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1/2 Ironman Astana Brad Kahlefeldt Cycling davide rebellin emma snowsill International Road Ironman ITU Javier Gomez Levi Leipheimer Marathon matt reed new york city marathon Olympic Olympics Paris Nice Running Slipstream Chipotle Swimming Tour de France Training triathlon Uncategorized vanessa fernandes
May 19, 2008
Battle over swimsuits moves to the courtroom
from the AP….
By PAUL NEWBERRY, AP Sports
With the Beijing Olympics less than three months away, the battle over swimsuits has turned into a lawsuit.
In a case sure to rock the swimming world, California-based TYR Sport went to federal court this week alleging that rival Speedo, manufacturer of the record-breaking “LZR Racer,” has conspired with USA Swimming to stifle competition and lure top U.S. athletes away from other companies.
The main issue: Speedo’s financial relationship with the sport’s American governing body and the head coach of the U.S. team, Mark Schubert.
May 14, 2008
Giro d’Italia Results - Stage 4
from RoadCycling….
Matt Cavendish (High Road) has won Stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia. The 21-year-old took a crash-marred sprint to win the rolling, 183-km run from Pizzo Calabro to Catanzaro-Lungomare. Robert Forster (Gerolsteiner) finished second, and Daniele Bennati (Lampre) took third. Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) remains the maglia rosa.
The hostilities began early. At the gun, Rik Verbrugghe (Cofidis) surged into the lead. He led the field by 8:33 at 50 km and 9:30 at 64 km. The Belgian’s advantage maxed out at 10:00. Liquigas, Milram, High Road, Euskaltel, and Quick Step went to the front and chiseled away at Verbrugghe’s lead.
Quick Step led the charge up the day’s final climb. The bunch reeled in Verbrugghe. Two Quick Steppers, Paolo Bettini and Kevin Seeldrayers, launched attacks but were reeled in. LPR Brakes, High Road, Lampre, Milram, and Liquigas took turns at the front to support their sprinters.
Milram led the field into the last km. A crash sent riders and bicycles flying. Nick Nuyens (Cofidis) abandoned with a broken collarbone. Nikolai Trussov (Tinkoff) received a cut that required three stitches to close, and Danilo Hondo (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni) suffered a contusion to his pelvis. Only 10 riders contested the finish.
Milram brought Erik Zabel (Milram) to the finish, but the German could not close the deal. Bennati started the sprint, but Cavendish and Forster passed the Italian on the left.
In the overall, Pellizotti (Liquigas) leads Christian Vande Velde (Slipstream) by 0:01 and Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes) by 0:07. Stage 5, a 203-km run from Belvedere Marittimo to Contursi Terme, has a rolling parcours that should allow an escape. Who will be in it? Will someone gain enough time to take the maglia rosa?
May 13, 2008
Giro d’Italia Results - Stage3
from the AP…
MILAZZO, Sicily (AP) — Daniele Bennati won the third stage of the Giro d’Italia on Monday in a massive sprint finish, and Liquigas teammate Franco Pellizotti held onto the overall lead.
Bennati avoided several crashes in the 137-mile leg from Catania to Milazzo to finish in 5 hours, 37 minutes, 1 second. Erik Zabel was second, followed by Danilo Hondo.
“I’ve won at the Tour (de France) and the (Spanish) Vuelta, but never at the Giro, so this is special,” Bennati said.
Pellizotti arrived with the main group of riders in the same time. He leads with an overall time of 11 hours, 52 minutes, 17 seconds.
The crashes were caused by a light rain fell part of the day. One involved about 30 cyclists including Riccardo Ricco, winner of Sunday’s stage and a pre-race favorite. He was expected to go to the hospital for X-rays on his hand.
“It’s probably broken, we’ll see,” Ricco said. “This course was too dangerous.”
Bradley McGee pulled out of the race after breaking his collarbone in a separate crash. He had been eighth in the overall standings going into Monday’s leg.
