by Lawrence Bywater | Sep 26, 2014
Credit http://www.mundialciclismoponferrada.com
Once every year during the road cycling season trade team contracts are tossed aside (in most cases) to be replaced by national loyalties. This presents opportunities for some, barriers for others. The stripey jumper which awaits the winner of this world’s road race championships will make or break a riders season, or maybe even their career. No other one day race can hold this title.
The course has been muted as the most open in years and really no one can predict how the race could finish. With no beginning ‘neutral zone’ and the race immediately starting on the 18.2km circuit it will undoubtedly be a hard race, a war of attrition. The first climb is relatively easy, and effort where team support can be crucial, the second is much tougher with sections at around 10%. The descent after, could also be vital, as a solo attack over the top of the climb could be successful as there is only short run into the finish after the descent as finished. So a solo victor as occurred in today’s men’s U23 race or a sprint from a small group? Who knows let’s have a look at the main contenders.
- Simon Gerrans – the bookies favourite but as the race is so wide open does he really deserve the tag? Should he hold his form that brought him a Canadian double then certainly he should be there or there abouts. The Australian team is very strong but Gerrans is a rider who goes well under the radar and perhaps that could be his downfall.
- Fabian Cancellara – Skipping the time trial, Cancellara has pushed all his chips onto the table for this race. He hasn’t raced a road race since 3rd on stage 17 of the Vuelta. He has the sprint from a small group and the strength to drop a larger one. Certainly a big chance!
- Alejandro Valverde – Best placed of the home contenders could Valverde finally add the rainbow jersey to his palmares. Two things work against him. The course probably isn’t hard enough for him and secondly can the Spanish finally ride as team after last years debacle.
- Peter Sagan – The Sagan conundrum! Where to start? It really hasn’t been his year and he looked woefully undercooked at the Vuelta. Pretty much any course can suit him but does he have the tactical nouse to suceed? For sure he will have to do this alone as Slovakia will be overrun by the large nations.
- Greg Van Avermaet – The Belgian has flown down the betting odds in recent days after two wins in his last two races. He nearly succeeded in Flanders this year and he seems to be shedding his eternal second tag.
The Worlds is so wide open and there can always be a left field winner. Here are few other names to throw in the mix. John Degenkolb was a favourite until he was lain low by a leg infection after a crash in the Vuelta. If the race ends up in a small sprint there is no reason why he should not prevail. Same for Alex Kristoff, Ben Swift and Sonny Colbrelli. Both were podiums at Milan San-Remo whose course the Ponferrada circuit has most been likened too. Tony Gallopin has probably lost his surprise after a successful Tour de France and the course has been muted as a step too far for Nacer Bouhanni. Dan Martin is a good one day racer and is coming off the back of some solid Vuelta form whilst Tom Jelte Slagter leads a versatile Dutch team and how about Alex Howes?
For whats it’s worth here is my 1-2-3.
1. Alexander Kristoff
2. Greg Van Avermaet
3. Fabian Cancellara.
Whose your winner. Get in contact on Twitter at @CyclingShortsUK or @BywaterLawrence
by Anna Magrath | Sep 26, 2014
©Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com – The Rigmar Racers’ Callum Skinner wins Gold in the Men’s 1000m Time Trial final.
Results from day two of competition at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester where Jess Varnish successfully defended her 500m time trial title and Callum Skinner became national kilometre time trial champion. There were also gold medals for Jonathan Gildea in the para-cycling pursuit (C1-5 mixed) and Lora Turnham and Corrine Hall (pilot) (Matrix Fitness – Vulpine) in the para-cycling pursuit (BVI mixed).
