Cavendish Conquers Tour of Qatar

Mark Cavendish claimed his first win of 2016 with victory on the opening stage of the Tour of Qatar on Monday.

The 30-year-old, riding for Team Dimension Data, won stage one to Al Khor Corniche in a sprint finish from Sacha Modolo (Lampre) and Andrea Guardini (Astana).

Cavendish leads overall by eight seconds due to time bonuses. It is a big year for Cavendish, who hopes to add to his 26 Tour de France stage successes and is also bidding for an Olympic medal on the track.

Cavendish spent much of the winter in the velodrome preparing for the six-discipline omnium as he seeks an elusive medal at what would be his third Olympics, if selected.

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Nibali Wins Il Lombardia

Vincenzo Nibali won Il Lombardia in style on Sunday to claim his first Monument one-day classic victory. The Astana rider, who was thrown out of the Vuelta last month for holding on to a team car, attacked on the penultimate descent and never looked back.

Spain’s Dani Moreno (Katusha) and the Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), who jumped away from the group of favourites on the last climb to lead the chase, finished second and third, 21 and 32 seconds back respectively after 245km from Bergamo.

“It was a fantastic day, the whole team worked very well,” said Nibali, who was sheltered by Diego Rosa in the last part of the race, one of the five Monument classics along with Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Nibali’s previous best result in the Monuments was third place on Milan-San Remo and second in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2012.

“I tried to attack on the climb but I realised I had to do it differently,” he added.

Nibali attacked on the ascent of the Civiglio but was reined in by Pinot. He attacked again on the downhill and no rider was able to follow the Italian, one of the best descenders in the world. Pinot and Moreno were stronger than the rest of the top riders on the final climb but failed to close the gap, which increased on the last downhill.

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Tony Gallopin to Stage 11 Victory

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Tony Gallopin, of Lotto-Belisol, won stage 11 of the Tour de France from Besancon to Oyonnax.

Gallopin broke away with about 1.5km to go and stayed clear with German John Degenkolb claiming second place in a sprint ahead of Italian Matteo Trentin.

The top of the general classification leaderboard remained unchanged.

Astana's Vincenzo Nibali keeps the yellow jersey as the overall leader - two minutes and 23 seconds ahead of Team Sky's Richie Porte.

Garmin-Sharp team leader Andrew Talansky, who won the Criterium du Dauphine last month and had been considered an outside contender for the Tour before its start, came close to being eliminated however.

The American, suffering with an injured back, was left behind by the peloton with about 80km to go and stopped by the roadside for several minutes to discuss the possibility of abandoning with Garmin-Sharp manager Robbie Hunter.

Talansky continued in tears and, encouraged by shouts from the team car and spectators, completed the rest of 187.5km (116.5 miles) alone, finishing inside the time limit, but 32 minutes and five seconds after the victorious Gallopin.

He is now more than 47 minutes adrift of Nibali overall.

Cannondale's Peter Sagan had seemed well set as the day's racing reached its final kilometres, but a stage win, to add to his huge lead in the green jersey standings, continues to elude the Slovakian.

After a game attack by Irish Tinkoff-Saxo rider Nicolas Roche had been swallowed up, Sagan was in a three-man group that caught leader Gallopin with less than five kilometres to go.

Stage 11 result

1. Tony Gallopin (France / Lotto-Belisol) 4:25:45

2. John Degenkolb (Germany / Giant) same time

3. Matteo Trentin (Italy / Omega Pharma - Quick-Step)

4. Daniele Bennati (Italy / Tinkoff - Saxo)

5. Simon Gerrans (Australia / Orica)

6. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spain / Movistar)

7. Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium / BMC Racing)

8. Samuel Dumoulin (France / AG2R)

9. Peter Sagan (Slovakia / Cannondale)

10. Kevin Reza (France / Europcar)

General classification after stage 11

1. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Astana) 46:59:23

2. Richie Porte (Aus/Team Sky) +2mins 23secs

3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +2mins 47secs

4. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R) +3mins 01secs

5. Tony Gallopin (Fra/Lotto-Belisol) +3mins 12secs

6. Thibaut Pinot (Fra/FDJ) +3mins 47secs

7. Tejay van Garderen (US/BMC) +3mins 56secs

8. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra/AG2R) +3mins 57secs

9. Bauke Mollema (Ned/Belkin) +4mins 8secs

10. Jurgen van den Broeck (Bel/Lotto-Belisol) +4mins 18secs

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Matthews Makes Vuelta Mark

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Australia's Michael Matthews sprinted to victory on stage five of the Vuelta a Espana as Vincenzo Nibali retained the race leader's red jersey.

Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) jumped on the lead-out train of rival team Argos-Shimano inside the final 1km and then launched a decisive burst for the line with 200m to go.

The 22-year-old came under pressure as a clutch riders fought back at him, but he held on to beat Ariel Richeze (Lampre-Merida) into second and Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) into third.

Nibali (Astana) crossed the line in the main bunch to retain his three-second lead in the general classification over Chris Horner (RadioShack-Leopard).

Matthews said afterwards: "After a few moments, it sunk in what I had really done. A few tears came out after that. This is the biggest win of my career. The team was super impressive today. They did their job perfectly so I could do mine."

Argos fall short

The day took the peloton on a 174.3km route from Sober to Lago de Sanabria in north-western Spain and although it took in two category-three climbs, a flat run to the finish laid the platform for a bunch sprint.

Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Winner Anacona (Lampre-Merida), Jurgen van de Walle (Lotto-Belisol), Arnaud Courteille (FDJ) and Antonio Piedra (Caja Rural) formed a five-man breakaway and built up a lead of over 10 minutes, but with the second of the climbs coming arriving too far out to deter the sprinters, their plight was always doomed.

Courteille nevertheless attacked on a small, uncategorised rise in the road 10km out and although Van de Walle later joined him, the duo were unable to stay away and were eventually swallowed up with 3.4km remaining.

Omega Pharma - Quick-Step and Orica-GreenEDGE had done the bulk of work in bringing the break back, but Argos-Shimano soon took charge and led the peloton into the final 1km and then around a tight right-hand turn with 600m remaining.

Matthews had by now abandoned his own team's train and moved into Argos-Shimano's slipstream, and he then surged clear to claim the biggest win of his career.

Stage five result

1 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEDGE, 4:28:22 

2 Ariel Richeze (Arg) Lampre-Merida, same time 

3 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step, st 

4 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Argos-Shimano, st 

5 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Sharp, st 

6 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky, st 

7 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ, st 

8 Greg Henderson (NZ) Lotto-Belisol, st 

9 Daniele Ratto (Ita) Cannondale, st 

10 Grega Bole (Slo) Vacansoleil-DCM, st 

Selected others 

21 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar, st 

29 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha, st 

35 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, st

General classification

1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, 18:43:52 

2 Chris Horner (USA) RadioShack-Leopard, +3secs 

3 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Saxo-Tinkoff, +8 

4 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) RadioShack-Leopard, +16 

5 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar, +21 

6 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) RadioShack-Leopard, +26 

7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Team Sky, +28 

8 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha, +31 

9 Rafal Majka (Pol) Saxo-Tinkoff, +38 

10 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Saxo-Tinkoff, +42

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Roche Seizes Sunday Stage

La Vuelta 2013

Nicolas Roche clinched a solo stage victory and moved into second overall as favourite Vincenzo Nibali seized the lead in the Vuelta a España on Sunday’s first mountain top finish .

After overnight leader and Astana team-mate Janez Brajkovic of Slovenia lost contact with the front group on the final kilometre, Nibali now leads by eight seconds on Roche, with Spain’s Haimar Zubeldia in third.

“Today was a key day and it worked out perfectly,” Nibali, winner of this year’s Giro d’Italia, said afterwards.

“This final climb wasn’t really a good one for me, it wasn’t steep enough and I was basically following other guys’ back wheels rather than trying to attack,” the Italian, Vuelta winner in 2010, added.

“But my condition is good and I wanted to make the most of it. I had great support from my squad all the way up the climb, (Dane Jakob) Fugslang was with me and I can be very satisfied.”

Asked if he had not taken the leader’s jersey too early in such a grueling three-week race which has ten mountain top finishes to come, Nibali said: “We’ll just have to go on the day by day, and see what happens.

“Right now, I’m just pleased to be where I am.”

Nibali’s Astana squad had kept the pace high prior to the second stage’s main challenge, the final 11-km ascent to the Alto do Monte da Groba, a climb rearing high above Spain’s Atlantic coastline in the region of Galicia.

Three early attackers on the stage, New Zealand’s Greg Henderson, Dane Alex Rasmussen and Spaniard Francisco Aramendia fell back exhausted on the climb’s lower slopes as Spanish squad Movistar helped Astana pile on the pressure.

As the riders climbed through dense eucalyptus and pinewoods, the high pace saw two favourites, Spain’s Samuel Sanchez and Colombian Sergio Henao, slide out of a group of 25 before Roche attacked for his first Grand Tour victory in the last kilometre.

“This is really liberating for me, I’ve only won eight races in my career but I’ve had so many second places,” said Roche, whose father Stephen won the Tour de France in 1987.

“Roche is the rider who’s always in the front but never able to win. I’m over the moon.”

The fifth Irishman to win a stage of the Vuelta a Espana, Roche added: “I did the Tour this summer working for (Spanish team-mate) Alberto (Contador), but I’ve always had the Vuelta as a target for the last five years and this year was no different.

“I might finish fourth, fifth or sixth overall in Madrid, but this is what counts for now.”

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Astana Win Vuelta Time Trial

Vincenzo Nibali's Astana won the opening team time trial of the Vuelta a Espana to put Janez Brajkovic into the race leader's red jersey.

Astana won the 27.4km stage from Vilanova de Arousa to Sanxenxo in 29 minutes 59 seconds - 10 seconds clear of RadioShack Leopard.

Omega Pharma-QuickStep, featuring world time-trial champion Tony Martin, were six seconds further back in third.

Team Sky were led over the line 22 seconds adrift by Welshman Luke Rowe.

"It was a great time trial," said 28-year-old Nibali, who won the Giro d'Italia earlier this season.

"The team was fantastic. My condition is very good but the Vuelta is very hard and long, and has some very important stages. We'll have to see day by day."

Sunday's stage covers 177.7km from Pontevedra to Alto Do Monte Da Groba, featuring the first summit finish of the race.

The Vuelta is the final three-week Grand Tour of the season and finishes in Madrid on Sunday, 15 September.

Result of team time trial

1. Astana (Kaz) 29 minutes 59 seconds

2. RadioShack (Lux) +10"

3. Omega Pharma-Quick-Step (Bel) +16"

4. Team Sky (GB) +22"

5. Movistar (Sp) +29"

6. Saxo-Tinkoff (Den) +32"

7. NetApp (Ger) +35"

8. BMC Racing (US) +36"

9. Orica (Aus) +45"

10. Belkin (Ned) +49"

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