The Vuelta is off and running and Team Milram are all smiles up there in The Netherlands. The US PRO titles have also been run and won, and once again, there are some familiar faces pulling on the Stars and Stripes. There’s a lot to look at, so let’s check out the Back to Work Monday Trash.
Hincapie Rocks It At Home
Local ‘boy’, George Hincapie gave his fans and family a show to remember by winning the men’s USPRO title in Greenville yesterday. The win gave Hincapie his third Stars and Stripes jersey to go with the titles he won 1998 in Philadelphia and 2006 in Greenville, when the race first moved to his hometown.
Hincapie sprinted to the win from a small group, which had formed on the final small finishing circuits in down town Greenville, leaving Andrew Bajadali (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Jeff Louder (BMC Racing) to pick up the remaining podium places.
At the start of the race, Team Garmin’s Dave Zabriskie decided to put his time trialling skills to work, building up nearly a four minute solo lead, while behind, small chase groups formed and reformed.
Rider number 151, PEZ’s very own Jered Gruber, was off the front of the race early, in an attempt to bridge the gap to Zabriskie. On the first trip up Paris Mountain, Jered tried to ride across the near four minute gap to the time trial champ, but was caught by the field. (Stay tuned for Jered's inside look at riding the US Pro Champs.)
When Zabriskie was eventually caught, Hincapie was one of the riders who helped put the hammer down on the final climb of Paris Mountain, before the remains of the peloton headed back to the city for the final local laps.
“It's very emotional for me… it's my hometown. I always tell everybody how great this city is. Not even winning, but just having the national championships here in my hometown is special,” Hincapie said after the win. The Team Columbia HTC veteran said that he felt under pressure from the trong hometown support, “But to be able to win with all that pressure, I mean, I had the whole city wanting me to win (and it) is a great feeling once it's done.”
2009 USPRO Results
1. George Hincapie, (Team Columbia HTC), 4:33:36
2. BAJADALI Andrew (Kelly Benefit Strategies), at 1 sec
3. LOUDER Jeff (BMC Racing Team), at 3sec
4. BOOKWALTER Brent (BMC Racing Team), at 7sec
5. BUSCHE Matthew (Kelly Benefit Strategies, s.t.
6. MCCARTY Jonathan (OUCH Presented By Maxxis), at 13sec
7. JONES Chris (Team Type 1), s.t.
8. ZAJICEK Phil (Fly V Australia), at 23sec
9. BOWMAN Daniel (Kelly Benefit Strategies), at 1:10
10. MILNE Shawn (Team Type 1), at 1:19
Captain America Rides Again
Dave Zabriskie has successfully defended his USPRO time trial title this past weekend with a strong 44second win over Tom Zirbel, (who was also the silver medallist behind Zabriskie last year), giving the Garmin rider his fourth TT title in four years.
A total of 23 riders raced the three lap TT circuit with Zabriskie saying on the Team Garmin website, that he opted not to use a radio for the race, instead relying on his Garmin GPS unit to see how his time splits were for each lap.
While the “new” time trial champ was happy to have secured the win for another year, runner up Zirbel, was disappointed with the time gap and was quoted on the event website as saying, “I didn’t expect to lose by 45 seconds. Wow, he (Zabriskie) had a good ride. I’m a rhythm rider, and it’s tough to get in a rhythm here. I’d like longer straightaways. It’s not as technical as it looks on paper; it’s a fair course.”
Claiming the bronze medal in the championship was Scott Zwinsanski (here’s a tip: If your surname starts with ‘Z’ get to the USPRO TT’s next year) who has had success already this season with overall wins at the Tour de Beauce and Vuelta Ciclista del Uruguay.
USPRO TT Results
1. Dave Zabriskie (Team Garmin Slipstream). 0hr 39:37
2. Tom Zirbel (Bissell Pro Cycling) at 44sec
3. Scott Zwizanski (Kelly Benefit Strategies) at 1:41
4. Reid Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strategies) at 2:52
5. Bernard Vanulden (Jelly Belly Cycling Team) s.t.
6. Mike Friedman (Garmin) at 3:00
7. Phil Zajicek (Fly V Australia)at 3:01
8. Jonathan Chodroff (OUCH) at 3:07
9. Benjamin Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling) at 3:30
10. Mike Creed (Team Type 1) at 3:34
MILRAM Starts Vuelta On A High
The boys at Milram could be forgiven for having a second glass of champagne at dinner last night after Gerald Ciolek finally got his front wheel ahead of the rest of the bunch and gave the team that really big win they have been searching for this season.
Ciolek and his team seemed out of their depth at times during the Tour de France, but one thing that needs to be considered is that the German rider, who is leading the Milram team, is only 22 years of age. Now that he has the confidence boost of a stage win at the Vuelta, the pressure is off him a little bit and will also give the rest of the Team something to aim for over the next 19 stages.
“We were so close so often at the Tour de France, but at the last moment didn't have that little necessary bit of luck. Today we showed an overwhelming team performance, which Gerald Ciolek rewarded with this classy win,” said Gerry van Gerwen, Team Milram's general manager.
Ciolek finished ahead of Liquigas’ Fabio Sabatini with Roger Hammond showing some great early form to take third place. Ciolek’s win moved him up into second place overall and he is now just eight seconds behind Cancellara.
Cancellara Good In Gold
After winning his second Grand Tour prologue of the year, Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara is still wearing the leader’s gold jersey, but it seems the Swiss rider has bigger fish to fry in the three week Spanish stage race.
Cancellara, like a lot of other men on the start line this week, is looking beyond the finish line in Madrid on September 20, to the world Championships the following week in Mendrisio.
”I am extremely happy to win here in Holland and take the jersey of the Vuelta. Of course, it's been an objective alone for me and for the team to take the win on the prologue but I am primarily here to get ready for the World Championship on home ground next month,” said Cancellara after the win on Saturday.
“Honestly I did not expect to take the victory because of the raw competition from other strong riders in peak shape but I succeeded and I am very proud of my effort.”
While Cancellara did not expect to still be leading the race after Sunday’s tough, windy stage, the win by Ciolek (who started the day 28seconds behind) meant that Boonen and Farrar were not able to overtake the Swiss champ.
“I had actually expected Farrar or Boonen to gain enough seconds to take the jersey from me today. But they didn't, and I am very happy for another day in the leader's jersey.”
Current GC After Stage 2
1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team SaxoBank 4hrs 48m 32s
2. Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Milram at 8sec
3. Tom Boonen (Bel) QuickStep at 9sec
4. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Slipstream at 12s
5. Jens Mouris (Ned) Vacansoleil at 14s
6. Daniele Bennat (Ita) Liquigas at 16
7. David Garcia (Spa) Xacobeo-Galicia at 18s
8. Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas
9. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d' Epargne
10. Bert Grabsch (Ger) Columbia-HTC at 19s
2009 Vuelta a España Stages Stage 1: Sat 29 Aug, Assen – Assen , ITT, 4.8km: Fabian Cancellara adds another leader’s Jersey and another GT prologue victory to his tally this season by beating home the sprinters to take the 2009 Vuelta opener. Stage 2: Sun 30 Aug, Assen – Emmen , 203.7km: At long last, and after so many top ten also-rans at the Tour, Gerald Ciolek finally got that Grand Tour stage win he has been seeking. A fantastic effort! Cancellara is still riding in gold. Stage 3: Mon 31 Aug, Zutphen – Venlo, 189.7km Stage 4: Tue 1 Sep, Venlo – Liège, 225.5km Rest Day 1: Wed 2 Sep. Stage 5: Thu 3 Sep, Tarragona – Vinaros, 174km Stage 6: Fri 4 Sep, Xativa – Xativa, 176.8km Stage 7: Sat 5 Sep, Valencia – Valencia, ITT, 30km Stage 8: Sun 6 Sep, Alzira - Alto de Aitana, 204.7km Stage 9: Mon 7 Sep, Alcoy - Xorret del Cati, 188.8km Stage 10: Tue 8 Sep, Alicante – Murcia, 171.2km Stage 11: Wed 9 Sep, Murcia - Caravaca de la Cruz, 200km Rest Day 2, Thu 10 Sep. Stage 12: Fri 11 Sep, Almería - Alto de Velefique, 179.3km Stage 13: Sat 12 Sep, Berja - Alto de Sierra Nevada, 172.4km Stage 14: Sun 13 Sep, Granada - La Pandera, 157km Stage 15: Mon 14 Sep, Jaén – Córdoba, 167.7km Stage 16: Tue 15 Sep, Córdoba – Puertollano, 170.3km Stage 17: Wed 16 Sep, Ciudad Real - Talavera de la Reina, 193.6km Stage 18: Thu 17 Sep, Talavera de la Reina – Ávila, 165km Stage 19: Fri 18 Sep, Ávila - La Granja. Real Fábrica de Cristales, 179.8km Stage 20: Sat 19 Sep, Toledo – Toledo, ITT, 27.8km Stage 21: Sun 20 Sep, Rivas-Vaciamadrid – Madrid, 110.2km
Larsson Takes Poitou
Team SaxoBank’s Gustav Larsson has won his first ever stage race, taking the overall at the Tour de Poitou. The Swede won the tour’s time trial stage to put himself into the overall lead and then held onto the jersey for the final stage, won by Cervélo’s Heinrich Haussler.
