Ok, so this isn’t exactly a velodrome, but it sure as hell would be fun to ride around it. I bet you are wondering what on earth it is. It is a hydroelectric power plant in Slovenia. It is usually full with water generating energy, but when it is empty it enables some Slovenian fixed wheel cyclists to go mental inside it. The standard velodrome has a track length of 250 meters, this has a length of around 2000 meters. When you are at the bottom of the bowl, it will mean that you will have be 50 meters to get to the lip of the bowl. Some mathematician can calculate the angle of banking, but I can tell you that it’s bloody steep! Anyway, here are some more photos courtesy of keki & subtilen

Champion System placed two of its key veterans on the injured list this week, with American Craig Lewis suffering a fractured elbow and Bobbie Traksel undergoing knee surgery.

Lewis crashed hard in Wednesday’s Brabantse Pijl semi-classic, injuring his right elbow.

“A crash happened to the left of me — maybe somebody overlapped a wheel or something,” Lewis said in a team press release. “Gerald Ciolek [MTN-Qhubeka] went over the handlebars into me and I went over him. Everybody else landed on the pavement, but I landed on this one little stretch of cobblestones off the side of the road.”

Lewis was scheduled to start the Giro del Trentino in Italy next week. The team did not set a date for the 27-year-old to return to action. He was fitted with a 90-degree cast this week.

“It’s a pretty big bummer because he was an important guy for Trentino and a really important guy for the Amgen Tour of California,” said team manager Ed Beamon.

The injury is the latest in a string of setbacks for Lewis, who suffered more than 40 broken bones when he was hit by a car in the 2004 Tour de Georgia. He broke his left femur at the 2011 Giro d’Italia and nearly lost the leg to an infection weeks later. The two-time U.S. U23 national champion fought back from both injuries to rejoin the sport’s elite.

“My whole spring is a wash now,” he said. “At least I can be fresh coming into the summer and fall and hopefully will be able to show myself then.”

Traksel underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee this week. Pain in the knee plagued his early-season campaign, which included the most aggressive rider’s jersey at the Tour of Oman in February.

“I had already had a few weeks of problems with my right knee and the most important part of the spring was over,” said Traksel. “It was a choice between surgery now or after the season. But to put it off any longer would have meant more problems and pain.”

The team hopes that Traksel will return for the 4 Jours de Dunkerque (Four days of Dunkirk) in May.

“It is disappointing because he ends up missing the races that are most important to him,” said Beamon. “This is especially tough because it is the part of the season where the weather really favors a guy like him.”

source: velosnews.

Lobato edged out both Juan Jose Francesco of Caja Rural and the Ken Hanson of Optum Pro Cycling in a sprint finish after the break was caught with 10km to go.

Lasca is the new GC leader thanks to time bonuses, putting him 2 seconds ahead of today’s stage winner. Pablo Urtasun, the winner of stage one, is third six seconds behind. Hanson is now fifth, 8 seconds down.

The 164km stage included several climbs but was raced at an average of 45km/h. Early breakaway attempts were all pulled back, with a move of nine riders going clear over the top of the Alto de Peñaflor, after 60km of super fast racing. The USA’s Shawn Milne (5HourEnergy) was in the move.

However Euskaltel-Euskadi was keen to hold onto the race lead and fight for stage victory and shared the chasing with the generous Efapel team from Portugal. The gap reached 1:30 after 100km of racing but with Movistar also joining the chase to set up sprint Jose Rojas, the nine were slowly reeled in.

The race came back together over the last climb of Alto de Autilla, with 10km to go, before a mad dash to Palencia for the sprint finish.

Sunday’s third and final stage is Aguilar de Cam to Cervera del Pisuerga, over a distance of 183km.

These 2 competitive cyclists struggle to keep up with an old man on his shopping run.

Over an eight-day period the peloton will tackle Amstel Gold (April 14), Fleche Wallonne (April 17) and Liege-Bastogne-Liege (April 21) as an array of the world’s top climbing talent duke it out.

Kicking off in Valkenberg, the team will arrive at Amstel Gold with a squad which combines elements of the cobbled classics group and stage race talent.

Edvald Boasson Hagen joins Josh Edmondson, Mathew Hayman, Sergio Henao, Vasil Kiryienka, Salvatore Puccio, Jonathan Tiernan-Locke and Rigoberto Urán in a squad to cover every eventuality.

The team moves on to La Fleche Wallonne where the balance of the team slowly switches towards out-and-out climbers for the ‘Walloon Arrow’. Fresh from second overall at Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Richie Porte arrives in Belgium to compete alongside Edmondson, Henao, Kiryienka, Puccio, Tiernan-Locke and Urán.

The curtain comes down on the Ardennes with the mythical Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The eight-man line-up evolves further as yet more stage race talent steps up to tackle ‘La Doyenne’.