Women’s 500m Time Trial
Gold: Jessica Varnish (Team V-Sprint Racing) 34.419
Silver: Victoria Williamson (VC Norwich) 34.897
Bronze: Katy Marchant (Unattached) 35.012
Men Kilometre Time Trial
Gold: Callum Skinner (The Rigmar Racers) 1.01.843
Silver: Matthew Crampton (Srint-Team) 1.02.636
Bronze: Matthew Rotherham (Sportcity Velo) 1.03.497
Para-cycling Pursuit
C1-5 Mixed
Gold: Jonathan Gildea (Seamons CC) 4.49.589 (factored time 4.49.589)
Silver: Jaco van Gass (Team Battle Back) 5.05.162 (factored time 5.00.798)
Bronze: Louis Rolfe (Cambridge CC) 4.13.464 (factored time 5.02.433)
BVI Mixed
Gold: Lora Turnham and Corrine Hall (pilot) (Matrix Fitness – Vulpine) 3.39.860 (factored time 4.17.119)
Silver: Rhiannon Henry (Abergavenny RC) and Lauryn Therin (pilot) (Bonito Squadra Corse) 3.49.629 (factored time 4.28.122)
Bronze: Steve Bate and Adam Duggleby (pilot) (Wheelbase MGD) 4.30.313 (factored time 4.30.313)
The championships continue tomorrow and over the weekend. Tickets are still available for a selection of sessions across Friday 26 – Sunday 28 September at www.ticketmaster.co.uk/britishcycling
by Anna Magrath | Sep 25, 2014
©Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com – 24/09/2014 – Wiggle Honda in action (Laura Trott, Dani King, Elinor Barker, Joanna Rowsell) Women’s Team Pursuit qualification.
Results from day one of competition at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester where the Wiggle Honda quartet of Laura Trott, Dani King, Joanna Rowsell and Elinor Barker successfully defended their team pursuit title, the 100% ME team of Germain Burton, Chris Latham, Chris Lawless and Oliver Wood took gold in the men’s team pursuit and there were victories for double para-cycling world champions Sophie Thornhill and Rachel James (pilot) in the para-cycling time trial (BVI mixed) and 13-year-old Lauren Booth in the para-cycling time trial (C1-5 mixed).
Women’s Team Pursuit
Gold: Wiggle Honda (Elinor Barker, Danielle King, Joanna Rowsell and Laura Trott 4.27.324
Silver: Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International (Katie Archibald, Ciara Horne, Dame Sarah Storey and Anna Turvey 4.33.657
Men’s Team Pursuit
Gold: 100% ME (Germain Burton, Christopher Latham, Christopher Lawless, Oliver Wood) 4.09.120
Silver: NFTO (Jonathan Mould, Russell Downing, Samuel Harrison, Adam Blythe) caught in 2.57.483
Bronze: The Rigmar Racers (Alistair Rutherford, Philip Trodden, Finlay Young and Ryan Fenwick 4.38.457
Para-cycling Time Trial
C1-5 Mixed 500m/1000m
Gold: Lauren Booth (Newport Youth Velo CC 40.654 (factored time 1.06.784)
Silver: Jonathan Gildea (Seamons CC) 1.09.835 (factored time 1.09.835)
Bronze: Jaco van Gass (Team Battle Back) 1.13.131 (factored time 1.12.085)
BVI Mixed 1000m
Gold: Sophie Thornhill (Performance Cycle Coaching) and Rachel James (pilot) (Aberygavenny RC) 1.09.804 (factored time 1.01.225)
Silver: Neil Fachie (Performance Cycle Coaching) and Peter Mitchell (pliot) (Performance Cycle Coaching) 1.01.953 (factored time 1.01.953)
Bronze: Laura Cluxton (Rock And Road Cycles) and Louise Haston (pilot) (City of Edinburgh RC) 1.14.032 (factored time 1.04.933)
The championships continue. Tickets are still available for a selection of sessions across Friday 26 – Sunday 28 September at www.ticketmaster.co.uk/britishcycling
Full results:
by Anna Magrath | Sep 14, 2014
Sir Bradley Wiggins, Team Sky
Garmin Sharp’s Dylan Van Baarle clinched overall victory at the Friends Life Tour of Britain, as Marcel Kittel book ended the race with a stage victory in central London.
The Giant Shimano rider outsprinted Mark Cavendish on Whitehall in the sprint battle that British spectators had been waiting all week to see, with Kittel just edging Cavendish, ahead of Italian Nicola Ruffoni.
