A couple weeks ago The Secret Pro wrote about a former Grand Tour winner who has been sidelined for

Good morning and welcome to the Rocacorba Daily on this fine Thursday morning. florence hotel lodging reservation There was a bit of a lull earlier this week in terms of race results but there's certainly no shortage today, with plenty of racing going on, including, of course, the Giro d'Italia which is nearing its closing stages. But we've got more than just race results. Have a look inside florence hotel lodging reservation for a bunch of different cycling-related goodies to help kickstart your day.
Despite having the chance to take a step closer to his first maglia rosa (pink jersey) on Thursday s 18th stage, an uphill time trial over 20.6 km, the Italian refused to rule out the threat of 2011 Tour de France champion Evans.
Visconti, meanwhile, showed his tactical nous and physical prowess for the second time in less than a week after a timely attack 17km from the finish brought him his second win following his stage 15 triumph on the legendary French Alpine climb of the Galibier.
florence hotel lodging reservation As the sprinters, including Britain s Mark Cavendish, began struggling to keep pace on the Crosara climb, Visconti made his move, attacking from the main peloton and catching, then overtaking, leading pair Danilo Di Luca (Vini Fantini) florence hotel lodging reservation and Miguel Rubiano (Androni).
The race was marked by the huge number of roadside fans, and Visconti who late last year served a three-month ban for working with banned sports doctor Michele Ferrari said: With 200m to go on that last corner I couldn florence hotel lodging reservation t believe how many people florence hotel lodging reservation were there.
After the 18th stage time trial, Friday and Saturday s stages are both scheduled to be held at high altitude in the Italian florence hotel lodging reservation Dolomites, although both could be altered by race organisers due to the expectation of snow and freezing conditions.
Two Australians have had to pull out of the Giro after the 16th stage. Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) has pulled out due to a crash, and Tasmania sprinter Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE) has left because of illness.
It s a shame to leave the race this way, Haas said in a team statement. It was a big honour to be selected for my first grand tour and I gave it my all . . . Now I ll go home heal up and focus on what s next.
Concerns over the conditions florence hotel lodging reservation expected on Friday s 19th stage from Ponte di Legno to Val Martello, which will take in the Gavia and Stelvio mountain passes, were raised last week due to the unseasonably cold weather in the high mountains.
At 2758 metres in altitude, the Stelvio is the highest point of this year s race, which Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) is currently leading with a 1min 26sec advantage on Australian Cadel Evans (BMC).
Saturday s 20th stage, the final day in the mountains, begins in Silandro and takes in four mountain passes with altitudes over 1700 metres, before finishing at the legendary Trois Cimes de Lavaredo (2304 m).
Looking tired after his win the Movistar team s fourth on the race after Britain s Alex Dowsett won the stage eight time trial and Benat Intxausti s win on Tuesday Visconti was also emotional as he described the recent dark period in his life.
At the end of last season the 30-year-old Italian was among several riders suspended for collaborating with banned sports doctor Michele Ferrari the man accused of doping Lance Armstrong and may other riders on the disgraced American s former team, US Postal.
The Tour of Belgium started today with a flat stage between Lochristi and Knokke-Heist. Soon after the start four Belgian riders set up a breakaway: Olivier Chevalier, Laurens De Vreese, Dieter Uyttersprot and Alphonse Vermote. They got a lead of more than four minutes.
In the peloton Lotto Belisol florence hotel lodging reservation took charge in support of leader André Greipel. The team kept the gap under constant control. Chevalier and De Vreese stayed florence hotel lodging reservation in front the longest out of the escape group lasting until 26 kilometers before the finish.
With two kilometers to go the Lotto Belisol train moved up to the front and led André Greipel to the victory. He outsprinted Belgian champion Tom Boonen and Ramon Sinkeldam. Tomorrow Greipel will start in the leader s jersey. Roelandts is now fourth in the GC at seven seconds.
After the race André Greipel said: It was a victory from the text book. The final was hectic with many turns, but we were well organized and could stay together. The guys perfectly prepared the sprint. My gear was a bit too big, but I finished it off. I am very happy with this win. We work together very well, other riders search us in the way up to the sprint because we have such an excellent train.
