Malaysia will be represented in road cycling at the Olympics for the first time since 1992.
This is by virtue of Malaysia finishing as the fourth-ranked country in the Asian men’s rankings behind Hong Kong, Indonesia and Japan.
The four countries get to field two riders each in the individual road race at the London Olympics.
Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) deputy president Datuk Naim Mohamad said that the national body would have the final say on the two riders.
He added that they would make their decision based on the cyclists’ performances in major competitions, like next month’s SEA Games and next year’s Tour of Langkawi and Tour of Malaysia.
Those in the running for the two slots for road cycling are Anuar Manan, Muhd Rauf Nus Misbah, Akmal Amrun, Adiq Husainie Othman, Amir Rusli Mustafa and Mohd Shahrul Mat Amin.
M. Kumaresan is the only Malaysian to have competed in the Olympic road race discipline.
Kumaresan made his Olympic debut in Seoul in 1988 and before making another appearance in Barcelona in 1992, featuring in the track endurance apart from road disciplines.
Naim said that having two riders in the road race of the Olympics marked a new chapter for Malaysian cycling.
“This will make up for having fewer riders qualifying for the track event at the Olympics due to stricter qualification rules,” he said.
“We had four cyclists in track cycling at the Beijing Olympics but we are looking at no more than three for London next year.”
Azizulhasni Awang, Josiah Ng, Rizal Tisin and Mohd Edrus Yunus competed in the Beijing Olympics three years ago.
However, it looks like Azizul and Fatehah Mustapa are good bets to make the grade for London in the keirin discipline.
Single Speed Cyclo-Cross World Championships, 18-20 November
Single speed cyclo-cross is for those looking for the kind of connection with the terrain that only a solo gear can provide. It's also for seriously fast cyclists who have developed finely honed skills in reading, anticipating, and riding terrain changes without the aid of gear shifts. This year's world championships take place in San Francisco's storied Golden Gate Park, and will no doubt create another memorable episode in cycling's saga at this famous venue, which has hosted bike races since the days of the Ordinary. If you don't have an entry into the sold-out event Men's Championship event, consider entering one of the Open class races, which allow geared bikes as well as single-speed. Or you could just show up to sink a few Pabst Blue Ribbons (event sponsor) and watch some crazy fun bike racing. We hear a lot of belt drive bikes will be raced there.
It won't mean much to those non-Brits out there, but this guy was a legend in the UK, much much larger than life - he passed away aged 84 at home in Leeds yesterday.
What few people know is that in his younger years he was an avid cyclist and racer - and even rode the Tour of Britain, which is quite amazing...
Here's the man in action...
Following nine fast and action packed days
of racing this year’s Tour of Hainan raced to a close yesterday when it
completed its round island journey and came back into the city of Sanya.
The final overall honours went to Valentin
Iglinskiy of the Kazakhstan World Tour team Astana, making it his second consecutive
overall victory in the race. The defending champion took the race lad from VC
La Pomme rider Justin Jules when he took victory on stage 8 of the race, after
Jules found himself in the wrong end of the bunch when it split on this rolling
stage, which left him some 24 minutes behind the leaders, and well and truly
out of contention for the overall title.
For Team Champion System it was a brave and
successful race, with the team featuring in most of the major race moves in
what is widely considered to be a sprinters race. The highlight of the race for
CS was undoubtedly the superb solo victory on stage 4 by Deon Locke, who also
put in a strong effort two days later on stage 6 by going on the attack and
mopping up a number of KOM points along the way, only to be caught inside the
final 7km of the stage.
With most stages ending in massed bunch
sprints, and the overall title proving something like a game of roulette, decided
on bonus seconds, the team went into the race with hopes of taking a stage,
which given the opposition was something of a long shot; but the plan worked
out thanks to Locke’s win.
Once again the top sprinter in the race was
Dutch rider Kenny Van Hummel of the Skill-Shimano team, who took victory on 3
stages.
