Japanese stage win for House

Kristian House of the Rapha-Condor-Sharp team has won stage 6 of the Tour of Japan. The British national champion won the 97km circuit race around Izu (Shizuoka) by 19 seconds.

Result
1. Kristian House - Rapha-Condor-Sharp
2. Shinichi Fukushima - Geumsan Ginseng Asia +19"
3. Michael Matthews - Jayco-Skins +21"



Kristian House Stats

Cavendish takes first Cali stage

Result
1. Mark Cavendish - HTC-Columbia
2. JJ Haedo - Saxo Bank
3. Alexander Kristoff - BMC Racing

Mark Cavendish Stats

Swift takes first GC win

Ben Swift took his first overall stage race victory at the Tour de Picardie. Swift finished ninth in the sprint on the final stage to take the title. All stages of the race were sprints but the work by the Sky team to lead out and create splits in the field on stage two alongside two podium finishes by Swift proved to be the decisive factors.

Result
1. Ben Swift - Sky
2. Koldo Fernandez - Euskaltel-Euskadi +7"
3. Allan Davis - Astana +10"
4. Russell Downing - Sky +12"

Swift goes one better in Picardie

Ben Swift won the second stage of the Tour de Picardie, following on from his second place yesterday. Swift beat Australian Allan Davis in the sprint with fellow Sky rider Russell Downing taking third place.

Swift and Downing are now also first and third in the general classification with one stage remaining.

Result
1. Ben Swift - Sky
2. Allan Davis - Astana
3. Russell Downing - Sky

Cadel Evans wins epic Giro stage

Cadel Evans took a great victory today on the strade bianche in Tuscany. The gravel roads had actually turned brown with mud due to rain on what proved to be a very tough day in the saddle.

Race leader Vincenzo Nibali and team-mate Ivan Basso were involved in a crash before the first gravel section and were left to play catch-up all day. Alexandre Vinokourov and Stefano Garzelli were among those to take advantage and slip off the front. Cadel Evans looked to be the strongest of those left behind and bridged across the gap impressively. Vinokourov and Evans then broke away together but could not maintain the gap.

A group of five came together on the run into Montalcino, with Damiano Cunego initially looked like he had got a jump on the rest. However Evans brought him and then lead out the sprint where no-one else had the strength left to challenge him.

David Millar did well to stay with the leaders for most of the day and eventually finished eleventh on the stage. He is now back up to third place overall, 1 minute and 29 seconds behind Vinokourov.

Result
1. Cadel Evans - BMC Racing
2. Damiano Cunego - Lampre-Farnese Vini +2"
3. Alexandre Vinokourov - Astana +2"

Swift second in Tour de Picardie

Kenny van Hummel narrowly beat Ben Swift in the sprint finish of the first stage of the Tour de Picardie. Swift had been well lead out by his Sky team-mates but van Hummel timed his sprint well to pip Swift to the line.

Result
1. Kenny van Hummel - Skil-Shimano
2. Ben Swift - Sky
3. Danilo Napolitano - Katusha

Wiggins loses more time after crash

Wouter Weylandt won stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia but there was more bad news for Bradley Wiggins. After misjudging a corner 10km from the finish four of the Sky team came down including Wiggins. Most of the team was called back to help team-leaders Wiggins and Cioni, but they ended up losing nearly four minutes to the winner of the stage.

Race leader Cadel Evans also lost time in the incident and finished in a group 46 seconds back. Alexandre Vinokourov takes over the lead for the Astana team.

Young British sprinter Adam Blythe escaped all the drama to figure in the sprint finish with fifth place. David Millar also finished in the lead group and is now in third place overall, just one second behind.

Result
1. Wouter Weylandt - Quick Step
2. Graeme Brown - Rabobank
3. Robert Förster - Milram
4. Danilo Hondo - Lampre-Farnese Vini
5. Adam Blythe - Omega Pharma-Lotto
---
12. David Millar - Garmin-Transitions
56. Dan Lloyd - Cervélo Test Team +1'33"
62. Steve Cummings - Sky +3'59"
63. Bradley Wiggins - Sky +3'59"
139. Chris Froome - Sky +7'59"
174. Charly Wegelius - Omega Pharma-Lotto +7'59"

Rowe third in GP Industrie del Marmo

Luke Rowe, riding for the Great Britain Academy team which is based in Italy, has finished third in the GP Industrie del Marmo. The race based around the city of Carrara was won by Tomas Alberio ahead of his team-mate Rafael de Mattos Andriato.

Result
1. Tomas Alberio - UC Trevigiani Bottolli
2. Rafael de Mattos Andriato - UC Trevigiani Bottolli
3. Luke Rowe - Great Britain

Wiggins loses grip on Maglia Rosa

Bradley Wiggins lost the lead of the Giro d'Italia today in a stage marred by numerous crashes. Wiggins came down in one accident on the road from Amsterdam to Utrecht but was able to regain contact with the peloton thanks to the help of his team-mates. However with 7km to go the was another mass crash which split the peloton and left just 60 riders to finish in the lead group.

David Millar was one of those to escape the crash and he was able to help set up Tyler Farrar to win the sprint finish. World Champion Cadel Evans was also there and takes over the lead of the race from Wiggins who finished in a large group 37 seconds behind. Farrar is one second behind Evans with Millar now fifth, four seconds back.

Result
1. Tyler Farrar - Garmin-Transitions
2. Matt Goss - HTC-Columbia
3. Fabio Sabatini - Liquigas-Doimo
4. Andre Greipel - HTC-Columbia
5. Alessandro Petacchi - Lampre-Farnese Vini

Wiggins wins Giro prologue

Bradley Wiggins has won the prologue time trial of the Giro d'Italia around the streets of Amsterdam. Wiggins covered the 8.4 km course in 10 minutes and 18 seconds, 2 seconds ahead of Brent Bookwalter and Cadel Evans both of BMC Racing. Scot David Millar finished in seventh place, six seconds behind the winning time.

The victory is Wiggins' first grand tour stage win, and earns him the first Maglia Rosa of this year's Giro.

Results
1. Bradley Wiggins - Sky
2. Brent Bookwalter - BMC Racing +2"
3. Cadel Evans - BMC Racing +2"
4. Alexandre Vinokourov - Astana +5"
5. Greg Henderson - Sky +5"
---
7. David Millar - Garmin-Transitions +6"
49. Charly Wegelius - Omega Pharma-Lotto +26"
69. Steve Cummings - Sky +33"
76. Dan Lloyd - Cervélo Test Team +36"
138. Chris Froome - Sky +51"
182. Adam Blythe - Omega Pharma-Lotto +1'08"

Giro d'Italia British competitors

The Giro d'Italia starts in Amsterdam with the prologue time trial on Saturday. There will be seven British riders at the start line for this year's event. Bradley Wiggins, Steve Cummings and Chris Froome will be there for Sky, Adam Blythe and Charly Wegelius for Omega Pharma-Lotto, Dan Lloyd for Cervelo Test Team and David Millar for Garmin-Transitions.

Adam Blythe will be making his first grand tour start while team-mate Charly Wegelius has completed ten in the past including six Giro d'Italia.

Best Overall Finishes:

Steve Cummings - 96th (2008)
Chris Froome - 36th (2009)
Dan Lloyd - 114th (2009)
David Millar - 94th (2008)
Charly Wegelius - 46th (2005)
Bradley Wiggins - 71st (2009)

None of the competing British riders have won an individual stage in the Giro before. However Charly Wegelius was part of the Liquigas team that won the team time trial in 2007.