Alejandro Valverde rounded out cycling’s weekend break in Italy with a win at Roma Maxima. He broke clear of the field alongside Domenico Pozzovivo with 36km remaining, holding off both the Italian and a marauding peloton to take victory on the line.
168 – Number of finishers, out of 207 starters.
84:53:28 – Total race time for overall winner Vincenzo Nibali.
Nibali spent a lot of time on the podium during this Giro (Image: Davide Calabresi)
5 – Nationalities represented in the top ten on GC (Italy four, Colombia and Poland two each, Australia and Spain one each). Continue reading
It’s the 72nd edition of the Tour de Luxembourg, a five-day stage race around one of the smallest countries in the world and homeland of the Schleck brothers. While it doesn’t have all the high-calibre cyclists stampeding to the start line, it is a race often used by riders to train for the Tour de France, especially when combined with the Tour de Suisse.
What kind of race is it?
A five-stage race (or to be more accurate, a prologue with four stages), covering 726.5km. The Tour is classified as a 2HC race, just below a ProTour race. It offers a solid but not overly strenuous work-out, with its testing but not extremely high climbs (the country’s highest point sits at just 560 metres), which suits both GC riders and those who specialise in the hillier Classics. Continue reading