Cycling Evening News 25.04.12

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

Racing
Tour de Romandie

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mark Renshaw

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

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

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

Brits do well in Gracia Orlova as Van Dijk wins prologue

Ellen van Dijk, now with Specialized-Lululemon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Geraint Thomas, Bioflow ambassador

Geraint Thomas, star cyclist and hippy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Evening Cycle News

Paracycling in US MTB Nats - Van Dijk victory in Borsele - Cav supports Millar for London - Other racing news

Racing
Paracycling debuts in US MTB Nats
Sun Valley Adaptive Sports and US Cycling have announced that paracycling will form a part of the USA National MTB Championships for the first time this year with a handcycling cross country race taking place on the 5th of July at the Sun Valley course. (More from Cycling News)

Van Dijk victory in Borsele
Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-Lululemon) won the Omloop van Borsele after approaching the finish line in a group of seven riders and getting the better of them after a furious final sprint. Gracie Elvin, 2009 Australian Under-23 Mountain Bike Champion, performed extraordinarily well to take second place, holding off Rabobank's Sarah Düster who took third. The top ten looks like this:

  1.  Ellen Van Dijk Specialized-Lululemon 3h3'18"
  2.  Gracie Elvin ST
  3.  Sarah Düster Rabobank ST
  4.  Chantal Blaak AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST
  5.  Amy Pieters Skil-Argos ST
  6.  Melissa Hoskins GreenEDGE ST
  7.  Megan Guarnier Team TIBCO ST
  8.  Kirsten Wild AA Drink-Leontien.nl +46"
  9.  Laura Van Der Kamp Dolmans-Boels ST
  10.  Anastasiya Chulkova ST

(Full results)
(For photos of the race, Bart Hazen is the man to see)

Cav would love to ride with Millar in London
After Dave Brailsford's announcement that he would select David Millar for Team GB if a challenge to the IOC lifetime ban on any athlete to have been found guilty of doping is successful, Mark Cavendish has said that he "would love him to be on the team for London." However, Millar has not yet given any indication that he would accept a place on the team even if the rules are changed: "I've nailed myself to a few crosses and I'm not sure if I'm prepared to go for the final big one on this," he told the press last month. (More from the Daily Mirror)

Other Racing News
"Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez is hoping to make amends for a missed opportunity in 2006 by upstaging former teammate Alejandro Valverde to claim his maiden win at Liege-Bastogne-Liege." (AFP)

"Swiss bike manufacture BMC has committed to sponsoring its eponymous WorldTour team for four more years" (Velonation)

Cycling
Why Cyclists Wear Ugly Shirts and Other Important Things (Winnetka-Glencoe Patch)

Tommy Godwin's unbreakable cycling record (BBC)

Belfast ghost bike: Widow moved by memorial at site of husband’s accident (Belfast Telegraph)

Cycling offers hope to amnesia sufferer (New Zealand Herald)

Cycling News from around the World 09.04.12

Women's Tour of Belgium? - Bjorn Leukeman's Spring campain is over - Sanchez makes Tour plans - Scots bus firm seeks to protect cyclists - Staffs firefighters turn to bikes - Study into female cyclists' sexual health raises concerns - anti-bike Clarkson praises Copenhagen Model - Fixies are bad for your health, warn Singapore scientists

Women's Tour of Belgium

Women's cycling has received a huge boost
in Belgium since the Flanders Classics began
running women's races alongside the men's.

Overheard rumours suggest that a Women's Tour of Belgium may be on the cards in the coming years (not saying how this one found its way to Cyclopunk, but it was via a professional rider on a well-known women's team). There's no confirmation as of yet and any such race would presumably still be in a relatively early stage of planning, but with the Flanders Classics and other Belgian races doing their bit for the sport by running (successful) women's races alongside the men's events it seems reasonable to hope there's a grain of truth behind it all. The race would, presumably, co-exist with the UCI 2.2 Lotto-Decca Tour that runs over three days in August.

Several major women's races have closed in recent years, most notably the Tour de France Féminin which came to an end in 2009 after many years in which organisers found it difficult to find sponsorship. The Giro Donne is currently the most prestigious European women's race and the nearest to a Grand Tour, but with women's cycling enjoying greater popularity in Belgium and the Netherlands than anywhere else on the continent a Tour of Belgium would be likely to match it in importance.


Bjorn Leukeman's Spring campaign is officially over. Having suffered knee pain since a crash at the Tour of Flanders, the Vacansoleil-DCM rider underwent an MRI scan on the 3rd of April and doctors now believe he has damaged his menisci, two cushions of cartilage within the knee that serve to reduce friction between the femur and tibia when the leg bends. He'll now undergo more tests to find out exactly what is wrong, but it looks as though surgery will be required. (More from Vacansoleil-DCM)

Fresh from his unexpected victory at the Tour of the Basque Country, Euskaltel-Euskadi leader Samuel Sanchez plans a quiet spell before the Tour de France and Olympics. "You've got to plan carefully, and I'm not so young now," he says. "Cadel Evans knew very well what he had to do to win the Tour and I think that taking part in fewer races would lave me in a better state for it."


