Cycling continued

[manhn]

I learned that it's okay to call a woman a "whore" but don't call her "fat." Good to know.

[heckles]

I will worship the ground Poths walks on, Bravo. Here I am reposting POTHS post from 2006 :

Armstrong is a possible cheat and NO American will even consider that notion just because he was ill and did some flashy Charity work- you think "Poor Lance, he's wrongly accused"!

Come again? Many Americans have been opining for well over a decade that he was doping, long before this post.

[Twizzler]

"I learned that it's okay to call a woman a "whore" but don't call her "fat." Good to know."

The man is delusional!!

[Theatregirl1122]

So... they're actually riding bikes out there! Greipel won the first stage of the Tour Down Under and Geraint Thomas won stage two. Cav picked up his first win for Omega Pharma-Quick Step by winning the first stage of Tour de San Luis and Modolo beat Cav to win stage 2.

World Champ Gilbert is planning to race the Tour of California and focus on the Classics and World Championships. He's uncertain on whether he'll bring the rainbow jersey to the TDF, especially with BMC's focus on Cadel and Tejay.

[Garden Kitty]

Boonen is also having a procedure on his arm - related to an infection from a mountain biking accident.

[Garden Kitty]

The Puerto related Fuentes trial is going on in Spain. Fuentes confirms he treated soccer and tennis players as well as cyclists, but the judge makes no effort to identify the other names and prevents admission of a lot of the other evidence. Cycling is the only sport to have taken any disciplinary action as a result of Puerto.

And Frank Schleck gets a one year back dated ban that will keep him out of the Tour, but let him ride the Vuelta.

[Garden Kitty]

Brent Bookwalkter from BMC gets his first big stage win at Tour of Qatar. Nice way to break in with a new team

[Garden Kitty]

Happy Valentine's Day from the Tour of Oman

[Garden Kitty]

When has a trend gone too far? When OPQS does a Harlem Shake video.

And on a different note, Katusha won its case at CAS to be added to the Pro Tour. No news from the UCI if they intend to try to kick out one of the other teams since they've said they intend to keep the Pro Tour to 18 teams even if Katusha wins.

[Garden Kitty]

Per Cyclingnews, Giro to start in Ireland in 2014

[DaiKozOda]

Volta ao Algarve / Tour of Algarve 2013 (Portugal)
14th to 17th February

Teams:

(OPQ) OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP CYCLING TEAM
(SKY) SKY PROCYCLING
(KAT) KATUSHA
(MOV) MOVISTAR TEAM
(BLA) BLANCO PRO CYCLING TEAM
(RLT) RADIOSHACK LEOPARD
(EUS) EUSKALTEL EUSKADI
(TST) TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF
(VCD) VACANSOLEIL-DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM
(TSV) TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN – BALOISE
(SKT) AN POST – CHAINREACTION
(CJR) CAJA RURAL (Spain)
(COL) COLOMBIA
(EFG) EFAPEL – GLASSDRIVE (Portugal)
(UHC) UNITEDHEALTHCARE PRO CYCLING TEAM (USA)
(PRT) CARMIM – TAVIRA (Portugal)
(LAR) LA ALUMINIOS – ANTARTE (Portugal)
(BOA) RADIO POPULAR – ONDA (Portugal)
(LDD) LOULETANO – DUNAS DOURADAS (Portugal)
(OFM) OFM – QUINTA DA LIXA (Portugal)
(ANG) SELEÇÃO ANGOLA / National team of Angola

Number of cyclists: 165

Stage 1 - 198,8km
Winner: Paul Martens (Blanco Pro Cycling team)
Mark Cavendish (Omegapharma) was 6th. Rui Costa of Moviestar finished in 8th place.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEnkIMDyYmc

Stage 2 - 195km
Winner: Theo Bós (Blanco Pro Cycling Team).
Mark Cavendish finished in 29th place.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3q44y2rOx4

Stage 3 - 193km
Winner: Sergio Montoya Heno (Sky procycling)
Rui Costa (Moviestar) was second, Tony Martin was 11th and Mark Cavendish was 146th.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfXzWsTesIY (eurosport)

Stage 4 - 34,8km
Winner: Tony Martin (OmegaPharma)
Mark Cavendish finished in 103rd place.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wFpE...80fJrg&index=4 (english eurosport)


Overall winner: Tony Martin

[Garden Kitty]

Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne cancelled due to snow. Organizers were concerned the roads weren't safe, and based on this pic from Brent Bookwalter, I think they're right.

[Garden Kitty]

Epic day at Tirreno-Adriatico today. Heavy rains and repeated climbs over steep, mid-size mountains ended up in almost half the peloton dropping out. The race organizer even took to Twitter to admit that the stage was too tough and a "mistake".

In the end, Sagan won the stage proving himself to be a very versatile sprinter if he could survive today, and Nibali took the overall lead - setting up a contest with Froome in the final TT.

Tweet from race organizer:

@petosagan and @VincenzoNibali shone in a legendary stage. Many of you enjoyed it, but it was too much. We lost the right balance. #Tirreno

Taylor Phinney kept riding alone after the gruppetto abandoned with 130 KM to go. Afterwards he tweeted this explanation:

"thought abt my Dad because I know if he cld be me on this day, healthy & disease free, he wld spend 6.5 hrs fighting to finish too."

But he followed up with:

And now I'm on the massage table crying like a little girl. So many times I wanted to cry today, it's all coming out now... Emotional day!!!

[Garden Kitty]

Nice Wall Street Journal article about Taylor's solo ride in Tirreno Adriatica

[susan6]

Cycling's March (and April) Madness is officially ON....it's monuments and cobbled classics time! Heinous weather at Milan San Remo causes an interruption of the race (they took out a section in the middle of the race, busses and frozen riders involved)....and Cancellara crushes all at E3.

[Garden Kitty]

Fantastic Paris-Roubaix today! One of the most exciting finishes I've seen on that race for some time. I understand the Tour and the Giro are bigger races, but Paris-Roubaix is such a beautiful, difficult, legendary race - truly the king of the classics.

And Zabel won the U-23 Flanders race. Not legendary Erik Zabel, but his son. It will be interesting to see him develop and see if he has his father's sprinting prowess.

[DaiKozOda]

Christopher Froome won the 2013 edition of Tour of Romandie. Simon Spilak was second and Rui Costa finished third.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/22329904

[Garden Kitty]

Dissension is building at Team Sky with Wiggins saying he and Froome may be coleaders for the Tour and that leadership is to be decided. Froome issues a statement saying he's been assured he's the Team Leader.

[Garden Kitty]

Taylor Phinney getting in the Giro mood with pink jeans.

[Garden Kitty]

Cav dedicates his win today to the memory of Wouter Weylandt who died during the Giro two years ago today. Touching and classy move.