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Road World Championships

Road World Championships team time trial reviews

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The first day of the Road World Championships dawned with near perfect conditions: sunny, but not too warm and practically no wind. The scene was set for an exciting day’s racing as the crowds thronged the route, particularly at the base of the Cauberg where business in the bars and cafes had been brisk from early morning and, I suspect, continued long after the racing had finished.

At points along the Cauberg and beyond, camper vans had staked out their territory and were flying flags to show their allegiance. Hopes were high in the Dutch camp with plenty of local sides to cheer and a smattering of home riders in many other teams. Surely their hopes wouldn’t be dashed? Well, in the end they had to be content with a local rider on each of the victorious teams.

The elite woman’s race

The German-registered pre-race favourites Specialized-Lululemon lived up to their billing with an emphatic victory in the inaugural women’s trade team time trial from Sittard to Valkenburg. The team of Charlotte Becker (Ger), Amber Neben (USA), Evelyn Stevens (USA), Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Ger), Ellen van Dijk (Ned) and Trixi Worrack (Ger) finished the testing 34.2km course, with a well-drilled performance, in a time of 46:31, 24 seconds quicker than runners-up Orica-AIS – Judith Arndt (Ger), Shara Gillow (Aus), Loes Gunnewijk (Ned), Melissa Hoskins (Aus), Alexis Rhodes (Aus) and Linda Villumsen (NZ). They in turn had posted the previous best time of 46:55 to depose Dutch team AA Drink-Leontien.nl – Chantal Blaak (Ned), Lucinda Brand (Ned), Jessie Daams (Bel), Sharon Laws (GB), Emma Pooley (GB) and Kirsten Wild (Ned).

The winning Specialized-Lululemon team (image courtesy of Specialized-Lululemon)

The girls were thrilled with their victory and directeur sportif Ronny Lauke confirmed:

We’re all very excited. This has been a goal for us since it was announced last year and it’s really nice that we have been able to make it happen.

The 34.2km course started in Sittard with a fast flat stretch where the main contenders proved to be evenly matched. It was here that Specialized-Lululemon, last off the ramp,  made best use of their sprinter Teutenberg – later dropped – to keep them in close contention. It worked. At the first time-check after 11km, they were almost a second up on Orica-AIS. However, the team demonstrated their power and greater experience when they started to pull away over the hillier terrain, particularly after Stevens had set a fast pace up the climb of the Lange Raarberg.

At the second time-check their advantage had grown to 13 seconds and by the time they hit the Cauberg it had increased to 20. Stevens again came to the front up the Cauberg but measured her effort to ensure her teammates could stay on her wheel. Once over the summit, Neben, Worrack, Becker and local favourite Van Dijk made the final push for the line and a historic well-deserved victory.

The UCI had thoughtfully provided the girls with their own podium boy to present the flowers, the legendary Eddy Merckx who tackled the task with relish. After all, it’s not often you get to kiss eighteen women. Still it’s a fitting reward for all those races he’s won.

Result

1. Specialized-Lululemon 46:31

2. Orica-AIS +0:24

3. AA Drink-Leontien.nl +1:59

4. Rabobank +2:20

5. RusVelo +2:30

6. BePink +3:14

7. Michela Fanini-Rox +4:37

8. Hitec Products-Mistral Home +4:38

9. Dolmans-Boels +5:00

10. Lotto-Belisol +5:31

The elite men’s race

The ladies’ race followed the form book but the men’s didn’t. Belgian outfit Omega Pharma-Quick Step, comprising Classics King Tom Boonen (Bel), Sylvain Chavanel (Fra), world champion time-trialler Tony Martin (Ger), Peter Velits (Slo), Kristof Vandewalle (Bel), and Niki Terpstra (Ned)  – fourth-from-last to set off – turned in a superby disciplined performance and the best time but then had a nervous wait to see whether they had indeed secured victory. They had. BMC crossed the line as runners-up, pushing Orica-GreenEDGE into bronze medal position.

Men’s team time trial victors (image courtesy of Omega Pharma-Quick Step)

You could tell how much the team relished the victory as Boonen strode onto the stage punching the air. After the race OPQS directeur sportif Wilfried Peters confirmed that together with Tom Steels and Jan Schaffrath they’d worked hard for this result:

A few months ago we did the first recon and we recorded everything for our riders. Then we came here again after Eneco Tour with the riders and we did the course. Then in the last days we really put everything into preparing as best as we can this race. Tom Steels put really a lot of energy into it and everything went well. It was a great team effort even on the staff side. Mechanics, masseurs, everybody on the team has to be proud of it and feel as if they are a part of this great victory.

