Daily Sports News

Ben Swift from Rotherham triumph the seven stage of the Tour of Britain, which started from Hatherleigh to Yeovil. Swift defeated rider Filippo Pozzato in second position and rider Edvald Boasson Hagen overall lead in third place.

Swift uttered saying this victory is special his aim was to get into general classification he added saying had bad luck on the second, third and fourth stage. Ever since Ben turned professional at the beginning of the year, this is his first victory. Boasson Hagen ended up third to keep hold of Saturday’s final stage in London. Last Season Swift won the King of Mountains jersey in the event. Later he was in tie with GB team sky in spite of being in contract along with Russian squad Katusha in 2010. More than 3000 spectators saw 92 riders on the 159.7km route in Somerset. Thomas De Gendt was the King of the Mountains for the second stage. Two years back Paul Manning who won in Beijing Olympic team pursuit gold was the last home rider to win the Tour of Britain stage in Glasgow.

Philip Deignan Irish cyclist won the 18th stage of Tour of Spain. In the general classification, Deignan stands ninth overall. Riding for Cervelo in spite of rough weather, he covered up the hilly ride by 165-kilometres from Talavera de la Reina to Avila in 4hours, 19minutes, and 14seconds.

Letterkenny man the first  Irishman  to wins a major  professional cycling tour after Stephen Roche in 1992 won for Tour de France and also the first ever Ulster Cyclist to win the stage of prestigious race by Czech competitor Roman Kreuziger by 14 seconds. In the third position was Dane Jakob Fuglsang. Alejandro Valverde of Spain uphold his overall lead in the tour with just three day left. Last years Beijing Olympics Deignan finished by 81st lead in the men’s road race. Deignan was happy after his victory.

Geraint Thomas is among one of six British riders join up Team Sky a new Professional cycling squad. Geraint Thomas is the Olympic gold medalist. More riders are yet to be proclaimed with a conjecture that GB star Bradley Wiggins might join with these riders.

Welshman Thomas was the youngest rider in Tour de France in 2007. Current team is assuming of joining Tour de France next year with the goal of obtaining victory by 2014. David Brails ford the GB performance director was accountable for providing 34 medals at Beijing Olympics and Paralympics will handle the team financed by broadcasters BSkyB. These opportunities will enable top British cyclists to be trained together and most importantly possibility of gaining success for future World Championships and Olympic Games. Brailsford uttered in following weeks and months other riders will join from Britain and overseas. Name for Team Sky Squad until now are Geraint Thomas, Peter Kennaugh, Steve Cummings, Chris Froome, Ian Stannard and Russell Downing.

Alberto Contador became the second Spaniard to win the tour more then once; his last victory came in 2007 and could not take part in the 2008 as his team Astana was banned from the tour due to a drug scandal. After the 20th stage it was quite clear that Contadore would take victory in Paris, as the last day is considered as a day of enjoying the stage, moving in to Paris and enjoy the grandeur of Champs-Elysées.

The stage also saw another display of the sprinting ability of the fastest sprinter in the world, Mark Cavendish. This was his 6th stage in the tour this year making a total of 10 stages including 4 from previous year. Cavendish gave another stage win to his Team Columbia-HTC.

The 21st and final stage of the tour was 164 kilometers from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to Paris Champs-Élysées. The last stage had no climbs but two intermediate sprints, first at Haut des Champs-Elysées at 120 kilometer mark and the second on the fourth lap at Champs-Elysées at 133 kilometer mark.

Team Colombia-HTC took control of the pace making from the time the peloton entered the Champs-Elysées. All the nine riders of the team were committed to get their man, Cavendish a stage win. Colombia train worked in an excellent manner and the effort was lead by Renshaw and Gorge Hincapie, Renshaw took the second spot behind his teammate. Garmin – Slipstream rider Tyler Farrar took the third spot.

This year’s tour saw excellent results for the young Luxemburg rider Andy Schleck who came on the second place in the tour and also won the white jersey in the young rider classification. Another impressive result came from Lance Armstrong who came back to the tour after years of game, he finished third. The King of the Mountains crown went to Franco Pellizotti of team Liquigas. Thor Hushovd of Cervelo Test Team took the green jersey.

The second last day of a tour was full of surprises and some great riding. The two opportunists took away the glory of the final climb from the General Category riders. Team Rabobank got its first stage victory of the tour when Spanish rider Juan Manuel Garate crossed the line first at Mont Ventoux, he was closely followed by the German rider Tony Martin from Team Colombia-HTC. They both managed to cross the line 38 sec ahead of the tour leader.

Also there was great display of riding skills by the while jersey leader Andy Schleck. He is an amazing young rider and will be a great star in future tours. Though his work to get elder brother and teammate Frank went to vain as the old tour horse Lance Armstrong made sure that he is lined up for a podium finish tomorrow in Paris.

