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Vuelta Tour Review
With the Tour of Spain concluding on Sunday evening, I thought it would be a good time to look at back at the moments (good and bad) over the tour.
Clarke – call me definitely
Most Improved Rider: Australian rider Simon Clarke gave Orica-GreenEdge their first grand tour jersey after taking out the King of the Mountains classification over Alejandro Valverde. Clarke put his name as a contender by winning the mountainous Stage 4 and by consistently being in breakaways as he slowly gained points at every chance presented. It is a great result for Clarke and Orica-GreenEdge considering the vast amount of mountain points available, not to mention the challengers such as Valverde and Rodriguez.
Most Disappointing Rider: With many expecting big things from Team Sky’s Christopher Froome after his riding in le Tour, the Kenyan born rider was disappointing despite finishing fourth overall. With Contador and co constantly making attacks up the mountains, Froome was often delayed in his response, and although he managed to re-join the leaders during the first week of racing, he soon fell behind and was quickly out of GC contention. Hopefully Froome can bounce back and prove he is a genuine team leader, and not just a workman for Brad Wiggins.
The Quick Men: With limited sprinters opting to contest this year’s Vuelta, John Degenkolb of Argos-Shimano asserted his authority on the flat stages, taking an unprecedented five stages. Phillipe Gilbert also showed his classics form with two impressive victories on the less mountainous stages.
The Moment: As noted in last week’s article, the Contador attack on Stage 17 was one for the ages. Up until then, Joaquim Rodriguez had nullified any attacks from the Saxo-Bank climber, and with mountain stages running out, it seemed as the Red Jersey was not going to end up on Contador’s shoulders. But by attacking 50km from the finish and riding a significant portion of the medium-mountain stage alone, Contador silenced his numerous critics by producing one of the most entertaining moments in recent memory.
The Entertainment: Where to begin with the thrills of this tour! What is better than watching Alberto Contador attack at every opportunity? Watching Valverde and Rodriguez climb back and then attack themselves. Countless summit sprints between these three left the race open up until the final few stages, and created a sense of excitement that the Giro and le Tour lacked this year. Several stage wins were not too shabby for the arm-chair enthusiasts either, with Denis Menchov and Simon Clarke putting themselves in serious physical discomfort to claim their victories.
The Verdict: I cannot think of one negative for this year’s Vuelta. The tour organizers certainly put out a route that ensured entertainment, with countless summit finishes, 20% + climbing gradients and high velocity sprints. The quality of the riders, and the lack of an overly dominant team such as the Sky squad at le Tour, meant that every rider had their opportunity, with no single team dictating terms. It is very rare that the Vuelta, usually the forgotten grand tour, upstages its two predecessors, but this year it has in true form. One only hopes that le Tour organizers take a good look at the Vuelta to take a few hints (MORE MOUNTAIN TOP FINISHES).
Nordhaug Surprises in Montreal
Team Sky’s Norwegian workhorse Lars-Petter Nordhaug took out the Grand Prix de Montreal over the weekend after being given the all clear by his sprinter Boasson Hagen inside the final kilometre.
After the mandatory doomed breakaways had run their course, the true race contenders came to the fore. Inside the penultimate lap of the hilly circuit a group of seven riders attempted to break, and were soon joined by Thomas Voeckler. Alas for Voeckler he timed his run horribly and was caught by the Team Sky train at the bottom of the final climb, followed by favourites Gerrans, Sagan and van Avermaet, along with 22 other riders.
Local hero and Giro d’Italia winner Ryder Hejsedal attacked with BMC’s van Avermaet, but they were quickly caught by a determined Peter Sagan. As the riders reached the top of the climb, Team Sky looked in control with three riders still in the weltering group, making a Boasson Hagen win the likely result.
As the leading group crossed under the 5km banner, Nordhaug put his foot down to up the pace for Boasson Hagen, but found himself distanced out in front along with Moreno Moser of Liquigas, Bjorn Leukemans of Vacansoleil and Alexandr Kolobnev of Katusha.
