VaE: Rodriguez wins again and takes the red jersey

Joaquim Rodriguez demolished the field on the San Lorenzo de el Escorial, putting himself in to the leader’s jersey on Stage 8.

Rodriguez was the only one who looked even remotely comfortable, on a climb which went up to 23%. Michele Scarponi knew there was nothing he could do to stop the Spaniard and concentrated on keeping himself ahead of the other big contenders. He now sits 32 seconds ahead of his teammate Daniel Moreno, in the GC.

Igor Anton showed that he is on his way back to form, by crossing the line with the lead group. Also in the front group were Jurgen Van Den Broeck and cousins Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin. Sylvain Chavanel, who started the day in the red jersey, lost just over a minute to Rodriguez and slides down the standings, but stays in the top ten. Bradley Wiggins lost a further 25 seconds to Rodriguez, while Vincenzo Nibali struggled and lost 32 seconds.

VaE: Chris Sutton Surprises the Bunch to take Stage 2

Chris Sutton caused an upset in the second stage of the Vuelta a Espana, as he beat the favourites, in the sprint to the line.

Sutton’s victory made it two for sky in one day, with Edvald Boasson Hagen taking the sprint in the Vettenfall Cyclassics. The small increase in the gradient, going in to Playas de Orihuela, caught a few people off guard, but Sutton had the legs on the bunch. The Aussie jumped on to the back wheel of Vicente Reynes, before leaping out of the group for his first solo Grand Tour victory.

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: Mark Cavendish makes it two as Bradley Wiggins crashes out

Mark Cavendish sprints to his second victory of the 2011 Tour, while his compatriot Bradley Wiggins pulls out with a broken collar bone.

The Manx express defeated his former teammate Andre Greipel and last year’s green jersey winner Alessandro Petacchi, to move him in to third in the standings. HTC have struggled to get their famous lead-out right, this year, but Mark Renshaw and Matt Goss timed it perfectly to allow their sprinter the best chance.

Tyler Farrar wins on Independence Day

Tyler Farrar made it a second stage victory for Garmin-Cervelo and rode in to the history books, as the first American to win on Independence Day.

Farrar’s first tour victory came after help from his teammate, and former green jersey winner, Thor Hushovd and Julian Dean. The American edged out Romain Feillu of Vacansoleil, by half a bike, Jose Joaquin Rojas. Farrar dedicated his victory to his best friend Wouter Weylandt, who was killed in a freak accident during the Giro D’Italia, by putting his hands in a W sign.

Riders pay tribute to Wouter Weylandt on Stage 4 of the Giro D'Italia

Tyler Farrar lead the Leopard-Trek riders and the rest of the peloton across the line, as cycling paid tribute to Wouter Weylandt during stage four of the Giro D’Italia.

Weylandt lost his life during stage three, after a crash on the final decent on the Passo del Bocco. It is believed that the Belgian’s pedal clipped a wall, as he turned to look back up the hill. Riders paid tribute, along with viewers around the world, to Weylandt with one minutes silence before the stage.

Meyer breaks away to claim victory and the ochre jersey

Cameron Meyer took the overall lead of the Tour Down Under in the first successful breakaway of 2011.

The Australian time-trial champion rode through the pain, from his crash two days before, to launch an attack with four others. At 80km to go Meyer along with Thomas de Gendt, Matthew Wilson and Rob Rujigh made a bid for freedom. The Australian was the last man standing as his breakaway compatriots began to drop to claim his first professional victory.

Goss Close but no Cigar
Yesterday’s leader Matt Goss did his best to catch up with the Garmin-Cervelo rider, but he could only manage to get within 24 seconds. Meyer’s team were in the driving seat all day, with two riders at the front, they were able to control the peloton to let them stay away. At 20km to go it looked like the main group would catch the leaders, with all the sprinters teams taking turns on the front, but that is when the young Aussie put the power down. The 23-year-old now holds a 10-second lead over Laurens ten Dam; while Goss is now 12 seconds behind the leader.

Mike Matthews beats Greipel to the line in stage 3 of the Tour Down Under

Mike Matthews continued the good run of the young stars as he took stage three of the Tour Down Under in Stirling, Australia.

The 20-year-old Rabobank rider took a huge scalp as he beat the TdU king Andre Greipel to the line, despite the German’s best efforts. He is the second Australian to win a stage of this year’s tour with Matt first. Matthews came in to the final straight down in to fifth, but managed to power past the rest of the pack and make it look easy.

Tough Day in the Hills
Stage three was the first of the hills in this year’s tour and probably the most difficult alongside Stage 5 heading in to Willunga. Third place fell to Tasmanian Goss, who re-took the leaders Ochre jersey. The leader’s curse seemed to continue as Robbie McEwen got a puncture late on in the stage causing him to lose control on the race.

Ben Swift avoids the carnage to win stage 2 of the Tour Down Under

Ben Swift avoided a huge crash in the final straight to take victory in the second stage of the Tour Down Under.

