Giro Del Trentino: Team Sky Win Time Trial but the Day Belongs to Bouet & Cerny
Apr 16, 2013
Team Sky rode to a comfortable victory in the second of the day's stages in the Giro Del Trentino, but it was Josef Cerny of Team CCC who rode into the leader's jersey.
The first of the day's stages was a short 128-km run into the Austrian town of Lienz. The peloton decided to take a relaxed attitude to the stage and allowed eight riders to pull out a significant lead.
The break gelled well together and it wasn't until the modest climb up the Iselsberg that Michael Rodriguez pushed the pace and gained nearly 20 seconds on his fellow escapees. The rest of the break didn't panic however, and caught the Colombian on the descent.
The stage came down to a tense run-in in which Cerny showed his hand first, injecting a burst of speed that only Rodriguez and Ag2r's Maxime Bouet could match.
It was Bouet who then had the strength left to outsprint his rivals and take his first win since 2010. It was a sweet moment for the Frenchman, who later told reporters, “I was emotional because my last win was over two years ago. I’ve been in a lot of breaks in a lot of races since then but I haven’t had a lot of wins” (CyclingNews.com).
The peloton cruised over the line 6:51 down on Bouet.
Attentions then turned to the second stage of the day, a 14-km team time trial. This time it was Team Sky's turn to take an impressive victory as they won easily with a time of 15:20.
Their closest challengers were Vincenzo Nibali's Astana team, who crossed the line 12 seconds down.
Josef Cerny, who had earlier finished second to Bouet, finished with his CCC team in 12th place. This was enough to snatch the leader's jersey away from the Frenchman, whose Ag2r team finished 12 seconds further back in 15th place.
With a gap of over six minutes between themselves and the leader, the pressure will be on the big names to ride well over the remaining three stages. It is an impressive field, including big names such as Italians Nibali, Michele Scarponi and Ivan Basso, and Tour de France winners Sir Bradley Wiggins and Cadel Evans.
Geraint Thomas Climbs to Third as Tom-Jelte Slagter Wins the Tour Down Under
Jan 27, 2013
Team Sky's Geraint Thomas enjoyed a strong final stage to jump from fifth to third overall in the Tour Down Under on Sunday.
Thomas has been in excellent form all week, leading the overall standings for much of the race. However, Saturday's stage to Old Willunga Hill lost the Welshman 25 seconds, and he slipped to fifth.
After winning one intermediate sprint and coming third in another to gain four seconds, Thomas managed to drag himself up to a fine third place in one of the season's first big races.
Tom-Jelte Slagter will go home the happiest, though, after taking the biggest win of his career. The Dutchman, 23, showed his class in Stage 5, pouncing on a struggling Thomas and shooting off down the road in the final stages of the climb to finish second on the day and first overall. That left him with nothing to do but stay out of trouble on Sunday to take home the victory
His victory will mean a lot to the Blanco team, which lost long-term sponsor Rabobank last season. The Dutch bank had been involved in the sport for 30 years, but pulled out over concerns that the sport could be seen as dirty from doping.
Slagter's teammate, Mark Renshaw, riding in his home race, made an early bid for glory in the final stage, but the hard work of Team Lotto brought things together and Andre Greipel powered home to take his third stage of the race.
The German has enjoyed a fine start to the year. His hat trick of stage wins added to the People's Choice Classic that he won last weekend. Sunday's victory was also the 100th win of his career.
Movistar's Javier Moreno rounded out the final podium between Slagter and Thomas, finishing 17 seconds adrift of the Dutchman.
Hopefully, with cycling back, we can concentrate more on the racing and less on the scandals...but somehow I doubt it.
Tour of Britain winner Jonathan Tiernan-Locke has today officially joined Team Sky on a two-year deal.
The 27-year-old became the first British victor of his home tour in 19 years when riding for the Endura cycling team, but will now find himself riding alongside the likes of Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins in Sky colours.
Tiernan-Locke's Tour of Britain victory earned him a place at the 2012 UCI World Road Race Championships in Holland last month, where he finished a credible 19th in the flagship 269km road race.
Those two performances highlighted the Plymouth-born rider's potential, and speaking to Sky Sports he said he was delighted to be joining Team Sky. He told reporters: "It’s an incredible opportunity for me to step up from the UCI Continental ranks, and although I’ve really enjoyed my time at Endura, I couldn’t pass up the chance to join the world’s best team.
