Cyclingnews.com can confirm that Mark Cavedish has been given the all clear following his crash during the early Spring Classic 'Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne'. The HTC rider came down hard on one of the final cobbled sections, but was able to pick himself up and finished the race in 7th place.
'Cav has been checked over by one of the medics at the race, as well as one of the HTC doctors, and all is well' explained a HTC spokesperson. 'It was nothing more than a bit of road rash. He will race as planned in the Paris - Nice.'
Edited by the_hoyle on 28-09-2012 16:31
We headed to the Tour of Qatar with a team aiming for stage victories and the Overall Victory at the end. We picked a stage win the Prologue, thanks to a great ride from Alex Rasmussen. In the sprints, the team worked hard for Goss, but just like in Australia, he just couldn't get the victory. He came away with two 2nd place finishes, a 3rd place and a 4th place. He ended up 4th on GC, and walked away with the Under 25 Leader's Jersey.
Volta ao Algarve
m
Name
Team
Time
1
Jure Kocjan
Team Type 1
15h59'50
2
Gorka Izagirre
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 53
3
Jurgen Van Goolen
Veranda's Willems - Accent
+ 1'00
.
KoM
Ricardo Mestre
Tavira - Prio
Points
Jonathan Castroviejo
Euskaltel - Euskadi
Under 25
Gorka Izagirre
Euskaltel - Euskadi
Team
Euskaltel - Euskadi
Again, we went to the Volta ao Algarve with stage victories in mind, and yet again, it was Alex Rasmussen who delivered the goods on stage 5. Patrick Gretsch came 3rd in the final ITT, whilst Tony Martin completed his first race of the season 8th on GC.
Vuelta a Andalucía
m
Name
Team
Time
1
Koldo Fernández
Euskaltel - Euskadi
15h54'26
2
Mikel Nieve
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 2'06
3
Álex Cano Ardila
Colombia es Pasión
+ 2'26
.
KoM
Pieter Vanspeybroeck
Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
Points
Koldo Fernández
Euskaltel - Euskadi
Under 25
Tejay Van Garderen
HTC - Highroad
Team
Euskaltel - Euskadi
Tejay Van Garderen led the team at the Vuelta a Andalucía, finishing 6th on GC, and winning the Under 25 Classification in the process. He also took a great victory in the opening prologue, finishing just ahead of Danny Pate, for a superb HTC 1-2! The team worked for John Degenkolb in the Sprints, where he picked up a couple of great results, finishing on the podium twice.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
m
Name
Team
Time
1
Tom Boonen
Quick·Step Cycling Team
4h48'28
2
Thor Hushovd
Team Garmin - Cervélo
s.t.
3
Philippe Gilbert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 18
The Omloop signified the first cobble classics of the season, and Lars Bak led the team. He finished the race in 9th place, 1'05" down on the winner Boonen. Gossy won the sprint in what remained of the peleton, finishing 10th.
It may only be the start of March, but the early season transfer rumour mill has started to turn.
Quickstep's Gerald Ciolek, whose contract expired at the end of the season, has been linked with a number of teams in the last few days, in particular AG2R La Mondiale, Vacancsoleil - DCM and HTC - Highroad. No one was available from any of the teams to comment on the rumours, and as of today, nothing has come out of the Ciolek camp either to clarify on the situation.
Another rumour being heard around the cycling community is Belgian Champion Stijn Devolver leaving Vacancsoleil - DCM at the end of 2011, with Leopard - Trek and HTC - Highroad keeping a close eye on the rider's future.
For the March Issue of ProCycling, Mark Cavendish has agreed to a small Q&A session to discuss the up and coming Milano - San Remo, how he thinks the season is going so far, as well as answering a few questions from the story followers.
*****
ProCycling: Mark, first of all, welcome! How are you? Mark: I'm really good. Thanks for having me here, it's a pleasure.
PC: So let's start at looking at your season so far. You started off in Oman, picking up a few stage wins in the process. Were you happy with that? MC: Oman was really good. It's a really nice race to ride. Very similar to Qatar in the way the race is run, and its great to see so many fans out there getting into cycling, and coming to watch the races.
PC: So after Oman, you headed to Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne. Sadly you didn't get the result you wanted! MC: Kuurne was a hard race. I fell ill a couple of days before the race, and I had to stay off the bike and recuperate. My body didn't like the change from the heat of Oman to the cold drizzle of the Isle of Man. I was given the all clear to race, but I wasn't carrying the same fitness from Oman into the race.
