Cycling Evening News 08.05.12

Giro d'Italia Stage 3 - Tour of the Gila - Two Days of Bedford - Serpa hopes to continue Giro - Nibali denies team change rumours - Other news (links) - Cycling (links)

Giro d'Italia Stage 3 - fast finish brings carnage

Monday's Stage 3 (map, profile) was the last in Denmark before a rest day on Tuesday. 190km in length, starting and ending in Horsens on the east of the country, it was another flat parcours liable to finish once again with a sprint.

The race began with a minute's silence, speeches and tributes in honour of Wouter Weylandt (right), the 26-year-old Leopard Trek rider who was killed in a high-speed crash as he descended the Passo del Bocco during Stage 3 last year. Tribute was also paid to Horsens mayor and cycling fan Jan Trøjborg, who was instrumental in bringing the Giro to the city but never lived to see it after suffering a fatal heart attack on Sunday.

Matt Goss

Mads Christensen (Saxo Bank), Reto Hollenstein (Team NetApp), Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM), Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) and Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda) got away, but on such a fast, flat stage the peloton was unwilling to let it last and began drawing them back as soon as they'd got three minutes' lead - and since Navaradauskas would have come within 22" of Taylor Phinney's General Classification leadership had the break worked, it was BMC who provided the bulk of the effort required to catch them.

Mark Cavendish was a favourite to win the stage, but somehow he became separated from Geraint Thomas, once again doing service as lead-out man and he wasn't where he needed to be this time. He sought familiar ground, tucking in behind Mark Renshaw (Rabobank), but the simple fact of the matter was that where Sky failed Orica-GreenEDGE excelled, and the Australian team expertly position Matt Goss for a win that looked inevitable with 300m to go. Of course, Cav wasn't about to sit up and let him take it unchallenged, but the moment he took after Tyler Farrar into the sprint Robert Ferrari (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela) suddenly swerved from his own line and directly into the Manxman's path - causing a crash that saw both Cav and Phinney hit the tarmac hard. Cav was up first and carried his bike across the finish line, Phinney stayed down longer but, thankfully, has since been declared free of injury. Ferrari finish ninth, but after viewing video footage it was decided that he had acted recklessly and he was relegated to last place - a controversial decision. Cav claimed that he'd been thrown out of races for less. Goss agreed: "Some guys don't have much regard for the safety. It's win at all costs at some points," he said.

Other riders have since been revealed to have been injured in the crash - William Bonnet (FDJ-Bigmat) has extensive bruising and his team mate Mickaël Delage has a painful shoulder. Cav might have been worse off were it not for the catlike reactions of the Farnese Vini-Selle Italia riders behind him: Andrea Guardini managed to somehow avoid him, Elia Favilli bunny-hopped right over him (seriously impressive move there, Elia!) while Pierpaolo de Nigri slammed on the brakes but couldn't escape a collision, going down beside him and bruising his hip. It could have been much, much worse. Cav says he was traveling at 75kph when the crash happened. That's the same speed Weylandt was doing when he died.

Stage 4, team time trial

Ferrari, originally, was dismissive; in a post-race interview, he claimed to be uninterested in what takes place behind him, apparently suggesting that it's up to those following him to take evasive action when he does something unpredictable and dangerous. Androni manager Gianni Savio sounded no less arrogant: "Ferrari goes on instinct, he didn't know what he did behind him," though he later told Cycling News that he would apologise for his rider's actions. It's since been reported that Ferrari will publicly apologise too.

Cycling is a dangerous sport, as Stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia will always remind us after the tragedy of last year - things can go terribly, horribly wrong in the blink of an eye and riders therefore have a duty of care, an obligation not to endanger one another. Ferrari is directly responsible for a crash that could have ended the race for five riders - or their careers, or worse. Cav's right: he shouldn't be permitted to continue. Apologies - especially ones that inly come after the backlash, are not enough, and there is a very good case for disqualifying him. If Savio is truly sorry, it won't come to that - because he would already have sent Ferrari home.

Sky provided a press release stating that Cav "suffered considerable road rash but his injuries haven't worsened overnight and he wasn't complaining of any serious discomfort during the transfer to Italy. The medical team will continue to monitor his progress throughout today but we're confident he will be able to ride on."

Top Ten

  1.  Matthew Goss Orica-GreenEDGE 4h20'53"
  2.  Juan Jose Haedo SaxoBank ST
  3.  Tyler Farrar Garmin-Barracuda ST
  4.  Arnaud Demare FDJ - BigMat ST
  5.  Mark Renshaw Rabobank ST
  6.  Thor Hushovd BMC ST
  7.  Alexander Kristoff Katusha ST
  8.  Romain Feillu Vacansoleil-DCM ST
  9.  Fumiyuki Beppu Orica-GreenEDGE ST
  10.  Andrea Guardini Farnese Vini-Selle Italia ST
(Full stage results and GC)


On Wednesday, the Giro returns to Italy for a 33.2km team time trial around Verona. It's another fast, flat course with only a little pimple of a hill shortly after the first time check and several long straights on the outward and return journeys followed by a straight 800m section to the finish line.