American David Zabriskie pulled out after a crash Sunday.
The Giro returns to the mainland Tuesday with a 114-mile course from Pizzo Calabro to Catanzaro Lungomare.
May 12, 2008
Giro d’Italia Results - Stage 2
Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval) has won Stage 2 of the Giro. The Italian surged into the lead in the last 100 m to take the rugged, 207-km ride from Cefalu to Agrigento in 5:48:35. Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes) and Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) finished second and third, respectively, while Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) took the maglia rosa.
After an early sally by Dioniso Galporoso (Euskaltel), Jeremy Roy (Francaise des Jeux) and David Loosli (Lampre) escaped at 37 km. The peloton did not lift a pedal to stop them, and at one point, the pair led by 10:10. The bunch woke up and reduced the fugitives’ advantage to 9:20 at 102.8 km, 8:15 at 122 km, and 4:40 at 146 km.
May 12, 2008
Race Results: Men’s 2008 Lisbon European Champs
Frederic Belaubre, the champion from 2006 and 2005, led a French gold-silver sweep at today’s Lisbon ETU Triathlon European Championships. Tony Moulai took the silver while Swiss Olivier Marceau grabbed the bronze in an exciting photo finish. Surprisingly, defending champion Javier Gomez finished in seventh place, more than a minute and a half behind the champion Belaubre. Today’s race marked the first since the world championships in 2006 that Gomez failed to make the podium, an impressive streak that stretched 16 races.
Brit Richard Stannard was first out of the water with Belaubre and Stephane Poulat on his heels. Not far back was Gomez who was 14 seconds behind Stannard.
Out onto the flat 40-kilometer bike course, 47 men made up the lead group until Marceau broke off the front and held a 5-second lead after the first lap. After being joined by Slovak Pavel Simko, another five men broke away to join them by the end of lap three, which proved to be the turning point in the race. That group included a strong cycling trio from France with Belaubre, Moulai and Poulat. The lead pack of seven powered away from the field and created much needed separation from a host of great runners including Gomez, Czech Filip Ospaly, Brit Will Clarke and Ivan Rana of Spain.
May 12, 2008
Race Results: Women’s 2008 Lisbon European Champs
Portugal’s prodigious Vanessa Fernandes won a record-breaking fifth consecutive European Championship today, taking gold with a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 46 seconds. Italian veteran Nadia Cortassa took the silver, her fourth career medal at European championships. Swede Lisa Norden continued her breakthrough season, out-sprinting last year’s bronze medalist Nicola Spirig of Switzerland down the stretch for the bronze.
“It was a dream today. There were lots of people giving me strength,” said Fernandes at the finish line. “It is very important for me to show these people in Portugal what triathlon is. I can show Portugal what Portuguese athletes can do.”
Joelle Franzmann of Germany led the women out of the water with the day’s fastest swim. She left T1 with a 20-second lead over her chasers which included Magali Di marco of Switzerland and Eva Dollinger of Austria. Fernandes was a further two seconds back. But Franzmann’s solo ride on the flat 40-kilometer bike course did not last long as the chase pack quickly caught, forming a 13-woman lead group. Not far behind was cycling powerhouse Spirig who brought herself and four others up with the leaders.
May 10, 2008
Giro d’Italia Results - Stage 1
Slipstream has won Stage 1 of the Giro d’Italia. The American squad smoked the technical, 23.6-km team time trial in Palermo in 26:32. CSC finished second at 0:06, and High Road took third, a fraction of a second behind CSC. Christian Vande Velde (Slipstream) is the 2008 Giro’s first maglia rosa.
Milram was the first team to start, and the German outfit posted a 27:17. Tinkoff bettered Milram’s time by 0:12 to set the early standard. Several teams made unsuccessful attempts to take the lead before Slipstream, which shed David Millar in the last km, blasted across the finish line with the day’s fastest time.
