quarta-feira, 29 de junho de 2011

Le Tour de France 2011

 

The route

Running from Saturday July 2nd to Sunday July 24th 2011, the 98th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,430.5 kilometres.
These stages have the following profiles:
  • 10 flat stages,
  • 6 mountain stages and 4 summit finishes,
  • 3 medium mountain stages,
  • 1 individual time-trial stage (42.5 km).
  • 1 team time-trial stage (23 km).

Distinctive aspects of the race

  • le Galibier climbed twice,
  • 2 rest days,
  • 23 level 2, 1 or highest level mountain passes or summit finishes,
  • no bonuses will be awarded during the intermediate sprints and stage finishes.

15 new stage towns

Blaye-les-Mines, Cap Fréhel, Carhaix, Carmaux, Cugnaux, Galibier Serre-Chevalier, Limoux, Modane - Valfréjus, Mont des Alouettes Les Herbiers, Mûr-de-Bretagne, Olonne-sur-Mer, Passage du Gois La Barre-de-Monts, Pinerolo (Italie), Redon, Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux

RIDERS LIST 

THE TOUR SUMMITS

Long Live Le Tour.......

segunda-feira, 27 de junho de 2011

COACH CANOVA TALKS ABOUT TRAINING AND THE TWO-HOUR MARATHON

                                                   Where your dreams become reality

By Chris Lotsbom
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

June 25th, 2011



BOSTON -- Italy's Renato Canova may just be the world's best marathon coach.  He made an appearance yesterday at a media roundtable here at the offices of the Boston Athletic Association, and explained his thoughts on Moses Mosop's debut marathon this past April, training for the marathon, and specifically the possibility of a sub-two hour marathons.  Here is what he said.

RRW: Boston this year was unlike any other marathon in history. From Boston, what changes can you see so far from the race?

Renato Canova: Boston changes the self confidence of many people. The most important thing as a marathoner isn't the history. Boston was the most exciting marathon of all-time. Running 2:03, the way that Geoffrey and Moses used to run Boston, in my opinion, is something that can change the history of this event in a mental point of view.  There is no fear or fright of running faster, and it is possible to overtake the limit. What I can say is that the mind of Boston is different, the motivation is different now.

RRW: With the inaugural B.A.A. 10-K on Sunday, what do you think the event can bring to the table?

RC: The B.A.A. 10-K can be something important in the future. The course is very flat, and in the future, maybe, on this course it is possible to look for the world record for 10-K on the roads. Of course it depends on the shape of the athletes and the field. Boston is not only something in history, we believe in the history here, and it is really, really exciting.

RRW: What are your thoughts on how Moses Mosop developed over the course of marathon training?

RC: First to think Moses never trained with people at 2:04, 2:05; he was training having not finished a marathon. He was particularly alone. Now Abel Kirui is in the group... I think for the next time it will be easier mentally for him. Mentally, the situation for these guys is the change after the marathon, that three athletes-- Geoffrey, Moses, and Gebremariam-- they best appear like runners of 10,000m.

RRW: What do you think of the times run and the capabilities of athletes now having seen this year's Boston?

RC: Athletes that wait to finish their career on the track are slowing down before moving to the marathon. This is the first difference with the past. And of course, you have athletes stronger than the past, younger than the past, they can use something different in training. They have the ability to recover quickly after very tough workouts, and we changed the methodology of training. The methodology is connected with the level of athletes. We needed to change the methodology. It's not the methodology coming before the athlete, but after the athlete. With this type of athlete, it is possible to look for a time under 2:03 in two or three years. This wasn't possible until three or four years ago, when I think in the mind it was very far, a final target. Now I think it is not far but very close, and of course new athletes, new motivation, a different mind, different possibility of recovery, different training, all of these components can bring a record that was not possible until two years ago.

RRW: Much has been made of the two-hour barrier. I know you think 2:02 is on the horizon.

RC: Really, two hours in my mind, is really far. But after the 30-K of Moses in Eugene on the track, there was no speculation of wind. There was wind in Boston, of course there was wind, but the calculation of help or aid was some speculation that I continue to call a stupid speculation, calculating the amount of advantage an athlete can have. To compare for example, the marathon of this year with the marathon of 1994 is to cheat people, for I remember a picture of Uta Pippig where her hair is in front of her face; the wind was a storm.  This year, I also spoke with Gebre [Gebremariam] today, and everybody said the same thing, that in the last 5-6 km, there was wind at their back, that was helping. But all the other parts of the race, the wind was from one side, and sometime also against. This is the truth, and I don't look to match the official data like it is a competition of 100m, it is not possible that for more than two hours it is even, at a constant direction. It is speculation.

But if we go to analyze the competition of this year, the key is Ryan Hall at the beginning, Hall was very even through 25km, but after 25km, there is 5km in 15:07, where all athletes lost 25 seconds on the pace. I don't think that these 25 seconds could be recovered in the last part. So if it was possible this year to have someone pushing from 25 to 30km, already this year the final [would be] 2:02:45, it was already possible. We need to discover something new in this situation. What I can say, in an athlete like Moses, and I suppose an athlete like Geoffrey, can look in two years time because the problem is to find the conditions. But running at 29-pace (for 10Km), it means 1:56 after 40km, it means to finish in 2:02:20, it is really possible in good conditions.

We need to discover what is possible to do with the training and volume of before and more intensity. We don't know. Now, the human limit, we need to discover something new in training. Because in the history of athletics, not much has changed  in the last 40 years, for example in the 800m or 1500m. In the 400m, nothing has changed? No, we are speaking of 45 seconds today, forgetting that in the Rome Olympics, 1960, 51-years-ago the first and second were together in 44.9. So, we have new methodologies that the elite didn't change.