“When you look at the season Team Sky have had, to even be considered by them was a massive honour for me, so I’m over the moon to be riding for them in 2013."
Tiernan-Locke also alluded to the magnitude of the rise to the elite Pro Cycling ranks. "I’m under no illusions, it’s going to be a big step up," he told Sky.
"But with all the support I’ll receive from the coaching staff, and having such talented riders around me, I’ll definitely be looking to up my game."
Team Sky's Unsung Chris Froome Bids for Grand Tour Glory at Vuelta a Espana
Aug 17, 2012
Olympic gold medalist, Tour de France winner, sportsman of the people, Mod rocker, British icon and soon enough Sir Wiggo.
Bradley Wiggins has had, and it is not overstating it to say, an incredible year.
The Tour de France victory cemented his status as one of his sport's greats, while a combination of charming cockiness, a straightforward manner and an admirable work ethic has seen him emerge as one of his country's most popular sportsmen.
Riding in close proximity to Wiggins—or within minutes in the case of the time-trials—throughout this summer has been Chris Froome, a man who's own tremendous achievements have been overshadowed by the achievements of his Team Sky teammate.
In any other year, a bronze medal in the Olympic road time-trial and the prior even more remarkable effort of finishing second in the Tour de France, would have marked him out as Britain's best all-around cyclist.
For now, that title belongs to Wiggins, but Froome can match him and improve on his existing standing as one of his sport's great prospects in the next few weeks as he prepares to take on the year's third and final grand tour: the Vuelta a Espana (aka, Tour of Spain).
The 2011 edition of the Vuelta saw Froome finish second (Wiggins was in third) in a name-making race that, by most accounts, rid his Sky superiors over any remaining doubts of the Kenyan-born rider's value.
Besides the result itself, it was what was seen in Froome's performances that stood out, in many ways foreshadowing aspects of the working relationship that he and Wiggins established at this year's Tour de France.
Stage 15, in particular, culminating on the brutal mountain finish of the Angliru, saw Wiggins struggle as the race entered the final three kilometers of the final climb. This is where Froome rode ahead of the man he was purportedly riding for, and into second place.
Neither of course could contend that day with the astonishing, winning ride of (eventual race winner) Juan Jose Cobo, but Froome's better performance signaled the first time it would be claimed that he had the measure of Wiggins in the mountains.
That was a claim made fairly regularly in last month's Tour, but as was the case in Spain last year, there was reason and/or evidence to suggest that the gap was even closer than some suggested.
In 2011 Wiggins was still coming back from a broken collarbone that had prematurely ended his Tour hopes, and could quite reasonably be accounted for any struggles at the Vuelta weeks later (and lest we forget, he still finished third!).
If claims that Froome could have quite feasibly won this year's Tour de France himself were not without merit themselves, Wiggins reinforced his own credentials in the race's last week by riding strongly and purposely at his teammate's side as they fought off the advances of Vincenzo Nibali in particular.
The debate over who is Sky's best general classification contender will be an underlying theme to this year's Vuelta (starting Saturday 18 August), but the focus will be primarily on Froome, as he gets his chance to compete as team leader.
He will have to contend with seven mountain stages (three of which have hors catégoriefinishes) in the heat of the August sun in Spain, which will make for some demanding and excruciating days in the saddle.
Winning the race will not be easy, with Alberto Contador returning from his drugs ban in the home favourite's first grand tour since last year's Tour de France.
The Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank man struggled through France off the back of a phenomenal effort in the Giro D'Italia just two months prior, and questions will be raised over whether Froome has the legs to deliver another supreme effort only a month after the Tour de France and just weeks following on from his Olympic excursions.
The traditional understanding (as backed up by the Contador example) would be that Froome surely could not follow this up by going a step further and winning the Vuelta, but as Daniel Benson writes in his preview on CyclingNews.com:
"Sky has torn up the rule book this year, wiping away the clichéd doubts of "peaking too soon", doing "too much work" on the front and "diluting team aims". With their mantra of marginal gains, the team has been near unstoppable in stage races it has raced to win and there’s genuine discussion over whether they can attempt the triple Grand Tour slam in 2013."