“ When I went, I was going for Edvald,” said Nordhaug post race. “But then I found myself in the lead with three other guys and Edvald kept screaming in the radio. Go! Go! So I went.”
As the breaking riders gained more seconds, the chase group became impatient as no one was willing to do the work to bring in the leaders, with Gerrans and Rui Costa looking particularly frustrated. With the chasers not gaining any ground, Kolobnev saw an opportunity to attack again to take the final turn in front. Unfortunately for the Russian, his legs gave way inside the final 200m as Nordhaug out sprinted Moser to take the surprise victory.
Simon Gerrans and Boasson Hagen showed their form by out sprinting the rest of the field to claim fourth and fifth, and send strong warnings to their competitors before the World Championships.
GP de Montreal Results
1- Lars Petter Nordhaug (NOR) Team Sky
2- Moreno Moser (ITA) Liquigas-Cannondale ‘02
3- Alexandr Kolobnev (RUS) Katusha
4- Simon Gerrans (AUS) Orica-GreenEdge ‘04
5- Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) Team Sky
Pozzato Banned
Another week, another doping story in the world of cycling. This time it is Italian Filippo Pozzato, who has been handed a three-month ban, ruling him out of participation in the World Championships. In January, the Italian admitted to consulting infamous sports doctor Michele Ferrari, who has had links with many top cyclists, including Lance Armstrong. Ferrari has become famous for stating that the banned blood booster EPO was un-harmful, and has been involved in several doping investigations.
After this admission, along with stating that he received training programmes from Ferrari between 2005 and 2009, the Italian Olympic Committee dropped him from their Olympic road race team. His recent omission from the Italian WC team, caused Pozzato to vent his frustration in the lack of support he has received.
Local Hero’s Bring the Crowds
The Tour of Britain kicked off this week, and despite its 2.1 UCI classification, it has witnessed giant crowd numbers over the first few stages, despite the traditionally poor British weather. In a field that consists of big names Brad Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and……well, aside from a recovering Samuel Sanchez, not much else. But the fans seem to only be there to see their hero’s in the Tour de France winner and the current World Champion, with the duo receiving overwhelming response throughout.
With crowds like this, expect to see this tours rating bumped up, and potentially see it as part of the UCI cycling calendar.
With the circuits consisting of limited climbs and mostly flat narrow roads, the sprint finishes so far have been electric. The first stage saw three significant crashes inside the final 25km, with Cavendish seemingly at fault for the final one which resulted in lead-out man Luke Rowe having to power ahead without his sprinter to take the victory. The second stage once again saw Cavendish caught out, as two Garmin-Sharp riders executed a technical manoeuvre to precision to isolate the Manx Missile. This gave Orica-GreenEDGE rider Leigh Howard a chance to take advantage of Cavendish’s poor position to outsprint the Brit to claim the overall lead. Despite these setbacks, Cavendish found his mojo by taking stage 3 comfortably, and then producing his trademark acceleration to overcome Howard on stage 4. This earned him the leader’s yellow jersey for the next stage, in which he crumbled at the first major climb.
In a particularly humorous moment, Bradley Wiggins was seen coming to a near standstill with a giant grin on his face waiting for Cavendish to catch up. Unfortunately for the both riders, they lost over 12 minutes to the new surprise race leader Leigh Howard, who despite being primarily a sprinter, kept with the main field to keep his lead over van Poppel who was several seconds behind.
The post The Week In Cycling: Vuelta! Vuelta! Vuelta! appeared first on Green and Gold Cycling.
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With the Tour of Spain concluding on Sunday evening, I thought it would be a good time to look at back at the moments (good and bad) over the tour.
