2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 6

May 11, Stage 6: Urbino - Porto Sant'Elpidio 207km

Rubiano solos to Giro d'Italia stage win in Porto Sant'Elpidio

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-6/results)

Colombian rider Miguel Rubiano (Androni Giocattoli) produced the best performance of his career to win stage six of the 2012 Giro d’Italia at Porto Sant'Elpidio, as the race headed to the hills for the first time.

The 27-year-old was part of a breakaway group that put some distance between themselves and the peloton early on in the race and he made his bid for glory with around 45km to go. He crossed the line in a time of 5:38:30, earning himself the 20-second time bonus on offer. He also seized control of the mountains classification.

“At first I was just aiming for the mountain points, but then when I heard how far behind the group was I decided to take a risk and try a breakaway, and it went well,” a delighted Rubiano said afterwards.

Lampre-ISD’s Adriano Malori takes over the pink jersey from Garmin-Barracuda’s Ramunas Navardauskas as overall race leader. The Italian finished second in the stage, just edging out Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) for a 12-second bonus that helped to catapult him to the top of the standings and sent the home fans into raptures.

The beautiful walled city of Urbino, which is classified as a World Heritage site, was the starting point for the riders ahead of the 207km stage. Relentless undulations provided the peloton with their first tough assignment of the Giro and the rolling hills certainly left their mark on some of the big names.

Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda), Thor Hushovd (BMC) and Roman Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM) all failed to finish, while stage winners Mark Cavendish (Sky) and Taylor Phinney (BMC) trailed home as part of a group that were 33:12 behind Rubiano. Today’s stage had been labelled as the one where the Giro starts in earnest, and it lived up to expectations.

At the 40km point a group of riders had forged almost five minutes clear. Rubiano, Malori and Golas were joined by several others including Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), Jack Bauer (Garmin-Barracuda) and Luke Roberts (Saxo Bank), who was the highest placed member of the pack in the overall GC. Just 15km later the gap had widened dramatically to 8:36 as the pressure was applied to the peloton from a long way out.

The first climb, at the 95km point, took its toll on some of the leaders as they lost touch with the other breakaway riders. Surprisingly, Balloni, who led the mountains classification heading into the stage, was one of those to crack.

The race for pink

As the stage progressed past the halfway point Liquigas-Cannondale was doing the lion’s share of the work in the main chasing group, looking to protect Ivan Basso and move him into contention. Race leader Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda) appeared to be struggling at one point, but managed to drag himself back onto the tail of the main group with around 70km to go. At this point the calculators came out – for the first time people sensed the possibility that the breakaway group might not be caught. Just how far behind them could Navardauskas finish and hang on to the pink jersey? The Lithuanian was still clinging onto the main peloton but his chances of retaining the jersey were fading fast as he reached the top of the day's third classified climb, the category 3 Montelupone.

Rubiano clinched more mountain points and then committed himself to the finish line from 45km out. His move splintered the breakaway group into two, with Malori, Golas, Cesare Benedetti (Team NetApp) and Alex Dyachenko (Astana) comprising the first chase group ahead of Bauer, Roberts and Gatis Smukulis (Katusha). It appeared that Roberts, who was in 25th position in the GC before the stage, was in pole position for pink if he could hold his position and consolidate the time gap between Rubiano in front and those trying to close behind.

With 27km to go Rubiano was 4:33 ahead of the main chasing peloton and almost a minute clear of the first chasing pack. Garmin-Barracuda made a late bid to drag Ryder Hesjedal to the top of the GC but left it too late. Roberts faded badly in the final few kilometres and as Rubiano crossed the line in splendid isolation to cap the greatest day of his cycling life, eyes immediately switched to the race for second place, that would potentially decide which shoulders the pink jersey would rest on ahead of the Giro’s second weekend.

It was Malori who prevailed, narrowly out-sprinting Golas to claim that 12-second time bonus that lifted him ahead of his Polish rival in the overall GC and ensure that an Italian would be awarded the precious maglia rosa on the podium in Porto Sant'Elpidio.

 

Full Results

1	Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Col) Androni Giocattoli	5:38:30
2	Adriano Malori (Ita) Lampre - ISD	0:01:10
3	Michal Golas (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
4	Alexsandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
5	Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Team NetApp
6	Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team	0:01:51
7	Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
8	Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
9	Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team
10	Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quickstep

Tour de Langkawi: First All-African Team & Vino Comes Full Circle

Two interesting articles caught my eye regarding the upcoming Tour de Langkawi:

First of all, the first African team will be competing in it. Its really good to see that cycling is becoming more of a world-wide sport than just a European sport. With the Santos Tour Down Under, as well as a handful of major races in the States, it nice to see that it is beginning to appeal to other countries.