Behind Van Baarle crossed the line in 29th position to seal overall victory by ten seconds over Michal Kwiatkowski, who also took the Chain Reaction Cycles Points Jersey, with Sir Bradley Wiggins taking third overall, 22 seconds down, having won the morning’s 8.8-kilometre individual time trial.
Wiggins had taken victory in the time trial ahead of Sylvain Chavanel and Steve Cummings, clocking a 9:50:71 around the London circuit. Meanwhile Van Baarle finished eleventh, 25 seconds back, ceding just nine seconds to sixth placed Kwiatkowski.
With a lead of ten seconds in the Friends Life General Classification, only disaster or a freak result in the sprint finish would prevent the Dutchman keeping hold of the Friends Life Yellow Jersey, and that’s how it proved.
Dylan Van Baarle, Friends Life Yellow Jersey
“I didn’t really win the race today, – won it in Brighton yesterday,” said Dylan Van Baarle afterwards. “It was tough to defend my jersey in a time trial against Kwiatkowski but I did it and I’m very happy, I will remember this day for my whole life.
“I like these kind of stage races very much – not too long – but at the start of the week when I saw the list of riders, guys like Wiggins and Kwiatkowski I knew it was going to be very hard. I was hoping for perhaps top ten.
“It’s been a very hard race, the roads are heavy, lots of little steep climbs but also the six man teams is a factor. It makes it really exciting as we saw in the stage of Alex Dowsett on Friday when the peloton were pulling and pulling and could not catch the break. That ride inspired me a little bit for our break on Saturday.
“In the future I would like to develop into a Classics rider – Roubaix and Flanders – and also races like this. I am probably too heavy to be a Grand Tour rider!”
Come the final sprint and the Giant Shimano team reeled in the final attempts at another breakaway victory, keeping the pace high along Victoria Embankment and setting things up perfectly for Kittel. With Cavendish’s Omega Pharma Quick-Step teammates also at the fore, the Manxman was perfectly positioned on Kittel’s wheel, but could only get alongside the German on the dash up Whitehall, as the first three riders crossed the line spread across the full width of the road.
Mark McNally, SKODA King of the Mountiains
Despite an early attack on lap one, Alex Dowsett couldn’t stay away in his bid to take the points at the single YodelDirect Sprint on lap fiveand overall erstwhile leader Sebastian Lander, with the Dane’s BMC Racing teammate Steve Cummings taking the YodelDirect Sprint from the break, to prevent him losing the jersey.
An Post Chain Reaction’s Mark McNally finished safely in the pack to confirm his hold on the SKODA King of the Mountains jersey.
Two of the week’s most prominent riders also made an appearance on the London podium, with double-stage winner Matthias Brandle joining his IAM Cycling team colleagues as winners of the Friends Life Team Classification, and Alex Dowsett taking the overall Rouleur Combativity Award for the 2014 Friends Life Tour of Britain.
Chris Latham was the final daily Rouleur Combativity Award winner, take the cheese for the London stage presented by Transport for London.
For full Stage Eight results and final standings, please click here.
by Anna Magrath | Sep 13, 2014
Julien Vermote wins Stage Seven in Brighton
The drama continued in the Friends Life Tour of Britain as the Friends Life Yellow Jersey changed hands yet again, as the end of a thrilling stage to Brighton, won by Julien Vermote.
A trio of testing SKODA King of the Mountains climbs in the final 60-kilometres took their toll on the peloton, and Friends Life Yellow Jersey Alex Dowsett in particular, with the Movistar Team rider losing 2 minutes 34 seconds and falling to tenth place overall.
Garmin Sharp’s Dylan Van Baarle held on from the break to take third, behind Ignatas Konovalovas, but more importantly to become the sixth Friends Life Yellow Jersey of the week, taking a 19-second lead over Michal Kwiatowski into the final stage.
At the head of the stage it was Vermote, with the Omega Pharma Quick-Step rider attacking from the break on Ditchling Beacon and soloing to victory on Brighton’s Madeira Drive.