Clarke – call me definitely
Most Improved Rider: Australian rider Simon Clarke gave Orica-GreenEdge their first grand tour jersey after taking out the King of the Mountains classification over Alejandro Valverde. Clarke put his name as a contender by winning the mountainous Stage 4 and by consistently being in breakaways as he slowly gained points at every chance presented. It is a great result for Clarke and Orica-GreenEdge considering the vast amount of mountain points available, not to mention the challengers such as Valverde and Rodriguez.
Most Disappointing Rider: With many expecting big things from Team Sky’s Christopher Froome after his riding in le Tour, the Kenyan born rider was disappointing despite finishing fourth overall. With Contador and co constantly making attacks up the mountains, Froome was often delayed in his response, and although he managed to re-join the leaders during the first week of racing, he soon fell behind and was quickly out of GC contention. Hopefully Froome can bounce back and prove he is a genuine team leader, and not just a workman for Brad Wiggins.
The Quick Men: With limited sprinters opting to contest this year’s Vuelta, John Degenkolb of Argos-Shimano asserted his authority on the flat stages, taking an unprecedented five stages. Phillipe Gilbert also showed his classics form with two impressive victories on the less mountainous stages.
The Moment: As noted in last week’s article, the Contador attack on Stage 17 was one for the ages. Up until then, Joaquim Rodriguez had nullified any attacks from the Saxo-Bank climber, and with mountain stages running out, it seemed as the Red Jersey was not going to end up on Contador’s shoulders. But by attacking 50km from the finish and riding a significant portion of the medium-mountain stage alone, Contador silenced his numerous critics by producing one of the most entertaining moments in recent memory.
The Entertainment: Where to begin with the thrills of this tour! What is better than watching Alberto Contador attack at every opportunity? Watching Valverde and Rodriguez climb back and then attack themselves. Countless summit sprints between these three left the race open up until the final few stages, and created a sense of excitement that the Giro and le Tour lacked this year. Several stage wins were not too shabby for the arm-chair enthusiasts either, with Denis Menchov and Simon Clarke putting themselves in serious physical discomfort to claim their victories.
The Verdict: I cannot think of one negative for this year’s Vuelta. The tour organizers certainly put out a route that ensured entertainment, with countless summit finishes, 20% + climbing gradients and high velocity sprints. The quality of the riders, and the lack of an overly dominant team such as the Sky squad at le Tour, meant that every rider had their opportunity, with no single team dictating terms. It is very rare that the Vuelta, usually the forgotten grand tour, upstages its two predecessors, but this year it has in true form. One only hopes that le Tour organizers take a good look at the Vuelta to take a few hints (MORE MOUNTAIN TOP FINISHES).
Nordhaug Surprises in Montreal
Team Sky’s Norwegian workhorse Lars-Petter Nordhaug took out the Grand Prix de Montreal over the weekend after being given the all clear by his sprinter Boasson Hagen inside the final kilometre.
After the mandatory doomed breakaways had run their course, the true race contenders came to the fore. Inside the penultimate lap of the hilly circuit a group of seven riders attempted to break, and were soon joined by Thomas Voeckler. Alas for Voeckler he timed his run horribly and was caught by the Team Sky train at the bottom of the final climb, followed by favourites Gerrans, Sagan and van Avermaet, along with 22 other riders.
Local hero and Giro d’Italia winner Ryder Hejsedal attacked with BMC’s van Avermaet, but they were quickly caught by a determined Peter Sagan. As the riders reached the top of the climb, Team Sky looked in control with three riders still in the weltering group, making a Boasson Hagen win the likely result.
As the leading group crossed under the 5km banner, Nordhaug put his foot down to up the pace for Boasson Hagen, but found himself distanced out in front along with Moreno Moser of Liquigas, Bjorn Leukemans of Vacansoleil and Alexandr Kolobnev of Katusha.
“ When I went, I was going for Edvald,” said Nordhaug post race. “But then I found myself in the lead with three other guys and Edvald kept screaming in the radio. Go! Go! So I went.”