Froome will not have quite the strength of squad Wiggins had for the Tour (after all, he doesn't have him!), but in the likes of Rigoberto Uran, Danny Pate, Olympic team-mate Ian Stannard and Spain's own Juan Antonio Flecha, he has guys he can rely on.
As for rivals elsewhere, failure to recover from injury has sadly meant Andy Schleck misses out, but Joaquim Rodriguez, Thomas De Gendt and Robert Gesink will be among the favourites looking to, like Froome, take the red jersey and a first grand tour success.
Also back will be last year's winner Cobo, who after an underwhelming 2012, will be desperate to salvage something from his season.
The likelihood of that remains to be seen, but his presence along with Froome's at least provides an excuse to reminisce about their battles last year, in particular, their thrilling duel on the final climb of stage 17 on Peña Cabarga.
With the pair out ahead of the chasing pack and valuable seconds at stake, Cobo looked to have cracked when Froome launched an attack within the last two kilometers.
In a display worthy of a champion, the Spaniard managed to reel him back in, and for a moment, looked as if he would take the stage, at which point Froome mustered one last burst of energy to sprint for the win.
With Cobo closely following, it was not enough for Froome to take the race lead, but it was a spectacular, unofficial introduction of one cycling's great new prospects.
Whether they feature him, Cobo or whoever, if this year's Vuelta has a stage or two as good as that one, we will be in for a treat.
London 2012: Cycling Road Race Favourite Cavendish in Form After Historic Tour
Jul 25, 2012
On a weekend featuring The Open Championship, Formula One and England test match cricket, it was an extraordinary thing for cycling fans in Britain to find that the Tour de France was dominating sports news above all else.
That, of course, was a result of Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins, three-time Olympic gold medalist, last Sunday becoming the first Brit to win cycling's most prestigious race in 99 editions going back to 1903.
While the sport has not enjoyed the relative prominence it did for a time in the United States during the Lance Armstrong era (though it still has a steady following), cycling has become increasingly mainstream in British sport since the success of Team GB at the 2008 Games in Beijing and will be one of its biggest medal hopes at London 2012.
The full story of this remarkable achievement in both the track and road media of the sport, masterminded by Team Sky and British cycling head honcho Dave Brailsford, is a story in itself.
Wiggins' maillot jaune triumph was in many ways the culmination of the enormous efforts of Brailsford and many others, but just as thrilling a part of this success story has been the continuing brilliance of a man who can safely claim to be the fastest thing on two wheels (sans engine, anyway).
Mark Cavendish, the 'Manx Missile' and reigning World champion, winner of two Grand Tour points classification jerseys and 23 Tour de France stages—among many other achievements.
If you're a cycling fan, you will know most of this. If not, it demonstrates the 27-year-old's enormous success and gives you an idea why he is the favorite heading into this Saturday's Olympic road-race through the streets of London and Surrey, finishing amid the grand surroundings of The Mall.
Cavendish deals in winning stages, using his phenomenal speed and bike-handling skills in dangerous sprint finishes full of similarly single-minded men gunning for victory.
Cav frequently uses the metaphor of a soccer striker putting the ball in the back of a net to describe his job to the unfamiliar.
For the levels of complexity and effort required from his teammates in ensuring he is in these positions, his role is slightly more comparable to that of a wide receiver in American football scoring a touchdown after the combined effort of several others (really you're better off checking out the tape itself to see him at his actual best).
Prior to Wiggins winning the Tour de France, Cavendish was Britain's biggest name in road cycling, his maillot vert and World Championship successes in 2011 bringing then-unprecedented accolades and exposure for an Englishman in his business.
Joining Wiggins and other faces familiar from their Team GB past in Team Sky for the 2012 season, Cavendish was well aware that for first time in several years, his sprint success would have to take a backseat to the team's general classification aspirations, while he himself targeted the Olympic road-race as his primary target for the year.
It was all the more remarkable, then, that Cavendish was able to come away with three stage wins at this year's Tour, including a fourth consecutive win on the famous cobbles of the Champs-Elysees to push him to fourth on the all-time list and cement his status as the race's greatest ever sprinter.
