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Contest, italy, ponferrada, winner -

Italian Kit Contest: We have the Winners!

If your name is Nic Stevenson, Nicola Franco or Henrik Nilsson,  then you are probably pretty happy right now! That’s right, you’re the lucky owner of the #Ponferrada14 Team Italia National jersey and bib-short. 

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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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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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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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