Alberto Contador is so happy with his pink jersey that he says he wouldn’t want to swap it for a yellow jersey even if the Tour de France organizers change their minds about his team’s exclusion. The defending Tour champ secured overall victory at the Giro d’Italia in Sunday’s final-day time trial and said the unexpected victory makes up for the controversial exclusion his Astana team from the 2008 Tour.
to VeloNews.com Live Coverage of the 21st and final stage of the 2008 Giro d'Italia.
Today's is a 28.5-kilometer individual time trial from Cesano Maderno to Milan. Despite the fact that there are 141 riders starting today, it really is a two-man race... three or four at the most. As a result, we'll begin our detailed coverage only when the top riders leave the start house today:
Now Alberto Contador can go back to the beach. After interrupting a vacation a month ago to pack his bags to head to Italy, the defending Tour de France champion secured one of the most unlikely victories in cycling history to claim the 91st Giro d’Italia on Sunday. “It’s never been so worth it to leave a vacation early,” Contador said. “I didn’t know I was coming to the Giro until eight days before the race. This Giro has a special flavor and perhaps means more to me than last year’s Tour.”
Julien Absalon (Orbea) can be beaten. After three rounds of the World Cup, when the world champion looked untouchable, he faltered on Saturday in the high altitude conditions in Andorra, while Christoph Sauser gave Specialized their first World Cup victory of the season.
The second round of the 4X World Cup in Andorra was a bit of a slow speed affair, after rain in the morning undid some of the work the organizers had done to repair the ruts and soft spots from earlier in the week. Despite that, there was some exciting racing on a course that allowed riders to pass multiple times, and saw more than one come from behind win in the qualifying heats.
High Road's Judith Arndt won the Montreal World Cup road race Saturday, the second time in three years she has won the race. Her win pads her lead in the World Cup standings. Arndt attacked on the final climb of the 11-lap circuit with year's winner Fabiana Luperini. Arndt won the two-up sprint to take her second World Cup win this season. “I love coming to Montreal,” Arndt said before the race, “even though I’m always really tired when I get here [after coming straight from Tour de l‘Aude]. It’s a really great race and a great atmosphere.”
to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the 20th stage of the 91st edition of the Giro d'Italia, a 224-kilometer race from Rovetta to Tirano, highlighted by three climbs along the way:
At 90km, riders begin the 17km climb up the Category 1 Passo Gavia (2618m)
At 160km, riders begin the 15km climb up the Category 1 Passo del Mortirolo (1854m)
and the third, the Category 2 Aprica (1173m), begins at 191km and lasts 16km.
Alberto Contador (Astana) is 28.5km from winning a Giro d’Italia he never expected to start. The Spanish climber deflected a flurry of last-gasp attacks from arch-rival Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) over the Gavia and Mortirolo in Saturday’s 232km mountain shootout to retain the maglia rosa and roll into Sunday’s final-day time trial with the narrowest of margins.
Marga Fullana (Massi) became the fourth World Cup winner in four races this season, with a completely dominating performance Saturday at VallNord in Andorra. Another breakthrough for Pendrel Canada's Marie-Helene Premont (Rocky Mountain) finished third behind Eva Lechner (Colnago), but added to her lead in the overall standings. Catharine Pendrel (Luna) put a second Canadian rider on the podium with her best ever World Cup result in fourth place.
Steven Cisar led the United States Cycling Team on Saturday with a silver medal in the elite men's contest at the 2008 UCI BMX World Championships in China. As one of two Americans to qualify for the final eight-man main, the Californian finished 0.384 seconds off the pace of winner Maris Strombergs (LAT), while Stifiso Nhlapo (RUS) took the bronze and American Donny Robinson (Napa, California) placed fourth.
HIGH ROAD PLANS ALL-OUT DEFENCE OF WORLD CUP LEAD IN MONTREAL Montreal, Canada, 30 May 2008 - Team High Road will be pulling no punches in their defence of Judith Arndt’s World Cup lead in the GP Montreal, the next round of the series, on Saturday. “We’re expecting a very tough, classy race because that’s what GP Montreal is all about.” team boss Petra Rossner commented.