Victoria Pendleton racing the individual sprint at the UCI Track World Cup.
Originally from British Cycling.
Tags: girls on bikes
Robert Gesink (Rabobank) took the summit win at Mt. Baldy on stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California. Darwin Atapuma Hurtado (Colombia – Coldeportes) took 2nd place behind Gesink, and his teammate, Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo, took 3rd, 14 seconds down.
Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan), Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Michael Matthews (Rabobank) and Nathan Brown (Bontrager-Livestrong) formed the day’s break – Devenyns was soon dropped from the group, leaving 3. Chris Horner (RadioShack-Nissan) with teammates Grégory Rast and George Bennett rode up ahead to Voigt – Marc De Maar (UnitedHealthcare) with his teammate Bradley White rode with the select group. Timmy Duggan (Liquigas-Cannondale), Chris Baldwin (Bissell), Darwin Atapuma (Colombia Coldeportes), Lucas Euser (Spidertech) and Alexandre Geniez (Argos Shimano) marked the group. Garmin-Barracuda and Rabobank kept their lead at 2 minutes. Horner pressed onwards on Glendora Mountain, dropping everyone except Atapuma – the duo opened up a 3:50 lead over the peloton. Gesink attacked from a chase, 1 minute down from the leading duo – he now holds the GC lead, 46 seconds ahead of David Zabriskie (Garmin – Barracuda), and 54 seconds ahead of Thomas Danielson (Garmin – Barracuda). Horner sits 8th in the GC, 2:49 down.
Tags: pro cycling, video
Andrey Amador (Movistar) took the summit win in Cervinia on stage 14 of the Giro d’Italia. Jan Barta (Team NetApp) and Alessandro De Marchi (Androni Giocattoli) took 2nd and 3rd behind Amador.
Mark Renshaw (Rabobank), Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge), Brett Lancaster (Orica-GreenEdge) and Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) elected to not race the rest of the Giro, and did not line up as the peloton gathered in Cherasco. 60km into the stage, Olivier Kaisen (Lotto Belisol), Jan Barta (NetApp), Andrey Amador (Movistar), Nelson Oliveira (RadioShack-Nissan), Matteo Montaguti (AG2R-La Mondiale), Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Alessandro De Marchi (Androni Giocattoli) and Pierpaolo De Negri (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) rode off the front of the peloton. As the break reached the first category 1 climb of the day, they already had a 13 minute lead. Barta pressed on alone near the top of the climb, gaining 40 seconds over the break. Jose Rujano (Androni Giacattoli) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre) attacked from the peloton, but Rujano was absorbed back into the peloton. Amador caught Barta on the descent – Amador had 30 seconds over Barta, Montaguti, De Negri and De Marchi on the descent. Cunego gained a minute over the peloton, and was joined by Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel) and Marzio Bruseghin (Movistar). Txurruka pulled away and the other 2 riders were absorbed.
Amador had a 1:25 lead over Barta and De Marchi with 15km left to race, with the peloton 7:30 down. De Marchi bridged up the Amador with 11km remaining. Back in the peloton, a select group of 40 riders lead the chase 6 minutes down. 7km left to the line, Barta caught up to the leading duo and the trio pushed a 3:26 lead. Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) placed attacks from the lead group, but Nieve was caught while Hesjedal pressed on alone. Hesjedal finished 4th, 20 seconds down from Amador and moved back into 1st place in the GC, 9 seconds ahead of Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), and 41 seconds ahead of Paolo Tiralongo (Astana).
Photos from SteepHill.
Tags: pro cycling, video
Tags: girls on bikes
And just when we thought the good weather was over, the skies opened up once more, giving us a couple more days of warm sunshine. Though the forecast is reading fairly typical for the next couple days – cloudy in the mornings, sunny during the day, and then fog at night. That’s the cycle it was last year, and I expect more of the same soon. Today, there were tons of people out. Along the Marina Greens and Crissy, there was some fundraising event going on, a 3k run it appeared to be…As I dropped down into Sausalito, there were a handful of riders waiting behind Mike’s Bikes to leave for the AIDS LifeCycle training ride. Coming down Camino Alto, I was glad to not see anyone from that group ride crashed out, like last week.
