Marathon cross-country specialists Thomas Dietsch (Gewiss-Bianchi) and Pia Sundstedt (Rocky Mountain) grabbed wins at the 90km UCI marathon World Cup opener in Manavgat, Turkey on Sunday. American Monique “Pua” Sawicki (Ellsworth-Topeak) finished in seventh place in the women’s race.
Women's winner Pia Sundstedt at the ruins of Suleuka
Former Olympic champion Miguel Martinez returned to racing and was leading the race until he flatted 20km from the finish.
Starting and finishing in Nice, the riders battled the local cat 1 climbs in the final stage of the 2008 Paris-Nice.
John Murphy relied on some savvy team work by his Health Net - Maxxis team to preserve his lead in the Tour de Taiwan Sunday. Murphy and his teammates successfully defended the lead against challenges from last year's winner Team Type 1's Shawn Milne, who started the stage 9 seconds behind Murphy on the GC.
A rash of new anti-doping controls and cycling’s tightening noose around would-be cheaters is ruffling some feathers in the peloton. Riders staged a protest before the start of Sunday’s final stage at Paris-Nice for what they characterized as unfair treatment of Kevin Van Impe, a Belgian rider who was forced to give urine samples for a surprise control Saturday as he was preparing the funeral of his infant son.
Health Net-Maxxis' John Murphy held onto the overall lead and the points competition lead following Saturday's penultimate stage of the Tour de Taiwan. The stage was a 58km criterium held outside the Taipei International Bicycle Show, a major industry event. Murphy held off a challenge from last year’s winner, Shawn Milne of Team Type 1. Milne won the event last years for the Health Net team and entered Saturday's stage seven seconds behind Murphy.
And welcome to the final day of VeloNews.Com's Live Coverage of the 66th Paris-Nice.
Our finale has three cat. 1 climbs packed into a short course in the mountains above Nice. This is no last day parade: it's a tough course and race leader Davide Rebellin has just a 3-second lead over Ag2r's Rinaldo Nocentini.
Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara (Team CSC) took the overall lead at Tirreno-Adriatico after winning Sunday’s fifth stage, a 26km time trial from Macerata to Recanati. The two-time world time-trial champion finished in 33 minutes and 41 seconds, with American David Zabriskie (Slipstream-Chipotle) second at at 0:22 and Thomas L?okvist (Team High Road) third at 0:53.
Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) survived a flurry of attacks to win the 66th edition of Paris-Nice on Sunday after Luis-León Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne) took the slimmest of victories in the final stage around Nice. Rebellin, who saw the leader's jersey slip away to Alberto Contador in the finale last year, was delighted to have held onto it this time around.
Tour de France organizer Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) said Sunday it would announce next week which teams it has selected for this year's race. ASO made the announcement after holding "constructive" talks with teams ahead of the final stage of Paris-Nice, which it also organises.
Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo Lifeforce) put the hurt on a world-class field of pro women Saturday, winning the 40km Yokohl Ranch Exeter Time Trial, with over four minutes separating her from second place Aussie, Alex Rhodes (Team High Road), and third place Canadian, Felicia Gomez (Aaron’s). Canadian national time trial champion Anne Samplonius (Cheerwine) came in fourth, followed by US National Team member, Katharine Carroll (Aaron’s).
Gesink and Lhotellier try to catch Rebellin, while Evans sits in.
Chavanel got his redemption as Gesink lost the yellow jersey to Rebellin during stage 6. Graham Watson was there to document it all.
Belgian cyclist Kevin Van Impe was taken for a routine drugs test just as he was at the crematorium filling in papers following the death of his baby son, media reported Saturday. The Quick Step rider was at Lochristi crematorium when a drugs tester turned up and demanded he provide a sample, warning that otherwise he could face a two-year suspension. "He wouldn't even come back later in the day. It was either do it right on the spot or it would be taken as if I had refused," Van Impe told Web site www.sport.be.
