Mine’s a double

Today’s Races: Luxembourg Stage 2

Tour of Luxembourg Stage 2
Another (relatively) flat stage allowed Greipel to take his second win in a row (he’s making a habit of this). GB’s Ben Swift came in second – which he tweeted he was pretty happy with. It’s good to see him doing well after his accident.

Stage Results:
2. SWIFT Ben +0.00
94. ROWE Luke +0.00
123. DOWSETT Alex +4.50

Top Brit in the GC is Ben Swift in 26th at +0.13

Tomorrow: Tour of Luxembourg Stage 3 (hilly finishing laps should see a selection. One for the classics riders and hill specialists)
Coming Soon: Critérium du Dauphiné (won By Brad Wiggins last year) 03/06/2012, Tour de Suiss 09/06/2012

Incredible! What a Stage!!!!!!! (not really)

Today’s Races: Luxembourg Stage 1

Tour of Luxembourg Prologue
A very short TT < 3kms meant small gaps and allowed the sprinters to stay close to the top. Dowsett looke resplendent in his GB champs jersey but could only finish 17th, there were also solid displays from Swift and Rowe.

Prologue results:
17 Alex Dowsett +10.63 seconds
27 Ben Swift +12.84 s
32 Luke Rowe +14.24s

Tour of Luxembourg Stage 1
A standard opener for the Luxembourg tour should favour a bunch sprint. Swift and Rowe will be working hard to stay in contention for a bunch sprint.
Grieple won the stage with Ben Swift in 9th the best GB finisher, he was leading out Sky’s fast finisher Appollonio. Rowe finished 49th and Dowsett finished 113 a little behind the bunch.

Tomorrow: Tour of Luxembourg Stage 2
Coming Soon: Critérium du Dauphiné (won By Brad Wiggins last year) 03/06/2012, Tour de Suiss 09/06/2012

Luxembourg…..it’s big enough for a road race?

Apparently so. The Tour of Luxembourg starts tonight with a short prologe. It’s quite a technical circuit so it may not necessarily favour the power men.
Brits in the race are: Alex Dowsett (Sky), Luke Rowe (Sky) and Ben Swift (Sky)
Ben Swift returns after being ruled out of the Giro in a training crash. Dowsett is a very good TTer and could feature high in stage rankings.

There are currently no ongoing cycling races.

Today is one of the few days that there are no UCI road races. It doesn’t happen often.

It’s all downhill from here…

Today’s Races: Giro Stage 18, An-Post Ras Stage 5, Tour of Belgium Stage 2, Bayern-Rundfahrt stage 2

Giro stage 18
A downhill stage runs from the mountains to the coast with a dead flat 5km straight run in, this is the last chance for sprinters to flex their muscles. Mark Cavendish sits only 1 point ahead of Rodriguez in the points competition (in the Giro mountian finishes also give points to the competition) so he’ll need to finish well up today in order to have a chance of taking the red jersey in Milan. Mark was obviously serious about this as he made the team chase down the break to take the intermediate sprint and the 8 points available. However it wasnt to be the perfect day as Guardini the Italian sprinter for Farenese-Vini pipped him on the line. Cav has got a decent lead to defend in the mountains but is relying on Rodriguez NOT winning both stages.

Stage 18 results
2. CAVENDISH Mark +0.00
31. THOMAS Geraint +0.00
161. STANNARD Ian +2.25

Overall
76. THOMAS Geraint +1.53.39
142. STANNARD Ian +3.09.46
149. CAVENDISH Mark +3.22.25

An Post Ras Stage 5
The first properly hilly stage with a category 1 climb, this should be a selective day in the Ras. And it turned out to be that as Thomas Rostollan (never heard of him either) achieved a solo victory ahead of a small bunch. Top Riding Brit is Richard Handley (Rapha Condor Sharp) in 5th place at +0.08

 Tour of Belgium Stage 2
The interest in toodays stage will be the kick in the tail as the last km is uphill. This kind of finish suits strong riders rather than quick ones (people like Gilbert or Hushovd).
Not enough of a kick to dissuade Greipel though – he won his second stage in a row.

Stage 2 results
15. BLYTHE Adam +0.00
29. FENN Andrew +0.00
80. McNALLY Mark +0.00

Bayern-Rundfahrt stage 2
A rolling stage will favour the breakaway but the sprint teams have a lot of firepower here. Although a number of teams haven’t brought a sprinter so there might be quite a few in the break. Team Sky clearly decided to not let the sprinters have their day and blew the peloton apart before firing Michael Rogers and Konstantin Suitsou up the road. Rogers took the win in the final sprint from a small group, he also took the race lead.

