GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise

The first race of the French cycling season took place today in and around Marseille. The race took place in cold but sunny conditions and saw plenty of attacks in the opening stages. Lieuwe Westra was in one of those moves and held the lead until the final climb, where he was swept up by a leading group of nine.

Steve Cummings of Sky was in that group which would just manage to hold off the peloton to the finish. In the sprint Frenchman Jonathan Hivert took the victory from Johnny Hoogerland and Samuel Dumoulin. Cummings finished in fourth place.

Result
1. Jonathan Hivert - Saur-Sojasun
2. Johnny Hoogerland - Vacansoleil
3. Samuel Dumoulin - Cofidis
4. Steve Cummings - Sky

European season kicks-off

The European cycling season starts on the road this weekend with the Giro della Provincia di Reggio - Challenge Calabria in Italy and the GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise in France.

Several British riders will be starting their season in Marseille. Steve Cummings and Peter Kennaugh will be racing for Sky and Mark McNally will be competing for An Post-Sean Kelly Team.

1 - 2 for Sky in first race

The Tour Down Under Classic took place today and it saw a perfect start for the new Sky team. In the sprint finish New Zealander Greg Henderson took the victory ahead of his lead-out man Chris Sutton. It was the culmination of a good team effort by Sky where they were on the front for the final two laps.

Russell Downing was an important part of the train, "We were there from two to go," he explained after the finish. "Then Columbia got it organised on the left hander down the back; we were still in formation so I lead it round the outside and straight out of the corner and took the Columbia train off. The boys were yelling behind and I took it all the way down the straight and into the corner."

The Tour Down Under Classic does not count towards the overall results of the ProTour event which starts for real on Tuesday.

Quotes from cyclingnews.com

Sky launched, Swift confirmed

The Sky team was officially presented on Monday 4th January. Ben Swift was one of the 26 riders announced confirming his transfer from Katusha had got the go ahead. Seven other British riders will race for the team. They are Steve Cummings, Russell Downing, Chris Froome, Peter Kennaugh, Ian Stannard, Geraint Thomas and Bradley Wiggins.

Team Sky also announced their line-ups for the first races of the season. In the Tour Down Under, the team will be led by Greg Henderson and Chris Sutton. Russell Downing, Chris Froome and Ben Swift will also take part. The first European race will be the GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise with Steve Cummings and Peter Kennaugh riding.

In February the team will enter the Etoile de Bessèges where Bradley Wiggins will make his Sky debut with the first part of his preparation for the Tour de France.

Visit the official Team Sky site...

Swift to Sky transfer to go ahead?

It looks as though Ben Swift's transfer from Katusha to Sky will go ahead. Swift has been left off the latest squad list released by Katusha, despite their previous insistence that Swift would have to see out his contract for the 2010 season.

Ben Swift had already been announced in the Sky team for the Tour Down Under in anticipation of a deal taking place.