We are racing together again for the first time since Tirreno-Adriatico. From now on it s one line to the Tour de France via the Tour of Zeeland florence hotel lodging reservation Seaports, Berlin and the ZLM Tour. We now have to get confidence and sharpen the automatisms. Tomorrow s stage suits Jürgen Roelandts very well, but it will also be difficult to get rid of me on the climbs.
A breakaway of three riders got away soon after the start of the 194km stage from Pfaffenhofen to Munich but with Team Sky pushing florence hotel lodging reservation the pace at the head of the peloton, the break's lead was whittled away and erased with 5km to go.
With three stages remaining in the 2013 Tour of Japan, Julian Arredondo (Nippo-De florence hotel lodging reservation Rosa) leads the race after finishing third on a brutal 148km stage from Minami to Shinshu. The stage was won by Vini-Fantini rider Pier Paolo De Nigri ahead of Arredondo's teammate, florence hotel lodging reservation Fortunato Baliani.
"Unlike [Sergio] Henao, who is in the same situation, Urán won't be staying with Sky because he wants to ride the Tour next year as a team leader, and Sky already have Froome, Wiggins and Porte, so there are too many ambitious riders and not enough space to accommodate them."
A couple weeks ago The Secret Pro wrote about a former Grand Tour winner who has been sidelined florence hotel lodging reservation for biological passport irregularities. florence hotel lodging reservation It was speculated that rider may have been Dennis Menchov after his sudden retirement.
Katusha's website said: ""Russian florence hotel lodging reservation Katusha Team rider Denis Menchov has announced early retirement from professional cycling. The reason of the rider's decision is the knee problem which doesn't allow him to get a normal preparation for participation in the most important races of the season,"
Shane Stokes from Velonation asked a UCI spokesperson about suggestions of a positive case. "Currently there is no disciplinary procedure open on the basis of the biological passport," stated UCI Communications Manager Devra Pitt Gétaz, referring to Menchv.
Under the rules of the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC), to which Ag2r belongs, any MPCC member team that has two positive tests within 12 months must suspend itself from racing for eight days as of the start of the next WorldTour race.
Australia's Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) has left the Giro after crashing on stage 16 but on the second rest day he sat down with teammate Peter Stetinas to give some insight into the ups and downs of riding in a three-week grand tour. Check out the video below, courtesy of Cycling News .
The research was done by "mapping experts and bicycle florence hotel lodging reservation enthusiasts" for Fairfax Media, the Open Knowledge florence hotel lodging reservation Foundation, the Australian National Data Service and Melbourne University, and drew on nearly 10,000 VicRoads accident reports from between 2007 and 2012.
What a boring giro. None of the main contenders are attacking and the current florence hotel lodging reservation phase of cycling is at such a bore. It was much better when the dopers used to ride and battle it out and actually florence hotel lodging reservation make it interesting to watch.
Someone needs to give the UCI a good shake up so long as they keep turning a blind eye nothing florence hotel lodging reservation will ever improve IHMO. The more they cover up to save the image of cycling the more people incentive the riders have to do it knowing that they have less chance of getting pinged for it
Doping has nothing to do with the boring state of cycling (assuming the peleton is now clean). Go to any club or national race and watch riders rip each other apart, are they doping? It s more about tactics, route design and dominant teams. The reason the 2011 TdF was so entertaining was because the parcours suited florence hotel lodging reservation an attacking rider, willing to take risks. This years Giro has thrown up little opportunities for attacks mostly due to the weather and the fact Astana are simply too strong at the moment. florence hotel lodging reservation What I d like to see is more finishes at the bottom of descents like Milan-San florence hotel lodging reservation Remo. Tuesdays stage could have been so much more exciting if it had finished closer to the bottom and not 16km further down the road.
That s disregarding the fact that these guys are professionals and fly down the descents irrespective of how close the finish is to the foot of the hill/mountain. It just means there would be less opportunity for those dropped on the climb to latch back on.
All this talk of this Giro being boring florence hotel lodging reservation perlexes me (apart from Bracksy, that s just an obvious troll attempt), and makes me think too many people are just reading the results sheet. Sure the leaders have usually come in at the same time, but that s ignoring the attacking that s be going on; usually Nibali with Evans and Uran winching themselves back before the finish. Even stage 16, Nibali was away on the descent, got reeled florence hotel lodging reservation and and it looked like he and Evans were going to sprint for bonus seconds until the group of four were let go near the end.