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Giro Maxes Out

Giro d'ItaliaWhat could be better than watching 22 teams of top-flight cyclists battling it out over three weeks across some of the most demanding terrain Europe has to offer? How about watching 23 teams do it. The UCI (International Cycling Union) has granted special dispensation to the organisers of this year’s Giro d’Italia – May 7 to 29 – to allow a total of 207 cyclists to start, a record number for the event.

 

The usual suspect first division teams will be joined the wild card selections comprising, Acqua & Sapone, Androni Giocattoli, Colnago-CSF Inox, Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli and Geox-TMC, the latter provisionally including 2009 Giro winner Denis Menchov along with 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre. Saxo Bank-SunGard’s Alberto Contador is already being touted as a race favourite (he was Giro winner in 2008), although the possibility of either the UCI or the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) overturning the Spanish Cycling Federation’s decision to clear him after he tested positive for the banned drug Clenbuterol still hangs over his head.

 

The Giro begins with Turin Team Time Trials (try saying that three times fast) and will cover a total of 3496km and 17 regions before drawing to a close with Individual Time Trials in Milan over a distance of 32.8km. Amongst the many highlights will be the Mount Etna summit finish after a punishing 159km climb on day 9 and the evil looking uphill Individual Time Trial between Belluno and Nevegal on day 16.

 

 

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News

BMC’s Cadel Evans Takes the Tirreno-Adriatico

The Tirreno-Adriatico has come to a dramatic close with the 9.3km San Benedetto del Tronto Individual Time-Trial stage bringing some 1074km of Italian stage racing to an end. The final ITT saw a win for Leopard Trek’s Fabian Cancellara in 10’33” with Lars Boom (Rabobank) second place with + 01’09” and Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD) just 10 seconds adrift from that to take third on the stage.

 

But final general classification had a win for Australian Cadel Evans (for BMC) who finished with an 11second lead in the overall standings ahead of Dutch rider Robert Gesink (RAB), with a third place awarded to Italy’s Michele Scarponi (LAM). Evans, the 2009 world champion (also the Australian with the highest Tour de France finishes, coming second in 07 and 08) clocked an overall time of 27hrs 37’37” for his Tirreno-Adriatico victory.

 

For final and stage results see: http://www.uciprotour.com

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Extras Reviews

dhb VS Madison Vision

dhb VS Madison Vision

dhb and Madison glassesCow poo, gel wrappers and bees. Just some of the things that haven’t hit me in the eye recently. A pair of shades isn’t just for looking good (though it helps) but as they say that the eyes are the windows of the soul I’d rather not get stuff all over my windows thank you. Yet sunglasses – just like umbrellas – are something you never fully own, they’re just on loan to you until you leave them on a fence/train/pub table. For this reason Cyclo has been looking at two similarly priced and styled sets of budget glasses.

 

The dhb Triple Lens are certainly not the most technical accessory in the world but they are tough, well appointed and light on the face. The three interchangeable lenses – grey for bright sun, blue for enhanced contrast conditions and clear for when you want them to act purely as a windscreen – repel sweat/rain well and are, naturally 100% UVA and UVB absorbent. Switching one lens for another is tricky (certainly not something we’d relish doing mid-ride) and puts the kind of strain on the frame that seems likely to be the way of their final destruction. In comparison the Madison Vision d’Arcs Triples ship with three lenses (dark for sun, yellow for low-level, clear for windscreen mode) that are much easier to clip in place but we found a far greater level of image distortion here which hinted at the budget nature of the optics. Both the dhb and Madisons, which have straighter arms, fitted well and stayed put and both had good wrap-round protection – in Cyclo’s opinion the Madisons were more inclined to pinch slightly above the ear but this is, of course, open to individual experience.

 

Naturally try before you buy but for our money the dhb have the slight edge over the Madisons.  At around £25 for the dhbs and £30 for the Madisons clearly neither are in the league of the upper reaches of, say, Oakley but they do the job well enough and are less likely to provoke tears when you leave them in a pub garden.

 

 

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News

Top Finish for Team GB Para-Cyclists

Para-CyclingThree days of staggeringly good competition drew to a close yesterday (Sunday March 13) at the Para-Cycling Track World Championships in Montichiari, Italy, with Great Britain ending top of the medal table with nine gold, eight silver and a bronze. Amongst the victors were service veterans Jon-Allen Butterworth and Terry Byrne both of whom were making their World Championship debuts having retrained through the “Battle Back” scheme for injured tri-service personnel. Butterworth set a new world record with a win in the 1km time-trial (C5 category) with a finish of 1’7.615”, whilst Byrne took silver in the C4 category 1km pursuit behind his team-mate Jody Cundy who set a new world-record with 1’05.144”

 

The final Team GB gold came in the Team Sprint (Darren Kenny, Tel Byrne, Jody Cundy) who, having set a new world record in the qualifiers, upped their game still further in the final to beat China. The stunning all-round results have not only boosted the confidence of the British team but also earned valuable qualify points towards the Paralympics for London 2012.