Bikes in the News
Scottish bus firm has cyclist safety at heart
Hardly a week goes by without a new front opening up in the ongoing war between cyclists and buses - and it has to be said that, for every viral video of a bus driver deliberately swerving into a cyclist and every driver who simply can't be bothered to check the mirrors, there's a cyclist so lacking in common sense that he or she was surely destined to end up as a statistic.

A very common complaint among cyclists who report incidents to bus companies is that their concerns are not taken seriously. For that reason, it's great to see that Lothian Buses in Scotland are making a real attempt to address the issue, producing a video in which a bike and a bus negotiate Edinburgh streets with rider and driver linked by radio.. The video, made to form part of the company's driver training program, is called "Bus v. Cyclist - there are no winners" and has since proved to have great educational value for cyclists too and has received numerous positive comments on YouTube. (More from Scotsman.com)

Using bikes to fight fires in Staffs
With fire engines unable to reach some sports and costs ever soaring, Staffordshire firefighters have discovered that mountain bikes are the ideal way to carry out some tasks. Among other roles, they'll be used by firefighters to visit isolated houses, canal boats and other properties that cars and engines have difficulty in reaching so that the rider can give advice and fit smoke alarms.

"This is an innovative and cost effective way in which we can spread our fire prevention and other safety messages to areas of the community that are normally difficult for our fire appliances or other vehicles to reach," says fire prevention officer Neil Pedersen. "It's also of course an added way for firefighters to keep fit and encourages other members of the community to do the same." (More from This Is Staffordshire)

Yale study finds cycling may affect women's sexual health
It's been known for a long time that cycling can cause erectile dysfunction in men, which has led to the so-called anti-PNS (penile numbness syndrome) that are now commonplace. However, there have been precious few studies into what effects, if any, conventional saddles may have upon women.

Specialized were one of the first companies to
study women's cycling and introduce a range
of women-specific bikes and components

Following on from a 2006 study that suggested female cyclists experienced reduced genital sensitivity compared to female runners, researchers from Yale University carried out tests to try to find out the cause - and discovered that the problem becomes worse when the rider adopts a "racing stance" with the handlebar positioned lower than the saddle. Dr. Marsha K. Guess, obstetrician and gynaecologist, says that the study allows doctors to "educate riders on safe riding practices that may actually be beneficial to reduction of pressure and lost sensation in the pelvic floor."

Dr. Steven M. Schrader of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health was the author of an earlier program that studied PNS in male police officers and concluded that the most effective remedy was the use of "noseless" saddles: "If you don’t put weight there [on the perineum], there’s no pressure," he says. However, anyone who has experimented with a noseless saddle will know that removing the part between the thighs also reduces bike control, and female racing cyclists will be no more willing to give up their streamlined stance than male cyclists. It seems, therefore, that further study is required in order to develop more effective women-specific versions of anti-PNS saddles. (More from the New York Times)

Clarkson praises Copenhagen biking
He does it in a roundabout way and smears it with a hefty dollop of ridiculous quasi-controversial statements in an effort to maintain the tedious public image image that is, apparently, the sole reason for his fame and fortune; but Jeremy Clarkson has come out in favour of Copenhagen's world-famous cycling policies.

After attacking British cyclists in his characteristic "comedic" fashion, the Top Gear presenter - who frequently refers to cyclists as road lice - used his Sunday Times column this week to say, "In Copenhagen it’s just a pleasant way of getting about. Nobody wears a helmet. Nobody wears high-visibility clothing. You just wear what you need to be wearing at your destination. For girls that appears to be very short skirts. And nobody rides their bike as if they’re in the Tour de France. This would make them sweaty and unattractive, so they travel just fast enough to maintain their balance. The upshot is a city that works. It’s pleasing to look at. It’s astonishingly quiet. It’s safe. And no one wastes half their life looking for a parking space. I’d live there in a heartbeat."

The so-called Copenhagen Model, which seeks to promote bicycle use as much as possible, is almost universally admired by urban planners, architects, transport experts and cyclists alike and has led to the invention of the term copenhagenisation for similar programs. (More from Bike Biz)

Fixie trend may lead to health problems

Fixies - for the painfully hip

Than Chen Munn of Singapore's Safe Cycling Task Force advises novice cyclists to think twice before buying fixed-gear bicycles and says that riders need to have gained a good understanding of road safety before they can be safe riding them.

Fixies have no freewheel or freehub, meaning that the pedals will continue turning as long as the rear wheel is in motion. While the law requires all bikes sold to be fitted with at least a front brake in some countries, they're commonly removed, which leaves the rider reliant on using his or her leg muscles to force the bike to slow using the pedals. This technique requires a great deal more effort than conventional brakes, which may encourage some novice riders to avoid stopping at red lights - a cited cause of several accidents involving fixies, especially in the last few years when they've become enormously popular among urban riders.

