Caleb Ewan wins stage 11 of the Tour de France: Daily News Digest
Welcome to your Daily News Digest. Here’s what’s happening today:
Caleb Ewan wins stage 11 of the Tour de France, Drapac will cease operations at the end of 2019, Nippo-Vini set to fold. Those stories and more in today’s Daily News Digest.
Story of the Day: Ewan tops Groenewegen to win stage 11 of the Tour de France
Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) sprinted to his first career Tour de France stage victory on Wednesday’s stage 11.
The 25-year-old Australian narrowly pipped Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) on the line in Toulouse to take the win, with Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) settling for third.
“I’ve been close in the last four sprints that I’ve done, said Ewan, who had already racked up four top-three finishes in Tour sprints so far.
“My team never lost faith in me. I never lost faith in my sprint. I knew that if everything came together I could be the fastest on the day, and I think I showed that today.”
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) finished safely to retain his overall race lead as the Tour heads into the mountains.
More to come…
Moving Pictures
The latest entry in the EF Gone Racing series from Rapha offers a fascinating look at Lachlan Morton’s GBDuro. The Australian covered 2,000 self-supported kilometers on a journey across the island of Great Britain, from Land’s End to John o’ Groats.
Race Radio
Drapac Cycling will cease operations at the end of 2019
Australian Continental squad Drapac will close shop at the end of the year, the team has announced.
The reasons behind the decision remain unclear, although founder Michael Drapac suggested in a May interview with CyclingTips following the tragic death of his son Damion that he was interested in shifting his focus to grassroots cycling.
Michael Drapac has backed an iteration of the team since starting a domestic squad back in 2004. That team became a Continental outfit in 2006, and then upgraded to the Pro Continental level in 2014. From mid-2016 to the end of 2018, Drapac linked up with Slipstream Sports to form the Cannondale-Drapac team and then the EF Education First-Drapac team, while a separate Continental squad under the Drapac name came into existence in 2017.
This year will be that team’s last.
Nippo-Vini Fantini set to fold at the end of the season
Nippo-Vini Fantini also reportedly set to close its doors at the end of 2019. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, team manager Francesco Pelosi says new UCI regulations – which include an increase in the minimum number of riders on a team – make it financially impossible for the team to continue.
The Nippo-Vini Fantini organization has raced under moniker or another since 2008, and took an elusive first Giro d’Italia stage victory earlier this season thanks to Damiano Cima. Invites to the Giro will be much harder to come by next year, however, as reforms will create a new system to standardize some WorldTour race invites. That, in conjunction with cost increases, reportedly signals the end of the line for Nippo-Vini Fantini.
“With the 2020 reforms in place, professional teams need a much bigger budget in the face of minor guarantees,” Pelosi told La Gazzetta, pointing out that the team’s €2.8 million budget would need to increase to €4.5 million to survive.
“There is no way to continue, and the only solution is to combine [with another team].”
Whether a merger is possible remains to be seen.
Tech News
Lezyne updates its mid-range GPS units
Lezyne has updated its well priced mid-range Super and Macro GPS models, adding longer lasting batteries (28 hours claimed), improved screen resolution and optional landscape screen orientation. The new Super Pro GPS (US$150) is a smaller, simpler, and cheaper model that sits directly below Lezyne’s top-tier Mega XL and C units we reviewed previously.
Smaller again, the new Marco Plus GPS (US$100) loses a few functions, such as ANT+ connectivity, but surprisingly retains mapping functionality. Finally, there’s the new Macro Easy GPS (US$80), a basic Bluetooth-ready GPS computer without mapping.
In case you missed it …
Visualising the 2019 Tour de France: The ups and downs of the first ‘week’
Feature Image: Caleb Ewan tops Dylan Groenewegen to win stage 11 of the Tour de France. Photo: Nico Vereecken/PN/Cor Vos © 2019
The post Caleb Ewan wins stage 11 of the Tour de France: Daily News Digest appeared first on CyclingTips.