After almost a lifetime dreaming of testing himself on the corsa rosa, the Yorkshireman rolled out in the colours of Team Sky on May 7 2011 for 21 stages that would feature 40 categorised climbs, including six summit finishes, among them ascents of the Zoncolan, the Passo Giau, and the Colle delle Finestre.

From his earliest days as a cyclist, the Giro was the Grand Tour Downing wanted to ride. “It seemed so colourful and happy,” he recalled, “and then two weeks in, I was wondering what I had let myself in for.”

Downing scored a top 10 finish on stage 18 of the 2011 Giro d'Italia. Pic: Team Sky

In the final week, with almost 2680 kilometres already in his legs, Downing would experience the huge demands made by the Giro for comparatively modest reward and the painful and immediate consequence of error on its high-speed descents.

The eighteenth stage from Morbegno to San Pellegrino Terme found Downing in a group of 15 riders that would remain ahead of the peloton to the finish; the last of the 2011 race that would do so. He remembers being among the small group of riders who crested the final climb of the day, an eight kilometre ascent of the Ganda, ahead of the pursuing bunch. “I got over that in fifth or sixth, but guys came over from the back and I just didn’t quite make the front group at the finish, which was hard, but a top 10 finish on a stage like that was not bad going.”

A rude awakening from fresh memories of a ‘great day’ in the Giro came the following day, with a crash on the nineteenth stage from Bergamo to Macugnaga. Part of a group chasing hard on a descent to get back on to the back of the peloton, Downing found himself on the outside of two riders through a tight hairpin.

“A couple of guys got a corner wrong and forced me off the road; the corner tightened up even more, and I had no chance to brake. I just went straight on over the edge; where I was going, I wasn’t sure,” he recalls.

“The next thing I remember was hitting a tree, which stopped m in my tracks and totally took the breath out of me. I didn’t know what I had done.

“I could see my bike further down. The natural instinct was to get my bike, but the mechanic said, ‘No, you just get back up here.’ I remember getting to the top of the hill and coughing up a lung. It was immense pain. Then I crashed again two corners down because I’d broken my shoe cleats. I overshot a corner trying to get back on the bunch,” he said.

Instinct and adrenalin can be called upon to recover from a first crash; only will power will suffice to climb back on a second time. “It was the nineteenth day of the Giro and I wanted to finish, so I was going to do everything I could to try and finish it. I managed to do that with the help of a couple of teammates.” he says, identifying Dario Cionne as one who “really helped me out over the climbs.”

Spectators must wonder what drives a badly injured rider to climb back on his bike when the effects of a first crash cause a second. To abandon after such misfortune would be entirely understandable and without dishonor. But riders like Downing don’t abandon; to have done so, he says, would have “destroyed” him, and so with chest injuries he confesses left him feeling the following morning as if he had been run over by a train, he climbed back on his back and pedaled for Macugnaga, his thoughts focussed on rejoining the group.

“I’m the type of rider that if I do crash anywhere it’s a case of ‘Put me back on my bike,’” he says. “I wanted to finish my first Giro, plus that’s the sort of guy I am: I don’t like to quit anything, really.”

Russell Downing crashed twice on the nineteenth stage of the 2011 Giro, but climbed back on to finish the stage, and, two days later, the race. Pic: Team Sky

“It was brutal,” Downing recalls of his first day in the mountains, “and it wasn’t just me in my first Grand Tour who thought it was brutal.” He remembers “big guys”, GC contenders, lined up for hours, ready to attack, left looking at each other as a breakaway disappeared. “I’d think, ‘well, it wasn’t just me then.’”

The stage on which he encountered the first big mountain of the race escapes him (“it was just numbers and miles with the Giro”) but he recalls being among those riders shed from the back of the peloton early on the climb. “I was maybe the tenth person to go out the back. It was really hard and at that point there were people who had gone home already. I thought: ‘I’m in trouble here.’”

Forcing himself into a rhythm, he fell in alongside QuickStep’s Francesco Chicci, but a rider from BMC slid from the back of the straggling group and failed to make the time cut. “Memories like that made me think, ‘This is pretty hard.’” But after two days, Downing found his climbing legs and a groove in which he would remain throughout his daily trial in the mountains. “After the first couple of days, I was climbing comfortably in the Grupetto and you realised there were guys around you who knew what they were doing and could work out the time cut.”

Despite his extraordinary efforts in the Giro, Downing’s contract with Team Sky was not renewed, and he has continued his career with Endura Racing, scoring four victories already this season, in domestic and international races. The victories, he says, are in part the result of his efforts in Italy last May, he says.

