The Cycling Disciple

Yesterday was earmarked as a boring, straight forward stage for a bunch sprint. It turned out to be anything but. As Sam Bennett left the rest of the field spluttering in his rooster tail on the soaking wet circuit at Imola, Elia Viviani was 145th and nine minutes behind. All thanks to bad weather and a small climb. Sam Bennett claims his second victory of the 2018 Giro d'Italia with jersey holder Elia Viviani minutes behind Photo credit: cyclingnews.com Flash back to 25th March this year, as Viviani sat hunched on the side of the road, sobbing, as a Quick-Step sougneur draped a jacket over his shoulders after narrowly losing to world champion Peter Sagan at Gent-Wevelgem. It wasn't so much of a huge surprise given the calibre of sprinters in the field, but with Quick-Step's dominance to that point in Belgian one-day races, you could empathise with the Italian for letting down a team that is set up primarily for success in the classics. As Team Sky is for Grand Tours....

As pictures emerged of Team Sky's talisman picking himself up off the floor, covered in road rash with his training kit in tatters, you could feel the weight of  physical pressure to perform to such a high standard so early in the season pile on top of the existing  mental pressure of an unresolved dope test. The latter exists, no matter how much Froome and his team downplay the extent of the stress he's feeling. Chris Froome bears the scars of a crash in his course recon Photo credit: eurosport.co.uk Discussion has been rife ever since late last year when Chris Froome returned an adverse analytical finding for double the allowed level of salbutamol, but chatter over his eligibility to race has intensified ever since his team announced he would contest the 101st Giro d'Italia.  An alleged multi-million pound attendance fee probably played a part in their decision for the legendary Grand Tourer to take to the start line in Israel, but nevertheless, the improbable...

The 101st Giro d'Italia is absent of some big names as far as both the general classification and sprints are concerned, which opens the door to an open race as many young riders make their debut at the Corsa Rosa. Here are five riders making their Giro debut who could very likely produce a career propelling performance. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) Miguel Angel Lopez wins stage two of the Tour of the Alps ahead of eventual overall winner Thibaut Pinot Photo credit: todaycycling.com 'Superman' is the rider Astana General Manager, Alexander Vinokourov, has chosen to bestow the task of filling the cleats vacated by Fabio Aru, who departed Astana last year to join ranks with Quick-Step's Daniel Martin and Katusha's Alexander Kristoff on a lucrative contract at UAE Team Emirates.  That said, Aru didn't exactly leave the Kazakh outfit with a particularly glowing CV. The Italian showed tremendous promise throughout 2015, finishing second at the Giro and ...