First ‘truly African team’ set for Tour de Langkawi

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/first-truly-african-team-set-for-tour-de-langkawi)

With the Tour de Langkawi boasting one of its strongest line-ups in recent years one might be forgiven in glossing over some of the so-called smaller teams, but the MTN-Qhubeka team posses some of the most exciting talents in the race, and have been dubbed the first ‘truly African team’ by their team manager.

The race squad comprises of athletes from around the African continent, including four black African riders (Adrien Niyonshuti from Rwanda, and Jani Tewelde, Meron Russom and Tesfai Habtariam from Eritrea) and two South African riders (Jacques Janse van Rensburg and Dennis van Niekerk).

Van Niekerk and Janse van Rensburg are no strangers to the race, with Van Niekerk finishing fourth overall in 2011 and Janse van Rensburg finishing sixth in 2009.

Douglas Ryder, MTN-Qhubeka Team Principal, rode the Tour de Langkawi seven times as a member of the South African National Team, finishing fifth overall in 1996 and winning the KOM competition in 1998.

“I have always enjoyed the people and the hardness of the event in which South African riders have always done well,” said Ryder. “2012 sees the first truly African team participate, and with this event favouring the climbers, it will be great to see how our team will perform against one of the best fields ever assembled.”

The team will be looking for a strong performance in the GC, and will also be targeting the key mountain stage to Genting Genting Highlands.

"Janse van Rensberg, Niyonshuti and Van Niekerk are amongst Africa's best climbing talents,” she the team coach.

“They have been training hard over the past two months, and their SRM power data confirms their current form. Eritrian neo-pros Russom, Tewelde and Habetarium joined our team mid-January. They have rapidly adopted our team's high-tech training methods and their performances in hard, specific interval training sessions confirm their depth in conditioning. The Tour de Langkawi will be their first major international stage race outside of Africa. They're aggressive, fearless competitors and will be eager to earn the respect of their global competition."

Team for Tour de Langkawi:Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa), Jani Tewelde Weldegaber (Eri), Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA), Meron Russom (Eri), Tesfai Habtariam (Eri), Dennis Van Niekerk (RSA)

The second article that I found interesting was about Alexandre Vinokourov and how he will be racing in the Tour de Langkawi, which 15 years ago essentially began his professional career:

Vinokourov back in Langkawi after 15 years

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vinokourov-back-in-langkawi-after-15-years)

It's been 15 years but Alexander Vinokourov still remembers the first and last time he raced the Tour de Langkawi in 1997, as a member of the Kazakh national team. This week, the leader of the Astana squad is back in Kuala Lumpur to start his final season in the pro-ranks.

Le Tour de Langkawi triggered Vinokourov's career as a professional bike rider, as it was during the 1997 event that the Kazakhstan caught the eye of Gilles Mas, directeur sportif at Casino, who brought him to the French team as a stagiaire in August that year. Vinokourov signed his first professional contract in 1998 with the squad directed by Vincent Lavenu.

"It's fantastic to be here once again in my final year as a professional," Vinokourov told Biciciclismo. "I've always remembered my first time here in 1997 and I've always wanted to come back. But it was never included in my team's calendar, or suited to my race programme."

The 38-year-old returns to racing after fracturing his femur in a crash at the 2011 Tour de France. He competed in the Chrono des Nations last October but to him, "This is the first big race since I crashed in the Tour de France last year and it will be a good start into the new season for me, to get back to full fitness before travelling to Europe for the Classics."

Vinokourov is set to leave his mark on the race, together with his teammates Valentín Iglinskiy, Aleksandr Dyachenko, Assan Bazayev, Andrey Zeits and Dmitriy Gruzdev. "We have a strong team with the potential to win the general classification. My work here will be to help my teammates achieve the victory," he said.

After Le Tour de Langkawi, Vinokourov is scheduled to compete in Italy at the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali at the end of March.

Men's Worlds Championship TT

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/uci-road-world-championships-2011/elite-men-time-trial/results)

Tony Martin (Germany) dominated the elite men's time trial world championship, setting the fastest time at each split, as he powered to his first world title on the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark.

The 26-year-old German recorded a scintillating time of 53:43.85 for the 46.4km parcours to beat silver medalist Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) by 1:15.83. Defending and four-time world champion Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), consistently setting the second-fastest splits throughout the day, overshot a corner late in the race, nearly crashing into the course barriers, and had to settle for the bronze medal 4.76 seconds down on Wiggins.