Second half stage winners
Stage 5 Anuar Manan –Ternegganu Cycling
team
Stage 6 Kenny Van Hummel – Skill Shimano
Stage 7 Kenny Van Hummel – Skill-Shimano
Stage 8 Valentin Iglinskiy – Astana
Stage 9 Kenny van Hummel – Skill-Shimano
Final overall GC
1.Valentin Iglinskiy – Astana
36 Simon Chau, 43 Deon Locke, 61 Mart
Ojavee, 67 Wu Kin San, 90 Holger Burkhardt.
NAHBS welcomes Gates Carbon Drive for 2012 and beyond!
Gates Carbon Drive, the leading belt drive transmission system for bicycles, has commenced a three-year sponsorship of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show.
The Denver, Colorado, company will run a belt drive bike design contest at NAHBS, and in 2012 will award $8,750 in cash and prizes to qualified independent frame builders who create the most innovative bicycles with the Gates Carbon Drive system. These bikes will be on display at the Sacramento show, which is where the judging and awards ceremony will take place.
After four years in Speedway, Indiana, NAHBS HQ is uprooting and moving to the mid-western cycling hub of Louisville, Kentucky, the venue for the 2013 UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships, and also home to many enthusiastic handmade bicycle fans.
Don Walker, the founder and president of NAHBS said, "I will sorely miss my friends here in Speedway, but I have to be frank: Louisville has been on my mind since the NAHBS show in Indy, back in 2009. I heard then that entire bike stores were shutting down in Louisville so their staff could travel to attend NAHBS. Who wouldn't want to be part of that culture? So far I have felt an outpouring of generosity and many people there are very receptive to our move. It is truly heart warming."
The NAHBS office will be closed until November 1st, while Lesley and Don are getting set up.
The new mailing address is: PO Box 158, Buckner, Kentucky, 40010.
Of course none of this affects the venue of NAHBS 2012, which is Sacramento, California.
Suhardi Hassan (pic) hopes to bring back the glory days for Malaysian road cycling following his surprise inclusion in the squad for next month’s Indonesia SEA Games.
Suhardi was called up to the road cycling team two days ago to replace Kelantan-born cyclist Loh Sea Keong, who has been ruled out for six weeks after being involved in an accident during training.
Suhardi was the last Malaysian cyclist to take gold in the men’s individual road race at the Manila SEA Games in 2005. He came close to repeating the feat before settling for silver in Korat two years ago.
The 29-year-old Suhardi has vowed to use his experience to help the road squad win the team gold medal for the first time.
Suhardi is competing in the national road Grand Prix circuit in Perlis on Saturday and he intends to use the event to familiarise himself with the Jakarta-bound cyclists – like Muhd Rauf Nus Misbah, Akmal Amrun, Adiq Husainie Othman, Amir Rusli Mustafa and Mohd Shahrul Mat Amin.
“Perlis is also my hometown and the SEA Games call-up has motivated me to do well this weekend,” he said.
“This should be my last SEA Games so I hope to come back with sweet memories.
“I’ve got two medals – a gold and a silver from four previous Games. I’m disappointed with the silver from Korat in 2007 because I was in really good form.
“I was beaten to the gold medal by an Indonesian (Ryan Ariehaan) due to a wrong strategy in the last 10km.
“I hope to make up for it this time. If I don’t, I’ll work doubly hard to make sure we get the team gold medal.”
Suhardi is not the only seasoned campaigner in road cycling as Indonesia have also listed former SEA Games gold medallist Tonton Susanto, who is already 39, in their squad.
Malaysia are targeting at least four gold medals in cycling as they contest all the disciplines for the first time. Besides road, the cycling programme also comprises track, mountain bike and BMX.
NATIONAL mountain bike champion Masziyaton Mohd Radzi is confident she can transfer her good form at the recent Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge (LIMBC) into a gold medal winning performance at next month's Indonesia Sea Games.
