Today we have a Vuelta overload with the trashcan simply bursting with hot, hot, hot news from Spain. We also have the latest from the other corners of the world though with the racing just as hot in Missouri, Pennsylvania, France, Britain and Slovenia!. It's all here and more in Monday's EuroTrash!
PEZ Podiums at Press Worlds!
Forget Contador at the Tour, don't even talk about Cavendish at San Remo and who cares about what's happening at the Vuelta? The most important result of the year was recorded in downtown Kranj in Slovenia yesterday as Pez's very own Matt Conn stepped onto the podium at the annual World Press Cycling Championships.
Matt scored a great 3rd place in the road race with an awesome sprint finish and if it wasn't for a pesky two rider breakaway up the road we would be able to put some rainbow stripes on the PEZ jersey! Maybe next year Matt?
Here's what Matt said: "It was a really hard and technical course and I was happy that I was able to get around in the front group. Once the break went, Austria and Italy played the tactical game and no one was really interested in chasing too hard. It was also a tough circuit to organise a chase on with most of the course run in single file.
"I was really pleased to be able to win a medal and to finish strongly. It's a long time since I have raced and even though it wasn't a "real" world championship level, I have the bug back and might race again sooner rather than later."
Check out the podium photo here and keep it tuned to Pez this week for Matt's full report.
Vino Amongst Many Now Out Of The Vuelta
Back to news from the pros now and they're dropping like flies at the Vuelta with the withdrawls list growing rapidly each stage. From the first rider to leave the Vuelta being Charlie Wegelius on Stage 4 to Sandy Casar leaving yesterday, let's check out all the withdrawls:
Stage 4: WEGELIUS, Charles
Stage 5: KISERLOVSKI, Robert, HORNER, Chris
Stage 6: GARCÍA - CASARRUBIOS, Óscar, ORTEGA, Manuel, KIRCHEN, Kim
Stage 8: SCHLECK, Andy, JEROME, Vincent, BERNAUDEAU, Giovanni
There are certainly some big names in that growing list including Vinokourov, the Schlecks and even three stage winners of this Vuelta in Simon Gerrans, Tyler Farrar and Fabian Cancellara.
Most riders seem to have retired from the race citing fatigue although some others have been unlucky with injuries such as Chris Horner on Stage 5. Others have used the old excuse we see every year at the Vuelta, 'I pulled out to concentrate on the Worlds'. Now this is always a problem for the Vuelta as by the time the peloton rolls into Madrid after three weeks of racing it's normally a pretty small bunch. Over at BBox Bouygues Telecom for example things must be pretty comfortable in the bus and no more sharing of rooms for the riders as the team has already lost 5 of its' riders. How many will actually make it to Madrid?
Danielson Still At The Vuelta But Far From Podium
Now one man who is still at the Vuelta is Tom Danielson. After looking like a real podium contender only a few short days ago, the Garmin rider is now far from the podium - still in 9th place overall but a surely insurmountable 8m28s down on Valverde.
Unfortunately for Danielson a stomach virus hit him hard on stage 13 and he was able to battle through the two tough weekend mountain stages but sessions spent on the toilet and throwing up are never conducive to quality racing. He has however managed to stay in the race and will now be trying to target a stage victory.
Cadel Not Happy
Cadel Evans was one very unhappy man after Saturday's mountain stage where he punctured at a very bad moment and then had the misfortune of the neutral service attend to his needs........if you could call their incompetent efforts at changing his wheel attending to his needs! Probably some of the worst service I've ever seen in fact. Cadel recounted the following on his website,
All good until a ridiculous misfortune when I punctured. Puncturing at that moment is bad luck, but the imbeciles from Shimano neutral service COULD NOT CHANGE MY WHEEL! Err...slight problem when the GC group is riding away from you on the second-last hilltop finish of the Vuelta. So of course the TV and photographers want to capture this dramatic moment. They then blocked the team whilst doing so, leaving Nick the quick-thinking team mechanic running up the hill through a traffic jam with my spare bike.Well at least I could continue....1:23 later.... Now I'm fourth at some 1:23 - by coincidence? After the BS I have been through just to get to this race, I am not so sure I deserved that."
Fair enough comments Cadel, it truly was a terrible performance. Check it out here on youtube if you want to see how NOT to change a wheel!
Greipel Loses His Points Lead
Saturday's tough mountain stage at the Vuelta won by David Moncoutie was a bad day for many - with not just Danielson and Evans having a sad story to tell at the end of the day, but also points leader Andrei Greipel. Greipel finished in the middle of the grupetto as the sprinters often do, but the problem was that the grupetto finished OUTSIDE the time limit!
Luckily for Greipel and the 53 others in the group the race jury decided to extend the time limit for the day, thus ensuring that Greipel and co. stayed in the race. The jury did however decide to punish the group for not riding quickly enough by docking each rider in the group 25points in the points competition. Most of the riders in the group couldn't care less about this - but not Greipel who saw his lead dramatically reduced on Saturday.
