World Champion Cavendish wins first sprint stage

World Champion Mark Cavendish dominated the Tour’s first sprint stage.

Tournai, Belgium – Every year cycling pundits tell the cycling world that this is the year that someone will dethrone Mark Cavendish as cycling’s best sprinter and every year he proves them wrong.
Such was the case today when Cavendish effortlessly outclassed his opponents, in fact, the only one close at the finish was his arch enemy, Andre Greipel.

Green jersey points leader Peter Sagan received his first lesson in sprinting with the big boys as he was manhandled by his rivals during the sprint and was a non-factor in today’s finish.

Cavendish’s win vaults him to second place in the points competition and certainly reinforces his position as cycling’s premier sprinter.

The thing that sets Cavendish apart from his competition is an innate instinct to time his sprint. Cycling is a tactical sport that rewards the savvy rider who keeps his cool under pressure and uses his brain as well as his legs to dominate his rivals. At this, there are none better than Mark Cavendish.

Sagan wins Tour’s first stage

Sagan continues his amazing 2012 campaign | Image: AFP

Seraing, Belgium – Peter Sagan continues his remarkable 2012 campaign winning the first stage of the 2012 Tour de France, pipping Fabian Cancellara and Edvald Boasson Hagen at the line.

Cancellara gapped the main field on the day’s final climb, however, he was unable to shake Sagan who jumped on his wheel when the Swiss strongman launched his attack. With the peloton in shambles, Boasson Hagen was able to bridge up to the two leaders and was in the perfect position for the win but didn’t have the horsepower to overcome the young Slovak.

Coming into this year’s Tour, Sagan already had a dozen victories on his 2012 resume, thoroughly dominating the Tour of California and the Tour de Suisse. Sagan is my dark-horse to rip the Green Jersey off Mark Cavendish’s back; who was nowhere to be seen in today’s finale.

The GC remains unchanged with Cancellara still in yellow, Sagan will don the Green Points Jersey tomorrow, American Tejay van Garderen will wear the White Jersey as the Tour’s Best Young Rider, and Michael Morkov will wear the ridiculous polka dot jersey (I really do hate that jersey).

Cancellara decimates field in Tour de France prologue

Fabian Cancellara | Image: Team Radio Shack website

Liege, Belgium – Time trial stalwart Fabian Cancellara destroyed the world’s best riders completing the short 6.4 km prologue an amazing seven seconds faster than overall favorite Bradley Wiggins.

Last years Tour de France winner Cadel Evans finished in a disappointing 13th place overall, 10 seconds behind Wiggins and 17 seconds behind Cancellara.

World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin had a disappointing finish due to a bike change, however, he appeared to be in top form and will certainly be a factor in the other time trial stages.

Young American rider Tejay van Garderen finished in a suprising 4th place overall and will wear the white jersey as the Best Young Rider.

Sylvain Chavanel set the early time to beat and held on to finish in third place and round out the podium with Cancellara and Wiggins.

Results:
1  Fabian Cancellara (Swi) RadioShack-Nissan  0:07:13
2  Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling  0:00:07
3  Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
4  Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team  0:00:10
5  Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling  0:00:11
6  Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team
7  Patrick Gretsch (Ger) Argos – Shimano  0:00:12
8  Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha Team  0:00:13
9  Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team
10  Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team  0:00:15

Cavendish in green as the Pyrenees loom

Cavendish was overjoyed to be back in green. Image: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Mark Cavendish won his third victory in this year’s tour in dominating fashion to take the coveted maillot vert.

It was another rain-soaked day inFranceand the GC favorites just wanted to stay out of harm with an epic stage in thePyreneesMountainslooming on Thursday.

The peloton almost misjudged the breakaway, not catching Rabobank’s Lars Boom until there was just over a kilometer remaining.HTCwas doing the lion’s share of the work without much help. At one point they were down to two riders left before Sky, Garmin, and Lampre finally sent some troops to the front.

With the catch made,HTCtried to assert itself but Garmin and Sky overwhelmed them on the front. Cavendish and lead out man Mark Renshaw smartly tucked in behind the train as Sky and Garmin riders continued to drop off. With about 500 meters to go Renshaw emerged from the dwindling pack with Cavendish glued to his wheel.

Yesterday’s stage winner Andre Greipel launched his sprint down the left side. The ever alert Cavendish blasted off down the right side gaining two bike lengths on Tyler Farrar. Greipel crossed the road in a desperate attempt to catch Cavendish’s wheel but by this time he was too late. The Manx Missile had a commanding lead and took the stage by a bike length even though he sat up to celebrate his 18th Tour victory.

The sprinters will be hoping to survive as the Tour enters the high mountains tomorrow. The stage should be epic with climbs up the Tourmalet and a summit finish atop Luz Ardiden.

Race favorite Alberto Contador will be looking to close the gap on Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck. The stage should show us who the contenders and pretenders are. Evans can time trial nearly as well as Contador but can the Aussie hang in the mountains. Schleck has shown he can climb with Alberto but his time trial appears to be severely lacking again this year.

