Archive for the ‘Road Bike’ Category
A superb show of strength helped Tom Boonen complete a hat-trick of wins at the Paris-Roubaix cycling classic on Sunday.
The 28-year-old Belgian, who won in 2005 and last year, became the eighth rider to achieve the feat in the 107 editions of the Queen of the Classics after eclipsing his rivals in the 259-km race featuring 52.9 km of punishing cobbled sectors.
In the finale, his challengers crashed, suffered punctures or lost ground as they tried to keep up with the former world champion.
Before Boonen, other Belgian cycling greats such as Eddy Merckx, Rik van Looy, Roger de Vlaeminck and Johan Museeuw had also bagged three victories on Paris-Roubaix.
Italy’s Filippo Pozzato was second 47 seconds behind with Norway’s Thor Hushovd coming home third 30 seconds further back.
“With all the crashes today, it was very hard, it took time for the last break to take shape,†Quick Step rider Boonen told reporters… Details
He sat on the side of a small goat path of a road, with his left shoulder slumping, grimacing in pain.Â
It was only the first day of the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, a five-stage road race in northern Spain.Â
Near the end of the first stage, Lance Armstrong got caught in a funnel of riders jockeying for position, hit a rider in front of him and went flying over the handlebars.
As he sat there, he later told the Associated Press via a teleconference from Austin, Texas, “You’re laying there, and you sort of ask yourself, ‘What the hell am I doing here?'”Â
Indeed, after three years of the bike, coming back to the sport he once dominated was proving to be a tougher task than he originally thought.Â
At 37 years old, the body…Â Details