In this morning’s edition of the CyclingTips Daily News Digest: Stybar wins stage six of Tour de France, race leader Tony Martin crashes out; Mayuko Hagiwara wins Giro Rosa stage six; Primoz Roglic survives hors catégorie climb to claim Tour of Qinghai Lake stage 5; Van Zyl wins stage five of Tour of Austria, but Tanner claims victory was stolen from him; MTN-Qhubeka talking to Dimension Data about title sponsorship, WorldTour a target for 2016; Froome can choose whether or not to wear yellow on stage 7; Daniel Teklehaimanot becomes first African to wear Tour de France KOM jersey; Aldag says Cavendish remains the same rider as before; CyclingTips Tour de France Podcast - Episode 3; Get in line; No Road Left Behind - teaser trailer; Norwegian journalist tries to consume same number of calories as Tour de France rider.

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Stybar wins stage six of Tour de France, race leader Tony Martin crashes out

by Shane Stokes

On a day of contrasting fortunes for the Etixx-Quick-Step team, Zdenek Stybar jumped away inside the final two kilometres to win the stage while race leader Tony Martin crashed in the finale.

Martin badly injured his shoulder and was pushed across the line by three team-mates, nursing his left arm. The sight raised the possibility that he had broken his collarbone and would therefore be unable to continue in the race.

The nature of the injury was later confirmed as that and the German will now abandon the Tour de France.

Stybar made his move after the confusion caused by the crash. The other sprinters’ teams stalled, looking at each other, and this gave him enough of a buffer to hold on until the line.

Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) won the battle for second, two seconds behind, with Brian Coquard (Europcar), John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) the next best of the bunch.

Click here to read the full report on CyclingTips.

Mayuko Hagiwara wins Giro Rosa stage six

by Jessi Braverman

Mayuko Hagiwara (Wiggle Honda) became the first Japanese rider to win a stage of the Giro Rosa on Thursday with a stunning solo victory into Morbegno. The 28-year-old launched a bold attack on the last of three climbs, riding alone for nearly 30 kilometres before crossing the stage six finish line alone.

“I am so happy,” Hagiwara told Ella CyclingTips during her post-stage transfer. “It’s amazing. I can’t believe it. I cannot believe I won. It’s a very special moment, and I have to say thank you to my team.”

Twenty-four seconds following Hagiwara’s historic accomplishment, maglia rosa wearer Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) brought home an elite chase group of 10 riders. Pocketing six bonus seconds for second place on the stage, Guarnier has again increased her lead in the overall.

The American will start stage seven – her fifth day in pink – with 11 seconds over Anna van der Breggen (Rabo Liv), who sits in second overall. Ashleigh Moolman (Bigla), who finished third in today’s stage, maintains her hold on third overall at 14 seconds down.

Click here to read more at CyclingTips.

Primoz Roglic survives hors catégorie climb to claim Tour of Qinghai Lake stage 5

Primoz Roglic (Adria Mobil) has won stage 5 of the Tour of Qinghai Lake in China, winning the sprint on the line from a four-rider break.

The Slovakian was first over the final KOM at Luohe Yakou, 3,740 metres above sea level, and was able to hold off Iranian Hossein Alizadeh (RTS-Santic), Francisco Colorado (Ningxia Sports Lottery) and Roglic’s Croatian teammate Radoslav Rogina, who sits second on general classification (GC).

Rogina had attacked inside the final kilometre and led by 100m with 800m remaining, however he took a wrong turn that cost him both the stage and the yellow leader’s jersey.

“I was attacking and had a 100m advantage and then a guy in the middle of the road sent me on the wrong street which forced me to turn around and that cost me the race,” a frustrated Rogina said afterwards. “I would have won by 15 seconds and taken the yellow jersey.”

Instead, Alizadeh now leads the GC. The 13-stage, 2,027-kilometre Asia Tour race continues on Friday with a 138km stage 6 from Gonghe to Guide.

Van Zyl wins stage five of Tour of Austria, but Tanner claims victory was stolen from him

by Shane Stokes

Young South African rider Johann van Zyl (MTN-Qhubeka) has taken victory on stage 5 of the Tour of Austria, going clear in a group of three after a larger break of six riders was caught with around 60 kilometres to go. A large crash saw the race stopped and when it was restarted with 20 kilometres to go, the same gaps were given.

Van Zyl attacked with four kilometres to go and held on to win by five seconds ahead of David Tanner (IAM Cycling).

“I’m so incredibly happy that my gamble paid off,” he said of his first pro win. “I remember this finish from 2013 so I knew I had to attack them with four kilometres to go. I went as hard as I could and I just survived.”

However Tanner and his team were not happy, claiming that the decision to neutralise the race was not justified. They also said that the time gaps were taken when the crash happened with 30 kilometres to go yet the race was not stopped until 19 kilometres to go, by which time the real gap had dropped.

“I am really disappointed today because the UCI and race organisers have stolen a victory from the team,” the Australian said.

