We’re so lucky with televised cycling in 2012. I returned from my 500 metre run back from the Dalriada Bar on Joppa sea front on the ‘fixie’ – having easily distanced Marlene on her Giant shopper – and there was the Vuelta TTT around Pamplona repeated on Eurosport. Perfect; I didn’t catch it live on Saturday night – that’s ‘pictures night,’ TTT or not.
In case you’re wondering, we saw Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Notorious’ with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman at the Filmhouse.
Next up after the TTT was the Hamburg Classic; and good to see a French rider up there – it’s been too long.
We were there when Demare won the U23 Worlds in Copenhagen – he’s quick!
Then it was straight to stage two of the Vuelta – amazing.
It was good to see Movistar win the opening TTT, a home win is always good for the race.
Castroviejo was very strong in the Olympic road race – and despite his exertions in the early break, rode a good TT in London, too.
His position on the bike reminds me of Marco Pinotti – low, sleek, aero and powerful.
But as I was saying about ‘luck’ – when Dave and I were boys, we’d wait all of Saturday for our 15 minutes of ‘Continental cycling’ on World of Sport.
However, if Eddy Merckx had cleared off to win by some yawning margin, old Dickie Davies would tell us; ‘there wasn’t much to see – so instead we were going live to the bowling in Brighton,’ or back to Chepstow for ‘the horses.’
And here we are on a Sunday afternoon with two Vuelta stages and a Classic to watch – hard to take in.
Stage two was your typical Vuelta sprint stage; they’ve looked like that since I bought my first satellite system back in the early 90’s.
Long straight roads shimmering in the heat haze, long suicide breaks by lower ranked Spanish riders – and very few spectators beside the road.
Spain is a big country, 506,000 square kilometres; that’s more than double the size of the UK (243,000 square kilometres) but the population is only around two thirds of ours – 47 million to 62 million.
The other factor is that most of the Spanish population lives around the coast.
When you leave the coast and drive up on to the central plateau there aren’t many places to stop for a beer before you get to Madrid.
It looked like Ben Swift had it, but he maybe went just that wee bit too early?
Argos have strong morale; the German recently won a stage in the Tour of Poland and he’s had a good year – fifth at Sanremo, sixth in the E3, stages in Dunkerque and stages and the GC in Picardie.
He was originally a track rider, he won the German novices pursuit back in 2004 before graduating to time trialling – with a German national junior title in 2007 backed by a silver medal in the discipline at the Worlds.
He took third in the U23 Worlds road race in ‘08 and second in ’10 – which was an excellent season with wins in the Ras, Bretagne, Alsace and l’Avenir – not to mention stage wins and the GC in the Thuringen Rundfahrt.
Last year he was with Cav on HTC and won stages in the Algarve, West Flanders, Bayern Rundfahrt and Dauphine – as well as the Frankfurt Loop.
Tomorrow’s stage, 153 K from Faustino to Arrate is a toughie with a saw tooth profile and climb to a fast last K – Degenkolb again?
Or will Viviani have that omnium out of his system?
Ben Swift – it’s possible?
Or will it be too hard for the sprinters?
Castroviejo has this to say about it;
“There’s an important day ahead for the squad tomorrow in Arrate.
“Even though it’s not a long climb and I know it well, we must be realistic and the strong riders for the overall must be up-front, so we hope that a team-mate stays in the lead.
“It’s a typical finish from the Vuelta al País Vasco, a short, yet hard climb where we’ll see who can win this year’s Vuelta.”
Adios!
Results - La Vuelta a España 2012 - Stage 2
Stage Result
2 Allan Davis (Aus) Orica – GreenEdge
3 Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling
4 Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
5 Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) BMC Racing Team
6 Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spa) Lotto Belisol Team
7 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre – ISD
8 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team
9 Manuel Antonio Leal Cardoso (Por) Caja Rural
10 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Radioshack-Nissan
11 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
12 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Garmin – Sharp
13 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
14 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
15 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Andalucia
16 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
17 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
18 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
19 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
20 Yohann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
21 Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Astana Pro Team
22 Mickaël Buffaz (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
23 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team
24 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Movistar Team
25 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
26 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
27 Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team
28 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale
29 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling
30 Raymond Kreder (Ned) Garmin – Sharp
31 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
32 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
33 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
34 Matti Breschel (Den) Rabobank Cycling Team
35 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Katusha Team
36 Gustavo Cesar Veloso (Spa) Andalucia
37 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
38 Koen De Kort (Ned) Argos-Shimano
39 Andre Fernando S. Martins Cardoso (Por) Caja Rural
40 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre – ISD
41 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre – ISD
42 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Movistar Team
43 Marcos Garcia (Spa) Caja Rural
44 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
45 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin – Sharp
46 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Garmin – Sharp
47 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Caja Rural
48 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica – GreenEdge
49 Morris Possoni (Ita) Lampre – ISD
50 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team
51 Tiago Machado (Por) Radioshack-Nissan
52 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Belisol Team
53 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team
54 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Radioshack-Nissan
55 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
56 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team
57 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
58 Mauro Da Dalto (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
59 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team
60 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
61 Alexsandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
62 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale
63 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) Argos-Shimano
64 Wouter Mol (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
65 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
66 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica – GreenEdge
67 Juan Jose Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
68 Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col) Liquigas-Cannondale
69 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling
70 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
71 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
72 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
73 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
74 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank Cycling Team
75 Rudy Molard (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
76 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
77 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Radioshack-Nissan
78 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Spa) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
79 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
80 Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
81 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
82 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
83 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Radioshack-Nissan
84 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
85 Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Lampre – ISD
86 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
87 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
88 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
89 Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
90 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Katusha Team
91 Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha Team
92 Ian Stannard (GBr) Sky Procycling
93 Romain Sicard (Fra) Euskaltel – Euskadi
94 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
95 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) FDJ-Big Mat
96 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team
97 Thomas Peterson (USA) Garmin – Sharp
98 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
99 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
100 Tiziano Dall’antonia (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
101 Daniele Ratto (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
102 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) BMC Racing Team
103 Adrian Palomares Villaplana (Spa) Andalucia
104 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team
105 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
106 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Garmin – Sharp
107 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
108 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
109 John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
110 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha Team
111 Pablo Lechuga Rodriguez (Spa) Andalucia
112 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
113 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
114 Javier Moreno Bazan (Spa) Movistar Team
115 Davide Vigano (Ita) Lampre – ISD
116 Antonio Piedra Perez (Spa) Caja Rural
117 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank
118 Bertjan Lindeman (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team
119 Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team
120 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Argos-Shimano
121 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Lampre – ISD
122 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Katusha Team
123 Richie Porte (Aus) Sky Procycling
124 Florent Barle (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
125 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team
126 Hernani Broco (Por) Caja Rural
127 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team
128 Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin – Sharp
129 Daniel Teklehaymanot (Eri) Orica – GreenEdge
130 Dominique Rollin (Can) FDJ-Big Mat
131 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
132 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
133 Jesus Rosendo Prado (Spa) Andalucia
134 Simon Geschke (Ger) Argos-Shimano
135 Yannick Eijssen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
136 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lott