Multiple Danish Champion on the track, European Champion and now three time World Champion; Michael Mørkøv has always been happy to give of his time to us and we had to catch up with him after his latest triumph in the Madison.
One of the nice things about going to the Tour of Britain start in Holyrood Park was catching up with old friends and making some new ones, like Madison-Genesis DS and former Grand Tour stalwart – 16 ridden - and Giro stage winner, Joan Horrach. Joan is an amigo of team manager/DS, former British Elite road and ‘cross champion and Paris-Roubaix podium finisher, Roger Hammond; and when the Englishman needs extra help – like at the Tour of Britain – he gives Joan a ring and the Mallorquín jumps on a plane in his native Illes Balears and heads for sunny England.
The recent UCi 2.1 Tour of Taiwan was a good one for ex-Raleigh riders; Bernie Sulzberger backed by his strong Australian DRAPAC team took the overall win. Whilst former team mate, Englishman Liam Holohan now with the Madison Genesis team took ninth on GC, a slim 15 seconds from the overall podium.
On his return to UK, Liam took time to tell VeloVeritas about Asian racing, the return of steel frames and the UK race scene.
As we’re all too well aware, the sport has lost five top line teams for 2014 with no new teams coming in at Pro Continental or World Tour level to replace them; a sad state of affairs. But bucking the trend and moving up from Continental to Pro Continental level – the only team to do so - is Australian outfit, Drapac.
While Jarlinson Pantana was winning the stage today for IAM Cycling and Columbia (that's his contract sorted for 2017 - IAM folds at the end of the season) Ed and Callum were race-bound, flying in to Geneva to get the car and get organised with race accreditation.
Russell Downing rode his first race when he was seven years-old; he’s now 33 and the British pro racing just wouldn’t be the same without him. Some times when you interview a rider you have to work hard to find decent palmarés for the introduction – but not with Downing. The problem is deciding what to leave out; pages could be dedicated to his wins and placings.
Another Kicker Finale ... Stage 3 sees 197 km that begins like a classic “first week sprinters’ stage” of Tours gone by, and finishes like a One Day Classic, with five categorised climbs in the final 33km. It is still not going to be difficult enough to separate the big hitters by anything more than a second or two, but it will be too hard for pure sprinters to be a chance of figuring in the finale.
GreenEdge and Cannondale learned again that those who live by the sword die by the sword, Having slyly left Patrick Lefevre’s men to do the lion’s share in bringing back the break of this longest day of the race, they formed their trains late in the tappa; hoping to exploit a Cavendish whose team was all used up.
Turin, 29 June 2016 – The iconic gravel roads of the Colle delle Finestre and the finish line at Sestriere, scene of epic gestures by generations of pro riders, are two of the features that define the story of the Gran Fondo La Marmotte – Sestriere – Colle delle Finestre. The sportive ride organised by RCS Sport / RCS Active Team, now in its second edition, will be held on Sunday 24 July.