PC: You also took a heavy tumble as well on the one cobble sections? MC: Yeah... I was completely my fault. he cobbles were wet and greasy from the rain, and I misjudged the amount of space around, touched wheels with Gossy, I think, and down I went! Luckily no one else went down with me.
PC: Looking ahead, you have Paris - Nice in the next week or so, and then after that, the big one. Milano - San Remo! What are your thoughts on the two races? MC: Well this year is a slight change to the norm. I usually head to Tirreno - Adriatico as build up to San Remo, but this year I am off to Paris - Nice. I am looking forward to it. Tony [Martin] and Tejay [Van Garderen] will be the leading the team and aiming for the GC, whilst I am looking at the Green jersey.
PC: And your expectations for San Remo? MC: We are going their with a two horned attack! It's gonna be me or Gossy! He is looking good in recent races, just missing that bit of luck in the sprints, but he was strong at Kuurne. I will just have to see how I am over the Poggio, and decide from there really.
PC: Well we have had a few questions from your followers? MC: Sounds good. Fire away!
PC: Well this first question has been asked by a few people, in particular Sutty86 and IanButler. What are you main aims for this season? With all the talk circulating around the press about 'Project Rainbow Jersey', is the World Championships your main aim? MC: The World Championships in Denmark are one of my season goals. It's a tailor made course for a sprinter, and wearing the Rainbow Stripes would be a great honour! But I will also be aiming for the Green Jersey at the Tour de France. I have said for the past few years that I want to win the jersey, and this year is no different. There has been a slight change in the way the points are won at the Intermediate Sprints, and I have to confess that that suits me nicely!
PC: Also, IanButler would like to know, is the Rainbow Jersey more important than the Green Jersey this year? MC: In an ideal world, I would love to win both! But there are some great riders out there who have the same aims as me, so it's gonna be tough. To answer Ian, I think the World Championship do take a slight preference, but only because this kind of course in Copenhagen come about once every blue moon. If I miss out on the Green Jersey this year, I have a shot next year, but if I miss out on the Rainbow Jersey, I have no idea when I may next have a chance!
PC: Ok, well that is about everything. Many thanks for stopping by for the chat, and best of luck for Paris - Nice and San Remo. MC: Thanks for having me, and thanks a lot! Hopefully we can do this again in the future.
HTC head to the Paris -Nice with 2 distinct groups of riders; one aiming for the GC, and another aiming for victories in the Sprints.
Tony Martin will lead the team in the fight for GC, where he will be supported by Tejay Van Garderen and Michael Albasini.
I will be the man gunning for stage wins and the Green Points Jersey, aided by Alex Rasmussen, Bernie Eisel and Bert Grabsch, who will make up the lead-out train.
Gatis Smukulis will be given more of a free role, getting in the day's breakaways, as well as working as a domestique.
Stage one of Paris - Nice is going to be a fast stage! Not very lumpy, with the prospect of a Mass Sprint at the end. Aim for a stage victory and wearing Yellow tomorrow!
Race Report
12km: The day began with small group of attacks off the front of the peleton, making a large group of 12 off the front. Mainly riders from smaller teams involved, except the likes of Lars Boom (Rabobank) and Andreas Klier (Garmin). It would be Boom who would take the points at the KoM Sprint.
36km: With the presence of Boom and Klier in the break, SaxoBank took control, not letting the escapees get too far up the road. They got a maximum of 4'34" before the pace was upped, and the gap began to close.
127km: As the gap to the today's break crept down towards the 2'00" mark, an attack from Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne winner Roger Hammond (Garmin) and Spanish National Champion Iván Gutiérrez (Movistar) added further pace into the peleton, as we decided to take control.
144km: We firmly took control of the peleton, and with Hammond and Gutiérrez safely back in the peleton, the break was only 43" up the road. This was looking perfect for the a bunch sprint, as Tony worked hard on the front.
151km: VICTORY! Excellent lead-out from Bert and Bernie, powering hard on the front, making sure no one came around us! As the sprint began, it looked like Daniele Bennati (Radioshack) had the jump on us, but Alex stayed perfectly calm, dropping me off at the place for me to finish it off! I'll be wearing Yellow tomorrow!
Tour of Qatar 
Volta ao Algarve 
Vuelta a Andalucía 
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 
Italy
France
