Spyns Tour de France Tours: On top of world, Evans is back into gear

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With only 4 months to go, Spyns Tour de France clients excitedly prepare for thier trip to France with Spyns Tour de France Tours, Cadel Evans, seems to have takes a lighter approach to this years tour, in terms of racing anyway.

He looks to be in form but is he a real contender for this years Tour de France?  We will have to wait until July to see if he can better his two second places at the Tour de France.

Fresh from winning the Tirreno-Adriatico classic yesterday, Cadel Evans has proven he is back among the contenders for this year's Tour de France.

After being among the favourites for last year's Tour, Evans faded badly to finish 26th on general classification; the window of opportunity fast closing for the 34-year-old.

However, yesterday's imposing win over 2010 Tour de France runner-up Andy Schleck proves he is not finished yet.

Evans faces his next big test when he comes up against controversial three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador in Spain next week.

Evans rocketed to equal-first on the world rankings yesterday when he held off his rivals in the closing 9.3km time trial to win the seven-day coast-to-coast race in northern Italy by 11 seconds.

The Australian had only raced for two days before tackling Tirreno-Adriatico, but had solid support from BMC teammates Alessandro Ballan and George Hincapie.

The two-time Tour de France runner-up and 2009 world road champion will next test his legs in the seven-day Tour of Catalonia, starting on Monday, where he will race Contador, Carlos Sastre, Denis Menchov, Ivan Basso, Levi Leipheimer, Christian Van de Velde, Vincenzo Nibali and Michele Scarponi.

Only brothers Frank and Andy Schleck are missing from the field with the older brother troubled by a nagging back complaint, while Andy is also struggling with early season form.

He finished a disappointing 41st behind Evans, at 14min 34 sec. Swiss Fabian Cancellara won the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.

With a question mark hanging over Contador's racing future as the UCI weighs up grounds for an appeal against the Spanish federation's decision to allow him to resume racing after having tested positive to a banned substance at last year's Tour, bookmakers have yet to frame an early market for the July tour. Evans' win ended a three-year drought in winning a stage race, since the 2008 edition of the Settimana Coppie Bartali.

He heads to Spain leading the world road rankings on a countback from German Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad), who won the Paris-Nice race last Sunday.

"It will be a different style of race (in Spain) with long climbs against a field of climbers," Evans said. "We'll see how I go. My form is not quite there yet, but I won't be too bad in big climbs through Andorra."

Of his rise to the top of the rankings, Evans said: "With the low-key start to my own season, I would not have predicted this, but I might have hoped for it.

"The season has just started, let's have a look at the rankings again in August or September."

Spyns Tours and TDF Tours specialize in Tour de France packages for both riders, non-riders, and mixed tours. Spyns is an active travel company based in Whister, BC (Canada) and Beaujolais France. Spyns offers active holidays to Europe including trips to the 2011 Tour de France. For more information about Spyns 2011 Tour de France tours, please visit http://www.tdf-tours.com/ http://www.spyns.com/ or call 1.888.825.4720.

Spyns Tour de France Tours: Aussie road warriors crank up pace

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Although we are a Canadian Cycling tour operator, we have a number of staff as well as clients who hail from 'downunder'!  No doubt they will be delighted to see the form of some of the upcoming Australian road cyclists.  

THE Australian invasion of world cycling is gathering strength. Yesterday it was Matt Goss who claimed a stage win in the Paris-Nice.

Overnight it was a record 13 Australians lining up in the Tirreno-Adriatico, including Cadel Evans and Robbie McEwen. It looks certain Australian riders will be playing a major part when the Tour de France gets underway in July.

While the Tour is still four months away, Goss yesterday showed in the final sprint after 200km of racing on the undulating roads through Burgundy that Australians can win a major tour.

Many such as Goss boast an excellent record on the track. Others, such as Evans, were hardened by mountain biking. All are proving to be road warriors capable of matching it with the world's best.

Goss's win came just days after Canberra's Michael Matthews opened his first-class account for Dutch paymaster Rabobank with a stage win in Spain's Vuelta a Murcia.

It was Goss's seventh win of the season and it came as no surprise to Geelong's John Trevorrow, the Jayco series director, who has given so many of today's Australian European-based professionals their first start.

"Like O'Grady and others like him, Goss comes to the road with a strong track background as he showed in his bike handling following the carnage in the final metres of yesterday's stage," Trevorrow said. "Ironically the win could just as easily have gone to Heinrich Haussler, another kid from the country in northern NSW.

"When you look around at the make-up of the first division UCI World Tour squads, it is mind-boggling to see the ever-growing number of Australians.

"The proposed Australian GreenEdge team entry next year couldn't be better timed and much of the credit must go to Shayne Bannan's vision at the AIS.

"Bannan has worked wonders with Canberra's Michael Matthews, who has come off winning the world under-23 road race in Geelong last October to win his first race in Europe."