As the breaking riders gained more seconds, the chase group became impatient as no one was willing to do the work to bring in the leaders, with Gerrans and Rui Costa looking particularly frustrated. With the chasers not gaining any ground, Kolobnev saw an opportunity to attack again to take the final turn in front. Unfortunately for the Russian, his legs gave way inside the final 200m as Nordhaug out sprinted Moser to take the surprise victory.
Simon Gerrans and Boasson Hagen showed their form by out sprinting the rest of the field to claim fourth and fifth, and send strong warnings to their competitors before the World Championships.
GP de Montreal Results
1- Lars Petter Nordhaug (NOR) Team Sky
2- Moreno Moser (ITA) Liquigas-Cannondale ‘02
3- Alexandr Kolobnev (RUS) Katusha
4- Simon Gerrans (AUS) Orica-GreenEdge ‘04
5- Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) Team Sky
Pozzato Banned
Another week, another doping story in the world of cycling. This time it is Italian Filippo Pozzato, who has been handed a three-month ban, ruling him out of participation in the World Championships. In January, the Italian admitted to consulting infamous sports doctor Michele Ferrari, who has had links with many top cyclists, including Lance Armstrong. Ferrari has become famous for stating that the banned blood booster EPO was un-harmful, and has been involved in several doping investigations.
After this admission, along with stating that he received training programmes from Ferrari between 2005 and 2009, the Italian Olympic Committee dropped him from their Olympic road race team. His recent omission from the Italian WC team, caused Pozzato to vent his frustration in the lack of support he has received.
“No one has the balls to tell it like it is. They’re all afraid, waiting to see what happens and then in the end it’s the athletes who pay, and in this case unfairly”.
Despite his admission to seeing the doctor, Pozzato’s suspension, albeit a short one, comes under suspicion. The rider has no previous doping allegations or suspensions, yet admitting to seeing a doctor associated with EPO, results in a ban. Recently the Anti-Doping association has been doing a good job by doing as much as possible by making the sport cleaner, but ridiculous cases such as this seem to be undermining the organizations respectability. Ruling a rider out of Olympic and World Championship participation due to circumstances such as this seem significantly un-justified.Local Hero’s Bring the Crowds
The Tour of Britain kicked off this week, and despite its 2.1 UCI classification, it has witnessed giant crowd numbers over the first few stages, despite the traditionally poor British weather. In a field that consists of big names Brad Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and……well, aside from a recovering Samuel Sanchez, not much else. But the fans seem to only be there to see their hero’s in the Tour de France winner and the current World Champion, with the duo receiving overwhelming response throughout.
With crowds like this, expect to see this tours rating bumped up, and potentially see it as part of the UCI cycling calendar.
With the circuits consisting of limited climbs and mostly flat narrow roads, the sprint finishes so far have been electric. The first stage saw three significant crashes inside the final 25km, with Cavendish seemingly at fault for the final one which resulted in lead-out man Luke Rowe having to power ahead without his sprinter to take the victory. The second stage once again saw Cavendish caught out, as two Garmin-Sharp riders executed a technical manoeuvre to precision to isolate the Manx Missile. This gave Orica-GreenEDGE rider Leigh Howard a chance to take advantage of Cavendish’s poor position to outsprint the Brit to claim the overall lead. Despite these setbacks, Cavendish found his mojo by taking stage 3 comfortably, and then producing his trademark acceleration to overcome Howard on stage 4. This earned him the leader’s yellow jersey for the next stage, in which he crumbled at the first major climb.
In a particularly humorous moment, Bradley Wiggins was seen coming to a near standstill with a giant grin on his face waiting for Cavendish to catch up. Unfortunately for the both riders, they lost over 12 minutes to the new surprise race leader Leigh Howard, who despite being primarily a sprinter, kept with the main field to keep his lead over van Poppel who was several seconds behind.
The post The Week In Cycling: Vuelta! Vuelta! Vuelta! appeared first on Green and Gold Cycling.
Continue reading...