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hawaii, ironman, kona, Marino Vanhoenacker, mirinda carfrae, News, Racing, rinny, Triathlon, Van Lierde, World Championships -

Mirinda Carfrae crowned her phenomenal race to catch up

This year’s Ironman World Championships proved that the annual gathering of the best triathletes usually is decided on the run. Conditions were hard with choppy waters and heavy winds. When leaving T2, Mirinda’s gap to Rachel Joyce run up to 14 minutes and 33 seconds. Victory seemed out of reach – but not for the Australian speedster. She quickly found her rhythm and passed one after another of the 7 athletes ahead of her. At around 6k to go, things came thick and fast. Rinny first flew past Joyce. Soon afterwards Swiss Daniela Ryf – a Hawaii rookie, the currant Ironman 70.3 World Champion and multiple winner of the season – was unable to respond.
With an incredible marathon of 2:50:26 she even topped her last year’s marathon record by 12 seconds and crossed the finish line at Alii Drive as an Ironman World Champion for the third time. Mirinda at the official press conference: “It’s a bit crazy. To say that I am overwhelmed, that would be totally understated. The run was super hard. I had no choice but full gas. Before the race my coach had told me that everything over 10 minutes in T2 would be too much. ...

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colorado, cycling, nano arm warmers, napa valley, News, porland, san francisco, seattle, sottile due vest, summer, usa -

Summer cycling in the US

It’s been a spectacular summer (at least where I’ve been), but now the kit that has seen me through the past few months is slowly being replaced by leg warmers, long-sleeved jerseys and warmers gilets. The European weather is heading into the autumnal spectrum of the season so any chance to keep hold of that sun is always welcome. Even if it involves many hours on cramped confined planes. A lucky chance with work cropped up that saw me heading State side, and as always the bike wasn’t left behind. California along with a several other areas in the US has a great reputation for cycling. Colorado, Portland and Seattle are a few of the other prime destination. Unfortunately due to time constraints I had to lump for only the areas around San Francisco and the Napa Valley, I know I know, its a damn shame but even through this hardship I managed to have a great time. For starters I’ll cover what was definitely one of the harder rides that I’ve been foolish enough to undertake in the past few years. A spin around parts of the Napa Valley, or more precisely, the roads around Clif Bar founder Gary ...

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2014, dan, daniel, lombardia, martin, News, Racing, victory, win -

Dan Martin blasts to victory in Lombardia

Il Lombardia 2014: Finalmente Dan Martin! What a spectacular win and huge relief for Dan who had most of his season destroyed by bad luck, including the violent crash he suffered in the Giro d’Italia. Martin played his cards perfectly today, pulling clear in a group of big favourites up the final climb inside the last 5km. And when some attacks from that group came up short and the leaders started looking at each other with around 500 metres remaining, the Irishman swept through the final right-hand corner and just kept on going, sprinting solo for victory. A happy Dan Martin punch the air several times in victory, the clearly frustration of his near season-ending crash in the Giro d’Italia and his crash in the final corner when leading solo at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, everything being released in the final moments of the 2014 Lombardia. Dan’s victory in Lombardia is his second one-day Monument victory of his career, after he won at Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2013. After Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Il Lombardia is the fifth and final Monument of the season. Martin’s win today was the fourth time an Irish rider has won Lombardy, with Sean Kelly having taken ...

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louis, meintjes, MTN-Qhubeka, News, Racing, u23 -

Meintjes hopes to repeat at U23 Worlds

Last year Louis Meintjes (MTN-Qhubeka) took a surprise silver medal in the U23 road race at the World Championships. Having just finished his first Vuelta, the talented climber is back for more in 2014 and is confident in his chances on a course that suits him well. Going into last year’s World Championships, Louis Meintjes had not been tipped as one of the potential winners of the race. However, the young South African did an outstanding ride on the hilly course in Florence, escaping late in the race to take second behind Mate Mohoric. This year Meintjes is back in Ponferrada hoping to capitalize on another year of riding at the professional level. Being part of a strong group of young African climbers, the South African has been doing races like Giro del Trentino, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Tour de Suisse and most recently Vuelta a Espana while riding in the colours of MTN-Qhubeka. Meintjes kicked off his Worlds campaign with today’s time trial where he finished a solid 8th. Not known as a specialist, he was one of the early starters and set an early mark for his rivals to beat. In the end, he was beaten by many of the pre-race ...

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Cartmell, Fraser, ironman, News, Racing, Triathlon, wales -

Fraser Cartmell 2nd at Ironman Wales – his race recap

Scotsman Fraser Cartmell raced shoulder to shoulder with winner Matt Trautman for a long time of the race. Read more about his impressions and how the race unfolded. On my 2nd attempt at finishing Ironman Wales I crossed the line in 2nd place. After more than 9 hours of racing on a course best described as ‘brutal’ I think this shot best reminds me of the considerable amount of relief to have just gotten it done! The weather is always a factor when racing in the UK and this weekend the gods couldn’t have been much kinder. Save however for the easterly wind which coupled with an incoming tide created a formidable looking sea on race morning. Below on the left I appear to be figuring out exactly where the first swim buoy is. I really feel for all of the athletes who worry about getting through the swim leg of an Ironman – it’s a long old way in calm waters, but I’m afraid on Sunday morning it was anything but calm or indeed ‘flat’ and I for one didn’t enjoy it very much at all. Indeed I was sure (probably for the first time during my years racing) that after we had completed the first ...

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