Stage 2 results
45. MILLAR David +0.23

Tomorrow: Giro stage 19 Actually a mountian stage (honest!) An Post Ras Stage 6 a second hilly stage with three cat 2s and a cat 1, Tour Of Belgium Stage 3 - another pan-flat stage for sprinting, Bayern-Rundfahrt stage 3 – a fast downhill sprint stage

*phew* a really busy week for the British peloton :S

Mountain High, Morale Low

Today’s Races: Giro Stage 17, An-Post Ras Stage 4, Tour of Belgium Stage 1, Bayern-Rundfahrt stage 1

Giro stage 17
A very mountainous stage with 4 categorized high passes. A day for the wee little men of the peloton to show off their climbing skills. Sadly not one for Pete Kennaugh who climbed off his bike after a few kms this morning. The race stayed pretty much together until the fnal climb when Basso and Liquigas (his team) drilled the pace and split the group down to around 11 riders. Then over the top Pozzovivo pushed on in the last 500m to drop all but 3 other riders. Uran and Scarponi managed to descend well and catch up. The final 6 sprinted it out for the stage and current Maglia Rosa (Pink Jersey) Rodriguez beat Basso on the line. Cavendish and the other Brits made it to the line within the time limit to ensure they could carry on to Milan.

Stage 17 results
107. STANNARD Ian +34.05
119. THOMAS Geraint +34.05
123. CAVENDISH Mark +38.26
DNF. KENNAUGH Pete *Abandoned*

Overall
78. THOMAS Geraint +1.53.41
142. STANNARD Ian +3.07.21
151. CAVENDISH Mark +3.22.43
N/A. KENNAUGH Pete +2.02.51

An Post Ras Stage 4
A lumpy but with a flat finish could see a small bunch sprint today. There is a bit of a climb (~10m) in the last 2kms but the last 500m is downhill.
Irishman David McCann finished 4th on the stage won by Mark Pederson with Brit Dale Appleby (Metaltek) in 6th. On GC Brits Richard Handley (Rapha) and James Moss (Node4) are in 2nd and 3rd on the same time.

Tour of Belgium Stage 1
Brits in the race: Adam Blythe (BMC), Andy Fenn (OPQS) and the An Post Sean Kelly team with a couple of Irish riders.
It’s Belgium = it’s flat! A race for sprinters I’d expect to see some of our young sprinters in the mix especially Andy Fenn after his showing in the 4(5) days of dunkirk.
A number of teams were putting in a shift for the sprint but while everyone was watching Greipel, Danil Napolitana snuck up to try and take it. The photo finish put Greipel ahead though. Adam Blythe finished 5th and Andrew Fenn in 15th. All on the same time.

Bayern-Rundfahrt stage 1
Brits in the race: David Millar (Garmin)
A relatively flat stage – an almost traditional opener for the sprinters, we should see a bunch gallop. Most teams have come with big teams of rouleurs (strong men) as the TT is usually decisive – as Geraint Thomas showed when he won this race last year. Thomas is not defending his title this year as he’s in Italy.
Stage was won by Petacchi from the bunch sprint. DM finished 27th and is 34th on GC at +0.10

Tomorrow: Giro stage (18) - Another big mountain stage oops I mean a flattish dowhill sprintfest. An Post Ras Stage 5, Tour Of Belgium Stage 2 - Flat stage with a kick in the tail, Bayern-Rundfahrt stage 2 – lumpy but with a long flat run in

*phew* a really busy week for the British peloton :S

Catching up again….

Again – apologies for the lack of blog. Busy weekend and evening meetings meant I just plain ran out of time.

Catching up:
The Giro GC race heated up over the weekend with a couple of big mountain finishes – the big story being Canadian Ryder Hesjedal swapping the Pink Jersey (Maglia Rosa) back and forth with Joachim Rodriguez, while Basso and Scarponi keep station a bit further back. Our Brits have been keeping in the bunch with Mark Cavendish managing to sneak in under the time limit to maintain his chances of winning the red sprinters jersey. Jeremy Hunts bid for last place came to an end on the rest day as he flew home to be at the birth of his child. All the best to the Hunt family!

An Post Ras
3 out of the top 4 on GC are Brits at the moment after a successful breakaway made it to the end. A number of the teams represented are also involved in the Halfords Tour Series (ITV4 at 8pm – go watch it!). It’s a good week for British Cycling fans!

Today’s Races: Giro Stage 16, An-Post Ras Stage 3, Tour Series: Oxford leg

Giro stage 16
A rolling ‘transitional’ stage today with a kick at the end meant that a sprint was unlikely but that the climbers were unlikely to gain much time and so would keep their powder dry for later mountain stages. As it was the finish was fought out between the breakaway for the win. None of the brits featured in the final although we did see Cav on the front taking a pull. Pehaps he’s making a case for being able to help Brad in the Tour as a domestique as well as an extraordinary sprinter

Stage 16 results
160. CAVENDISH Mark +13.18
166. THOMAS Geraint +13.18
167. STANNARD Ian +13.18
168. KENNAUGH Pete +13.18

Overall
74. THOMAS Geraint +1.19.36
119. KENNAUGH Pete +2.02.51
146. STANNARD Ian +2.33.16
156. CAVENDISH Mark +2.44.17

An Post Ras Stage 3
Another bunch sprint allowed GC leader Lang to maintain his position. Top “British” finisher today was Peter Hawkins (He’s Irish though) in 8th. Leading the British GC board is James Moss in 2nd at +0.00.

*Tour Series: Oxford
A tight and short circuit with 4 (four!) sharp bends will make this a very tricky circuit although perhaps not as technical as Durham’s cobbles
*I’ll post the results/report when I get a chance to see the race/read a report

Tomorrow: Giro stage (17) – Another big mountain stage.