“I can suffer as a bike rider and still get through, but at the Giro last year, I learned to suffer at a whole new level. This year, it’s brought me on that extra per cent. Now I can dig a bit deeper and have got a bigger engine.”

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]]> http://roadcyclinguk.com/zfeaturedbox/brits-at-the-giro-2011-russell-downing.html/feed/ 0 http://roadcyclinguk.com/news/racing-news/giro-ditalia-stage-18-guardini-outsprints-cavendish-to-first-grand-tour-victory.html http://roadcyclinguk.com/news/racing-news/giro-ditalia-stage-18-guardini-outsprints-cavendish-to-first-grand-tour-victory.html#comments Thu, 24 May 2012 15:02:52 +0000 George Scott http://roadcyclinguk.com/?p=35247 Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) outsprinted Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) to victory on stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia in Vedelago as the Manx Missile missed out on the chance to earn maximum points to aid his red jersey campaign.

Mark Cavendish slams his handlebars in frustration after being beaten to the line by Andrea Guardini

Cavendish’s lead had been cut to just one point at the top of the points classification by Joaquim Rodriguez after the Katusha rider won stage 17, the Spaniard’s second victory of the race. With two mountain stages looming before the final time trial on Sunday, stage 18 represented Cavendish’s final chance to score big points.

Cavendish won the day’s intermediate sprint to earn eight points and looked well-placed ahead of the finale but could not respond to Guardini’s kick, with the world champion forced to settle for second ahead of Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giocattoli).

That earned Cavendish an additional 20 points, extending his lead over Rodriguez to 29, but the race leader is sure to feature at the front of the race on the two Dolomites stages to come, with the destination of the red jersey now out of Cavendish’s hands.

After a tough stage on Wednesday, which scaled four mountains including the 2,236m Passo Giau, stage 17 was a chance for the race’s general classification contenders to earn some respite before the weekend’s racing, with no change in the GC by the end of the day.

The 139km largely downhill stage also represented the final chance for the Giro’s non-climbers to try for a stage win and four riders went clear early in the stage.

Sky pegged the quartet’s advantage to under the three minute mark, however, and upped the pace in the peloton significantly as the intermediate sprint approached, reeling in the break to allow Cavendish to take maximum points.

With 65km of the stage remaining, a new four-man break went up the road but were only allowed an advantage of around a minute. Lars Bak (Lotto Belisol) then attacked from the front of the peloton with 14km to go and rode across to the sole remaining escapee,  Mickael Delage (FDJ-BigMat), but the duo were swept up within the final 5km after a brave effort.

Many of the Giro’s top sprinters, including Matt Goss, Mark Renshaw and Theo Boss, have already abandoned the race and, with the peloton as one, Cavendish was overwhelming favourite to secure a fourth stage victory.

But Sky were forced to utilise a depleted leadout train after Peter Kennaugh abandoned early on stage 17, forcing Bernhard Eisel and Geraint Thomas to increase their efforts in the final kilometres to move Cavendish into position.

But several tough mountain stages looked to have taken the kick out of the 27-year-old’s legs and 22-year-old Guardini jumped from the Sky sprinter’s wheel to underline his promise by securing a first Grand Tour stage victory, with Cavendish’s slamming his handlebars in frustration as he crossed the line.

Giro d’Italia stage 18 – result

1) Andrea Guardini (ITA) – Farnese Vini-Selle Italia
2) Mark Cavendish (GBR) – Team Sky
3) Roberto Ferrari (ITA) – Androni Giocattoli
4) Robert Hunter (RSA) – Garmin-Barracuda
5) Lucas Sebastian Haedo (ARG) – SaxoBank
6) Giacomo Nizzolo (ITA) – RadioShack-Nissan-Trel
7) Alexander Kristoff (NOR) – Katusha
8) Francesco Chicchi (ITA) – Omega Pharma-QuickStep
9) Geoffrey Soupe (FRA) – FDJ-BigMat
10) Dennis Vanendert (BEL) – Lotto-Belisol

General classification

1) Joaquim Rodriguez (SPA) – Katusha – 77:47:38 hours
2) Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) – Garmin-Barracuda +30″
3) Ivan Basso (ITA) – Liquigas-Cannondale +1’22″
4) Michele Scarponi (ITA) – Lampre – ISD +1’36″
5) Rigoberto Uran Uran (COL) – Team Sky +2’56″
6) Benat Intxausti (SPA) – Movistar Team +3’04″
7) Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) – Colnago-CSF Inox +3’19″
8) Paolo Tiralongo (ITA) – Astana +4’13″
9) Thomas De Gendt (BEL) – Vacansoleil-DCM +4’38″
10) Sergio Henao (COL) – Team Sky +4’42″