Swift was lead through the final bend by British Champion Geraint Thomas and managed to power home for his first ProTour victory. The 23-year old, however, left destruction in his wake as he crossed the line. After peeling off to let Swift through Thomas was clipped by another rider, trying to squeeze past, and hit the deck. This cause a chain reaction that sent many others to the floor meaning there was only around 15 riders left in the bunch.

Goss Claims opening stage of Tour Down Under

Australian Matt Goss claimed the opening stage of the Tour Down Under along with the leader’s jersey in front of his home crowd.

The HTC rider beat his former team-mate Andre Greipel (now Omega-Pharma Lotto) in an uphill sprint to the line in Angaston, South Australia. The home nation also saw Robbie McEwen, who has recently moved to RadioShack, find form again in third place. The American team showed why they are one of the most feared teams in the peloton, by keeping the pace up and making sure more than one of their riders had a chance for the victory. Goss has already taken wins at two other races at this early stage in the season at the Jayco Bay Classic and Cancer Council Classic.

Elite Men's Road Race - Preview

Cadel Evans will take to the roads on Sunday in an attempt to defend his World Championship on home soil.

Evans will not want to give up the rainbow jersey easily and certainly not in front of his own people. He has had an up and down year, but the home crowd could be just what he needs to give him a boost.

Fabian Cancellara is also looking to put on a good show after winning a record fourth time. The Swiss rider announced his intentions before the championship to go for the road race. His compatriot Michael Albasini has also been on good form recently winning the Tour of Britain despite having dysentery during the race.

Elite Men's Road Race Start list

1 EVANS Cadel  AUSTRALIA
2 COOKE Baden  AUSTRALIA
3 DAVIS Allan  AUSTRALIA
4 GERRANS Simon  AUSTRALIA
5 GOSS Matthew Harley  AUSTRALIA
6 HAYMAN Mathew  AUSTRALIA
7 O'GRADY Stuart  AUSTRALIA
8 ROGERS Michael  AUSTRALIA
9 SULZBERGER Wesley  AUSTRALIA
10 BARREDO LLAMAZALES Carlos  SPAIN
11 ERVITI OLLO Imanol  SPAIN
12 FREIRE GOMEZ Oscar  SPAIN
13 GARATE Juan Manuel  SPAIN
14 PLAZA MOLINA Ruben  SPAIN
15 SANCHEZ GIL Luis Leon  SPAIN
16 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel  SPAIN
17 VENTOSO ALBERDI Francisco José  SPAIN
18 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE Haimar  SPAIN
19 BRUSEGHIN Marzio  ITALY
20 GAVAZZI Francesco  ITALY

VaE: Philip Gilbert takes his second victory in La Vuelta while Vincenzo Nibali hold on to Red

Philip Gilbert took his second victory in this year’s la Vuelta a Espana after a huge sprint in to the town of Toledo.

With just over 3km to go several riders launched an attack including Luis Leon Sanchez. They managed to pull out a small gap of around five seconds, but they were caught 1km later. The attacks broke up the peloton leaving the sprinters behind.

This allowed the explosive Belgian to start a 500 metre sprint to the line, but he was almost caught by Tyler Farrar who had survived the earlier escape attempts. Vincenzo Nibali managed to come in not too far behind the Belgian to keep a 50’ gap ahead of Ezequiel Mosquera.

Today’s stage was the longest of this year’s Vuelta and a mixture of terrain and the riders legs were tested immediately with a second category climb. The rest of the stage was very undulating, but gradually moved down and a slight incline in the last kilometre.

A break away was formed after the first and only classified climb of the day. It was Dominik Roels, who was in the break yesterday and Josep Jufre who came of the front of the bunch first. They were soon joined by Manuel Ortega and Xavier Florencio; the four men managed to pull out a massive gap very quickly.

VaE: Mark Cavendish beat JJ Haedo to his third victory in La Vuelta

Mark Cavendish took his third victory just ahead of JJ Haedo in a sprint in stage 18 of this year’s Vuelta a Espana.

The Manxman had a good start to the tour winning the team time-trial, but he went through a brief barren patch during the first week. He took his first victory back in stage 12 and he’s won every sprint since then. The 25-year-old has extended his lead in the green jersey competition and it looks likely that he will wear it in Madrid.

It has been a good day for the HTC Columbia team who took a sprint victory in the guise of Andre Greipel in stage five of the Tour of Britain.

La Vuelta - Week one Round-Up

The Vuelta celebrated its 75th birthday in an impressive fashion this year with a night-time team-time-trial. The starting ramp was placed next to Spain’s oldest bull ring with the 14km course going past some of Sevilla’s most stunning sights.

Another first was Mark Cavendish’s appearance at the tour; after just missing out on the green jersey in Paris the Manxman was looking to do the job in Madrid. It couldn’t have got off to a better start with his HTC Columbia team putting 10 seconds in to the rest of the teams and the sprinter donned the red jersey.

However Garmin Transition’s Julian Dean’s didn’t get the start to the race he intended after hitting a curb and going over his handlebars during a warm up. The Kiwi came to the starting ramp without his skin suit and was dropped almost immediately by his team.