Gino Ng, a scientist at the Sports Solutions clinic, also in Singapore, believes that fixies may lead to health problems. "If cyclists use their legs to stop the bicycle after going very fast, it may damage the ligaments in their knees and legs," he explained. (More from AsiaOne)

Cyclopunk's News Digest 14-15.03.12

No women's race at the Smithfield Nocturne

Since the IG Markets Nocturne began five years ago, it's grown into one of the most popular cycling events in Britain with a combination of top quality hard criterium racing and fun events (including the now-legendary folding bike race) that have ensured thousands of people show up for a night of free family entertainment. It also receives TV coverage.

That, obviously, is precisely the sort of event that can benefit women's cycling - the audience, infrastructure and cameras are already in place; giving the teams a chance to prove that women's cycling is every bit as exciting, competitive and interesting as the men's. Nocturne organisers recognised this fact and decided that they'd benefit too - after all, Britain's female professional cyclists are at the pinnacle of their sport and have a small but dedicated following who will flock to any such an event.

Brilliant. Fantastic. Win-win, hunky-dory, spiffing and sorted. Except for one thing: "outside influences," namely British Cycling, have prevented a women's race from going ahead due to another race taking place the next day - a race organised by British Cycling, funnily enough. Are the riders' pretty little heads likely to become confused as to which race they should enter? Are they too weak and feeble to do both? Or is it just sour grapes due to the fact that the Nocturne is a bigger, more successful event than the British Cycling race?

Team Mule Bar Girl responded to the news on their Facebook page:

"So British Cycling have asked Smithfield Nocturne NOT to hold a women's race because it makes the girls tired for a big BC race the next day. The last I checked we weren't living in North Korea and we are allowed to choose how we spend our time. The Nocturne Women's race is one of the most talked about on the calendar, it's the one we get bubbly with excitment for. It took a big effort and some beautiful support for it to happen in the first place, just to have it taken away, it totally sucks!!!"

With that sort of attitude from the National Federation, those who wish to promote women's cycling and ensure it receives the exposure it has for so long deserved have an even harder task ahead of them than was previously thought. Keep an eye on Mule Bar Girl for petitions and further details - and you can contact British Cycling to share your opinions on their misguided decision via this link.

Chicci becomes 15th foreigner to win Nokere Koerse

Francesco Chicchi
(image credit: johnthescone CC BY 2.0)

Today brought us the 67th edition Flanders semi-Classic Nokere Koerse, traditionally the domain of second-division tough guys while the A-listers are preparing themselves for Milan-San Remo and a race that had been won only fourteen times by non-Belgian riders - fifteen, now that 31-year-old Italian Francesco Chicchi of Omega Pharma-QuickStep has added his name to the list of victors.

A 12-man break was caught with 40km to go, at which point a larger group of 14 riders escaped before being reeled back in just 18km from the finish, then various hopefuls tried and failed to launch attacks in the last 9km but were all chased down and pulled back in. Boy Van Poppel (3rd) of United Healthcare and Vacansoleil's Kris Boeckmans (2nd) tried hard to get the better of Chicci as the UCI 1.1 race entered its uphill closing straight, but Chicchi powered away form them and right up to the line.

The race brought misfortune for Rabobank's Jos Van Emden, however - the Dutch 27-year-old crashed and is believed to have broken his shoulder, though medical confirmation has yet to be announced. (Race results available here.)

Definitive Milan-San Rem start list revealed
See it here. Team Sky looks like this...

  201    CAVENDISH, Mark
  202    HAGEN, Edvald Boasson
  203    HUNT, Jeremy
  204    EISEL, Bernhard
  205    HAYMAN, Mathew
  206    LÖFKVIST, Thomas
  207    STANNARD, Ian
  208    KNEES, Christian

Chavenel out of Milan-San Remo
Omega Pharma-QuickStep star Sylvain Chavanel's hopes for Milan-San Remo have been smashed after he suffered an attack of bronchitis on Thursday morning. The 32-year-old Frenchman, who was eighth at Paris-Nice and ranked among the favourites for Saturday's Monument, began to cough and experience breathing problems during a training ride. Team doctors and managers decided to pull him from the race in order to give him time to recover for the upcoming Northern Classics. He will be replaced by Matteo Trentin.

Nibali to Astana rumours

Has €4 million persuaded Nibbles todefect?
Smells like rot, we say.
(image credit: Richard Masoner CC BY-SA 2.0)

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Tirreno-Adriatico winner Vincenzo Nibali has secretly signed a €4 million, two-year deal to ride with Astana in 2013/14. The 27-year-old Italian, nicknamed The Shark (or, by English-speaking fans, Nibbles), was thought to be discussing a contract extension with his current Liquigas team, making the rumour seem likely to be unfounded.

"Imagine you're the guy deciding whether to renew Liquigas' sponsorship and you read that??!!" Garmin-Barracuda boss Jonathan Vaughters told us.