OPQS posted the fastest time at each of the time-checks, impressively finishing the 53.2km course with all six riders in a time of 1:03:17. Closest challengers BMC – Alessandro Ballan (Ita), Philippe Gilbert (Bel), Taylor Phinney (USA), Tejay van Garderen (USA), Marco Pinotti (Ita) and Manuel Quinziato (Ita) – had four riders at the base of the Cauberg but Phinney struggled to stay in contention as Van Garderen and Gilbert rode up the climb and, despite their best efforts to regroup, finished three seconds down to the better-organised Belgian team.

Orica-GreenEDGE  – Sam Bewley (NZ), Luke Durbridge (Aus), Sebastian Langeveld (Ger), Cameron Meyer (Aus), Jens Mouris (Bel) and Svein Tuft (Can) also turned in a consistent performance and, although they only finished with four, they held it together on the Cauberg and did enough to see off Liquigas-Cannondale with a time of 1:04:04, 47 seconds down on the winners.

Top-seeded Sky started last but, with many of its top riders either riding in the Tour of Britain or unavailable, they finished a lowly ninth. While home favourites Rabobank possibly went too fast over the first part of the course, burnt too many matches and were found out on the Cauberg.

It is also worth noting that there was one entity enjoying a dual celebration: Specialized, who delivered both teams to victory.

Result

1. Omega Pharma-Quick Step 1:03:17

2. BMC +0:03

3. Orica-GreenEDGE +0:47

4. Liquigas-Cannondale +1:04

5. Rabobank +1:08

6. Movistar +1:18

7. Katusha same time

8. RadioShack-Nissan +1:21

9. Sky +1:32

10. Garmin-Sharp +1:35

Links: Preview, Official website

Stage races, Vuelta a España

Vuelta a España preview: Teams and sponsors (part 2)

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In advance of this Saturday’s start of the 2012 Vuelta a España, here’s the second part of VeloVoices’ overview of the 22 teams, their main protagonists and their eclectic mix of title sponsors! Only in cycling …

The final list of participants is subject to change in the last few days before the race, but these are accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing.

Lampre-ISD

Sponsors: An Italian sheet steel manufacturer and a Ukrainian steel producer.

Overview: Il piccolo principe, Damiano Cunego, who finished sixth in the recent Giro d’Italia, will lead the team with a mixture of Eastern European and Italian support in the hopes that he will be able to improve on his best finish in this race – 16th in 2004. Cunego has typically used the race to find his form ahead of the World Championships but the Vuelta has recently been brought forward a week to encourage greater participation and completion. He’ll have the wonderfully named Colombian Winner Ancona for help on the steepest of climbs, but if Cunego falters, Lampre have enough Eastern European firepower to go for stage wins plus Morris Possoni can play his part in the sprints.

Liquigas-Cannondale

Sponsors: An Italian distributor of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and an American bicycle manufacturer.

Overview: The team will be riding in support of Eros Capecchi  – 21st in 2011 – who’s moving next season to Movistar with mountain-climbing goat Sylvester Szmyd. He too will have Colombian assistance in the mountains  [must-have high mountain accessory – Ed]  from Jose Sarmiento. Piste performer Elia Viviani will be looking to score points in the sprints and, with no news on a replacement sponsor, the rest of the lime-sherbet clad boys will be looking to animate the race, pad out their palmares and land a contract for next season.

Lotto-Belisol

Sponsors: The Belgian lottery and a Belgian window and door manufacturer.

Overview: Lotto-Belisol will be hoping Jurgen Van den Broeck, fourth-placed in the Tour, will be able to step onto the podium at the Vuelta. For the sprints – and breakaways –  they’ve got Gianni Meersman who’ll be led out by Adam Hansen, sadly been shorn of his twitter best-buddy Greg Henderson. You just know that the Vuelta’s not going to be as amusing as the Tour. [Is that a challenge? – Ed].

Movistar

Sponsor: A Spanish mobile telecoms operator.

Overview: Alejandro Valverde will be playing best supporting rider to leading man and defending champ, Juan Jose Cobo, who looked to be finding some vestige of form towards the end of the Tour. They too have Colombian assistance in the form of Route du Sud winner Nairo Quintano. Basque Jonathan Castroviejo will add extra firepower in the team time-trial, and in the run into the foothills, while Jose Joaquin Rojas will be looking to try on the sprints jersey for size. We’re not convinced that Cobo will be firing on all cylinders, and neither are team management, hence former Vuelta winner Valverde as plan B.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step

Sponsors: A Belgian pharmaceutical company and a Belgian laminate flooring manufacturer.