Unlike previous years, when he was the focus of attention of his HTC-Highroad team (one of several sponsors after which they were named for over two decades), Cavendish was mostly left to his own devices (though his long-term right-hand man Bernhard Eisel did help) and was also called upon to do domestique duty on occasion, doing things like going back to the team car to collect drink bottles.
This made him more susceptible to crashes (a couple of which he did suffer) and also generally left him without a lead-out train to put him in the best positions to win stages (though it should be noted Sky made up for this in spectacular style on the final stage in Paris, and he doesn't necessarily need one to win).
With the Olympics only weeks away, it would have been understandable to find Cavendish grumbling loudly and even quite reasonable if he had given up on the harsh and demanding climbs of the Alps and Pyrenees so as to save himself for London.
Instead, he quite commendably stuck it out, playing his role in the team's monumental success and getting the reward for it in Paris.
There have been more tangible successes in Cavendish's career, but heading into London it was a timely reminder of his determination and his admirable qualities as a team player.
This is vital, as it will be the men charged with setting him up for a sprint to the line in the English capital—Wiggins, Chris Froome, David Millar and Ian Stannard (all with previous experience in the role, having been part of the British team at the 2011 World Championships)—who will be the difference between Cavendish taking a medal or not.
Following nine laps on Surrey's Box Hill, it is not a certainty that on returning into London the race will conclude with a sprint finish. Others, such as Italian climbing specialist Vincenzo Nibali (talking to Gazzetta Dello Sport, via CyclingNews.com), have expressed their hopes at taking their chances, while it would be foolish to rule out the possibility of a surprise attack or two from one of the smaller cycling nations.
If it comes down to a sprint, Cavendish will likely come face to face with several rivals from the UCI World Tour, possibly including Sky teammate and Norwegian star Edvald Boasson Hagen.
Fellow three-stage winners from this year's Tour de France, Andre Greipel (Germany) and Peter Sagan (Slovakia) will be keen to stop Cavendish from grabbing the glory on home soil (or is that tarmac?). Others, like Tom Boonen (Belgium), Matthew Goss (Australia) and Tyler Farrar (USA), will be equally desperate for success following a quiet summer.
For Cavendish, Olympic gold is one of the few remaining individual achievements left for him to win, with the chance to win it in his own country adding to the significance.
Victory would certainly add to cycling's ever-growing profile in Great Britain.
For the rest of the world, such an occurrence would just mean it is yet another chance to watch one of sport's finest competitors do what he does best. Blink, and you'll miss it.
Tour De France: Can Team Sky Stick Together Following Stunning Performance?
Jul 23, 2012
Team Sky has had an incredible three weeks, owning the top two steps of the podium and winning six stages of the Tour de France. They have dominated the Tour in a way that has never been seen before, but how long can it last? In an interview with the BBC, head coach Shane Sutton was bullish about the future of the team, proclaiming:
Now it is about becoming the Barcelona or Manchester United of cycling. We want to try to dominate the sport.
But is this plan feasible? Sky currently has a team of superstars on its roster and keeping them all together will not be easy.
The biggest potential rift in the team has been the race-winning potential of Bradley Wiggins' chief lieutenant in the Tour this year, Chris Froome. The Nairobi-born Brit may have finished second to Wiggins this year, but many thought that he could have beat Wiggins in the mountains.
With next year's centenary Tour set to be a return to the tough long mountains after a time-trial heavy route this year, Froome may be a better bet for another Team Sky win.
With the return of Alberto Contador from suspension and Andy Schleck from injury, Wiggins could find it very tough to stick with them in the mountains. If Froome is in the same form he has been this year then he could be Sky's best bet of challenging for yellow.
In an interview with French newspaper L'Equipe, Froome said, "It all depends on the route. If there are Cols (summit finishes) I hope Sky will be honest and all my teammates will be at my service, with the same loyalty I have shown today."
But can Team Sky support Froome with the defending champion on the same team? This lingering question could lead to Froome leaving the team and attempting to win with a team of his own.
Another rider who could leave the team, and further his own potential, is world champion Mark Cavendish. The sprinter has found himself in a strange situation in this year's Tour, acting as a domestique for team leader Bradley Wiggins. This led Cavendish to describe his position as "like putting Wayne Rooney in defence."
Despite this, Cavendish had a superb Tour with three stage wins and a fourth consecutive win on the Champs Elysees. At just 27-years-old, with a dedicated team around him Cavendish could eventually challenge Eddy Merckx's 34 Tour stage wins.