For the GC men, the Tour starts tomorrow.

Evans holds off Contador to win stage four

Today’s course looked like a roller coaster on paper and given the steepness of the final climb the GC favorites were sure to make today’s stage decisive.

A small breakaway of five riders got away early and took the intermediate sprint. However, there were still plenty of points to be had when the peloton arrived and Tyler Farrar dominated the sprint with Rojas a bike length behind him. Rojas will stay in the green jersey for now but Tyler Farrar looks to be a man on a mission.

That being said, HTC’s Mark Cavendish looks like he wishes he was back home in Manx. He looks completely disinterested in riding the Tour this year. Maybe it’s all the defections that HTC has suffered in recent years and maybe Cav is just having a bad year but he does not look like himself. Last year when he was off to a slow start I defended him but this year is another story although I hope he proves me wrong.

It wasn’t long before the peloton picked up the pace and reeled the break in. HTC did yeoman’s work to bringing the break back, led by big George Hincapie, who dished out a brutal pace at the base of the Mur de Bretagne.

Only the Tour’s strong men were left to fight it up the brutally steep two-kilometer climb. Evans did the lion’s share of the work as the ten man group made the final ascent. Cadel was stuck on the front with only a few hundred meters to go. Having no other option the Aussie jumped out of his saddle and led out the sprint. In the end the only rider who able to contest the sprint was Alberto Contador. Both riders threw their bikes across the line and Evans was able to hold of Contador by a quarter of a wheel.

Contador thought he had won the stage and triumphantly raised a fist in the air but the finish cameras showed that the Aussie held the Spaniard off.

Evans holds off a charging Contador - Image: AFP

The worst luck of the day went to Radio Shack’s Chris Horner who flatted on the climb before the Mur. After spending twenty kilometers chasing back on at the exact moment Hincapie dropped the hammer. Horner was able to limit his losses and is only 18-seconds behind Evans on the General Classification.

Hushovd stays in yellow for another day as the big man was able to sit on the back of the GC favorites group. He showed tremendous strength to get up the climb with men who weight 30 to 40 pounds less than him (15 to 20 Kilos).

Thus far it has been a very exciting Tour lets hope the sprinters give us a good show tomorrow.

Garmin Cervelo storm to victory – God of thunder in yellow

Image: Pez Cycling News.com

Since forming his Garmin Cervelo team, Johnathan Vaughters has dreamed of winning the Tour de France team time trial and today the dream became reality. The high octane squad stormed to victory led by strong man, Thor Hushovd who is now in yellow as the Tour’s overall leader.

BMC surprised many taking second today, however, BMC is stacked with time trial talent led by Cadel Evans, George Hincapie, Brent Bookwalter, and Marcus Burghardt. Evans is in third place overall well positioned for yellow once the race hits the mountains. Evans is just a few seconds in front of fellow GC favorite Andy Schleck. If Cadel can limit his losses in the mountains he can certainly be expected to make up a minute or so on Schleck who appears to have regressed in the race of truth.

Schleck’s Leopard Trek came in a respectable fourth but if he and brother Frank had any TT skills at all, they would have won today’s competition and be in yellow. As it stands now, Andy better be able to take serious time out of his rivals in the high mountains or he’s riding for a podium position rather than victory.

More disappointing is Alberto Contador’s Saxo Bank Squad. They finished some 28 seconds behind which means they lost more than a second per kilometer in today’s short 23 km stage. The overall race favorite finds himself in 75th position after two days of racing almost two minutes behind.

Gilbert takes the first stage, Cadel puts over a minute on Contador & Schleck

Phillipe Gibert followed an attack by Fabian Cancellara to take the first stage of the 2011 Tour de France. Cadel Evans followed the move and put more than 1:20 into Schleck and Contador after they were caught up in a crash about nine-kilometers from the finish.

Photo: http://www.ispaphoto.com

The Tour cannot be won the first day but it can be lost. Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck should have known to be up front with a steep catergory-four climb at today’s finish. Both BMC and Radio Shack had their leaders at the front and Evans was able to take advantage.

Contador receives one year ban – stripped of 2010 Tour title

Cycling News is reporting that the Spanish Cycling Federation has suspended three-time, now two-time, Tour de France winner Alberto Contador for one year.

Contador will be stripped of his 2010 Tour victory which will make Andy Schleck the new champion.

The Spaniard has ten days to appeal the decision before the final ruling is issued on February 9th. Given that most drug bans are two years it’s likely that Contador will accept the terms of the suspension.

No word on how this affects Alberto’s contract status with his new team Saxo Bank but given his status in the peloton, expect Bjarne Riis to stand by Contador and wait a year to see if his investment pays dividends.

What does Trek have in store for Fabian Cancellara?