Astana finished next with a 27:01, and Euskaltel followed suit with a 27:49, the second slowest time of the day. (Francaise des Jeux’s 27:59 was the slowest.) CSC posted the day’s fastest time (until then) at the 10-km checkpoint, but Slipstream finished well and the Danish squad might have faded slightly. Barloworld had the fastest 10-km time of the day but faded more than CSC to finish fifth in 26:46. High Road shed Kanstantsin Siutsiu and waited for him, which might have made the difference between winning and losing.
In the overall, Vande Velde leads teammates Dave Zabriskie and Ryder Hesjedal by fractions of a second. Stage 2 will be a challenge for the American squad in its bid to keep the maglia rosa. The 207-km ride from Cefalu to Agrigento is hilly and will end with a four-km climb. Will the Slipstreamers keep the overall lead, or will someone take it from them? If the latter, then who? Check in at www.roadcycling.com and find out!
May 9, 2008
US Cyclists can punch tickets to Beijing in Giro d’Italia
from USAtoday…
The Giro d’Italia begins on Sunday in Palermo, but for American riders, the real impact of the world’s second-biggest stage race will be felt in Beijing.
That’s because the Giro — the Tour of Italy — is a qualifying event for the U.S. Olympic Road Cycling Team. A win in any of the race’s three individual time-trial stages or a top five overall finish is an automatic ticket to China.
Astana’s Levi Leipheimer already qualified through his third-place finish in the 2007 Tour de France when he was with the now-defunct Discovery Channel team. Leipheimer will be in the Giro, but is riding in support of Spaniard Alberto Contador, winner of the 2007 Tour de France and another former Discovery rider now riding for Johan Bruyneel’s new team.
Other former Discovery/U.S. Postal riders are in contention. David Zabriskie, formerly of Discovery and Team CSC, is now with Slipsteam-Chipotle, as is former Postie Christian Vande Velde.
May 9, 2008
Race Preview: 2008 Giro d’Italia
from RoadCycling….
The 2008 Giro d’Italia will be a climber’s race. The race has four time trials, but at 28.5 km, 36 km, 13.8 km, and 23.5 km, none is especially long. Only six of the 21 stages will be sprinter’s stages. Eight of the stages will be mountain or high mountain stages, so the climbers can be expected to shine.
The race will begin in Sicily. Stage 1 will be a 28.5-km team time trial in Palermo. Stage 2 will be a 207-km, rugged, hilly ride from Cefalu to Agrigento. The sprinters will get their first chance for glory in Stage 3, a flat, 208-km run from Catania to Milazzo.
The riders will transfer to the Italian mainland for Stage 4, a 187-km run from Pizzo Calabro to Catanzaro-Lungomare that will have a mountainous first half but that should end in a sprint. Three of the next four stages will be rolling affairs, with Stage 7, a 179-km ride from Vasto to Pestoconstanzo, being a mountain stage in the Apennines. Stage 8, a 200-km ride from Rivisondoli to Tivoli, should end in a great escape, while Stage 9, a flat, 194-km run from Civitavecchia to San Vincenzo, should see a sprinter win. Stage 10 will be a 36-km time trial from Pesaro to Urbino. The first of two rest days follows the time trial.
May 8, 2008
Race Results: 2008 St. Croix Ironman 70.3
from InsideTriathlon…
Laid back. That’s how most first-time visitors to St. Croix Ironman 70.3 describe the atmosphere. However, once the gun went off promptly at 6:30 a.m., the nearly 40 professional triathletes racing for the $50,000 prize purse, were anything but laid back. But when all was said and done, the day was déjà vu all over again … 2006. Can you say, “Aussie, Aussie”?
THE MEN
Craig Alexander loves St. Croix. He had won here each of the past two years, as well as in 2003, and a victory today would tie him with legendary Mike Pigg at four victories apiece. He would succeed (Pigg, by the way, came to St. Croix to help celebrate the 20th Anniversary of this classic race, and he competed in and won the Sprint race earlier in the morning).
