Team HTC Takes Team Time Trial
HTC-Columbia has emerged victorious in the opening team time trial of the Vuelta a Espana, a 13 kilometre late night race against the clock through the streets of Seville.

Mark Cavendish was the first HTC-Columbia rider across the line,making him the race’s first leader. HTC-Columbia was ten seconds faster than second placed Liquigas-Doimo on the completely flat course held through the centre of Seville, with Saxo Bank in third.

“As soon as we did the first training ride on the course on Thursday even after ten minutes on the bike we were riding so well together I had the feeling we were going to win,” said Cavendish.

“The team time trial is my favorite discipline because the whole team gets rewarded, it’s special that way, and at the same time you need to get it one hundred percent right for it to work.”

What a day!
The world cup final in Windham, NY, ended for the SCOTT-Swisspower Team better than ever! With the 2nd place of Nino Schurter, Florian Vogel in 3rd and 21st place of Patrik Gallati (2nd best U23 rider) SCOTT-Swisspower not only won the world cup team ranking at the Windham WC, even more important, Nino Schurter is the new world cup champion 2010! 

Florian Vogel moved up two spots ending up in 4th and Patrik Gallati in 5th overall (U23). With the overall title Nino not only sets a new highlight in his career, he also broke a record again by winning worlds and world cup at the young age of 24. Not even Miguel Martinez or Julien Absalon was so young getting their titles. 

Tight in points
Before the final round it was still very unclear who is going to take the crown. Schurter, Absalon and Kulhavy where tight in points. 

Absalon was out for the overall after lap one by getting a flat tire. An unusual big group with the Swiss armada including Schurter, Vogel, Sauser and Flückiger, plus Kulhavy (CZE), Stander (RSA), Hermida (ESP) and Fumic (GER) stayed together 2/3 of the race. In the last lap it was a battle in between Schurter, Vogel, Sauser and Kulhavy. European champion Kulhavy was the fastest to the finish line. Nino secured his overall title by finishing 2nd, followed by Vogel who came in superb 3rd place.


Milestone
The 2010 performance of team SCOTT-Swisspower is a milestone. Even the boys reached a lot this year they are still hungry for more at next weekend’s world championship in Mt. St. Anne, Canada. In the shape they are right now, they don’t have to be afraid of anyone. Tough, the competition is so tight these days; it takes a perfect race to win one of the medals. 

Worldcup-Final, Windham (USA), Men:
1. Jaroslav Kulhavy (CZE) 1.39.28 +0.00 
2. Nino Schurter (SUI) 1.39.42 +0.14 
3. Florian Vogel (SUI) 1.39.43 +0.15 
4. Christoph Sauser (SUI) 1.39.45 +0.17 
5. Lukas Flückiger (SUI) 1.40.12 +0.44 
6. Julien Absalon (FRA) 1.40.39 +1.11 
7. José Hermida (ESP) 1.40.47 +1.19 
8. Burry Stander (RSA) 1.41.25 +1.57 
9. Maro Aurelio Fontana (ITA) 1.41.59 +2.31 
10. Sergio Manceton Gutierrez (ESP) 1.42.09 +2.41 

21. Patrik Gallati (SUI) 1.46.02 +6.34 

Overall World-Cup 2010
1. Nino Schurter (SUI) 1136 
2. Julien Absalon (FRA) 1040 
3. Jaroslav Kulhavy (CZE) 1040 
4. Florian Vogel (SUI) 795 
5. José Hermida (ESP) 795 
6. Mathias Flückiger (SUI) 710
7. Christoph Sauser (SUI) 590
8. Manuel Fumic (GER) 570
9. Burry Stander (RSA) 567 
10. Ruben Ruzafa (ESP) 494

Val Di Sole, Italy Aug 2010 (SantaCruz Bikes)

The UCI Downhill World Cup Series is becoming a nail biter as Santa Cruz Syndicate's Greg Minnaar (SRAM RockShox), takes 2nd place today in Val Di Sole, Italy in the fifth of the six race series. Gee Atherton takes the series lead with a 3rd place finish, just 7 points ahead of Greg with one race left. GT's Marc Beaumont took the win much to everyone's delight! Steve Peat narrowly misses the podium in 6th place, .05 behind Steve Smith. Josh Bryceland cracks his first top ten of the season in 9th, but was disappointed in his finish after having a 4th place qualifier.

Val Di Sole delivered a great race today and the name suited the weekend which was filled with warm sunshine here in the "Valley of the Sun". Track conditions changed all week as the first practice day it was raining. The track dried out and each day became rougher and more beat up, holes forming everywhere. The qualifier was held on Friday, with just the top 80 men and 20 women for Saturdays practice. The qualifier went amazing for Josh as he had his best result so far with a 4th, it seemed his bad luck streak was behind him. Greg was on a great run but pushed too hard in a corner into some soft dirt and lost his front end, and 10 seconds in the process as well as valuable qualifying points with a 15th place. Gee Atherton won the qualifier taking the max 50 points, thus putting Greg 27 points behind him going into the final. Steve picked up a few points for his 10th place run.

