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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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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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Austin, Driveway Series, Racing, Texas -

Race Scene: Austin, TX

Austin, Texas had been on our list of cities to visit for a while now, so it made perfect sense for us to make a trip down to check out the popular Driveway Series weekly race and see what racing was like in the state of Texas. Unlike some weekly road races around the country that have relatively short seasons, the Driveway Series begins in March and stretches almost indefinitely into mid-October. Most of us, particularly those of us in Portland, Oregon, have long since put the road bikes away and are fully into ‘cross season, welcoming rain and cooler weather. It was expected that there would be a low turnout at the race due to the oily-black clouds in the distance, but the Austin racing community showed up in force and wasn’t fazed as rain hit the course and lightning arced across the sky. Even with rain in the forecast for a Saturday morning ride with some of our key accounts, most riders showed up for the hilly ride through Austin’s surrounding countryside. Contrary to what the state of Texas may conjure in the mind, Austin is decidedly not flat, brown, and dry. As far as racing and riding ...

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bronzini, elite, giorgia, Photo, ponferrada, race, Racing, road, uci, women -

Ponferrada: Women’s Elite Road Race

Defending champion Marianne Vos missed out on medals as France’s Pauline Ferrand Prevot won gold in the women’s road race ahead of Lisa Brennauer (Germany) and Emma Johansson (Sweden) in second and third, and Giorgia Bronzini (Italy) in a narrow fourth. Towards the top of the final ascent of Mirador, Armitstead went clear with Vos, Johansson and Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy. “The attack of the group of four with Vos, Armitstead, Johansson and Borghini made a big mess.” The quartet maintained their advantage on the 2km descent into Ponferrada but began looking at each other, rather than working together in the final kilometer. That allowed a group containing 22-year-old Ferrand Prevot to catch them 500m from the finish. Vos led the sprint into the final 200m but Ferrand Prevot, Brennauer, Johannson and Bronzini all raced by. The attack of the group of four with Vos, Armitstead, Johansson and Borghini made a big mess.” said Giorgia Bronzini  to Castelli after the race. “When we caught them with 500m to go, I found myself boxed in and didn’t really have the punch to overtake Lisa or Emma when I finally found my line next to the barrier. ”

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championship, ponferrada, Racing, worlds -

Ponferrada: Let’s Go Riding

The 2014 UCI Road World Championships is right now taking place in the historic city of Ponferrada in the Northwest of Spain. Stunning nature and great climbs all over the place. However, the Alto de Montearenas and Alto de Compostilla are no special climbs whatsoever, but since riders have to pass them 14 times they tend to get nasty. The circuit is 18.2 kilometres, which gives a total distance of 254,8 kilometres. Meeting up with the Italian Team on Thursday, we managed to get a seat in the Italian Team car following the elite men’s team during their first recon together on the race course. The road race is a criterium of 18.2 kilometres in length. The first 4 kilometres are flat, after which the start of the climb to Alto de Montearenas has an average gradient of 8%. After a few hundred meters the ascent flattens and the remaining 5.1 kilometres are 3.5% on average. Next is a descent, the steepest part is after 11 kilometres – at this point the riders are going downhill with a 16% negative gradient. Alto de Compostilla is a short climb of 1.1 kilometre. The average gradient is 6.5 % and some of the steepest parts are ...

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