Pro Tour Round-up
Well the Tour of Qatar flew by in a flash and the Tour of Oman is already well underway too, not to mention the flurry of activity also going on in Spain and Portugal right now!
So the two man break on day 2 at the ToQ proved decisive with Wouter Mol topping the GC from the end of that stage to its conclusion. Team Sky lost their way after a glorious TTT win on stage 1 with only Russ Downing and Edvald Boasson Hagen getting top 20 placings in the second, third and fourth stages. Boasson Hagen did manage a third and sixth in the final two stages though. It was Tornado Tom Boonen who shone in the sprints though bagging two in style. Chicchi (Liquigas) also bagged two wins, and it's worth noting Taylor Phinney's finishes as he worked his way into the top ten on two stages – potential one to watch for the future I feel.
Slightly camp disco arms salute from Boassen Hagen!
So to the Tour of Oman, and Boasson Hagen is back to winning ways after nailing stage 3 on Tuesday. He lost his grip on the leader's red jersey that he'd claimed after a second and third on the opening two stages as Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) claimed second place on today's 4th stage, taking the red jersey with it. This behind a great first pro win from HTC-Columbia's Leigh Howard. Boasson Hagenleads the Team Sky charge, but now from a lowly 34th place. As you can see from the picture above, Tornado Tom is still there too – I think we can expect to see a lot of him before Cav comes back to start stealing the sprint wins again!
Back over to European soil, and it saddens me to be writing of another Alejandro Valverde victory – how can he still be competing and winning races with bans hanging over him, it’s just nuts! But yes, he won the Tour Méditerranéen, Stage 5, taking the GC from Nocentini (AG2R La Mondiale) and Maxim Iglinsky of Astana. Can’t help wondering what these two and fourth place Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) are feeling given that this coud have been their chance for glory (or at least higher placings).
Todays sees the Volta ao Algarve get underway, which also sees a return to action for Alberto 'Pistolero' Contador. Later this week (Sunday in fact) we see Cavendish return to action in Ruta del Sol, so as much as he's an arrogant upstart I can't deny that I hope to soon be writing of glorious Manx Missile wins. I wonder how grateful he is that he can't be overshadowed by TDU-winning team mate Andre Greipel who is keeping Contador company in the Algarve?! HTC-Columbia allowing them to both get the wins they want? I reckon so.
Also worth noting that we’re drawing ever closer to the Spring Classics with only a matter of days until Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, just two weeks until Paris-Nice and four weeks untilMilan-San Remo! Things are about to get exciting!
TTFN
So the two man break on day 2 at the ToQ proved decisive with Wouter Mol topping the GC from the end of that stage to its conclusion. Team Sky lost their way after a glorious TTT win on stage 1 with only Russ Downing and Edvald Boasson Hagen getting top 20 placings in the second, third and fourth stages. Boasson Hagen did manage a third and sixth in the final two stages though. It was Tornado Tom Boonen who shone in the sprints though bagging two in style. Chicchi (Liquigas) also bagged two wins, and it's worth noting Taylor Phinney's finishes as he worked his way into the top ten on two stages – potential one to watch for the future I feel.
Slightly camp disco arms salute from Boassen Hagen!
So to the Tour of Oman, and Boasson Hagen is back to winning ways after nailing stage 3 on Tuesday. He lost his grip on the leader's red jersey that he'd claimed after a second and third on the opening two stages as Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) claimed second place on today's 4th stage, taking the red jersey with it. This behind a great first pro win from HTC-Columbia's Leigh Howard. Boasson Hagenleads the Team Sky charge, but now from a lowly 34th place. As you can see from the picture above, Tornado Tom is still there too – I think we can expect to see a lot of him before Cav comes back to start stealing the sprint wins again!
Back over to European soil, and it saddens me to be writing of another Alejandro Valverde victory – how can he still be competing and winning races with bans hanging over him, it’s just nuts! But yes, he won the Tour Méditerranéen, Stage 5, taking the GC from Nocentini (AG2R La Mondiale) and Maxim Iglinsky of Astana. Can’t help wondering what these two and fourth place Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) are feeling given that this coud have been their chance for glory (or at least higher placings).
Todays sees the Volta ao Algarve get underway, which also sees a return to action for Alberto 'Pistolero' Contador. Later this week (Sunday in fact) we see Cavendish return to action in Ruta del Sol, so as much as he's an arrogant upstart I can't deny that I hope to soon be writing of glorious Manx Missile wins. I wonder how grateful he is that he can't be overshadowed by TDU-winning team mate Andre Greipel who is keeping Contador company in the Algarve?! HTC-Columbia allowing them to both get the wins they want? I reckon so.
