Oh that is really good to see them creating a team to support the development ranks in cycling. There are more teams that should support that cause. I'm surprised Giant-Alpecin and their previous iterations haven't had a continental team before. Oh wait...
Team manager Iwan Spekenbrink offered a nice quote to sum up the decision.
“We have explored the capacities of having a development team connected to our structure this past season, but found it not effective enough in developing our team structure as a whole to continue it for another season,” explained Team Giant-Shimano general manager Iwan Spekenbrink. (Velonews Oct. 3, 2014)
Let's get this straight. They launch a development team in 2013 that only last for one season before hitting the grinder. They announce these talent days in a partnership with the BDR (German Cycling Federation) to promote German talent with male and female riders between 17 and 20 years old. The 2016 talent days are happening right now in the Eifel mountains. Days after that press release comes the announcement of these new development teams to help mold developing talent using all of the same experts as the pro squad.
Will we see another press release after the end of next year that they will be moving away from a development team model? Or is Alpecin sponsorship putting pressure on Spekenbrink to develop German talents, which then caused a flip-flop with his development team decision? In any case, it looks a bit ridiculous for him to be changing course so drastically in a relatively short period of time.
The Zavod Miru U23 Nations Cup was obviously the big race of the weekend but one should look elsewhere as talent lies in every nook and cranny. Speaking of the U23 Nations Cup, France is now leading ahead of Norway at 85 and 82 points, respectively, with Great Britain vaulting up from 5th to 65 points.
I went to Trexlertown this past Friday for opening night of the annual UCI races and while seeing some of the best sprinters in the Western Hemisphere (plus a few others). One of the takeaways was from a feisty U23 in Luke Mudgway from New Zealand. In the 15 kilometer Scratch Race, he judged his moves to perfection by taking a lap halfway through and once Bobby Lea nearly ripped the cranks off his bike to get on terms, Mudgway then went solo to take a brilliant win. He is a former Junior World Champion in the Madison so he isn't a total unknown but definitely a name to remember.
Anytime I see a big time endurance talent on the track, I do become quite enraged how track cycling has been neutered in the Olympics and has basically given next to no incentive for many countries to invest in the beautiful sport.
Philly
While I didn't make it down for Philly, it looked quite good from my computer. Besides Chris Horner throwing a little temper tantrum on Lemon Hill, a shoutout is in order for the best U23 of the day, Canadian Ben Perry from Silber, who finished 7th up the Manayunk Wall.
Italia
While it is now well publicized, let's all wish Keagan Girdlestone a speedy recovery from his horrific crash that saw him airlifted from the Coppa della Pace after smashing through the back windscreen of a team car.
Cyrille Thiery took a lovely solo win at the Milano Tortona, where he went away and kept going, going and going. Thiery finished with over a minute gap but the sprint behind offers a few hints. 2nd place from last year's U23 World Championships, Colpack's Simone Consonni has been fairly quiet this season but he was able to put the flame out off on-fire Damiano Cima (Viris Maserati) by beating him for 2nd place by half a bike length.
Elsewhere, Zalf-Euromobil dominated a race in Veneto because...well it's Veneto. They are not to lose on home soil.
Everywhere else and more...
Daniel Whitehouse continues to impress in Asia. Can someone from GB bring him over for Valle d'Aosta?!?!?!?!?! #forthelove
-Enzo Wouters nearly stole the Memorial Van Coningsloo from the top Belgian sprinter of the year, Timothy Dupont of Verandas Willems, but came up less than a bike length short.
-Speaking of the track, Ivo Oliveira was quite active in Portugal at the Anadia meet by winning the Kilo TT with a time of 1:03 and followed it up with 2nd in the Individual Pursuit, behind fellow U23 Benjamin Thomas.
-For the past few weeks, there has been a Tour of Ukraine happening that along with the Tour of Ukraine, has included about 2 weeks of racing in the country thats fate is still up in the air. On the U23 front, Azeri rider Samir Jabrayilov has been consistent with 5 top five finishes in sprints as well as breakaways. The competition level was strictly Eastern European so nothing to get Team SKY calling but it is certainly something.
Anything else that should be mentioned? Let me know...
The final stage of the the Zavod Miru U23 was a bit...how to put this without sounding like a complete asshole...pointless? That isn't the right word but after two years of this finish without any consequences on the general classification, there needs to be a shake-up on the final stage here because for two years running now, one stage defines the race and then the final stage has a little separation but GC is fairly stagnant. Espoirs Central is pleading with you, Jan Svorada, I hope that a change will be happening for 2017.
