Daily Cycling Facts 11.08.12

Kristin Armstrong

Armstrong en route to her gold
medal, London 2012

Born in Memphis, Tennessee on this day in 1973, Kristin Armstrong began to compete in long-distance running events whilst studying for her BA in sports physiology at the University of Idaho in the mid-1990s and, having put a great deal of effort into improving her swimming at the Boise YMCA (where she was employed as Director of Aquatics, responsible for fifty lifeguards and other employees), became a successful triathlete. However, in 2001 she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and advised to give up competitive running, bringing her career as a triathlete to an early end - and pushing her towards her destiny, professional cycling, the sport in which she has become world-famous. Just a year later she finished Stage 9 at the Women's Challenge, the most prestigious event on the US women's racing calendar and, sadly, in its last year due to sponsorship problems.

Two years later, having signed to T-Mobile, Armstrong became National Road Race Champion and was eighth in the road race at the Olympics, and the year after that she won three General Classifications and the individual time trials at the PanAmerican and National Championships, then third in the ITT at the Worlds. In 2006, she became National Champion for road race and time trial, won San Dimas, the Tour of the Gila, the Nature Valley Grand Prix, the Tour de Toona and the Euregio Tour, then became World Time Trial Champion; she kept the National TT title in 2007, won Nature Valley and Toona again and added the General Classification at the famous Holland Ladies' Tour.

Another shot of Armstrong in London

Having won the Tour of New Zealand, a third Nature Valley and the Cascade Classic, Armstrong returned to the Olympics in 2008 and won the Time Trial. 2009 was every bit as successful with another Tour of the Gila, a fourth Nature Valley, the Tour de l'Ardeche and, for the second time, the World Time Trial Championship. Then, at the end of the year, she announced that she would be retiring in order to start a family. What the world didn't know was that she was already planning her return: "I love cycling and I love competing. I stopped racing after the 2009 World Championships not because I was burned out, but because my husband and I wanted to start a family. I told myself from the beginning if everything went smoothly with the birth of our son, Lucas William, I would consider racing again,” she said late in 2010; making her return for the 2011 season with Peanut Butter &Co-Twenty12, a team she partly owns and which has since become known as Exergy-Twenty12. Third place at the National Time Trial Championship in 2011 was more than necessary proof that she meant to be every bit as successful as previously - and that motherhood does not have to spell the end of a female athlete's career.

Armstrong is a rider able to keep track of the overall progress of a race while also concentrating on the finest details; by applying the law of marginal gains she has come to specialise in the time trial, a sport in which competitions are often won by fractions of seconds - and regularly wins by tens of seconds. She did precisely that at the 2012 Olympics when she beat World TT Champion Judith Arndt by 15.47", making her the oldest rider to have ever won the gold medal for the event.

She is sometimes incorrectly assumed to be the ex-wife of Lance Armstrong, who was married to Kristin Richard from 1998 to 2003. The two riders are not related to one another.

Alfredo Binda

Born in Cittiglio on this day in 1902 but raised in Nice, Alfredo Binda was gifted with enormous natural talent in the mountains. Unlike most other riders of his time, who would concentrate on winning the stages that suited them best, Binda realised that riding to even a minutely higher standard on flat stages would increase his likelihood of winning overall and shaped his training accordingly; becoming perhaps the first real all-rounder.

After turning professional with Nice Sport in 1922, Binda immediately began to win criterium races and, in 1924, the Tour du Sud-Ouest. That brought him a contract with the Italian Legnano-Pirelli team and a place with them at the Giro d'Italia - and he dominated the race, winning Stage 6, achieving podium places in the rest and leading the General Classification from Stage 5 to the end, ending the reign of Costante Girardengo. Earlier that year he'd taken the silver medal at the National Championships, and he ended it by winning the Giro di Lombardia. The next year, he won the Giro di Toscana, the National Championship, Stages 3, 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 at the Giro d'Italia (but came second overall behind Giovanni Brunero and a second Giro di Lombardia - then in 1927 he won another Giro di Toscana and National Championship, the Six Days of Milan (where he teamed up with Girardengo), every stage except Stages 5 (for which he was second) and 11 and the General Classification at the Giro d'Italia, then the World Championships.

Binda wins Stage 1, Giro d'Italia 1927

Binda would win the Giro d'Italia again in 1928, 1929 (eight consecutive stages from 2-9) and 1933; the first man - and, until Fausto Coppi (1953) and Eddy Merckx (1974) the only - man to have done so. His 41 stage victories were not equaled until 2003, by sprinter Mario Cipollini; and he also won the first Giro King of the Mountains competition in 1933. His record of four editions of the Giro di Lombardia (1925, 1926, 1927, 1931) would not be matched until Coppi won a forth in 1949 and then beat it with a fifth in 1954 - no other rider has managed four since. He would also win the National Championship in 1928 and 1929 and the Worlds in 1928, 1930 and 1932. After retiring in 1936, Binda trained first Gino Bartali and, later, Coppi.