The 23-year-old, who despite not being able to defend the overall title she won at the event last year amidst a stronger field at the LIMBC this year, said her performances had started to peak at the event and believes she will be able to win a first gold medal at the Games this year.
"I did not manage to win anything this year but my performances were quite good against some of the best riders in the world and I managed to finish in the top ten consistently," said Masziyaton, who clinched a bronze medal in the cross country mountain bike event at the 2009 Laos Sea Games.
"After a long year of training I feel that I am nicely coming into form and am confident I will be able to put in a very strong performances at the Games next month.
"I also feel that I have matured a lot and am more experienced than I was two years ago, which is also important in racing, and I believe a gold medal is a realistic target.
"It is not often we get to race against world class riders as it costs a lot to compete abroad so it definitely gives me the confidence to do well in Indonesia," added Masziyaton, who achieved a respectable fourth place at the climbing stage of the LIMBC.
Masziyaton, who will also be competing in the road race event at the Sea Games, said riders from Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam would be her strongest opponents at the Games but was confident she would be able to overcome them.
"Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia will be the strongest teams but I am already quite familiar with them as we have often competed together in competitions in the region.
"I still have a lot of respect for them and will not be taking anything for granted," added Masziyaton, who trains daily at the Ipoh National Sports Complex.
They say that the best things in life are worth waiting for, and it certainly seems to be the case for Deon Locke, Team Champion System’s Australian flyer, who won the fourth stage of the Tour of Hainan on Sunday.
Throughout the season Deon has been running dangerously close to claiming a victory, with a string of animated breakaway attempts and a long run of fourth place finishes to his credit. But this time around it all came together and his ever-aggressive riding mixed with some sound “on the run” tactical advice from the team manager earned him his greatest ever victory, and his first of the 2011 season.
Having opened his season way back in January with some memorable and brave breakaway attempts in the Tour de Langkawi Deon then struck out with a crash while warming up for the Tour of Taiwan in March and suffered a complicated fracture to his arm, which left him out of action for some months. Eventually he returned to racing, just as strongly as he went out, and had a consistent run of aggressively earned placings in Europe through the main summer season.
Just a week before Hainan he hinted at good form with a 4th placed ride in the Tour of Genghis Kahn in Mongolia, although few would have marked him down for victory in Hainan, one of Asia’s most prestigious races, and a race with a top shelf field too.
Early in the 163 km stage between Wenchang and Haikou Deon went clear with 2 other riders, and they gained six minutes advantage over the field at one point. Both of these riders were potential overall GC contenders in the race, and were primarily in the hunt for intermediate bonus seconds dotted at sprint points along the route. Playing things wisely Deon allowed them to fight it out between themselves and took a back seat ride until the main bunch came within reach of the escapees, and then duly attacked and left them behind.
Chase as they might nobody could reel back the determined CS rider, and he came home alone to take the stage victory by a handful of seconds advantage in hand over Chinese national team rider Ma Hainjun and Hong Kong’s Wong Kam Po, thus scoring one of the best victories of the year for the team.
Stage five of the race saw the team on the attack once more, with Mart Ojavee following a similar tactical script as Deon had on stage 4, going away from a small breakaway group with 19 km to go. Unfortunately he was reeled in inside the final 7km of the stage.
As anticipated stage 6 of the race ended in a mass bunch sprint, which was taken by Skill-Shimano rider Kenny Van Hummel, with CS rider Holger Burkhardt the best team finisher in 15th place.