Points classification

1) Mark Cavendish (GBR) – Team Sky – 138 points
2) Joaquim Rodirguez (SPA) – Katusha – 109 points
3) Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) – Garmin-Barracuda – 73 points
4) Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) – Colnago-CSF Inox – 63 points
5) Alexander Kristoff (NOR) – Katusha – 58 points

The Italian manufacturer launched the Record and Super Record EPS groupsets in November 2011, and the new components mark Campagnolo’s move into the electronic time trial/triathlon market, while the new Bora Ultra and Bullet Ultra chainsets can be used as part of either a mechanical or electronic setup.

The bar end EPS controls, which weigh 98g for both, feature a multi-shifting system which allows the user to shift up or down the entire 11 sprocket cassette in one move, while Multi-Dome Tech, five aluminium dome-shaped layers on top of one another, produces a tactile click when shifting, with Campagnolo wanting to mirror the positive shift feeling achieved with their mechanical groupsets.

The electronic bar end controls are 100 per cent waterproof and have a Switch Mode button which allows you to check the level of battery charge while riding, as well as make minor adjustments to the zero position of the front and rear derailleurs.

The ergonomic and aero-shaped EPS brake lever shift controls (109g for both) use a quick release system to ease installation and removal of wheels, while also allowing you to open the distance between the rim and brake pads. Shifting buttons are kept at a safe distance to minimise shifting errors.

The Bora Ultra chainset (795g) uses a titanium axle and titanium screws with left-handed thread to reduce the overall weight by 40g. XPSS technology uses an exclusive design of eight up-shift zones and two down-shift zones of the chainring, with profiled teeth and zones dedicated to upward and downward chain movement allow for quick and precise shifting. The chainset is available with 53-39t, 54-42t and 55-42t chainrings, with 170mm, 172.5mm and 175mm crank arm lengths.

Finally, the Bullet Ultra chainset (815g), one level down from the Bora Ultra, is available with 50-34t, 52-36t and 53-39t chainrings, again with 170mm, 172.5mm and 175mm cranks.

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The event takes place at Dark Star’s brewery in West Sussex and starts at 1pm with a ride out – both on and off-road routes will be on offer – and you can throw a bag in the van with some clean clothes for when you arrive back at the brewery.

Roller racing starts at 3pm and is organised by South Coast Sprints, with impromptu competitions and prizes through the day, while the eight fastest riders will race head-to-head in the finals.

Tickets cost £5, which includes a pint of Dark Star – a beer brewed exclusively for the event – and there will be a BBQ cooking up a feast all day using fresh, local ingredients from the local Dark Star pub. There will also be a selection of award winning ales for you to try and buy, plus a range of soft drinks and wine.

The event comes to a close at 8pm but, if you want to keep the party going, the organisers will be heading to The Partridge Dark Star pub just around the corner. With blue skies and warm weather forecast, it sounds like a winner to us. Head to www.spinupinabrewery.com for more.

Factory Media's Alex Roty will pedal to Paris to raise $1,000 for the Livestrong Foundation

Here’s a man pedaling in a good cause – Alex Roty, digital content manager on our Mpora sites.

A proud Frenchman, Alex will be cycling from his adopted home in London to the capital of his native land to raise funds for Livestrong, the foundation to fight cancer set up by seven-time Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong.

“I can’t go back as I’ve started my training and already booked my way back from Paris!” Alex joked.

He plans to complete the ride in three days at the end of August and has set up a website, Twitter and Facebook pages to document his experiences and “spread the love as far as possible”.

Alex is also harnessing the support of London’s large French community and will be featured in next month’s edition of ICI Londres.

He has set himself the target of raising $1,000 for Livestrong, believing UK supporters will get more for their money with donations in dollars.

“I consider it as an important cause to support and I am very determined and dedicated to reach my goal,” said Alex.

To back Alex and the Livestrong Foundation, visit riding2paris

Team Sky’s Pinarellos, FDJ-BigMat’s Lapierres, Rabobank’s Giants, GreenEDGE’s Scotts, Radioshack-Nissan-Trek’s, erm, Treks and Katusha’s Canyons all come under the spotlight in two minutes and 51 seconds of unadulterated bike bling.

