The Vuelta starts in five days, the Vuelta prep races are all just about done (save for the Eneco Tour), I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to the start of La Vuelta. First things first though - let's catch up on the insane amounts of racing we've been lucky enough to enjoy over the past few days. Read on!
Vino Goes Vuelta
I sure didn't see this coming...not.
From August 24th 2009 Kazakh professional rider Alexandr Vinokourov will be part of Astana Cycling Team, the team managed by Johan Bruyneel. On that day Bruyneel and Rinus Wagtmans, the authorized representative for the Kazakh authorities, reached an agreement about the arrival of the Asian time trial champion. Vinokourov’s first race for the Team will be the Tour of Spain which starts next Saturday in Assen (the Netherlands). Vinokourov (Petropavlovsk - September 16th, 1973) won the Tour of Spain in 2006. He signed a contract with Team Astana till the end of 2010.
The team line-up:
Riders: Assan Bazayev, Maxim Iglinskiy, Jesús Hernández, Chris Horner, Daniel Navarro, José Luis Rubiera, Michael Schär, Alexandr Vinokourov & Haimar Zubeldia.
Tour Of Ireland Wrap
Russell Downing took an emphatic win in Stage 1, let the field know what his plans were, then went the distance with another commanding ride in Stage 3 to take the overall win. Downing had the overall swiped from his grasp in 2008, not so in 2009. In other news, Mark Cavendish took his 21st win of the season. 21 wins. That's a whole bunch.
Stage 1: Russell Downing (Candi TV - Marshalls Pasta) - break
Stage 2: Mark Cavendish (Columbia) - bunch sprint
Stage 3: Lars Petter Nordhaug (Joker Bianchi) - two-up sprint
General Classification
1 Russell Downing (GBr) Candi TV - Marshalls Pasta 14:18:03
2 Lars Nordhaug (Nor) TMB Joker Bianchi 0:00:23
3 Matti Breschel (Den) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:43
4 Alexander Kolobnev (Rus) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:45
5 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Team Columbia - HTC 0:00:49
6 Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:01:03
7 Craig Lewis (USA) Team Columbia - HTC 0:01:05
8 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank Continental 0:01:06
9 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) ISD - Neri
10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank
11 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team Saxo Bank
12 Philip Deignan (Irl) Cervélo Test Team 0:01:08
Speaking Of Downing
There's rumour that Downing is heading to Team SKY for 2010. Of course, that's not official, but in seven days, we'll find out if that's a true rumour or not. I honestly can't see why not though. That seems like a pretty reasonable rumour.
Tour Of Utah Wrap
Rock Racing's Francisco Mancebo wrapped up overall victory at the Tour of Utah yesterday by finishing safely in the bunch on the final day crit. He laid the foundations for the win with a two-up time trial with teammate Oscar Sevilla in Stage 1, then rode strongly in the mountains and rode an able time trial to take the comfortable overall win over Stage 2 winner, Darren Lill of Team Type 1.
In other news, if you're a betting man, it would seem reasonable to place some money on Tom Zirbel to take his first US Pro TT Championship next weekend in Greenville. Zirbel took the Utah TT and beat out what should be all of his nearest competition by a fair margin. It's no guarantee against a four-time champ like Dave Zabriskie, but something tells me that this is Zirbel's year.
Prologue: Brent Bookwalter (BMC)
Stage 1: Francisco Mancebo (Rock)
Stage 2: Darren Lill (Team Type 1)
Stage 3: Tom Zirbel (Bissell) - TT
Stage 4: Alex Howes (Felt-Holowesko) - solo
Stage 5: Bernie Sulzberger (FlyV) - bunch sprint crit
General Classification
1 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Rock Racing) 12:28:35
2 Darren Lill (Team Type1) 0:00:46
3 Jeff Louder (BMC Pro Cycling Team) 0:01:29
4 Alex Howes (Garmin/Felt) 0:01:54
5 Philip Zajicek (Fly V Australia) 0:02:03
6 Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell Pro Cycling) 0:02:18
7 Matthew Busche (Kelly Benfit Strategies) 0:02:36
8 Patrick McCarty (OUCH Pro Cycling p/b Maxxis) 0:03:05
9 Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) 0:04:14
10 Brent Bookwalter (BMC Pro Cycling Team) 0:04:18
Eneco Tour Heading To Climax
With one stage remaining at the Eneco Tour, the favorites are all clustered at the top, patiently biding their time for tomorrow's decisive time trial. Edvald Boasson Hagen has had the lead since Stage 5 and looks to have good prospects of finishing the race with the lead. Hagen is no slouch in a time trial and the 13.1 km TT isn't too terribly long. Hagen will have a fair headstart over most every one - he has 21 seconds on 2nd placed Farrar, 25 on Lars Bak, 31 on Chavanel, 33 on Posthuma. Back to betting: I'd put money on Hagen's first stage race victory.