Stages 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21

Tour of the Gila

This race belonged to Armstrong from
start to finish

Kristin Armstrong has been nothing short of untouchable this year, winning four of five stages and apparently giving away the one she didn't win in order to save energy for the challenging Stage 5 - her form is nothing short of remarkable right now, very possibly the best of any cyclist male or female. The Gila Monster, as Stage 5 is known, is a tough parcours by anyone's standards however, and even she had to work hard to win with three categorised climbs along the 115.6km - a Cat 4 to 2,070m at 20km, Cat 2 Wild Horse Mesa/Meadow Creek rising to 2,278m beginning at 85km (though precisely how this climb rates at Cat 2 rather than 1 is a mystery) and a final Cat 4 before the finish line; along with the uncategorised Continental Divide rising to 2,045, halfway through. 

Armstrong, however, is not a rider who likes to rest on her laurels and take things easy, even if - as was the case after Stage 4 - she starts a race with a comfortable 4'46" advantage, so she gave it her all and won by an impressive 1'56". The teams played a complex game throughout the stage as they fought it it not just for good places in the GC, but also for the Youth jersey with attacks firing off at several points along the route and a stellar display of well-controlled high-speed descending by Alison Powers and Carmen Small, who took second and third for the stage and reverse the positions for the GC.

Tayler Wiles won the Youth
category

Top Ten Stage 5

  1.  Kristin Armstrong Exergy Twenty12 3h15'44"
  2.  Alison Powers Now and Novartis for MS +1'56"
  3.  Carmen Small Optum p/b Kelly Benefit ST
  4.  Janel Holcomb Optum p/b Kelly Benefit +2'15"
  5.  Tayler Wiles Exergy Twenty12 +2'17"
  6.  Jade Wilcoxson Optum p/b Kelly Benefit +2'18"
  7.  Emily Kachorek Primal/MapMyRide +2'21"
  8.  Andrea Dvorak Exergy Twenty12 +2'26"
  9.  Anna Barensfield Optum p/b Kelly Benefit ST
  10.  Jacquelyn Crow Exergy Twenty12 ST
(Full Stage 5 results)

Top Ten Overall General Classification

  1.  Kristin Armstrong Exergy Twenty12 11h51'28"
  2.  Carmen Small Optum p/b Kelly Benefit +6'41"
  3.  Alison Powers Now and Novartis for MS +7'19"
  4.  Jade Wilcoxson Jade Optum p/b Kelly Benefit +10'07"
  5.  Janel Holcomb Jade Optum p/b Kelly Benefit +10'21"
  6.  Emily Kachoek Primal/MapMyRide +10'46"
  7.  Olivia Dillon   Now and Novartis for MS  +12'27"
  8.  Tayler Wiles   Exergy Twenty12  +12'31"
  9.  Andrea Dvorak   Exergy Twenty12  +12'44"
  10.  Robin Farina   Optum p/b Kelly Benefit  +13'09"
(Full overall GC)

Rory Sutherland

The men's race, which tool place over 170.1km and added two ascents of 2,284m Anderson Vista (Cat 2 on the first ascent, Cat 1 on the second), lit up after 13km when a 21-man break escaped and rapidly began building a significant gap which, for a while, reached six minutes before the Vista took its toll and they were reduced to seven riders. Only Chad Beyer (Competitive Cyclist) and Lawson Craddock (Bontrager Livestrong) had the energy to continue and broke away, gaining 30" on the chase group before being joined by Craddock's team mate Ian Boswell who mounted a superb solo attack after 140km to give Bontrager a serious advantage going into the last part of the race. Working together, they soon left Beyer behind and rode together to the finish.


While Kristin Armstrong fought tooth-and-nail through the stage, the men's GC leader Rory Sutherland took it easy and stayed out of trouble despite starting the day with a 33" lead - 4'13" less than hers. Nevertheless, it worked: he ended the stage with just 15" over second place over Beyer, but it won him the General Classification.

Ian Boswell's solo attack won team mate
Lawson Craddock the stage

Top Ten Stage 5

  1.  Lawson Craddock Bontrager Livestrong 4h27'33"

  2.  Ian Boswell Bontrager Livestrong ST

  3.  Chad Beyer Competitive Cyclist +06"

  4.  Francisco Mancebo Competitive Cyclist +2'10"

  5.  Tyler Wren Jamis-Sutter Home +2'12"

  6.  Rubens Bertogliati Team Type 1-Sanofi +2'14"

  7.  Joe Dombrowski Bontrager Livestrong ST

  8.  Cameron Wurf Champion System +2'17"

  9.  Mathew Cooke Exergy +2'20"

  10.  Sebatian Salas Optum p/b Kelly Benefit ST

(Full stage results)