Shimano are the top dogs in 2012 when it comes to pro peloton componentry, with ten teams (BMC, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Garmin-Barracuda and Vacansoleil-DCM are also sponsored by Shimano) wearing the Japanese manufacturer’s bits, compared to six for SRAM and three for Campagnolo.

Not a bad day to be in the helicopter…

The stage was the first of three epic days in the Dolomites (with a sprint stage in between) and took full advantage of the region’s epic landscape.

Vacansoleil-DCM’s Gustav Larsson gets in a tangle.

Ivan Basso’s Liquigas-Cannondale squad set a blistering pace to the foot of the Passio Giau.

That blew the lead group apart, leaving six riders – Scarponi, Hesjedal, Basso, Pozzovivo, Rodriguez and Uran – to forge a path up the 2,236m mountain pass.

Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) and Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) were dropped with less than 1km to the summit but bridged the gap on the subsequent descent – and it was race leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) who won the sprint finish in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

The frame is made from high modulus carbon, which Wilier say will resist up to 60 tonnes. Our tests didn’t expose it to such pressures, but for a machine this light (799 grams for a painted, medium frame, with each purchaser given a certificate guaranteeing its weight) the knowledge was reassuring.

The Zero 7 is a machine as quick as thought, one that responded unhesitatingly to changes of pace and direction. Our test pilot attacked local Strava records with abandon, achieving 50kmh on a flat road with relative ease, scything through the traffic with an unflinching confidence inspired by the machine’s ability to respond as if guided telepathically.

Ascending, the Zero 7 is every bit as good as you would imagine from a bike so tailored to climbing that only Cunego and Scarponi among the Lampre-ISD squad are issued with them (and theirs are weighted for UCI compliance). There is something almost revelatory about climbing with a bike you barely notice is beneath you. The sensation of power through the pedals being converted almost entirely to forward motion was a new one for us. After a winter encumbered by a faithful, but weighty steel steed, it was rewarding indeed.

The ride on the flat is impossibly fast. ‘Ridiculous’ is a word not usually offered as a compliment but one that was bandied with unusual frequency among the salivating riding colleagues granted a spin on the Zero 7, most often in relation to the bottom bracket, the 386 unit designed in conjunction with FSA (30mm diameter bearing, 86mm wide shell). Every manufacturer claims a flex free bottom bracket. This is the first we’ve ridden.

The bulky shell of the bottom bracket aside, the Zero 7 is modestly proportioned by the standards of modern carbon frames. Absent, for example, is the drain pipe down tube of some of its competitors; the head tube is large, but not outlandish. Conversely, the box section seat stays are not quite as spindly as, say, those on Cervelo machines of similar pedigree (interestingly, the Zero 7 was Wilier’s response to the ‘super lightweight’ arms race started by the Canadian firm’s Project California). The non-drive side chain stay, box section again, is notably larger than its partner, but doesn’t appear exaggerated. The riveted cable guides rather let the side down, though; internal routing we felt would have done greater justice to a machine of this pedigree.

An impressive achievement is the degree to which the frame’s stiffness is located in its lower portion, delivering an unexpected level of comfort for a machine designed purely to travel quickly. This, perhaps, is where some of the £3999 required to purchase such a frame is invested: in the skill of the engineers. A 106-year history and WorldTour clientele aside, evidence that Wilier know something about building bicycles can be found in the quality (in every sense) of the ride. They would also point to the Special Elastic Integrated film, a ‘viscoelastic’ material surrounding the fibres. While it hasn’t supplanted steel or titanium on our list of materials we’d choose to ride all day, the Zero 7 was a good deal easier on the human frame than we’d expected of a bike used by professional riders.

How do you dress a £4000 Italian frameset? Why, in Campagnolo Super Record 11, of course. We won’t start a separate eulogy here, but Campag’s thumb shifter is the most ergonomically intuitive of any of the big three’s designs, and the modulation of the brakes was a different class to anything we’d previously experienced.

The shiny carbon cockpit came from FSA and the wheels from Fulcrum (Zeros, naturally enough). Interestingly, the wheelset offered one of the few opportunities for further weight saving on the build supplied by UK importers, ATB Sales. As the Zero 7 departs RCUK Towers, carbon hoops from Smart ENVE and Reynolds are set to arrive, leaving us to rue what might have been.

Finally, the colour. Our Zero 7 came in black and a suitably flamboyant shade of red, the right and natural colour for high performance Italian machinery, we’d say. The alternative is the black and high viz yellow recently seen beneath Damiano Cunego in Sunday’s fifteenth stage of the Giro, to our eyes the less attractive option. RCUK 1 – Cunego 0.

