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Vuelta a España 2014

Vuelta a EspañaThe Vuelta a España (or less romantically the Tour of Spain) is one of the three races, along with the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France that make up the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) ‘Grand Tours’. Whilst the Tour de France started in 1903 and the Giro six years later in 1909, the Vuelta is by far the youngest cousin with its first running in 1935 and a twenty-year gap until it became a full-blown annual event in 1955. In the same way that both le Tour and Giro were first staged and then grew in order to boost the circulations of their newspaper sponsors (L’Auto in France and La Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy), so too was the Vuelta conceived to increase the readership of Spain’s Informaciones.

 

This year’s Vuelta runs from Saturday August 23 to Sunday September 14 and will cover a total distance of 3239,9k across the 21 stages. Starting with a 12.6k Team Time-Trial in the city of Jerez de la Frontera and ending with an Individual TT in Santiago de Compostela (with an additional ITT on Stage 10) there will be five flat stages, 13 hill/mountain stages with 40 summits.

 

The full 2014 Vuelta a España route is:

 

stage 1 Jerez de la Frontera 12.6k (TTT)

stage 2 Algeciras – San Fernando 174.4k

stage 3 Cádiz – Arcos de la Frontera 197.8k

stage 4 Mairena del Alcor – Córdoba 164.7k

stage 5 Priego de Córdoba – Ronda 180k

stage 6 Benalmádena – La Zubia 167.1k

stage 7 Alhendín – Alcaudete 169k

stage 8 Baeza – Albacete 207k

stage 9 Carboneras de Guadazaón – Aramón Valdelinares 185k

stage 10 Real Monasterio de Santa María de Veruela – Borja 36.7k

stage 11 Pamplona – Santuario de San Miguel de Aralar 153.4k

stage 12 Logroño – Logroño 166.4k

stage 13 Belorado – Obregón. Parque de Cabárceno 188.7k

stage 14 Santander – La Camperona. Valle de Sabero 200.8k

stage 15 Oviedo – Lagos de Covadonga 152.2k

stage 16 San Martín del Rey Aurelio – La Farrapona. Lagos de Somiedo 160.5k

stage 17 Ortigueira – A Coruña 190.7k

stage 18 A Estrada – Monte Castrove. Meis 157k

stage 19 Salvaterra do Miño – Cangas do Morrazo 180.5k

stage 20 Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil – Puerto de Ancares 185.7k

stage 21 Santiago de Compostela 9.7k

 

Further details on the Vuelta at lavuelta.com

 

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Trott and Voss Sign for the Revolution Series

Revolution Series

Revolution SeriesLaura Trott and Marianne Vos are the latest cycling stars to confirm their places at the Revolution Series, going head-to-head at Round 1, which takes place at the Lee Valley VeloPark in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on October 24-25.

 

Vos said, ‘Having competed in at the Revolution Series in Manchester a couple of years ago I know first-hand how electrifying the racing is, and coming back to London to compete in the Olympic Velodrome against the best British riders is an exciting challenge.’ Whilst GB’s Trott adds: ‘The atmosphere and support from the fans at each Revolution event is always unbelievable, especially when we are back in the Lee Valley VeloPark. Add the UCI points into the mix and there is a lot to cycle for in this year’s Series.’

 

Following the opening races at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London, the event travels to Manchester and Glasgow, before coming back to London ahead of the final round in Manchester in March of next year. Managing Director of FACE Partnership and promoter of Revolution Series, James Pope, comments: ‘The Revolution Series is all about giving the UK a chance to see the world’s best cyclists competing – to have the world’s best track rider line up against the world’s best road rider on the track is a scintillating prospect.’

 

The full schedule for the Revolution Series is:

Round 1: October 24-25 – London

Round 2: November 22 – Manchester

Round 3: January 3 – Manchester

Round 4: January 31 – Glasgow

Round 5: February 27-28 – London

Round 6: March 14 – Manchester

 

Tickets for Round 1 of the Revolution Series start from £15 and are available at cyclingrevolution.com

 

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Team Sky Vuelta Squad

Team Sky Vuelta Squad

Team Sky Vuelta SquadTeam Sky has announced its nine man line-up for the 69th edition of the Vuelta a España, which starts on August, 23. Chris Froome, who was forced to abandon the Tour de France last month, will lead the team, which will comprise Kanstantsin Siutsou, Luke Rowe (the team’s youngest rider, 24), Mikel Nieve, Christian Knees, Philip Deignan, Vasil Kiryienka, Peter Kennaugh and Dario Cataldo.

 

Confirming the Vuelta a España line-up, Team Sky Principal Sir Dave Brailsford said: ‘This year’s Vuelta is a great opportunity for us to get back to Grand Tour racing and I’m delighted that we’ll go there with a strong team that’s very capable of performing well… Chris Froome will be our team leader and it’s great to have him back on the bike and focused on the challenge ahead. He was obviously very disappointed after having to withdraw from the Tour de France but Chris has recovered and trained well since the injury. He’s now more determined than ever to get back to what he does best – riding Grand Tours.’

 

Froome adds: ‘This is exactly the sort of challenge that I need after the disappointment of withdrawing from the Tour de France. You can’t dwell on disappointment, you have to move on quickly to next thing and the Vuelta has become the perfect race for me to focus on. I’ve always really enjoyed racing at the Vuelta, it’s a tough race but a great opportunity for the whole team.’

 

More on Team Sky at teamsky.com and on the Vuelta at lavuelta.com

 

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The Funnel on Kickstarter

Funnel

FunnelAt Cyclo there isn’t a week that passes without an entrepreneur contacting us about their latest kickstarter project – some are extraordinary, some extraordinarily misjudged. We wanted to share the latest to cross our desk though because Hong Kong-based Italian designer Stefano Mangini might (just might) be on to something…

 

His patent-pending Funnel is a combination backpack and jacket that has already raised almost $30k (£18k) of the required $43k to really get this flying. The jacket, which unfurls from the backpack in a pleasingly James Bond fashion, is made with high performance fabric that is both water repellent and breathable and the pack itself looks styling and brimming with features. Lots of attention to detail here – like the fact that the jacket storage pouch is laminated so that it can be stored even when wet.

 

As always with Kickstarter there are a host of ‘pledge’ options (with varying rewards) with the Funnel funding ranging from $1 to $3,000. Further details on Mangini and the Funnel – and of course the chance to help fund – at kickstarter.com

 

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Team Giant-Shimano Line up for Vuelta

Team Giant-Shimano

Team Giant-ShimanoTeam Giant-Shimano has announced its 13-rider long-list for the 69th Vuelta a España, which starts with a team time trial on August 23. The first mountain stage comes after just six days with a summit finish in Granada. The rest of the race presents a plethora of different opportunities which Team Giant-Shimano say their line-up will reflect.

 

The Vuelta long-list comprises German riders Nikias Arndt, John Degenkolb and Johannes Fröhlinger, Warren Barguil, Thomas Damuseau and Thierry Hupond of France, Americans Lawson Craddock and Chad Haga, Koen De Kort, Ramon Sinkeldam and Tom Stamsnijder (Netherlands), Swede Tobias Ludvigsson and South African Reinardt Janse van Rensburg.

 

 

Team Giant-Shimano coach Christian Guiberteau said of the pre-selection ahead of the race: ‘We head into the Vuelta with two real objectives, firstly to help support Warren towards a good overall result in the race. In this we will also help both Warren develop as a leader and also some of the other younger riders in the team to progress in working every day for an overall goal. As well as this we want to target a sprint win but the opportunities for this outcome are few and far between. The team will be built around aiming for these objectives while at the same time focusing on the development that you get from riding a Grand Tour.’

