The Amgen Tour of California has seen the resurgence of Wiggo from a 2 year hiatus. After a strong showing in the Paris Roubaix where he finished in the top 10, he rode magnificently and beat all on the road, finsihing comfortably atop the podium. It was a great race, Cavendish, or should I say Cvndsh (http://www.cvndsh.com/) won a couple of stages in tight sprints, even rolling over some tough hills in one of the lumpier stages to get back on.
In fact, only Brits wore the yellow jersey in the race, Cav winning it on day one, Wiggo smashing the time trial on day two and gaining an unassailable lead. Maybe the competition wasn't there to really challenge Wiggo, but he won very comfortably against all the oppo there and the time trial was something else. In competition there was Peter Sagan who picked up one stage, the Jensie (https://twitter.com/thejensie) being awesome as ever, and the great american (sorry, 'Merican) hope Taylor Phinney. In fact, Taylor Phinney's victory on stage 5 where he soloed downhill and then time trialed away over 25 km, despite the chase of Sagan's Cannondale team, was one of the most impressive stage wins I have ever seen. 75 mph downhill, great descending skills, awesome time trialing and full commitment - never looking back for that entire 25 km until the final 400 m. Incredible to watch.
And thank you too for the awesome tour tracker (http://tourtracker.amgentourofcalifornia.com/) where I was able to watch live video from France and Portugal without restrictions.
And of course, there was the onboard cameras of John Degenenkolb showing us what it really is like in the raw end of the sprint in a pro race (http://vimeo.com/95181887). And queue the trolls telling us that he only lost to Cav by a tyre's width due to the non-aeroness of that camera!
And of course the epic Mount Diablo stage - the site of an annual amateur race (http://www.savemountdiablo.org/activities_events_chal.html)I loved it, thank you very much.
Oh and finally, the guy who leapt a lap early in the final crit stage - celebrating as he crossed the line, only to realise that it was a tad too early. Woopsie! (http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/05/news/peter-sagan-wins-stage-7-amgen-tour-california_328468)
Meanwhile the Giro D'Italia has been on and even spent the first 3 days in Ireland. It was an incredibly well supported time in Ireland, and even the crazy rain did not dampen the fervour of the Irish. Moving back to Italy the weather has been exactly the same with crashes dominating the first week. Plenty of serious competition is out: Purito Rodriguez, Dan Martin amongst the favourites to pull out, leaving Cadel Evans in pole position with only the spectres of Rigoberto Duran Duran and Nairo Quintana ready to leap in the high mountains. It is a race that is the most beautiful out there, and disappointingly weak in terms of competition. It is now Cadel's to lose and will get super exciting as we get into weeks two and three.
Back in amateur news, a Brit has hit the headlines after giving a wave to the camera during a sportive in the UK, losing control, and dumping himself ungainly into the verge. Lovely stuff! (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/10842025/Amateur-cyclists-celebrations-that-were-his-downfall.html)
And there was some banter about a guy who took a sneakie selfie of himself with a collapsed Marcel Kittel a couple of yards across the finish line. Banter. Silly banter! (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2628018/Teenage-cycling-fan-David-McCarthy-apologises-cyclist-Marcel-Kittel-taking-selfie-suffering-exhaustion-posting-Instagram.html) I'm sure we'd have all done the same!
And finally - handlebars are for wimps! #slamthatstem #superlo #sopro #htfu
Ride on dudes! JJ
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