In 1927, Binda led the Giro from start to end - only Girardengo had ever done that, in 1919 when there were five fewer stages. No other rider has accomplished the same feat since.

Joane Somarriba
Euskadi, the Basque Country, has produced a remarkably high number of professional cyclists for a nation with a population of 2.2 million; but few of them have been female. The most prominent of those that have made a name for themselves in Joane Somarriba, who was born in Gernika (Guernica to the Spanish and admirers of Picasso) on this day in 1972.

Somarriba won the Junior National Road Race Championship in 1987 and 1988, then came second in 1989. In 1991 she won the Emakumeen Bira at Elite level, the bronze medal at the National Elite Championships in 1993 and the gold a year later, then the gold in the Time Trials National Championship another year after that. In 1999, after coming second at the Emakumeen Bira, she stood on the podium after five stages at the Giro Donne, including the top step after Stage 10b, and won the event overall.

Joane Somarriba

In 2000, Somarriba went back to the Giro Donne and won Stage 6b, also finishing in the top three on three other stages and winning it for a second time overall; a few months later she also contested the Tour de France Feminine, won Stages 4 and 6, finished in the top three on three others and won overall. This was a major achievement, the women's equivalent to winning the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in a single season - something that only seven men have ever done; unlike Somarriba, they are all household names.

Over the course of the rest of her career, Somarriba won the Emakumeen Bira again in 2001 and 2004, the Emakumeen Saria in 2002, 2003 and 2004, the Trophée d'Or Féminin in 2005, the World Road Race Championship in 2003, was third overall at the Giro Donne in 2003 and second at the Giro Donne in 2005, before retiring in 2006. She is one of the most successful female riders of all time and deserves to be far better-known than she is.

Giancarlo Astrua, born in Graglia, Italy on this day in 1927, was fifth overall at the Giro d'Italia in 1949, won Stage 15 in 1950 and Stage 12 in 1951, was seventh overall in 1952, third overall in 1953, fifth overall in 1954 and won Stage 5 in 1955. He also came third overall at the Tour de France in 1953, then seventh overall in 1955 and won Stage 12 at the Vuelta a Espana in 1956.

Aloïs Catteau, born in Tourcoing, France on this day in 1877 but of Belgian nationality, rode the first ever Tour de France in 1903 and came tenth. He entered again the following year and initially came eighth; however, after an investigation that led to numerous riders being disqualified for cheating, including winner Maurice Garin, he was promoted to third. Catteau also rode the following four Tours, coming 11th, 6th, 9th and 21st.

Phil Ligget

Phil Ligget, born in Merseyside on this day in 1943, was a good enough amateur to be offered a professional contract in 1967. He turned it down, preferring instead to concentrate on becoming a journalist after magazines published his race reports; and he would become a popular writer for the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian and its sister paper the Observer. Between 1972 and 1993 he also served as technical director of the Milk Race, Britain's biggest stage race that would vanish and then be reborn as the modern Tour of Britain, and in 1973 he became the youngest ever UCI international commissaire.

Ligget provides commentary for the Tour de France footage broadcast by Britain's ITV4, the USA's NBC and Australia's SBS alongside Paul Sherwen; together they have become "The Voices of the Tour" for millions of English-speaking fans around the world. Having covered 40 Tours up to 2012, he is well-known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the riders and race history, frequently using unusual and often rather poetic "Liggetisms" to describe them.

Other cyclists born on this day: Gerhard Trampusch (Austria, 1978); Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA, 1978); Marko Čuderman (Yugoslavia, 1960); Zdeněk Dohnal (Czechoslovakia, 1948); Eddie Dawkins (New Zealand, 1989); Raita Suzuki (Japan, 1972); George Dempsey (Australia, 1905, died 1985); Daniel Lloyd (Great Britain, 1980); Anton Kuys (Netherlands, 1903, died 1978); Rod Ellingworth (Great Britain, 1972); Joseph Smeets (Belgium, 1959); Ferenc Horváth (Hungary, 1939); Darryn Hill (Australia, 1974); Tuulikki Jahre (Sweden , 1951); Stjepan Ljubić (Yugoslavia, 1906, died 1986); Moustafa Chichi (Iran, 1969); Perry Merren (Cayman Islands, 1969); Uwe Ampler (East Germany, 1964).

Daily Cycling Facts 10.08.12

The 14th edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège was raced on this day in 1924, when it was won for a second consecutive time by René Vermandel. He became World Road Race Champion as well that year, having previously held the title in 1922.

In this day in 2008, Nicole Cooke won the Women's Road Race at the Olympic Games - the first Welsh rider to have ever done so. It was Great Britain's 200th gold medal since the modern Games began. Later that year, Cooke became the first woman to win the Olympic gold medal and the World Championships in the same year (she'd won the National Championships earlier in the year, too).

