CycleSpokes

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Giro Stage 21 ITT Final 2012

After a long hiatus between posts, I've returned to the Giro d'italia this year to see the final time trial, stage 21 in Milan.

Many things have changed since last year, notably Alberto Contador has been stripped of his win last year and the winner is officially Michele Scarponi. A few UCI teams have merged and Matt White has successfully led a new Australian team, GreenEDGE cycling. Last year Matt was seen around during a few stage finishes and this year the team has signed many successful riders

Fumi @ Giro 2011 with The Shack attack

One of those has been Fumiyuki Beppu. He was riding for the Radioshack team last year and signed for the GreenEDGE team in 2012. He then went on to win the Japanese National road race and time trial titles

Clearly at the Giro, he had a lot of dedicated fans

The new GreenEDGE team had also been relatively successful in its first year. Below is a table of wins by the team

July edition of Cycle Sport Magazine

Show 'em who's boss...

Jack Bobridge (2011 Australian Road Race champion) next to
Brian Nygaard (ex-Saxo Bank press officer and ex-Leopard Trek General Manager)

They managed to find a title sponsor in Orica within their first year too

Orica sponsor detailing on Scott TT bike

2012 Tour of Langkawi winner José Serpa

Cavendish warming up for ITT in his World Champion jersey

Taylor Phinney's BMC Time machine with pink highlights

2008 Australian Time Trial champion Adam Hansen

It was interesting to see Cervelo using rollers
without a rear wheel attached. One of the few teams

Cipollini always ever present

The final time trial was won by Marco Pinotti from BMC and Ryder Hyjedal, the first Canadian winner.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

IG Markets Nocturne Criterium & Paul Smith!

The event held yesterday down at Smithfield markets yesterday was quite a large event. Going by the organisers website it was record crowd. For me it was the first criterium event I've been to and also first race in London.

What I liked about the event was the relaxed atmosphere and what it means for a country to have it's own UCI Professional team in Team Sky. What I would love to see eventually happen in Australia with GreenEDGE cycling. Also a night time criterium would always be a welcome novelty

The event's day started with support races with Penny Farthing bikes, folding bikes, fixie skids and the womens criterium. The womens criterium was 30 minutes plus 5 minutes of a 1.1km track. Eventual winner Hannah Barnes riding for Motorpoint was all class leading many of the laps before taking out the sprint finish ahead of teammate Lucy Garner and Helen Wyman for the Horizon Fitness team. The three riders stormed away from the peleton and was never caught again

Results:
1. Hannah Barnes Motorpoint
2. Lucy Garner Motorpoint
3. Helen Wyman Horizon Fitness
4. Annie Simpson Horizon Fitness
5. Amy Roberts For Vioned Brookvex

For the Elite Mens Criterium, the course consisted of 60 minutes plus 5 laps. It was a 70 strong field with riders from the UCI Pro teams Garmin Cervelo, HTC Highroad and Team Sky.

HTC Highroad Irish road champion Matt Brammeier

From the outset the pace was frantic and by 15 minutes in, Alex Dowsett from Team Sky had set the pace so high he was lapping the back of the field. He continued this pace and there was nothing that the chase group could do to react. An excellent ride!

My timekeeper friend

Rapha Condor Sharp sporting Paul Smith design

Leigh Howard HTC Highroad

The photos I took during this night haven't turned out as well as I had hoped however flickr user bluetrainatlondon has a great set that he has taken.

With race winner Alex Dowsett

Nice sunny day in London. Time for a Crit!

Hi avid readers, I am back in London now from where I'm based. It is a rare sunny day and I'm headed to smithfield markets (nearest tube station Farringdon) for the IG Markets criterium.

If you are around London drop by as it is a free event. Cycling stars Cameron Meyer, Matt Wilson, Leigh Howard, Alex Dowsett and Russell Downing will be racing.

Cam Meyer is the Australian time trial champion coming off good form from the Giro and won the Tour Down Under earlier this year. Leigh Howard comes off winning a stage in the Tour of California whilst supporting Milan-San Remo winner and team mate Matt Goss in team HTC Highroad.

Alex Dowsett and Russell Downing represent British stars from UCI professional Team Sky. This event highlights Team Rapha Condor Sharp, Team Raleigh as well as local stars from London cafe Look Mum No Hands - where you can catch good coffee and lots of spring classics & grand tour coverage

Event photos to come shortly from the 10 lap 1.1km criterium. Looks to be a great race in store today

Cheers,
Cyclespokes

http://www.londonnocturne.com/

posted from Bloggeroid

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Grazie Giro, arrivederci

And so ends another great year of the Giro. This has been the toughest yet, we've seen the sad passing of #108 Wouter Wegmann and numerous other riders pull out - Pinotti and Lewis the latest.

#108 Woulter Wegmann's memory still strongly remembered in the peleton

Italian tricoloured finish marking the 150th yr unification of Italy

Thankfully I've learnt my lesson and taken a few photos from my android phone so picture quality is improving until I can upload better resolution snaps.

Yeh... i like the way she holds the trophy too

Alberto has had an amazing race wining by a margin greater than six minutes seeing him overcome all contenders. We saw the rise of a little known hero in Jose Rujano keeping with Contador for most of Mt Etna. The crowds would roar at the mention of his name.