Matthews took out the opening stage win at the Tour of Murcia in Spain, relegating three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador to 16th place.

Goss, 23, returned to Europe last month after an outstanding domestic summer which included beating Matthews for the yellow jersey at the Jayco International series in Geelong and wearing the ochre jersey for a day at the Santos Tour Down Under in January.

The win in Burgundy yesterday saw him take the race leader's yellow jersey off the Belgian Thomas De Gendt in a field that also includes fellow Tasmanian Richie Porte.

The racing season in Italy stepped up a notch overnight with the opening stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico which saw a record 13 Australians on the start line.

The Australians are: Cadel Evans (BMC), Mark Renshaw (HTC-Highroad), Adam Hansen (Omega Pharma Lotto), Allan Davis, Simon Clarke (Astana), Baden Cooke, David Tanner (Saxo Bank-Sunguard), Mathew Hayman, Chris Sutton (Team Sky), Brett Lancaster, Matt Wilson (Garmin-Cervelo), Stuart O'Grady (Leopard-Trek), and Robbie McEwen (RadioShack).

Why not join a Spyns Tour de France 6 or 7 day cycling tour and watch your favorite Australian cyclist in action in July!  Or, if already in Europe, join one of our shorter 3 day Paris Finish - Premiere or Deluxe Tours, or even, just purchas one of our 'Deluxe Day at the Races' Triomphe Grandstand seats, now available for the 24the July 2011.

Spyns Tours and TDF Tours specialize in Tour de France packages for both riders, non-riders, and mixed tours. Spyns is an active travel company based in Whister, BC (Canada) and Beaujolais France. Spyns offers active holidays to Europe including trips to the 2011 Tour de France. For more information about Spyns 2011 Tour de France tours, please visit http://www.tdf-tours.com/ http://www.spyns.com/ or call 1.888.825.4720.
 

Spyns Tour de France Tours: Ivan Basso takes first win of 2011 at GP Lugano

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Spyns Tour de france clients will be happy that the Tour de France looks like it will be a great race again in 2011!  It looks like Contador is in?  Basso has form, Evans is focused on the Tour de France and don't forget the favorite - Schleck!


Italian Tour de France hope takes the win over Duarte and Visconti

2010 Giro d'Italia winner, Ivan Basso, notched up his first win of the 2011 season today in Lugano. The Liquigas rider topped Colombia's 2008 U23 World Champion, Fabio Duarte, and yesterday's GP Insubrica winner, Giovanni Visconti. Visconti wasn't the only rider who put in two consecutive days of solid results though: Team Type 1's Jure Kocjan managed a 4th place in Lugano following his runner-up spot to the Italian champion on Saturday. For Basso, it's a stellar start to his 2011 campaign, for which he has set his sights entirely on July's Tour de France.

Duarte and Basso separated themselves from a select group of four as the crowning move of a long series of attacks.

The decisive moment of the day came in the race's final climb. Cofidis's talented Estonian climber, Rein Taaramae initiated the proceedings with a powerful attack. Italy's two-time Giro d'Italia winner followed the Cofidis rider immediately and with ease, while behind, it was Italy's National Champion, Visconti, who understood the critical nature of the move and leapt across as well. Geox-TMC super young rider, Fabio Duarte, was the last to jump across to make it four at the front - the winner would come from this quartet.

For Taaramae, it was a little too much too early though, and shortly after starting the move, he had to retreat back to the field, leaving only Basso, Visconti, and Duarte.

While Visconti got most of the attention from his win on Saturday, both Basso and Duarte had shown themselves at the head of the field in the waning moments of the GP Insubrica. Duarte led a late move that survived into the final half kilometer, while it was Basso who countered that move, but couldn't quite get free in the fast finish.

On Sunday, there would be no large group to ruin Basso's chances though. As the final climb continued, Visconti began to struggle. He did everything he could to hold on, but eventually succumbed to the pace being set by the former Tour de France podium finisher and the 2008 Espoir World Champion.

With the original move of four down to two, there was only the final descent to negotiate, which Basso managed with aplomb. In the finishing sprint, the not known for his sprinting prowess Basso, was able to just nose his front wheel ahead of his much younger rival to take a big win to start the season.

Unsurprisingly, Basso had only words for his recently passed mentor and coach, Aldo Sassi.

"This victory is for him," said Basso to La Gazzetta dello Sport. "But I know he wants another win…"

It's not too hard to guess, which race he's talking about.

Spyns Tours and TDF Tours specialize in Tour de France packages for both riders, non-riders, and mixed tours. Spyns is an active travel company based in Whister, BC (Canada) and Beaujolais France. Spyns offers active holidays to Europe including trips to the 2011 Tour de France. For more information about Spyns 2011 Tour de France tours, please visit http://www.tdf-tours.com/ http://www.spyns.com/ or call 1.888.825.4720.