The end of stage one of the tour resulted in a number of big names getting off the bike. Ben Swift with a right shoulder trauma, young Irish rider Eddie Dunbar sustaining the same injury but on his left side, both riders were casualties in the crash at the front of the peloton. We also saw the early retirement of Marcel Kittel who had only just returned from illness.
Stage two started with a large group going clear early in the day, with some quality riders involved including Bert de Backer (Giant-Alpecin), Andy Tennant (Team Wiggins), Mark McNally (Madison-Genesis) and Matt Brammeier (MTN-Qhubeka). The group built up a five minute lead which they held for quite some time. The job of reeling them in was left to the team of the GC leader Lars-Petter Nordhaug. Team Sky got to work. The lead group fragmented, the remains; McNally and De Backer put in an extra effort to stay away as the race arrived on the outskirts of York for the two lap finish. The attempt was looking successful until the final few kilometres of the last lap.
The pace lifted as Team Sky gained allies on the front of the peloton; IAM Cycling, NFTO, Roompot-Orange Peloton and One Pro Cycling, the race started to look more like an angry swarm of bees, as the riders were strung out behind the four teams.
In the meantime De Backer was showing his strength and he managed to shake off McNally. With just a few kilos to go it was looking less like he would manage a lone arrival at the finish, the peloton was closing in fast. As the the race reached the 2km marker the peloton were on his tail, they could smell a bunch sprint finish. Loic Chetout (Cofidis) attacked and pulled his way up to De Backer, this small victory was short-lived as the peloton came charging past at the Flame Rouge.
Greg van Avermaet had a dig and gapped the peloton for a moment but the final moments came down to Pelucchi and Hofland battling it out for the win. The Team LottoNL-Jumbo rider just pipped Pelucchi to the post. All the hard work of Team LottoNL-Jumbo this season finally paid off, their first win of the year!
The first British rider to reach the line in the sprint was Russ Downing (Cult Energy Pro Cycling) – a Yorkshireman too!
No change overall in the standings as Lars-Petter Nordhaug finished in the bunch.
Tour de Yorkshire 2015: stage two results
1) Moreno Hofland (NED) – Team LottoNL-Jumbo – 3.57.58hrs
2) Matteo Pelucchi (ITA) – IAM Cycling – ST
3) Roman Sinkeldam (NED) – Giant-Alpecin
4) Jempy Drucker (NED) – BMC Racing
5) Dylan Groenewegen (NED) – Roompot Orange Peloton
6) Andre Looij (NED) – Roompot Orange Peloton
7) Russ Downing (GBR) – Cult Energy Pro Cycling
8) Andreas Stauff (GER) – MTN-Qhubeka
9) Harry Tanfield (GBR) – Condor-JLT
10) Pieter Vanspeybrouck (BEL) – Topsport-Vlaanderen Baloise
General classification
1) Lars-Petter Nordhaug (NOR) – Team Sky – 8.20.26hrs
2) Samuel Sanchez (ESP) – BMC Racing +10”
3) Thomas Voeckler (FRA) – Team Europcar – ST
4) Stephane Rossetto (FRA) – Cofidis +12”
5) Philip Deignan (IRL) – Team Sky +16”
6) Anthony Turgis (FRA) – Cofidis +1.18
7) Greg van Avermaet (BEL) – BMC Racing +1.20
8) Erick Rowsell (GBR) – Madison-Genesis – ST
9) Ben Hermans (BEL) – BMC Racing +1.23
10) Richard Handley (GBR) – JLT-Condor +1.26
Being Yorkshire born and bred, I may be slightly biased, but this is the most beautiful and definitely the best county in the UK… All four corners of the county will be putting on a show for the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire this weekend. We can look forward to some of the best British and international cycling talent taking to the roads over three challenging stages. Today the cycling kicked off with an outing from Bridlington to Scarborough.
The stage got underway in seaside town of Bridlington the route passed through spectacular coastal scenery and the iconic North York Moors landscapes with no less than five King of the Mountains (KoM) peaks and two sprint opportunities along the course.
The teams rode along the Flamborough Head Heritage Coast before turning away from the coast into the North York Moors National Park, through Dalby Forest hitting the first KoM of the day at the Cote de Dalby Forest and this first test seemed to take it’s toll on some of the riders. Sprinter Marcel Kittel became unhitched from the main peloton and found himself in a small group as he zipped up his top to descend the climb. His face said it all, but he wasn’t the only rider disliking the Yorkshire hills.
Team Sky were dominant from early on in the race after reeling in a breakaway that held a lead of 3 minutes. Sky controlled the peloton until they hit the recently drizzled roads of Egton and Grosmont. The Team Sky train appeared not to adjust their descending style to match the wet conditions and slid across the road at the start of the drop.
In doing so they took out a number of other teams riders behind them. Ben Swift of Team Sky went down heavily and subsequently had to retire from the race. The riding became a little more tentative as teams got themselves back on each others wheels. The lack of race radio did mean riders had to be more team aware, though none of the riders up front would have known of the retirements behind them. Team Sky were now down to 4 riders on the front of the peloton and less able to control the situation. One rider took advantage of the chaos at the front, on the penultimate slope of the day; the Cote de Briggswath, the Europcar rider Perrig Quemeneur went out on his own and made the most of it by mopping us some more sprint points.
The race took a spectacular journey back to the coast at Whitby. By the time they reached Robin Hood’s Bay Quemeneur had been caught and a sizeable group of around 15 riders including; Voeckler, Sanchez and two Team Sky riders. Steve Cummings got caught out by the break and furiously tried to get up to them to no avail. Over the crest of the Cote de Robin Hood’s Bay 15 had been whittled down to 5 riders with a lead of over 30 seconds, they had over a minute back to the peloton. The splinter group contained some dangerous riders; Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Samuel Sanchez (BMC Racing Team), Stephane Rossato (Cofidis Solutions Credits), Philip Diegnan & Lars-Petter Nordhaug (both Team Sky). Initially the two French riders (Voeckler and Rossato) seemed to work together to test and attempt to break the Sky riders.