With the race behind splitting to pieces, it was an attack from Vermote’s teammate Kwiatkowski, also on Ditchling Beacon, that detached Dowsett and sent a 22-rider group away, including the likes of Bradley Wiggins, Nicolas Roche and Edoardo Zardini.
Dowsett, assisted by Giovanni Visconti, chased, but in vain and with no further help, as the Bear Road climb and fast descent to the finish prevented them from regaining contact.
Vermote was able to win alone, with Konovalovas and Van Baarle following him home, before Kwiatkowski led in the group for fourth, rejigging the Friends Life General Classification dramatically.
Dylan van Baarle, Friends Life Yellow Jersey
Speaking afterwards on his dramatic rise into the Friends Life Yellow Jersey, Van Baarle said, “I possibly went under the radar a bit I was still I think 14th in GC but they don’t know my name for now, and hopefully they will remember me.
“I’m really tired. It was a pretty hard day, we went almost from start to finish full gas and when I crossed the line i was completely dead.
“I started to think we might do it when we had ten minutes in the break. Then some DS said there were only two Movistar guys riding and then we held the pace really high. Then Julien [Vermote] said he wasn’t going to ride anymore because OPQS are chasing. At that moment me and Konovalovas went full gas to the finish line.
“Before the start of this race I knew that I wanted to show my name a little bit, show myself maybe get a top ten or top fifteen but I didn’t expect to be wearing the yellow jersey. Now I’m thinking about the podium or maybe winning.
“I like the short prologue distances for time-trial. I’m not a Wiggins that needs 50km or whatever. I’m more a prologue specialist. I will do my best and we will see what happens tomorrow. I don’t know how the legs will feel tomorrow for the other guys and it will be hard tomorrow.”
Van Baarle’s nearest challenger is Kwiatkowski, with the Polish time trial champion 19 seconds in arrears
“As you see, it’s hard racing here at Tour of Britain! The peloton couldn’t control this breakaway. Luckily we had a strong Julien Vermote there. He really deserves this win. He pulled so much for us, for me every single day and today he took a beautiful victory. Congratulations to him. We’re really happy about it.
“Of course, I wanted to also take back the yellow jersey but Van Baarle was still in front. It’s hard to control everything in a race. We accelerated on the second-to-last climb and dropped Dowsett, but it was hard to close the gap on the group between Vermote and us. But OK, I’m only 19″ down. There is the time trial tomorrow which I said earlier in this race that it would be important, even if it’s short. Anything can happen. I have done well on short time trials like the one of tomorrow. So we will see. But today we are going to celebrate the big victory of Julien.”
Having received the congratulations of his Omega Pharma Quick-Step teammates, including Mark Cavendish, immediately after the line, 25-year-old Vermote admitted he hadn’t been expect the result.
Julien Vermote winning the stage
“I’m pretty surprised I had the energy for a breakaway win to be honest. Only one day this week I didn’t ride at the front of the peloton because five days out of the six I was pulling for either Kwiatkowski or Cav. I had given my all every time but every day I seem to have recovered well and I have felt very strong.
“Today we didn’t mention me getting in the break at the team meeting but at the beginning of the stage Kwia rode up to me and said maybe it would be a good idea for me to get in the break if I was able. He thought that perhaps I would then be in a position to help him in the final stages if the peloton caught the break.
“I got in the break and I immediately felt good and when out lead went to ten minutes I remembered from the previous day how hard it is to chase down a break like that. We rode very well as a group but at 140-kilometres I stopped contributing because still my main thought was Kwia for GC back in the peloton. Anyway when we rode through the second last climb it was clear we would stay away so I started to ride full gas again and then I really wanted to win. I know my place in the team with all the great riders we have, I love to help them, but also I like to ride to get one victory for the team as well
“My teammates were so happy for me after the finish and it shows that the work I do for all of them, and the team, includes big rewards for myself too.”
In addition to the stage win, Omega Pharma Quick-Step’s third of the week, Vermote also took the Stage Seven Rouleur Combativity Award.
