Video: Final Stage of the 2011 Vuelta a Espana

The first video is the peloton and the support vehicles going through after to finish their third lap of the Madrid circuit.

TdF: Cavendish adds another in Montpellier as Rojas loses ground

Mark Cavendish showed the mountains hadn’t dented his speed, by beating Tyler Farrar and Alessandro Petacchi on stage 15.

The Manxman took another great lead-out, from Mark Renshaw, to put the jump on his rivals. Cav will take solace in the fact that his closest rival Jose Joaquin Rojas could only manage fifth, which earned him less than half the points of the British rider. Cavendish has all but sealed his position in the green jersey, with a 37 point lead over second place Rojas.

Video: 2011 Tour de France - Stage 7 + Bradley Wiggins crash

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.

Oscar Gatto takes his first Grand Tour victory, ahead of Alberto Contador

Oscar Gatto launched a late attack to take his first Grand Tour victory, by holding off a chasing Alberto Contador on stage eight.

Gatto made his move as the race hit the final 700 metre climb, as the peloton began to slow. Contador quickly followed suit and began to close him down, but ran out of road and had to settle for second best. Gatto’s fellow Italian Alessandro Petacchi gained some important points for the sprint Jersey, as he crossed the line in third. The victory will help Farnese after they were snubbed for last year’s tour.

2011 Giro D'Italia Start List Announced

Stefano Garzelli

ACQUA & SAPONE
1 Stefano Garzelli (ITA)
2 Massimo Codol (ITA)
3 Claudio Corioni (ITA)
4 Alessandro Donati (ITA)
5 Ruggero Marzoli (ITA)
6 Vladimir Miholjevic (CRO)
7 Danilo Napolitano (ITA)
8 Cayetano Sarmiento Tunarrosa (COL)
9 Fabio Taborre (ITA)

Sean Yates: Tour de France Contenders Will Miss Giro d'Italia

Team Sky sports director Sean Yates has said that top Tour de France favourites will miss out on the 2011 Giro d’Italia due to the toughness of both.

Yates didn’t name any riders from his squad that might miss the event next May but it is unlikely that Bradley Wiggins will be on the line in Turin. This year Wiggins used the Giro as a warm up for the French event even winning the opening prologue. Race director Angelo Zomegnan announced that Alberto Contador would race in Italy in 2011 last April. This is unlikely, however, after the events of this year and moving to Sunguard Saxo Bank for the new season.

Visit to Etna
RSC sport announced the Giro d’Italia route only four days after the Tour de France route was revealed to the world and both are set to be some of the toughest in years. Yates called, Vuelta a Espana winner, Vincenzo Nibali as the favourite as the Italian finished third in this year’s even behind teammate Ivan Basso. The event will start May 7th in Turin and do an entire loop of the country back up to Milan.

La Vuelta - Week two Round-Up

The second week started with a sad note after the news of the death of Team Sky masseur Txema Gonzalez who contracted a bacterial infection that turned in to septicaemia. The team pulled out of the tour weakened already by three riders dropping out through illness.

Stage eight from Villena to Xorret del Catí saw the eighth different rider to win a stage in the 2010 Vuelta. David Moncoutie got in to the decisive breakaway of the day and was able to pull away on the final climb finishing almost one minute ahead of the forever bridesmaid Serafín Martinez. The Cofidis rider dedicated his victory to Gonzalez and Laurent Fignon, who died a couple of days earlier.

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.