Italian sprint king Alessandro Petacchi gained revenge on Oscar Freire by claiming the fourth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico over 166km from Porto Recanati to Civitanova Marche on Saturday. Three days ago Petacchi was edged out by Freire in the race's opening stage. But this time the Team Milram rider turned the tables on the Spanish Rabobank leader with Italian Filippo Pozzato of Liquigas in third. Those three are the big favorites for the important Milan-San Remo classic on March 22.
Welcome to Saturday Morning Live, from Paris Nice. It's the same as VeloNews's weekday live coverage, we're just dressed more casually.
Today's sixth stage is another tough one. The 206km journey from Sisteron to Cannes is the longest stage of the race. It features seven rated climbs, including the decisive cat. 2 Col du Tanneron with 20km to go.
Bright-eyed, 21-year-old Robert Gesink might have time on his side, but Davide Rebellin used all of the savvy of his 15-year career to snatch away the Paris-Nice yellow jersey Saturday in nail-biting sixth stage won by Sylvain Chavanel.
After a solid debut to the 2008 season, Slipstream-Chipotle can’t catch a break in Paris-Nice. Bad news keeps piling up just as the team was looking to impress ASO bosses this week and earn a ticket to the Tour de France. While optimistic it will earn an invite to July’s big dance, team insiders are hoping that Tour brass will consider the team’s strong anti-doping message and consistent early season results rather than how it’s stumbling through the season’s first major stage race.
Into the Snow
Health Net-Maxxis rider Kyle Gritters followed course directions in Friday's Tour de Taiwan stage — even when the race officials didn’t — to win the stage. Gritters' teammate John Murphy retains the overall lead and the leads the points competition in the race, which concludes Sunday. The rolling, 127km stage was chaotic, according to team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo, due to the rainy, windy conditions. But he said things got really interesting in the latter part of the stage.
A bicycle race in the tradition of a classic European road race comes to Northern Michigan on Sunday, May 25. The UCI 1.2 ranked, 4th Annual Priority Health Tour de Leelanau, presented by Leelanau Sands Casino, will take international and professional male and female bicycle racers through some of the most scenic spots in the State of Michigan the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend.
Graham Watson captured the action, including Barredo's narrow victory during stage 5 of the 2008 Paris-Nice.
It’s amazing how quickly a Pavlovian response can develop. Just 30 minutes ago, the end of an interval effort would have elicited great relief, a time to rest and regroup. But now as the clock on the computer screen in front of me ticks toward the end of another four-minute burst, relief has been replaced by the nervous tension that precedes inevitable pain.
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, VeloNews.com's regular summary of the news from the world of competitive cycling. This week I am filling in for your usual host, VeloNews.com Senior Editor Charles Pelkey. Charles is enjoying a well-earned vacation in Namibia.
Welcome to the VeloNews Live Coverage of the 66th Paris-Nice.
Today's we have the 172.5km fifth stage from Althen-des-Paluds to Sisteron, across the heart of Provence. The stage opens with a challenging Cat. 2 in the first 30km that's prime real estate for an attack.
Three more Cat. 3s await in the rollercoaster stage, which ends with an 18km loop around Sisteron.
Niklas Axelsson (PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni) slipped into the leader's jersey at Tirreno-Adriatico on Friday after finishing third in stage 3. Spaniard Joachim Rodriguez (Caisse d'Epargne) won the 195km leg from Gubbio to Montelupone with Italian Danilo Di Luca (Team LPR) second. An early escape by Jose Garcia Acosta (Caisse d'Epargne) and Lloyd Mondori (Ag2r) took a lead of more than eight minutes before being swept up in the final 20km.
Carlos Barredo (Quick Step) is one of those riders who can do just about anything. He chases down breakaways for the GC captains, goes on the attack to take off the pressure in the spring classics and even managed to finish 10th in last year’s Vuelta a España. Friday was payback time for the 26-year-old Barredo, who attacked late in the 172.5km fifth stage across Provence to drop the remnants of a 17-man breakaway and claim Quick Step’s third win in six days of racing at the 66th Paris-Nice.