Other News
28-year-old Dries Devenyns will not ride in  Milan-San Remo this year after suffering a broken shoulder, ay Omega Pharma-Quickstep management .Tom Boonen will lead the team, which also consists of Sylvain Chavanel, Gerald Ciolek, Nikolas Maes, Jérôme Pineau, Niki Terpstra, Stijn Vandenbergh and Peter Velits.

Team Sky's time at the top of the UCI rankings proved fleeting - they've been replaced in the wake of Tirreno-Adriatico by RadioShack-NissanTrek, previouly in third place. Sky are now in second, while Movistar move down to third. Alessandro Valverde is still far ahead in the riders' category with 167 points, while Tirreno-Adriatico victory places Vincenzo Nibali into joint second place alongside Sky's Bradley Wiggins. Spain continue to lead the nations, having upped their points from 205 to 250; while Australia, who were previously second with 193 have added only four and as a result are overtaken by Italy with 217. Great Britain slips from third to sixth and is now trailing behind the Netherlands and the USA (but we'll soon see about that when Cav wins Milan-San Remo).

X-ray results have confirmed that Rabobank's Theo Bos sustained no fractures in his Nokere Koerse crash. The 28-year-old, who won the Dwars door Drenthe earlier this year, will resume training next week.

Tweets

Fabian Cancellara ‏ @f_cancellaraModern style of the hotels for the future. #emtpyminibars.They put just a vending machine toward the elevator. #unclass view photo

the Inner Ring ‏ @inrng@f_cancellara are you sure Chris Horner just didn't get there before you?

Cyclopunk's News Digest 13-14.03.12

Today's stories: Vincenzo wins Tirreno-Adriatico, Fuentes lawyers insist doping doctor broke no laws, Sky rider Froome in accident, British cycling events receive £90K boost

Vincenzo's victory

Vincenzo Nibali wins
Tirreno-Adriatico 2012
(image credit: Richard Masoner CC BY-SA 2.0)

Liquigas' Vincenzo Nibali whipped overall victory at the 2012 Tirreno-Adriatico from under Chris Horner's nose today when he recorded a time of 10'56" in the final time trial stage - the 27-year-old Italian finished ninth for the stage, 20" down on winner Fabian Cancellara. Horner's time of 11'16" placed him 34th for the stage and was insufficient to retain his earlier lead, giving Nibali a 14" advantage in the overall General Classification.

Team Sky's Ian Stannard was 7th for the stage, 18" behind Cancellara. Roman Kreuziger took third place overall. (Incomplete results available here.)


Fuentes lawyers claim no law broken
The notorious Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes - whose laboratory fridge was found to contain more than a hundred bags of preserved blood belonging to numerous athletes, thus sparking the Operación Puerto scandal - is due to stand trial later this year charged with endangering public health. Charges of providing blood-doping to athletes cannot be brought as the procedure was not illegal under Spanish law at the time the incidents are alleged to have taken place. Instead, prosecution is sought on the grounds that in carrying out transfusions in locations such as hotel rooms the doctor would not have been able to ensure clinical hygiene and, as a result, knowingly endangered their health - which has now been refuted by his lawyers who claim that the rooms would in fact have been ideal for the purpose and therefore no law was broken and that it would be impossible to prove otherwise, according to statements provided to the court and published by El País.

"It is uncertain that the autologous blood in hotel rooms were made without sufficient guarantees [that hygienic and sanitary requirements were met], since these rooms are perfectly suited to carry out under proper conditions," the lawyers say. "[Those stipulated by the law are] easily met in a hotel room recently prepared for the visit of a new guest, especially when made by people amply equipped and trained - Jose Luis Merino Batres as a hematologist and Mr. Fuentes, who assisted him in these tasks, is also a practicing physician."


Chris Froome in Italian accident
Team Sky's Chris Froome was involved in a training accident on Sunday morning at Latte di Ventimiglia when he collided with a 72-year-old male pedestrian. Police are said to be investigating the incident and it is not yet clear whether the Kenyan-born British cyclist, pulled from Paris-Nice days before the event took place due to a chest infection, was travelling too fast for the road or if the injured man failed to hear him coming and stepped into the road. The pedestrian is understood to have suffered head and facial injuries,  and he is due to be transferred by helicopter to another hospital for tests. The cyclist, aged 26, suffered only minor bruising and used his mobile phone to summon an ambulance.

Bike Week and Summer of Cycling get £90k boost
Cambridge MP Julian Huppert - a keen cyclist and supporter of cycling initiatives himself - used his Twitter account to reveal Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Department for Transport Norman Baker has ear-marked £90,000 for National Bike Week, "the UK’s biggest mass participation cycling event." The money will also be used to support the Summer of Cycling, a series of events between March and September that will see "cycling events organisers, charities, NGOs, industry manufacturers, retailers, Government bodies and even a cross-party group of MPs are clubbing together to promote a massive summer of cycling."

