World Champs: Tony Martin Destroys the Field to make it two for Germany

Tony Martin destroyed the field, to take his first World Time-Trial championship, by over a minute to Bradley Wiggins in Copenhagen.

Martin went out of the blocks full steam ahead and passed two riders on the way to the finish line, including, the man who beat him to silver in 2010, David Millar. He has had a good run in to the world championships, taking the ITT in the Vuelta in a similar fashion, which many people saw as a sign of what was to come. Nothing seemed to faze the German and defied expectations, by keeping up his high pace on the second lap of the city. Many riders had made the mistake of going out to hard, before fading quickly, but Martin just went faster.

World Champs: Elite Men Time-Trial Start list 2011

12:30:00 LAGAB Azzedine Lagab
12:31:30 Tyron Giorgieri
12:33:00 Ivan Mauricio Casas Buitrago
12:34:30  Ioannis Tamouridis
12:36:00 Pavol Polievka
12:37:30 Michael Morkov
12:39:00 Vitaliy Popkov
12:40:30 Semere Mengis
12:42:00 Carlos Oyarzun
12:43:30 Martin Kohler
12:45:00 Jesse Sergent
12:46:30 Thomas de Gendt
12:48:00 Matias Medici
12:49:30 Eugen Wacker
12:51:00 Maciej Bodnar
12:52:30 Gediminas Bagdonas
12:54:00 Dimitri Champion

VaE: Albasini wins in Ponferrada, as Nibali moves closer to red

Michael Albasini took, probably, the Vuelta’s slowest sprint finish and the biggest stage victory, of his career on stage 13.

Albasini finished in a group of 18 riders and had the legs on all of them, bringing the bike home around two lengths over Eros Capecchi. The big Swiss rider, who won last year’s Tour of Britain, sprung out of the group with about 500 to go and was uncatchable. Daniel Moreno gave Katusha a boost, with yet another stage victory for the Russian outfit. Nicolas Roche couldn’t manage the sprint, but still rode over in 5^th place. He now sits just outside the top 10 and with the times so close at the moment, he could find himself in there very soon.

A few tight bends towards the end cause some trouble, but nobody was injured. Jan Bakelandts came unstuck at a roundabout, after he misjudged the bend and lost control of his back wheel. The Belgian was still clipped in to his pedals, as he tried to get off the ground. Saved by the padding over the road furniture, he was able to finish 15 seconds down on Albasini.

Vuelta a Espana - Team Preview, Part 1

AG2R La Mondiale

One of only two French teams, in the race, AG2R will be looking to show what they couldn’t, in this year’s Tour de France. Nicolas Roche will be looking to improve on his seventh place, from last year, but his lacklustre year could play against him. Joining him will be Guillaume Bonnafond, Dimitri Champion, Cyril Dessel, Steve Houanard, David Le Lay, Lloyd Mondory, Mathieu Perget and, the only other non-French rider, Matteo Montaguti. It is unlikely that the French team will really trouble the top GC positions, but they could gain another top-ten placing.

Under-23 Road Race start list

1 DEMARE Arnaud  FRANCE
2 GALLOPIN Tony  FRANCE
3 HARDY Romain  FRANCE
4 LE BON Johan  FRANCE
5 PAIANI Jean-Lou  FRANCE
6 SOUPE Geoffrey  FRANCE
7 BAJC Andi  SLOVENIA
8 FURDI Blaz  SLOVENIA
9 JARC Blaz  SLOVENIA
10 KUMP Marko  SLOVENIA
11 MEZGEC Luka  SLOVENIA
12 TRATNIK Jan  SLOVENIA
13 DUMOULIN Tom  NETHERLANDS
14 LIGTHART Pim  NETHERLANDS
15 SLAGTER Tom Jelte  NETHERLANDS
16 VAN POPPEL Boy  NETHERLANDS
17 VAN ZANDBEEK Ronan  NETHERLANDS
18 VERMELTFOORT Coen  NETHERLANDS
19 ARREDONDO MORENO Julian david  COLOMBIA
20 BELTRAN SUAREZ Eduard Alexander  COLOMBIA

Under-23 Time Trial start list

10:00:00 EDER Frayre Moctezuma  MEX

10:02:00 VAN OVERBERGHE Arthur  BEL
10:04:00 SORENSEN Jimmi DEN
10:06:00 VINK Michael NZL
10:08:00 NOVIKOV Nikita RUS
10:10:00 HOULE Hugo CAN
10:12:00 DURBRIDGE Luke AUS
10:14:00 MAMMINI Matteo ITA
10:16:00 DILLIER Silvan SUI
10:18:00 FOMINYKH Daniil KAZ
10:20:00 SILVESTRE Fábio POR