Hammond takes 3rd on Vuelta stage 2

Roger Hammond has taken third place in the sprint finish of stage two of the Vuelta a España. The stage was won Gerald Ciolek ahead of Fabio Sabatini.

The sprint came at the end of a 203.7 km stage from Assen to Essen in the Netherlands. Quick Step and Garmin-Slipstream did most of the work to bring back the day's breakaway. However, their sprinters Tom Boonen and Tyler Farrar began their attacks too soon and faded away as the line approached. Ciolek took the stage fractionally ahead of Sabatini with Hammond slipping through to take third.

Roger Hammond, remarkably, is competing in his first grand tour at the age of 35.

Result
1. Gerald Ciolek - Milram
2. Fabio Sabatini - Liquigas
3. Roger Hammond - Cervélo Test Team

Downing takes overall Irish victory

Russell Downing has taken the overall victory in the Tour of Ireland after finishing second in the event last year. On that occasion Downing lost the lead in the final circuit up St. Patrick's Hill in Cork. He had no intention of letting the same thing happen twice in a row.

The final stage took place in torrential conditions at times, causing the number of finishing circuits in Cork to be reduced by one. At the start of these circuits a leading group had formed containing some of the main contenders such as Matti Breschel, Karsten Kroon, Mathias Frank and Marco Pinotti as well as race leader Downing. Alexandr Kolobnev joined on the second lap to make it three Saxo Bank riders in the group of eight.

Despite the numerical disadvantage Downing was able to mark all the attacks impressively, including one by Lars Petter Nordhaug which turned out to be the winning move. The two riders worked together to build a lead of over 30 seconds. Nordhaug took the stage victory and moved up to second overall. Downing did not contest the sprint as he wrapped up the overall victory in the appalling conditions where less than half the riders finished.

Result
1. Lars Petter Nordhaug - Joker-Bianchi
2. Russell Downing - CandiTV-Marshalls Pasta
3. Matti Breschel - Saxo Bank +33"

Overall
1. Russell Downing - CandiTV-Marshalls Pasta
2. Lars Petter Nordhaug - Joker-Bianchi +23"
3. Matti Breschel - Saxo Bank +43"

All Victories by Russell Downing

Cavendish wins second stage in Ireland

Mark Cavendish comfortably won the sprint into Killarney today. Columbia-HTC was able to gain control of the race despite numerous attacks approaching the finish. Russell Downing opened the sprint early but once Cavendish hit the front there was no-one else able to stay with the Manx rider.

Result
1. Mark Cavendish - Columbia-HTC
2. Michael Van Staeyen - Rabobank Cont.
3. Stuart O'Grady - Saxo Bank

Russell Downing of CandiTV-Marshalls Pasta retains his overall lead of 5 seconds over Alexandr Kolobnev of Saxo Bank. Sunday is the final stage of the shortened tour this year.

All Victories by Mark Cavendish

Downing wins first stage in Ireland

Britain Russell Downing has won the first stage of the Tour of Ireland. Downing was part of group of 24 escapees which also included Lance Armstrong, Jakob Fuglsang, Marco Pinotti, Stuart O'Grady, Andrei Grivko and Dan Lloyd amongst others.

Philip Deignan caused a further split with eight riders breaking away. The other riders were Alexandr Kolobnev, Matti Breschel, Haimar Zubeldia, Marco Pinotti, Frederik Wilman, Oleksandr Kvachuk and Downing.

Wilman attacked coming into the finish but was not able to create a big enough gap. Russell Downing launched his sprint with about 400m to go and no-one else was able to respond. Downing finished a second clear to win and take the overall lead.

Result
1. Russell Downing - CandiTV-Marshalls Pasta
2. Alexandr Kolobnev - Saxo Bank +1"
3. Matti Breschel - Saxo Bank +1"

All Victories by Russell Downing

Coppa Bernocchi

Italian Luca Paolini won the Coppa Bernocchi today in Legnano, Italy, ahead of Danilo Hondo and Enrico Gasparotto. British riders and Barloworld teammates, Steve Cummings and Geraint Thomas, finished fourth and fifth in the sprint.

The 91st edition of the Coppa Bernocchi started and ended in Legnano, and featured five climbs up the Morazzone. The winning escape went free on the penultimate ascent featuring Cummings, Thomas, Gasparotto, Hondo, Paolini, Enrico Magazzini, Mauro Finetto and Alessandro Proni.

Thomas worked for teammate and last year's winner Cummings in the final kilometres, but Gasparotto and the others marked him. Danilo Hondo then initiated the final sprint but was beaten to the line by Luca Paolini.

Result
1. Luca Paolini - Acqua & Sapone
2. Danilo Hondo - PSK-Whirlpool
3. Enrico Gasparotto - Lampre-NGC
4. Steve Cummings - Barloworld-Bianchi
5. Geraint Thomas - Barloworld-Bianchi

Mi-Août Bretonne final stage

The Mi-Août Bretonne finished today with another successful breakaway group. Davy Commeyne of Belgium took the stage win in the sprint, Norweigian Frederik Wilmann was also in the break and took the overall victory. Britain Kristian House of Rapha-Condor took sixth place overall.

Result
1. Frederik Wilmann - Joker-Bianchi
2. Kevin Lalouette - Austreberthe +23"
3. Julien Berard - Chambéry +28"
-----
6. Kristian House - Rapha-Condor +1'58"

Mi-Août Bretonne

Rapha-Condor are taking place in the Mi-Août Bretonne this week in Brittany. Chris Newton (GBR), Dan Craven (NAM), Darren Lapthorne (AUS), Kristian House (GBR), Tom Southam (GBR) and Simon Richardson (GBR) make up the squad.