Top Ten Overall General Classification

  1.  Rory Sutherland United Healthcare 13h28'12"

  2.  Chad Beyer Competitive Cyclist +15"

  3.  Joe Dombrowski Bontrager Livestrong +22"

  4.  Francisco Mancebo Competitive Cyclist +1'10"

  5.  Lawson Craddock Bontrager Livestrong +1'39"

  6.  Sebastian Salas Optum p/b Kelly Benefit +1'56"

  7.  Chris Baldwin Bissel +1'59"

  8.  Rubens Bertogliati Team Type 1-Sanofi +2'30"

  9.  Mathew Cooke Exergy +2'59"

  10.  Nathan English Kenda/5-Hour Energy +3'52"

(Full overall GC)

Two Days of Bedford

Ciara Horne (in green) leads the Reading Women's Omnium

Sarah Storey (For Viored) took a 5" lead in the General Classification after the Stage 3 individual time trial, completing the 2km course 10" faster than second place Elinor Barker (Scott Contessa) despite the wet conditions as the last riders went - insufficient to allow predictions for the eventual outcome, so everything rested on the rain-soaked Stage 4.

Originally intended to consist of nine laps and 85km around the Milbrook Vehicle Test Track, the stage was shortened to eight laps when the rain showed no sign of stopping. Barker, who started the stage with a 26" disadvantage behind Storey, read the conditions perfectly and knew that strong winds would give the peloton problems; so she attacked in the first stage in the hope that if someone went with her, they'd be able to work together to improve their places and keep out of trouble. However, nobody did, leaving her looking for a while as though she might have made a big mistake. Ultimately, though, it paid off and after settling into a fast rhythm she'd managed to gain a lead of a minute and a half. Ciara Horne (Node 4-Giordana) realised that, unless Barker was caught, her chances of overall victory were over and gave chase in the last two laps. She never did catch her, but reduced the gap to 8" as she crossed the line - enough to take the overall General Classification by one second. (Stages 1/2 report here)

Stage 3 Top Three

  1.  Sarah Storey For Viored 4'23"
  2.  Elinor Barker Scott Contessa +10"
  3.  Ciara Horne Node 4-Giordana +12"


Stage 4 Top Three

  1.  Elinor Barker Scott Contessa 1h54'05"
  2.  Ciara Horne Node 4-Giordana +8"
  3.  Lucy Garner Node 4-Giordana ST


Overall General Classification Top Ten

  1.  Ciara Horne Node 4-Giordana  
  2.  Elinor Barker Scott Contessa Epic +1"
  3.  Lucy Garner Node 4-Giordana +1'01"
  4.  Sarah Storey For Viored +1'02"
  5.  Amy Roberts Scott Contessa Epic +1'25"
  6.  Molly Weaver Scott Contessa Epic +1'39"
  7.  Corrine Hall Node 4-Giordana +1'44"
  8.  Emily Kay Scott Contessa Epic +1'46"
  9.  Helen Wyman Matrix Fitness-Prendas Home +1'51"
  10.  Harriet Owen Node 4-Giordana +1'55"

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José Serpa hopes to continue Giro

Robert Ferrari might have made himself persona non grata with his dodgy sprinting, but Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela team mate José Serpa is this edition's first hero after remaining in the race despite breaking a finger in Stage 2. While the other riders enjoy a rest day in Verona to recover from the drive down from Denmark, Serpa is spending the day in Turin undergoing X-rays to make sure the fracture didn't become any worse during Stage 3. If not, he will be fitted with a cast designed to allow him to both grip and release the handlebars so that he can remain in the race. (More from Cycling News)

Nibali denies team change

Vincenzo Nibali has denied that he is planning to leave Liquigas-Cannondale at the end of this season, as was widely reported at the weekend (including here). The team revealed that it had not yet heard from the rider after making him an offer said to be worth 1.8 million euros for 2013: "We made him an attractive offer. He has not responded and is therefore not in our contract proposal. The case is closed for us." Rumours then circulated that BMC and Astana had offered him 2.5 million. Liquigas have since issued a new statement saying that "while they are aware "of the rumours that have surfaced over the contractual position for the immediate future, so far no official negotiations have been made on a possible contract extension."

Other News

"Giro d'Italia remembers Wouter Weylandt" (Cycling Weekly)

"Ticket prices revealed for Box Hill area of Olympic road race" (Bike Radar)

Cycling

Britain

"Evolution of cycling" (The Guardian)

"Walkers and cyclists to be rewarded" (UKPA)

"Cyclists hit out at motorists endangering them by parking in bike lanes" (This Is Plymouth)

"Cyclist slams Bedfordshire's ‘strange’ cycle lane" (LocalGov)

Worldwide

"City looks to reduce 'doorings' of cyclists" (CTV, Ottawa)

"Cycle of Fear" (Why riding in NYC will make you happy, New York Times)

Daily Cycling Facts 08.05.12

Germain Derycke

The eighteenth edition of La Flèche Wallonne was held on this day in 1954, following the same 220km parcours between Charleroi and Liège that it had used for the last three years and would use again the next. The winner was Germain Derycke, a rider who had won Paris-Roubaix the year before and would add the Dwars door Vlaanderen, Milan-San Remo, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Ronde van Vlaanderen over the remainder of his career.