Results stage 4
1. Deon Locke – Team Champion System
2. Ma Hainjun – China
3. Wong Kap Po – Hong Hong
Stage 5 winner Anuar Manan - TPA
Stage 6 winner Kenny Van Hummel – Skill Shimano
Overall standings after stage 6
1. Justin Jules – VC La Pomme
2. Valentin Iglinskiy – Astana @ 6 seconds
3. Alexander Schmitt – Eddy Merckx @ 7 seconds
46 Simon Chau, 54 Mart Ojavee, 76 Deon Locke, 88 Wu Kin San, 91 Holger Burkhardt.
Pro bike racing was a European sport, not only European – central
European, and it’s heart still is. But, until that day no outsider had ever
taken the reins of the sport, but that was all about to change. Stieda was one
of only 2 none US riders on the fledgling 7-11 Tour team (Raul Alcala of Mexico
being the other). It was the first time that a US based team had ever been
invited to take part in the great race, and many saw it as something of a
novelty, maybe even a joke; “We were green, for sure. But I got the jersey, and
the very next day Davis Phinney won the stage, it was amazing.” Although things
went downhill somewhat from there for the 7-11 team, the race was also won for
the first time ever by a none European rider – Greg Lemond of the USA. The
sport and the Tour had been flipped sideways, and things would never be the
same again.
As the race wore on the Tour contenders gradually snatched back the
jerseys from the Canadian, but he’d had his day, defying the odds in with he
deal; “I clung on to the polka-dot jersey for the longest. We weren’t in the
mountains, and I was scrapping it out for every last cat 5 climb point
available. There was this guy up against me all of the time. I didn’t know who
he was at the time – he had GDL on his sun glasses, so I checked his number
after.” That rider was none other than the legend of Paris Roubaix, Gilbert
Duclos-Lassalle.
The American team was slowly draining as the race went on, and it became
something of a battle for survival; “We’d never really seen or ridden anything
like it before. A few days before the start we got the “race bible” and checked
out things. But, when we saw mountains like the Tourmalet it was hard to
comprehend. There were no pre rides or training camps. Luckily we didn’t have a
GC rider to work for, and so it became an individual battle to get through.”
Back then the stages were longer, and there was no race radio and no
internet, so to an extent the whole show was a little blind, as was his time in
yellow; “It made the headlines in the Canadian sports pages the following day,
but it didn’t get the exposure it would today. All of the Euro guys were
telling me that it would be one of the greatest day’s of my life, and that I would
live with it forever. I didn’t really believe it quite so much, but it was true
– I’ve had plenty of other good wins, but the yellow jersey is always the one
people will remember me by.”
The team struggled through the race, finishing 5 out of its 9 riders,
including Stieda, who was fighting for the stage finish podium right until the
end; “I was completely shattered, and really struggling. I did think of
quitting, but for some reason Gerrie Knetemann (a classics legend and former
World Champ) took me under his wing. He came up to me and told me that I had to
finish the race to honour having worn the yellow jersey, or I’d always regret
it. “
The bespectacled Dutchman knew something about that honour, having taken
several Tour stages and the yellow jersey himself, and he helped nurse the
ailing Stieda through the race; “He’d tell me where to ride and how to ride. I
was sat in a café in Pau, before the start of a mountain stage, he came and
told me to stay with him, and gave me all of the time calculations we needed to
make to make the time cut – and he was spot on, he had an amazing amount of
experience.”
As the race hit the Champs Elysees Greg Lemond pulled on the final
yellow jersey, after an heroic and historic duel with his team-mate, and patron
of the Tour, Bernard Hinault; “It was a different race, that was happening at
the front, while I was in a whole world of my own at the back, just trying to
survive. I was amazed when I saw them on TV, crossing the line hand in hand on
Alpe d’Huez. Hinault was definitely the patron, or boss, of the race. He
controlled everything. But Lemond; his performance was amazing. Early in the
race he had really bad diarrhea, he even had it all down his legs, and was
struggling to even stay with the peleton. It took real guts and determination
to win that race. Along with Stephen Roche I rank him as the most impressive
Tour rider of my era.”
