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Monday, 26 August 2013

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.”

Saturday, 24 August 2013

Nibali Aims forCycling Double

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Vincenzo Nibali is aiming to become the fourth rider to win the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana in the same year when the final three-week Grand Tour of the season starts in Spain on Saturday.

The Italian, 28, who won the Vuelta in 2010, claimed his second Grand Tour title by winning the Giro in May.

Colombia's Sergio Henao and Spanish pair Joaquin Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde are among his chief rivals.

Nibali said: "I've got nothing to prove after the Giro but I want to do well."

Only Belgian legend Eddy Merckx (1973), Giovanni Battaglin of Italy (1981) and Spain's Alberto Contador (2008) have won the Spanish race in the same year as winning its Italian equivalent.

The three-week race is not as prestigious as the Tour de France and Giro but still attracts the biggest names in the sport - although defending champion Contador and Chris Froome, who became the second British winner of the Tour in July , are not racing.

With Froome focusing on the world road race in Florence at the end of September, Team Sky have chosen Henao to lead a nine-man squad that features 23-year-old Luke Rowe as the solitary British rider - the only other British rider in the race is Andrew Fenn, also 23, who rides for the Omega Pharma - Quick Step team.

However, Nibali has ambitions of using the mountainous route as a warm-up for the world road race, which is also expected to suit the climbing specialists.

"It's important to do well because a lot of people will be watching my performance here as a guide to how well I can ride there," he said.

"If I feel in good enough shape to win and have an advantage of just a minute or two, then I will go for broke in a single stage somewhere.

"If I'm suffering so badly I'm barely able to keep up with the rest of the favourites, I'll do things differently."

Valverde won the Vuelta in 2009 and is likely to feature highly but it is fellow Spaniard Rodriguez who comes into the race in decent form.

The 34-year-old Catalan finished the 2012 season as the top-ranked cyclist but is yet to win a Grand Tour, having twice finished third in the Vuelta (2012 and 2010), second in last year's Giro and third on this year's Tour de France.

"Winning one [Grand Tour] before I retire would be the high point of my career," the Katusha rider told Spanish paper AS.

"It's the difference between having a good career, like mine, and a magnificent one."

This year's Vuelta begins with Saturday's 27.4km team time trial from Vilanova de Arousa to Sanxenxo in north-western Spain and features 11 summit finishes. The penultimate 20th stage takes in the gruelling climb of the Angliru, which has gradients approaching 24%.

The race finishes in Madrid on Sunday, 15 September.

Sunday, 4 August 2013

Wiggins Wins Polish Time Trial

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Sir Bradley Wiggins signalled a return to form with a hugely impressive win in the 37km time trial at the Tour of Poland.

The Brit, who won the Tour de France and Olympic time trial in 2012, recorded a time of 46 minutes and 36 seconds.

He smashed his nearest rival Fabian Cancellara, a four-time world time trial champion, by 56 seconds.

It was the final stage of the week-long race.

The Tour of Poland, now in its 70th year, had been the Team Sky rider's first competitive action since he withdrew part way through the Giro d'Italia in May.

He was unable to defend his Tour de France title, won by Team Sky's Chris Froome, because of a knee injury but his performance in his specialist discipline showed he was back to his best on an undulating course as he recorded his first win of the 2013 season.

"It was a fantastic performance," said Team Sky sports director Dan Hunt. "It was a real lesson in how to time trial. We went out this morning and researched the course and it was obvious that it suited Brad.

"The climbs suited him, the descents suited him and then it was a flying, rolling run-in into Krakow. He absolutely smashed it."

Wiggins is next due to compete in the Eneco Tour in Holland, from 12-18 August. He will then race in the Tour of Britain (15-22 September) with his main focus being the individual time trial at the Road World Championships on 25 September, which are being held in Florence in Italy.

In Poland he was performing mainly domestique duties for Team Sky team-mate Sergio Henao, who was third last year, but finished fifth after the seven stages this time around.

The Netherlands' Pieter Weening, of Orica Greenedge, was the overall winner after a superb time trial. He was 27 seconds behind leader Christophe Riblon before the start of the final stage but overhauled that deficit to win by 13 seconds.

Results of stage seven from Wieliczka to Krakow, 37 km

1. Bradley Wiggins (Britain / Team Sky) 46:36"

2. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland / RadioShack) +56"

3. Taylor Phinney (U.S. / BMC Racing) +1:14"

4. Marco Pinotti (Italy / BMC Racing) +1:20"

5. Kristof Vandewalle (Belgium / Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) +1:40"

6. Pieter Weening (Netherlands / Orica) +1:44"

7. Jon Izagirre (Spain / Euskaltel) +2:05"

8. Dominik Nerz (Germany / BMC Racing) +2:13"

9. Sergey Chernetsky (Russia / Katusha) +2:15"

10. Rafal Majka (Poland / Saxo - Tinkoff) +2:17"

Final General Classification: