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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 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
Astana invited into Giro lineup
From the AP…
GENEVA (AP)—Giro d’Italia organizers have invited the Astana team to compete in the race, reversing an earlier decision to ban it because of doping scandals.
Astana officials confirmed Saturday they are hurrying to get elite American rider Levi Leipheimer from California to Palermo, Sicily, for the start of the three-week race next Saturday.
“It is a good moment for us. When we were told in February that we were not invited it was a disaster,” Astana spokesman Philippe Maertens told The Associated Press.
Alberto Contador, winner of the 2007 Tour de France, will also be at the starting line for Astana. The had been shunned by cycling’s biggest events this year, including the Tour, for involvement in doping scandals. It was asked to leave the 2007 Tour after team leader Alexander Vinokourov tested positive for a blood transfusion.
The Kazakhstan-backed team brought in Johan Bruyneel, the Belgian who guided Lance Armstrong to seven Tour victories, as director to overhaul its image and operations. It also signed Contador.
April 30, 2008
Astana invited to Tour of Spain
from BikeRadar…
The Astana team will be allowed to contest this year’s Vuelta a España, the organiser Unipublic announced Tuesday.
After being refused entry to the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, the team of the 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador was expecting to target the Vuelta in the latter part of the season. The team had received a word of support from the Spanish Tour director Victor Cordero in February, but had to wait for the official invitation to be certain.
Of the 18 ProTour teams, only Team High Road is not on the list, having withdrawn its application for the race. Three wild card teams were invited, making a total of 20 teams for this year’s edition. The Spanish Karpin Galicia team of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey winner David Garcia Dapena earned a nod, as did the Andalucía - Cajasur team of sprinter Francisco Ventoso, a former Vuelta stage winner. The Tinkoff Credit Systems team rounds out the roster.
The Unipublic statement said that 33 teams had requested to be included in the 2008 edition and that the teams which were chosen “meet the necessary requirements in terms of ethics, image and administrative matters” and are categorized by the UCI as “wild card” teams – a label which requires teams to adhere to the biological passport program and other considerations.
April 28, 2008
Tour de Georgia - Final Results
from the AP…
ATLANTA — Kanstantin Sivtsov kept his tires full Sunday. The rest was easy.
Sivtsov, competing in his first race in the United States, survived a rash of flat tires on the streets of Atlanta to win the Tour de Georgia.
Sivtsov won the week-long Georgia race as his Team High Road teammate Greg Henderson won the 63-mile final stage — 10 laps on a 6.3-mile course.
The course in downtown Atlanta was swept before the race, but late-morning rain washed debris back onto the streets, possibly including broken glass from the March 14 tornado that hit downtown Atlanta. Windows in high-rise hotels and office buildings near Centennial Olympic Park — the site of Sunday’s start and finish — are still being replaced.
According to one estimate, there were 17 flat tires in the first 30 minutes of Sunday’s final stage.
“The problem was the rain was kicking up a lot of debris on the road,” Henderson said. “As the course dried out a little more, that stuff doesn’t stick to your tires as much.”
April 25, 2008
Tour de Georgia - Stage Four Results
from VeloNews…
Starting the day one man down after Timmy Duggan’s frightful crash on Wednesday, an inspired Slipstream-Chipotle won the Tour de Georgia’s stage 4 team time trial Thursday at the Road Atlanta automotive raceway.
Slipstream rode four laps of Road Atlanta’s rolling 2.5-mile racetrack in 19:36, 3.41 seconds faster than Astana, at an average speed of 29.14 miles per hour.
The High Road team of race leader Greg Henderson finished third, 5.2 seconds back. Henderson retained the race lead, and because of time bonuses during the first three stages now sits 15 seconds ahead of race favorites Tom Danielson and Trent Lowe and 19 seconds ahead of race favorite Levi Leipheimer.
April 24, 2008
Tour de Georgia - Stage Three Results
from VeloNews…
After two slight misfires, High Road’s heavy artillery got its coordinates dialed Wednesday, firing Greg Henderson into the yellow jersey with an explosive win on stage 3 of the Tour de Georgia. Toyota-United’s Ivan Dominguez, winner of stage 1, lost the leader’s jersey when he came off the group in the hilly closing circuits of Gainesville.
With less than a kilometer to go, George Hincapie wound up High Road’s lead-out with Tour Down Under winner André Greipel on his wheel. Greipel, a big sprinter himself, took over right before the crest of a hill at 300 meters to go. Henderson jumped on the fast, downhill finish and bombed across the line, Greipel on his flank and Slipstream-Chipotle’s Tyler Farrar just behind for third.
April 23, 2008
Tour de Georgia - Stage Two Results
from VeloNews…
A tender hand didn’t slow CSC’s J.J. Haedo in the sprint finale of the second stage of the Tour de Georgia. Haedo took a convincing win in Augusta ahead of High Road’s Greg Henderson, stage 1 winner Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) and Tyler Farrar (Slipstream-Chipotle).
Just a week out of a cast, Haedo is riding Georgia with his left hand heavily taped.
Tuesday’s flat to rolling stage from Statesboro concluded after two, 5-mile laps of Augusta that ventured across the Savannah River into South Carolina.
A few riders went down coming into the final corner, but the crash occurred about 15 riders back and didn’t disrupt the contenders. Toyota’s Henk Vogels and Dominique Rollin led out the sprint from almost 1km to go. Rollin took Dominguez out of the last corner, and Dominguez jumped with 200m to go. It was just a little too soon. After waiting on the wheel for a few pedal strokes, Haedo launched past Dominguez so fast that the pair joked afterwards about Dominguez’s helmet getting blown off.
By finishing third, Dominguez keeps the leader’s jersey for another day.
Read More
April 22, 2008
Tour de Georgia - Stage One Results
from VeloNews…
The sixth Tour de Georgia began Monday with a short and — for Toyota-United — sweet stage from Tybee Island into Savannah. Ivan Dominguez battled his way through the well-orchestrated lead-outs of Gerolsteiner and High Road to take a commanding sprint win on the 70.4-mile flat stage ahead of Jelly Belly’s Nic Sanderson and Gerolsteiner’s Robert Förster.
“With 2K to go I had my guys in front of me: [Ivan] Stevic, Henk [Vogels] and Dominque [Rollin],” Dominguez said. “I was telling them to keep it calm, that we go at the right time. At 1K Henk went, and at the same time [George] Hincapie went. So Henk got right on his wheel. At 500 meters Dominque went, and I was on him. He was going so fast I thought I would have a hard time coming around.
March 28, 2008
Contador denies rumors of team switch
From Velonews.... Defending Tour de France champion Alberto Contador denied rumors Friday he was preparing to jump ship to defend his title in July with another team. Moments after securing the overall title at the Vuelta a Castilla y León on Friday’s fifth and final stage, Contador told reporters he won’t change teams to race the Tour even though Astana has been denied entry into the race. “I won’t race the Tour with a team that’s not Astana. I hope that I can put an end to all these speculations and rumors that saw I will go to another team,” said Contador, who secured a 38-second victory to Mauricio Soler (Barloworld). “I want to be with my friends, with my team, and I only will race (the Tour) with them.” Read More
