Hello and welcome to the GCN news show. This week we're in sunny Madrid, and we've got
news from the Vuelta a España, the first stage of the Tour of Britain, and the two
Canadian world tour races.
The two Canadian world tour races come after a month of predominantly stage racing in North
America for many pros.
Peter Sagan went into both days as a heavy favourite, but on the first day, the GP Cycliste
de Québec, he sat up and didn't contest the sprint, rolling in 10th.
That day was won by Robert Gesink of team Belkin, who out-sprinted Arthur Vichot, the
French champion riding for FDJ, and Greg van Avermaet of BMC.
On the second day at the GP Cycliste de Montreal, Sagan attacked the bunch and rode away with
5.5km to go. He took the win, and was followed by Simone Ponzi of team Astana, and Ryder
Hesjedal, the local favourite, riding for Garmin-Sharp.
The Tour of Britain started on Sunday with a stacked field, including Mark Cavendish,
Nairo Quintana and Bradley Wiggins. The overall winner could come from any number of strong
riders, but Wiggins looks to be favourite and is leader of team Sky, which includes
Bernie Eisel:
Big race is the Tour of Great Britain, I'm really looking forward. It's a nice race and
Bradley Wiggins is in top form, he's motivated and he wants to win this race. So I'm looking
forward to do my best so he can achieve his goal.
The first stage of the Tour of Britain was run off in typically British weather, with
heavy rain and strong winds. The early attack was made up of mainly British and Irish riders,
and after this was brought back, Anthony Delaplace of Sojasun and Alex Dowsett both launched attacks.
Then the predicted bunch sprint happened, which had an unpredicted finish. Mark Cavendish
was nowhere to be seen and finished safely in the bunch, while Elia Viviani of team Cannondale
took the win, followed by Gerald Ciolek of MTN-Qhubeka and Alessandro Petacchi of Omega Pharma-Quickstep.
The Vuelta a España finished with a roll around Madrid on Sunday after what had been
a brutal final week of racing. Chris Horner had piled the pressure on race leader Vincenzo
Nibali throughout the week, and took the red leader's jersey by just three seconds on stage
19 to the Alto Naranco. He went into stage 20, the decisive stage to the Angliru, in
what seemed to be a confident mood:
The legs are good, climbing good, looking forward to today's stage so hopefully everything
goes as planned. You know in the sport it's so easy to have a small accident or a puncture
at the wrong time or something like that, but otherwise I think the legs are really
good, I don't think they're going to fail me today, so we'll see.
The Angliru features ramps of up to 24% in the final kilometres, and is known as one
of the hardest climbs in professional racing. It has seen many epic battles over the years,
and this year was no different.
Horner attacked Nibali on the final hairpins of the Angliru to take a lead of 37 seconds
into the final stage in Madrid. In doing so, Horner, aged 41, became the oldest ever winner
of a grand tour, having already become the oldest ever grand tour stage winner and leader's
jersey wearer earlier in the race.
The French continued to have a great Vuelta, with Kenny Elissonde of FDJ taking victory
on the Angliru, having ridden away from the day's break, taking the total number of stage
wins at the Vuelta up to four.
At the Vuelta, we spent the day with Garmin-Sharp soigneur Sophie Roullois, and if you didn't
see it, here's a clip:
We take care of the riders, we give them massages, that's one of the most important things we
do, and we prepare the drinks and the food for the riders during the race and after the
race and make sure they have everything they need.
We also spent a day in the team car with Orica-Greenedge directeur sportif Matt Wilson:
You've got to keep it close enough so that they just have a carrot, maybe some team will
take over to bring it back.
Dempster's on the front now, chasing. Right.
Well he's riding, I don't know if he's chasing.
After the final stage in Madrid we spoke to Keith Tufley of the Grand Tours Project, who,
by riding all three grand tours in one season to raise environmental awareness, has accomplished
a feat that not many pros achieve:
It's a great feeling, the experiences you go through, the places you see, the people
you meet and the physical and the mental challenges were enormous. But a great sense of satisfaction
and achievement. Yesterday's climb was brilliant. That's an amazing mountain, I think along
with Mortirolo in Italy it's the hardest climb I've ever done. It's a beauty as well, really
beautiful.
What did you think about this year's Vuelta? Was it the most exciting grand tour of the
year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
On to women's racing now, and the final stage of the Giro di Toscana was marred by safety
concerns, prompting 63 riders, including race leader Marianne Vos and Giorgia Bronzini of
Wiggle-Honda to withdraw.
Now on to tech news, and everyone at the Vuelta was gearing down for the Angliru stage. We
spoke to a few of the riders before the start and found out what gears they were using:
I've got a 32 cassette on the back and a 36 on the front so a really light gear.
I've got a 34/32 on. I don't think you can go any smaller than that.
I can't use compacts because I have longer cranks and they don't make compacts in my
size. So I have to use a 39 on the front and then I'll use the 29, so on the really steep
climbs I have to just grind up it.
We'll close with our subscribers ride and tweet of the week. This week, our subscriber's
ride comes from Vitor Rosa, who shows us his Pinarello Dogma 65.1 Think 2:
Carbon frame, 65.1. Crankset 50/34. It's much easier to climb and also when you are rolling
at 30 or more kilometres per hour speeds it's noticeably different. So, hope you like it,
I like it a lot.
Tweet of the week comes from Reinardt Janse van Rensberg of Argos-Shimano, who did one
of our rider diaries throughout the Vuelta:
Like Keith Tufley and Adam Hansen, GCN have finished our third grand tour of the year.
We're off to the airport, and the Worlds in Italy. Thanks for watching.
[pistol shot] Thanks for watching.