A stage win and the overall was a pleasing result for SaxoBank, with director Bradley McGee praising the efforts of the team, saying When we reached the three final laps on the circuit we had five guys to do the crucial hard work to put Gustav in a good position for the final. A great team performance.”
Cervélo also had a successful race with Haussler and Hushovd winning stages and Aussie Brett Lancaster finishing second overall and the squad winning the team’s classification.
Stage 1: Aug 25, Chatelaillon - Plage to Aigre , 185.5km: Anthony Ravard (Ag2r) Stage 2: Aug 26, Rouillac to Saint Maixent L'Ecole, 183.5km: Jimmy Casper Stage 3: Aug 27, Monts sur Guesnes to Monts sur Guesnes (ITT) 22.6km: Larsson Stage 4: Aug 27, Monts sur Guesnes to Loudun, 98.5km: Thor Hushovd Stage 5: Aug 28, Atlansevre to Poitiers, 186.9km: Haussler
Final GC
1. LARSSON Gustav SAX ( SWE )
2. LANCASTER Brett CTT ( AUS ) at 29s
3. LELAY David AGR ( FRA ) at 33s
4. ROUSSEAU Nicolas ALM ( FRA ) at 37s
5. DEVENYNS Dries QST ( BEL ) at 40s
6. HAUSSLER Heinrich CTT ( GER ) at 41s
7. GALLOPIN Tony AUB ( FRA ) at 57s
8. KREDER Michel RB3 ( NED ) s.t.
9. JEGOU Lilian BSC ( FRA ) at 58s
10. FUCHS Sergei RB3 ( GER ) at 1m04s
Pozzato Prevails In Padova
Padova’s Prato della Valle – claimed by locals to be the biggest ‘town square’ in Europe – played host to both the start and finish of the 100th anniversary edition of the Giro del Veneto on Saturday.
Pippo Pozzato did his selection chances for the upcoming world championships by taking a strong win, on what was a hilly circuit, in front of national team boss Franco Ballerini.
Pozzatto was part of a breakaway group that formed on the final climb of the day, above the spa town of Abano Terme, and was strong enough to reel in a late breakaway attempt by Alessandro Proni (ISD) with Carlo Scognamiglio (Barloworld) taking second and Luca Paolini (Acqua&Sapone) beating home Proni for 3rd.
A mistake by Proni just after Pozzato passed him, where he appeared to sit up thinking that a traffic stop line was the finish, cost him a place on the final podium.
Transfers Madness
Well, after all the wild speculation, leaked info and “confirmed” rumours, tomorrow is the day when it can all come out in the open. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of point in continuing the speculation before then, so we’ll wrap up the big news in Thursday’s Euro Trash.
Of course, with all of the news available on Tuesday, expect to see some teams hang back a little to try and avoid their announcement s being lost in an avalanche of updates.
Keep an eye on PEZ this week too as our men on the ground catch up with the men responsible for paying the wages, to see their reasoning behind some of the big names that have changed squads this year.
Eyes On The Road
Something which has the potential to affect all of us - whether we are cyclists, pedestrians or drivers - is inattentive driving. As cell/mobile phone use increases year on year, (and with that, the number of people who seem to be able to justify to themselves, the use of their phone while driving) it seems like a good idea to ‘re-fresh’ the message in terms of Twitter usage, which is exactly the purpose of Don’t Tweet and Drive , a Web and Twitter based campaign.
Don’t Tweet and Drive’s Twitter feed ( @DontTwive ) provides real life examples of how inattention behind the wheel can be life threatening to others (as well as yourself) and carries updates of various laws related to sending text messages while driving.
It’s a message that we all should know (“we all” meaning everyone except the 100 or so people I see everyday doing it here in Italy), but sometimes a gentle reminder - maybe as the occasional message in your Twitter feed - can be a good thing to put that “important” phone call, text message or Tweet into perspective.
Check them out, sign up yourself, or fwd the link to a friend or co-worker who you feel might need a gentle refresher in the art of responsible driving.
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