Overview: OPQS don’t appear to have a GC contender in their squad, so therefore we assume that they’re looking for stage wins with time-trial world champion Tony Martin and sprinter Gert Steegmans. It’ll be interesting to see how cyclo-cross god Zdenek Stybar fares in a three-week Tour with tons of high mountains. It looks as thought the team selection has been made on the basis of anyone who hasn’t yet ridden or completed a Grand Tour: not exactly a recipe for success, but maybe they feel they’ve already won enough this season.

Orica-GreenEDGE

Sponsors: A conglomerate that provide chemicals and explosives for the mining industry and a wealthy Australian businessman.

Overview: The Aussie team will continue to hunt stage wins and maybe even the points jersey with its sprint-heavy squad: Simon Clarke, Allan Davis, Julian Dean. Also expect the team to perform well in the opening time-trial with their three former-piste boys Wesley Sulzberger and brothers Cameron and Travis Meyer. Eritrean Daniel Teklehaymanot may look to get into the mountains jersey in the early days but we suspect their shirts will be seen prominently at the front of a charging peloton in the final kilometres on those six flat stages.

Rabobank

Sponsor: A Dutch bank.

Overview: Robert Gesink will lead a team loaded with talent hoping to redress the disasters that befell him and his teammates at the Tour. He’ll be supported by Laurens Ten Dam, Bauke Mollema, third-placed in Vuelta a Pais Vasco, and Juan Manuel Garate. Lars Boom, fresh from his Eneco tour win, and Matti Breschel will have an eye on those flat stages but will also be responsible for driving the peloton to the foothills. You sense that team management is losing patience with Gesink and there’s plenty of talent awaiting in the wings.

RadioShack-Nissan

Sponsors: A US electronics retailer and a Japanese automotive company.

Overview: Potentially, another team looking for new contracts so expect riders like Tiago Machado, Markel Irizar and Maxime Monfort to toe the party line, whatever that is, while Linus Gerdemann goes on the attack. They’re unlikely to win the team competition, like they did in the Tours of France and Utah, but they should shine in the team time-trial. Their sprinter Daniele Bennati will be hoping for some victories and to figure in the race for the points jersey. We could be wrong but frankly the team selection doesn’t appear to have much rhyme or reason.

Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank

Sponsors: A Danish and a Russian bank.

Overview: The team will all be riding in support of their recently returned leader, Alberto Contador, who is surrounded by his faithful cohorts Benjamin Noval, Jesus Hernandez, Sergio Paulinho and Dani Navarro. It’s not the strongest of sides but the recent influx of Russian rubles will facilitate bolstering their effectiveness and, more importantly, their points for next season. It’s hard to know how Contador will perform after six months on the sidelines and we gained no clues from the recent Eneco Tour where he was content to remain safely in the bunch. However, at VeloVoices Towers, we wouldn’t bet against him taking his second Vuelta victory.

Sky

Sponsor: A satellite television broadcaster.

Overview: Sky will be fielding a stellar team in support of  the runner-up from last year’s Vuelta and this year’s Tour, Chris Froome, a rider with a point to prove. Ever wanting to outdo other teams, Sky has not one, but two Colombians: Sergio Henao and Olympic silver medallist Rigoberto Uran to support Froome. Also in the squad are hardmen Ian Stannard and Juan Antonio Flecha and they come loaded with additional firepower in the mountains with Tasmanian Richie Porte. It’s going to be a fascinating contest.

Vacansoleil-DCM

Sponsors: A European organiser of luxury camping holidays and a Belgian farm supply company.

Overview: Vacansoleil’s Tour didn’t go according to plan in any way, shape or form. They’ll be looking to put matters right at the Vuelta, where once again they’ll be seeking exposure for their sponsors in the form of stage wins and breakaways. Invisible at the Tour, we’ll all be hoping that Johnny Hoogerland is back on form, while Thomas De Gendt will be looking for opportunities to repeat his Paris-Nice type escape to victory. Frankly, after their bad luck at the Tour, this Grand Tour can only get better.

Tomorrow we’ll preview the five key stages of this year’s race.

VeloVoices Vuelta a Espana previews

Teams and sponsors (part 1)

Link: Vuelta a Espana official website

Stage races, Tour de France

Tour de France: Teams and sponsors (part 2)

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In advance of this Saturday’s start of the 2012 Tour de France, here’s the second part of VeloVoices’ overview of the 22 teams, their main protagonists and their eclectic mix of title sponsors! Only in cycling …

The final list of participants is subject to change in the last few days before the race, but these are accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing.

Liquigas-Cannondale

Sponsors: An Italian distributor of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and an American bicycle manufacturer.