The stage featured a large breakaway that really didn't get a lot of room from the peloton but did include a rider high up on GC, Czech Michal Schlegel. The breakaway was brought back with 8 kilometers to go, just in time for the run into Jesenik and up to the Hotel Priessnitz. The bunch stayed together until the revelation of the Ronde de l'Isard, Belgian Bjorg Lambrecht, lept from the lead group on the climb. No way he would be taking enough time out of race leader David Gaudu, Lambrecht bounced away with Markus Hoelgaard (Norway) giving chase.
Lambrecht took another nice win in the drizzly conditions while Hoelgaard "gapped" the chasing group led in by Giovanni Carboni with Gaudu celebrating his victory in 4th place. With both Lambrecht and Gaudu being of diminutive stature, it really was a day for the small guy.
While most of the GC riders finished on time with Gaudu, the absolute surprise of the day was UCI Cycling Centre rider El Medhi Chokri, the first year Moroccan U23 who was 5th on the opening stage and followed it up with 11 on the final stage.
Gaudu was able to pull out an overall victory and if pro teams are smart, they will continue to follow him this summer and take him of a stagiaire ride either this summer or next. He still has things to prove as an overall rider so this is not a confirmation that he will be a Grand Tour winner but when he is on, that acceleration is brutal. If he can survive flatter races as well as rough 'n tumble environments, Gaudu could enchant the French public.
It seems that Lambrecht is confirming the promise he showed in the Pyrenees mountains in l'Isard. A compact rider that never really raced in the mountains before this season, he has been riding in front groups and while Belgians love their classics, they would love to see riders winning in the mountains once again.
Espoirs Central pick for the win Tao Geoghegan Hart was a hesitation away from perhaps taking the victory and settled for a strong 2nd overall with Swiss Kilian Frankiny confirming his 4th overall from the Giro della Valle d'Aosta last year. The Italians were there once again with Ravasi and Carboni but didn't have the finishing punch to make the podium. A rider that could be monitored is Markus Hoelgaard. His brother Daniel is a fantastic sprinter but I think Markus was a bit misunderstood and never developed as well as he could have when he was on Etixx. He has come into his own on rolling to hillier parcours and hopefully Joker allows him to blossom on courses like this.
I still cannot get over the course. A stage race should not be a carbon copy year after year and while they changed the queen stage, this race lacked final stage drama to really have the results leap off the page and make this a can't-miss race. This is a Nations Cup race. Imagine if the Tour de l'Avenir was decided two stages through the race? I'm cognisant of the limitations of a race like this in terms of budget but I do not want carbon copy stages. I want this race to sing to people. There is a huge legacy from this race and part of that was some fantastic course selection over the years. If this race will have two of the same stages next year, you have no doubt a scathing review will come from here. It should also be mentioned that the official website is basically a cheering section for the Czech National Team and give token mentions to riders that don't win the race yet list the results of every last Czech rider.
On a stage that was set for fireworks, the riders lit the fuse and the Zavod Miru U23 exploded on the Dlouhe Strane climb. With Adrien Costa sidelined and other riders not firing on all cylinders, it was a diminutive Frenchman that took the race by the neck and took the biggest win of his fledgling career.
A breakaway of about 10 riders got away early in the race but were never given much of a gap by the peloton, with the Germans and Slovenians setting a strong tempo all day as they had missed the move. This group lasted for over half of the stage but was taken back by the first climb to Hrabesice, where Casper Pedersen took the KOM.
Onto the Dlouhe Strane, the peloton had come back together into a fairly large group but that was to be short lived. From here, I will get many of the details from James Knox, who was in the heat of the action on the climb.
The French took it at the bottom of the climb and then the Russian (Cherkasov or Nych) took a big turn on the front. The group was brought down to 16 riders but names such as Lennard Kämna and Lennard Hofstede were nowhere to be seen. Attacks began to happen and whittled the group down until an attack from Swiss Kilian Frankiny made a group of four including him, Tao Geoghegan Hart (GB), Edward Ravasi (Italy) and David Gaudu (France). Knox said, "I was stuck in between(the two groups) for a bit, before sitting on a group, who never committed to bringing them back."
After the leading group exchanged barbs, it was the tiny Gaudu, who weighs probably no more than 55 kilograms, who launched the winning attack with 500 meters to go as the climb leveled off near the reservoir at the top of Dlouhe Strane. It seemed as if Geoghegan Hart could have gone with him but the Hackney rider admittedly hesitated and that made the difference.
