Giro d’Italia stage 17 video preview: tackling the Passo Giau and its descent
Michael Barry and Dan Lloyd talk route, tactics, descending and carbo-loadingWith three mountains stages left in the 2012 Giro d’Italia and the top eight riders less than two minutes apart, todays stage seventeen from Pfalzen to Cortina d’Ampezzo will be of crucial importance in the final shape of the race. It features four climbs; the second category, 2197 metre Passo Valparola, the Passo Duran (1st cat), the Forcella Staulanza (2nd cat.) and the first category climb of the Passo Giau, which peaks eighteen kilometres from the finish. Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez holds a thirty second advantage over Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin Barracuda), with two time race winner Ivan Basso (Liquigas Cannondale) lurking one minute 22 seconds back, Astana duo Paolo Tiralongo and Roman Kreuziger one minute 26 and one minute 27 down, and 2011 winner Michele Scarponi (Lampre ISD) one minute 36 behind. The gaps are so tight that tactical errors or [...]
An Post Rás videos: Bogaerts lining up his riders, Craven surprised by form
Team manager and mountains leader give their thoughtsWith his chief sponsor also backing the race, An Post Grant Thornton Sean Kelly team manager Kurt Bogaerts is feeling a little extra pressure and motivation this week in trying to ensure that one of his riders takes the 2.2-ranked An Post Rás in Ireland. The squad has won twice in the past, with Stephen Gallagher triumphing in 2008 and Gediminas Bagdonas proving best last time round. Bagdonas is back this year and lines out alongside the Irish quartet of Sam Bennett, Sean Downey, Ronan McLaughlin and Connor McConvey. He had been due to compete with the Geox TMC team this year but the squad folded, leaving him without a contract and prompting his return to the Belgian-based Continental outfit. The Lithuanian has been riding very well this season and is clearly in good form; Bogaerts knows he is seen as one of [...]
Lang seizes overall lead in An Post Rás with stage two victory
Video interview after long distance break succeeds in reaching finishRacing clear in an eight man group approximately 40 kilometres into the stage then, 118 kilometres later, going up against all but one of those riders in the final gallop to the line, Swiss rider Pirmin Lang (Atlas Jakroo) sped into Gort to win stage two of the An Post Rás on Monday. He beat Dale Appleby (Britain East Midlands Metaltek), James Moss (Britain Node4 Giordana Racing) and four others to the line. Connor McConvey was best of the Irishmen in seventh, while his An Post Grant Thornton Sean Kelly team-mate Sam Bennett led in the main bunch 28 seconds later. The 27 year old Lang took over race leadership from stage one winner Marcin Bialoblocki (Britain Node4 Giordana Racing), who finished as part of the main bunch 28 seconds back. The Polish rider consequently dropped to eighth overall, but his [...]
Bialoblocki races to victory on day one of An Post Rás
Video interviews with stage winner, plus best young rider LaveryVictorious last year in Tramore, Marcin Bialoblocki (Britain Node4 Girodana) clocked up the second An Post Rás victory of his career when he was best on Sunday’s opening stage of the 1.2-ranked race. The Polish rider, who was second to Russ Downing last weekend in the Lincoln GP, outsprinted breakaway companions Jacob Nielsen (Denmark Blue Water), Nicolas Baldo (Switzerland Atlas Jakroo) and 2009 race winner Simon Richardson (Britain IG Sigma Sport) in the finishing city of Kilkenny, three hundred metres from its historic castle. “I wasn’t expecting a break, I was going to save my legs for the next days,” said a satisfied Bialoblocki afterwards. “But I got clear in the move, we rode well together and we were able to stay away.” The opening 147 kilometre stage from Dunboyne was one where countless riders and groups tried to get clear, [...]
Renshaw, Goss and Haedo exit Giro d’Italia prior to toughest mountains
Rivals emphasise importance of recovery prior to Tour, but Cavendish will keep goingAlready dominating the sprints in the Giro d’Italia and clocking up his third win yesterday, Mark Cavendish’s competition has diminished by three today as his former HTC Highroad leadout men Mark Renshaw and Matt Goss have withdrawn from the race, as is Saxo Bank SunGard’s Juan Jose Haedo. While Cavendish has said that he wants to keep going until the end of the race in Milan, chasing more sprint wins plus the points classification, his rivals want to ensure they are fresh for the Tour de France and so will rest up prior to chasing their next targets. “I’ve decided that I won’t continue in the Giro this year. At this stage I’ve already done a lot of racing with the Tour of Turkey prior to the Giro, and I think the big objectives are still to come,” [...]
Video: Dan Lloyd and Dario Cioni preview today’s stage 11 of Giro d’Italia
Pro riders ride race route and talk tacticsProfessional rider Dario Cioni (Sky Procycling) and Dan Lloyd (IG Sigma Sport) have taken part in some of the biggest races in cycling and use that knowledge to discuss today’s eleventh stage of the Giro d’Italia. The duo give their thoughts on how they expect things to play out on a stage that looks most likely to end in a bunch sprint, riding the same roads that the riders will slug it out on today, while statistics explain the physiological demands the riders will face under different circumstances. Cioni and Lloyd are two very experienced riders, having competed in some of the biggest races in the sport, including the Giro d’Italia. The 255 kilometre stage from Assisi to Montecanti Terme is the longest of this year’s Giro. It is a flat, fast stage punctuated just over halfway through by the third category Poggio [...]