The Giro d'Italia started on this date three times, in 1937, 2004 and 2010. 1937 brought the second of two consecutive victories for the legendary Gino Bartali, who would win for a third time nine years later when the race started up again after the Second World War. The 2004 edition was won by Damiano Cunego, the race having an especially international flavour that year as it ventured into Switzerland, Croatia and Slovenia. 2010 started in Amsterdam and spent three stages in the Netherlands, then moved on to Italy where riders were faced with one of the most fearsome series of climbs in many years: Zoncalan, Kronplatz (Corones), Mortirolo and the Passo di Gavia. The winner was Ivan Basso after a number of riders were prevented from starting due to doping investigations and the controversial non-selection of Dutch ProContinental teams Vacansoleil and Skil-Shimano.

Beryl Burton, one of the greatest British athletes of all time
(unknown copyright)

Beryl Burton
On this day in 1996, Great Britain lost its greatest ever athlete with the death of Beryl Burton, winner of seven World Championships and more than 90 National titles. Burton was born on the 12th of May 1937 in Leeds and remained in that area for the remainder of her life. Medical problems during childhood kept her away from sports and she didn't discover cycling until introduced to it by her future husband Charlie - two years after first taking it up, the won a silver medal in the National 100 Mile Time Trial. (More on Burton in four days' time, the anniversary of her birth. If you can't wait, here's Ian Street.)





Ciarán Power, born in Waterford on this day in 1976, turned professional in 2000 with the ill-fated Linda McCartney Team and rode the Giro d'Italia with them - the first Irishman in a Grand Tour since Stephen Roche in 1993. He retired in 2008.

Polish climbing specialist Marek Rutkiewicz was born in Olsztyn on this day in 1981. In 2009, he won the Mountains Classification at the Tour of Poland and in 2010 he became National Hill Climb Champion.




Harry Hill

Harry Hill, a record-breaking British cyclist and bronze-winning Olympian, was born on this day in 1916. Hill's Olympic appearance came at the infamous 1936 Games, held in Nazi Germany, and he may have won silver or even gold were it not for the fact to get to Germany, he needed to first get from his home near Sheffield to London. He had no money, and nor did his mother who had raised him alone after his father was killed while fighting in Africa in the First World War. So, he rode the 200 miles (322km) on the bike with which he planned to enter.

Once back in Britain, he faced the same problem - but this time it was worse. On the way there he'd had just enough money to buy food and had carefully saved enough to do the same on the way there, but whilst in Germany temptation had got the better of him and he'd spent it all on a souvenir jacket. There was no alternative: he'd have to do it without eating. He couldn't, of course, and "only" managed 170 miles before he cracked and had to thumb a lift.

The following year, Hill set a new Hour Record for an outdoor track in Milan, covering 25 miles (40.23km). In 1976, when he was 60 years old, he cycled across North America. He claimed to have never smoked or consumed alcohol in his life. He rode his bike every day from the age of 13 until 2004, when he fractured his hip. He was Britain's oldest winner of an Olympic medal when he died aged  92 of pneumonia on the 31st of January 2009.



Other births: Han Song-Hui (South Korea, 1983); Boris Shukhov (USSR, 1947); Miguel Droguett (Chile, 1961); Raido Kodanipork (Estonia, 1969); Igor Sláma (Czechoslovakia, 1959); Châu Phươc Vình (South Vietnam, 1927); Silvia Fürst (Switzerland, 1961); Law Siu On (Hong Kong, 1964).

How a Bicycle is Made (1945)

"This worker can fill over 1000 hubs in an eight hour day..." I wonder if 1000 hubs are even made in Britain in each day now?

Cycling Evening News 06.05.12

Giro d'Italia (video) - Two Days of Bedford - Tour of the Gila - The 100mph bike designed in the bath and made from genius - Nibali to leave Liquigas - US start for future Giro? - Other News (links) - Cycling

Giro d'Italia Stage 2

Sunday brought the first road race stage, a 206km loop from Bjarne Riis' hometowen Herning up to the Limfjorden (an enormous, brackish fjord that cuts off the north of the country rom the south, effectlively turning it into an island) north of Holsterbro, then south along the western coastline including a ride along the 13.2km Bøvling Klit isthmus separating Nissumfjord from the North Sea. Having travelled as far as Ringkobingfjord, they headed inland again for a straight 50km run back to Herning. This being Denmark, the parcours was flat all the way - a situation that looked likely to encourage the likes of Mark Cavendish (Sky), Theo Bos (Rabobank) and the other sprint specialists to show what they're capable of doing at the long, straight final section to the finish line.

The first half of the race was ruled by a three-man break consisting of Olivier Kaisen (Lotto-Belisol), Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia.) and Miguel Rubiano (Androni Giacattoli-Venezuela), who managed to push their lead up to thirteen minutes for a while and had the race have been a few days further in, they might have been allowed to get away with it. However, with the teams seeking to assert their authority at this stage of the proceedings, they were all caught with 40km to go. Taylor Phinney, who gained the pink jersey yesterday with his individual time trial win, had a lot of work to do today to hang onto it - and he'll be more surprised than most that he still gets to wear it tomorrow after his chain came off with 8km to go leaving him with around half a minute to make up if he was to remain in contention. That he did so is testament to just how fast he is, and just how useful Danilo Wyss, who dropped back to assist him, can be.

