July 06, Stage 2: York - Sheffield “It’s especially great to win on the anniversary of our namesake city Astana – it’s a national holiday in Kazakhstan today, and they also celebrate 100 years of bike racing,” Vincenzo Nibali shared after taking the stage win with a dynamic fight to the finish. Astana's Italian Champion claimed the yellow leaders jersey, while additional SRM sponsored riders, Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis) took top position in Sprinter/Young Rider and Mountains Classification.
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July 05, Stage 1: Leeds - Harrogate SRM sponsored teams powered into all Tour de France jerseys today with Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) winning Stage 1 for the Leaders and Sprinters jersey, Jens Voigt (Trek Factory Racing) launching a solo breakaway for Polka-dots, and Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling) claiming the best young rider spot in white. The opening stage from Leeds to Harrogate was far from flat as it twisted and rolled on narrow English roads through countryside filled with cheering fans and yellow sheep. Trek's famous German veteran, "Jens Voigt, bolted away at kilometer zero with two youthful, brave souls, and together the three formed the first breakaway of the 2014 Tour. Inevitably, all three would perish to the rolling terrain and a focused, edgy peloton unwilling to ease off the accelerator, but not before ‘Jensie’ dropped his two companions and soloed over the final two categorized climbs to grab the lead in the mountains competition." Trek Factory Racing
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Giro d'Italia's Stage 15 was a mountaintop finish following 225km from Valdengo to Montecampione. Astana's young Sardinian pro, Fabio Aru, came to the base of the day’s final and only climb – nearly 20km up to Montecampione – in the group of leaders – and as other teams began to attack, waited patiently, pedaling coolly and efficiently as the others spent their energy. -Astana Pro Team "Fabio Aru could hardly have picked a better moment to clinch the first victory of his professional career. The 23-year-old Astana rider gave a majestic performance on the iconic climb up to Plan de Montecampione, producing a series of accelerations that left him left him 21 seconds clear." cyclingnews
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The Giro d'Italia's first Individual Time Trial was Stage 12, a 41.9km course from Barbaresco to Barolo through the famous winemaking region in northern Italy. The route featured challenges for every type of rider; climbing, flat sections, straight aways, and tight corners and combined with the stormy wet weather conditions it was a true test of power and skills. Going into the stage, Cannondale Team Captain, Ivan Basso, was ranked 10th overall in the GC and a top finishing time could likely move him up significantly.
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Taylor Phinney of the BMC Racing Team broke away 25 kilometers from the finish Thursday at the Amgen Tour of California and held off the charging pack on the run-in to the oceanside finish in Santa Barbara to earn his third victory of the season. "This was a great ride by Taylor," remarked Bobby Julich. "You could see from the salt stains on his jersey that it was another taxing day on the riders and he saw his opportunity to go for the stage and took it. Obvioulsy, Cannondale wasn't messing around up San Marcos Pass in their attempt to drop the sprinters, but he absorbed that effort very well. The descent favoured a bigger guy like Taylor, but he really had to fight during the run in to Santa Barbara. Each one of those rollers could have been the end of his breakaway attempt, but he powered over them and kept his speed and cadence very high. Averaging over 400w, 105 rpm and over 50kph at the end of a stage like that was world class. Very few riders could have pulled that off, but Taylor seems to be making it his signature move in road races. I liked the way that once he committed to the effort, he never looked back until he was preparing his victory salute.... which was, in my opinion, also world class!"
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