Ruta del Sol

Spanish rider Manuel Lloret (Comunitat Valenciana) grabbed the first win of his career in the second stage of Spain's Ruta del Sol on Monday. Lloret won in a long breakaway, slipping away from Santos González Capilla (3 Molinos Resort) to win the 157km stage from La Guardia to Jaénin 3:48:19, while the main bunch came through more than six minutes slower. Despite the margin, the breakaway was no threat to the contenders for the overall. Carlos García Quesada (Unibet.com) collected the leader's jersey from brother Adolfo García Quesada (Andalucía-Paul Versan), who slipped to third

Olympic champion Paolo Bettini says the upcoming Tour de France will be more interesting without the dominating presence of seven-time champion Lance Armstrong. With Armstrong retired, Bettini said the race will have suspense it didn’t during Armstrong’s unprecedented seven-year run. "That Lance won't be there is good for the spectacle," Bettini told the Spanish daily Marca. "Before you could only aspire for second place, but now there will be at least 10 riders that go for it, riders who can win. The race will have less control, there will be unthinkable battles that weren’t imaginable a

Isaac Galvez (Illes Balears) won for the second day in a row in the Mallorca Challenge a day after Oscar Freire (Rabobank) returned to action following an eight-month break from racing. Freire lined up in Sunday’s start for what was his first day in the saddle since undergoing surgery last June to remove a painful cyst that forced him out of last year’s Tour de France and the world championships in Madrid A cautious Freire skipped Monday’s second leg of the Spanish race while Galvez’ teammates did excellent work to hold off Olympic champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) in the 159km race. For

Grand tours moving forwardOrganizers of cycling’s three big stage races moved forward Friday with their plans to create a rival racing league, officially asking the UCI for authorization to create its “Trophy of the Grand Tours” format. According to reports on the European wires, officials from Unipublic, RCS and ASO – organizers of the Vuelta a España, Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, respectively – have formally made steps to move forward with its own series. Talks between the grand tours and the ProTour broke down acrimoniously last year, prompting the organizers to seek an independent

Tom Boonen just wants to have some peace and quiet. These days, for the reigning world champion, that will come once the racing season begins. The dynamic 25-year-old is the biggest story in cycling crazy Belgium, which hasn’t seen a rider with as much charisma and winning attitude in a generation. To feed the journalistic combine, Boonen gave more than 300 interviews since winning the world title last September. With so much media attention, Boonen can’t wait for the relative tranquility of bumping shoulders at 40mph down the finishing straight. “People say the busiest time of the year is

Alessandro Petacchi was the star attraction of Tuesday’s team presentation for new Italian-German squad, Milram. In a flash program, the Italian sprinter was the top name among a 30-strong lineup that also includes German ace Erik Zabel and Italian attacker Mirko Celestino. Petacchi left the door open to make a run at starting all three grand tours for the 2006 season, something he skipped last year in his ill-fated run at the world title which stalled on the streets of Madrid last September. “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve started all three grand tours,” said Petacchi, who won stages

Three-time world champion Oscar Freire isn’t boasting of winning another rainbow jersey or sweeping the spring classics. Instead, the oft-injured Spanish sprinter is simply hoping to enjoy an injury-free season in 2006. Dogged by pain and complications since a June surgery that forced him to miss the road world’s on his home roads of Madrid last September, Freire is optimistic he can leave behind what was a black season and trade it for one rich with victories. “2005 was a very difficult year for me,” Freire told reporters at last week’s team presentation. “I won’t be able to say how I am

Ivan Basso might be pegged as the man to replace Lance Armstrong in the peloton’s power structure, but it appears the Italian won't be taking a page out of the Texan’s playbook this year. Armstrong was known for his methodical, precise preparation for the Tour de France, with training camps that kept him away from the racing scene during a good part of the season. Armstrong typically would arrive to the Tour with only about 20-25 days of racing in his legs. It appears Basso likes bumping shoulders in the peloton just as much as intense training. According to Tutto Bici, Basso will be

Eisel back on top in AlgarveA day after slipping back into the overall lead, Austria’s Bernhard Eisel (FDJeux.com) emphatically won his second stage of the Tour of the Algarve to confirm his lead with one day to go. Eisel held off Stuart O’Grady (Cofidis) and Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner) to take the victory and consolidate his hold on the overall lead. The win marked Eisel’s third win during his early season stop in Portugal, with one stage win in the GP Costa Azul and two in Algarve. Sunday’s finale ends with a climb, giving the climbers a chance to make up some lost time on the

Alexei Markov (Milaneza-Maia) won the third stage of the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal on Friday, outkicking Bernard Eisel (Française des Jeux) and Hans Dekkers (Rabobank) in the bunch sprint to claim the victory. By finishing second on the 200km stage from Vila do Bispo to Lagos in southern Portugal, meanwhile, Austria’s Eisel collected a six-second bonus and took the overall lead from Belgian Tom Steels (Davitamon-Lotto). Steels, who crossed in 25th place, slipped to second overall, at two seconds behind. Australian Stuart O’Grady (Cofidis) sits third at three seconds back. –Agence France

Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) used his stalwart train to catapult him to his second straight stage win in the Ruta del Sol while Francesco Cabello (Comunidad Valenciana) realized a career-long dream of winning on home roads after securing the overall title. The rolling course from Sevilla to Chiclana de la Frontera in Spain’s Andalucía region looked to favor the sprinters, but two riders slipped away early and nearly stole the spotlight. José Antonio López (Kaiku) and Carlos Castaño (Paul Versan) attacked early and built up a 3-minute advantage halfway through the stage, but the pair

Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) blazed to victory in Wednesday’sfourth stage of the Ruta del Sol. It’s the second win of the year for theItalian sprinter, who kept Max Van Heeswjk (Discovery Channel) from snaggingthe win. Tom Boonen (Quick Step) came through third while Oscar Freire(Rabobank) and Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) rounded out the top 5. The pace was furious in the 161km stage from La Guardia de Jaénto Córdoba, with the peloton finishing some 30 minutes faster thanexpected. Petacchi’s winning time came with an average time of 44.3 kphthanks to a gusting

Serge Baguet (Davitamon-Lotto) used his wile to win his second stagein a row in a wind-blasted Ruta del Sol while perennial runner-up FranciscoCabello (Comunidad Valenciana) slipped into the overall lead.Russian workhorse Viatcheslav Ekimov put Discovery Channel into thewinning break in Tuesday’s blustery third stage that saw overnight leaderCarlos García Quesada lose grip of the leader’s jersey.Strong crosswinds blasted the bunch right from the start in the 164kmmarch from just outside Granada to Jaen across the heart of Spain’s spectacularAndalucia region. García Quesada and Johan

It’s been a year since Marco Pantani was found dead in room 5-D of the Hotel Le Rose in Rimini, Italy. The autopsy later confirmed the iconic Italian cycling hero had died of a cocaine overdose. A year later, Italy continues to mourn his tragic death and is still trying to come to grips with the loss of Italy's most successful grand tour racer of his generation. Pantani’s life slowly unraveled after being kicked out of the 1999 Giro d’Italia just a few days short of winning a second consecutive title. The UCI’s “vampires” discovered his red blood cell count too high and Pantani left the

The appeal of the Ruta del Sol

Belgian rider Serge Baguet (Davitamon-Lotto) held off climbing specialistLeonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval) to win Monday’s second stage of the Rutadel Sol in southern Spain. Carlos García Quesada (Comunidad Valenciana) held onto the overalllead after crossing the line fourth just nine seconds slower than Baguet.Piepoli and Belgian John Vansummeren (Davitamon-Lotto) attacked early onthe climbing finish to La Zubia while Quesada and Baguet followed the aggression. A six-man break went away early, carving out a three-minute lead onthe bunch, but Comunidad Valenciana did the work to close down

Carlos García Quesada and his Comunidad Valenciana team delivered what might be the knock out punch in the opening stage Sunday in the Ruta del Sol in southern Spain. Quesada won the hilly 150.5km route from Benalmádena and Comares thanks to heavy pressure that split the peloton early, leaving only a group of 19 riders to contest for the spoils. With a start list heavy with sprinters, many of the big teams had riders present in the break and no one seemed interested in putting up a chase. Quesada, a runner-up last year to Juan Carlos Domínguez, attacked hard on the final climb coming into

Jens Voigt consolidated his lead in the Tour Méditerranéen on Saturday as Team CSC won the stage-4 team time trial, a 36km run between Bouc-Bel-Air and Berre l'Etang (Bouches-du-Rhône). Liquigas-Bianchi, whose leader, Italian Franco Pellizotti, was second overall going into Saturday’s stage, had a 17-second lead over CSC and 20 seconds on Rabobank at 16km. But CSC turned on the power in the final kilometers, and Liquigas – despite the best efforts of Pellizotti, Mario Cipollini and Swede Magnus Backstedt – saw its lead evaporate. At the end, CSC crossed 16 seconds up on Liquigas and

Voigt scores again in Tour MedJens Voigt (CSC) padded his lead in the Tour Méditerranéen on Friday, soloing to victory in stage 3 from La Garde to the summit of Mont Faron in Toulon. The 137km stage was animated at the foot of the day’s first climb, Fourches, at 32km. Five riders – Frenchmen Mickael Delage (Francaise des Jeux) and Lénaïc Olivier (Agritubel), Italian Alessandro Donati (Acqua & Sapone), Estonian Janek Tombak (Cofidis) and the Belgian Kristof Trouvé (MrBookmaker.com)– broke away and built a four-minute lead by 80km. Behind, Voigt’s team began a chase, assisted by the

It’s two for two for Oscar Freire, who scored his second straight victory in just two days of racing in the 2005 season. A day after making his season debut a winning one at the Trofeo Mallorca, the reigning world champion won Monday’s Trofeo Alcudia in similar fashion. It’s not bad for a guy who only has about 2500km in his legs when many of his competitors might have double or triple that amount. “I didn’t start training seriously until after Christmas and then I got sick with a cold, so I haven’t been able to put in the kilometers I normally would,” Freire said after Sunday’s win. “To