May 2009 archive
Italy's Franco Pellizotti took a solo victory at the summit of the Blockhaus on Wednesday, while Denis Menchov coolly hung on to the leader's pink jersey at the Giro d'Italia bicycle race.
Second place Danilo Di Luca attacked Menchov with all his power on the 15-mile climb, but Menchov seemed to effortlessly stay on his rival's rear wheel. Stefano Garzelli and Ivan Basso joined that chase group that loosely crossed the finish about 42 seconds behind Pellizotti.
Lance Armstrong attempted to bridge up to Pellizotti soon after he attacked at the bottom of the 15-mile climb, but couldn't quite catch on. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/05/27/pellizotti-wins-stage-18-menchov-unruffled-in-lead-of-giro/
Dan Nagle plans to visit 48 states in 48 days in the summer of 2009. Here's his route. Map from his Facebook group page.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/05/27/map-of-48-in-48-route/
Ohio's Dan Nagle, 23, plans to bicycle to 48 states in 48 days in the summer of 2009. Follow him at his Facebook group page or his Go 48 in 48 website.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/05/27/dan-nagle/
I've always enjoyed sharing my favorite bicycle routes with friends; even more so when it's my son.
So when Memorial Day dawned clear and warm, we headed up to the Iron Horse State Park just east of North Bend where I introduced him to the John Wayne Pioneer Trail.
In spite of a sign at the trailhead that warned the Snoqualmie Tunnel was closed 20 miles ahead, we saw dozens of bicyclists out on the rail-trail of the Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Paul-Pacific Railroad — aka The Milwaukee Road.
Since there's no way through, or around, the 2.3-mile tunnel, the only destination for these bicyclists was an out-and-back trail ride to stretch their legs and enjoy the sunny, blue skies….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/05/26/memorial-day-bicycle-ride-into-the-cascades/
Carlos Sastre exploded out of the pack on the final climb at the Giro d'Italia on Monday to win Stage 16 and bring himself closer to overall leader Denis Menchov.
Along the way, last year's Tour de France champion overtook breakaway leader Yaroslav Popovych, who appeared ready to hand his Astana team its first win of the 2009 Giro.
Team Astana suffered more disappointment as their favorite to win the Giro, American Levi Leipheimer, crossed the finish line nearly 3 minutes behind the winner and fell three places to 6th, 3:21 behind Menchov. He was pulled across the finish line at Monte Petrano by teammate Lance Armstrong …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/05/25/sastre-takes-solo-win-leipheimer-loses-serious-time-on-giro-leader-menchov/
Pre-race favorite Ivan Basso staged a short-lived attack on the pink jersey Sunday, but couldn't sustain an advantage as overall leader Denis Menchov retained the top spot of the Giro d'Italia for another day.
Italian Leonardo Bertagnolli took the solo victory on Stage 15 in Faenza. The 31-year-old was the sole survivor of a 16-man breakaway pack that formed about 11 miles into the 99 mile stage.
Despite lots of drama in the rollercoaster stage that routed the peloton over five climbs, the leaders remained intact at the end of the day. At one point 3rd place cyclist Levi Leipheimer lost contact with the Menchov group, but the Astana rider was able bridge about 29 seconds back to the leaders' group.
Basso delivered much of that drama, as he attacked on the next to last climb — Monte Casale ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/05/24/basso-attack-fizzles-at-giro-bertagnolli-wins-stage-15/
Once in a blue moon the cyclists in a breakaway survive to the finish. Stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia on Saturday was one of those days.
Aussie Simon Gerrans and 13 other members of the peloton attacked just 8 miles into the mountainous stage to Bologna; they remained out front for the remaining 99 miles of the race.
Their only impact on the overall contest for the pink jersey was to press Danilo Di Luca's LPR Brakes team into service to close the gap. Interesting that LPR Brakes took up that role, rather than Rabobank, the team of overall leader Denis Menchov ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/05/23/gerrans-breakaway-wins-stage-14-menchov-leads-giro-bike-race/
The predominant sprinter of Giros d'Italia of the recent past once again couldn't muster the speed to overtake cycling's prevailing speedster of the present.
Team Columbia's Mark Cavendish took his third stage win of this year's Giro with Alessandro Petacchi trying desparately to pass as they crossed the finish line in Florence on Friday.
Petacchi, Ale-Jet, schooled Cavendish and his teammates early on in Stages 2 and 3 this year, but Cavendish has returned with victories in Stages 9, 11 and 13. The Brit can give some credit to Columbia teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen, who once again set up Cavendish in textbook fashion. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/05/22/cavendish-wins-no-3-menchov-still-leads-giro-bicycle-race/
Solo cyclists in the most amazing bicycle endurance event in the world, the Race Across America, start their cross-country purgatory on June 17.
A documentary that chronicles their mind-boggling trials over a previous 10-day-long race from Oceanside, California, to Annapolis, Maryland, will be released early next week.
Entitled “Bicycle Dreams,” the film by Stephen Auerbach gets inside the heads of these cyclists and their support crews over the mind-numbing, sleep-deprived 3,000-mile race.
Auerbach, who produced an earlier documentary on RAAM for NBC-TV in 2005, had 18 cameras following the action. This included camera crews embedded with cyclist's support crews. You can experience the personal drama that resulted from their efforts in the 2:50-minute trailer above. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/05/22/race-across-america-something-completely-out-of-this-planet/
As promised, the Stage 12 individual time trial shook up the standings of the 2009 Giro d'Italia as Danilo Di Luca finally gave up his pink leader's jersey to Denis Menchov, left.
US cyclist Levi Leipheimer stepped up one place to 3rd overall, 40 seconds behind Menchov and just 6 seconds behind second place Di Luca.
Comeback cyclist Lance Armstrong gained more ground on Wednesday, increasing his position to 12th in the overall standings, but dropping back to 6:34 behind the leader.
Now at the mid-point of the three week bicycle race around Italy, it remains to be seen if Menchov's Rabobank team can help him protect the lead, or if Leipheimer's Astana teammates can help him whittle away at Menchov's lead …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/05/21/menchov-takes-over-giro-lead-leipheimer-40-seconds-behind/
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