Lauren Stephens wins stage 4 ITT at the Tour Femenino de San Luis

Lauren Stephens (Tibco-SVC) has won the stage 4 time trial at the Tour Femenino de San Luis in Argentina, propelling herself into the overall lead in the process.


Stephens had been sitting ninth overall after the first three stages of the six-stage race, but a victory against the clock has seen the American move to the top of the leaderboard.

Stephens completed the 12.8km time trial in a time of 18 minutes 12 seconds, less than a second faster than second-placed Alison Tetrick (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies). Ana Polegatch (Brazil) was third, 12 seconds off the pace.

With two stages left in the tour, the overall classification mirrors the result of stage 4: Stephens first, Tetrick just behind and Polegatch a little further back in third.

Stage 4 (ITT): El Durazno > El Durazno - Stage Result

Wednesday 14th January 2015

1. us
STEPHENS Lauren
Team TIBCO -SVB
 00:18:12
2. us
TETRICK Alison
Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
 -
3. br
POLEGATCH Ana Paula
0:12
Course Profile
View full results

Dowsett’s hour record plans up in the air after collarbone fracture

by Shane Stokes

Alex Dowsett’s planned attack on the world hour record on February 27 could be postponed or even abandoned after the rider suffered a fractured collarbone while training on Tuesday.

The Briton’s Movistar team revealed early Wednesday that he had fallen near his home in Essex and that the break is severe enough to require surgery on Thursday.

“Pain in his right-hand shoulder forced Dowsett to be moved to a hospital nearby, where radiological examinations confirmed a fracture in his collarbone,” it said.

“Details on whether Dowsett’s attempt will go on as planned or be postponed will be specified in the next few days, subject to medical examination after his surgery and Dowsett’s own consideration.”

Click here to read more at CyclingTips.

Giant-Alpecin riders in training crash ahead of the Santos Tour Down Under

Giant-Alpecin riders Simon Geschke and Lawson Craddock had a close encounter with local law enforcement when they collided with a police car ahead of the Santos Tour Down Under in Adelaide yesterday.

Craddock told Cyclingnews yesterday that the incident occurred after the riders had climbed Willunga Hill twice and were on their way down.

“I was behind Simon Geschke when we rolled into town where a bike lane started,” Craddock said. “After a couple hundred meters, Simon started to pass a cop who all of a sudden turned into a parking space on the side of the street.

“He clipped Simon’s rear wheel, but [Geschke] managed to straighten it back up to keep upright. Unfortunately, I was close behind him and the cop was completely blocking the bike path. I slammed on my brakes and was able to slow down just enough to give the car a solid hip check – my track racing days coming in handy. Fortunately, we both came away completely unscathed and were able to continue on our way. We were definitely lucky, as it could have turned out a whole lot worse.”

The Santos Tour Down Under will pay its annual visit to Willunga Hill on stage 5, to be held on January 24. The Santos Tour Down Under begins on Sunday January 18 with the People’s Choice Classic criterium while the race proper begins on January 20.

Click here to read more at Cyclingnews.

MTN-Qhubeka, Bora-Argon 18 and French trio of squads confirmed for Tour de France

by Shane Stokes

Announcing the line-up of teams for this year’s Tour de France, organisers ASO have confirmed the identities of five wildcard squads which will compete alongside the 17 WorldTour teams in July.

The company has confirmed that the French trio of Europcar, Cofidis and Bretagne-Séché Environnement will be present, as will the Bora-Argon 18 team plus MTN-Qhubeka.

The selection of the latter makes history as it represents the first time an African-based, African-registered team will compete in the Tour.

Bora-Argon 18’s selection follows on from the team’s first participation in 2014 while titled NetApp-Endura. Last week’s confirmation that free to view German TV would return to the Tour made its participation almost certain and ASO has now confirmed that this will indeed be the case.

Click here to read more at CyclingTips.

Denk: Bora-Argon 18 riding the Tour again is ‘a dream come true’

by Shane Stokes

Bora-Argon 18 general manager Ralph Denk has made his elation clear after his team was given a repeat invite for the Tour de France, describing the news as ‘a dream come true.’

“A return to the Tour de France was our primary goal for this season,” said Denk after the news was confirmed. “It was ambitious, but we have achieved it. I would like to thank ASO for the early announcement of the invitation, because we now have six months to prepare our team optimally.”

The squad had a GC focus last year and achieved seventh place overall with Leopold Konig. The Czech rider has since moved from the-then NetApp-Endura line-up to Team Sky, but Denk said that he believed another rider would be able to step up and chase a similar goal.

“We are stronger now that we have been joined by Dominik Nerz, currently Germany’s best classification rider,” he explained. “With Dominik we intend to compete for a top-ten position in the general classification and thus give German fans the opportunity to get excited even during the mountain stages.