We all knew that, barring disaster, this stage was going to end in a sprint and so the teams had already got their sprinters into position before the final corner with around 150m left. That proved fortunate because at that point Bos touched the wheel of the rider in front of him and then collided with Alexander Kristoff, who hit the barriers and finished with a bleeding face. Of course, the accident had no influence on the eventual outcome because the end of this stage might as well have been made for the Manxman, and he was the first of a bunch of sixteen over the line. Orica-GreenEDGE's Matt Goss followed him while Geoffrey Soupe (FDJ-Bigmat) hung on or dear life and an unexpected third. Cav's Sky team mate Geraint Thomas took tenth.

Cav - could it have been any different?

Top Ten
  1.  Mark Cavendish Sky 4h53'12"
  2.  Matthew Goss Orica-Green Edge ST
  3.  Geoffrey Soupe FDJ-BigMat ST
  4.  Tyler Farrar Garmin-Barracuda ST
  5.  Roberto Ferrari Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela ST
  6.  Mark Renshaw Rabobank ST
  7.  Thor Hushovd BMC ST
  8.  Daniele Bennati RadioShack-Nissan ST
  9.  William Bonnet FDJ-BigMat ST
  10.  Geraint Thomas Sky ST
(Full results and GC when available)

On Monday, Stage 3 (map, profile) is the last in Denmark before a "rest day," actually spent traveling down to Italy for the remainder of the race. 190km in length, starting and ending in Horsens on the east of the country, it's another flat parcours liable to finish once again with a sprint. The riders will pass through Horsens three times along the way.

As far as the weather goes on Monday, the factor that will most cheer the riders is a notable drop in windspeed between morning and afternoon - from 22kph down to around 10kph, which is insufficient to give any problems. It's enough to take the edge off the temperature early in the day - with 4C in sheltered spots near the start feeling more like 2C. When it drops, the maximum 11C will be unaffected. There's a 30% chance of rain, but if it comes it'll be in fast-moving showers that will end almost as soon as they begin.

Stages 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21

Two Days of Bedford
Giro got you in the mood for some hardcore bike action? Craving the sweet scent of chain oil and the thrill of lycra flashing past your face at 45kph? Can't quite stretch to filling up the tanks on the Gulfstream IV for a jolly over to Denmark? Well then - if you live anywhere in the British South-East or southern part of the Midlands, you might be interested to know about the Two Days of Bedford.

The long-running event consists of four stages over two days (6th and 7th of May) with a 7.4km team time trial followed by an 80km road race on the Sunday, then a 6.4km individual time trial and an 85km race made up of nine laps of the Milbrook Vehicle Testing Facility - and believe me, you will not get more excitement for what it'll cost you to get to this race anywhere in the country (and you won't even have to change your pounds for krone). (More information here)

Sarah Storey crashed with 2km to go, landing in a patch of nettles which she said prevented her from losing skin. On Twitter after the race, she blamed the crash on the rider in front of her after turning "left+right on herself to avoid a tiny hole in the tarmac," then thanked well-wishers:

Sarah Storey ‏ @MrsSarahStorey
Thanks for the messages peeps,I'm fine just shocked at amount of unnecessary swerving+hard braking going on by a v small minority of riders.

Nikola Butler also crashed:

Nikola Butler ‏ @nik_tweet
one minute I was trying to sprint up the hill and the next minute I was on my face. Someone rode into my back wheel :-( sore 

Nikola Butler ‏ @nik_tweet
no idea whose fault it was. Just one of those bunch sprint things maybe

Stage 1 (Team Time Trial)
  1.  Node 4-Giordana 10'08"
  2.  For Viored +1"
  3.  Scott Contessa Epic +8"
  4.  Matrix Fitness-Prendas +14"
  5.  Abergavenny RC +30"

Stage 2 Top Ten
  1.  Amy Roberts Scott Contessa Epic  2h09'30"
  2.  Ciara Horne Node 4-Giordana ST
  3.  Lucy Garner Node 4-Giordana +15"
  4.  Sarah Reynolds Matrix Fitness-Prendas ST
  5.  Corrinne Hall Node 4-Giordana ST
  6.  Emily Kay Scott Contessa Epic ST
  7.  Laura Massey Vivelo Bikes ST
  8.  Lauren Creamer Abergavenny RC ST
  9.  Tamina Oliver Abergavenny RC ST
  10.  Harriet Owen Node 4-Giordana ST

Tour of the Gila
Stage 4 was an urban criterium race around a 1.74km square Silver City parcours with three bonus sprints and course hazards that include, according to the race bible, "rough pavement and errant pedestrians." The Pro Women completed 25 laps to make a total of 43.5km, the Pro Men 40 laps for 69.5km - precisely the sort of race in which a rider such as Kristin Armstrong (Exergy Twenty12), who at 38 specialises in the sort of endurance athleticism necessary on long stages (and which has seen her win the three stages prior to this one) might lose time to the younger women.