Unfortunately for the big German after Sunday's stage the next day, Alejandro Valverde then took the green jersey away from him thanks to his 5th place finish. Valverde now leads Greipel in the points competition by 6 points, although Greipel will continue to wear the green jersey as Valverde has a more important jersey to wear - for the moment! Could these 25 points lost by Greipel cost him the entire competition by the time the peloton reaches Madrid?
From Football To Cycling
Now one last Vuelta related story for today - the story of Sergio Dominguez. Never heard of him? Well, me neither until the Spanish media reported the fairytale story of the young rider from the Contentpolis squad this week.
Sergio was a football player just three years ago when he decided to give cycling a go at the age of 19 years. He sold his car to finance the purchase of his bike and then started to accompany his father to the local cyclosportive events. Sergio adapted quickly to his new sport and after only two years of racing in the amateurs he was able to win the silver medal at the Spanish championships in the U/23 time trial. This result was good enough for the small Contentpolis squad to offer him a contract and now less than a year later he is racing against the world's best at the Vuelta! Sergio is currently in 139th on GC nearly 2h30m down on Valverde but still in the race and having the time of his life!
Goss Sprouts in Brussels
Now from an unhappy Aussie in Cadel Evans to a very happy one in Matty Goss (Saxo Bank). Goss won the semi-classic Paris-Brussels on Saturday in a hard fought finish ahead of fellow Aussie Alan Davis (Quickstep) and Belgian Kristof Goddaert (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator). Goss follows on from Robbie McEwen's win last year continuing the Aussie winning ways at the semi classic - McEwen has won the race an amazing 5 times! Could Goss one day match Robbie's amazing efforts at this race? Well at only 23 years old Goss certainly has time on his side.
Tour of Britain Underway
The action has started in the Tour of Britain and it was team of the moment, Garmin who took their third win in 24 hours with Chris Sutton taking stage 1 in a sprint finish and with it the yellow jersey.
Stage 2 was a different story though as Garmin was unable to control the lead with Kai Reus (Rabobank) taking the victory and the yellow jersey after attacking his breakaway mates with 12kms to go to win solo.
General Classification After Stage 2:
1) Kai Reus (Rabobank)
2) Chris Sutton (Garmin) @ 16s
3) Alexander Kristoff (Joker Bianchi) @ 19s
4) Michel Merlo (Barloworld) @ 20s
5) Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia) @ 21s
Tour de l'Avenir
Frenchman Romain Sicard wrapped up the Tour de l'Avenir yesterday with a solid victory over USA's Tejay Van Gaderen. Sicard started strongly in the 'baby' Tour de France breaking away on the 1st stage with fellow countrymen and early yellow jersey holder Julien Berard to take a 1m25s lead over the rest of the field before the racing in the mountains even began.
Once into the mountains Sicard took the jersey from his less gifted climbing countrymen and then rode solidly to defend his lead. Ok, a bit more than solidly actually - Sicard won the Stage 8 time trial over Tejay Van Gaderen to cement his victory and to prove to the rest of the race that he was the strongest. An excellent result for Sicard and for France. Also a great 2nd place on GC for Team Columbia bound Van Gaderen to back up from his 9th place last year.
Champion To Ag2r
The appropriately named current French road race champion, Dimitri Champion will be taking his tricolour jersey to the team of AG2R-La Mondiale in 2010 after the team confirmed on the weekend the signing. After riding for two years with Bouygues Telecom in 2007 & 2008 Champion made the step down to the Continental ranks this year with the Bretagne Armor Lux squad and promptly had his best season ever with the major highlight being the French championship in June. Now wearing the tricolour jersey Champion wanted to get back into the ProTour and onto a team that could race the Tour de France again - hence the move to Ag2r.
Zabriskie The New King Of Missouri
David Zabriskie has continued the winning ways for Garmin this weekend by winning the overall at the Tour of Missouri yesterday. Zabriskie wrapped up the overall with a convincing win in the Stage 5 time trial over Saxo Bank's Gustav Larsson and Tom Zirbel (Bissell). For GC it was Zabriskie over Larsson and HTC's Marco Pinotti- who stole a time bonus and the 3rd podium step in the final stage.
Another quality race in Missouri and another great result for Garmin - what a week for JV's squad! First Farrar at the Vuelta, then Ryder at the Vuelta, CJ Sutton in Britain and Zabriskie in Missouri that's more wins in one week than some other teams have had the entire season!