Gaudu took out 7 seconds from Geoghegan Hart plus another from Frankiny and Ravasi. Behind, Knox got a little frisky, "I hit my group after a couple of attacks and was in between the (two) groups (at the finish)." Knox finished 5th, 14 seconds back ahead of a group containing Michal Schlegel (Czech Republic), Giovanni Carboni (Italy), Aurelien Paret-Peintre (France), Bjorg Lambrecht and Steff Cras (both Belgium).
Gaudu took 10 bonus seconds at the finish to move his overall lead on Geoghegan Hart to 11 seconds, which will make the task tomorrow of overhauling him on the fairly short finishing climb quite big.
Gaudu didn't come here as an unknown exactly and it remains to be seen if he can finish this race off. What can be taken away now is his acceleration. Knox can to attest to it from l'Isard, "He seemed to be able to accelerate again and again and destroyed our group on the bottom of Ax 3 Domaines." He attacked the group multiple times today and finally made on stick. Like speed, acceleration isn't something that one can simply teach. It can be improved but a natural acceleration is not something everyone is blessed with.
The race finishes up tomorrow with a climb to the Hotel Priesnitz in Jesenik.
How about that wordplay? Right? Guys...guys? In any case, stage one of the Zavod Miru U23 Nations Cup lived up to its expectations with an early breakaway taking up the first half of the race followed by another more successful breakaway that was swallowed up by the peloton within the final kilometer.
The original breakaway was a 4-man move than consisted of Justin Oien (USA), Sven Reutter (Germany), Ole Forfang (Norway) and Jose Luis Rodriguez (Chile/UCI Cycling Centre). There gap didn't get too big and were swallowed up in quick succession.
The main move of the day came from Pascal Eenkhoorn (BMC Development/Netherlands), who escaped with about 50 kilometers to go and got a substantial gap. The bunch was in efficiency mode with many not wanting to exert themselves too much with the mountains looming. A variety of teams came to the fore to bring it back but on the final lap, the gap began to plummet. Within the final kilometer, Eenkhoorn was taken back but his team was still in a good position.
Out of the final right hand bend, first year U23 Bob Olieslagers (Netherlands) led out the sprint and looked to be in a good position to win until the dying meters when Daniel Auer (Austria) came out of the slipstream to power ahead in the final meters to take the victory. Polish rider Michal Paluta came in a close 3rd while Oli Wood (Great Britain) was 4th and El Medhi Chokri (Morocco/UCI Cycling Centre) came in 5th.
One of these years I am hoping that the Zavod Miru (Peace Race in English) will emerge as a longer stage race that will be the spring cornerstone to the U23 calendar. I also know that the chances of it being expanded from its current iteration are approximately .0034893744%. In any case, this is always an interesting race as it doesnt necessarily have the toughest climbs but it can catch riders out regularly and result in some exciting finishes.
The race was only revived in 2013 as a U23 race. The first edition was won by Cannondale's Toms Skujins and two years later, it was moved to the U23 Nations Cup. Still just three stages, the race is based around the spa town of Jesenik, Czech Republic, which is nuzzled against the Southern Polish border. One of the main differences this year is that the race will forgo the summit finish at the Praded nature reserve but race manager Jan Svorada is keeping the difficulty level high with two hill top finishes.
Stages
Stage 1 - Jeseník to Rymarov - 134km
In what is a carbon copy to the opening stage in the past few years, this year's edition of stage 1 gets a little extra distance (122km to 134km) as an additional finish loop was added on. The last couple of additions have been decided by small breakaways that have eeked out victories ahead of hard charging pelotons. In 2013, this was a two-up sprint with Pole Przemyslaw Kasperviewicz (now Klein Constantia) beating Tom Bosmans while last year, Gabriel Cullaigh (GB National Team) won out of an all-day breakaway.
The town flag of Rymarov is interesting
The change to this year's course could actually see a mass-group sprint as it might give teams a little more time to organize on the finishing circuits. Or it could once again see teams focused on GC fine with letting a small group without any GC favorites getting away to take the pressure off of any serious chase efforts. The circuit itself is not pan-flat and does include a climb but in year's past, the group has not thinned out much. There is a dearth of full-blown sprinters here but some riders with a good kick on them include Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spain), Dusan Rajovic (Serbia/UCI Cycling), Justin Oien (USA) and Piet Allegaert (Belgium) but no one is jumping off the page as a favorite. This would probably be because the final two stage profiles were drawn by a precocious 2-year old.