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Wilier Triestina

ATB Sales

Can Edinburgh replicate the successful Grand Depart of the 2007 Tour from London?

The group coordinating the bid, Event Scotland, say ‘discussions are on going’ with ASO, the Tour’s organisers and a formal proposal is underway.

The hope to “keep the Tour in Britain for as long as possible” will see the riders head south from a preferred grand depart in Edinburgh.

Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, said: “To bring such a fantastic event to Scotland would be a huge coup, but we have a strong track record and I know that the country has a huge amount to offer ASO and the cyclists taking part.

“The Scottish Government is committed to supporting major international events.

“I have no doubt that the combined expertise of the UK partners would lead to a first-class opening stage of the Tour.”

Organisers hope to build on the success of the Tour’s 2007 visit to London and Kent, and momentum from the 2012 Olympic Games and 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Ian Drake, CEO of British Cycling, said the Tour 2007 visit had been a great success and pledged to throw the organisation’s weight behind Event Scotland’s bid.

UK Sport will help shape the bid, an agency that has secured the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London and the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow.

Director, Simon Morton, said: “The Tour de France is a spectacular competition, and would provide a fantastic opportunity to engage the British public in the sport.”

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Ivan Basso sets the pace on the Passo Giau

Rodriguez edged out Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) in Cortina d’Ampezzo, with Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) third ahead of Rigberto Uran (Team Sky), Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF Inox).

Pozzovivo lead Rodriguez, Basso and Hesjedal over the top of the Passo Giau but Uran and Scarponi bridged the gap on the descent to the ski resort.

With no time bonuses on offer for the stage victory, Rodriguez continues to lead Hesjedal by 30 seconds, with Basso one minute and 26 seconds adrift. Scarponi, Uran and Pozzovivo move up to fourth, fifth and seventh overall respectively.

The stage was the first of a hat-trick of epic mountain stages – split by a flat sprint stage on Thursday – and four categorised climbs, culminating in the 2,236m Passo Giau, ended the GC hopes of a host of riders.

Liquigas-Cannondale set a blistering pace up to the foot of the final climb, a 9.9km ascent averaging 9.3 per cent, and a leading group of approximately 25 riders was soon blown to bits, with the six who would go on to contest the spring forging a lone path on the Giau’s fearsome slopes.

It looked like the leaders would crest the climb as one until the diminutive Pozzovivo moved to the front within the last kilometre of the ascent, immediately putting Scarponi and Uran in trouble.

Scarponi began to suffer with cramp as he began the technical 17km descent to Cortina d’Ampezzo but both he and Uran worked their way back to the lead quartet.

And it was Rodriguez who won the uphill sprint to claim his second triumph of the race having previously won stage ten.

Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) finished in the gruppetto and will return to the fore on stage 18, which follows a gently downhill 149km route from San Vito di Cadore to Vedelago, before the contenders for overall victory lock horns on Friday, with a summit finish stop Alpe di Pampeago.

Stage 20 – the Queen Stage – will then conclude with the highest finish in Grand Tour history on the 2,727m Passo Stelvio, before Sunday’s 30km individual time trial in Milan.

Giro d’Italia stage 17 – result

1) Joaquim Rodriguez (SPA) – Katusha 5:24:41 hours
2) Ivan Basso (ITA) – Liquigas-Cannondale – same time
3) Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) – Garmin-Barracuda
4) Rigoberto Uran Uran (COL) – Team Sky
5) Michele Scarponi (ITA) – Lampre-ISD
6) Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) – Colnago-CSF Inox +2″
7) Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (SPA) – Movistar +1’22″
8) Daniel Moreno Fernandez (SPA) – Katusha – same time
9) Thomas De Gendt (BEL) – Vacansoleil-DCM
10) Johann Tschopp (SWI) – BMC Racing

General classification

1) Joaquim Rodriguez (SPA) – Katusha – 74:46:46 hours
2) Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) – Garmin-Barracuda +30″
3) Ivan Basso (ITA) – Liquigas-Cannondale +1’22″
4) Michele Scarponi (ITA) – Lampre – ISD +1’36″
5) Rigoberto Uran Uran (COL) – Team Sky +2’56″
6) Benat Intxausti (SPA) – Movistar Team +3’04″
7) Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) – Colnago-CSF Inox +3’19″
8) Paolo Tiralongo (ITA) – Astana +4’13″
9) Thomas De Gendt (BEL) – Vacansoleil-DCM +4’38″
10) Sergio Henao (COL) – Team Sky +4’42″