 

More on the Vuelta a España at lavuelta.com and on Team Giant-Shimano at teamgiantshimano.com

 

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A Great British Weekend at RideLondon

RideLondon

RideLondonThe Prudential RideLondon weekend, despite some dramatic weather, saw not only in excess of 20,000 amateur cyclists take on the Surrey 100 (making it the biggest sportive ever staged in the UK) but also incredible success for the British contingent in the professional events.

 

On Saturday Italy’s Giorgia Bronzini hit a turn of speed in the closing metres to beat Marianne Vos in the RideLondon Grand Prix – the 1.3mile lap race around St James’ Park – with Olympic silver medallist Lizzie Armitstead in third. An extraordinary seven of the top ten places in the event went to British riders with Eileen Roe and Olympic gold medallist Laura Trott finishing in fourth and fifth respectively.

 

British success continued on Sunday with the RideLondon Classic 100-mile Surrey to London race, which saw Adam Blythe win in a sprint finish ahead of Ben Swift. The final 30km witnessed the lead pack reduced from a dozen riders to just 5 in a highly tactical game that former road world champion Philippe Gilbert looked to already have in the bag on a number of occasions; but with the final turn into The Mall it was relative unknown Blythe who still had the legs to get to the line. Bradley Wiggins, making only his second competitive appearance in London since the 2012 Olympics, finished down in 30th place.

 

Further details and full results for Prudential RideLondon at prudentialridelondon.co.uk

 

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Tinkoff-Saxo Confirm Sagan Signing

Sagan

SaganTinkoff-Saxo have now officially announced that Peter Sagan will join the team in 2015. The Slovak star and Tinkoff-Saxo have signed a 3-year contract with the shared ambition of further strengthening the team and taking the career of the three-time green jersey winner to an even higher level.

 

Team Manager Bjarne Riis comments: ‘We are happy and proud to present and welcome Peter Sagan on the team in 2015 on a long-term 3-year contract. Peter is without doubt one of the biggest talents in cycling and one of the biggest names already. He has a winning mentality, he’s visible and active in the finales and he, without doubt, has the ability to bring home victories. It will be exciting to work with Peter also for me personally. He has a huge talent and he’s already very strong but I believe he has even more potential than what we’ve seen so far… Next year, we’ll have a very strong team to support him and to aim for big wins throughout the season’

 

As a combined sprinter, puncheur and classics specialist Sagan has, despite his young age, emerged victorious in an array of different races including three points classifications in a row at Tour de France, seven GrandTour stages and several one-day races.

 

More on Tinkoff-Saxo at tinkoffsaxo.com and on Sagan at petersagan.com

 

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Armitstead Heads for RideLondon

RideLondon

RideLondonLizzie Armitstead, who took gold at the Commonwealth Games road race in Glasgow, is set for an appearance at this weekend’s Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix (Saturday August 9). She joins her Team England colleagues Laura Trott and Hannah Barnes on the start list for the race, which will be broadcast live on BBC2, and will also be competing against reigning world and Olympic champion Marianne Vos.

 

The domestic contingent will also be strongly represented, with British Circuit Race champion and Matrix Fitness GP Series winner Eileen Roe and Women’s Road Series champion Nicola Juniper set to compete. Multiple Paralympic gold medallist Dame Sarah Storey will lead her Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International team which will also include seventh place finisher in the Commonwealth Games road race and track world champion Katie Archibald, plus Lauren Creamer who won the Women’s Tour of Staffordshire at the weekend, the final round of the domestic Women’s Road Series.

 

Despite the no-show at RideLondon by Mark Cavendish following his Tour de France crash, the weekend will see many of the world’s elite male cyclists taking to the streets. Australian Mark Renshaw, Chris Sutton and Ben Swift are amongst those confirmed.

 

The Prudential RideLondon event, to give it it’s full name, is an annual two-day festival of cycling developed by the Mayor of London and his agencies as part of the legacy of the London 2012 Games.

 

Full details of RideLondon at prudentialridelondon.co.uk