 

Full results list: www.uci.ch

 

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News

Nice Won

After 8 electrifying days of competition and 1,307km of gruelling peddling the opening leg of the  European UCI World Tour has drawn to a close with the 69th edition of Paris-Nice now over. And what an event of (quite literal) ups and downs it has been: Day Two saw New Zealander Greg Henderson (Team Sky) sprint to victory across the 199km stage from Montfort l’Amaury to Amilly whilst Tony Martin of HTC-Highroad smashed through day 6’s 27km time-trial to lead with two stages remaining.

 

But the most dramatic racing was saved for today where the race really failed to live up to its more common name, “Race to the Sun”, as riders battled horrendous weather on the final 124km loop out and back from Nice which had riders testing themselves to the limits on climbs up the Côte de Duranus, the Col du Chateauneuf and Col de Calaïson, before the long final rain-soaked straight. French champion Thomas Voeckler of Europcar was first man home on the day (3h15’58”) but there was no denting Martin’s overall lead as he became only the third German ever to win Paris-Nice with a time of 34h03’37”. Radioshack’s Andreas Kloden took second (+00’36”) with a third place for Britain’s Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky, +00’41”).

 

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Events

Redbridge RideIt Sportive and Cycle Show – March 19

How’s this for a sportive with a difference? Four ride distances on offer (10, 30, 60 and a proper tough 90miles) – level 2 grading so no threat of big climbs just a rip out and back from the Redbridge Cycling Centre through Hainault and nearby Epping Forest with all the usual support. But wait! There’s plenty more with a full program of events (“country’s biggest demo weekend” it’s claimed) including major bike manufacturer exhibitions, M.A.D. Mountain Bike Stunt Team demos, FixIt! Maintenance sessions, plus an audience Geoff Thomas who overcame leukaemia to ride all twenty-one stages of the Tour de France.

 

Show only £1, Sportive £15.00 (including show entry) – get tickets quick, they’re selling fast: http://blog.evanscycles.com

 

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News

Reading ready for Bike-hire?

Reading looks set to be the latest place in the UK to launch a bike-hire scheme similar to that set up with great fanfare in London last year, which in turn drew inspiration from the successful Vélib bike-hire initiative in Paris. If final approval is given the Conservative/Liberal Democrat council plan to install 1,000 bicycles in up to 150 docking sites located across the city, at Reading station, the university and at local business parks; hopefully generating somewhere in the region of 10,000 additional cycle-based journeys per day. Councillor Richard Willis, who oversees council transport and planning, said to date the response had been “very supportive”.

 

Reading already runs a small-scale hire scheme (operated by OYBike) which was launched in 2008, but the new initiative will see it become the largest operation of its kind outside of the capital.

 

The London scheme was initially met with typical British scepticism, but has proven an unqualified success with both the bikes and docking stations vying for iconic design status to match the London taxi or red bus. Close to 100,000 people have signed up to make use of the service with Mayor Boris Johnson commenting that the success has: “gladdened my heart”. Which is nice…

 

Consultation in Reading continues on March 14.

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Featured Features

Cycling First: The 2012 Velodrome

2012 VelodromeDoesn’t it fill the UK’s cycling community with pride to know that the first major London Olympic venue to be brought to completion is the stunning £95million Velodrome? With claims of being the fastest cycling track in the world the Velodrome was officially opened in late February with the 6,000 seat venue making a stunning addition to the rapidly emerging Olympic park; it’s already being hailed as the default architectural icon of the development and it’s easy to see why.

 

The key team responsible for design and delivery comprised Chris Wise, Dean Goodliffe, Mike Taylor and Ron Webb, the former Australian cycling champion, who has already been involved in the instillation of more than 50 tracks world-wide including those for both the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Webb has commented that “Building a track is like building a ship inside out”, and with the London Velodrome featuring one of the largest cable-net roofs in the UK along with 56km of Siberian pine all nudged in to place with 350,000 nails it’s easy to grasp the nautical simile. Fact-fanatics might also like to note that the entire structure sits on 900 piles that had to be driven to an exceptional depth of 26m due to the fact that the development area is, basically, a 100-year-old landfill site. If you win a pub-quiz now you know that, you owe Cyclo a beer (it’s the rules.)

 

Other innovations for London include a 360degree glass wall between the upper and lower tiers of seating to give panoramic views across the park (though eyes on the track would seem more appropriate), seating around the entire track rather than just the straights, climate control to hold things around the 29°C mark for improved times, plus a track-side competitors’ loo suggested, legend has it, by Sir Chris Hoy.

 

Of course legacy has been a key term right from the beginning of the bid to stage the 2012 Games and the Velodrome and wider VeloPark are at the heart of this commitment. Once the final medals have been awarded and the Olympic flame handed on, a new mountain bike course and road-cycle circuit will be added for use not just by elite athletes, but by sports clubs and the wider community. Added to this will be cafes, bike hire facilities and cycle workshops all of which will help to create a new cycling “hub” which will be owned, run and (mostly) funded by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority.

 

With Track Cycling having been, by far, Great Britain’s biggest success in Beijing (more than a third of Team GB’s total golds came via peddle power) it’s clear that riders will be pushing hard to up their game for 2012 and London’s Velodrome will provide a stunning background whilst the drama unfolds. Here at Cyclo we can’t wait to get inside and have a play (where was our invitation in February?)

 

(Velodrome image courtesy of LOCOG)