Julian Huppert ‏ @julianhuppert
National Bike Week will get £70k, & @summerofcycling will get £20k. This will be very helpful to make sure both projects really deliver #fb

Other News
An Post-Sean Kelly, the Belgian-based and Irish-sponsored team set up by legendary seven-time Paris-Nice winner Sean Kelly, is considering moving up one rank from UCI Continental to Pro Continental status. Wielerland.nl says that team manager Kurt Bogaerts revealed the plan to Direct Velo and will consider the option over the coming two years. 



Tweets

Chris Horner ‏ @hornerakg End of a great week at Tirreno! Thanks to all the staff and teammates on @rsnt for giving me an amazing comeback week/start to the season!

Chris Horner ‏ @hornerakg And congrats to @f_cancellara for taking an impressive win today and @Benna80 taking 2nd - they worked all week and still crushed it today!

News Digest 12-13.03.12

Chris Froome in Italian accident
Sanremonews.it is reporting that Chris Froome was involved in a training accident on Sunday morning at Latte di Ventimiglia when he collided with a 72-year-old man. Police are said to be investigating the incident and it is not yet clear whether the Kenyan-born British cyclist, who rides for Team Sky and was pulled from Paris-Nice days before the event took place due to a chest infection, was travelling too fast for the road or if the injured man failed to hear him coming and stepped into the road. The 72-year-old is understood to have suffered head and facial injuries,  and he is due to be transferred by helicopter to another hospital for tests. The cyclist, who escaped serious injury, reported the accident and summoned an ambulance.

Joaquim Rodríguez takes Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 6

Rodriguez deserved his win today
(image credit: Petit Brun CC BY-SA 2.0)

Riders dropped out of the race like first-year students from a physics class today; some with injuries, some with illnesses and many so that they can take a break before Saturday's Milan-San Remo monument. All in all, twenty-two either didn't start or quit during the stage.

Philippe Gilbert and Matthew Goss were two of the first to go with neither man starting this morning. They are, apparently, suffering the same virus with symptoms including high fever - up to 38.2C, say Gilbert's BMC team - along with sore throats and headaches. Cycle stage races, perhaps the most physically demanding of all sports, place unique demands upon riders and it's rare for an event to pass without at least a few riders contracting something and dropping out; but in this case, since both them are riding on Saturday, Cyclopunk refuses to believe a word of it unless they can provide us with letters from their mums. We're more inclined to believe Gilbert - his performance has had little of its usual sparkle during the race, but the Belgian rider says that he is not yet on form and plans to peak in time for the World Championships and Olympics. Milan-San Remo has long been a dream of his, too; but it seems one he's unlikely to realise this year.

Next up was Marcel Sieberg of Lotto-Belisol, who  abandoned after 14km complaining of problems with his right leg. He was joined by team mate Vincento Reynes.

Marcel Sieberg ‏ @MarcelSieberg
I had to stop after 14km today....right leg was again not good and I decide that its better to have a rest and recover for Sa San Remo.

Rabobank is down two riders - Lars Boom has decided to abandon as a precaution due to pain in his Achilles tendon and Juan Manuel Garate is suffering neck ache. Sky, meanwhile, is now represented by just three riders - Ian Stannard, Jeremy Hunt and Mathew Hayman -  and as such could theoretically be asked to step down from the race. Juan Antonio Flecha has broken his hand and team mate Edvald Boasson Hagen, winner of Stage 3, simply seems out of sorts ("There's nothing wrong with him, really," says team manager Rod Ellingworth, "he's just had some problems after a crash"); whereas Chris Sutton cited knee problems when he too abandoned. Mark Cavendish - whom we all know wants nothing less than victory at Milan-San Remo - didn't even bother coming up with an excuse as he shuffled off, Bernhard Eisel going with him. Minutes after the news broke, the Missile was back on Twitter:

Mark Cavendish ‏ @MarkCavendishWell, that's my #TirrenoAdriatico done & dusted. Haven't finished today's stage, but good sensations. Now to rest up for @milano_sanremo

A four-man break that had escaped after 161km were caught and put back in their places with 5km to go, leaving Katusha's Joaquim Rodríguez to take well-deserved glory after a courageous solo attack in the last kilometre, crossing the line a good few metres ahead of Liquigas' Vincenzo Nibali and Aqua&Sapone's Danilo di Luca who took second and third. RadioShack-NissanTrek's Chris Horner was right behind them, taking fourth place and recording a time sufficient for him to retain the General Classification leadership as the race moves on to tomorrow's concluding time trial when the remaining riders will compete to be the fastest on a 9.3km parcours. (Stage and General Classification standings here.)

Sky are the top-ranked team
in the world
(image credit: Jun CC BY-SA 2.0)

World Rankings put Sky in the lead
The UCI's World Rankings - for what they're worth - are customarily given a shake-up at this time of the year when we start to find out which teams spent the off-season with the drill sergeant and which ones holed up in the mess hall with the Christmas pudding, and 2012 is no different - after their superb victory at Paris-Nice, during which they put on a text-book display of team tactics every day, British-based Sky are for the very first time rated the best team in the world. The Basques Movistar are in second place, followed by RadioShack-NissanTrek in third, then the new Australian GreenEDGE take fourth despite what some fans have called a "lacklustre" start to the season.