The rest, as they say, is history; the 7-11 team matured into one of the
greatest teams of all time, manifesting into Motorola and Discovery along its
evolutional trek, and went on to win 7 Tour titles with Lance Armstrong. But
for Stieda the Tour was a one shot race; “Back then things were different. We
didn’t have a set up like Girona (with full service de course); we had to fly
back and forth to the US to race, to fulfil commitments to 7-11. So, they
needed riders to race more in the US, and to me it made more sense than
struggling through the mountains.”
It was back in 1981 that the 7-11 team came around, and it was all based
around multi Olympic speed skating champion Eric Heiden, who was a national
hero. The team was targeting the 1984 LA Olympics. The LA men’s road race was
won by 7-11 team rider Alexi Grewel, who narrowly finished ahead of Canada’s
Steve Bauer, who would also eventually find his own way to the team too.
For Stieda the 7-11 adventure started in early 1982, when he joined the
team on the recommendation of his mentor and new 7-11 teammate Ron Hayman, who
had been racing pro in Belgium for some time; “Ron introduced me to the team.
It was February 82, and I’d been riding the Montreal Six Day. It was freezing
back home, and I flew straight to Las Vegas for my first race with the team. It
was a crit on the parking lot of Caesar’s Palace, complete with plywood ramps
over the speed bumps. I was away with Ron, and he let me win. The team’s boss
gave Jim Ochowicz (team manager) a bit of a hard time about it, because he
thought all of the riders should be form the US.”
By that time Stieda had already cut his racing teeth in Europe; “I was a
track endurance rider, and we spent time racing in France and Belgium on the
road with the national team, and I did some time in the Belgian kermesses too.”
But with turning pro things changed some; “We were used to riding crits, and
really hadn’t expected the difference that came with 250km stages, and the
mountains, it took time to adapt.”
After returning to focus on the US scene he took many quality victories,
but seemingly Europe was a past chapter; “I made a decision, which I think was
right for me at the time. I was basically a pursuiter, and not suited to
struggling through grand tours. If I could change things (with the benefit of
hindsight), I think I should have based myself in Belgium and focussed on the
cobbled classics and kermesses – that’s what I was best at and enjoyed the
most, and was best suited too. But, that said; Gent was full of Kiwis. Aussies,
and other foreigners living in grotty rooms eating rice and scrimping – and I
really don’t know if I wanted to go through all of that.”
A few years later he retired from racing; “I got the chance of a good
job with Softride, and made a sensible and economic decision for the future.”
Had he taken that yellow jersey ten years later maybe things would have been
different, as along with the cultural cycling revolution came a financial one
too; “I had a good time, it was what it was, no regrets.”
Now working for a an IT company in Calgary he still has his wheels
dipped in the puddles of cycling; “During the winter here it’s almost
impossible to ride outside, so I also run indoor cycling classes each week. I
just produced a video too, which is to help people pick up the essential skills
of cycling, and I am involved with Gran Fondo Canada, and also run some tours
and training weekends. I’ve devised a method to teach people what it’s taken me
a lifetime to learn in just a few days.”
With his former teammates Raul Alcala and Alexi Grewel both on the
comeback trail could he be tempted? “No, not racing. Overall I think for me
that it’s always been about enjoying cycling, and mainly the camaraderie – that
was the best thing about the whole 7-11 team. For me the perfect ride is
hurtling down a huge Alpine pass at full speed. I think the racing was a means
to and end.”
Although he effectively started the wheel spinning, Canadian riders have
not followed his trail in the same way that US riders have done; “There are a
number of factors that restrict things; the weather is a huge thing. There are
not many places that you can train through the winter here – and it’s a long
haul to drive to Arizona. But the ice hockey system draws all of the young
athletes away, even I wanted to play hockey. I think Steve Bauer’s plans (with Spidertech) and
approach are great, and it could help bring a lot more talented athletes into
cycling, which is what we need.”
Some 25 years ago Canadian rider Alex Stieda took the cycling world by story when he became the first ever North American to teak the lead in the Tour de France, we catch up with him on home turf....