John-Lee Augustyn
John-Lee Augustyn, born in Kimberley, South Africa on this day in 1986, turned professional with Konica-Minolta in 2005and very rapidly established himself as a climber of considerable note, winning a domestic hill climb competition in his first year and the Mount Fuji stage of the Tour of Japan in his second. In 2007, he joined the British Barloworld team and went to the Tour de France with them in 2008 - during Stage 16, he was the first man to the top of the 2,715m Col de la Bonette, the highest paved true col in Europe. Like many climbers, Augustyn found it difficult to control his bike on steep descents due to his lightly-built physique: soon after the summit, he was unable to turn quickly enough into a bend, overshot it and plunged more than 30m down a scree-covered slope. He suffered only minor injuries and was able to continue, eventually coming 48th in the overall General Classification at the end of the race.

John-Lee Augustyn

In 2010, Augustyn announced that he would be joining Team Sky. However, since a crash in 2007, he had been experiencing problems with his hip; further investigation revealed avascular necrosis, a condition in which the bone from which the hip joint is formed crumbles. He underwent an operation to fit an implant, designed to replace the damaged bone and protect the rest, in 2011 and joined ProContinental team Utensilord-Named in order to be able to compete in less strenuous competitions than those the ProTour Sky race. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that the implant was not able to withstand the pressures a professional cyclist placed upon it, and in May 2012 Augustyn was forced to take "an indefinite hiatus" from the sport.


Sergei Sukhoruchenkov, born in the USSR on this day in 1956, won the Peace Race in 1979 and 1984 and the Vuelta Ciclista de Chile in 1990. In 1980 he won his most prestigious victory - the Road Race at the Olympic Games in Moscow. Sukhoruchenkov is the father of Olga Zabelinskaya, the rider who won bronze in the Road Race and Individual Time Trial at the 2012 Olympics in London.

Jan van Eijden, born in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, West Germany on this day in 1976, won three World Championships and four National Championships during his competitive career, which lasted between 1994 and 2006. When he retired, be became a coach for the Team GB Track Team

David Le Grys, who was born in Harlow on this day in 1955, represented Great Britain at numerous Olympic and Commonwealth Games during his amateur career, winning a silver medal for the Tandem Sprint at the Commonwealth Games in 1978. In 1982 he turned professional with the Geoffrey Butler team and won the kilo at the National Track Championships. Le Grys retired in 1987 but remained a part of the cycling world as a very successful coach, including five years as British Cycling's National Track Team coach. Later, he began to compete in Veteran and Masters competition and soon began racking up greater victories than ever before - among them, he was World Masters Olympic Sprint Champion in  1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006; World Masters 500m TT Champion in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009; World Masters 750m TT Champion in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002; World Masters Sprint Champion in 1997, 2001 and 2002; European Masters 500m TT Champion and European Team Sprint Champion in 2008 and 2009; National Veteran Sprint Champion in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001; National Masters Sprint Champion in 2002, 2004 and 2005; National Masters 750m TT Champion in 2002 and 2003 and National Masters 500m TT Champion in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. In 1986, Le Grys set a world cycling speed record at 202.78kph.

Other cyclists born on this day: Eddie Alexander (Scotland, 1964); Raimo Honkanen (Finland, 1938); Víctor Lechuga (Guatemala, 1966); Herry Janto Setiawan (Indonesia, 1973); Francisco Huerta (Mexico, 1947); Abdul Razzaq Baloch (India, now Pakistan, 1936); Martin Liška (Yugoslavia, now Slovakia, 1976); Hichem Chabane (Algeria, 1988); Leigh Hobson (Canada, 1970).

Daily Cycling Facts 09.08.12

Davide Rebellin

Davide Rebellin

Born in San Bonifacio on this day in 1971, the Italian rider Davide Rebellin turned professional with GB-MG Maglificio in 1992, a year after winning the Under-23 Giro delle Regione, and did well right from the start; winning the Hofbrau Cup in 1993 and coming third on Stage 2 at the Giro d'Italia in 1994. He won his first Grand Tour stage, Stage 7 at the Giro, two years later, when he was also sixth overall.

While Rebellin would perform well in stage races throughout his career, his destiny lay in the Classics: in 2004 he achieved an unprecedented feat by winning all three Ardennes Classics - the Amstel Gold Race,  La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. To date, this has been repeated only one: by Philippe Gilbert in 2011. He won La Flèche Wallonne again in 2007 and 2009 when he was 35 years and 259 days old (becoming the oldest rider to have ever won a ProTour race (this record was beaten later the same year by Jens Voigt, who was 35 years and 325 days when he won the Deutschland Tour).

Rebellin won the silver medal in the Men's Road Race at the 2008 Olympics, finishing behind Samuel Sánchez. However, in April the following year, it was announced that six athletes had tested positive. On the 29th of April, the Italian Federation revealed that one of them was Rebellin; he exercised his right to a test of the B sample provided at the same time, but it too tested positive for EPO-derivative CERA and he was banned from competition for two years; his medal was revoked and awarded to new second-place Fabian Cancellara. He returned to cycling with Miche-Guerciotti in 2011, then switched to Meridiana-Kamen, and in 2012 he won Stage 2 at the Tour of Slovakia.

