Marcel Kittel
Marcel Kittel (image by Panache/ccarls1)
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Videos
Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Garmin) delivered for the team at this year’s Giro d’Italia with a popular solo win on stage four. Called up only a fortnight before the start, he hadn’t specifically trained for the race, which leaves us wondering whether he might have bettered his overall 31st place if he’d targetted this race. Keeping the pink glow going, he looks back at his first Grand Tour.
Created in 1993 to enable amateur cyclists to personally experience a stage of each year’s Tour de France, L’Etape de Tour is THE cyclosportive. This year’s event takes place on Sunday 19th July over 142km from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to La Toussuire.
All places are taken for this year’s Etape (unless you get a place with a tour operator or through a charity). Places go fast as soon as registration opens so if you want to get a jump on proceedings for next year, take a minute to register with ASO Challenges. Registration details are here. Also, follow l’Etape on Twitter and Facebook for news all year round.
Links: Official website
Images
Stage 13, the longest of this year’s Vuelta, came down to a messy, chaotic sprint and a beautiful win by Deceuninck QuickStep’s Florian Senechal. The Frenchman gave it everything to deny Matteo Trentin (UAE-Team Emirates) after teammate, and red hot favourite for victory, Fabio Jakobsen found himself out of position on the run to the line. The red jersey stays on the shoulders of Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) and everyone else remains as they were on the GC, prior to the climbing action this weekend.
I cannot imagine riding a bike, at speed, in 41°C heat, on slippery tarmac, due possibly to dirt, grease or olives, for hours. But that’s what the peloton did today in Stage 12 of this year’s Vuelta. But as yesterday, the race caught fire in the last kilometre and, again, it was EF’s Magnus Cort who showed he was on the form of his life as he took to the front in the final 800m. But this time, there was no Roglic and Mas chasing him, and he took a MAJESTIC win half a wheel ahead of Andrea Bagioli (DQS), with Michael Matthews (BEX) in third. The red jersey stayed with Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) and the GC hasn’t been stirred at all and all the jerseys stay put.
Asides
All of the history and excitement of the world’s most famous one-day bicycle race in one coffee-table book. Paris-Roubaix: A Journey Through Hell is an essential read for anyone interested in this spectacular race.
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http://www.calameo.com/read/003111411e32746b42755
Links
It was a stage of action and drama at Tour Down Under. The GC leaders battled for bonus seconds. A first WorldTour victory went to Jasper Philipsen after Caleb Ewan was relegated for head butting. Race leader Patrick Bevin was involved in a crash and had to chase to get back with the peloton.
Quotes
“Riders like me and Cancellara don’t think about the points, just the win.”
Vincenzo Nibali bemoans the lack of fierce joy in the riders of the peloton, many of whom he believes play it safe and ride just for points, not the win.
Read his straight-talking interview on Velonews.
When asked what animal he would like to be, Bernie Eisel answered ‘My cat. She has the best life you can imagine!’
I happen to know that there are a whole lotta ladies out there who would kill to be Bernie’s cat. I’ll leave that there …
The face a million women love (Image: Team Sky)
Here is Team Sky’s 20 Questions to the Ladies Favourite