“It’s hard to believe that half of my life has passed since that day, it
really doesn’t seem that long ago…” Reflected Alex Stieda on his groundbreaking
capture of cycling’s most prized garment, the yellow leaders jersey of the Tour
de France, the greatest bike race on earth.
It’s the stuff of dreams, something that just about every boy cyclist
dreams of when he climbs on a bike – to one day take part in the Tour de
France, and to hold that holy grail of bike racing. But, its something so
prized and fiercely fought over that the privilege of wearing it is reserved
for a very special few, and even many of cycling’s greatest racers slip into
retirement without ever having taken home a yellow jersey. But, not Alex
Stieda; for one day in July of 1986 the young Canadian defied tradition and
protocol and became the first ever rider from the Americas to take the lead in
the race.
It was a chilly winters eve in Calgary, a long way from the scorching
French summer of 86, but framed on the wall behind was that very same yellow
jersey he earned 25 years before; “I framed it way back, but did a real bad
job, so my wife re-did things.” The thing to note is that on that day the young
7-11 team rider’s brave ride not only earned him the yellow jersey, he amassed
enough point in the other competitions to take almost all of the other Tour
competitions leaders jerseys too; “I took all of the jerseys except the points
jersey, which Eric Vanderaerden had, but they’re all badly framed and stashed
away somewhere.”
It was the second day of the Tour, and the first road stage, which was
an 80km morning blast that was sandwiched between the previous day’s prologue
TT and an afternoon team time trial. These early stages of the race are always
a tense time, usually controlled by the sprinters teams and often marred by
crashes, yet Stieda had quietly come up with his own audacious plan to do all
he could to take the race lead, and famously turned out that morning in a skin
suit, much to the amusement of the other riders; “Nobody knew why, and I
couldn’t even tell my team mates, just in-case it didn’t come together; but,
I’d calculated that it was only 80km, just like a crit, and I was a good crit
rider – and so didn’t need food and drink. I’d checked the time bonus points
along the route, and knew that if I went for it then there was a chance that I
could get enough time to take the yellow jersey.”
As he raced away from the peleton many thought it was nothing more than
a suicide mission, yet his cunning calculations slowly begun to add up; “I knew
that with the TTT in the afternoon that many teams would want an easy ride, and
I’d planned on having a small group with me, but ended up on my own.” As the
time ticked by so the skin-suited rookie was drawing ever closer to taking the
race lead, which caused a stir behind. His closest rival to take the lead was
Belgian super sprinter Eric Vanderaerden, who set off in pursuit, along with a
small group of other hopefuls; “I knew they were coming, and rode flat out for
every time bonus just as if it was the finish of the race, burying myself.
Every second was crucial, and I knew that Eric could take the jersey if he won
the stage.”
The breakaway group caught Stieda in the closing stages of the race; “I
had to keep on pulling to try and keep the group away and get the jersey, which
ruled me out for the finishing sprint, and it worked, I got the jersey.” The
significance of that day may have been a little lost in the champagne bubbles,
but it was the start of something; something that would well and truly change
the face flavour of pro bike racing forever, and of course Alex’s life.
As the main European road race season draws to a close things are still in full flight in Asia, and only just getting started in the southern hemisphere. For the past few week’s things have been sizzling in China, in bike racing terms that is. The race making all of the headlines was, of course, the Tour of Beijing, the first ever World Tour race ever to be staged in Asia. But, despite the myths outside of Asia, most of us know there has been a thriving race scene in the region for many years (and the Tour of Beijing actually first took place several years ago), and it’s a scene which so much stronger than most anticipate, which is why Team Champion System and several other teams choose to focus their efforts on the east.
During September and through October China takes centre stage when it comes to racing in Asia. The Tour of Beijing, Tour of China, and the Tour of Genghis Kahn have all taken place on recent weeks, and Team Champion System have been in action in most of these races; but today things get sweaty and sticky as the heat is turned up a notch or two with the Tour of Hainan.