General Classification
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Columbia - HTC 26:33:33
2 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0:00:21
3 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:25
4 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step 0:00:31
5 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank 0:00:33
6 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Rabobank 0:00:35
7 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C. 0:00:38
8 Jan Bakelandts (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
9 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Team Columbia - HTC 0:00:39
10 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Silence-Lotto 0:00:42
Gerrans Takes Another Big Win
Simon Gerrans notched another solid win to his palmares with the victory yesterday at the ProTour one day race, the GP Plouay. As always in Bretagne, the racing was fast, furious, ferocious, and, er, fun. The winds were blowing, the course was entertaining, the attacks were justifiably omnipresent. The winning move didn't go until the final few moments of the race. The break of Gerrans, Fedrigo, Martens, Roux, and Daniel Martin had only three seconds on the line. Gerrans managed to take the win by a bike length over last year's Plouay winner, Pierrick Fedrigo.
1 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Cervelo Test Team 5:58:53
2 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom 3 Paul Martens (Ger) Rabobank
4 Anthony Roux (Fra) Française Des Jeux
5 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin - Slipstream 6 6 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:03
7 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
8 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana
9 Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) Française Des Jeux 10 Jesus Del Nero (Spa) Fuji-Servetto
Tour Du Limousin
Caisse d'Epargne's Mathieu Perget wrapped up overall honors at the Tour du Limousin. His overall rested entirely on a two-up time trial he did with teammate David Arroyo in Stage 3. They raced the final 100 kilometers of Stage 3 together, trying to hold off a chasing group. They succeeded, Arroyo took the stage win, Perget took the overall.
Overall Classification
1 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 17:17:03
2 David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:03
3 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:00:23
4 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:28
5 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom
Speaking Of Feillu
Romain Feillu took the final stage bunch sprint at the Tour du Limousin, which segues nicely into this little segment: the next move for the powerful brotherly duo of Brice and Romain Feillu. They will be riding for Vacansoleil for the next two seasons. I like this whole brothers stay together thing going on with the Schlecks and Feillus. That's cool.
2009 Done For Nibali
Vincenzo Nibali's great 2009 season came to a disappointing end with a broken clavicle during Stage 5 of the Eneco Tour. The recent 7th place overall at the Tour de France came to grief in the final kilometers of the stage and ended up with a broken left collarbone. Best of luck in a quick recovery for Nibali. We're excited to see what's in store for 2010.
Basso To Race His First Ever Vuelta
Press release from Liquigas:
«I trained myself in the best way without any stress: final victory is a concrete goal»
24th August – The long season of Ivan Basso, began on 11th January in Argentina, arrived at the second important event. After the Giro d’Italia, the leader of Liquigas-Doimo will be at the Vuelta a España with great ambitions and, above all, more conscious of his possibilities.
«I faced the preparation for this stages race with calm and without stress – affirms Basso -. The weeks before the Giro were full of waits: the pink race was my first engagement to obtain comparisons that give feasibility to the feeling had during trainings. It was a fundamental stage that gives me useful suggestions. During summer months I concentrated myself on the aspects to improve, as the change of rhythm. At the end, now that I have a better feeling in race, I chose to rely on personal sensations rather then scientific data».
Basso is convicted and ready to approach the Spanish stages race with new confidence thanks also to a route that spurs him: «Is the first time in my career that I face Vuelta and I want leave the mark. Five climbing arrival, hard stages full of climbs and two difficult time trials. I can’t deny that is adapted to my characteristics. This factor, together with the good condition that I reached thanks to August races, allows me to be optimist: the final victory is a concrete goal».
At the end, the thought of Basso is for team-mate Vincenzo Nibali, victim yesterday of a crash that caused him the fracture of collarbone: «I’m really sorry for Vincenzo, he was showing his great talent during this season. He presents important satisfaction to our team and he could aspire in a great World Championship. I wish him to recover soon, hoping to see him in saddle as soon as possible».
Armstrong's Season Over?
Everyone is reporting that Lance Armstrong's season is over now that the Tour of Ireland is finished. I'm not so certain of that. There's a race in Greenville, South Carolina this coming weekend that needs racing: USPRO Championships. He has said absolutely nothing concerning the race, but its proximity to the Tour of Ireland, and it being in America, has to make it at least a little bit alluring. I think he'll be there. I don't know if there's a rumour on this one, but there should be. If for some reason you haven't made your mind up, Lance, you really should come and race. I'll be there. That's a good enough reason, right? No? Ok, never mind.
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