Kanstantsin Sivtsov
Born in Gomel on this day in 1982, Belarusian Kanstantsin Sivtsov turned professional with the Russian Itera team in 2001. One year later, he won silver for the Individual Time Trial and bronze for the Road Race at the National Championships, both at Elite level; in 2003 he took the silver for the Road Race, the bronze for the TT and another silver for the Under-23 Points race at the European Track Championships; then in 2004 he became World U-23 Road Race Champion.

Sivtsov at Paris-Nice, 2012

In 2006, Sivtsov won the National Road Race title at Elite level, which brought the world's top teams to his door. He chose the British Barloword and rode his first Tour de France, coming 32nd overall; then switched to Highroad in 2008 and rode another Tour, this time coming 17th. The following year, still with Highroad (now known as Columbia-HTC), he went to the Giro d'Italia and won Stage 8; then in 2011 he won the National Time Trial Championship.

Highroad, one of the first teams to introduce anti-doping rules more stringent than those required by the UCI, came to an end in 2011 when sponsors pulled out, reportedly because they didn't wish to be associated with a sport in which athletes were considered more likely to dope than any other by the public; Sintsov accepted an invitation to join Team Sky and returned with them to the Tour - a broken tibia sustained in a crash during Stage 3 made him the first rider to abandon the race.

Ludo Peeters

Ludo Peeters

Belgian Ludo Peeters, born in Hoogstraten on this day in 1953, turned professional with IJsboerke-Colner in 1974 and remained there for the following six seasons; during that time he won numerous criterium races, plentiful stages and - in 1980 - won Stage 14 and took eighth place overall and third in both the Points competition and the King of the Mountains at the Tour de France.

In 1981, Peeters joined Peter Post's legendary Ti-Raleigh squad, frequently lauded as the most successful team in professional cycling, but this time came 59th overall at the Tour as he was riding in support of Joop Zoetemelk. In 1982 he was 34th, but won Stage 1 and wore the maillot jaune for one day before being relieved of it by Phil Anderson; although he won no stages in 1984 he again wore it for one day.

Peeters won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 1987 and rode the Tour for the final time in 1989, his tenth; ending his career in 1990. Despite the promise he showed in 1982, which shows he might have won a Tour in the right circumstances, from the early days with IJsboerke and through the years with Ti-Raleigh, then Kwantum Hallen-Yoko, he had ridden as a domestique.


Pierre Georget, born in Châtellerault, France on this day in 1917, won a silver medal for the 1000m time trial and bronze for the 2,000m tandem sprint at the 1936 Olympics. He was the nephew of Émile Georget, who rode nine Tours de France between 1905 and 1914, coming third twice, and the son of Léon Georget who won the Bol d'Or nine times between 1903 and his last attempt in 1924.

South African professional Ryan Cox, born on this day in 1979, won the Tour of Qinghai Lake in 2004 and the Tour de Langkawi and National Road Race Championship one year later. In July 2007, he underwent vascular lesion surgery in a knotted artery in his leg. Three weeks later, the artery burst and caused massive internal bleeding which led to heart failure. He received several blood transfusions but his condition did not improve, and he died at 05:15 on the 1st of August. He was 28 years old.

Robert Kiserlovski

Robert Kiserlovski, born in Rijeka on this day in 1986, became National Junior Cyclo Cross Champion in Croatia in 2003 and successfully defended the title in 2004, then turned professional with KRKA-Adria Mobil in 2005 and took a silver medal at the National Under-23 Road Race Championship. In 2011, he joined Astana but has suffered a run of bad luck: at Paris-Nice that year he lost control in slippery conditions, crashed and slid underneath a truck parked on the road. He became caught and could not be released for several minutes and later needed stitches. At the Tour de France in 2012, he crashed after persons unknown spread carpet tacks over the road in Stage 14 and broke his collarbone, being forced to abandon as a result.

Other cyclists born on this day: Louis Garneau (Canada, 1958); Brigitte Gyr-Gschwend (Switzerland, 1964); Jean Schmit (Luxembourg, 1931, died 2010); Ted Smith (USA, 1928, died 1992); Gerard Kamper (Netherlands, 1950); Gordon Singleton (Canada, 1956); Tonny Azevedo (Brazil, 1969).

Daily Cycling Facts 08.08.12

Nicolas Vogondy

Nicolas Vogondy

Born in Blois, France on this day in 1977, Nicolas Vogondy won the Tour de Lorraine as a junior in 1995 and turned professional with Française des Jeux two years later. In 2000 he rode the Giro d'Italia and came 84th; in 2001 he rode his first Tour de France and came 89th, then after winning the National Road Race Championship (as he would again in 2008) he finished the Tour in nineteenth place in 2002, also coming second in the Youth classification.

His next Grand Tours were far less notable: 117th at the 2003 Tour, 81st at the 2004 Giro d'Italia, 63rd at the 2005 Vuelta a Espana, 44th at the 2006 Giro, 92nd at the 2007 Tour, 64th at the 2008 Tour, 68th at the 2009 Tour, 88th at the 2010 Tour. He never won a Grand Tour nor even a stage, but completing ten from a total of twelve is an achievement in its own right. As of 2012, Vogondy is still racing and now rides for Cofidis.