Stage 2 consisted of a large breakaway eventually containing 30+ riders. In the finale two Russian riders, Timofey Kritskiy and Alexander Prishpetniy, broke away and were chased home by Kristian House and Florent Barle.

Result
1. Timofey Kritskiy - Katyusha CT
2. Alexander Prishpetniy - Primorsky DSP +1"
3. Kristian House - Rapha-Condor +52"

World Championship training camp

Thirteen British cyclists are taking part in a two-day training camp in Mendrisio, Switzerland, this week in order to prepare for next month's World championships.

The riders taking part are:

Jonathan Bellis (Saxo Bank)
Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC)
Steve Cummings (Barloworld-Bianchi)
Russell Downing (CandiTV-Marshalls Pasta)
Dan Fleeman (Cervélo Test Team)
Chris Froome (Barloworld-Bianchi)
Roger Hammond (Cervélo Test Team)
Jeremy Hunt (Cervélo Test Team)
Daniel Lloyd (Cervélo Test Team)
David Millar (Garmin-Slipstream)
Ian Stannard (ISD-Neri)
Ben Swift (Katusha)
Geraint Thomas (Barloworld-Bianchi)

Bradley Wiggins is not present but it is expected that he will be selected for the time-trial. An eleven man long-list will be selected next week.

Senior coach Rod Ellingworth said, "The whole idea is we want to win the world road race championships. Maybe not this year but we want to win it in the future and how do you do that? It's about getting the group together and motivating people. This camp is just part of that process."

...from cyclingnews.com

World Championships team sizes decided

The amount of riders a nation can send to the world championships has been decided. The top ten nations in the current UCI ranking can send a full team. Great Britain are currently in eigth place largely due to Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins. Traditional cycling powers France and Holland are among the countries to miss out on the top ten.

UCI Nation Rankings
1. Spain - 1334
2. Italy - 910
3. Australia - 710
4. Germany - 661
5. Russia - 590
6. Luxembourg - 563
7. Belgium - 505
8. Great Britain - 462
9. Norway - 414
10. USA - 389

... full rankings

Tour of Poland round-up

Ian Stannard was the only British rider involved in the Tour of Poland from 2 - 8 August. He was on the attack for his ISD - Neri team in breakaways on stages 5 and 7 but couldn't avoid being swept up by the peloton.

Stannard finish 73rd overall in the race which was won by world champion Alessandro Ballan. Norweigian Edvald Boasson Hagen, who is rumoured to be joining Team Sky, impressed by winning two stages and finishing third overall.

Result
1. Alessandro Ballan - Lampre-NGC
2. Daniel Moreno - Caisse D'Epargne +10"
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen - Columbia-HTC +11"
-----
73. Ian Stannard - ISD-Neri +23'43"

Hammond finishes third in Tour of Denmark

Roger Hammond has finished the Post Danmark Rundt in third place overall. Hammond finished 47 seconds behind the winner Jakob Fuglsang of Saxo Bank, primarily due to a breakaway on Stage 4 which was won by fellow British rider Jeremy Hunt.

Result
1. Jakob Fuglsang - Saxo Bank
2. Maurizio Biondo - Ceramica Flaminia +02"
3. Roger Hammond - Cervélo Test Team +47"

Cavendish wins Sparkassen Giro

Mark Cavendish took his 20th win of the season with victory in the Sparkassen Giro in Bochum, Germany. Cavendish beat Gerald Ciolek in a sprint finish to the 180km one-day race.

Team manager, Rolf Aldag commented, "He had a tough Tour de France and he’s been winning all season, but the victories just keep coming. And this was not an easy race at all. It was held on a tough little circuit, with two short but hard climbs and then a fast descent to the finish, and on top of that it was raining most of the day. A break of five guys got away but in the last lap and a half we managed to bring things back together for Cavendish. He seems to be totally unbeatable in the sprints right now.”

Result:
1. Mark Cavendish - Columbia-HTC
2. Gerald Ciolek - Milram
3. Andreas Stauff - Kuota-Indeland

2009 UCI Victories:
1. Mark Cavendish - 20
2. Andre Greipel - 15
3. Jose Rujano - 12

Blythe to Silence-Lotto

Adam Blythe has secured a position as a stagiaire on the Silence-Lotto team for the rest of the season.

Blythe has been riding for amateur team DAVO this season, a Silence-Lotto development team. He has achieved many good results including a stage win in the Thüringen Rundfahrt.

“The ideal scenario is to turn professional but I don’t want to turn pro too early and get my head kicked in. May be if I had gone pro this year, that would have probably happened and that would not have been good for me long term.”

...from Britishcycling.org.uk

Hunt wins in Tour of Denmark

Jeremy Hunt claimed his first win of the season in stage 4 of the Post Danmark Rundt. Hunt got into a break with fellow Cervélo Test Team rider Roger Hammond, Daniel Holm Foder and Morten Voss Christiansen which finish 1'30 up on the peloton.

The result moves Roger Hammond up to fourth overall, 37 seconds behind leader Jakob Fuglsang of Saxo Bank.

Result
1. Jeremy Hunt - Cervélo Test Team
2. Daniel Holm Foder - Concordia
3. Roger Hammond - Cervélo Test Team +02"