Tour of Britain Stage 2 cancelled

Sky's Steve Cummings crashed hard yesterday. With
today's much worse weather, the race could easily have
become carnage. (© Racklever CC3.0)

Stage 2 of the 2011 Tour of Britain has been cancelled by organisers due to the high winds that are battering the North-West of Britain as a result of Hurricane Katia.

Stage 1 was raced in atrocious conditions, leading to a crash in which Sky's Steve Cummings fell hard and LeopardTrek's Jens Voigt broke a finger. Cummings was able to continue after receiving attention from medics, Voigt's injury forced him to abandon the race.

With a Yellow Alert - high risk of damage to trees and buildings, probable travel disruption - alert put into place for the region by the Met Office, the decision to cancel the stage had been suspected overnight before confirmation came at 10:00 on the morning of the stage. Sky's Geraint Thomas, a favourite to win the race, Tweeted: "Disappointed but safety is the main issue guys. Got to respect the police decision. Not worth breaking ourselves." Meanwhile, riders are reported to be milling about the start line, disappointed but accepting that the decision had to be made.

However, cycling fans and residents of Kendal will still be able to see some action as riders will be completing a limited number of display laps around the town centre. This will take place in a neutral zone and as such will not affect race standings. Other activities are being planned according to an official Tour Tweet at 10:45, and it appears celebrations will be held at the Blackpool Tower finish line later this afternoon.

The organisers' full statement can be read here.

Valentin Iglinskiy

Valentin Iglinskiy

News is coming in that Valentin Iglinskiy and his brother Maxim were stopped for speeding by French police at around 9pm on Tuesday night. According to initial reports on French RTL radio, Tests showed the 27-year-old Team Astana rider Valentin to be over the legal driving limit for alcohol and positive for cocaine. Maxim, who rode in this year's Tour de France which finished on Sunday, was arrested and taken into police custody, says French website Cyclism'Actu. However, police later stated that the rider did not provide a positive test result for cocaine.

The Kazakh-born brothers, who now live in Monaco, are said to have been travelling in a Volkswagen Golf at 203kmph in a 110kmph limit on the A8 motorway.

Cyclism'Actu also claims that the Iglinskiys was returning home from a party at the home of Alexandre Vinokourov, the Astana rider who was banned from professional cycling in 2007 after failing an anti-doping test at the Tour de France. Vinokourov announced his retirement at the time, but later returned to the sport and competed alongside Maxim in the Tour this year until being forced to abandon following a crash in Stage 9. He announced his second retirement shortly afterwards.

Maxim Iglinskiy

According to Nice Matin, Valentin paid a fine of 1800 euros and is likely to be banned from driving in France.

Astana has confirmed that the rider was stopped for speeding and that while the roadside breath test showed he was over the the alcohol limit, the saliva test did not prove positive for cocaine - this has subsequently been confirmed by police. The team has categorically denied that the Iglinskiys had spent time with Vinokourov during the day and also stated that anti-doping inspectors had carried out tests on Wednesday morning. Cocaine is banned from competition, but the UCI cannot institute sanctions against a rider who uses it recreationally when not competing, though it remains a criminal offence and as such may result in police prosecution.

Astana also said that Valentin, who speaks French very poorly, signed legal documents without being able to understand what they said - in which case, the police will have some questions to answer too. We'll bring more updates when we get them.