Reacting to losing the Friends Life Yellow Jersey, Dowsett said afterwards; “I was disappointed. I thought I woke up feeling pretty fresh, but as soon as we hit those climbs, I knew I was suffering. I got as much food down my neck as I could, and looked after myself as best as I could. The team were amazing today, it’s difficult because we had three guys up there on GC. With the finish being as hard as it was, we knew we needed a back-up plan. We didn’t want to be using Giovanni [Visconti] or [Ion] Izaguirre to work. But the gap to the break went out so much, and the other teams said if you don’t put one more guy up there, we won’t help. Visco had to do a lot of work late on, he tried to help me save it.
“It’s been a good week. Hopefully I’ll have a good TT tomorrow. One minute is a lot to make up in 8km. I’ve worn yellow, and when I came into yesterday I didn’t expect that. It’s been a nice race, Friends Life have put a lot of effort into thiss, and Mick Bennett has produced one of the best Tour of Britain’s yet.”
Elsewhere An Post Chain Reaction rider Mark McNally sealed the SKODA King of the Mountains jersey, with a 21-point lead over double stage winner Matthias Brandle. The Liverpudlian, who took the jersey in his home city on Stage One, still has to finish the London stages, but with no categorised SKODA King of the Mountains climbs, McNally is poised to keep the jersey for the entire week.
The destination of the YodelDirect Sprints Jersey, sponsored by parcel delivery company Yodel, will be decided in London, on lap five of the final circuit race, with just current wearer Sebastian Lander of BMC Racing and Dowsett in contention. The Movistar Team rider is two points behind the Dane, with three points for the winner of the final YodelDirect Sprint.
The Friends Life Tour of Britain concludes in central London on Sunday, with a split stage including an 8.8 kilometre individual time trial before the traditional ten lap circuit race.
Great Britain’s Chris Lawless will get the time trial underway at 11:01, with riders heading off at one-minute intervals, including Steve Cummings at 11:52 and Mark Cavendish at 12:05, before the top ten riders go at two-minute intervals, led by Alex Dowsett at 12:39, with Friends Life Yellow Jersey Dylan Van Baarle last off at 12:57.
The full time trial start list is available here.
Highlights of Stage Seven are on ITV4 at 2000 on Saturday 13 September, with live coverage of Stage 8b and highlights of the Stage 8a individual time trial from 1500 on Sunday on ITV4. Full details of the television coverage of the Friends Life Tour of Britain, including British Eurosport’s live coverage, can be found here.
For full Stage Seven results, click here.
by Anna Magrath | Sep 12, 2014
Alex Dowsett grits his teeth for Yellow
Matthias Brandle of IAM Cycling chalked up his second straight stage win, but the story of the day was Movistar Team’s Alex Dowsett blowing the Friends Life 2014 Tour of Britain asunder with the ride of his life in one of the most dramatic ever stages of the modern day race.
A trio of Exeter winner Matthias Brandle, Alex Dowsett and Madison Genesis’ Tom Stewart rode in perfect unison for the best part of 160km to dominate the long stage from Bath to Hemel Hempsted, which many had expected to end in a sprint.
Through the rural lanes of Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire they poured on the power and the pace and cheered on by the biggest crowds of the week the trio prevailed to pull off one of the most stunning coups you will ever see.
At the start of the day Dowsett, in 21st position overall at 1 minute 25 seconds behind, was seemingly out of contention for the Friends Life General Classification honours, although there was every chance he would climb a fair few places in Sunday’s short time-trial which suits him perfectly.
The Essex rider, 25, has looked strong all week and but for a double puncture when pressing hard in the break on Stage Four might well have featured much higher up the rankings before now.
Mark McNally on Kop Hill
Equally Brandle, in relaxed mode after winning in Exeter on Thursday and trailing the Friends Life Yellow Jersey of Michal Kwiatkowski by 2 minutes 35 seconds, felt able to try something spectacular and not count the cost should it fail. As for Stewart, the Yorkshire man featured strongly in the break on the Tumble stage on Tuesday and when he suddenly found himself in such elite company so early in the stage he just strapped in and hung on for dear life, buoyed no doubt by the local knowledge of team manager Roger Hammond.
Whether it was because the leaders were absorbed with marking each other, tired from an unexpectedly brutal week or were mindful of a very tough 227-kilometre run from Camberley to Brighton tomorrow, they allowed to go out way beyond what the peloton would normally allow such talented riders.
Five minutes, seven minutes, nine minutes and finally nine minutes 15 seconds at 82km from home. The lead grew and grew and by the time the peloton realised that the trio were not noticeably tiring it was too late. At which point there was a massive red alert and panic.
Omega Pharma Quick-Step blew themselves to pieces riding for Kwiatkowski with Mark Cavendish and Niki Terpstra burying themselves on the Chiltern climbs. At one stage members of other teams were hand slinging the seemingly tireless Julien Vermote to try and get him to the front to reinforce the chase, which was a remarkable sight.
Team Sky were shorthanded but also sent Ben Swift up the front on a do or die mission to trying a claw back some of the time and eventually Bardiani CSF, the team of second place Edoardo Zardini, bent their backs. But it was all too late. The escape was well and truly away
Alex Dowsett post race press conference
“I’m in the form of my life but that was the hardest day of my life,” admitted Dowsett afterwards. “It was into a headwind most of the day and once I got into the break I was actually a bit hacked with myself to be honest because I had always thought I might have a good time-trial on Sunday and I was leaving a lot out there on the road. I thought I thought I might have given too much.
“But then the gap went up to seven minutes and I thought, that’s getting quite big. Then it went to eight minutes, nine minutes, and finally topped out at a bit over nine minutes. That’s when I really started digging in and a bit later I sort of made an agreement with Mathias that he could win the stage as it looked like there was a good chance of taking yellow.
“It was a risk I was willing to take. And he gave me absolute everything, I couldn’t have done it without him and Tom at Madison probably had one of the hardest days of his life, he gave everything he could and I’m grateful to him and Roger Hammond in the car for his advice with his local knowledge, telling us exactly what was coming up. I was very grateful for that.
“For the last 100-kilometres, I was more or less flat out. I was buckling in the last 5-kilometres and I was relying heavily on Matthias. Before the Commonwealths, I was doubting myself a lot. So this is more proof to me that I’m able to compete at this level.
“It was also great to see all my family at the finish, it was a complete surprise, I didn’t expect to see any of them until the finish in Brighton. It was some day.”
Dowsett now has the Friends Life Yellow Jersey and a 34 second lead over second placed Kwiatkowski and with the two riders probably fairly evenly matched on the time-trial – Dowsett might just be favourite to edge that one – a huge mount now depends on the monster Sussex stage finishing in Brighton, which features two Category One SKODA King of the Mountains climbs in the last 17-kilometres – Ditchling Beacon and the sharp ramp of Bear Road up to the racecourse.
Royal Crescent, Bath
Much will depend on how his team mates can react to the various attacks that will inevitably come but Movistar Team arrived at the Friends Life Tour of Britain determined to challenge for overall honours and have supported Dowsett with a versatile team – Giovanni Visconti, Pablo Lastras, Sylvester Szmyd, Ion Izaguirre and Enrique Sanz Unze – capable of mounting a strong defence of the Friends Life Yellow Jersey.
“I will give it everything I have got. Obviously Kwiatkowski is going like a train so I need to rest up as much as I can and give it my all tomorrow and in the time-trial. It’s a nice positon to be in though.”
Saturday sees the penultimate stage of the Friends Life Tour of Britain, and the modern Tour’s first visit to Sussex, for a leg starting from Camberley, in Surrey Heath, through West and East Sussex before the finish on Brighton’s Maderia Drive.
Highlights of Stage Six are on ITV4 at 2000 on Friday 12 September, with live coverage resuming from 1300 on Saturday on ITV4, for Stage Seven from Camberley to Brighton. Full details of the television coverage of the Friends Life Tour of Britain, including British Eurosport’s live coverage, can be found here.
For full Stage Six results, click here.
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