Can this bike survive the pave' and carry Fabian Cancellara to victory in the Spring Classics? - Image: Trek Bikes

Last week, Cycling News had an excellent article highlighting the specifications of Andy Schleck’s Trek Madone 6.9. Trek hopes that they are able to provide Schleck with the equipment and technical support that will propel him to the top of the podium in Paris this July. Schleck is making wholesale changes in his equipment which is unusual for a cyclist. Perhaps he thought that he needed to make wholesale changes not only in his team dynamic but his equipment as well to take the next step at the Tour de France.

We all know that Trek can provide the equipment to power a General Classification contender to victory. After all, they were an innovative force behind Lance Armstrong’s record seven Tour de France victories as well as Alberto Contador’s victories in all three Grand Tours. What we don’t know is whether Trek can provide a bike that can not only survive the brutal pave’ of Northern France and Belgium but one that can give Fabian Cancellara an edge when he takes the starting line in the Spring Classics.

All do respect to Andy Schleck but Fabian Cancellara is a two time winner of Paris Roubaix, the defending champion at the Tour of Flanders and is a four-time World Time Trial Champion. With credentials like that, Cancellara should be just as big a cog in the Leopard Trek machine as Schleck (if not bigger) and I wanted to know how the move was going to affect him?

So I decided to contact Trek to see if they were rolling out anything special for Fabian Cancellara. Eric Bjorling from Trek’s Media Relations Department was kind enough to grant me an interview. I asked him if Trek was planning anything special for Fabian Cancellara? “As far as making special bikes for riders, it’s just not something we do” Bjorling said. “We’ve never made custom frame designs or sizing for Lance or any other rider we’ve worked with.”

So you’re telling me that anyone can ride the same bike the top pros ride? “It may sound like a stretch but the fact is that you could walk into a Trek retailer today and purchase the exact same bike with the exact same spec that Cancellara, the Schlecks, or Lance are riding.”

I pointed out that George Hincapie has had more than his fair share of equipment problems in the classics and Lance’s Tour was effectively ended on the cobbles last year. If I were Fabian, I would have some concerns about Trek’s ability to build a bike to win on the cobbles.

“As far as making a bike that can withstand the cobbles, our bikes have competed on cobbles for years without problems. It’s too early to say whether we’ll unveil anything new for the classics but I know we’re all looking forward to watching Cancellara light it up this year.”

How about the time trial, anything special there? “

With the TT, every company brings a different philosophy to their time trial/triathlon bike designs” Bjorling said. “The best thing we can do is work with the rider to dial in the most aerodynamic position that accommodates the bike’s design and performance. A lot of this work is done in the pre-season in the field and in the wind tunnel which we use extensively.”

With only about two and a half months until Flanders, I’m sure Cancellara will be testing his setup to make sure his bike can withstand the hell that will be unleashed on the brutal roads that Roubaix and Flanders are ridden on. I asked Eric if Trek is doing anything special to help the team. He said that as a title sponsor and official equipment supplier, Trek is fully integrated into the team and is advising the riders on a daily basis.

As far as equipment for Flanders and Roubaix, Bjorling told me “as of right now, he’ll [Cancellara] be on the Trek Madone 6.9 SSL. There may be a few modifications but we’re not ready to announce anything just yet.” So for now, we’ll have to wait and see what Trek and Fabian Cancellara have in store to combat the pave’.

 

April 3^rd will be here before we know it…

 

A special thanks to Eric Bjorling from Trek Bicycles for his time and insight.

Bring on the classics

Fabian Cancellara & the Schleck Brothers at the Team Leopard presentation - Photo: Cycling News/Bettini

Team Leopard’s Madone – Courtesy: Trek Bikes

On Thursday, the Luxembourg based Team Leopard finally revealed their highly anticipated kit design as well as their team issue bikes.

The kits are elegant in their simplicity especially when compared to some of the clownish designs such as Liquigas and Lampre. The simple black and white design with a subtle blue stripe across the chest should be quite easy to pick out of the crowded peloton.

Trek Bikes will be supplying the powerful Leopard team with bikes for the 2011 race season and are one of the title sponsors. A company as innovative as Trek must be chomping at the bit to work with world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara.

I’m ready to watch Spartacus decimate the field on the cobbles of Northern France and Belgium but unfortunately, we still have a few months before we see any races of note.

The UCI is telling us it will be February before any decision is made on the Alberto Contador case. Dead Spin has postulated the best theory I have seen regarding Contador and if it’s true, Contador is likely facing a lengthy suspension, and will probably be stripped of his Tour de France title.

The theory is that Contador didn’t use Clenbuterol during the Tour but that he received a blood transfusion. The reason for this speculation is that Contador’s sample reportedly contains high levels of plastic residue which is normal for someone who has had a transfusion.

Contador’s mistake was using a blood sample that was taken while he was using Clenbuterol to get down to race weight.

It should be interesting to see how the UCI rules in this case because cycling certainly doesn’t need another black eye. I think most people outside of our sport already assume that doping is rampant and unfortunately, I’m beginning to agree.

Bring on the Classics.

Fabian Cancellara & the Schleck Brothers at the Team Leopard presentation - Photo: Cycling News/Bettini