The race schedule this week had one extra day of practice so we had a relaxing Friday evening where we all enjoyed a barbeque potluck held at the GT pits. It really showed what wonderful camaraderie the riders and teams have with one another. SRAM/Rockshox crew brought the meat, Mr. Minn stoked the coals, and the big hit was the Grana Padana Parmesan cheese and Italian red wine, a meal in itself.

Saturday's short practice schedule allowed the afternoon off for the riders and Greg and Steve went to the Freecaster booth to commentate the Pro Men's cross country race. They were a bit nervous at first and ended up doing a great job. Right after that Steve had an interview with Italian Playboy where they will make a 5-minute video for the web and the interview will be in the print magazine. Needless to say the interviewer was beautiful, in fact the mechanics said they couldn't even work after she left the pits...

Race day was a complete reversal of start order from the other world cups as Josh was fastest qualifier of the boys and would be fourth to last man down the hill. Greg was expected to take the hotseat on his run, which he did with ease. Steve was .49 faster than Greg at the first split but after hitting a tree lower down the course he held it together to just miss the podium in the end, placing 6th.


Many mistakes were made by the top riders and Greg's steady conservative run was the right call as his time held until Marc Beaumont took to the course and brilliantly eclipsed Greg's time by 1.40 seconds. Our eyes were on the big screen as Josh started his run, but his first split showed he was down by over 5 seconds. He kept hammering down, but lost a bit more time in the second half and his run was good for 9th place, his first top ten this year in the world cup. Marc held the hotseat until the very end when Gee Atherton managed just a 3rd place. This gave Gee the leader's jersey, the first time Greg has been out of it all season.

Steve says, "This was an awesome track. It was very technical and you are hitting stuff so fast and it just got rougher and rougher. I felt good all weekend but I'm just pissed off that I didn't put a run together in final. I hit a tree in qualifier and also hit a tree in the race and I missed the podium by .05 just like in Leogang. This is damn annoying because I know I can make the podium and I just haven't put it together. Thanks to the Syndicate for putting everything in place for me to do well. My bike was working sweet all weekend."

Greg said this about his 2nd place finish, "I needed a result in the final after a terrible qualifying run, but at the same time I couldn't afford a mistake or lose points. My race run was pretty bland and solid and had very few mistakes and it paid off in the end."

The podium was quite a fun celebration as everyone in attendance was happy for Marc's second career world cup win. He guzzled his winning champagne with gusto. Then the Santa Cruz Syndicate was called up to the podium to take the honors for the top team of the day. Steve rode his bike onto the stage to the cheers from the crowd, while mechanics Ricky Bobby, "Hatrick", and Tango enjoyed the bubbly after the great team effort.

We are looking forward to coming back to Val Di Sole for the world cup next year, but up next is the finale of the series in Windham, New York at the end of the month where Greg and Gee will duke it out to the very end for the title!

TOP TEN PRO MEN DOWNHILL RESULTS:

1st Marc Beaumont 3:17.85
2nd GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 3:19.25
3rd Gee Atherton 3:20.51
4th Andrew Neethling 3:21.08
5th Steve Smith 3:21.98
6th STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 3:22.03
7th Danny Hart 3:22.14
8th Sam Blenkinsop 3:22.51
9th JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 3:23.44
10th Markus Pekoll 3:23.55

OVERALL SERIES POINTS:

1st Gee Atherton 1007
2nd GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 1000
3rd Sam Blenkinsop 694
4th Aaron Gwin 592
5th Brendan Fairclough 526
8th STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 415
28th JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)

Martin wins TT and overall at Eneco

The Eneco Tour is Martin's first overall win in a ProTour course and his fifth of the 2010 season.

"Winning the last time trial is a truly perfect way of ending the race, and it will keep me really motivated for the final part of the year," Martin said. "It's a great feeling to have taken such an important win, and I'm now on track for my next few targets."

"I'll ease back a little bit now, and then start my final build-up for the World Championships Time Trial in Australia with a ride in the Tour of Britain. I can't say what will happen in the World Championships, and it'll be hard to beat [defending champion] Fabian Cancellara, but I've been working hard on my time trialling and we'll see how it goes."

A day earlier, Andre Greipel took his second stage victory at this year's Eneco Tour on SCOTT FO1 project bike.


Like the rest of his teammates, Greipel worked hard all day to help Martin defend his race lead on the hilly stage in the Ardennes but still had the speed to win the sprint in Heers.

"This is a very special victory for me," Greipel said proudly. "It was a hard stage and not really suited to the sprinters. I was seriously struggling to stay in the peloton after working to help Toy Martin hold the lead. With 10km to go to the finish, I went back to the team car and they told me to save myself for the sprint. I was really hurting but fortunately I had a little bit left and it was enough to win."