The world championship has capped off a stellar season for Martin as he claimed overall wins at the Volta ao Algarve and Paris-Nice plus second overall at the Tour de Romandie. His performances against the clock have been superb season-long as he won time trial stages at the Tour de France, Vuelta a España, Volta ao Algarve, Paris-Nice, Vuelta al Pais Vasco and the Critérium du Dauphiné, now punctuated by his first-ever world championship.

Martin's ride also delivered Germany its second elite world championship in as many days as compatriot and HTC-Highroad teammate Judith Arndt won her first world title, too, in the elite women's time trial on Tuesday.

“In the last kilometre I was sure that I was going to win. It’s such a good feeling. It’s a dream come true. It’s amazing for me,” Martin said, revealing that catching David Millar during his ride helped him do even better.

“David was one of favourites and for sure when you pass him and you are 1:30 faster, you must be having a good ride. I gave my all, so I was really happy. I felt under pressure but I’ve learnt to work with the pressure.”

Martin's masterpiece

While the sky was overcast throughout the day, the rain held off for the elite men's time trial as 65 riders, competing in four waves for two laps of the 23.3km circuit, vied for the rainbow stripes in Copenhagen.

Alexandr Dyachenko (Kazakhstan), the 20th rider to start, held the hot seat for much of the day until the cream of the time trial stalwarts got on the course in the last of four waves. The first to break Dyachenko's time of 57:03.61 for the 46.4km parcours was Australia's Jack Bobridge, who stopped the clock in 55:57.71, only to have the next rider across the line, former time trial world champion Bert Grabsch (Germany), top that with 55:15.61.

British road champion Bradley Wiggins, fresh off a podium finish at the Vuelta a Espana, picked up his pace throughout the day and became the first rider to crack the 55-minute barrier as he assumed the hot seat with a time of 54:59.68.

But Martin, the second-to-last rider to start, was simply on another level as he re-set the best times at each split. The German caught the two riders who started in front of him, David Millar (Great Britain) and Mikhail Ignatyev (Russian Federation), and came close to reeling in a third rider, Taylor Phinney (United States of American), who started 4:30 ahead of the German.

Use this on all articles. The player is narrow enough to fit next to the article gallery images box on the right.

Martin's time of 53:43.85 demolished the effort made by Wiggins, and the only question yet to be decided would be what medal Fabian Cancellara, the final rider off, would claim.

The Swiss powerhouse had been consistently in second place at each split, but he started faster than Wiggins and his advantage over the Briton had been decreasing throughout his effort.

Nonetheless, Cancellara looked to have the silver medal sewn up, but an uncharacteristic mistake at a right-hand turn late in the race likely cost him a second place finish.

The Swiss rider overshot a turn and came to a complete stop to avoid crashing into the course barrier. He strained to get his big gear rolling again and returned to top speed, but as he made his way down the finishing straight his time of 55:04.44 would result in a bronze medal, 1:20.59 down on Martin and a slender 4.76 seconds behind Wiggins.

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 19

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-19/results)

The Vuelta a España's return to the Basque Country for the first time in 33 years could hardly have been better scripted as local hero Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi) took victory on stage 19 to rapturous acclaim in Bilbao.

In the battle for overall honours, Juan José Cobo (Geox-TMC) had to resist two forceful accelerations from Chris Froome (Sky) on the final climb of the Alto El Vivero, but proved more than up to the task, and he retains his 13-second overall lead as the race enters its final weekend.

The stage belonged to Anton, however, and to Basque cycling as a whole. Hailing from nearby Galdakao, which featured on the finishing circuit, Anton was not even born when protests from Basque separatists disrupted the race during its last visit to the area in 1978, and his win crowned a day that saw the Vuelta vigorously saluted on its re-entry into one of cycling's true heartlands.

Anton described his triumph as "a dream" and said that it was the greatest win of his career. "The first victory is always special, as was the one on the Zoncolan, but this is the best because it's special, it has feeling," he said.

Part of an early four-man break alongside teammate Gorka Verdugo, Marzio Bruseghin (Movistar) and Alexsandr Dyanchenko (Astana), Anton set out his stall by leading over the Puerto de Las Muñecas, which brought the race into the Basque Country with over 100km to go. The decisive arena proved to be the short, sharp ascent of El Vivero, however, which was tackled twice as part of a 32km-long finishing circuit around Bilbao.

"Just being in the break today in front of these fans and my family would have been worth the effort, even if I hadn't won," Anton said afterwards. "I felt goose bumps when we entered the Basque Country."

The first time up the climb suggested that Anton and Bruseghin were the strongmen of the break, and so it came to pass, as first Dyachenko and then Verdugo were dropped on the final lap of the circuit. Conscious of Bruseghin's ability as a rouleur, Anton knew that he had to try to make the difference uphill, and after setting a high tempo at the bottom, he kicked definitively as the road pitched up to 11 percent with a shade under 2km to the summit.

Exhorted by the passionate Basque following that thronged the climb, Anton edged clear on the steepest section, with the crowds that blocked his view of the road parting at the last minute to let him through. The problematic lines between politics and sport have been blurred by events at the Giro di Padania this week, but while the Basque flag, the distinctive ikurrina, was naturally prominent at the roadsides on Friday, it was flown as a symbol of identity rather than as one of division, as the Vuelta was roundly welcomed back into the Basque Country after its 33-year absence.

By the summit, Anton had 31 seconds in hand over Bruseghin, and familiar with the 14km from there back down into Bilbao, Anton even tacked on another 10 seconds to his lead by the finish to seal the win and compensate for his lacklustre Vuelta showing to date.

"It was a difficult Vuelta for me from the beginning, and really at La Covatilla, I had to give up on the general classification," Anton said. "I was in a hole, physically and psychologically, but maybe I've learned from this Vuelta than the last one."

Froome takes the race to Cobo

While Anton was delighting the Basque fans up ahead, Team Sky and Chris Froome were looking to find a way to wrest the red jersey away from Juan José Cobo. Every second counts in this tightest of Vueltas, with just 13 seconds separating Froome from Cobo at the beginning of the stage, and it was no surprise to see Sky keep the race together ahead of the first intermediate sprint.

Unfortunately for Froome, Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) has his mind set on carrying the green jersey to Madrid, and he picked up the six seconds on offer in Laredo. David De La Fuente (Geox-TMC) patrolled affairs for Cobo by taking second place, while Bauke Mollema (Rabobank), slipped in for third.

Shortly afterwards, at the 29km mark, Sky allowed the day's breakaway to slip clear, and the quartet built up a maximum lead of six minutes over the peloton. As temperatures reached 35 degrees (Celsius) in mid-afternoon, there was an understandable lack of urgency in the bunch's pursuit of the escapees, but Sky returned to their task of trying to break Cobo as the race reached Bilbao for the first time with 64km to go.

On the first ascent of El Vivero, the British squad delegated Thomas Lofkvist to set the tempo at the front end of the peloton, and the Swede took to his task with gusto. Tapping out a fierce rhythm with Wiggins and Froome lined up in his slipstream - and with Cobo sitting directly behind them - Lofkvist tore the bunch to shreds and whittled it down to fewer than 30 riders by the summit.

At that point, the red jersey group was just 1:43 behind the leaders, and Lofkvist continued his work on the front on the run-in to the second climb of El Vivero with just over 18km to race. Once on the ascent, Joaquim Rodriguez made a speculative effort, followed by Chris Anker Sørensen, while Wiggins took over at the front of the red jersey group.

The Englishman's pace was initially steady rather than searing, and Cobo sat comfortably on Froome's wheel. Approaching the summit, however, Wiggins began to raise his tempo slightly to prepare the ground for Froome, and the Kenyan-born rider's attack finally arrived with a shade over a kilometre to climb. Cobo was alert to the move, and the duo instantly distanced the rest of the group. As the road pitched up steeply for the final time, Froome followed up with a second acceleration, but again he was unable to shake of the implacable Cobo.

The duo crossed the summit just ahead of Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi), but they all sat up on the descent and were quickly engulfed by the main group. While Anton and Bruseghin were already certain to ride off with first and second place, there was still an eight-second bonus for third place on offer, and Cobo sensibly stuck like a limpet to Froome's rear wheel all the way down into Bilbao.

As it turned out, Dominik Nerz (Liquigas-Cannondale) clipped off the front to take third, just ahead of local rider Haimar Zubeldia (RadioShack), but Cobo was vigilant right to the end, coming home a place behind Froome in 17th, 1:33 down on Anton.

Just two days lie between Cobo and one of the most unexpected Grand Tour victories in recent memory, but with only 13-second buffer and another undulating day in the Basque Country to come tomorrow, Madrid must still seem a lifetime away.

Result
1	Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi	3:53:34
2	Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Movistar Team	0:00:41
3	Dominik Nerz (Ger) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:01:30
4	Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Team RadioShack
5	Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard	0:01:31
6	David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Geox-TMC	0:01:33
7	Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek
8	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
9	Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
10	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team

GC Overall

Result
1	Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC	77:59:12
2	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:13
3	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:01:41
4	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:02:03
5	Denis Menchov (Rus) Geox-TMC	0:03:48
6	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek	0:04:13
7	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:04:31
8	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:04:45
9	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team	0:05:20
10	Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi	0:05:33