Movistar's Alejandro Valverde, who made his return to competition this year after he was found guilty of doping, has a comfortable lead among the riders with 167 points compared to second place Bradley Wiggins of Sky. GreenEDGE's Simon Gerrans is third, followed by Vacansoliel's Lieuwe Westra - largely as a result of his whole-hearted attempts to keep Wiggins from victory at Paris-Nice. Among the nations, Valverde's homeland Spain is out in front with 205 points while Australia are hot on their heels in second place with 193. Great Britain is third with 112 - extremely impressive for a nation that supposedly has no great love for the sport and some way ahead of cycling-obsessed Netherlands (4th, 92 points), Belgium (5th, 91 points) and France (8th, 62 points).

Other News
The Halfords Tour Series - which features top-class professional cyclists battling it out on short city-centre courses around Great Britain - has been extended by one date. The newest edition will take place on the 25th of May in Aberystwyth. As the Olympic Torch visits the Welsh town two days later, the local authorities have declared the weekend to be a Cycling Festival. The races are televised and shown on ITV4 and some - yet to be confirmed - coincide with rounds of the women's Johnson HealthTech GP, which last year produced some of the tightest and most exciting racing seen in this country for many years. Dates and places (where announced) now look like this:

Round 1 - Tuesday 15th May Kirkcaldy, Fife
Round 2 - Thursday 17th May 
Round 3 - Tuesday 22nd May 
Round 4 - Thursday 24th May  
Round 5 - Friday 25th May Aberystwyth, Ceredigion
Round 6 - Tuesday 29th May 
Round 7 - Thursday 31st May 
Round 8 - Tuesday 5th June Torquay, Devon
Round 9 - Thursday 7th June Colchester, Essex
Round 10 - Tuesday 12th June Woking, Surrey
Round 11 - Thursday 14th June 

Tweets of the Day

WorldTour Verity ‏ @UCI_WorldTour
Are the riders making-out between stages!? What's up with everyone getting sick!? #procycling #ParisNice #TirrenoAdriatico

Richard Moore ‏ @richardmoore73
The riders who remain in Tirreno-Adriatico are racing towards Offida. All 3 of them.

Seneca J. Rose ‏ @sansenmag 
Hmm, perhaps Cipo is (over)promoting himself because he really has (ghostwritten) tell-all bio coming out soon...

Daily News Digest 11-12.03.2012

That'll do Nicely - Wiggo wins on the Col d’Éze

Wiggo will go to the Tour de France
with renewed confidence - and, with
a bit of luck, finish what Simpson
started all those years ago
(image credit: Petit Brun CC BY-SA 2.0)

Bradley Wiggins has become the first British rider to win Paris-Nice since Tom Simpson almost half a century ago in 1967, storming the final stage time trial after a race that has seen day after day of near-perfect team tactics from his Sky team. Lieuwe Westra was his closest rival and put in an admirable performance but couldn't get the better of the 31-year-old, taking 2" longer to finish the 9.6km uphill parcours and 8" down in the overall General Classification.

The normally rather deadpan Wiggins was nticeably jubilant after the race. "That was hard! That was extremely difficult," he told reporters. "I was climbing well, but I knew it was going to be close. I had to give everything I had to win, it means a lot to win such an historic race. To join Tom Simpson as the only other British rider is special. It’s an honor to have Paris-Nice on my palmares."

The GC top ten is as follows:

1. WIGGINS Bradley, Team Sky, 28'12:16"
2. WESTRA Lieuwe, Vacansoleil-DCM, +8"
3. VALVERDE Alejandro, Movistar, +1'10"
4. SPILAK Simon, Katusha, +1'24"
5. VAN GARDEREN Tejay, BMC, +1'54"
6. JEANNESSON Arnold, FDJ-Bigmat, +2'13"
7. MONFORT Maxime, Radioshack-NissanTrek, +2'21"
8. CHAVANEL Sylvain, Omega Pharma-QuickStep, +2'42"
9. KISERLOVSKI Robert, Astana, +3'30"
10. VICIOSO Angel, Katusha, +3'59"


Vacansoleil racereport (in English) 

Marianne Vos adds another trophy to
her cabinet, which must be groaning
under the combined weight.

Vos wins Novilon Cup
If you enjoy women's cycling - and if you don't, get yourself to a race ASAP and start doing so - you couldn't wish for a better weekend than this one with no fewer than three races going on at Drenthe. Chloe Hosking scored a spectacular victory in the first race, beating all the favourites and the current World Champion, then the incredible Marianne Vos won the first round of this year's Road World Cup when she lit the blue touch paper and achieved what looked like a respectable percentage of lightspeed in the second race. Today saw the Novilon EuregioCup - which meant more of the same top-class action and another victory for the 24-year-old Dutch phenomenon Vos, who seems intent on taking the title of Most Successful Cyclist in History from Eddy Merckx as soon as possible.