Christophe Dupouey
Christophe Dupouey, born in Tarbes on this day in 1968, was a French cyclist whose cycling career began with second place at the World Military Cyclo Cross Championship in 1989. He rode a few road races in the years after that, enjoying considerable success in the Tour de Pyrenees with third place overall in 1993 and second in 1994, then came third at the 1995 European XC (cross country) Mountain Bike Championships and began concentrate on the discipline. He was European XC Champion in 1996 (and also became the first Frenchman to win a round of the MTB World Cup; at Houffalize on the 21st of April) and European and World XC Champion in 1998.

In 2006, Dupouey was given a suspended three-month prison sentence for his part in a drugs ring that supplied the notorious "Belgian Mix," a concoction of cocaine, amphetamines, heroin, caffeine, various analgesics and, on occasions, anything else that happened to be on offer when the Mix was being created. His conviction - or underlying problems (drug dealers very frequently dip into their stock, therefore we cannot say for certain that Belgian Mix had nothing to do with it) - caused him to become depressed and on the 4th of February in 2008, when he was 40 years old, he committed suicide. Having decided not to return to competition when his sentence expired, he had been working as a co-ordinator for a public bike sharing scheme.

Axel Merckx

In a sport in which most competitors will never win a single race, Axel Merckx - who was born in Uccle, Belgium on this day in 1972 - was a very successful rider with a National Championship and several other triumphs to his name. His name, however, was the problem: he could never have lived up to the extraordinary achievements of his father who, with 525 professional victories, is the most successful cyclist of all time. He tried to win things that Eddy had not, for example Paris-Tours and an Alpe d'Huez stage at the Tour de France, but could not. However, he did out-perform his father at the Olympics, winning the bronze medal in the Road Race in 2004 whereas Eddy's best result was 12th in 1964.

Borut Božič, born in Idija, Slovenia on this day in 1980, was National Road Race Champion in 2008 and 2012. In 2009, he won Stage 6 at the Vuelta a Espana and in 2010 he won Stage 7 at the Tour of Britain.

Enrico Franzoi, born in Mestre on this day in 1982, is an Italian cyclo cross rider who became National Under-19 Champion in 1999, National Under-23 Champion in 2001, 2002 and 2003, National Elite Champion in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008 and World Under-23 Champion in 2002. He has also been successful in road cycling, finishing the 2007 Paris-Roubaix in eighth place. He continues racing as of 2012, riding for the Miche-Guerciotti team.

Other cyclists born on this day: Jorge Soto (Uruguay, 1986); Matej Jurčo (Slovakia, 1984); Roger Legeay (France, 1949); Jan Panáček (Czechoslovakia, 1970); Lucjan Lis (Poland, 1950); James Van Boven (USA, 1949).

Daily Cycling Facts 07.08.12

Steven Rooks

Rooks at the Tour, 1988

Steven Rooks, born in Oterleek, Netherlands on this day in 1960, turned professional with the legendary Ti-Raleigh team in 1982, then switched to Sem-France Loire the following year and won Liège-Bastogne-Liège. In 1985 he was 25th overall at the Tour de France; then ninth in 1986 and second in 1988 after winning Stage 12 on Alpe d'Huez - and he also won the King of the Mountains and was second overall in the Points competition. He would never do quite so well in the Tour again but remained competitive for a few more years, coming seventh overall and third in the King of the Mountains and Points in 1989, 33rd overall in 1990, 26th in 1991 and seventeenth in 1992. He rode it again in 1993 and 1994, failing to finish on both occasions.

Away from the Tour, Rooks won the Tour de Luxembourg and the Amstel Gold Race in 1986, the National Derny Championship in 1987 and the National Road Race Championship in 1991 and 1994 before retiring in 1995. In 1999, Rooks, Peter Winnen and Maarten Ducrot decided it was time to clear their consciences with regard to doping, doing so publicly on the Dutch TV show Reporter and saying that they were doing so to highlight how widespread the problem had become. Rooks admitted that he had used amphetamines and testosterone throughout his career; in 2009 he confessed in a book written by journalist Marc Smeets that he'd also use EPO since 1989. "It was necessary [to do so in order] to finish high up in the classifications," he said.


Adriano Baffi, born in Vailate, Italy on this day in 1962, won Stages 2, 8, 18 and the Points competition at the Giro d'Italia in 1993 and Stage 19 at the Vuelta a Espana in 1995, along with numerous other races (including a National Points Championship on the track in 1999) before he retired in 2002. He then became a directeur sportif, working with various teams and was recruited by LeopardTrek for the 2011 season. His father, Pierino, was also a professional cyclist and in 1958 became the second man in history (after Miguel Poblet) to win stages in all three Grand Tours in a single season.

Edward Klabiński, more commonly known as Édouard Klabinski due to the difficulty experienced by the French with Polish names (as was the case with Jean Stablinski, whose real name was Stablewski), was born in Herne, Germany on this day in 1920 but was of Polish nationality. He rode as an independent immediately after the Second World War before signing to Stanord-Wolber in 1946. In 1947, riding for Mercier-Hutchinson, he became the first Pole to ride in the Tour de France and came 34th overall; in 1948 he was eighteenth overall.

