Marcel Kittel sprints to victory in the Tour Down Under People’s Choice Classic
by Matt de Neef
Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) has begun his Santos Tour Down Under campaign in convincing fashion, winning the People’s Choice Classic in Adelaide’s for the second year in a row.
Kittel went into the curtain-raiser criterium in Adelaide’s East End as the hot favourite and lived up to expectations, crossing the line first ahead of Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) and Wouter Wippert (Drapac) at the end of the 51km race.
It wasn’t until lap 8 of the 1.7km circuit that the race’s only real breakaway was established. Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge), Peter Kennaugh (Sky) and Dario Cataldo (Astana) opened up a small lead and on the following lap they were joined by Calvin Watson (Trek).
Over the next 10 laps the group of four eked out a small lead which peaked at just 32 seconds after 17 of the race’s 30 laps. But back in the main field Giant-Alpecin was lined out on the front of the peloton, chasing back the break for Marcel Kittel.
As predicted, the race came down to a bunch sprint in which Kittel prevailed, despite having just one teammate for the lead-out.
Click here to read more at CyclingTips.
Melissa Hoskins makes it two-from-two for Orica-AIS at Santos Women’s Tour
by Jessi Braverman
Earlier in the evening, Western Australian Melissa Hoskins (Orica-AIS) sprinted to victory in Adelaide’s East End on stage 2 of the Santos Women’s Tour. Debuting her new Australian national criterium champion jersey, Kimberley Wells (High5 Dream Team) managed second place ahead of Adelaide local Nettie Edmondson (Wiggle Down Under) in third.
Although a handful of riders made an effort to escape the stronghold of the bunch, the race stayed together from start to finish without even the slightest hint of a breakaway. With several of the stronger, more experience squads invested in a field sprint and a non-technical course, the outcome seemed somewhat inevitable.
Race leader Valentina Scandolara (Orica-AIS) finished on bunch time to retain her six-second advantage in the general classification. With the stage win today and second place on Saturday, Hoskins jumps up to second overall ahead of Lauren Kitchen (Roxsolt).
Click here to read more at CyclingTips. You can also read the stage one report here.
Jamildes Fernandes wraps up Tour Femenino de San Luis
Brazil’s Jamildes Fernandes has taken the overall victory in the Tour Femenino de San Luis in Argentina, having moved into the lead on stage 5 and holding her lead through the final stage.
After finishing second to Katie Hall on stage 5, Fernandes had just a one-second lead going into the final stage. But by finishing in the bunch, Fernandes was able to extend her lead in the overall classification to eight seconds.
The final stage was won by Alison Tetrick who finished 15 seconds clear of second-placed Paola Munoz (Chile) with dual stage winner Hannah Barnes (UnitedHealthcare) leading home the main field a second later.
Stage 6: San Luis > San Luis - Stage Result
Friday 16th January 2015
| 1. |  |
TETRICK Alison
Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
|
01:55:29 |
| 2. |  |
MUNOZ Paola
|
0:15 |
| 3. |  |
BARNES Hannah
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Womens Team
|
0:16 |
Tour Down Under preview and favourites
It’s not until tomorrow that the Santos Tour Down Under proper gets underway — the People’s Choice Classic isn’t actually part of the TDU and isn’t a UCI-classified race.
Ahead of the main event, Mikkel Conde has put together a preview of the race, looking at the course and the contenders for the overall. Here’s an excerpt:
“The Tour Down Under course has changed a lot since its beginning when it was a race made for the sprinters. However, the fast riders still have a lot of opportunities to make their mark on the race. The opening stage is expected to end in a bunch sprint and so is stage 2 on the classic uphill finish in Stirling even though this most likely will be a sprint within a reduced peloton.A new addition to the race this year is the steep finish in Paracombe on stage 3. About 1.2km with an average gradient of nearly 10% await the riders with the finishing line just 300 meters after the top. This will be the first big fight between the top contenders for the general classification.
The Tour Down Under usually comes down to bonus seconds. Each day there are 10, 6 and 4 seconds to the first three riders on the stage. Therefore, grabbing a stage win is of huge importance if you want to win the race overall.
Click here to read the full preview, including a discussion of the likely overall contenders.
Haussler confident heading into Santos Tour Down Under: “I’m happy with my form”
Australian road race champion Heinrich Haussler would ideally have liked to notch up another success on Sunday’s People’s Choice Classic, the warm-up event for the Santos Tour Down Under, but instead he had to make do with fifth place behind Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin), Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar), Wouter Wippert (Drapac Professional Cycling) and Team Sky’s Chris Sutton.