The 167 Kilometer stage from Montelimar to Mont Ventoux and was considered to set the tone for the final day. There were two intermediate sprints Les Pilles at 48 kilometers and Mormoiron at 138.5 kilometers. The stage also had five climbs. The cote de Citelle a category-3 at 14 kilometers, col d’Ey a catagory-3 at 65.5 kilometers, col de Fontaube a category-4 at 87 kilometers, col des Abeilles a catagory-3 at 121.5 kilometers and the most dreaded of all the the hors category at the finish at Mont Ventoux which is 1912 meters above sea level. Mont Ventoux has a 10% plus gradient on its ascent and riders had to face winds of upto 40 km/h.

It is now clear that Spanish rider Alberto Contador of Team Astana is sure to take this year tour victory and will carry his yellow jersey on the final day. Andy Schleck is most likely to take the second podium spot in Paris followed by Lance Armstrong. Team started the tour with the goal of finishing as the No.1 team and the have achieved it and are certain to carry it to Paris. Tho Hushovd has just won a single stage but he will continue to wear his green jersey on the last day of the tour.

is always said that the last time trial of the tour is a day that the yellow jersey driver should take pride in winning and Alberto Contador came out on flying colors. He not only surprised everyone with a victory, but also increased his lead margin over Andy Schleck. He and Fabian Cancellara were the only two riders to have ridden the time trial with average speed above the 50 Kilometers per hour. He really left Olympic gold medalist clueless today.

The 18th stage of the tour started with mild weather conditions but it gave way to warm and sunny as the temperature climbed to early 30s. The first rider and last in the classification standing to start the time trial was Yauheni Hutarovich of team Francaise Des Jeux. There was one retirement in the form of Kenny van Hummel who had a crash in the stage 17.

The first to setup a quality time was Russian rider Mikhail Ignatiev of team Team Katusha although he started 19th in the time trial. He rode so well that even Fabian Cancellara could not beat this time at the first two intermediate checks. During the last part of the time trial there was a change in weather with 19 riders yet to take the time trial. The showers did not last long and it was quite dry by the time general classification riders started.

There were some impressive performances by Cadel Evans of Team Silence Lotto, Christophe Moreau of Agritubel and Bradley Wiggins of Garmin – Slipstream. There was not change in any of the jersey standings. Lance climbed up in the overall standings to third place with best young driver Andy in second.

Alberto Contador the dark horse of the race and the Astana strong man took the first climb of the Alps in style. He powered ahead on the base of the final climb and took away the yellow jersey. He is now ahead of his Astana teammate and seven times champion Lance Armstrong with a gap of one minute and thirty seven seconds. Andy Schleck of team Saxo Bank finished an impressive second behind Contador.

As the tour returned to the mountains the 15th stage after a rest day was from Pontarlier to Verbier. The 207.5 kilometers stage had 6 climbs and two intermediate sprints. There were four category-3 climbs the cote du Rafour at 8 kilometers, cote des Etroits at 18.5 kilometers, cote de la Carrière at 54 kilometers and the cote de Prévonloup at 74 kilometers, a category-2 climb: col des Mosses at 135.5 kilometers and a category-1 climb to the finish at Verbier. The two sprints were Thierrens at 56.5 kilometer mark and Martigny at 181 kilometer mark.

Although the pace of peloton was dictated by Milram, Liquigas and Saxo Bank but just 6 kilometers from the finish and the final ascent Contador surprised everyone and took the lead. He quickly crossed all the escaped riders and finished the race with a 43 second gap.

Yellow jersey holder Nocentini was dropped at 5 kilometers and could just watch the yellow jersey going away from his hand. Thor Hushovd keeps the green jersey and is ahead of Cavindish by 18 points. In a post match interview Contador said that he was a different rider as compared to team mate Lance Armstrong and was looking for a tour victory this time and was not here to make records like Armstrong’s seven tour victories. Team Astana also had a good outing as it came back to the number one spot in the team standings and taking the place away from AG2R La Mondiale.

Rain gods were not in favor of the tour as it poured on the riders for most of the race. But German Heinrich Haussler was determined to fight and he did winning the stage in style. He attacked the peloton at the three kilometer mark and took all the climbs and descents with aggression. As he crossed the line at Colmar, he had tears in his eyes, quite an emotional first stage victory for him at the tour. Other gainers in the race were Hushovd who took the green jersey away from Cavendish and the other gainer was Franco Pellizotti’s who gets to wear the polka-dot jersey on Saturday.

The Friday stage between Vittel and Colmar had a total distance of 200 kilometers. There were in all five climbs in the stage including category 3 at cote de Xertigny, category 2 at col de la Schlucht, category 1 at col du Platzerwasel, category 3 at col du Bannstein and category 3 at col du Firstplan. The stage also had three sprints including Xertigny at 43.5 kilometers, Gerardmer at 88.5 kilometers and Luttenbach at 24 kilometers.

There was one major disappointment especially for team Astana as one of their most experienced climber Levi Leipheimer had to leave the tour due to a fractured wrist. Leipheimer was thought as a great helper to Contador, Armstrong and Kloden as the tour enters the Alps.