Stage 2 - Krnov to Dlouhe Strane - 123 kilometers
While it might not be the longest stage, it will be a kick in the jewels for those that are unprepared. This is a brand new stage that climbs up to the Dlouhe Strane Hydroelectric Power Plant, which sits at 1,350 meters (over 4,400 feet) elevation.
The reservoir at Dlouhe Strane has the largest reserving water turbine in Europe. Also, you cannot beat that view.
The climb itself up to the station is arguably the hardest in all of the Jeseniky mountain range, included the Praded climb which the race has used in the past couple years. The climb itself is a stair step affair that starts up into a forested area once they move through Loucna nad Desnou. The middle section of the climb before the brief descent is where the race will be made as it touches a brief gradient of 20% and the kilometer before the descent averages over 10% but sees persistent ramps near 14%. A brief descent gives the riders a respite but the gradients go back to a steady 7-8% before the finish flattens out a bit. The profile of the climb can be seen here.
It isn't as if the race is a race to this climb as there is a smaller climb at Hraběšice to soften the legs a bit but the slopes of Dlouhe Strane will define the GC of this race.
Favorites? Well I will get to that later because I believe who wins here will most likely win the GC or be damn close.
Stage 3 - Jesenik - Jesenik - 160 km
"It sort of looks like an upside down New Jersey with a little hook at the top"
Above is my quote about this stage from last year. The final stage is a loop that goes out of Jesenik, rides along the Polish border for a while, heads south for a while to Bruntal (which is just north of Rymarov) and then starts up towards Jesenik. It is an exact copy of the final stage last year, which more or less came down to the final uphill to the Hotel Priesnitz from a group of favorites as many were shed from the late climbs at Hvezda and Vidly.
Interesting room décor at the Hotel Preisnitz
The final climb to the Hotel only averages about 6% once the race crosses the Staric river but it really doesn't get going until about 2 km to go. The next kilometer averages 8.1% gradient while the final kilometer flattens out a little bit up to the Hotel. Definitely an Ardennes-style finish but not quite as steep.
No Australia here for the 2nd year in a row which really limits them in terms of the UCI Nations Cup. Also, to stack the deck for the Czechs, they brought two full 6-man teams.
Looking over the start list, here are some favorites in no particular order...
-Michal Schlegel (Czech Republic)
-Steff Cras and Bjorg Lambrecht (Belgium)
-Vincent, Cosnefroy, Peters and Paret-Peintre (France). It won't be an enviable position for team leader Pierre-Yves Chatelon.
-Lennard Kämna (Germany)
-Tao Geoghegan Hart (GB) supported nicely by James Knox and Scott Davies
-Edward Ravasi & Giovanni Carboni (Italy)
-Lennard Hofstede (Netherlands)
-Ildar Arslanov (Russia)
-Domen Novak (Slovenia)
-Enric Mas or Jon Irisarri (Spain)
-Mark Padun (Ukraine)
-Adrien Costa (USA)
Espoirs Central pick for the overall win: Tao Geoghegan Hart
While I spent the majority of the weekend trying to decompress as best as possible, the world of amateur cycling kept on turning. While the U23 Paris-Roubaix was a big gem during the weekend,
racing was abound in the USA, Colombia, Spain, Italy and more. As the Zavod Miru U23 takes place in a few days, I will try to make this the express version.
Basically says everything I want to say right there.
Vuelta a Navarra
In somewhat of an oddity, Ecuadorian Richie Carapaz, who won the U23 Vuelta a Colombia last year, is currently on the UCI roster for the Colombian Strongman Campagnolo while also riding for the Lizarte amateur team out of Spain. I guess you could call it a temporary loan as I'm certain Carapaz will be be back down south once the big summer Colombian races happen but Carapaz has been a scourge on the Spanish amateur scene this spring.
His latest scalp was the Vuelta a Navarra, where he won the 2nd stage uphill finish that guaranteed him the overall victory on Saturday. He now has 5 wins in a month time span and it is very possible to see him continue this trend. After winning Navarra, he was quoted as saying that he would love to cap of his season with a stagiaire ride. One would think that a Spanish team would be very high on him so unless someone else has secret plans for him (perhaps Zona Maxtin and Etixx-OPQS), Movistar or Caja Rural are likely destinations.