Loren Rowney

That turned out to be the case, though far less so than expected: while Armstrong came ninth, she was only 4" behind winner Loren Rowney (FCS Rouse presented by Mr. Restore, loaned by Specialized-Lululemon) and thus sees her General Classification lead only drop to 4'46" (from 5'01" after Stage 3) once bonification times have been taken into account. She was at the front for the first half of the race but, perhaps realising that she stood little chance of winning, chose to work for her team by chasing down attacks - not an entirely selfless decision, as it also enabled her to save some juice for the final Gila Monster stage. FCS Rouse guessed what she was up to,  simply waited until the final part of the race when they knew she'd be tired and made sure they had a rider ready to respond each and every time it looked like someone might make a break for the line. The plan was to tag along with an Exergy or Now and Novartis sprint train and see what they could do, but when Rowney found herself six riders back at the final corner she thought her chance was lost. Then, in a turn of good luck, the seven leaders took a fraction of a second longer than she'd expected to launch, allowing her to the velocity she'd carried through the bend to power into the lead and hold them off to the line.

Top Ten
  1.  Loren Rowney FCS Rouse p/b Mr. Restore 1h04'45"
  2.  Carmen Small Optum p/b Kelly Benefit ST
  3.  Christina Gokey-Smith Now & Novartis for MS ST
  4.  Alison Powers Now & Novartis for MS ST
  5.  Joanie Caron Colavita-ESPNW ST
  6.  Olivia Dillon Now & Novartis for MS ST
  7.  Jade Wilcoxson Optum p/b Kelly Benefit ST
  8.  Emma Grant Optum p/b Kelly Benefit ST
  9.  Kristin Armstrong Exergy Twenty12 +04"
  10.  Janel Holcomb Optum p/b Kelly Benefit ST
(Full results and GC)

Alejandro Borrajo

Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Colombia-Comcel) pleased his team's sponsors and the spectators alike with a superb solo break, attacking the peloton and getting away only a few minutes from the start and then riding alone with an advantage hovering about the minute mark until Bissel decided enough was enough and got their hooks into him with twelve laps to go - he finished 65th in the end, but he's the man the fans will have been talking about on the way home. As the race neared its conclusion, Jamis-Sutter Home took the opportunity to show us all how a lead-out train ought to be conducted with all their men at the front of the pack protecting their top sprinters, brothers Alejandro and Anibal Borrajo, and getting them into perfect position - Alejandro proved fastest of a bunch of 21 while Anibal was right behind him for second place. Afterwards, Anibal dedicated the victory to an older brother who died a few days ago. Rory Sutherland took eleventh place and retains his GC lead, his overall advantage now up to 33" from 26".

Top Ten
  1.  Alejandro Alberto Borrajo Jamis/Sutter Home 1h33'40"
  2.  Anibal Andres Borrajo Jamis/Sutter Home ST
  3.  Luca Damiani Kenda/5-Hour Energy ST
  4.  Eric Young Bissel ST
  5.  Francisco Mancebo Competitive Cyclist ST
  6.  Weimar Roldan GW-Shimano ST
  7.  Avila Vanegas Edwin ST
  8.  Chad Beyer Competitive Cyclist ST
  9.  Gavin Mannion Bontrager Livestrong ST
  10.  Shawn Milne Kenda/5-Hour Energy ST
(Full results and GC)


Sunday brings the climax of the race, and what a climax it is - the 170.1km Gila Monster (map and profile) is almost certainly the toughest stage in North American professional cycling with two Category 4 climbs (16.1km, 2,070m; 166km, same), two Cat 2s (Anderson Vista, 83km, 2,284m; Wild Horse Mesa/Meadow Creek, 89km, 2,278m) and a Cat 1(Anderson Vista climbed from the opposite direction, 120km).

The 100mph bike - designed in the bath and made from genius

The remarkable Graeme Obree

Anyone who knows the story of Graeme Obree's Hour Record will know that the bike upon which he broke it, Old Faithful, used washing machine bearings. Anybody who knows a little more will know that the Scotsman later regretted telling anyone that, because it was all the newspapers cared about.

Obree is now planning to set a new record by becoming the first man to travel on a bicycle - on road and without pacing - at 100mph (161kph) aboard a new bike which, in characteristic Obreean style, he dreamed up while lying in the bath and later sketched out on bits of wallpaper. Once again, the ever-resourceful Obree has used items found about the house: this time, the rests that will support his shoulders as he lays prone on the carbon fibre-skinned machine have been made from an old saucepan. Hence Sunday's Telegraph headline: "The 100mph bike – designed in the bath and made from an old saucepan."

Hopefully, this time around, more people will look beyond that one single fact and remember that Obree is a remarkable engineer who builds his bikes from a wide range of remarkable materials, not only old washing machines and pots and pans; the most important being ingenuity and genius.