Also worth noting that we’re drawing ever closer to the Spring Classics with only a matter of days until Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, just two weeks until Paris-Nice and four weeks untilMilan-San Remo! Things are about to get exciting!
TTFN
0 Comments
Tour of Qatar Stage 3
Apologies for the Russian commentary, but here's today's stage:
Check out the crash (and bunny hop!) at 4:50, repeated (sans bunny hop) at 6:15 - ouchie!
Check out the crash (and bunny hop!) at 4:50, repeated (sans bunny hop) at 6:15 - ouchie!
The Week in ProTour
Crikey, I'd better get an update in on this page before the Tour of Qatar flies by and takes the Etoiles de Besseges and Vuelta a Mallorca with it!
So, the Tour of Qatar first up, and in the opening Team Time Trial Team Sky took the glory by 9 seconds from Garmin Transitions - although that would have been from Cervélo Test Team had they not been penalised for Haussler pushing team mate Rasch (naughty). Stage 2 today saw the end of Team Sky's Kurt Asle Arvesen's race as he broke his collarbone in a crash. The stage was won by virtue of a stage-long breakaway from Geert Steurs and Wouter Mol of Topsport Vlaanderen and Vaconsoleil respectively.
Moving on the the Etoiles de Besseges, the winner of this event was Samuel Dumoulin of Cofidis. Now, I'll be honest - this is such a non-event that I wasn't really going to bother covering it... except that Dumoulin won it after not only being penalised for cutting a corner (which I'd guess is quite uncommon anyway) but after the rider who took the lead of the GC following Dumoulin's penalty was then unable to defend his GC lead due to him and five of his teammates fell ill! Something fishy going on, or just outright bad luck?!
Final race news for now is a return to winning ways for Robbie McEwan in the first stage of the Vuelta a Mallorca yesterday. Good to see him finally getting over the serious leg injury sustained in the Tour of Belgium last season.
In other news, a massive 17 teams have been given UCI Wild Card status for the 2010 ProTour - notable admissions being Cervélo Test Team (again), Skil-Shimano (again) and Bbox Bouyges Telecom (again - I wonder if this means we'll see a repeat of the 'half the team throwing themselves into a field on the TTT' from last year's TdF?!). Joking aside though, it's good to see a spot going to Carmiooro and to Vaconsoleil, even if it is just because I like their names! Full list is here for your perusal:
Acqua & Sapone (Italy)
Andalucia Cajasur (Spain)
Androni Giocattoli (Venezuela)
Bbox Bouygues Telecom (France)
BMC Racing (Switzerland)
Carmiooro - NGC (Great Britain)
Ceramica Flaminia (Ireland)
Cervélo Test Team (Switzerland)
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne (France)
Colnago - CSF Inox (Ireland)
ISD - Neri (Italy)
Landbouwkrediet (Belgium)
Saur - Sojasun (France)
Skil - Shimano (The Netherlands)
Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator (Belgium)
Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team (The Netherlands)
Xacobeo Galicia Team (Spain)
Notable absentees? Rock Racing - sorry Floyd!
TTFN
So, the Tour of Qatar first up, and in the opening Team Time Trial Team Sky took the glory by 9 seconds from Garmin Transitions - although that would have been from Cervélo Test Team had they not been penalised for Haussler pushing team mate Rasch (naughty). Stage 2 today saw the end of Team Sky's Kurt Asle Arvesen's race as he broke his collarbone in a crash. The stage was won by virtue of a stage-long breakaway from Geert Steurs and Wouter Mol of Topsport Vlaanderen and Vaconsoleil respectively.
Moving on the the Etoiles de Besseges, the winner of this event was Samuel Dumoulin of Cofidis. Now, I'll be honest - this is such a non-event that I wasn't really going to bother covering it... except that Dumoulin won it after not only being penalised for cutting a corner (which I'd guess is quite uncommon anyway) but after the rider who took the lead of the GC following Dumoulin's penalty was then unable to defend his GC lead due to him and five of his teammates fell ill! Something fishy going on, or just outright bad luck?!
Final race news for now is a return to winning ways for Robbie McEwan in the first stage of the Vuelta a Mallorca yesterday. Good to see him finally getting over the serious leg injury sustained in the Tour of Belgium last season.