Andriy Hryvko, born in Simferopol, Ukraine on this day in 1983, was National Time Trial Champion in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2012. In 2012, he also won the National Road Race Championship.

Michele Merlo was born in Casaleone, Italy on this day in 1984. He won Stage 8 at the 2009 Tour of Britain and finished Stage 2 of the 2011 Giro d'Italia in twelfth place.

Other cyclists born on this day: Francisco Chamorro (Argentina, 1981); Travis Brown (USA, 1969); Iryna Chuzhynova (Ukraine, 1972); Mario Scirea (Italy, 1964); Roberto Brito (Mexico, 1947); Francisco Coronel (Mexico, 1942); Suriya Chiarasapawong (Thailand, 1949); Werner Wägelin (Switzerland, 1913, died 1991); Yahya Ahmad (Malaysia, 1954).

Daily Cycling Facts 06.08.12

Stuart O'Grady

Stuart O'Grady

Like many of the world's top cyclists, Stuart O'Grady - born in Adelaide on this day in 1973 - has cycling in his blood: his father rode for South Australia in both track and road events and an uncle represented the country at the 1964 Olympics. He himself began to compete on track in the 1980s and, in 1992, helped to win the silver medal for the Team Pursuit at the Olympics; four years later, when he was again selected, the team won the bronze for the Pursuit and he won the bronze for the Points race.

O'Grady made the transition to road cycling in 1995 after joining GAN, the team that later became Crédit Agricole, and showed great promise right from the start with three victories; he also continued to perform well on the track, riding with the winning Pursuit team and coming third in the Individual Pursuit at the World Championships. He concentrated on the Olympics in 1996, win bronze on the Team Pursuit and Points race, then won the Cottesloe and Subiaco criteriums and Stages 1, 6 and 8 at the Herald Sun Tour before going to the Tour de France in 1997 - where he finished in eight place on Stage 4 and second on Stage 5, completing the race in 109th place overall. The following year, he wore the yellow jersey in Stages 4, 5 and 6 and won Stage 14 before coming second behind Erik Zabel in the overall Points competition: Australia began to dream that, 84 years after Don Kirkham and Ivor Munro had been the first Australians to compete in the world's greatest race, their first winner had emerged - and then became sure that O'Grady was to be that man when he finished in the top ten on eleven stages in 1999, once again coming second on Points.

It would never happen, of course: he knew every bit as well as Mark Cavendish does today that he'd never win a Tour and, also like Cav, probably became heartily sick of explaining to new fans he attracted to the sport why this was. O'Grady was 1.73m tall and 73kg; giving him, like most sprinters, the wrong sort of body shape to be able to compete with the wiry climbers in the mountains: those eleven top ten finishes in 1999 were superb, but 135th, 109th, 104th and 130th in the mountains left him in 94th place in the overall General Classification.

O'Grady picked up good results in 2000, including second place at the Tour Down Under and three top ten finishes at the Tour de France, but his only victory was Stage 3 at the GP du Midi-Libre - when he left the Tour after Stage 6 and finished the Road Race at the Olympics in 77th place, it was evident that something was wrong: that he won the Tour Down Under, twice stood on the podium at Paris-Nice, finished another eleven Tour stages in the top ten and was again second in the Points competition in 2001 is remarkable because in April 2002 he underwent surgery on a narrowed pelvic iliac artery which, doctors had discovered, was limiting the power output of one leg. His recovery was swift and complete; he went to the Tour that year and finished seven stages in the top ten, including third place on Stage 10 and was third overall on Points. Later in the year, he won the Road Race at the Commonwealth Games.

2003 got off to a superb start with victory at the National Championships and eighteen podium placings before the Tour got under way, but in France he found himself unable to take on several very strong sprinters including fellow Australians Baden Cooke (who won the green jersey) and Robbie McEwen, finishing the Points competition in seventh place. He switched teams to Cofidis in 2004 and won Stage 9 at the Tour, but was beaten by McEwen, Thor Hushovd and Zabel in the Points competition. In 2005 he came second in the Points competition, then he joined CSC the following year.

O'Grady in 2008

At CSC, it was suggested that O'Grady might do well in the big one-day Classics and he began to train for them. This turned out to be a wise move because, in 2007, he scored the greatest victory of his career when he won the legendary Paris-Roubaix, a race that many riders consider to be the hardest and most dangerous of them all; as of 2012 he remains the only Australian to have won it. He also finished third at the Dwars door Vlaanderen, fourth at Milano-Torino, fifth at Milan-San Remo and the Omloop Het Volk, ninth at the E3 Harelbeke and tenth at the Ronde van Vlaanderen that year - a stunning Classics season by anybody's standards, but a year that ended with a serious crash at the Tour in which he suffered a punctured lung and fractures to three vertebrae, eight ribs, his right collarbone and right shoulder blade. He was badly injured in another crash at Milan-San Remo in 2009 when he collided with a rider who fell in front of him, that time puncturing a lung and breaking his right collar bone and one rib.