Nibali to leave Liquigas
Tuttobiciweb reports that Vincenzo Nibali has chosen not to sign an extended contract with Liquigas-Cannondale - said to be worth 1.8 million euros per year. According to rumour the 27-year-old, who already has one Grand Tour under his belt after winning the 2010 Vuelta a Espana, is being courted by BMC and Astana, both of which are said to be offering him 2.5 million euros per year.

"We made an offer, we gave him time to think it over, he has not responded. For us, the matter is closed," says Liquigas directeur sportif Paolo Dal Lago.

Giro may start in USA - one day
Organisers of the Tour de France looked seriously into the possibility of taking the race to the USA in the past but concluded that, at the time, the expense of doing so was simply too great. Nevertheless, it's an idea that has remained on a back-burner ever since. After all, American companies have been pouring sums of money into the sport that make the majority of European contributions look relatively puny, and American and Canadian riders are a fixture in the Grand Tour pelotons - in fact, it sometimes looks as though the old prediction that the USA would turn out to be the future home of cycling might eventually prove true.

Michele Acquarone

Now Giro d'Italia director Michele Acquarone has turned up the heat, because he wants his race to be the first Grand Tour to cross the Atlantic.

"To do this would be very expensive - at the present time, with the world's economy in the state it is, it's simply not an option," he admitted to Sportwereld. "But cycling is now global, increasingly so, and the Giro should be a driving force in that evolution. When we're through the financial crisis and cycling has dealt with its problems, this dream should be achievable. Imagine: we start in the US, have a few stages on Amercian soil, then the riders fly buiness class overnight to Italy... I really think this is possible."

Other News and Features
"Stephen Roche: Triple Crown 25 years on" (Cyclosport.org)

"Irish Para-cycling world champion Colin Lynch reveals dazzling new gold prosthetic" (Inside World Parasport)

"Top collegiate cyclists make their move in Ogden" (Standard-Examiner, Utah)

"Rwanda: Soras Boost Ascension De Mille Collines Cycling Tour" (AllAfrica)

Cycling
Newswire
Britain
"Cyclist knocked down on Gosport to Fareham bus route praises driver for saving his life" (The News, Portsmouth)

"Cycling in Leicester is just too dangerous" (This Is Leicestershire)

Worldwide
"Cyclists gear up for cross-Canada trek" (Times Colonist)

"A blessing for those who brave city streets on two wheels" (New York Times)

"Kids join the cycling fun at bike rodeo" (Silver City Sun-News)

"Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition to Honor Three Women for Cycling Volunteerism" (NoozHawk)

"It's wedding bells and bikes for this couple" (AsiaOne)

Daily Cycling Facts 06.05.12

Alfredo Binda, 1924

The 27th edition of La Flèche Wallonne was held on this day in 1963 on a 213km parcours between Liège and Charleroi. The winner was Raymond Poulidor.

The Giro d'Italia has begun on this day three times. The first was in 1913, the fifth edition of the race ever held, when it was won by Carlo Oriani who had been born on the 5th of November 1888. The second time was in 1933 when Alfredo Binda won for a fifth and final time. It would be twenty years until Fausto Coppi - whom Binda trained - would equal this record, and to date it has not been bettered. The final time was 2006, the year that saw the reintroduction of the Team Time Trial for the first time since 1989 and the unpaved mountain pass Plan de Corones wa due to be used, but could not be due to bad weather. The winner that year was Ivan Basso.

Tino Tabak
Tino Tabak was born on this day in 1946 in De Bataaf, Netherlands, but emigrated to New Zealand with his family when he was six. He fell in love with cycling during his childhood and, by the age of ten, listed Tour de France victory as his main ambition in life.

In 1965, aged 19, he won the Elite National Road Race Championship, then that same year became the youngest rider in history to win the Tour of Southland - which he won for the next two years, too. In 1966 and 1967, he also won the Dulux Six Day and Manawatu Tours, making him the only rider to have ever won New Zealand's three major races in a single season. After the second time he did so he emigrated back to Europe, in his words "to learn how to ride a bike." He spent the next three seasons riding as an amateur and had amassed sufficient wins, including the Ronde van Noord-Holland, to earn a professional contract with Flandria-Mars in 1971 and with them he rode his first Tour, finishing the prologue in third place and crossing the line within the top ten on two other stages before abandoning after finishing Stage 9 in 89th place.

Still eligible to ride for the country of his birth, Tabak became National Road Race Champion in 1972 and entered his second Tour. This time he maintained consistently good results and took 18th place in the overall General Classification - the highest ever achieved by a rider from New Zealand. Sadly, he never did get his win: in 1973 he abandoned and then didn't enter again until 1976 when he abandoned for a third time. His career came to an end with a nasty crash at the 1978 Tour of Holland and he now lives in Canterbury, New Zealand. Tino Tobak - Dreams and Demons of a New Zealand Cycling Legend (Jonathan Kennet, 2009) tells the story of his life and provides an interesting insight into the world and processes of professional cycling in the 1970s.

Christophe Brandt
(image credit: Heidas CC BY-SA 3.0)

Christophe Brandt
Christophe Brandt was born in Liège on this day in 1977. In 1997 he won a stage at the amateur race Ronde van Limburg, which earned him a trainee contract in 1999 with Saeco and he spent his first professional season with them before moving onto Lotto, where he remained for the rest of his career.