The Manx Missile is used to being the leader of the team. At HTC he was the focal point of the entire team and it would not be surprising if he would prefer to return to a setup like that.
Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford has admitted that this may be an inevitability, "If he felt, or if it was felt, that he would like a dedicated team around him, then he is quite within his rights to want to do that."
Brailsford went on to add that, "This team will keep its GC [general classification] ambitions and I am sure that we will sit down and discuss that with Mark and see how he feels about that."
In terms of GC riders, Sky may have had its year in the sun. Contador and Schleck are likely to come into next year's Tour as the favourites and it would be a brave person who bets against either of them.
If Cavendish does leave the team, then Sutton's wish to "dominate" cycling may just be a pipe dream.
Tour De France 2012 Stage 7 Results: Winner, Leaderboard and Analysis
Jul 7, 2012
Bradley Wiggins of Belgium is the overall leader after Stage 7 of the Tour de France, but the stage belonged to his teammate Christopher Froome.
The Kenyan-born but British-licensed Froome aided his teammate's cause to hold off Cadel Evans and then captured his own triumph.
In the rough and tumble final 100 meters, Froome out-climbed Evans. It was the first win of a stage for Froome in his career, and it was huge because it was the first mountaintop finish.
He earned the polka-dot jersey for the event's best mountain-climbing rider. Team SKY made a big statement in this stage, with Froome's finishing first and Wiggins' finishing third. They solidified themselves as the premier climbing team.
These steep stages and finishes are the aspects of the event that separate the men from the boys, and Froome proved to be the best man today.
The leader through most of the first six stages, Fabian Cancellara, faded in this stage.
It was an expected fall for Cancellara, who simply didn't have the power to compete in the mountain stages.
Here are the final results for Stage 7 and the current standings for the event (per NBCSports.com):
Stage 7 and Overall Standings
Place
Name
Time
Time Gap
Team
Bib No.
Age
1
Christopher Froome
04:58:35
00:00:00
SKY
105
27
2
Cadel Evans
04:58:37
00:00:02
BMC
001
35
3
Bradley Wiggins
04:58:37
00:00:02
SKY
101
32
4
Vincenzo Nibali
04:58:42
00:00:07
LIQ
051
27
5
Rein Taaramae
04:58:54
00:00:19
COF
081
25
6
Haimar Zubeldia
04:59:19
00:00:44
RNT
019
35
7
Pierre Rolland
04:59:21
00:00:46
EUC
029
25
8
Janez Brajkovic
04:59:21
00:00:46
AST
181
28
9
Denis Menchov
04:59:25
00:00:50
KAT
131
34
10
Maxime Monfort
04:59:31
00:00:56
RNT
016
29
Overall Standings
Place
Name
Time
Time Gap
Team
Bib No.
Age
1
Bradley Wiggins
34:21:20
00:00:00
SKY
101
32
2
Cadel Evans
34:21:30
00:00:10
BMC
001
35
3
Vincenzo Nibali
34:21:36
00:00:16
LIQ
051
27
4
Rein Taaramae
34:21:52
00:00:32
COF
081
25
5
Denis Menchov
34:22:14
00:00:54
KAT
131
34
6
Haimar Zubeldia
34:22:19
00:00:59
RNT
019
35
7
Maxime Monfort
34:22:29
00:01:09
RNT
016
29
8
Nicolas Roche
34:22:42
00:01:22
ALM
079
28
9
Christopher Froome
34:22:52
00:01:32
SKY
105
27
10
Michael Rogers
34:23:00
00:01:40
SKY
108
32
Team to Watch
Froome pushed through for the stage victory. It culminated the rigorous final 100 meters of this, the first mountain stage.
Team SKY's teamwork through this stage helped prevent Evans from getting ahead of Wiggins in the overall, but it also paved the way for Froome's run.
This selfless riding will help keep Wiggins with the yellow jersey, but it also shares the sugar with his teammates.
One to Watch
It's still Wiggins. Even though he shared the spotlight with a teammate today, he is still ahead by 10 seconds, after finishing locked with rival Evans.
The two men were virtually even at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in the stage standings.
They were favorites coming in, but with Team SKY's performing so well, Wiggins has a bit of an edge, in my opinion.
Biggest Faller
Cancellara is not a climber, and he predictably slipped in the standings from first to 11th. When the trek flattens out, he'll look to regain some ground.
But the overall balance of Wiggins and Evans will likely prove too much for him to overcome.
Next Up
Stage 8 figures to be even more difficult than Stage 7. It's only 98 miles, but it has eight categorized climbs.
This is not a stage that will lend itself to those that don't excel in climbing.
The stage finishes just across the border into Switzerland. I expect another strong performance from Wiggins and Evans.
Froome proved he is truly a force to be reckoned with, but we'll see if he can out-shine Wiggins and Evans again.
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2012 Tour De France Stage 4: Andre Greipel Secures Sprint Win, Cavendish Crashes
Jul 4, 2012
Stage 4 of the 2012 Tour de France saw the riders take on one of the Tour’s longest stages, the 214 km jaunt from Abbeville to Rouen.
The stage traverses coastal roads alongside the English Channel before turning inland to the finish at Rouen after a very scenic ride along the Seine.
Fortunately, the wind that can make this route extremely difficult was absent, meaning that only a brief rain shower tried to spoil the day for the riders. It may have played a small part in a minor accident that saw Liquigas rider Vincenzo Nibali left behind the pack for a short while.
The course took in four category four climbs as will as a small but potentially significant hill inside the last 10 km. However, the last four kilometres are almost completely flat—a dream finish for the pure sprinters.
It will come as no surprise to regular Tour viewers that there was an almost immediate attack by three riders—Europcar’s Yukiya Arashiro, Cofidis rider David Moncoutie and Anthony Delaplace of Saur Sojasun—who were today’s hares for the greyhound pack to chase.
It will also come as no surprise that the breakaway was caught easily, just under 10 km from the finish.
The only interest on the stage—before the final sprint, of course, was the race for minor placings in the intermediate sprint in which Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) again asserted his dominance over Mark Renshaw (Rabobank), Matt Goss (Orica Green Edge) and Peter Sagan (Liquigas).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6dowAIvu54
BMC’s Philippe Gilbert tried to establish a late break, but to no avail—this stage was always going to come down to a bunch sprint.
Just as everything looked like it was going to come down to last few hundred metres, a crash claimed a large group of riders, including world champion Mark Cavendish. Yellow jersey holder Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan) and Tour favourite Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) were also caught in the tangle.
As the crash was within the last three kilometres, all of those affected will receive the same time as the leaders. While everyone finished the stage, the pain of the fall might affect how those who fell will perform over the next few days. For now, at least, the placings remain unchanged.
None of this mattered to Lotto-Belisol, as they delivered Andre Greipel into a perfect position to take the final sprint ahead of a brave Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD). Once again, Peter Sagan faltered in the face of the explosive power of the true sprinters, but a fifth place finish ensures that he will keep the green jersey for at least another day.
Standings after Stage 4.
1.
CANCELLARA Fabian
RADIOSHACK-NISSAN
20h 04' 02''
2.
WIGGINS Bradley
SKY PROCYCLING
20h 04' 09''
+ 00' 07''
3.
CHAVANEL Sylvain
OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP
20h 04' 09''
+ 00' 07''
4.
VAN GARDEREN Tejay
BMC RACING TEAM
20h 04' 12''
+ 00' 10''
5.
BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
SKY PROCYCLING
20h 04' 13''
+ 00' 11''
6.
MENCHOV Denis
KATUSHA TEAM
20h 04' 15''
+ 00' 13''
7.
EVANS Cadel
BMC RACING TEAM
20h 04' 19''
+ 00' 17''
8.
NIBALI Vincenzo
LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE
20h 04' 20''
+ 00' 18''
9.
HESJEDAL Ryder
GARMIN-SHARP-BARRACUDA
20h 04' 20''
+ 00' 18''
10.
KLÖDEN Andréas
RADIOSHACK-NISSAN
20h 04' 21''
+ 00' 19''
Tour De France 2012: Bradley Wiggins Hopes Take a Knock with Siutsou Injury
Jul 3, 2012
A nervy third stage in this year's Tour de France could prove costly to the hopes on Britain's Bradley Wiggins as his teammate Kanstantsin Siutsou was forced to withdraw following a crash.