Overview: The team will be riding in support of Vincenzo Nibali whose excellent early season form seems to have diminished in recent weeks, probably not helped by the rumours that he’s heading for the exit – and a big pay packet – with either BMC or Astana. The team will have been disappointed with Ivan Basso’s performance in the Giro  – he’ll be plan B in the Tour – and be hoping for better from Nibali on a parcours that seems suited to his attributes as a rider. Fortunately for Nibali, the focus has been very firmly on prolific stage winner Peter Sagan – the Velvet Samurai – with many speculating on what he may, or may not achieve. However, his preparation has been geared towards the Olympic road race and so, after toying with the other sprinters, may not finish the Tour. He’s my tip to take the prologue and first yellow jersey.

Lotto-Belisol

Sponsors: The Belgian lottery and a Belgian window and door manufacturer.

Overview: Lotto-Belisol have confirmed that their team will all be riding in support of Tour hopeful Jurgen Van den Broeck, whose hopes of a repeat fourth place ended in a crash last year. He’ll be strongly supported by an experienced team which includes Lars Bak  – looking for a stage win – and Jelle Vanendert – another one chasing the polka dot jersey. This would seem to imply that Andre Greipel will be going it alone in the sprints, which he’s more than capable of doing. Of course most fans are most looking forward to the daily Twitter exchanges between those masters of wit in 140 letters: Kiwi Greg Henderson – making his Tour debut at the age of 35 – and Aussie Adam Hansen.

Movistar

Sponsor: A Spanish mobile telecoms operator.

Overview: Alejandro Valverde will be playing the leading man at the Tour but he brings with him a strong supporting cast of similarly dimple-chinned riders, including last year’s Vuelta winner, Juan Jose Cobo, Ivan Gutierrez, Ruben Plaza and recent Tour de Suisse winner Rui Costa. In addition he has his Russian heavies Vasil Kiryienka and Vladimir Karpets – surely the scariest looking rider ever – who’ll be riding tempo on the front of the peloton kilometre after kilometre. I suspect that, unlike last year, Jose Joaquin Rojas won’t be throwing his hat into the ring in the crowded points jersey competition. Team management believe that despite the time-trials, Valverde can still challenge for a podium place. We think he’d be better off going for the points jersey.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step

Sponsors: A Belgian pharmaceutical company and a Belgian laminate flooring manufacturer.

Overview: OPQS are still the team of the 2012 season and they’re coming to the Tour, for the first time in many a year, with a genuine Tour contender in Levi Leipheimer who demonstrated with his stealthy third place in the Tour de Suisse that he’s recovered from recent injuries and looking forward to jousting on a parcours that suits him. He’ll be supported by Tony Martin, again back from injury and coming into form, ahead of his tilt at the Olympic time trial title – he’ll be looking to shine in all three time trials. Bert Grabsch, a fantastic time trial performer, will be tasked with keeping the squad together on the flat stages. Levi will have further strong support from former Tour stage winner Sylvain Chavanel and Tour of Oman winner Peter Velits and his brother Martin. Not, of course, forgetting another one of Kitty’s chou chous, Dries Devenyns.

Orica-GreenEDGE

Sponsors: A conglomerate which provide chemicals and explosives for the mining industry and a wealthy Australian businessman.

Overview: The team will be hunting stage wins in its debut Tour de France with its team of nine opportunists, although Matt Goss is an obvious focus for sprint stage wins. Supporting Goss in the fast, flat finishes will be Baden Cooke, Brett Lancaster and Daryl Impey, the latter riding his first Tour. On other stages the squad will look to Simon Gerrans – the first Australian to win a stage in all three Grand Tours – Pieter Weening and Volta a Catalunya victor Michael Albasini for stage wins. Road captain will be Stuart O’Grady, who has appeared in every Tour since he made his debut in 1997. He has 13 finishes in 15 starts, two stage wins and nine days in yellow to his name. Please note, the team will be unveiling a new jersey at the start of the Tour.

Rabobank

Sponsor: A Dutch bank.

Overview: Robert Gesink will lead a team loaded with burgeoining talent. He’s addressed two of his weaknesses – descending and time trials – as witnessed in the Dauphiné – and can legitimately be regarded as a podium condender. Gesink will be supported by Bauke Mollema, third-placed in Vuelta a Pais Vasco, and another Tour debutant, Steven Kruijswijk. Luis Leon Sanchez will be on the hunt for another Tour stage victory. Rabobank will also look to take points in the sprints with Mark Renshaw who finally appears to have made the leap from lead-out man to full-blown number one sprinter. However, looking at the composition of the team it seems as if he’ll be fending for himself a la Greipel.

RadioShack-Nissan

Sponsors: A US electronics retailer and a Japanese automotive company.