“We can already promise that our team will make quite an impact at this year’s Tour de France too.”

The Tour de France starts in Utrecht on July 4.

Click here to read more at CyclingTips.

Jack Bobridge headlines strong UniSA-Australia team for Tour Down Under

Cycling Australia has announced the UniSA-Australia team that will line-up at this year’s Santos Tour Down Under next week.

The seven-rider team features Jack Bobridge (SA), Alexander Edmondson (SA), Jack Haig (VIC), Robert Power (WA), Miles Scotson (SA), Neil van der Ploeg (VIC) and Steele von Hoff (VIC).

Bobridge is in the final stages of his preparation for an attempt at the hour record on January 31 and had been targeting a start in the TDU as part of that preparation.

Steele von Hoff, too, had been targeting selection for the Santos Tour Down Under so as to get some racing in his legs before joining his new British squad NFTO in March.

Click here to read more in the Cycling Australia press release.

Von Hoff, Haig to lead Australian national teams at Jayco Herald Sun Tour

Meanwhile, organisers of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour have announced the two national teams that will compete in the four-stage race in early February.

The KordaMentha Australian Team will feature six riders, some with WorldTour experience: Steele von Hoff, Chris Hamilton, Angus Morton, Lachlan Morton, Nick Schultz and Cameron Wurf.

The Jayco-AIS U23 Australian team, meanwhile, features a number of promising up-and-coming riders: Jack Haig, Jack Beckinsale, Ryan Cavanagh, Harry Carpenter, Alex Clements and Robert Power.

Click here to read more at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour press release.

The thing you love can kill you

Here’s a beautiful piece of writing from Matthew Beaudin at VeloNews about just what it’s like to be hit by a car while riding and his experience of the aftermath. Beaudin does a terrific job of capturing the shock he felt while lying on the ground, and his frustrating dealings with law enforcement directly after the incident.

Here’s an excerpt:

“
As the car’s front bumper hit my rear wheel, the sound of it wasn’t but absorbed. The front wheel popped out, and the tire ripped off as the violence of energy went from car to bike and human being. I came down on a naked fork going roughly 25 miles per hour.

And so this is how it happens. This is how you die.

My brain is on fire and the slivers of seconds are bending and stretching. I look over my left shoulder and see the car passing above. The time is long still, and the pitch of a terrified nervous system mutes the rest of the world into nothing. My right hip and calf help bring me to a slow, grinding stop on the side of Monarch Road outside of Boulder, Colorado.

Well worth a read.

Click here to read the full article at VeloNews.

Apple to enter sports video camera market?

Apple appears to be readying itself for a foray into the sports video camera market after being granted a patent for a wearable camera this week.

The patent, which can be seen in full here, provides details about a camera and remote control combination with many of the features we’ve come to expect in action cameras in recent years.

Reuters reports that GoPro shares fell as much as 15% at the time of Apple’s patent being granted.

JMP Securities analyst Alex Gauna said it was premature to assume Apple would soon be launching a wearable camera.

“It does not seem to me that launching an action camera accessory is the most logical product extension for Apple to pursue right now,” Gauna said.

“I think that it will have about the same impact on GoPro as the iPhone has had on camera makers and that impact is that there are fewer cameras sold but the number isn’t zero,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said.

Click here to read the full patent.

Dangerous cyclists in Cambridge to be sent on online course, or pay a fine

A new ‘Cycling Discretionary Scheme’ in Cambridge, UK could see law-breaking cyclists given the choice between taking an online course or being fined.

The Scheme could be introduced because of, the Cambridge News reports, “the high number of foreign students in the city who may not know the rules of the road”.

Sgt Ian Wood, of Cambridge’s neighbourhood policing team, is championing the scheme.

“Cambridge is synonymous with cycling – with statistics suggesting that over 40 per cent of residents cycle more than three times a week”, Sgt Wood told the Cambridge News. “We have seen that the diversionary courses for motorists have been well received – and I hope that the forthcoming scheme for cyclists will be equally effective.”

Click here to read more at Cambridge News.

A dog rides to the shop for treats

This TV commercial has that familiar Japanese combination of cuteness and strangeness.

Wetness: the sound of trail riding

We tend not to feature too many MTB videos in the Rocacorba, given CT is primarily a site about road cycling, but this one is a little different. Unlike most MTB videos this one doesn’t have an epic dubsteb track behind it. Instead it’s all about the sounds of the trail. Beautiful sound design.

Disclaimer: Specialized is a long-term supporter of CyclingTips but they did not ask us to feature this video.

The Rocacorba Recap

And finally this morning, here are a few things you might have missed at CyclingTips:

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Today’s feature image was taken in the Pinarello factory by Jered Gruber.