O'Grady raced with LeopardTrek in 2011, but announced in August that he would be joining the new Australian ProTour GreenEDGE team. With them, raced his sixteenth Tour de France in 2012 - Joop Zoetemelk also rode in sixteen, only George Hincapie was ridden more (17). That same year, aged 38, he was sixth in the Road Race at the Olympic Games. O'Grady created and still financially supports a youth team, CSC O'Grady, and is involved with Champions for Peace - an organisation of athletes that attempts to use the international co-operation found in sport to demonstrate that there are alternatives to conflict.

Arnie Baker
Arnie Baker, born in Montreal on this day in 1953, as a highly successful cycling coach - in that capacity, he has trained riders in preparation for around 140 National Championships, 40 record attempts and several Olympics. He was also a successful rider himself, setting eight US records in time trials.

Baker's reputation as a miracle worker looked to be in jeopardy when he was implicated in the Floyd Landis doping case. At the 2006 Tour de France, Landis cracked badly in Stage 16 and lost eight minutes, looking as though he was ready to abandon by the time the race reached the summit of the Alpe d'Huez at the end of the stage; yet the very next day set a blistering pace on Galibier that nobody could match. Both the A and B samples he provided at the end of Stage 17 tested positive for synthetic testosterone and abnormally high levels of epitestosterone, a natural steroid without performance-enhancing effects that can be used in an attempt to mask suspiciously-high testosterone levels. Landis was, eventually, stripped of his 2006 victory and banned from competition for two years.

On the 14th of April 2009, the French L'Express newspaper published a report claiming that information hacked from a French laboratory's network had been emailed from a computer registered to Baker to a Canadian doping lab, and he and Landis were "invited" to answer questions in a French court. Controversially in view of the lack of evidence it was able to find, the court gave Baker a one-year suspended sentence. Baker continues to state that the case against him had deep flaws and insists that he had no part in doping and has never knowingly received or sent on illegally-obtained documents.

Eros Poli, one history's most likable professional cyclists

Eros Poli
Eros Poli, born in Isola della Scala on this day in 1963, said that he only took up cycling because of the ban on using private cars for any purpose other than getting to work during the oil crisis of 1973 - he was given a choice, a bike or roller skates, and chose the bike. A talented sprinter in his own right, Poli became known as Mario Cipollini's lead-out man and was extremely successful in this role, not least of all because at 1.97m tall he was one of the very few riders big enough for the 1.89m Cipollini to be able to draft behind.

Like Cipollini and most large, heavy riders, Poli hated mountain stages - yet he attempted one of the most remarkable attacks ever seen in the Tour de France on Mont Ventoux in 1994. Having calculated that if he built up enough momentum on the flat approach his speed would carry him through and he'd reach the summit with a comfortable lead, he hit the infamous mountain at full speed and pedaled hard to the top. It worked: he was first to the top, though Ventoux proved much harder than he'd anticipated (just as it invariably does) and his 20' lead dropped to 3'39", his efforts winning him the Combativity award for the stage.

Cipollini was frequently accused of being arrogant during his career; yet while he shared Cipo's taste for flamboyant clothes and had the "Italian Stallion" looks that are considered sufficiently appealing by a sufficient number of people for him to have emulated Cipo's playboy lifestyle had he have chosen to do so, Poli was a far more self-effacing character and, despite many successes during his amateur career, didn't believe until he was 28 that he could be a professional rider. When asked during an interview which words he would like carved on his gravestone, he replied: "Here lies Eros Poli - famous for being tall and coming last in the Giro d'Italia." It was he who, in 1997, went to Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc to announce that the riders had decided not to race for the first 45km of Stage 10 so that they could gather together and pay their respects at the memorial to Fabio Casartelli, who had been killed on the Tour two years earlier.

When asked by Cycling News about that remarkable stage win on Ventoux, Poli's answer was typical for him. Having explained that, for him, working for Cipollini was an honour, he talked briefly about himself before changing the subject to the success of a team mate: "Yes, that was the realisation of a dream. It was me, in the lead, all alone, the guy who people were applauding, like an actor on the stage. I was centre-stage, face to face with the public. Fantastic. That's why when I crossed the finish line I made a gesture of thanks. Me, the insignificant bike rider, the team rider of whom there are a hundred in the peloton. I had the chance to win a mythical stage with the Ventoux in the programme. And it's droll, because I felt the same sensation when Cedric [Vasseur] won his stage at La Chatre last week When I learnt that he'd won I was tearful with emotion, on the bike..."

Mickaël Delage

Mickaël Delage, born in Libourne, France on this day in 1985, was Junior National Champion in Team Pursuit and Madison in 2003, Under-23 National Champion in 2004 and Elite Team Pursuit Champion in 2006, when he also won Stage 1 at the Tour de l'Avenir. In 2011, he won the Combativity award for Stages 3 and 11 at the Tour de France.