In 2004, he fell foul of anti-doping controls when a sample he provided was discovered to contain traces of methadone, a synthetic opiate used to treat heroin addicts and which mimics the effects - including pain-killing effects, hence its appeal to endurance athletes - of heroin. Brandt stated that he had not intentionally used the drug and insisted it must have got into his body via a contaminated nutritional supplement he was using as part of his treatment for a liver condition and which about which he had notified the relevant authorities. Lotto management, meanwhile, chose not to take his word for it and fired him from the team - however, the Belgian Federation found during their investigation that the pharmacist who had prepared the supplement had in fact been preparing methadone prescriptions a short while before Brandt's medicine and cleared the rider of all charges. The team then rehired him, and he remained with them until his retirement in 2010.

Roman Kreuziger

Roman Kreuziger
(image credit: McSmit CC BY-SA 3.0)

Roman Kreuziger, born in Moravská Třebová in the Czech Republic on this day in 1986, is the son of the Roman Kreuziger who won the Österreich Rundfahrt in 1991. In 2004, he won both the Under-19 National Road Race and Time Trial, then also took the U-19 World Championship title - that same year, he won silver medals for the U-19 Time Trial and Cyclo Cross Championships too. That was, needless to say, more than enough to earn him his first offers of trainee contracts, and he turned professional with LiquiGas in 2006.

Unusually for a rider so skilled in a time trial, Kreuziger is also a very talented climber and, having come a surprise 21st at the 2007 Vuelta a Espana, he won the Tour de Suisse in 2008 after proving easily the fastest man up the 1948m Klausen Pass. That same year, still aged only 23, he kept up with the world's greatest over the mountains in the Tour de France - his first participation in the race - and finished in 13th place overall whilst only Andy Schleck could beat him in the Youth Classification.

Now 25 and riding for Astana, Kreuziger continues to grow and develop and has become one of the finest all-rounders of his generation, which in turn has led many to mark him out as a probable future Grand Tour winner.

Vito Taccone
Born in Avezzano, Italy on this day in 1940, Vito Taccone turned professional with Atala in 1961 and immediately began to make his name - that year, he won two stages and the General Classification at the Tre Giorni del Sud, Stage 10 and the King of the Mountains at the Giro d'Italia and then took first place at the Giro di Lombardia. In the subsequent years, he continued to be highly successful at the Giro d'Italia: in 1962 he was fourth overall, in 1963 sixth overall (having won Stages 10, 11, 12, 13 and 19) and again first in the King of the Mountains, in 1964 he won Stage 4, in 1965 he was sixth overall and second in the King of the Mountains and in 1966 he was ninth overall and third in the Points competition. Along the way, he won Milano-Torino in 1965, was third in the National Championship and second at Tirreno-Adriatico in 1966 and then second at the Nationals in 1968.

Taccone evidently had piles of cycling talent - he was also very good at getting himself in trouble. At the 1964 Tour de France, he was accused by other riders of causing a large crash. After denying that he was to blame he got into a fight with Fernando Manzaneque who won numerous stages at the Vuelta a Espana; Taccone was not invited to the Tour again afterwards. He didn't change with age: in June 2007, he was arrested and charged with selling stolen and counterfeit clothing, chaining himself to the railings of Avezzano court in protest. Just a few months later, on the 15th of October, he died after having a heart attack.


Hans Junkermann, born in Sankt Tönis, Germany on this day in 1934, was a true all-rounder who excelled in tough one-day races, mountain stages and on the track. Whilst still an amateur, he was approached on numerous occasions by East German representatives who tried to persuade him to defect and become a paid amateur, but he was confident enough of his abilities to remain in the West and wait for a professional contract. That paid off in 1955 when he joined Bauer; the first of the many teams for whom he rode over the course of his 19-year career, because Junkermann was a rider who refused to stay put - in 1958 alone, he rode for Molteni, Solo, Feru and Altenburger. He held ten National Championship titles in his time, including for Track Pursuit in 1958, Road Race in 1959, 1960 and 1961, Madison in 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964 and 1965 and Team Pursuit in 1962. In addition, he won the 1959 and 1962 Tour de Suisse, thus becoming the first German to do so without wearing a swastika jersey (Ludwig Geyer had won in 1934).

Mario Kummer was born in Thuringia on this day in 1962 and represented East Germany at the 1988 Olympics prior to the Reunification of his nation, riding on the gold medal winning squad in the Team Time Trial. In 1990, when East Germans had been freed to travel to the West, he turned professional with Chateau d'Ax-Salotti and remained with them for two seasons before switching to PDM; then in 1993 he joined Telekom and remained with them until retirement in 1997. Since 2007, he has worked as a manager with the Astana team.

Other births: Artūrs Matisons (Latvia, 1985); Bernhard Stübecke (Germany, 1904, died 1964); Dieter Koslar (Germany, 1940, died 2002); Franc Škerlj (Yugoslavia, 1941).