Liquigas superstar Peter Sagan took home the stage at a canter, blowing away his rivals in the final sprint to win ahead of Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen.
Siutsou was involved in a mass pile-up 50km from the end of today's stage into Boulogne-sur-Mer. The 29-year-old suffered a broken leg in the crash which also caused the withdrawal of Movistar's Jose Joaquin Rojas.
Wiggins was also held up by a crash in the closing seconds but was not injured and finished with the same time as his rivals.
The Belorussian's withdrawal puts Dave Brailsford's selection under an increasing spotlight. The Team Sky boss made the bold decision to bring World Champion Mark Cavendish and lead-out man Bernard Eisel to the Tour.
This left just five riders serving as lieutenants to Wiggins in the mountains of which Siutsou was a vital member. Brailsford tried to put a positive spin on the incident after the race, saying,
He's a very good climber so he can do that first part in the key mountain stages. But to be honest the climbing department, as it were, is probably where we're at our strongest.
There is no doubt that with Chris Froome and Michael Rogers in the team, Wiggins is unlikely to be isolated in the mountains. However, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Christian Knees and Richie Porte are all unlikely to be of assistance when the mountains really kick in.
Siutsou has accompanied Wiggins in all of his impressive victories this season, at Paris-Nice, the Tour de Romandie and at the Criterium du Dauphine.
If Wiggins does win the Tour then the decision to take Cavendish will be vindicated. However, if he doesn't, then Team Sky will have blown a golden opportunity to take home the yellow jersey.
While it is bad news for Wiggins, the withdrawal was good news for Tour rival Cadel Evans who told reporters after the stage,
You need to be firing on all cylinders in this race. To be one man down is not an advantage that's for sure.
There is a long way left to go in the race and Wiggins is still the favourite, but Siutsou's withdrawal will have Team BMC sleeping soundly tonight.
Tour De France 2012 Stage 2 Results: Mark Cavendish Makes a Statement
Jul 2, 2012
Stage 2 of the 2012 Tour de France saw the peloton still cycling its way through Belgium on the roads from Visé to Tournai.
It was a stage tailor-made for the sprinters with an undulating start, only one tiny (comparatively) category 4 climb and an almost flat finish.
As is the tradition, there was the inevitable breakaway which saw Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank) pick up the only point on offer, while his two breakaway companions Christophe Kern (Europcar) and Anthony Roux (FDJ-Bigmat) took out the first two places in the intermediate sprint.
In an eerie throwback to last year’s HTC-Highroad sprint combination, Team Sky’s Mark Cavendish’s former leadout men, Matt Goss (Orica-Greenedge) and Mark Renshaw (Rabobank), led Cavendish to the lower points at the intermediate sprint.
Inevitably, the breakaway was slowly reeled in, with only Roux showing any resistance with an ultimately futile attempt to stay off the front of the bunch.
This stage, however, was always going to come down to the final sprint.
As the pace increased, the peloton started to stretch out, achieving speeds in excess of 45 mph, and the peloton became a living thing, pulsing and surging, changing shape constantly like a school of excessively colourful tropical fish.
In a heart-stopping sprint to the finish, Cavendish took on and beat his greatest rival in this Tour, Lotto’s Andre Greipel, coming from behind to claim victory by a half-wheel.
Those few detractors who still believe that Mark Cavendish is overrated must now doff their cap to the Manx Missile’s brilliance.
Thoughts that Cavendish couldn’t win without his leadout team have been comprehensively dispelled, with Cavendish borrowing a tow from rival teams, eventually finding himself on the wheel of Greipel, which catapulted him to the victory and threw down the gauntlet in the battle for the green jersey.
The big question is whether Cavendish will see out the Tour or return to England to prepare for the Olympic road race. Opinion is divided, but should he return home he will rob the race of one of its great draw cards.
The overall general classification standings remain unchanged, with RadioShack-Nissan’s Fabian Cancellara retaining the yellow jersey, Morkov keeping his polka-dot jersey and Liquigas-Cannondale rider Peter Sagan retaining the points leader's green jersey.
Stage 3 will see the sprinters work a little harder with four categorised climbs towards the end of the stage. Expect to see the GC contenders Cadel Evans and Bradley Wiggins towards the front of the bunch looking to make an early statement.