In come Chris Froome, fresh from victory at both the Tour of Oman and Criterium International in 2013, David López and Danny Pate to round out a formidable line-up of Henao, Kiryienka, Porte, Tiernan-Locke and Urán.

Stage race action

April also sees two significant stage races play out with Team Sky making their debut at the Giro del Trentino (April 16-19) before rounding out the month at the Tour de Romandie (April 23-28).

The Giro del Trentino sees Sir Bradley Wiggins back in action in his final appearance before May’s Giro d’Italia. Supporting the Brit is yet another strong squad of Dario Cataldo, Joe Dombrowski, Peter Kennaugh, Christian Knees, Pate, Kanstantsin Siutsou and Xabier Zandio.

Team Sky will be looking to defend their Tour de Romandie title as Froome heads a team of eight riders displaying plenty of strength in depth. Edmondson, Kennaugh, Kiryienka, Lopez, Porte, Gabriel Rasch and Chris Sutton complete the line-up.

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Dominic Irvine from Hampshire attempted the 842-mile trip last year, but he and his partner Ian Rodd missed out on the top time of two days, two hours, 14 minutes and 25 seconds – due to bad weather.

The 45 year old told the Southern Daily Echo: “It’s ordinary people trying to do something extraordinary and at the same time making a positive contribution to society.

“We need to work together on the bike. You’ll need to have a background in endurance and have a sense of humour, as you’ll need to spend a lot of time training with each other.”

If you think you might be up for the challenge – which will involve at least 15 hours of training a week on and off the tandem before the attempt in a year’s time – email dom.irvine@gmail.com.

I must say that they feel really comfortable. The material is quite think, so you get no sores from holding the handlebars. They are very warm and block out all wind like they are meant to. They keep your hands warm when it is raining, but not dry. As soon as you take the gloves off when wet though, you will not be able to put them back on due to them making your hands freezing when wet. Easy to do all the gears and brakes and whatever else you might want to do (Apart from putting a thread through the eye of a needle). They do have a good texture on the palm section which allow them to grip.

The sizing’s are quite bizarre though. I needed a XXL and I don’t consider my hands to be that big. Very good for the money. I got the red ones, but they are also available in yellow and grey. (Grey must be brought elsewhere)

Here is the link to Evans to buy them. Link here

The incident happened near Cauldwell Wood on the A617 in Sutton-in-Ashfield just before 1.30pm today (Saturday 13 April 2013) when a Honda Jazz collided with the teenager.

He was air-lifted to Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre with life-threatening injuries. The 72-year-old car driver was shaken but unharmed. No one else was injured.

The road is expected to remain closed in both directions for a number of hours between the A60 and Hamilton Road while police conduct their enquiries.

If you saw the collision or have any information contact Nottinghamshire Police’s Crash Unit on 101, extension 800 2225, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Astana revealed in a statement on their website that Gasparotto was struck by a delivery truck near Lake Como as it was pulling out of a driveway. At the time of the incident Gasparotto was motor pacing a scooter which was being ridden by the team’s directeur sportif, Stefano Zanini. Zanini manged to avoid coliding with the truck, but Gasparotto was not so lucky.

“It was impossible to brake,” he said. “We were going 45 maybe 50k on a little bit of a descent, and it was impossible not to crash.

“I was very, very lucky that there was no real damage. My body is a little bit hurt, and my bike was not so good.

“I have a little bit of pain right now, but today is Thursday, and I can go to the osteopath tonight and everything should be good by Sunday.”

Zanini, by his own account, gave the driver a piece of his mind and then some.

“The crash happened in the first hour of training, and we stopped to yell at the driver for about 20 minutes. But Gaspa got back on his bike and rode at the same level for the rest of the training session,” he stated.

Indeed, Gasparotto revealed that he became a bit worried how far Zanini might take matters.

“For me this is the most important week of the year, and I want to have good races in the Ardennes, so I continued my training session and that was all I could do.

“I yelled at the driver that this is my job, I don’t go out on the bike just for fun, and he has no idea the sacrifices we make to be professionals.

“But Zaza is a big man and he was really angry, and I really thought he was going to hit him.”

Meanwhile, Swiss Professional Continental outfit IAM Cycling, already without Aleksejs Saramotins who suffered a broken scaphoid during Paris-Roubaix, has now lost Thomas Löfkvist for six weeks, after the 29-year-old Swede was hit by a car while training.

“Löfkvist was knocked down by a car at the end of his training session and suffered a compound fracture to his index finger on his left hand,” said his team in a statement yesterday.

It added that he had undergone an examination at Geneva University Hospital, where he was due to be operated on yesterday evening.

The two incidents are the latest in a series involving pro cyclists being hit by vehicles when out training, including Bradley Wiggins who was hit by a van near his home in Lancashire last November, and Olympic mountain biker Burry Stander, killed when he was struck by a taxi in his native South Africa in January.