Still, he was upbeat after the critierum and believes he is on course for a strong campaign in the upcoming WorldTour event.
“I am confident going into the Santos Tour Down Under. I had to brake in the sprint in order to avoid ending up being pushed into the balustrade, but I still managed to grab fifth place,” he said. “The team did a good job and I’m happy with my form. I felt really good.”
His IAM Cycling directeur sportif, Kjell Carlström, said he was satisfied with the showing. “We planned to put all our strength in the final. Each guy had been tasked to remain within the top-15 for the final two laps, and all managed to do that.
“Perhaps Roger Kluge went to the front a little too early, but we really put all our efforts into winning this criterium. And we will do the same at the Santos Tour Down Under.”
Robert Power signs with Orica-GreenEdge
The Adelaide Advertiser’s Reece Homfray reports this morning that Aussie young gun Robert Power has signed a contract with Orica-GreenEdge and that the team will announce the deal later today.
Like Alex Edmondson and Jack Haig, Power is expected to continue riding with Cycling Australia’s WorldTour Academy this season before joining GreenEdge in 2016.
Click here to read more at the Adelaide Advertiser.
Fabian Cancellara: “I want to get back racing…to kick ass and enjoy”
by Shane Stokes
Becoming world road race champion for the first time, or taking the trio of Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix? It’s a tantalising question, but one Fabian Cancellara is not willing to answer.
The powerful Swiss rider is clear on his general goal for the 2015 season – to have a much better year than in 2014 – but, on the subject of picking one win, or set of wins, over another, he is simply not willing to go there.
“I love those questions because they are questions that you can’t give answers to,” he said, answering a journalist’s enquiry during Friday’s Trek Factory Racing media conference session.
“Of course, winning all three would be a huge thing, but in the end also winning the worlds would be huge. Winning Flanders for the fourth time would be immense because nobody has reached that yet.”
Cancellara has had a superb career and previously won each of those spring Classics. Taking all three in one season would be staggering, of course, but so too would be his first rainbow jersey in the road race. The latter goal has been a big focus for years but while he has clocked up four time trial titles, the road event has continued to elude him.
Click here to read the full feature.
Kwiatkowski gets 2015 campaign as world champion underway in Tour de San Luis
Speaking prior to Monday’s opening stage of the Tour de San Luis, world road race champion Michal Kwiatkowski has said that he endeavoured to strike the right balance between commitments as the rainbow jersey holder and his training during recent months, and hopes to show solidly in the Argentinean race.
“My winter was more busy after the season this year compared to past years, but it’s part of my job,” he said at an Etixx-Quick-Step press conference held this weekend. “I tried to organise my time in the right way. My goal for the season is to improve as a young rider still learning and be successful with this strong team that always supports me.”
Kwiatkowski previously rode the race with the team in 2013. He impressed then, wearing the leader’s jersey for a day and also finishing third on the time trial stage plus one hilly leg. He was also third on the Mirador del Potrero climbing stage and finished 12th overall.
The seven-stage Tour de San Luis begins today.
Click through for the startlist of the 2015 Tour de San Luis.
Hour record: Post-surgery, Dowsett pledges to keep trying for original date
by Shane Stokes
Although considerable doubt was raised about Alex Dowsett’s prospects of going for the world hour record on February 27 due to his crash and broken collarbone, the Briton has said that he will still aim for the original date.
Dowsett fell while training on Tuesday and suffered the injury, necessitating an operation to pin the fracture. He and his Movistar team issued a video Friday which updated his situation.
“Surgery yesterday went extremely well. I should be out of hospital today or tomorrow,” he said in the video. “The haemophilia usually keeps me in a day or two longer than normal, but it looks like they will be sending me home quite soon.”
Click here to read more at CyclingTips.
Olympics road race course changed to finish alongside Copacabana beach
Changes to the men’s and women’s road race courses at the 2016 Olympics in Rio will see the races finish alongside the city’s iconic Copacabana beach.
Image: Alex Mazullo
“The UCI has been working in close collaboration with the Rio 2016 Organising Committee and Mayor Paes and we welcome the modifications to the Road Race route, which will now start and finish at the renowned Fort Copacabana,” UCI President Brian Cookson said via a press release on Friday.