MTN-Qhubeka talking to Dimension Data about title sponsorship, WorldTour a target for 2016

by Shane Stokes

Speaking to CyclingTips outside the team bus in Abbeville, MTN-Qhubeka principal Doug Ryder said that the team was in talks with new partner Dimension Data about the possibility of a much bigger backing next season. If the talks go to plan, the company could potentially take over title sponsorship of the team.

“Our dream is to become a WorldTour team. If we can put it together for next year, that will be amazing,” Ryder said.

“It is very exciting; give it a couple more weeks and maybe they will step it up even more and potentially take control of the team.”

Asked directly if that would mean the company could become the main sponsor, he indicated this might be the case.

“They could, yeah. It is not 100 percent confirmed yet, but the potential is absolutely there.”

Click here to read the full story at CyclingTips.

Froome can choose whether or not to wear yellow on stage 7

With race leader Tony Martin now out of the Tour de France due to a broken collarbone, Chris Froome now returns to the top of the leaderboard. But because Martin’s exit came after the stage finish, Froome has the choice of whether or not to wear the maillot jaune on stage 7.

“The rules do not require [Froome to wear yellow] in this case,” race director Thierry Gouvenou told AFP.

History shows several examples of riders choosing not to wear yellow after being given the Tour leadership when the previous leader crashed. In 1980, Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk didn’t wear yellow following the abandonment of Bernard Hinault after stage 12. In 1991 Greg Lemond chose not to wear yellow after Rolf Sorensen crashed a few kilometers from the finish in Valenciennes. And, most famously, Eddy Merckx opted not to wear the maillot jaune when Luis Ocana crashed out of the 1971 Tour de France.

Click here to read more via AFP/VeloNews.

Daniel Teklehaimanot becomes first African to wear Tour de France KOM jersey

There’s a real sense of excitement around the MTN-Qhubeka team at the 2015 Tour de France. The Pro Continental outfit is the first African-registered trade team to race the Tour and, in its first outing in the race, MTN-Qhubeka is doing far more than simply making up the numbers.

On stage 6 into Le Havre, one of the team’s two Eritreans, Daniel Teklehaimanot, got himself in the day’s breakaway with the express goal of landing the polka-dot jersey of the mountains classification leader. He managed exactly that, taking maximum points on the stage’s three, fourth-category climbs and overtaking stage 3 winner Joaquim Rodriguez in the KOM classification as a result.

In doing so, Teklehaimanot becomes the first African to wear the KOM jersey in the Tour de France and the first black African to wear a Tour de France classification jersey of any kind. In all, just three Africans have worn a leader’s jersey at the Tour de France: Robbie Hunter with the white jersey in 2001 and Daryl Impey with the yellow jersey in 2013.

“I’m really happy about what happened today. I can’t believe it,” Teklehaimanot said after the stage. “It is a big step for African cycling and I feel really proud at the moment because I have this jersey. That was my childhood dream to get the polka dot jersey at the Tour de France.”

MTN-Qhubeka principal Doug Ryder told CyclingTips he thinks Teklehaimanot can hold the jersey until the first rest day.

Click here to read more at CyclingTips.

Aldag says Cavendish remains the same rider as before

His strike rate at the Tour de France may have waned since his time with the HTC-Highroad team and his margin of dominance in sprints may not be the same as before, but Rolf Aldag, Etixx-Quick-Step’s sport and development manager, has insisted that Mark Cavendish’s performance measurement stats remain the same.

“His watts are fine, I think, I don’t how much the others produce, but he’s absolutely there as he was before,” Aldag told VeloNews.

There has been debate in recent years due to the fact that the Briton’s rivals have narrowed the gap to him and, in some cases, have overtaken him.

For example, the German rider Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) surpassed Cavendish in the 2013 Tour, winning four stages. He took another four last year, although Cavendish had crashed out on the first stage and so it is impossible to know how they would have compared.

The Briton is trying to turn things around and take at least one stage win in this year’s Tour de France. His career haul to date is 25 stages, but he has not taken any since the 2013 Tour.

Click here to read the full story on VeloNews.

CyclingTips Tour de France Podcast - Episode 3

We’ve just put up the third episode of our Tour de France podcast. In it we dissect stages 4-6 of the race, look forward to the next three stages, and give some more insight into what it’s like to follow the Tour de France.

Don’t miss another episode - subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here.

Get in line

It’s rare to see lead-out trains so clearly defined in a peloton.

Get in line

A photo posted by tomsoutham (@tomsoutham) on Jul 8, 2015 at 7:10pm PDT

No Road Left Behind - teaser trailer

Could be interesting?

Norwegian journalist tries to consume same number of calories as Tour de France rider

Yeah, it doesn’t go particularly well.

What You Missed

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

• Songs and jokes as the race rages on: Checking in with Lizzie Williams after Giro Rosa stage six
• Tour de France: Matthews suffers for the soldiers who suffered before him
• Daily News Digest: Thursday June 10

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