Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Sunday, May 13, 2018
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2018 Tour de France | 2018 Giro d'Italia
It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness. - Thomas Jefferson
Current racing:
- May 4 - 27: Giro d'Italia
- May 8 - 13: 4 Jours de Dunkerque
- May 13 - 19: Tour of California
Latest completed racing:
- May 3 - 6: Tour de Yorkshire
- May 4 - 6: Vuelta Ciclista de Madrid
- May 1: Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt
- April 24 - 29: Tour de Romandie
- April 27 - April 29: Vuelta Asturias
- April 20 - 22: Vuelta a Castilla y Leon
- April 22: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- April 22: Giro dell'Appennino
Giro d'Italia stage eight team reports
GC leader Simon Yates' Mitchelton-Scott team sent me this:
Mitchelton-SCOTT and Simon Yates still lead the Giro d’Italia following a stage eight summit finish on Mare-Montevergine di Mercogliano today.
After an easier day yesterday for the sprint, the workload increased today with Svein Tuft and Sam Bewley controlling the breakaway before Jack Haig and Roman Kreuziger protected the Australian team’s leaders on the final climb.
Finishing fifth and seventh on the stage respectively, Yates and Esteban Chaves still sit first and third overall with another, harder summit finish tomorrow.
Control, control, control:
After a struggle for 50km, seven riders rode away from the peloton to form the day’s breakaway. With everyone finally content, Mitchelton-SCOTT sent Tuft and Bewley to the front of the bunch and they controlled their advantage at five minutes whilst the pink jersey settled further back in the bunch.
As the race entered the final 50km and started to ramp up, Yates and his remaining teammates moved up and slotted in out of danger behind Tuft and Bewley.
Tempo up the climb
Having been active early in the day, Team Katusha once again went to the front to push the pace in the lead up to the final climb. They were joined by Groupama-FDJ and with 11km to go the gap was down to one-minute
The weather produced the first rain of this year’s Giro d’Italia for the final climb and with a number of hairpins on the way to the summit, Mitchelton-SCOTT moved back to the front out of trouble.
With two kilometres to go Movistar’s Richard Carapaz attacked for the victory. Behind, the favourites watched each other closely, unable to make a difference on the steady gradient.
Simon Yates remains in pink.
Simon Yates – Race leader:
“We wanted to be in front for the climb. We knew, because of the rain in the final, the hairpins would be very slippery. We wanted to take them in the front. We rode an even tempo. It was a very hard start, so maybe the breakaway didn't have good enough legs to stay away.”
“Maybe I would have liked to take some bonus seconds in the final, but I got a little boxed in and I couldn't get out to sprint. It's one of those things.”
“The climb wasn't that difficult. It would have been very hard to make a big difference. Tomorrow is a much more difficult climb. We'll have to see - if I have legs, I'll try. If not, I won't.”
Team Bora-hansgrohe sent me this Giro update:
After Sam Bennett´s impressive stage victory yesterday, BORA – hansgrohe started confident in today´s mountain stage. As the breakaway of the day fell apart in the final climb, BORA – hansgrohe showed once again a great team spirit and brought their climbers Davide Formolo and Patrick Konrad into a good position. On the final kilometer R. Carapaz made the final move and took the stage win, while Davide Formolo launched an attack out of the reduced bunch and climbed to a strong second place. Teammate Patrick Konrad finished eighth to move up into 15th in the overall.
The Stage
The 8th stage saw the second mountain finish in this year´s edition of the Giro d´Italia. The race took the riders from Praia a Mare, yesterday´s finish, up to the mountain of Montevergine di Mercogliano over 209km. It was a hard the in the saddle with many hilly sections before the peloton had to tackle the final climb with an average gradient of 6%.
The Team Tactics
Today's stage favoured the climbers in the peloton, and BORA – hansgrohe had their two GC contenders, Patrick Konrad and Davide Formolo for this challenging stage. The team planned to stay together in the peloton, where Giro d´Italia stage winner Sam Bennett and Andreas Schillinger took care of their teammates. For the finale, Christoph Pfingsten and Felix Großschartner should bring the two climbers into a good position.
The Race
The pace was high right from the start and after some kilometres of racing seven riders launched an attack and built today´s breakaway with a maximum gap of 5 minutes, while BORA – hansgrohe stayed together in the main bunch. The breakaway of the day was gone for most of the stage. As approaching the final climb, the break had still a gap of two minutes, but with 5km to go the breakaway fell apart. BORA – hansgrohe was in a good position in the reduced bunch and rode a brave race. The finale was marked by pouring rain and saw many attacks, but it was R. Carapaz (Team Movistar), who made the final move and was able to take the stage win on the Montevergine di Mercogliano climb, while BORA – hansgrohe rider Davide Formolo tried to catch him and finished in a strong second place. Teammate Patrick Konrad crossed the line in 8thplace, some second behind the stage winner.
From the Finish Line
“Today was a hard stage, especially the rain in the finale made the race difficult. The team worked good together and supported me the whole day. On the last kilometres, I thought I´ll give it a try and went up the road. Of course, to win the stage would have been nice but I am satisfied with my second place, after my crash and the time loss I look confident into the next mountain stages. The giro is still long, we will see what happens.” – Davide Formolo
“It is our fourth podium result after eight stages, therefore I think we can be more than satisfied with our performance so far. Davide showed a great performance today and also Patrick rode a good race and the whole team worked together to achieve these results. Tomorrow will be again a demanding stage but we will try our best again.” – Jens Zemke, sport director
About 500 days until the 2019 UCI World Road Championships
The organizer sent this to me a couple of days ago and I missed it. My apologies:
Today (Wednesday 9th May) marks 500 days to go until the start of the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire. In September 2019, the world’s best cyclists will descend on the county once again for one of the pinnacle events in the international road cycling calendar.
To celebrate the start of this countdown, Yorkshire 2019 has launched a new official logo and website.
The race organisers have worked closely with the Leeds studio of the global brand design agency Elmwood to create an exciting new look for the Championships. Centred around the iconic “Y” of Yorkshire, the logo is inspired by the anticipation of the approaching peloton and rush of wheels passing at speed. It also incorporates the colours of the world-famous UCI rainbow.
In addition, a new website at www.yorkshire2019.co.uk will give fans a chance to engage more closely with the Championships and keep up to date with all with the latest news and event information.
Yorkshire 2019 has brought on board Barnsley-based website developers Outfield Digital, who have previously worked on projects such as the 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ and Tour de Yorkshire. Outfield Digital and their design partner Persona Studio will be working with Yorkshire 2019 over the next 18 months to deliver a world-class website for the event.
The Championships will include a range of men’s and women’s races, across age groups from junior to elite, starting in different towns and cities throughout Yorkshire and each finishing in the main competition town of Harrogate.
The race start venues already announced include:
- Beverley
- Bradford
- Doncaster
- Leeds
- Northallerton
- Ripon
- York
Harrogate will be the focal point for the Championships and host the finish of every race over the nine days of competition.
The Championships will run from 22-29 September 2019 and further details about the competition schedule and routes will be announced in September 2018.
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