Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, September 21, 2019
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2018 Tour de France | 2018 Giro d'Italia
Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter. - Ansel Adams
Current racing:
- Sept 21: Primus Classic Impanis-Van Petegem
- Sept 21: Memorial Marco Pantani
Upcoming racing:
- Sept 22: Trofeo Matteotti
- Sept 22 - 29: UCI World Road Championships Yorkshire
Latest completed racing:
- Sept 20: Championship of Flanders
- Sept 19: Coppa Sabatini
- Sept 18: Giro della Toscana
- Sept 18: GP de Wallonie
- Aug 24 - Sept 15: Vuelta a España
- Sept 15: GP de Montreal
- Sept 15: Tour du Doubs
- Sept 15: Coppa Bernocchi
- Sept 7 - 14: Tour of Britain
Team Astana’s rider roster for Memorial Marco Pantani
Here’s the team's update:
Astana Pro Team is going to take part in the 1.1 Italian race Memorial Marco Pantani, which will be held on September 21st.
Team's line up: Alexey Lutsenko, Yuriy Natarov, Zhandos Bizhigitov, Yevgeniy Gidich, Nikita Stalnov, Merhawi Kudus and team's trainee Vadim Pronskiy.
Sports director in race: Giuseppe Martinelli.
Alexey Lutsenko winning the 2019 Coppa Sabatini.
Sophie De Vuyst joins Mitchelton-Scott
Mitchelton-Scott sent me this news:
Mitchelton-SCOTT is pleased to announce Belgian rider Sophie De Vuyst will join the women's team for 2020.
De Vuyst has been in the professional peloton for over ten years and brings with her a wealth of experience, particularly in the Belgian Classics. With good climbing ability, the 32-year-old will add to the strength and all-round support to the Mitchelton-SCOTT women's team.
De Vuyst sees it as an 'honour' to be joining the Australian outfit and is looking forward to 'working with the world's best climber and GC rider'.
"It's very special to join Mitchelton-SCOTT, it's one of the biggest team's in the women's peloton. It's quite an honour to ride for this team and it also seems to be a really professional team in every way.
"I'm looking forward to working with the world's best climber and GC rider, Van Vleuten. I see this really as an honour and I will give my everything to help Annemiek as much as possible."
"I want to be an important supporter for Annemiek and Amanda Spratt in the hilly races and I hope to reach the same level as this year, then I think I can be a strong support in the finals of big races. Of course, winning a UCI race myself would be nice as well.
"I like hilly and hard courses, after a hilly race, I've a pretty good sprint. My favourite races are Ronde van Vlaanderen & Omloop het Nieuwsblad because they are around on my training roads but I also like races such as Luik-Bastenaken-Luik & Brabantse Pijl because of their hilly profiles."
Having enjoyed a successful 2019 season, Sport Director Martin Vestby believes De Vuyst is a perfect addition to strengthen the squad further as they continue to target new results, and that she will be an important ingredient in the team's composition for next season, particularly races such as the Cobble Classics and Ardennes Classics.
"Sophie is a rider that can fit in well to a lot of different types of races. With her being a Belgian rider she knows a lot of the Classics courses there and with her ability to climb well she can do really well in those harder cobble classics.
"I felt that we needed to strengthen this area in those kind of races, particularly in the hilly Ardennes style races. She will strengthen the team but also give us an extra card to play. Also races like the Giro-Rosa as she can climb well, she is a rider we can use for a lot of different races and in different roles.
"I followed her from the start of the year and have been quite impressed with her this year, she followed up on her strong results last year and I expect her to have a lead role in some races and be a domestique rider and have a support role in other races for us next year.
"She has been working full time as a teacher this year whilst racing, so hopefully next year being with us and being able to work less and focus more on cycling can help lift her up to another level."
Sophie De Vuyst
Nationality: Belgium
Date of birth: 2nd April 1987 (32)
Turned Pro: 2008
Joins Mitchelton-SCOTT: 2020
Top Results:
- 1st Brabants Pijl - 2019
- 2nd La Classique Morbihan - 2019
- 2nd Flanders Ladies Classic - 2019
- 2nd Erondegemse Pijl - 2013
- 2nd Tour de Bretagne Féminin GC - 2012
- 3rd Le Samyn des Dames -2013
Arnaud Demare wins stage three of Tour of Slovakia
Here the report from UAE-Team Emirates:
The combined strength of Aleksandr Riabushenko and Alexander Kristoff was not enough to overcome Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) on the third stage of the Tour of Slovaquie (226.6-km) from Ruzomberok to Hlohovec.
Arnaud Demare winning a race earlier this year.
With 18 km to the finish line the four riders from the days breakaway had been swept up by the group and after some skirmishes in the peloton due to the wind, the final ascent of 700 meters saw the pair of UAE Team Emirates (photo Bettini) fight it out against the French sprinter who was ultimately the winner.
Strong performance also from Tom Bohli, 7th at the finish line and 5th in the general classification which is led by Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-Quick Step).
For Riabushenko, the second place confirms his current form that was shown last week with his success in the Agostoni Cup: "The last 25 km of the race were made very intense by the wind, with echolons that left no more than 40 riders at the head of the race. From the moment of the splits to the final sprint it was all out. We had four UAE Team Emirates guys in the leading group. The finish was suited to both Kristoff and me, so we had two cards to play, but unfortunately Demare was stronger".
The Tour of Slovaquie will end with the 4th stage, from Hlohovec-Senica (142.1 km) which features 5 second category climbs which will make the racing hard,though may still favour the sprinters.
Stage 3 results
1 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 4h39'09 "§
2 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates 2 "
3 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates s.t.
General ranking
1 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-Quick Step 13h56'45 "
2 Stefan Kung (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 3 "
3 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 7 "
5 Tom Bohli (Sui) UAE Team Emirates 21 "
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