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Intxausti remembers Tondo with classy Giro d'Italia stage victory

Susan Westemeyer — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:06:43 GMT

Benat Intxausti gave the Movistar team its third stage victory in the Giro d'Italia and movingly remembered his former friend and teammate Xavier Tondo, just two days from the anniversary of his tragic death. Intxausti celebrated his victory by crossing his fingers to create an X for Xavi after crossing the line. He beat Tanel Kangert (Astana) and Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) in the sprint in Ivrea but his thoughts were all for his former friend. Intxausti was with Tondo when his garage door ...

Video: RadioShack Leopard at the Giro d'Italia

Peter Hymas — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:58:37 GMT

RadioShack Leopard has fielded a squad balanced between youth and experience at the 2013 Giro d'Italia and in this exclusive video Cyclingnews goes behind the scenes to speak with the riders about the chemistry and camaraderie necessary to make one's way through a Grand Tour. The squad's youth division is highlighted by George Bennett (23), making his Grand Tour debut , as well as Jesse Sergent (24) and Giacomo Nizzolo (24), each with one Giro d'Italia under their belts, plus Nelson Oliveira (24) ...

Taylor Phinney abandons Giro d'Italia

Daniel Benson — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:46:11 GMT

Taylor Phinney ( BMC Racing ) has abandoned the Giro d’Italia on stage 16 from Valloire to Ivrea. The 2012 Giro prologue winner pulled out mid-way through Tuesday’s stage with his team citing saddle sores. Phinney, who wore the maglia rosa after winning last year’s Giro d’Italia prologue had already battled through illness in this year’s race. He had been targeting a possible stage win but also worked for team leader Cadel Evans, who currently sits second in the overall ...

Argos Shimano set out rosters for busy racing schedule

Daniel Benson — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:25:32 GMT

Having secured a WoldTour licence at the start of the 2013 season Argos Shiman o have lived up to the demands of fielding multiple rosters during the season. Their strength in depth will be tested in the coming days with a number of races overlapping, as the Giro d’Italia continues, the Tour of Belgium begins on Wednesday and this weekend sees the team line up for Bayern Rundfahrt. The squad for Germany includes Georg Preidler, Warren Barguil, and Simon Geschke . “The General Classification ...

Sanchez and Vanmarcke head up Blanco squad for Tour of Belgium

Daniel Benson — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:04:09 GMT

Luis Leon Sanchez and Sep Vanmarcke will form Blanco ’s assault on the Tour of Belgium. The race starts Wednesday with a 194.2 kilometre stages from Lochristi to Knokke-Heist. The race also marks Sanchez’s return to racing after the team sidelined him due to links between the Spaniard and Operacion Puerto. “We don’t have an ordained lead man, but with Lars Boom and Sep Vanmarcke, we certainly have two guys who know their way around the Ardennes,” said Blanco sports ...

Video: Cataldo on designing his own race shoes

Jane Aubrey — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:29:49 GMT

When he's not racing, Sky's Dario Cataldo has been known to pick up pencil, paper and even the odd aerosol can. At this year's Giro d'Italia , the 28-year-old is wearing the third shoe that he's designed for Gaerne. "It's my hobby," he tells Cyclingnews . "I always draw at home and I always bring something with me to make some little sketches." Featuring the distinctive red and green of the il Tricolore, representative of Cataldo's Italian individual time trial title won in 2012, ...

Giro d'Italia gallery: Evans and Nibali enjoy rest day

Alex Malone — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:39:52 GMT

The second and final rest day of this year's Giro d'Italia was a fairly relaxed affair for the remaining riders who made it through the freezing stage that finished at the Col du Galibier - won by Giovanni Visconti . The three-time Italian national road champion savoured his emotional victory the day prior and was also out taking in the sights around the ski resort of Valloire. With six stages remaining in this year's edition and one final mountain time trial to go it looks like Vincenzo Nibali ...

Sky realistic but not resigned to Nibali's dominance

Jane Aubrey — Tue, 21 May 2013 06:09:22 GMT

The Giro d'Italia enters its final week on Tuesday with Vincenzo Nibali 's leadership apparently impregnable - but Team Sky privately determined to give the Sicilian an uncomfortable ride to the race finale in Brescia next Sunday. While both leader Rigoberto Urán and team principal Sir Dave Brailsford consider Nibali to be comfortably the strongest rider in the race, the British outfit are set to employ an aggressive strategy in the two remaining mountain stages on Thursday and Friday. Sky's ...

Gilbert and Van Avermaet headline BMC at Tour of Belgium

Alex Malone — Tue, 21 May 2013 02:34:48 GMT

Philippe Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet make their return to racing this week when the five-day Tour of Belgium begins on Wednesday with a 194.2km stage from Lochristi to Knokke-Heist. Gilbert won a stage and the overall title in 2011 during arguably his greatest season to date but the reigning world champion arrives at the race with mixed expectations to that of his younger BMC teammate Van Avermaet. Gilbert is still recovering from the long-haul flight back from the United States while Van ...

Meyer continues progression with Tour of California result

Alex Malone — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A top-ten performance would have been more than pleasing for Cameron Meyer at this year's Tour of California considering the Orica GreenEdge Australian was struck down with a dose of illness prior to the start of the 2.HC race. The 25-year-old battled through the opening days, putting himself at the head of affairs to move into third-overall with just one final test at Mount Diablo remaining. Falling off the back of the lead group in the finale on the penultimate stage saw his podium place slip ...

Bontrager impress again at Tour of California

Jane Aubrey — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:09:35 GMT

For the second consecutive year, Axel Merckx's Bontrager development team has made the most of its coveted invitation to the Amgen Tour of California , with Lawson Craddock winning the Best Young Rider competition followed by teammates Gavin Mannion and Tanner Putt. The team also flew the Bontrager colors in four day-long breakaways and earned four top-10 stage finishes. "I think we just missed one or two of them all week," Merckx said of his riders' breakaway efforts. "With Lawson's ...

Video: Klier debuts as team director at Giro d'Italia

Peter Hymas — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:53:23 GMT

Andreas Klier recently brought his 17-year career as a professional cyclist to a conclusion, but the 37-year-old German has opted to remain in the sport with Garmin-Sharp and has brought his considerable experience from within the peloton to his new position as team director . "I don't regret that I've stopped cycling, and I really like my new job," said Klier. In this exclusive video with Cyclingnews , Klier discusses the highs and lows of his debut stint as team director at the Giro ...

Video: Visconti discusses Galibier victory, Pantani

Peter Hymas — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:33:38 GMT

Eight days after Alex Dowsett opened Movistar's stage win account at the Giro d'Italia , Giovanni Visconti added an emotional second stage victory for the Spanish WorldTour squad as the 30-year-old Italian prevailed on Sunday's stage 15 with its mountain finish on the Galibier. The stage win was Visconti's first of the 2013 season, and arguably the biggest of his career. The originally proposed Galibier summit finish was unable to take place due to snow, and the stage instead finished 4km from the ...

Nibali edges closer to Giro d'Italia victory

Sue George — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:49:18 GMT

It was a day of rest at the Giro d'Italia but there was no break from the obligations of the maglia rosa for Vincenzo Nibali on Monday as he held forth at a press conference at the Astana team hotel in Valloire, at the foot of the mighty Col du Galibier. On paper, Nibali's lead of 1:26 over Cadel Evans (BMC) is far from insurmountable but on the road, the Sicilian has appeared impregnable since taking hold of the pink jersey after the Saltara time trial last week. Nibali has spent much of the race ...

South-to-North switch livens Tour of California

Peter Hymas — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:34:34 GMT

The Tour of California is a wrap for 2013, and race organisers are patting themselves on the back for crafting a south-to-north course that challenged riders on each of the eight days of racing. Medalist Sports managing partner Jim Birrell told Cyclingnews that his group had responded to previous feedback from the riders and team directors when creating the route, which featured two mountainous opening stages, three windswept transitional stages, an unusually long and difficult time trial followed ...

Evans still ambitious for the third week of the Giro d'Italia

Peter Hymas — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:41:58 GMT

Cadel Evans (BMC) agreed to ride the Giro d'Italia just five weeks before the start in Naples, accepting he needed the extra racing if he was going to be team leader at BMC for the Tour de France and competitive against the likes of Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins and Alberto Contador come July. After a difficult 2012 and a nasty virus that wrecked his season, he started 2013 cautiously and was careful about his ambitions for the Giro d'Italia. He never predicted or expected that he would be second ...

Giro d'Italia: 10 conclusions from the second week

Daniel Benson — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:19:51 GMT

Will Nibali resist siren calls? After seeing off the challenges of Bradley Wiggins and Ryder Hesjedal and edging ever further away from Cadel Evans and Rigoberto Uran, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) sits in a commanding position at the head of the overall standings with one week of the Giro to race. For many in the Italian press, final overall victory is already viewed as an inevitability and the cry has gone out for Nibali to crown his success with a stage victory and a healthy dollop of spettacolo . ...

Perfect attendance for McCartney at Tour of California

Sue George — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:40:41 GMT

When Bissell Pro Cycling's Jason McCartney took the start line in Escondido for stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California on May 12, he joined a very exclusive list of riders who have competed in all eight editions of the US stage race. But 2013 will be the first year McCartney is riding California for a Continental-ranked team. McCartney, 37, started his pro career on US domestic teams, riding for Nutra Fig and Jelly Belly through 2002. He signed with HealthNet-Maxxis in 2003, and his stage win at ...

White jersey battle not a concern for Majka

Daniel Benson — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:40:02 GMT

Rafal Majka showed his growing confidence at the Giro d’Italia by setting his Saxo-Tinkoff teammate Evgeni Petrov to work at the foot of the Col du Galibier in the finale of stage 15. Although the young Pole ultimately lost his white jersey to Carlos Betancur (Ag2r-La Mondiale), he was in the thick of the action all the way to the finish, as the pair attacked off the front of the pink jersey group in the final kilometre in the company of Przemyslaw Niemic (Lampre-Merida). Betancur won the ...

Parra calls for Colombian alliance to defeat Nibali

Daniel Benson — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:07:23 GMT

Colombian cycling legend Fabio Parra has called on his compatriots to join forces in an “alliance of all the Colombians” at the Giro d’Italia in order to increase their chances of winning a stage, a jersey and even the overall classification. In a series of messages posted on Twitter, Parra said that such an alliance could even result in Sky’s Rigoberto Urán taking the maglia rosa off the shoulders of race leader Vincenzo Nibali. The 53-year-old Parra, who in 1988 ...

Scarponi stays in podium hunt at Giro d’Italia

Daniel Benson — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:28:51 GMT

On crossing the finish line in the snow on the Col du Galibier at the end of stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia , Michele Scarponi (Lampre-Merida) wheeled to an unsteady halt and leant over his handlebars, coughing incessantly. A small group of reporters swarmed around him hesitantly, but although Scarponi was conscious of their wayward and flickering existence, he was in no state to offer his immediate thoughts on the day’s action, and his soigneur guided him away to warm himself in a tent ...

Hometown hero Boasson Hagen back to winning ways

Alex Malone — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:08:56 GMT

It may have taken a little longer than usual but Edvald Boasson Hagen can take solace in the fact that his first victory of 2013 at the Glava Tour of Norway has arrived just six weeks away from the Tour de France , where many expect the current Norwegian champion to join his Sky Procycling teammates come the final day of June. Boasson Hagen, 'The Boss' took his time to move into the overall lead in his local tour but did it in style when he rode into his home town of Lillehammer on the penultimate ...

Uran confident about the final week of the Giro d'Italia

Sue George — Mon, 20 May 2013 06:06:20 GMT

Rigoberto Uran jumped into the warmth of a Team Sky Jaguar after crossing the finish line and riding five hundred metres further up the Col du Galibier after stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia . The Colombian finished 10th, 54 seconds behind Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) but was done in the same time as race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Cadel Evans (BMC), his two big rivals for overall victory. After getting changed in the car and taking a natural break while enjoying the view across the ...

Leipheimer confirms: I'm retired

Jane Aubrey — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:34:08 GMT

Levi Leipheimer has confirmed to reporters in California that he is indeed retired after his six month ban for doping violations was completed on March 1. His contract with Omega Pharma-Quickstep was terminated in the fallout of the US Anti-Doping Agency's release of its full dossier of evidence in the case against Lance Armstrong. In his affidavit Leipheimer testified to a number of doping-related offenses, but also implicated himself, admitting to having used blood transfusions as recently as ...

McGee replaces White as Australian national team DS

Jane Aubrey — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:33:29 GMT

Cycling Australia has announced that that three-time grand tour stage winner and Olympic gold medallist Brad McGee will take on the role of directeur sportif for the elite men's road program. McGee will have current selector, Austrian-based Brian Stephens alongside him in the role of European co-ordinator. Both roles are effective immediately encompassing the UCI Road World Championships in Florence this September, together with the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and 2016 Rio Olympic Games. ...