Cycling 2011

[Dodge]

Those 5 UCI points could come in very handy. If we're ranked 15th (as were are now) on November 1st, Ireland will get 4 places in the 2012 Olympic road race

Before the Vuelta we're on 163.
Slovakia 152 (Sagan, Velits x 2 - Sagan and Martin Velits in Vuelta)
Slovenia 139 (Brajkovic, Bole, Bozic - Brajkovic in Vuelta)
Czech Republic 136 (Kreuziger - not in Vuelta)

So our 5 points are a big help.

Races left -
GP Ouest (Brammeier for us, Bozic & Bole for Slovenia)
GP Quebec
GP Montreal (Sagan 2nd last year)
Tour of Beijing
Giro Lombardia (Martin loves this race, Brajkovic was 2nd a couple of years ago)

A top 10 by Martin and maybe a stage win by one of the lads in the Vuelta would be a huge help

[Dodge]

Roche a good 8th today. 8 seconds down on winner Rodriguez. Martin will be disappointed with his 30th place finish, losing 29 seconds.

Martin’s now 18th on GC (1:04 behind), Roche is 25th (1:48)

[Real ale Madrid]

Was on cyclingnews that Martin had a bad nights sleep at altitude , and he wasn't sure he'd have the energy for the finish. Was on the live updates so I dont have a link - might explain his poor finish?

[passinginterest]

Dan Martin, incredible stage win today. Roche 19th 40something seconds down. They attacked together with about 5k to go so at one point it was an Irish 1-2 but Roche just didn't have the legs to stay with him.

[Mr A]

Great stuff from Martin.. 16 points for Ireland there.

[Dodge]

Bole won GP Ouest though so 80 points there, and Sagan has had a 1st and 2nd since I posted that...

Brilliant stuff by Martin. His Attack split the stage wide open, when Nibali and then Wiggins caught him, he just waited and then powered home to claim the stage

[Mr A]

Last kilometer from today.

[Dodge]

So UCI country ranks after GP Ouest (but nothing from Vuelta yet)

13 Kazakhstan 234
14 Slovenia 219
15 Denmark 217
16 Ireland 163
17 Slovakia 152
18 Czech Republic 136

From the Vuelta we've got 21 points, and Slovakia have got 24.

[Real ale Madrid]

Just to mention as well that Martin leads the KOM classification and will wear the polka dot jersey for a few days!

[Dodge]

Bit of a disaster for Dan today. 98th on the ITT. Lost time to all the GC boys. He lies in 24th place now 4' 58'' down on Froome

Roche is in 17th, 3' 47'' down

[Macy]

Aye, poor from Dan really. He'll have to improve that to be a genuine contender, although it was relatively long by recent grand tour standards. Respectable performance by Nico - maybe some sign of improvement?

[Mr A]

Yeah- I think it was decent from Roche. Poor from Martin- maybe he left a lot on that climb yesterday.

Still, that's that out of the way. Hopefully Roche can finish well and maybe Martin can take another stage.

[Macy]

Podium is probably beyond either of them, but I think both could still get top 10. Martin should get a bit more freedom - he won't be immediately chased down by the top gc guys now, so another stage could be a real possibility.

[Mr A]

Good interview with Matt Brammeier where he talks about declaring for Ireland. The good news is he has secured a team for next season, although it does not say who.

http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-n...-pro-contract/
http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-n...ro-contract-2/

[Dodge]

We should find out today (when all the transfers can be revealed)

[passinginterest]

Roche with another 5th place on a stage. Making up about 1.30 on the GC too. Up to 14th overall and less than 30 seconds outside top 10, 2.15 down on lead. Martin 23rd 4.44 off lead.

[Dodge]

Didn't seem like he fancied it at the end/had to legs to sprint.

Still if it hasn't taken too much out of him that could be an important 92 seconds

[passinginterest]

I was only looking at the text updates. I was thinking he must have a chance of the win. They were suggesting that the break had to work incredibly hard and that it will have taken an awful lot out of them for the next stages. Hopefully Roche is coming into enough form that he can recover.

[Dodge]

Yeah, but break was pushed by Euskatel (4 in it) and Geox (3 in it) more than Roche. (Moreno too, moved into 9th overall)

With so many in it. it may not have been tto taxing but we'll see

[Mr A]

Live coverage here: http://www.sportlemon.tv/v-2/8/126/v-292770.html of today's stage, not on eurosport live today.

Roche dropped, Martin in contention.