Marta Bastianelli of MCipollini-Giambenini-Gauss was second and Lizzie Armitstead of AA Drink-Leontien.nl was third. (More results availble from Wielerland.nl, video from RTV Drenthe and Podium Cafe's detailed report by Sarah Connolly.)


Tirreno-Adriatico: Nibali wins a stage, Hoogerland wins more fans
Over at the Tirreno-Adriatico, Liquisgas' Vincenzo Nibali took a Queen Stage victory with a spectacular loan ride over the snow-capped Pratti di Tivo, finishing the 196km parcours 15" faster than Astana's Roman Kreuziger - and also took a significant bite out of race leader Chris Horner's advantage. The ever-popular Johnny Hoogerland delighted fans by escaping the peloton with Steven Kruijswijk and Wout Poels, winning himself a well-deserved fourth place some 3" down on third place Horner, who recorded the same time as Kreuziger.

Cipo's return for real?
Unlikely as it sounds, it appears that Mario Cipollini really does want to return to competition and the story widely reported last week might not have been a publicity stunt aimed at drumming up a spot of free advertising for his bike range after all.

Comeback for Cipollini?
(image credit: Eric Houdas CC BY 3.0)

"For me going out on the bike and suffering is part of my system - I’m not the classic ex-cyclist who retires from racing and puts on a belly and who likes to have a glass of wine or whatever," the legendary sprinter, who turns 45 this month, told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "I still have a way of life and diet that means that I still have good sensations when I make an effort on the bike." Farnese Vini-Selle Italia team managers were unimpressed when the story first broke and claimed to be as surprised as everyone else. "I seem to understand that the management would not welcome this, so I’m putting myself on the market a bit," says the rider, before insisting that he's not just in need of money: "For four years in a row, I was courted by the producers of L’Isola dei Famosi [an Italian reality TV show along the lines of Big Brother]. I turned them down and I turned down hundreds of thousands of euros because of that. If I needed the money I would have gone and done that."

It's still not understood - least of all by Cipo himself - precisely how he'd get around the UCI's insistence that all returning athletes are subject to six months of standard anti-doping tests before they race. "At the moment there are email exchanges between my lawyer and their legal office to see what we have to do," he says, somewhat ambiguously.

Other News
Hundreds of cyclists, some dressed in their underwear but mostly nude, took to the streets of Peruvian capital Lima to highlight their government's failure to tackle issues relating to cyclists' safety. "I have gone naked because it's the way to raise awareness of our rights for example the bicycle lanes that are never free, there are always taxis parked, police sleeping," said one protestor as the protest brought an 11km stretch of the city' roads to a standstill. (BBC)


21-year-old Roy Jans of An Post-Sean Kelly won the Belgian Kattercoers - rather fittingly, as today is the anniversary of the start of the 1982 Paris-Nice, the first of Sean Kelly's record seven consecutive victories.

The Telegraph have details of races around Britain.

Article of the Day

"Should I stop and help the bundle of screaming girls on the ground? No way. That’s not what we do, never." - Marijn de Vries' Dwingeloo

Tweets

Cycling Weekly ‏ @cyclingweekly
British professional road wins now up to 16 in total for 2012 & it's only early March - cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/53… #cycling

Monique Sullivan ‏ @Mo_Sullivan
Pan Am's report with some photos! moniquesullivan.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/2-g…"

Weekend News Digest 10-11.03.12

Marianne Vos wins the first round of the World Cup
Saturday brought us the Ronde van Drenthe, Round 1 of the 2012 Women's Road World Cup which, as such, is arguably the most important date on the Elite Women's racing calendar so far this season. The top cyclists in the world were in attendance, including World Champion Giorgia Bronzini, Martine Bras, Ellen Van Dijk, Trixi Worrack, Lizzie Armitstead, Kirsten Wild, Nicole Cooke, Janneke Kanis, Loes Guunewijk, Judith Arndt, Emma Johansson and - current favourites for the Cup  - Marianne Vos, in her second road race of the year after a stellar cyclo cross season, and last year's winner her Rabobank team mate Annemiek Van Vleuten.

2011 Cup winner Annemiek Van Vleuten
(image credit: K.J. Schilstra CC BY 3.0)

Several of the women have won on this route before: Vos last year, Gunnewijk in 2010, Johansson in 2009. Bronzini finished third in 2011 and 2010, meaning she'll be eager for success today - however, Bronzini is likely to be basing her season around a performance peak in time for the World Championships and a third consecutive win, which left the majority of fans expecting Vos - who seems to be able to peak 365 days of the year - to take this one, and as ever the 24-year-old Dutch phenomenon did not disappoint: once the group of favourites, having led for much of the race, had been whittled down by the narrow roads and testing cobbled sectors, the Rabobank team went to work for their leader and finished off the competition one by one. Chantal Blaak made a brave attack but the Rabo women let her exhaust herself, leaving Vos to demonstrate again just how good she is with a fast and furious twelve-women sprint to the finish line. Vos, despite having won more races than just about any currently-active rider of either gender, still manages to look overjoyed and thankful with each new triumph she adds. Today was no different - looking every bit as excited as a neo-pro minutes after their first victory, she told reporters how thankful she is to have such a great team supporting her.