Tour de Gironde
Norway has had another strong year so far in the U23 and continental ranks with Team Joker being a main reason behind it. It isn't often that a team has a perfect race but Joker at the Tour de Gironde was about as good as it gets.
Just a few weeks ago, I was questioning if Truls Engen Korsaeth was even riding his bike as he had barely made an impression in the first 5 months of the season. After finding out he was struggling with motivation and injuries, Korsaeth popped up in the 2nd round of the Norwegian Cup, finishing 3rd behind teammate Ole Forang. He then came to the Tour de Gironde and the "brutal" rider, as described by the national team director, lived up to his nature by attacking and holding off the peloton by three seconds, led home by a pair of Joker riders in Kristoffer Halvorsen & Adrain Aas Stien.
The race was made by a herculean effort by Amund Grøndahl Jansen, whose name might be more fitting for someone riding an icebreaker in the Antarctic Sea around 1912 than riding a bike in 2016. Within the first kilometers of the stage, Grøndahl was away with Sebastian Molano but soon ditched the Colombian to take a maximum advantage of over 8 minutes, which was so big that his own team car pulled out and went back to the peloton to monitor the situation. While the gap fell steadily, Grøndahl was able to continue on strong and as the race exploded behind him on the rolling course, the Norwegian was able to take his first individual win of the year. Directvelo talked to Grøndahl after the race but his spring has definitely turned some heads.
The final stage was a sprint fest that saw Aas Stein take his first UCI win in over a year while Norwegians took 3 out of the top 4 places. It was the icing on the cake as Joker wrapped up every jersey and took the overall classification with Grøndahl. Gino Van Oudenhove's ploeg delivered in a big way.
A side note is Mathias Le Turnier, who ended the race in 2nd overall. Le Turnier, for those with bad memories, was 2nd overall in the Ronde de l'Isard and nearly stole the overall classification there. For a rider that is climber, it is surprising that we was contending in the much flatter Bordeaux region. Perhaps a stagiaire role and a l'Avenir place are on the books for this summer?
Everywhere else and more...
-Riders from 1996 were close to taking over the An Post Ras but Australia's Jai Hindley fell to now two-time winner Clemens Fankhauser by a mere three seconds. The '96 were rounded out by Hindley's teammate Lucas Hamilton and home rider Eddie Dunbar (Axeon-Hagens Bermans), who took a stage win into Baltinglass ahead these three riders and Australian Michael Storer. Also of note was Nicolai Brøchner (Riwal), who was a bike throw away from taking three stage wins in the race.
-Abderrahmane Mansouri might not be a household name but the Algerian U23 might be the next Youcef Reguigui in terms of breaking out of the Maghreb and getting results against bigger competition. As I write this, I am fairly confident that I am one of a very, very tiny handful of people in the USA that is thinking about who will be the next big Algerian rider.
-Jose Luis Rodriguez journeyed back to Europe and proceeded to go 2nd in the Thun time trial to Thery Schir, who was 8th in the U23 World TT last year. The Chilean is continuing to put out a string of nice results that should once again see him in the Tour de l'Avenir and hopefully a chance at a top 10 in the Doha Worlds TT. Rodriguez was apart of the World Cycling Centre Team that dominated the recent Souvenir Patrice-Ledru a Tramoyes, where Panamanian Cristofer Jurado won ahead of Moroccan Anass Ait El Abdia, Rodriguez and Serbian first year U23 Dusan Rajovic.
-In the Colpack can do no wrong category, the Bergamo team took more wins in Italy including a humilitation of Zalf. In the Giro del Piave in Zalf's home in Veneto, 4 Zalf riders went up against one Colpack rider and guess who won?
Federico Sartor took a coup against Rocchetti, Gabburo, Rosa and Rocchi on their home soil Photo: ItaliaCiclismo
Zalf did have a win Alto Padovana Tour with Niccolo' Rocchi holding off a speeding Belorussian Uladzimir Harakhavik while Zalf put 7 in the top 10. Not to get to carried away as this was in Veneto and Zalf are more or less commanded to win and put in huge numbers into the races.
In what was the strongest showing of the weekend was the triple Colpack produced at the GP Industria e Commercio in Botticini. The video will show it all but the way the Colpack riders one by one pass Bagioli is heartbreakingly sweet to watch. The winner, Ukranian Mark Padun, is going to be in the Zavod Miru U23 and his form has seemingly been ramping up for a podium finish.
Did I miss anything? Is the next best rider not being mention? Let me know.
