Watch Rodriguez Cano, Carlos vs. Charmig, Anthon Live Streaming Cycling Online
Watch Rodriguez Cano, Carlos vs. Charmig, Anthon Live Streaming Cycling Online
BikeExchange-Jayco grabbed two wins in two days at the Volta a Catalunya as Kaden Groves rode to his first career WorldTour
win on the crosswind second stage in Perpignan.
The 23-year-old was the fastest finisher, alone, of a small group of around 30 riders, who broke away from the peloton
after Cofidis and Movistar led the way when the wind hit in the final 15km. It was race leader Michael Matthews who
overtook his compatriot, with Groves overtaking Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) in a photo finish at the line. Hugo
Hofstetter (ArkƩa-Samsic) completed the podium in third place. However, the Mistral wind proved to be a double-edged sword
for the Australian squad, as their overall leader, Simon Yates, lost 33 seconds after he was involved in a crash shortly
before the field fell apart at the interior of the last 15 kilometers.
"I've waited a long time for this and it's amazing," said Groves following his victory. "It was actually quite difficult. A
few steps divided the group. Michael and I were in front and many other strong teams like Movistar and Jumbo. Simon was
behind, and they were using him to their advantage to buy him some time. It was pretty full of gas.
"The guys did a great job all day riding in a good position up front, making sure the breakaway was close so today could be
a sprint, and also getting into position before the crosswinds."
With Matthews leading into the final turn and short home stretch, Groves still had to contend with the Bauhaus in the final
150 meters. The German, winner of the final stage at the Tirreno-Adriatico, hit the wind first with Groves at the wheel.
Groves himself pulled out of the slipstream with 50m to go, stopping at the 25m signal before launching his bike over the
line. A split second later, he had won.
"I liked this stage and chose it to get the win," she said later. "I can't believe I have it. Maybe later in the week we
can do another sprint."
Yates was the main general classification casualty from wind during the 202.4km stage, while the day provided an unexpected
new leader. Jonas Iversby Hvideberg (Team DSM) wears the green-and-white jersey after adding an extra five seconds on his
second consecutive day in the breakaway.
how it developed
Stage two of the Volta a Catalunya would be another one for the sprinters, as the peloton covered 202.4 kilometers from
L'Escala to Perpignan, just over the French border. The race's second-longest stage would pose few obstacles for the
sprinters despite the elevation gain of 2,166 meters. A group of hills in the middle of the stage too far from the finish
to provoke attacks that could threaten the stage win. Less than 10 kilometers meant the day's losses leveled off, with KOM
leader Jonas Iversby Hvideberg (Team DSM) on the move once again alongside Joan Bou (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and AdriĆ Moreno
(Burgos-BH).
The trio was granted a five-minute lead quite quickly, nullifying the huge time difference in the first 30km of the race
and making Hvideberg the virtual overall leader for most of the day. That situation continued for the first half of the
stage before the hills loomed. Hvideberg, as expected, took the three KOM points offered to him on the third category climb
to Collde Sa Perafita after 108km of racing, extending his lead in the mountains classification. The Norwegian was second
and first in the two intermediate sprints soon after, with Bou winning the first while the breakaway riders shared a
handful of bonus seconds between them, with Hvideberg grabbing four which would ultimately see him take the race leader's
jersey.
With 73 to go, a crash dropped several riders in mid-pack, including the QuickStep-AlphaVinyl trio of Ilan Van Wilder,
Andrea Bagioli and Ethan Vernon, though all involved were quick to get back to racing. Bou added three KOM points on the
third category Coll del Frare a few kilometers later, repeating the result on the next climb, the third category Coll del
Belitres on the Franco-Spanish border. Despite his efforts, however, Hvideberg held on to his command at the KOM. A big
crash involved several riders including Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) and Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) en route to
Belitres, with the latter going off the road and into a ravine. Fortunately, however, the Dane seemed to avoid serious
injury and was able to rejoin the race in no time. With 50 kilometers to go, Richie Porte (Ineos Grenadiers) ran out due to
illness, while up front the gap was reduced to just under two minutes. From then on, with a nearly flat ride to the finish,
it was all about speed teams and when the inevitable grab would finally be made.
That hold came just past 30km, when the peloton, led by DSM, Jumbo-Visma, ArkƩa-Samsic and QuickStep-AlphaVinyl, among
others picked up the trio.
Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco) was among those involved in a cornering crash with 10 miles to go, the overall contender
forced to chase with several teammates 40 seconds behind the pack. Up front was Cofidis doing the work together with
Movistar, and with 13km to go the peloton was torn apart by crosswinds on the exposed roads of southeastern Occitania. A
group of about 50 riders stayed ahead in the race, while Yates managed to get back to the second group with about 30-10
kilometers to go. By then, 45 seconds separated the two leading groups and the British contender looked set to take a major
blow to their overall contention hopes. Ahead of them were Bahrain Victorious, Jumbo-Visma and Movistar pulling the lead
group, which was filled with the rest of the men from the general classification and several sprinters, as they tried to
maintain the gap to Yates. The gap held to 40 seconds as the lead group accelerated in the final kilometers with Jumbo-
Visma and QuickStep-AlphaVinyl leading. It was those two teams, along with BikeExchange-Jayco, that were leading going into
the last mile. At the crux of the final corner, it was Matthews who controlled the front, ahead of Groves, who was seated
just after Bauhaus at the race leader's wheel. The German started first, but 150 meters later he was second, narrowly
losing his second WorldTour win of the month to the young Australian.
No comments:
Post a Comment