Thanks Women's Cycling for the post-race video

"In the sprint, I joined Kirsten Wild’s train. When she started it, I went along with her immediately and rode blind to the finish in the hope that nobody else would get past us. I’m really pleased with this win, but particularly pleased with the fact that the team worked so well together. The communication was excellent and we now seem to be in tune with each other. Iris Slappendel, Roxane Knetemann and Sarah Dünster put in a lot of work into the pursuit." - Marianne Vos

Vos: "I'm just very glad I was able to win again!"

The 132.8km parcours was a tough one with some cobbled sections and no fewer than three ascents of the VAMberg, the green and lush 75m "mountain" that is spelled in the unusual way that it is because it's really a rubbish dump created by waste disposal company Vuil Afvoer Maatschappij. The dump has been turfed over, making what was a blight on the landscape into a very beautiful feature among the flat surrounds, and in parts it's very steep indeed - as much as 16.7% at one point, making it one of the steepest climbs in professional cycling. Emma Johansson of Hitec Products-Mistral Home, back from a double clavicle fracture sustained in a training accident earlier this year, did remarkably well therefore to take third, recording the same time as Vos; especially since her team started the race with only five riders after Lise Nøstvold became ill. Best placed Brit was Lizzie Armitstead with 17th place, 3" down on Vos. (Full results here,)

Dolmans-Boels take first win of 2012

Mascha Pijnenborg
(image credit: Dolmans-Boels)

Mascha Pijnenborg, Lensy de Bout and Maaike Polspoel powered away from the leading group in the Omloop van Oostduinkerke today before battling one another all the way to the line. However, de Bout and Polspoel could not match the 30-year-old Dutch woman's stunning turn of speed in the last few metres and could only watch as she scored the first victory for Dolmans-Boels since it grew out of the Dolmans Landscaping Team at the end of the last season.

Levi Leipheimer's hopes dashed at Paris-Nice
American rider Levi Leipheimer has put in an incredible performance so far this year at Paris-Nice, remaining a real contender for the overall General Classification throughout the earlier stages despite his team mates' apparent inability to ride at his level. That makes it all the more tragic that any hope of finishing among the best riders seem to have come to an end today after he crashed twice descending the Col de Vence. What's even worse is that one of the crashes should never have happened, taking place when a motorbike rider stopped in the middle of the road just around a blind bend, contravening everything the drivers of the support vehicle are trained to do.

Sky took control of the race once again, letting Movistar have their time at the front whilst they guarded yellow jersey Bradley Wiggins and kept the peloton ticking along at a respectable rate of knots. However, Vacansoleil's Thomas de Gendt was the star of the stage and, for many, of the entire race after he pulled away from the pack with Rein Taaramae early on in the race, the two men at one point leading the peloton by twelve minutes. Taaramae tried to get the better of him but was totally outclassed on the Col du Vence, where de Gendt simply stepped up the pace and left him floundering, crossing the line with an incredible advantage of 6'18". Wiggins took 31st place 9'24" later, while the unfortunate Leipheimer was 129th, just sixteen places from last and 16'50" down on the winner. The top three places in the General Classification remain unchanged with Wiggins hanging onto his 6" advantage - little comfort as he goes into tomorrow's final stage, a 9.9km time trial to the summit of the Col d'Èze, during which he is going to need to put in the ride of his life.

Goss gives up the leader's jersey at Tirreno-Adriatico
Peter Sagan won Stage 4 with a whole lot of help from his of Liquigas-Cannondale team mates at Tirreno-Adriatico today, the squad going all-out to help him over the mountains and deliver him at the finish line in a state still able to take on the five-rider lead group and outsprint them. Christopher Horner, riding for the new RadioShack-NissanTrek team, recorded the same time and took fifth place to take the overall lead from Matthew Goss, who finished 121st.

Unsurprisingly, Mark Cavendish didn't enjoy the stage as the climbs took their toll, settling for 146th place and doubtless considering himself lucky just to reach the end within the permitted time. The best-placed Brit was Ian Stannard with 81st.

Vaughters on doping in the NFL
Garmin-Barracuda manager Jonathan Vaughters highlights news that three players on the Denver Broncos American football team have been suspended from six games after providing non-human urine samples to anti-doping control. Would they have been suspended from six races had they have been cyclists? Probably not. Two years would be more likely.

Article of the Week
UCI President Pat McQuaid has saved women's cycling (c/o of the excellent Cyclismas)

Tweets

Team Sky ‏ @TeamSky
Neither will start today but a special shout out to @GeraintThomas86 and @ChristianKnees for their hard riding this week at #ParisNice

Levi Leipheimer ‏ @LeviLeipheimer
Thank you to everyone (inside & outside the peloton) for the messages of support. I'm still going to give it my all today.