Saiz, the manager of ONCE-Deutche Bank who withdrew the team from the 1998 Tour de France a the Festina Affair broke, has put his collection of 57 rare and collectible bikes up for auction on Ebay. The auction had a little over two hours to go at the time of writing with a top bid of $50,100, but the reserve had not been met. Among them are some extremely rare time trial bikes, a few of which are probably unique. Ever wanted your own bike museum...?

Horses like cycling too
We all remember the time in 1997 when that horse jumped the fence after deciding it wanted to join in as the peloton went by, then ran alongside or a few miles before dropping to lot of them and galloping off ahead - and those of us who follow cycling will remember that it happened during the Criterium International, too, not in the Tour de France as those people who only know about it from "Amelie" seem to automatically assume ("You mean...there are other bikes races...?")

It turns out that Scottish horses are as into cycling as their French cousins - a rather fine-looking palomino joined in the fun at the Etape Caledonia Challenge this weekend, racing alongside the cyclists for a short while after they passed its field some 89km into the event. Unlike the Criterium International horse, however, this one didn't get its chance to show the riders a thing or two about muscled legs as it was caught by race officials after a few minutes. (...and so do Dolphins)

Other News
"Freewheeling Ryan stays on right road" (Independent, Ireland)

"Victoria Pendleton in shape of her life" (WalesOnline)

Cycling
The News You Might Have Missed
Britain 
"Saddle up for cycling fest on the prom" (Eastbourne Herald)

"Lies, damn lies, and statistics about red light jumping: Do 57% of UK cyclists jump red lights? One motoring organisation claims so – on very flimsy evidence" (The Guardian)


Worldwide
"Vancouver could see more bike lanes for cyclists" (News1130)