Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Monday, February 18, 2019
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2018 Tour de France | 2018 Giro d'Italia
Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time. - H. L. Mencken
Current Racing:
- February 16 - 21: Tour of Oman
Latest completed racing:
- February 14 - 17: Tour de la Provence
- February 17: Clasica de Almeria
- February 17: Trofeo Laigueglia
- February 15 - 16: Vuelta de Murcia
- February 6 - 10: Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- February 7 - 10: Etoile le Bessèges
- January 27 - February 3: Vuelta a la Provincia de San Juan
- January 30 - February 3: Herald Sun Tour
- January 31 - February 3: Challenge Illes Balears/Mallorca
- February 3: GP La Marseillaise
Miguel Angel Lopez wins Tour of Colombia
Here's the report from Lopez's Team Astana:
Astana Pro Team ends this exciting weekend with a fantastic victory of Miguel Angel Lopez in the final general classification of the Tour Colombia 2.1. Today, at the final 6th stage with a mountain finish atop Alto de Palmas, Lopez finished 3rd, securing the overall win.
- It was another hard day in the mountains, and once again I have to thank my team for super work and great support during the day. Today’s success is team’s success, for sure! I tried to do a smart race, I think I attacked in the right time and, finally, have got a result I was looking for. The final was, maybe, too hard, but I did it until the end and won this race. I am super happy with this victory, especially, because I won here in Colombia! – said Miguel Angel Lopez.
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Miguel Angel Lopez winning 2016 Milano-Torino. Sirotti photo
It was a dramatic final on the Alto de Palmas with many attacks of the favorites inside the final 10 kilometers. In a moment, with 5 km to go Miguel Angel Lopez made a strong attack, creating a small group of the leaders. Because of a bad behavior of a fan alongside the road, a few riders crashed down, but, fortunately, the Astana’s rider could avoid it.
Inside the final kilometer there was a fight for a stage win between Lopez and another Colombian Ivan Sosa, while Nairo Quintana could come across them to take the final stage. Behind him Sosa was second and Miguel Angel Lopez third. Anyway, this result was more than enough to bring Astana Pro Team the overall victory in the Tour Colombia 2.1. Besides, Miguel Angel Lopez won the jersey of the best young rider of the race.
Also, we have to note a very strong ride of our newcomer Rodrigo Contreras, who finished 10th in the final classification.
This is the fourth general classification success for the Kazakh team this season after Volta Ciclista a la Comunitat Valenciana (Ion Izagirre), Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia (Luis Leon Sanchez) and Tour de la Provence (Gorka Izagirre).
Final GC:
- Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) 18hr 38min 32sec
- Ivan Sosa (Sky) @ 4sec
- Daniel Martinez (EF Education First) @ 42sec
- Egan Bernal (Sky) @ 54sec
- Nairo Quintana (Movistar) @ 1min 4sec
UAE-Team Emirates reports on Tour of Oman stage two
The team sent me this:
After the 156.5 km second round in the Tour of Oman, which featured 4 mountain primes, the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff has proven he is in top form by winning the group sprint and making it over the finish line in second place, hot on the heels of the day’s fugitive Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team). Gibbons (Team Dimension Data) rounded out the podium.
Kristoff holds on to the leadership in the race, just ahead of Lutsenko, who won today’s stage and is now in second place, 3’’ back. Gibbons has moved into third place at 12”. Rui Costa is tenth with 16’’.
Alexey Lutsenko took the stage, Alexander Kristoff retained the GC lead.
“Today was a very challenging stage,” says Kristoff. “Rui Costa was in the first group with all the riders vying for the final classification. I tried to stick with them for as long as possible, but on the final climb I fell back a bit. I managed to catch up at the end of the descent and there was a little time left to organize a move to try and beat Lutsenko. However, I feel like I’m in good shape and second place is a good result.”
The race featured a break controlled by UAE Team Emirates that lasted for most of the day. The fugitives were reeled in with just 16 kilometres to go to the finish line. The rider from Astana made his move in the final to make it over the finish line just 3” ahead of the chasing pack.
Tomorrow’s third stage will cover 192.5 km, setting off from Shati Al Qurum and featuring the first climbing arrival on the uphill stretch to Qurayyat.
Team Ag2r La Mondiale reports of the final stage of the Tour of Provence
Here's the team's post:
“I finish third in the general just 1 second behind the winner, and I finish 4th in the stage today. I wasn’t missing much the whole week. Friday and Saturday, I was just missing half a wheel. So I will leave feeling pretty frustrated. In the end, we come away with no victory either in the general classification or for a stage. Even today, the team believed in our chances and did a great job. The positive point to take away from this is that the form is definitely there, and that is important.” - TONY GALLOPIN
Tony Gallopin. Sirotti photo.
THE+ NUMBER: 2
After two participations, Tony Gallopin steps onto the podium for the second year running at the Tour de la Provence. In 2018 he finished 2nd overall.
THE NEWS: NAESEN 5TH IN OMAN, PETERS 5TH AT TROFEO LAIGUEGLIA
Oliver Naesen and Clément Venturini took 5th and 9th, respectively, in the second stage of the Tour of Oman. Clément Venturini is fourth overall, 16 seconds behind leader Alexander Kristoff. At Trofeo Laigueglia (Italy), our riders put in a good performance with Nans Peters finishing in 5th and François Bidard taking 9th. “With François, we tried to power our way back, but we did not have enough energy to place for the win. I am happy with how I am feeling at the moment. I recovered well after Australia. I had a big week of training but still had some strength today,” Nans Peters explained.
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