Stars shine on Tour Colombia stage 4: Daily News Digest
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Hello again, CyclingTips readers!
Congrats on making it to the end of the week! Here’s hoping you’re as happy as EF fans right now after Sergio Higuita topped some big names to win stage 4 of the Tour Colombia.
The 22-year-old Colombian leads the race after an impressive performance that saw him power to a stage victory ahead of Tour de France winner Egan Bernal and the inimitable Julian Alaphilippe. Not bad.
Just a few miles away, New Zealand crowned its 2020 time trial champions on Friday. 2018 winner Hamish Bond reclaimed the jersey with a close victory over George Bennett, while Teresa Adam nabbed her first career national title ahead of Georgia Perry.
Have a great weekend, readers!
What’s News
| Higuita tops Bernal and Alaphilippe to win Tour Colombia stage 4
Sergio Higuita took an impressive stage 4 victory at the Tour Colombia on Friday, riding into the race lead in the process.
Arriving at the Santa Rosa de Viterbo uphill finish in select company, Higuita stayed patient as Julian Alaphilippe reeled in an attack by Giro d’Italia winner Richard Carapaz. As the line approached, Higuita surged to the front and took the win ahead of Egan Bernal. Already starting the day near the top of the standings thanks to his EF team’s win in the stage 1 team time trial, Higuita now has a healthy GC lead in the race.
| Nibali and Bollema to start 2020 campaign at Volta ao Algarve
Vincenzo Nibali will make his debut in Trek-Segafredo kit at the upcoming Volta ao Algarve, as will teammate Bauke Mollema, the team announced Friday. Both are coming off two weeks of training camp.
“[Algarve] comes after an important workload, especially at Teide, and is ideal for those like me who don’t need to hurry their debut,” Nibali said. “It will be a long season, and my first big goal is the Giro d’Italia.”
| Belgian cyclocrosser Bosmans suspended
Wietse Bosmans has been suspended after registering abnormal values in an anti-doping test conducted at the Belgian national cyclocross championships in January.
Bosmans denied wrongdoing and says he is working with lawyers Johnny Maesschalck – recently in the news for his work with Denise Betsema – and Kristof De Saedeleer to build his case.
| Celano wins Tour de Langkawi
Danilo Celano finished safely in the eighth and final stage of the Tour de Langkawi to wrap up the overall victory. The Italian surged into the lead with a strong ride on stage 4 to Genting Highlands and held on through the rest of the race to seal the deal. Yevgeniy Fedorov and Artem Ovechkin rounded out the overall podium.
Max Walscheid sprinted to victory ahead of Luca Pacioni and Taj Jones in the final stage.
| EF on tubeless for TTs in 2020
We’ve spent a bunch of time talking about tubeless vs. tube tires lately, and, in particular, how tubeless is seeing a surge of use in the pro peloton. Now we can add another win to the tubeless column. EF Pro Cycling used FSA’s Vision Metron 81 Disc tubeless wheels to take the win at the Tour Colombia team time trial earlier this week.
According to FSA, will be on tubeless for time trials through the entire season.
| Vlasov nabs Provence lead with stage 2 win
Russian national road champ Aleksandr Vlasov rode into the race lead at the Tour de La Provence on Friday, winning stage 2 at La Ciotat.
Vlasov attacked on the final climb of the day and held on to win the day by 24 seconds, with Wilco Kelderman in second and Vlasov’s Astana teammate Alexey Lutsenko in third.
| Bond and Adam win New Zealand TT titles
Hamish Bond and Teresa Adam scored the elite time trial titles at New Zealand nationals on Friday.
Bond topped George Bennett by 15 seconds to win the men’s TT, with Dylan Kennett in third 1:23 back. Adam nabbed the women’s TT ahead of Georgia Perry and Bronwyn MacGregor.
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| An Open Letter to Baseball From Professional Cycling
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SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY NEWS DIGEST PODCASTToday’s featured image of Sergio Higuita winning stage 4 of the Tour Colombia comes from Cor Vos.
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