Went with 10 others from the club - North Down, for our annual jaunt to the Tour of Mayo, one of the lesser known cycling tours. Our group and the regulars from Phoenix made up about half the field that did the full course. Its one of the best tours on the callendar with a good mix of quiet flat roads then some testing hills through spectacular scenery before finishing on flat roads home - not the best publicised run, but maybe thats what makes it so different. 4 stops along the way and endless supplies of sandwiches and tea. Mrs Doyle would have been proud. MORE »

You have got to love something different in the big tours.  We seen it once a few years ago in the Tour de France on Alp D’Huez and seen it again yesterday in the Giro — A mountain time-trial.  Lance Armstrong won that TT up the Alp back then and yesterday in the 12.9km ride up Plan de Corones on roads touching a 24 percent gradient it was Franco Pellizotti of Liquigas.

The Italian beat out fellow Italian’s Emanuele Sella by 6 seconds and Gilberto Simoni by 17 seconds. Overall leader Alberto Contador came in 22 seconds back. MORE »

The Giro has finally got going.  Yep we are in the mountains.  It’s time to go out of my way now to watch the racing because this is were the race is won and lost.  Tour de France champion Alberto Contador who in riding for Astana will not be riding the 2008 Tour has put his eggs in the Giro basket and so far it appears to be working.  The young Spaniard has moved into the first place overall.  Sure he lost a little time to former Giro winner Di Luca yesterday but not much and today he finished on a par with the stage winner Emanuele Sella.  So they said that today’s stage was the hardest one of the race and with that behind him Contador has surely got to be feeling confident carrying a 33 second lead on Riccardo Ricco and a 55 second lead on Di Luca. MORE »

The Giro presses on through the week and the last few days have included a time-trial.  Tour de France champions Alberto Contador put in a very good time to move up the overall standings but still some five minutes back on the overall leader who built up his time a few days ago in a big breakaway.

Young Irish rider Phil Deignan came in an impressive 53rd in the TT losing just over 3 minutes.  Today he had a bit of a disaster as a huge split in the group seen him come in over twenty two minutes back as the race finished with two seperate pelotons. MORE »

Took the usual annual break from Saturday cycling to watch the North West. Best racing for years, decent weather and huge crowds. Hard to get a decent slot to get some pictures. Here’s the best of what I got.

CLICK HERE for photos

Someone called Gabriele Bosisio from Italy won the 7th stage of the Giro d’Italia.  I have to admit to having never heard of the guy before but I have been keeping my nose out of the pro scene for the last 6-7 months.  He rides for the LPR Brakes - Ballan team and won the stage by 46 seconds ahead of Vasil Kiryienka.

Most of the big names were up there that you would expect to be up there when the road got steep with DiLuca being the first big name I recognised.  He beat out Tour de France champ Alberto Contador by six seconds and finished a solid 45-seconds ahead of a huge group that contained everyone who can climb. MORE »

Team High Road are not a very old team but their early success continues to come and this time it’s through Brit sprinter Mark Cavandish.  He beat out some of the fastest men in the world, including old boy and legend Erik Zabel.  It is his first win in  one of the grand tours and one im sure he will remember for a long time.

Overall Italian Franco Pellizotti continues to lead in the early going — we’re only through four stages with lots of big mountains to come! MORE »

I have to admit to have not been paying much attention to the pro scene at all lately.  I dont think I’m alone in that either.  It is the reason however that I completely missed the news that the Tour of Italy has started.  Thankfully it’s only one stage down with the second stage currently being raced.  To be honest though I’m missing most of this second stage because of the final games of the Premier League season.  It’s only early in the Giro and this — afterall — is the crunch games to see who will win and who will go down from the Premier League. MORE »

One of the hardest events in the NI sportive callendar, the Tour of the Glens took place today. Organised by the Castlereagh club the course covered the same 127 mile route as last year. Unfortunately the weather forecast took its toll on the entry, being much reduced on last year. However, close to 100 hardy riders did take part. Although wet for long stretches and very misty in the high Glens, at least the temperature was fine for cycling and we were blessed by a stiff tailwind for the first 50 miles or so, which thankfully, eased for the homeward run. Starting in Belfast the first checkpoint was at Ballygalley, followed in a few miles by the first climb, Glenarm Glen which is nicely graded 3.5miles and not too steep. The descent back to the coast, down Ballyvaddy Road was wet, as were most of the long descents, and care had to be taken, which spoilt the fun a little - not a day for 120psi. MORE »