Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, October 13, 2018
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2018 Tour de France | 2018 Giro d'Italia
America's health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system. - Walter Cronkite
Current Racing:
- October 9 - 14: Presidential Tour of Turkey
- October 13: Il Lombardia
Upcoming racing:
- October 14: Chrono des Nations
Latest completed racing:
- October 11: Gran Piemonte
- October 10: Milano-Torino
- October 9: Tre Valli Varesine
- October 7: Paris-Tours
- October 7: GP Bruno Beghelli
- October 6: Giro dell'Emilia
- October 4: Paris-Bourges
- October 3: Sparkassen Munsterland-Giro
- October 2: Binche-Chimay-Binche
- September 23 - 30: World Road Championships
Tour of Turkey stage four team reports
We posted the report from stage four winner Alexey Lutsenko's Astana team with the results.
Second-place Diego Ulissi's UAE-Team Emirates sent me this update:
Diego Ulissi could not stop Alexey Lutsenko for a repeat win on the Tour of Turkey’s Selçuk summit finish.
The captain of UAE Team Emirates was unable to double up after his 2017 success in the Tour of Turkey’s queen stage, but still came away with a good second place on the heels of Astana’s Kazakh.
Alexey Lutsenko is the day's fastest rider.
The fourth stage of the Turkish race, 206.9km, with the start in Marmaris, gave way to the traditional summit finish – short but tough. The team directed by Marzano and Pedrazzini moved with precision to bring Ulissi and Durasek in good position at the foot of the final climb. The Croatian climber supported his Italian team-mate well. In the last kilometer, Ulissi went to the head of the group and pushed hard in the last 200 metres, ramping towards a slow sprint. Just before the line, Lutsenko took out Ulissi for the stage and the overall lead.
Ulissi sits second overall at four seconds. He said, "There’s bitterness for having just missing the main goal, but complements to Lutsenko for the winning ride.
The climb was taken at a pace that wasn’t so fast, also due to the strong wind that reminded everyone to remain in the wheels. Given that, there was not much selection and we got to the final kilometre with some fast riders still in the front spots. I tried to start early, knowing that it would be risky, but unfortunately Lutsenko darted clear".
Here's the stage four report Bora-hansgrohe sent me:
During the relentless queen stage of this year’s tour of Turkey, the Austrian champion Lukas Pöstlberger showed us yet again his fighting spirit. The stage took the riders from Marmaris over more than 200km up to the summit finish on the famous climb Selcuk. The team went into today’s stage to go for a good stage result with the Austrian Champion Lukas Pöstlberger, while Sam Bennett should try to defend his sprint jersey. After many kilometres of racing a group of eight riders was able to open a gap of some minutes over the bunch. With 6km remaining, on the final climb of the day, the breakaway fell apart. The Austrian Champion stayed in the first group and rode with all the favourites up to the finish. On the final metres, A. Lutsenko launched an attack and took the stage win ahead of D. Ulissi. As BORA – hansgrohe best placed rider, Lukas Pöstlberger finished 30 seconds behind the stage winner in 22ndposition, teammate Sam Bennett came in some minutes later and defended his sprint jersey.
From the Finish Line
"I tried it but on the final climb as the climbers increased the pace I couldn’t go with them and therefore I finished some seconds behind them. However, I am satisfied because if you never try you will never know. Tomorrow will be another day and another chance for our team." – Lukas Pöstlberger
"The guys performed good today, especially in the beginning. They controlled the race and the breakaway. We focused on Pösti today and he stayed until the final kilometre with all climbers and favorites and finished some seconds behind the stage winner. I think, we can be satisfied with our result today." – Enrico Poitschke, sports director
BMC backs De Marchi and Teuns at Il Lombardia
The team sent me this:
11 October, 2018, Santa Rosa, California (USA): Alessandro De Marchi and Dylan Teuns will line up as BMC Racing Team's leaders at the final Monument of the season, Il Lombardia, this Saturday, 13 October.
Dylan Teuns climbs in stage thirteen of this year's Vuelta
Sports Director Fabio Baldato said although the team isn't lining up with a race favorite, De Marchi and Teuns can achieve a good result and will have the support of the team. "Il Lombardia is one of the toughest one-day races of the season and, of course, it is the final Monument of the season so that gives extra motivation. We know Alessandro De Marchi is in great shape after his win at Giro dell'Emilia and Dylan Teuns is riding well so these two will be our protected riders on Saturday. Damiano Caruso can also be up there and he will provide good support for our leaders. We are not the favorites going into the race so we will watch what happens and see how the race unfolds," Baldato explained.
"The course is basically the same as last year's with the exception of the final climb due to a landslide, so I think the finale will be slightly easier. It is the second-to-last climb, the Civiglio, where the race should be decided."
De Marchi is looking to team up again with Teuns to repeat the success of Giro dell'Emilia. "I'm coming to Il Lombardia with motivation and good shape. It is a race I have always enjoyed, even if it is usually my last race of the season. This year, I am perhaps more confident and motivated than previous editions. They key moments of the race will be, like always, the finish into Como with the Muro di Sormano and then the Civiglio. I think, with Dylan, we can try to repeat the success of Emilia and maybe this can be the occasion where I can also help him to go for a result. It will be important to save energy and be ready from the Sormano to the finish, as it is a really long and hard race."
Teuns is hoping to end his season well at Il Lombardia. "Il Lombardia is the last big classic of the season so it is always nice to race there. It is a classic that suits me well. Last weekend, I did a good result at Giro dell'Emilia and this gives me the confidence that the shape is still there. Yesterday, Milano-Torino was not such a good day for me but I am focused on the race this Saturday and will try to make the best result possible."
Il Lombardia (13 October)
Rider roster: Alberto Bettiol (ITA), Damiano Caruso (ITA), Alessandro De Marchi (ITA), Simon Gerrans (AUS), Joey Rosskopf (USA), Dylan Teuns (BEL), Loïc Vliegen (BEL)
Sports Directors: Fabio Baldato (ITA), Valerio Piva (ITA)
Thieves empty a container full of Rocky Mountain bikes
Bicycle Retailer & Industry News sent me this:
NORTH VANCOUVER, British Columbia (BRAIN) — Rocky Mountain Bicycles is hoping dealers can help recover 160 bikes stolen from a shipping container that was on the grounds of the company's warehouse here.
The bikes were all 2019 models that were set to be received into the warehouse. The theft happened during the night of Monday, Sept. 24.
"We are very disappointed with this situation, and the impact that it has on our IBD network. We have dealers across Canada that were expecting to receive their order from us in the coming weeks," said Raymond Dutil, the CEO of Rocky Mountain.
The bikes were mostly full-suspension mountain bikes with carbon and aluminum frames, including Altitude, Instinct, Pipeline, Slayer, Thunderbolt, Element and Reaper models. The full list of bikes and their serial codes is available on a pdf.
You can read the entire story and download a PDF of the serial numbers of the stolen bikes here.
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