The weekend compromise for more people out on the road is the lack of school buses picking up dozens of kids. So while I was joyous on the inside for the kids that were at home, watching cartoons, I was slightly saddened by the hordes of people that made their way across the roads. It’d be different if they stuck to a side, or looked before swerving over, but you can’t expect people to know how to react when they’re on a rent-a-bike, their first time riding in years. No close calls on the Golden Gate bridge, no flats, and no mechanicals – all in all, a decent Saturday morning.
Tags: cannondale caad10, data, half, paradise loop, spotted, spring, weather
Tags: accidentally pro, pro cycling
Sylvain Georges (AG2R-La Mondiale) took a stunning solo win at Big Bear Lake, finishing 28 seconds ahead of the peloton – Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) took 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
Sebastian Salas (Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) with teammate Andrew Bajadali, David Boily (Spidertech-C10), Yukihiro Doi (Argos-Shimano), Sylvain Georges (AG2R La Mondiale), Gregory Rast (RadioShack-Nissan), and Jeremy Vennell (Bissell) made up the day’s break. The riders built up a maximum lead of 8 minutes after the day’s first categorized climb. Garmin-Barracuda cut the lead down to 4 minutes by the 3rd categorized climb of the day - Bajadali, Doi, Vennell, Boily and Rast were all dropped off from the break by the time the break made it to the top of the climb. Salas and Georges continued on alone. After the CA 18 climb, Salas dropped back, and Georges pressed on alone, 5 minutes ahead of the peloton. Rast and Vennell were the last riders from the day’s break to be absorbed by the peloton. Wilco Kelderman (Rabobank) attacked with 23km remaining – Pieter Weening (Orica GreenEdge) and Vennell chased after Georges, but the duo was caught 4km from the line. David Zabriskie (Garmin – Barracuda) continues to lead in the GC, 34 seconds ahead of Tejay Van Garderen (BMC), and 39 seconds ahead of Robert Gesink (Rabobank).
Photos from SteepHill.
Tags: pro cycling, video
Mark Cavendish (Sky) took the bunch sprint win in Cervere, his 3rd sprint victory in this year’s Giro d’Italia. Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Matt Goss (Orica GreenEdge) took 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Francesco Failli (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia) were the first riders off the front of the peloton, quickly gaining 5:30 over the peloton in the first 40km raced. The duo was eventually caught with 21km remaining in the stage. Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli), Julien Berard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Julien Vermote (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) attacked together with 6.5km remaining, but were caught 2km from the finish line. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) continues to lead in the GC, 17 seconds ahead of Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin – Barracuda) and 26 seconds ahead of Sandy Casar (FDJ-Big Mat).
Photos from SteepHill.
Tags: pro cycling, video
Tags: girls on bikes
With the weather getting warmer again, there are noticeably more people out and about. They’re tearing up more portions of the Marina, again, making way for more walkways and sidewalk entrances. As I was heading towards the bridge, there were about 5 guys standing near the start of the Golden Gate bridge in white jumpsuits, again. More than the 2 I saw earlier this week, but still odd. They had some signs and a box of flyers, but I guess they weren’t too keen on passing more stuff out, because as I rode by, they seemed surprised and unprepared. On the plus side, I didn’t see them on the way back, so I’m assuming either some bridge police told them to get lost, or they didn’t see many people out.
Either way, as I made my way around Tiburon, I heard the labored breath of a cyclist behind me. A couple seconds later, he came up right beside me and said, “Hey, I’m on your wheel.” I looked at him and said, “Cool story, bro. Good morning to you as well.” Guy was in a Divine Electric kit, up positioned stem, and some other trinkets. He dropped back for a second, and caught back up, somewhere in the next few miles. I slowed through a turn and he made his move around me. Hey, I’m not on your wheel.
The rest of the ride was fairly lackluster since I didn’t see anyone I knew, or have any amazing Friday moments. Enjoy your day!
Tags: cannondale caad10, data, half, paradise loop, san francisco, spotted, spring, weather