In this morning’s edition of the CyclingTips Daily News Digest: Michael Matthews wins stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia, secures another day in pink; Mark Cavendish wins again on stage 2 of the Amgen Tour of California; Domenico Pozzovivo injured in horror crash at the Giro d’Italia; UCI checking for hidden motors at the Giro d’Italia; Amateur doping in Australia - a personal story; Michael Matthews’ stage-winning Scott Foil; Technology at the Tour of California; Video of the fixie cyclist that caused the Giro crash.
Michael Matthews wins stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia, secures another day in pink
by Shane Stokes
Overall leader Michael Matthews retained his maglia rosa in fine style on Monday’s third stage of the Giro d’Italia, winning a reduced bunch sprint to the line in Sestri Levante and notching up the second Giro stage win of his career.
The Australian Orica-GreenEdge rider beat Trek Factory Racing’s Fabio Felline and former world champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC), extending his overall lead to six seconds ahead of teammate Simon Clarke (who did an impressive ride in the breakaway) with Simon Gerrans and Esteben Chaves another four seconds back.
A large breakaway of 21 riders opened up a lead inside the first 5km of the hilly stage with the likes of Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal), Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) Philippe Gilbert and Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) among them.
On the day’s second and final classified climb Pavel Kotchetkov (Katusha) attacked from the break, took the lead in the KOM classification then pressed on. He was later joined by Adam Hansen, Simon Clarke and Matiej Paterski (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) but the peloton made the final catch with 3.5km to go, setting up a bunch sprint with 74 riders.
The Giro d’Italia continues today with a 150km stage from Chiavari to La Spezia. There are three classified climbs for the riders to contend with, including a third category ascent that peaks with less than 10km to the finish.
Matthews
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Kochetkov
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Orica GreenEDGEClick here to read more at CyclingTips.
Mark Cavendish wins again on stage 2 of the Amgen Tour of California
Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick-Step) has taken a second consecutive stage win at the Amgen Tour of California, narrowly beating Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) in the bunch sprint into Lodi. Drapac’s Wouter Wippert was third after hitting the front early and then flagging as Cavendish and Sagan passed him on either side.
¡Victoria para Mark Cavendish! ¡Confirma la vista aérea! #AmgenTOC10th pic.twitter.com/NUF5C5d9BX
— Road&Mud (@_RoadAndMud) May 11, 2015
The day-long breakaway established itself within 30km of racing and featured four riders: Daniel Oss (BMC), Robin Carpenter (Hincapie Racing Team), Markel Irizar Aranburu (Trek Factory Racing) and Luis Romero Amaran (Jamis - Hagens Berman). The quartet enjoyed a lead that grew to as much as 5:30 before the likes of Etixx-Quick-Step and Tinkoff-Saxo started to increase the tempo in the peloton.
The break was finally caught with 4.6km to go, just as the peloton began the final local lap in Lodi, setting things up for the bunch sprint.
The win is Cavendish’s 11th for the season and ensures the Manxman will wear the leader’s jersey for another stage.
The eight-stage Amgen Tour of California continues tomorrow with a 169.8km stage starting and finishing in San Jose with five climbs along the way.
Domenico Pozzovivo injured in horror crash at the Giro d’Italia
by Shane Stokes
Ag2r-La Mondiale rider Domenico Pozzovivo is recovering in hospital after a very serious-looking crash on stage 3, having had his front wheel wash out on a descent 28 kilometres from the finish.
The Italian rider fell heavily, landing on his face and remained on the ground for several minutes. He appeared motionless, and fears rose as to his condition. But after being fitted with a neck brace and placed in an ambulance on a stretcher, word later came that he was conscious and aware of his surroundings.
“Domenico suffers from a cranial-facial trauma but the scanner reveals no intra-cranial lesion,” stated Ag2r-La Mondiale’s medical manager doctor Eric Bouvat plus doctor Roberto Parravicini, the team’s doctor in the Giro.
“He has deep wounds above his right eye and received stitches. He is conscious and lucid but has no memory of the crash.”
The transmitted images from Pozzovivo’s crash led to criticisms of host broadcaster RAI. Four years after the death of Wouter Weylandt on a Giro descent, images of Pozzovivo’s fall raised fears that another tragedy had taken place. As was the case then and now, TV cameras lingered on the fallen rider and the scene.
Click here to read more at CyclingTips.
UCI checking for hidden motors at the Giro d’Italia
The UCI has indicated lingering concerns over the potential use of hidden motors in bikes with the governing body checking bikes at the end of Giro d’Italia stages.
VeloNews reports that UCI inspectors checked several bikes on stage 2, including those belonging to the top-three finishers on the stage — Elia Viviani, Moreno Hofland and Andre Greipel.
Riders caught using a hidden motor will face a fine of between 20,000 and 200,000 Swiss francs (AUD $27,100 to $271,000) and at least six months on the sidelines. Penalties also exist for the team of any rider found to be using a hidden motor.
A recent article at CyclingTips confirmed that the technology exists to successfully hide a motor in the frame of a road bike.
Click here to read more at VeloNews.
Amateur doping in Australia: a personal story
A little while back we were contacted by a former National Road Series rider who wanted to tell the story of why and how he got into taking performance-enhancing drugs. Here’s an excerpt from that story:
“You might be wondering why I didn’t go for tried-and-tested products like EPO or cortisone. In my head, the substances I ended up taking weren’t “as serious” as something like cortisone, EPO or blood doping in general. That might sound strange but that was my thought process at the time. From what I could tell, the substances I did take seemed relatively safe as long as I wasn’t stupid with the dosages.That said, I did try and get my hands on some cortisone but the doctor I saw at the time wouldn’t allow it — he didn’t believe I needed it. And if I’d had a doctor that I could go to regularly there’s a good chance I would have tried EPO as well. As it was I was too scared to take it without a doctor checking my blood levels all the time. Eventually the thoughts of taking EPO disappeared.
I was surprised how easy it was to get my hands on the three substances I ended up taking and how easy it was to learn how to use them. I did most of this on my own, but I also asked my doctor for advice on how best to use them. He wasn’t surprised that I was asking — he told me he got those questions a lot. But he was very much against the idea. He tried to talk me out of using all three substances before eventually giving me some information on how to be safe when using them.
There has been some fascinating commentary in the comments section of the article, with the article’s author responding to comments from readers.
Click here to read the full story at CyclingTips.
Michael Matthews’ stage-winning Scott Foil
Here’s a video from Cyclingnews that shows the Scott Foil Michael Matthews is riding at this year’s Giro d’Italia, complete with (for now) pink bar tape.
Technology at the Tour of California
Here’s an interesting look inside the race director’s car at the Amgen Tour of California courtesy of Sacramento TV station KCRA-TV. It’s all about “the technology at [the race director’s] fingertips to help him make key decisions during the race”.
Video of the fixie cyclist that caused the Giro crash
Yesterday we reported that Trek Factory Racing rider Eugenio Alafaci had taken to social media to berate a cyclist riding a fixed-gear bike who decided he’d like to join the Giro peloton on stage 2. We said at the time that no footage of the incident was available but now, thanks to a spectator watching from a nearby terrace, you can see the moment the amateur (in every sense of the word) tries to join the fray, causing a huge pile-up.
The rider pushes off from the curb at 12 seconds in the video below.
What You Missed
And finally this morning, here are a few things you might have missed at CyclingTips in the past few days:
- Pro travel day essentials: Top tips to make long travel more bearable
- Don’t be “That Cyclist”
- Jack Haig’s Diary: the perils of bike racing
- Last chance to order customised wet bags!
- Daily News Digest: Monday May 11
