It was a standard stage on the Giro, breaks went away, and were pulled back in by the chasing group, never allowing the lead to go above about 7 minutes. In the end two riders (Di Luca and Chalapud) went clear as Sky put the hammer down on the front of the pack to peg them to about 10 seconds' lead. it was all in vain as the peloton closed within a few hundred metres, keeping Paolini in pink and providing a sprint finish won by Enrico Battaglin. All the big contenders came in nearly together keeping everything much as it was before they set off, with Wiggins slipping back from the chase group somehow and losing time, putting him in 6th, 3 seconds down on Nibali and level with last year's winner, Hesjedal. A day at the back also meant Cavendish slipped to second in the points competition.
While it’s nice (for me) to write about my own rides, there are some interesting things coming out about what we might call “the industry”. For example Pink Bike published a simplified (and with the jargon written out) version of what it takes to host a UCI sanctioned World Cup Downhill event. At the same I found the report from Future on advertising and sponsorship in road cycling interesting reading, with cycling, both as a participation sport and a spectator sport, growing dramatically in this country.
Back to the downhill scene, this is coming:
Sticking with that side of the cycling world, Hannah Barnes has been tearing up her local tracks:
As has Gee Atherton, with a definitive reply to all those times you think, yeah he seems fast but is he really all that, here he is riding a trail centre downhill in a way I, at least, can only dream of.
Elsewhere the Guardian has a video of cyclists who are building something good out of something horrific, showing, one again that sport has potential to be more important than we ever remember:
And someone is yet again trying to reinvent something that works quite well.
A
No comments:
Post a Comment