8.19.2011

La Vuelta 2011... empieza mañana


Quise hacer una nota del incio de la vuelta y me he topado con varios comentarios de desilucion de la vuelta 2011 y el que me parece mas atinado es de un conocido cuyo blog esta en mi lista, les invito a leerlo y saber porque se dice lo que se dice de esta vuelta... El analisis de la vuelta españa 2011

Sin embargo y pese a lo que se dice y los analisis hechos es una carrera de cierre de las grandes, si concido completamente en el hecho que los puertos de montaña no son muy exigentes, tomando en cuenta que se cuenta con los pineos españoles que se puede hacer unas grandes etapas ahi, porque no se contemplan, ellos sabran, vaya la vuelta tiene todo en su geografia para hacerla tan dura y espectacular como el Giro o el Tour, pero por alguan razon se mantienen a raya. Bueno solo queda esperar con ansia al dia de mañana y estar atentos con la ultima grande del año. Eso si para mi el rojo nunca se vera mas bello como en estos dia..

Las etapas Etapa Tipo Fecha Salida y llegada Distancia Detalles
1 Crono equipos Sábado 20 de agosto Benidorm > Benidorm 13,5 km
2 Llana Domingo 21 de agosto La Nucía > Playas de Orihuela 174,0 km
3 Llana Lunes 22 de agosto Petrer > Totana 163,0 km
4 Montaña Martes 23 de agosto Baza > Sierra Nevada 170,2 km
5 Llana Miércoles 24 de agosto Sierra Nevada > Valdepeñas de Jaén 187,0 km
6 Llana Jueves 25 de agosto Úbeda > Córdoba 193,4 km
7 Llana Viernes 26 de agosto Almadén > Talavera de la Reina 182,9 km
8 Montaña Sábado 27 de agosto Talavera de la Reina > San Lorenzo de El Escorial 177,3 km
9 Montaña Domingo 28 de agosto Villacastín > Sierra de Bejar. La Covatilla 183,0 km
Descanso Lunes 6 de septiembre
10 Crono Lunes 29 de agosto Salamanca > Salamanca 47,0 km
11 Montaña Miércoles 31 de agosto Verín > Estación de Montaña Manzaneda 167,0 km
12 Llana Jueves 01 de septiembre Ponteareas > Pontevedra 167,3 km
13 Montaña Viernes 02 de septiembre Sarria > Ponferrada 158,2 km
14 Montaña Sábado 03 de septiembre Astorga > La Farrapona. Lagos de Somiedo 175,8 km
15 Montaña Domingo 04 de septiembre Avilés > Alto de L'Angliru 142,2 km
16 Llana Martes 06 de septiembre Villa Romana La Olmeda (Palencia) > Haro 203,6 km
Descanso Martes 14 de septiembre
17 Montaña Miércoles - 07 de septiembre Faustino V > Peña Cabarga 211,0 km
18 Montaña Jueves 08 de septiembre Solares > Noja 174,6 km
19 Llana Viernes 09 de septiembre Noja > Bilbao 158,5 km
20 Montaña Sábado 10 de septiembre Bilbao > Vitoria 185,0 km
21 Llana Domingo 11 de septiembre Circuito del Jarama-RACE > Madrid 95,6 km

8.14.2011

Tour of Utah... Ends..

Hoy termino el #tou11 con un dominio de Levi Leipheimer del RadioShack, el que antes fuese del Astana y ahora esta en las filas de Johan Bruyneel obtiene la victoria del Tour y de la montaña y quedando en segundo en la ultima etapa, quería toda la gloria hasta el final

Para este Tour hubo un gran equipo que se llevo las palmas en su trabajo tanto como equipo e individual @BiciGogaESPN El mejor joven @theTourofUtah el colombiano Christian Montoya Sergio Luis Henao gana la etapa REINA! Y gobernacion antioquia se lleva la de equipos

@LeviLeipheimer agradece a su equipo: This @theTourofUtah Victory goes to @janibrajkovic @BenKing89 @BjornSelander JMac, Phillip Deignan, Dale Parker, George Bennett

Brajkovic quien terminara en tercero se muestra muy contento y motivado para lo que sigue : next Vuelta

Enviado desde mi oficina móvil BlackBerry® de Telcel

Mark Cavendish hails perfect team display after passing Olympic test

As Mark Cavendish underlined after taking an emphatic victory in the London-Surrey Classic, the trial event on the 2012 Olympic road race course, it would be unwise to read too much into this one race. But while his spectacular success does not mean he should be tagged as the favourite to win the gold medal one extrapolation can be safely made: the opening event of the 2012 Games will be a success.

Despite the early start time and shorter course – 140km against 260 next year – the lines of people thronging the barriers began as the race meandered through Putney and Chelsea, and that set the tone for support which looked on a par with that enjoyed by the Tour de France on its visits to south-east England in 1994 and 2007. The parks, Richmond and Bushy, were full to the brim and sedate stockbroker belt communities such as Dorking and Oxshott turned out in force, cameras to the fore.

There was a smattering of cyclists in groups from London cycling clubs but, critically, the locals had clearly adopted the event. They set up picnic tables and chairs, installed impromptu hotdog stands in back gardens, galloped alongside the peloton on horseback and brandished the obligatory signs: "Go Cav go" and "Cavendish for gold". There was only going to be one winner as far as the support was concerned.

The spectacular hairpins and sweeping views of Box Hill were the highpoint, although the constraints of numbers meant there was a peculiar feel to a major cycle race with spectators crammed into a viewing area rather than allowed to spread all over the hillside. "What," mused Cavendish, "would it be like if there were no restrictions?"

Access to the viewing area on the zig-zag hairpins of Box Hill is limited to 3,400 with entry by wristband but Locog is clearly aware this is a sore point and was at pains to stress that this was a minimum number for the test event. There will be a debrief after the test race and it seems every effort will be made to allow spectators to watch in greater numbers next year.

Cavendish's victory was the final flourish in a seamless Great Britain performance that can only bode well for his chances in the world road race championship in Copenhagen at the end of September. The GB cyclists enjoyed a numerical advantage – two five-man teams tagged as Great Britain and England could hardly be expected to race against each other – and rode cohesively.

The British began turning the screw after an initial four-man escape gained over six minutes and timed their chase perfectly to sweep up the last survivor, Kristian House of the British team Rapha Condor Sharp, with less than 10km to race. At the kill, there were four Britons still close to Cavendish after a crash entering Brompton Road three kilometres out reduced the field to an elite group of 18 and eliminated perhaps his biggest rival, the American sprinter Tyler Farrar.

"It was a perfect team performance," said Cavendish's fellow-Manxman Peter Kennaugh. "It's starting to gel really well." This should come as no surprise, given that under the road coach Rod Ellingworth, a core group have been brought together several times in the last few years to prepare for Copenhagen and London.

"It's the best Great Britain team we've ever had," Cavendish said. "It was like riding with my trade team, like being with a team that's been together two or three years."

The real thing will be far less straightforward, with a far stronger field and a greater distance, including nine laps rather than two of the 10-mile circuit around Box Hill. "Mark will have to be at the very top of his game to win – in the same form he had when he won Milan-San Remo," said the Great Britain performance director, Dave Brailsford, and Cavendish echoed him, adding that he was "confident" he could rise to the task.

According to Roger Hammond, who raced both in Athens and Beijing, the London course is similar to that of 2004, where he finished seventh. "There is no one major climb but by the end of that one 75% of the peloton failed to finish. I know it's a cliche but it will be a war of attrition." "Interesting, not a guaranteed sprint, it will be in pieces ninth time up. Then it will be a race to try to get together for the finish," Kennaugh said.

As well as the crowds and Cavendish and company, the organisation looked impressive, in what is arguably the toughest logistical exercise in the Olympic programme, given the need to guarantee safe roads on the lengthy run from London's centre to the suburbs, as well as the constraints of protecting the delicate habitats on Box Hill and in Richmond Park, where quadruple barriers were set up.

In total, it called for a length of barriers as long as the race itself, 140km. "I was amazed how much work had already been done. A lot of road furniture has gone and what is still there was very well marked," said Hammond.

"I can't imagine that logistically it was easy to do. It felt safe and if you feel safe going through London at 65kph all you can say is 'well done'. It was faultless."

So too was Cavendish, as he has been for most of this summer.
Source: guardian.co.uk
Enviado desde mi oficina móvil BlackBerry® de Telcel

8.12.2011

Hushovd not to participate next Tour de France



During his homecoming celebration in Melbourne, Australia, 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans suggested that was not going to share the team leadership at next year's event with world champion Thor Hushovd, who will join his BMC team in 2012.

In order to defend his crown, Evans said that he needed full team support and was unwilling to have a sprinter like Hushovd in the squad's nine-man roster during the Tour. "Regarding Thor coming to the team, the main objective of (team president) Jim Ochowicz was to get some guys onto the team to get some results early so they wouldn't rely just on me for race wins at the start of the year," he told Reuters.

"I said: 'Look Jim, you want to bring a sprinter to the team, I don't want to ride with a sprinter, because I've done that and I've done my share. If I do the Tour I want to do it for the win.'

"I was fairly clear about that and Jim was accepting of that, so it's under that basis that Thor comes to our team."

During his years at Lotto, Evans regularly had to share team leadership with fellow countryman and sprinter Robbie McEwen. His comments suggest that Hushovd, who has earned a total of ten stage victories at the Tour de France so far and could be a team leader in his own right, may be left out of the event to focus solely on Evans.

Hushovd, who has not been selected by his Garmin-Cervelo team to ride the upcoming Vuelta a Espana, has not yet reacted to Evans' comments yet. However, when he and the BMC team announced their agreement earlier this week, the Norwegian said that his "biggest goal" yet was to win Paris-Roubaix.

Source: cyclingnews

8.11.2011

HTC will go cycling


The HTC mobile brand will not be in the cycling world, and that that seemed to go four years with the sponsorship, but eventually changed his mind and does not endorse high quality riders like Mark Cavendish, who won until last four stages in the Tour de France and donned the yellow jersey.

Team manager Bob Stapleton has shown contrariaro to learn the news that HTC will not be in the cycling world and when there was a preliminary agreement between them.

Now, it's hard to continue on with this elite and supercomputers, and they need a total of 10 million euros per season, although they continue looking for sponsors that are committed to a sport that is increasingly punctuated by all -sporting news...

Mark Renshaw leaves HTC


ANDENNE, Belgium (AFP) — Mark Cavendish’s key lead-out man, Mark Renshaw, has signed a two-year deal that will see him spearhead Rabobank’s bid
for sprint success, the Dutch outfit confirmed Thursday.

The Australian has spent the past three years riding with the HTC-Highroad team, which is set to fold at the end of the season, and helping Isle of Man
teammate Cavendish rack up an impressive 20 stage wins on the Tour de France.

He was expected to continue that role and join Cavendish in his soon-to-be-announced new team, with Team Sky and nascent Australian outfit
GreenEDGE reportedly among the favorites to capture the Tour de France star.

However Rabobank team manager Erik Breukink confirmed at the Eneco Tour here Thursday the 28-year-old has opted to pursue personal glory with Rabobank —one of the biggest and most secure teams in the peloton.

“He has huge experience in helping to prepare the sprints for Cavendish, but in this team he will get to win for himself,” said Breukink, whose main
sprinter, Oscar Freire, is heading steadily towards retirement.

It means Renshaw and Cavendish could become direct rivals next season, allowing the Australian to bolster a tally of only seven career
victories.

Earlier this season he won a stage and the overall classification at the Tour of Qatar.
Source: VeloNews

8.10.2011

Tour of Utah Prologue


New for 2011 is the Utah Olympic Park Prologue. An official venue for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, this thriving Olympic legacy site will be a challenging start for some of the world's best riders. This twisting hill climb with an average pitch of 7% over its 5 km length provides a fitting start to "America's Toughest Stage Race". Though short, this challenging prologue will establish the pecking order heading into the rest of the week's racing. Expect to see many of the overall race favorites laying it down in order to establish dominance over their rivals.

The Colombian rider Sergio Henao Wins the prologue with time to 4'05". The prologue stated 2,1 km when the Averege speed was 30.857 km/h

Eneco News


In the first stage of the Eneco Tour André Greipel has outsprinted the entire bunch. The rider from team Omega Pharma - Lotto eclipsed Galimzyanov and Farrar. Taylor Phinney remains the leader overall.

Greipel (left) about to eclipse Galimzyanov. (picture cor vos)
Six riders broke away early on: Thomas De Gendt, Stijn Neirynck, Jens Debusschere, Feng Han, Julien Fouchard and Matteo Trentin. After 50 kilometers, the breakaway had a lead of over 10 minutes. Quite the sign for the sprinters' teams to start chasing the group. The speed in the pack increased considerably and after 90 kilometers into the stage the group lead by 6 minutes.

At this speed, a bunch sprint in Sint Willebrord seemed inevitable. Fouchard was the last one to be reeled in with only 10 kilometers left. The rolling train subsequently suffered some crashes in the curbs of Dutch roads. Sebastien Minard, Arnaud Labbe and Perez Sanchez Francisco abandoned the race.
Source: Enecotour.com

Alejandro Valverde con ofertas en puerta

Alejandro Valverde con varias ofertas para su reaparición.

Informacion que asegura que el ciclista murciano Alejandro Valverde ya ha contraído compromiso con el Team Movistar, con el que se le relaciona desde que se dejara ver con la vestimenta y bicicleta del equipo UCI ProTour que dirige Eusebio Unzué, fuentes cercanas a Alejandro Valverde aseguran que "no es cierto" que exista contrato sobre cualquiera de las propuestas con que cuenta en la actualidad el ciclista de Las Lumbreras. De hecho, además de la propuesta de Movistar estarían las de Omega Pharma y Quick Step, las de Leopard-Trek y Astana. En este sentido, ha habido conversación directa con los hermanos Schleck, y existe interés por parte de las escuadra kazaja de Alexander Vinokourov. El será quien tome la última decisión al respecto, pero, afortunadamente, cuenta con varias e importantes propuestas, comentan.

En lo que respecta al interés del Movistar Team, todo apunta a que en febrero pasado se alcanzó un principio de acuerdo, que posteriormente se ha sumado al resto de propuestas, sin que exista orden de prioridad absoluto.
Antonio J. Salmerón

Fuente: EsCiclismo.com