Final General Classification:
1. 2 USA 19790112 ZABRISKIE David Garmin-Slipstream GRM 22.26'56"
2. 32 SWE 19800920 LARSSON Gustav Team Saxo Bank SAX 22.27'26" 30"
3. 17 ITA 19760225 PINOTTI Marco Team Columbia-HTC THR 22.27'38" 42"
4. 83 USA 19781030 ZIRBEL Tom Bissell Pro Cycling BPC 22.27'40" 44"
5. 51 ITA 19850317 CATALDO Dario* Quick Step QST 22.27'58" 1'02"
6. 22 USA 19731024 LEIPHEIMER Levi Astana AST 22.28'05" 1'09"
7. 81 USA 19780922 JACQUES-MAYNES Ben Bissell Pro Cycling BPC 22.28'09" 1'13"
8. 52 BEL 19851010 CORNU Dominique* Quick Step QST 22.28'11" 1'15"
9. 36 DEN 19800116 BAK Lars Ytting Team Saxo Bank SAX 22.28'12" 1'16"
10. 92 AUS 19820208 SUTHERLAND Rory Ouch Presented By Maxxis OCM 22.28'18" 1'22"
Univest Action!
The action wasn't just in Missouri stateside this weekend though but also in Pennsylvania where the 2 stage Univest GrandPrix started on Friday with a team time trial which was held in tough, windy conditions.
It was the Italian squad, Amore & Vita squad who best endured the tough conditions though in the Allentown time trial taking the win from the Felt - Garmin U23 team by 12s. This win put Amore & Vita's Philip Mamos in the leader's yellow jersey and with a strong squad backing him before Saturday's road stage Mamos was looking good for the overall title also.
It was his teammate though, Ukranian National Champion, Volodomyr Starchyk who took the overall title after winning the 2nd stage and thus relegating Mamos to 2nd place overall. All in all a great weekend for the Amore & Vita squad and good preperation for their riders who are heading back to Europe for the upcoming World Championships.
Final General Classification:
1. Volodymyr STARCHYK (UKR) AMORE & VITA/DETWEILER HERSHEY & ASSOCIATES 0:00:00
2. Philipp MAMOS (GER) AMORE & VITA/DETWEILER HERSHEY & ASSOCIATES
3. Patrik STENBERG (SWE) TEAM CYKELCITY/KLEHR HARRISON 0:00:13
4. Vladislav BORISOV (RUS) AMORE & VITA/DETWEILER HERSHEY & ASSOCIATES 0:00:29
5. Sebastian BALCK (SWE) TEAM CYKELCITY/KLEHR HARRISON 0:00:42
6. David BOILY (CAN) TEAM QUEBEC 0:00:45
7. Bjorn SELANDER (USA) TREK LIVESTRONG 0:00:46
8. Jonathan MCCARTY (USA) OUCH P/B MAXXIS 0:00:50
9. Matthew BUSCHE (USA) KELLY BENEFITS STRATEGIES 0:00:52
10. Alister RATCLIFF (USA) BIKEREG.COM/CANNONDALE 0:01:04
No Dortmund 6 Day This Year
In yet another blow for the track cycling scene and German cycling in general, the famous Dortmund 6 day race previewed for the 29th October has been cancelled due to a lack of funds. Apparently there was a shortfall of 300,000 Euros in the budget and despite numerous efforts by the organisers they simply couldn't come up with the funds in time to guarantee the 68th running of the event.
No Money, No Worlds
The French are complaining long and hard to anyone who will listen at the moment about only being able to send 6 riders to the World Chamionships this year as they feel that they genuinely deserve the traditional 9 places. The problem is that they are no longer ranked in the top 10 nations in the world therefore they do not qualify nine riders. The former super power of the sport is not too happy about that fact either.....
At least France CAN send 6 riders to the championships as unlike some countries, their federation has the money to do so. Perhaps the French should spare a thought for poor old Costa Rica who have the money to only send 3 U/23 riders to their race - and that was only made possible through a private sponsorship deal. Okay, the chances of a Costa Rican rider winning the titles in the men's pro race would have to be fairly low - but they do have one rider in particular who wanted to race in Andrey Amador (Caisse d'Epargne) but he was refused the opportunity as the federation could not pay for his ticket and hotel! With a grand total of zero Costa Rican riders now looking at starting the Championships the odds for a Costa Rican victory have increased dramatically!
RentaBikeNow Expands!
RentaBikeNow.com expands their coast-to-coast bike rental service to 167 North American cities. The website helps travelers easily find and reserve quality bicycles from hundreds of participating bike shops before they travel throughout the US and select cities in Canada.
By simply selecting a destination and travel dates, travelers can search among available bikes and reserve the specific model that suits their size and riding style. Bikes are presented with specs, photos, pricing and shop hours to help travelers find the perfect bike and most convenient bike shop. Participating shops determine pricing and bike selection, which varies by location. Online reservations are as easy as booking a hotel or rental car and requires a refundable reservation deposit fee with PayPal or major credit card. Pay the balance when you pick up the bike. RentaBikeNow.com even provides a printed confirmation with a map to the store. Check out the RentaBikeNow.com website here.
Chris Selden is an Aussie living in France who has lived the life of a bike rider racing around the world but now prefers to enjoy his bike racing, watching from the side of the road sipping a cold drink or from the press room with a café!
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Chris Selden is an Aussie living in France who has lived the life of a bike rider racing around the world but now prefers to enjoy his bike racing, watching from the side of the road sipping a cold drink or from the press room with a café!
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