“The combination of the stunning scenery and the stern challenge that the road race and time trial courses will provide will deliver a fantastic spectacle for cycling fans, and we’re looking forward with anticipation and excitement to the start of the Games.”
The men’s road race will be contested over 256.4km while the women will cover 130.3km. The routes will feature a 2km cobbled section and a steep climb.
Click here to read more at Cyclingnews.
Course for women’s Strade Bianche revealed
RCS Sport has announced the route for the inaugural women’s Strade Bianche, with the 103km race to feature 17km of Tuscany’s famous white roads on March 7 — the same day as the men’s race.
“We are very proud to be able to announce today the birth of Strade Bianche Women Elite, which is going to enrich a movement in continuous development and show how RCS Sport continues to invest in the cycling world,” race director Mauro Vegni said at the race presentation in Siena, Italy.
The UCI 1.1 race will begin in San Gimignano and finish in Siena, just as the men’s race does. The first 33km of the race and the final 20km will be tackled on the same course as the men’s and the 17km of dirt roads will be split across five sectors. The longest sector is 9.5km which ends with a long climb that, organisers say, could be decisive.
A gran fondo has also been announced, to run the day after Strade Bianche on the same course used by the men’s race.
Click here to read more at VeloNews.
WADA reviewing Mosquera case but says Spanish court decision can’t be upheld internationally
by Shane Stokes
Initially second in the 2010 Vuelta a España but later losing that result and incurring a two year ban due to a positive test for hydroxethyl starch, Ezequiel Mosquera was cleared earlier this month by a Spanish court.
However the retired rider’s chance of having his result restored and ban recognised as quashed in a sporting sense appears very uncertain after the World Anti Doping Agency gave its position Thursday on the matter.
“In Spain, there is a civil law process where athletes found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation, and who have been banned from international competition, still have the option to seek redress in the national civil courts,” a WADA spokesman told CyclingTips.
“Spanish athletes who have therefore been banned by the internationally accepted process, including appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, can apply to the civil court in Spain.”
Asked for clarification as to what exactly that meant vis-à-vis his previous runner-up slot, WADA said that it was unable to comment further as the case is being reviewed by it.
Click here to read more at CyclingTips.
Colombian sports minister lends weight to Colombia-Coldeportes’ Giro wildcard bid
Seeking to secure a wildcard when Giro d’Italia organisers RCS Sport make their expected announcement on Monday, the Colombia Coldeportes team has received the backing of its country’s Minster for Sport, Andres Botero.
Botero sent his support via Twitter, saying that he was confident that the riders will show themselves well if they are given the opportunity to ride the race once again.
They previously took part in 2013 and 2014, with the wildcard team getting the nod from RCS Sport on both occasions.
“Team Colombia-Coldeportes is ready for 2015 Giro,” said Botero in Spanish, using the #UnEquipoUnPais hashtag employed by the team in enabling people to express their support for the team. “If the organisers pick us, we will guarantee battle and sacrifice in every pedal stroke.”
The Giro d’Italia wildcards had been expected to be announced last week but these were undercut by Tour de France organiser ASO, which decided to name its own invited teams earlier than it did in 2014.
Team kits of the 2015 WorldTour
On the eve of the Santos Tour Down Under, the first WorldTour race of the season, photographer Con Chronis took a look at the new kits being worn by the UCI ProTeams in 2015.
Black is very much the new black when it comes to cycling kits in 2015 and it could be challenging for commentators to differentiate between some teams throughout the year.
Click here to see the full article at gallery for each WorldTour team.
SRAM and FSA groupsets - wireless, electronic shifting
If the latest tech rumours are to be believed FSA is soon to announce its electronic shifting groupset. SRAM too is about launch a wireless shifting system and five riders in the Ag2r-La Mondiale team are already using it.
For an article on the Ride Media website Rob Arnold spoke to mechanics and industry insiders to learn more about where the technology is at and when we might start to see these new groupsets throughout the pro peloton.
“It’s so nice,” Tinkoff-Saxo’s mechanic Alejandro Torraldo told Ride a few days ago, speaking of the FSA groupset.
“There’s no cabling. “When you make the bike, it’s so easy. If you make so many bikes, you need many cables and cable housing and this is a much easier solution.”
You can read the full article at Ride Media here.
Extreme Unicycling on Mount Damavand in Iran
This is slightly crazy, but also very cool.
Click here to see photos and a report from the ride, over at Pinkbike.
The Rocacorba Recap
And finally this morning, here are a few things you might have missed at CyclingTips: