Vuelta a Espana - Team Preview, Part 2

Movistar

Their hopes were severely dashed; when a freak accident caused the death of their main Vuelta hopeful Xavier Tondo. They will no doubt have him in mind and would love to have a victory, to dedicate to him. A couple of stage victories are what these rider will be looking to achieve; Marzio Bruseghin, Imanol Erviti, Chente García Acosta, Beñat Intxausti, Vasil Kiryienka, Ignatas Konovalovas, Pablo Lastras, David López, Ángel Madrazo, Sergio Pardilla, Rubén Plaza and Branislau Samoilau. They could even hold the red jersey, if they can pull out a good team time-trial.

Gilbert dominates post tour races, with four victories

Philippe Gilbert has dominated the post tour races, with four victories in the opening week.

The Belgian champion had to settle for third, in the Tour’s green jersey classification, but is now back in his own back yard. Gilbert opened up his account at the Natour Criterium Aalst, ahead of Samuel Sanchez and Ivan Basso. The Criterium Aalst is one of the oldest post tour crits, it was founded in 1934, and takes an 11 corner tour around the town.

Sanchez got his own back, the following day, with victory in Natourcriterium Roeselare and Thor Hushovd taking third. The new King of the Mountains had plenty of room to breathe, as the two sprinters fought it out behind him. Plenty of fans packed the streets to see the 55 laps, despite the bad weather.

TdF: Cavendish gets his own back on Greipel and get his green

Mark Cavendish got his own back on Andre Griepel, as he beat the German in stunning fashion on stage 11, to put himself in green.

Cavendish clearly had the surprise defeat to Greipel, in stage 10, on his mind, as he beat the pack by almost two bike lengths. The Manxman enjoyed a perfect lead-out from his teammate Mark Renshaw, who made sure he was on the front at the right time. It nearly didn’t happen, when Cavendish’s foot unclipped from his pedal with 500 metres to go.

TdF: Greipel gets one over on Cavendish to take maiden victory on stage 11

Andre Greipel finally put one over on his former teammate Mark Cavendish, to take his maiden Tour de France victory on stage 10.

Greipel used Cavendish as his lead out man, in the last few corners, and moved out at just the right time to take the stage by a wheel length. This victory now makes the Omega-Pharma Lotto rider the first German to win stages in all three Grand Tours. Victory is made sweeter when you consider Greipel hasn’t debuted in the tour earlier, because of Cavendish.

Gilbert takes opener as Contador loses time

Philip Gilbert took the opening stage of the 2011 Tour de France, with a stunning final sprint, while Alberto Contador lost over a minute.

Gilbert made it made it past a crash, which took out half the field in the final eight kilometres, to set himself up for the short climb to the line. The Belgian champion looked like he’d run out of steam as several riders made their challenge. Fabian Cancellara launched an attack, which seemed to be the decisive one, but the Swiss rider wasn’t able to sustain the pace.

Gilbert didn’t panic and held off a closing Cadel Evans and Thor Hushovd, for the victory, this win adds to his stretch which goes back to April. Evans is in a very good position, only three seconds down on the yellow, while Alberto Contador lost over 1 minute 20 seconds.

The bunch had been seriously depleted when a spectator got a bit too close to the peloton, causing an Astana rider to fall into the group. The crash left most of the road blocked and several of the big favourites stranded. Contador was one of those who got caught up in the crash and has his work cut out, with Andy Schleck crossing the line only six seconds down.

2011 Tour de France Teams Named, Part Two

Here are the last few teams that will be trying their luck at the 2011 Tour de France and one who didn’t, but really should have.

Liquigas-Cannondale
Liquigas dominated the Grand Tours in 2010 by winning the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana, but the Tour de France seemed to evade them. It is not clear if they are going to focus on the biggest of them all this year. With the likes of Ivan Basso and Vincenzo Nibali they could prove to be a strong challenge for Andy Schleck.