Overview: The team with the highest average age [it would have been even higher without Tony Gallopin – Ed] RadioShack, or RadioShambles as someone called them on Twitter [Tim prefers RadioSlack – Ed], continue their abysmal season. Andy Schleck’s cracked sacrum has left elder brother and Giro abondonee Frank to assume leadership of the Tour team along with stalwarts Andreas Kloden and Chris Horner – the last-minute replacement for Andy. Meanwhile Tour rejects Jakob Fuglsang and Linus Gerdemann are actively seeking new berths for next year. Harmonious it ain’t and therefore not at all conducive to a great Tour performance. We can nonetheless expect Maxime Monfort to ride strongly in support of the leaders and Fabian Cancellara to challenge in the time trials, while Jens Voigt – another rider making his Tour swansong – will regularly put the hurt on the rest of the peloton. At the other end of the age spectrum, young Tony Gallopin makes his Tour debut. Tour veteran and team general manager, Johann Bruyneel has wisely decided to skip this year’s race and inevitable press scrum after being embroiled in a possible doping case with the US Anti Doping Agency (USADA).

Saur-Sojasun

Sponsors: Two French companies: one promoting sustainable and durable development, the other a producer of soya-based edible products.

Overview: The team’s hopes will rest once again on the slender shoulders of Jerome Coppel, 14th last year, supported by a mixture of emerging talent and experience in the hopes of securing a top ten GC classification. The time trial-heavy, summit-light parcours should play to Coppel’s strengths and so this isn’t an unreasonable expectation. Brice Feillu, himself a former Tour stage winner, will be lending a hand in the mountains as will Fabrice Jeandesboz. [Surely the rider with the least editor-friendly name in the peloton? – Ed] Team leader will be the uber-experienced Quatre Jours de Dunkerque winner Jimmy Engoulvent while emerging talent Julien Simon will most likely be animating the breakaways in the hope of snatching a stage win.

Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank

Sponsors: A Danish and a Russian bank.

Overview: Same old, same old for the Contador-less squad, which sits in last place in the WorldTour standings. They enter the Tour with a largely journeyman team which contains neither a recognised GC contender nor a top climber although they do have experienced stage winners with Chris Anker Sorensen, Karsten Kroon and Sergio Paulinho. Indeed, team manager Bjarne Riis has said the squad shouldn’t be underestimated, and will be chasing stage victories and aiming to make an impact on the race with their mix of experience, aggression and different competencies – good, positive spin. [I suppose it beats saying “we’re not very good and we’ll take whatever scraps we can find” – Ed.] Aussie Jonathan Cantwell will be making his Tour debut. The announcement of a new co-sponsor – Tinkoff Bank – on Monday means that there’ll be a change of jersey for the Tour.

Sky

Sponsor: A satellite television broadcaster.

Overview: Sky’s Tour focus will be on winning the maillot jaune with man of the moment Bradley Wiggins, who’s the bookie’s hot favourite to dethrone Cadel Evans after his amazing triple of Paris-Nice, Tour de Romandie and Critérium du Dauphiné. He’s been looking awesome at 95%, come the Tour he’ll be at 100% and, barring a repeat of last year’s accident, will be the man to beat on a parcours which also plays to his strengths. He’ll be supported – as he was at the Dauphiné – by Chris Froome, Mick Rogers and Richie Porte. The line-up also includes world champion Mark Cavendish – with ‘minder’ Bernhard Eisel – who’ll be defending his green points jersey, but will primarily be chasing stage victories as he prepares for the Olympics. Wiggins could be in yellow after the prologue although it’s unlikely he’d worry about losing it before the week was out. Though he’ll want it back come Paris.

Vacansoleil-DCM

Sponsors: A European organiser of luxury camping holidays and a Belgian farm supply company.

Overview: The brave soldier of last year’s Tour, Johnny ‘barbed wire’ Hoogerland, has announced his intention to go for the King of the Mountains jersey. [There’s going to be one heck of a competition for this jersey – Ed.] As a consequence, we can expect Johnny to be competing with Jeremy Roy (FDJ-BigMat) for the the most kilometres covered in breakaways. Leadership duties will be assumed by the Dutch pair of Tour de Luxembourg runner-up Wout Poels and newly crowned national time trial champion Lieuwe Westra. Neither will be chasing the final podium, however, as the team’s main aim will be to complete its set of stage victories at all three Grand Tours.

Tomorrow we’ll preview the five key stages of this year’s race.

VeloVoices Tour de France previews

Are you ready?

You know you’re obsessed with Le Tour when …

Teams and sponsors (part 1)

Link: Tour de France official website