The race ended in the ultimate sprint finish on the seafront at Scarborough, the five riders went down to the line with Team Sky using team tactics with a one-two attack. Rossetto showed he had more in the tank starting the sprint lead out, he was overtaken by Nordhaug with Voeckler on his tail. A thrilling end to what looks to be an unpredictable Tour.
Perrig Quemeneur took the Pink Climbers Jersey and the Grey Most Aggressive Rider which is voted for by the public via Twitter, unfortunately for Eddie Dunbar he won the vote but was caught up in the crash and had to retire. So the jersey passed to Quemeneur.
The 2015 Cheshire Classic Women’s Road Race Organised by Weaver Valley Cycling Club. Official race film by CyclingShorts.cc. Presented by Heather Bamforth.
In a world first for cycling, the Tour de Yorkshire will include a podium jersey which is voted for by fans via Twitter.
Sponsored by Dimension Data, the ‘digital’ jersey will be presented to the rider who has distinguished himself as the most aggressive, the rider who has made the greatest effort, and who has demonstrated the best qualities in terms of sportsmanship at each of the three-stages of the event which covers 515 kilometres, and takes place from May 1-3.
No other cycling race has an official jersey that is voted for by the public and the decision to introduce one for the Tour de Yorkshire illustrates the growing interest in cycling in the UK.
Christian Prudhomme of Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), and director of the Tour de France, said: “The Tour de Yorkshire is the perfect race to launch a digital jersey – especially coming so soon after the enormous success of the 2014 Tour De France Yorkshire Grand Départ. We know that the people of Yorkshire and the UK will vote in large numbers for the most aggressive rider – especially for the British cyclists who are riding on home soil – who will push hard, be active in breakaways, and be recognised by the public.”
Jeremy Ord, Dimension Data’s Executive Chairman said: “We’re very excited to sponsor cycling’s first ever digital jersey. As the official technology partner for ASO, our goal in year one is to revolutionise the viewing experience of cycling fans across the world. The introduction of the digital jersey is another step in enabling ASO to deliver on its vision to transform the sport of cycling in the fast-evolving digitally driven world. Now, for the first time ever, cycling fans will be able to vote on the most aggressive rider.”
Fans can vote for the riders selected by the Tour de Yorkshire race director via @letouryorkshire. Twitter voting cards will be available on both the web and mobile app. All the fan needs to do is tap on the vote button. When the voter selects a rider, the card reloads and indicates which rider is leading the vote. Twitter card voting is open for half an hour which is 40 minutes before the end of each stage, and closing ten minutes before the end of each stage.
In addition to the Dimension Data’s digital jersey, the other three jerseys unveiled last week are: Sprinters sponsored by Yorkshire Bank, King of the Mountains sponsored by P&O Ferries; and the overall Welcome to Yorkshire Leader’s jersey.
Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “We’re breaking new ground getting people involved in voting for the most aggressive rider. Race weekend will be like no other the UK has seen. Combined with the other new, very impressive podium jerseys, we’re very excited to see who will be the first riders to wear them.”
All jerseys have been designed and manufactured by Milltag, the company with Yorkshire roots, which has used the Yorkshire ‘Y’ logo across each jersey.
Star-studded line-up for the Cheshire Classic on Sunday 26th April
Olympic gold medallists Laura Trott (Matrix Fitness Vulpine), Elinor Barker (Matrix Fitness Vulpine), Joanna Rowsell (Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International) join multi-paralympic gold medalist Dame Sarah Storey (Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International) and 2014’s winner, and current World & European gold medalist, Katie Archibald (Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International) for a star-studded line up for the 2015 edition of the Cheshire Classic.
The Cheshire Classic, the longest running event on the British Cycling National Series calendar and organised by Weaver Valley Cycling Club, takes place on Sunday 26th April in Northwich, Cheshire. Racing starting at 9.30am. Previous winners read as a “who is who” of Women’s cycling with riders including Lizzie Armitstead, Sarah Storey, Nicole Cooke, Lucy Garner and Mandy Jones.
Riders will be competing for an increased prize fund of £3000 which includes the Delamere Dairy Sprint, Advanced Medical Solutions Team Prize and Your Sports Therapist Most Aggressive Rider competitions. Race sponsors also include housebuilder Taylor Wimpey, Wates Construction and LG Joinery who are all working on new development projects in Northwich. Delamere Dairy will also be handing out free samples on the day.
Race organiser Andy Wood commented “It is an amazing line-up however I’m most proud of the prize fund we have available. 3 years ago the total prize fund was £500; thanks to our amazing sponsors we have been able to destroy that. I’m delighted that once again the race has set the benchmark in raising standards for Women’s cycling”.
While browsing t’internet I came across this wild idea, it’s not a lingering April fool that’s doing the rounds, it’s quite a fun idea’ if a little unstable looking…. but will it really take off?
It combines cycling with a running motion which I’m not sure would be comfortable over a long distance. With an expected $399 price tag. It was developed through Kickstarter and now they are getting ready to release a
The designers say, ‘We took the core driving mechanism of a classical bicycle (a wheel connected to a crankset) but redesigned pretty much everything else. The result – a vehicle that trains your balance and reflexes in a new way. It brings you closer to natural walking and it’s the only way to control the vehicle with your whole body and not just your hands. Halfbike is a sort of an extension to the body that allows a smooth and intuitive ride. It’s really nothing like the experience you get when riding a bike’.
Could become the next Sinclair C5 for the hipster generation?
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