In other news, a massive 17 teams have been given UCI Wild Card status for the 2010 ProTour - notable admissions being Cervélo Test Team (again), Skil-Shimano (again) and Bbox Bouyges Telecom (again - I wonder if this means we'll see a repeat of the 'half the team throwing themselves into a field on the TTT' from last year's TdF?!). Joking aside though, it's good to see a spot going to Carmiooro and to Vaconsoleil, even if it is just because I like their names! Full list is here for your perusal:
Acqua & Sapone (Italy)
Andalucia Cajasur (Spain)
Androni Giocattoli (Venezuela)
Bbox Bouygues Telecom (France)
BMC Racing (Switzerland)
Carmiooro - NGC (Great Britain)
Ceramica Flaminia (Ireland)
Cervélo Test Team (Switzerland)
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne (France)
Colnago - CSF Inox (Ireland)
ISD - Neri (Italy)
Landbouwkrediet (Belgium)
Saur - Sojasun (France)
Skil - Shimano (The Netherlands)
Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator (Belgium)
Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team (The Netherlands)
Xacobeo Galicia Team (Spain)
Notable absentees? Rock Racing - sorry Floyd!
TTFN
Update - The Weekend's News
An interesting weekend for this humble little sport of ours…
Biggest news of the weekend was probably that of Ricco’s better half proving herself to be no better at all. In fact the only thing she did prove is a failed drugs test – what a couple! Amusingly, the folk over at Dopers Suck have already generated a special edition T-shirt to commemorate this historic news!:
Click pic to buy
In other, more important news, Marianne Vos claimed a simply awesome 3rd Cyclocross World Championship – this obviously adding to her 2 previous CX titles, but not to mention her road race world championship win in 2006 and her track world title in the 2008 points race! This really is an awesome achievement, and it’s a shame that such a result will, for the most part, be overlooked (or at best given poor coverage) in the cycling press.
Team Sky narrowly missed out on yet another early season podium finish with Steve Cummings bagging fourth in the Cycliste la Marseillaise – the team’s first foray into European action. Cummings was accompanied by fellow Brit Peter Kennaugh who crossed the line with the main field on his first Pro race.
Earlier today we’ve also had confirmation of Di Luca’s ban and fine - 2 years taking him out of action until 21st July 2011, by which time he'll be 36. That's his career over then. He also collected a $400,000 fine and $3,000 testing fees... and still he protests his innocence. Idiot.
Elsewhere on the Pro scene it seems to be training camp-tastic – BMC are out in California, the newly renamed and relaunched Rapha Condor Sharp are out in Spain and Sigma Sport have just come back from… well, Wales actually. Slightly less glamorous huh?!
That’s all for this brief update, however I am still baffled by the lack of Team BMC riders on the new SLR01 so if anyone can explain or pass on any info I’d welcome it!
TTFN, Bike Tart
Biggest news of the weekend was probably that of Ricco’s better half proving herself to be no better at all. In fact the only thing she did prove is a failed drugs test – what a couple! Amusingly, the folk over at Dopers Suck have already generated a special edition T-shirt to commemorate this historic news!:
Click pic to buy
In other, more important news, Marianne Vos claimed a simply awesome 3rd Cyclocross World Championship – this obviously adding to her 2 previous CX titles, but not to mention her road race world championship win in 2006 and her track world title in the 2008 points race! This really is an awesome achievement, and it’s a shame that such a result will, for the most part, be overlooked (or at best given poor coverage) in the cycling press.
Team Sky narrowly missed out on yet another early season podium finish with Steve Cummings bagging fourth in the Cycliste la Marseillaise – the team’s first foray into European action. Cummings was accompanied by fellow Brit Peter Kennaugh who crossed the line with the main field on his first Pro race.
Earlier today we’ve also had confirmation of Di Luca’s ban and fine - 2 years taking him out of action until 21st July 2011, by which time he'll be 36. That's his career over then. He also collected a $400,000 fine and $3,000 testing fees... and still he protests his innocence. Idiot.
Elsewhere on the Pro scene it seems to be training camp-tastic – BMC are out in California, the newly renamed and relaunched Rapha Condor Sharp are out in Spain and Sigma Sport have just come back from… well, Wales actually. Slightly less glamorous huh?!
That’s all for this brief update, however I am still baffled by the lack of Team BMC riders on the new SLR01 so if anyone can explain or pass on any info I’d welcome it!
TTFN, Bike Tart