Sitting off the coast of south eastern China, and to the northeast of Vietnam, Hainan is the stunning island of Hainan, the only tropical island in China, which has made it something of a luxury holiday destination, and also a popular sports training and event location.
The annual Tour of Hainan has been a prominent fixture on the UCI Asia Tour for some time, and attracts some of the strongest teams in the worlds to its shores, and this year includes the Astana World Tour team and the Geox-TCM and Skill-Shimano Pro Continental teams amongst others. This year the race follows a familiar route around the island, which takes in all of the most popular regions and cities of Hainan, a virtual “mini grand tour”.
Although the island has rolling terrain, this is known as a race for sprinters, and occasionally opportunists. With nine back-to-back road stages to go at this is always a fast and tough race, with the sprinters teams trying to contain the opportunists. In past years there has been an opening time trial, which has pretty well set the stage and moulded the shape of the race, but this year everything is to be battled for on the open road. Team Champion System will be pitched directly against some of the fastest sprinters in the world, but will be hoping to snare some good with their now familiar aggressive racing style.
The action continued in Inner Mongolia on Sunday as the 1st
Odros Tour of Genghis Kahn entered its second and final day of racing, a 140-km
road circuit race based on a 7-km rolling loop around Kang Bashe.
With David McCann in the race leaders yellow jersey the onus
was on his Giant Asia Racing Team to defend and retain the race lead in this
pioneering race. But, having won the opening stage from a group of 7 fellow
escapees he was by no means secure in pole position, and Deon Locke of Team
Champion System was just behind him in 4th place, so it was all to
play for.
A tough and aggressive race saw CS’s Mart Ojavee very much
on the offensive, showing his clear liking for harsh conditions. But, it was
not to be, his national champions jersey clearly marking him as a danger man.
On the line he claimed 6th spot, which earned him 9th overall in the
race, and bagged the most aggressive rider award for the stage.
Not far behind Locke came in strong, and held his 4th
place overall – with McCann taking the final honours.
Champion System also finished 3rd overall in the
team classification.
2012 Giro d'Italia, May 5-May 27 May 5, stage 1: Herning - Herning ITT, 8.7 km May 6, stage 2: Herning - Herning, 206 km May 7, stage 3: Horsens - Horsens, 190 km May 8: Rest day May 9, stage 4: Verona - Verona TTT, 32.2 km May 10, stage 5: Modena - Fano, 199 km May 11, stage 6: Urbino - Porto Sant'Elpidio, 207 km May 12, stage 7: Recanati - Rocca di Cambio, 202 km May 13, stage 8: Sulmona - Lago Laceno, 229 km May 14, stage 9: San Giorgio nel Sannio - Frosinone, 171 km May 15, stage 10: Civitavecchia - Assisi, 187 km May 16, stage 11: Assisi - Montecatini Terme, 243 km May 17, stage 12: Seravezza - Sestri Levante, 157 km May 18, stage 13: Savona - Cervere, 121 km May 19, stage 14: Cherasco - Cervinia, 205 km May 20, stage 15: Busto Arsizio - Lecco/Pian dei Resinelli, 172 km May 21: rest day May 22, stage 16: Limone sul Garda - Falzes/Pfalzen, 174 km May 23, stage 17: Falzes/Pfalzen - Cortina d'Ampezzo, 187 km May 24, stage 18: San Vito di Cadore - Vedelago, 139 km May 25, stage 19: Treviso - Alpe di Pampeago, 197km May 26, stage 20: Caldes/Val di Sole - Passo dello Stelvio, 218 km May 27, stage 21: Milan - Milan ITT, 31.5 km
In consultation with the police, due to heavy traffic congestion, the event organisers made the decision to end the The Challenge at 8.25am for the safety of the cyclists. We apologize for the inconvenience caused and will take this into consideration for next year's event. All cyclists will still their official timings for The Challenge.
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