Gabriele Bosisio, born in Lecco, Italy on this day in 1980, was a relatively unknown rider who enjoyed little success until he won Stage 7 at the Giro d'Italia in 2008, then finished fifth overall at the Tour of Britain later the same year. The next year, he was second at the National Time Trial Championship which took place in late June; then on the 6th of October news broke that a sample he provided on the 2nd of September had proven positive for EPO, an out-of-competition test carried out after suspicious blood values were detected on his biological passport. He was provisionally suspended by his LPR Brakes team, then banned from competition for two years on the 28th of April 2008 - as the ban was backdated to the announcement of the positive test, it expired on the 5th of October 2011 and he made his return with Utensilnord-Named - a team formed by his old managers after LPR Brakes dissolved in 2009 - in 2012.

érôme Coppel

Born in Annemasse on this day in 1986, Jérôme Coppel - along with Romain Sicard - was the subject of a 2011 four-page article in L'Equope titled Bientôt un crack française? ("Soon - a French champion?") His results to date certainly suggest he has the potential: he was National Under-19 Time Trial Champion in 2004 and National U-23 Time Trial Champion in 2006 and 2007, also managing podium finishes at the European and World Championships in the same period - and he performs very well on road too, having come fourth overall at the 2008 Tour de l'Avenir,  fifth at the 2010 Critérium du Dauphiné and fourteenth at the 2011 Tour de France (to which Saur-Sojasun was invited largely because of his high profile). In 2012, he was eleventh overall at Paris-Nice, twelfth at the Tour de Romandie and 21st at the Tour de France. Now aged 26 and about to enter his best years, he is a rider to watch and may yet prove to be the Tour winner that French fans have dreamed about for more than a quarter of a century.

Other cyclists born on this day: Erwin Thijs (Belgium, 1970); Yumiko Suzuki (Japan, 1960); Sebastian Kartfjord (Norway, 1987); Sören Lausberg (East Germany, 1969); Trần Văn Nen (South Vietnam, 1927); Gottlieb Amstein (Switzerland, 1906, died 1975); Roland Surrugue (France, 1938, died 1997); Francesco Bellotti (Italy, 1979).

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...

Daily Cycling Facts 05.08.12

Gilles Delion

Gilles Delion

Born in Saint-Étienne on this day in 1966, was seen a one of the greatest hopes of French cycling when he won the Giro di Lombardia, a stage at the Critérium International and the Youth category at the Tour de France in 1990, followed by Stage 7 at the Tour one year later; he tended to well at the Giro di Lombardia and won it in 1990. Mononucleosis had a severe impact on his performance in 1991 and it took him a very long time to recover.

Or so it seemed: in fact, Delion probably recovered at a normal, natural rate and would have begun to win races again in good time, albeit far slower than other cyclists - the difference being that Delion loathed cheats, especially dopers, and refused to have anything to do with doping whatsoever. It took him a while to build up his strength after illness for that reason; his opponents could simply increase the dose of EPO and become competitive almost immediately.

In 1996 - just as what would in all likelihood have been in best years, he turned his back on cycling forever as an expression of disgust at doping. It was, he said, widespread throughout cycling and all the French teams were involved with it; and as is the case with all the riders who did well in his era without turning to drugs, we must ask ourselves how well he might have done had the playing field been level.


May Britt Hartwell, born in Sola, Norway in this day in 1968, won four Junior and thirteen Elite National Track Championship titles between 1984 and 1995.

Santiago Perez

Santiago Pérez, born in Vega de Peridiello, Spain on this day in 1977, won Stages 14, 15 and 21 and came second overall at the 2004 Vuelta a Espana while racing for Phonak. In March the following year, by which time he had switched to Relax-Fuenlabrada, it was announced that he had failed an out of competition anti-doping test in October after the race, testing positive for a homologous blood transfusion (ie, one using somebody else's blood). He was suspended from competition for two years, then returned to the same team (by then renamed Relax-GAM). Pérez  began his professional career with Barbot-Torrie in 2001, in 2011 - when the team was known as Barbot-Efapel - he returned to them, retiring later in the year.

Tim Johnson, born in Middleton, Massachusetts on this day in 1977, is arguably the USA's most successful male cyclo cross rider of all time with six National titles to his name: Junior in 1995, Under-23 in 1999 and 2000, Elite in 2001, 2007 and 2009. He has also won 43 cyclo cross races and numerous road events. In 1999, he came third in the Under-23 Cyclo Cross World Championships and remains the only American male to have stood on the podium at the official UCI Championships (Katie Compton, born in Delaware, has done so three times). Johnson is the husband of Canadian professional cyclist Lyne Bessette.

Other cyclists born on this day: Alejandro González (Argentina, 1972); Giovanni Cazzulani (Italy, 1909, died 1983); Jean Van Den Bosch (Belgium, 1898, died 1985); Saleem Farooqi (India, later Pakistan, 1940); Jean-Pierre Paranteau (France, 1944); Peter Vogel (Switzerland, 1939); Lucien Didier (Luxembourg, 1950).