For long distances, everything changes, because we continue to increase in every type of performance. The first key for changing started from Ron Clark in 1965, when for the first time, people not only spoke of general mileage, but of the qualification of mileage. This is the key for running fast. It is not possible running long and fast, running long and slow in training, and short and fast. No, we needed to put together the situation. What can happen if we are ready to reduce three-percent the difference between running a half-marathon like pace and a marathon, we can look for running under two-hours.

Of course, we need an athlete that, in that period, is running 26:20 for 10,000m preparing for a marathon. I don't know if at the moment there is one out there like this, but I know it is possible, also because a marathon is the only event in athletics now where they can keep the motivation. Or secondary motivation which is very important. So the most top talent that are young are moving to the marathon right now, so my idea that the world record on the track will have a very long, very long life, because there is no longer the same interest around. The world record in the marathon can be beaten several times in the next years.


sábado, 18 de junho de 2011

Kitzbuhel WCS men´s race 2011






Alistair  leads from start to finish in  Kitzbühel win

Wet, windy and cold weather did nothing to dampen Alistair Brownlee’s stellar Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship series form, as the 23 year-old destroyed the field for the second time in two weeks to win Kitzbühel and take the lead in the overall 2011 standings.
Brownlee was the fastest man in the swim, equal fastest in the bike and then blitzed the field in the run for his second consecutive Dextro Energy Triathlon Series win – after taking out Madrid just two weeks ago – and move ahead of Javier Gomez and younger brother Jonathan in the overall rankings.
“I looked at the sport and I thought I want to be a kind of athlete who can win in any condition on any day, on any course, independent of how the race goes, and I think that’s what I’m trying to do at the moment.”
Alistair Brownlee, on his current form.
Afterwards, Brownlee said the conditions hadn’t worried him - except when he went to slow down at the end of the run.
“It wasn’t all difficult to be honest, I don’t think the conditions had that much of effect on me until the last couple of laps of the run,” he said. “I knew I had a decent lead and I knew I was racing next weekend (at the 2011 European Championships) so I kind of didn’t push on too much and I think that kind of hurt, and I think maybe I should have pushed on, I might have stayed a bit warmer.”
He also responded to comments that he was changing the sport, saying it was the best feedback he could receive.
“It’s fantastic, it’s the ultimate compliment,” he said. “I looked at the sport and I thought I want to be a kind of athlete who can win in any condition on any day, on any course, independent of how the race goes, and I think that’s what I’m trying to do at the moment. I raced hard out of the swim today, I managed to get away at the end of the bike, and then had a good run today too, so it’s great winning in every situation.”
In tough conditions - with a starting air temperature of 17.2degrees - Brownlee was first out of the water. After three groups came together in the first lap of the bike, Brownlee then stayed at the front of a huge 50-man peloton for five laps before making a break with Stuart Hayes and Reinaldo Colucci. Those three then hit T2 with a gap of 30seconds on the rest, just as the rain was really starting to pour. From there Brownlee simply blitzed the field, dropping Colucci and Hayes within a few hundred metres and going on to win by almost a minute. It’s the second time Brownlee has won Kitzbühel, he won in 2009 before finishing 40th in 2010.
While the gold medal was decided early on, there was a thrilling battle for the other podium places as Alexander Brukhankov, Brad Kahlefeldt, Sven Riederer, William Clarke and Laurent Vidal ran through and passed Hayes and Colucci in the first few kilometres. Just around the five kilometre mark, Brukhankov made a break and stayed clear to claim silver. Riederer then made his break on the bell lap, holding on to claim his second bronze medal for the 2011 season - after also finishing third in Sydney.
Riederer said that wasn’t a coincidence, as it also poured in the season opening race, and he’s a fan of cold weather.
“It was a perfect day for me, it’s a weather for me, I like it really much to have the weather like it was today and it’s fantastic to have the second podium for this season,” he said.
Clarke finished fourth, Kahlefeldt fifth and Vidal sixth. Russian’s Vladimir Turbaevskiy, Dmitry Polyansky, Frenchman Vincent Luis and Kiwi Bevan Docherty rounded out the top-10.

RESULTS

  Elite Men
1. Alistair Brownlee GBR GB 01:51:54
2. Alexander Brukhankov RUS RU 01:52:38
3. Sven Riederer SUI CH 01:52:59
4. William Clarke GBR GB 01:53:08
5. Brad Kahlefeldt AUS AU 01:53:10
6. Laurent Vidal FRA FR 01:53:13
7. Vladimir Turbaevskiy RUS RU 01:53:17
8. Dmitry Polyansky RUS RU 01:53:20
9. Vincent Luis FRA FR 01:53:23
10. Bevan Docherty NZL NZ 01:53:26
23 Andreas Giglmayr   AUT   AT  01:54:00





33 Duarte    Marques  POR    PT 01:54:50





segunda-feira, 13 de junho de 2011

Kitzbuehel WCS women´s race 2011

 




                                http://kitzbuehel.triathlon.org/assets/images/kits_logo-mit-presenting.png

Findlay does it again....
  Helen Jenkins finished second to Findlay as she had in Madrid two weeks ago while American Sarah Groff enjoyed a career breakthrough, taking the bronze.

Findlay’s record-breaking win in Kitzbühel was also her toughest so far in 2011. After a tough swim, where she was more than a minute down from the leaders, she was part of a 19-athlete chase group that caught the breakaway leaders, Helen Jenkins and Sarah Haskins, at the end of the fourth bike leg - before setting the pace on the run. From there, just like in Madrid, it came down to a head-to-head with Jenkins, but Findlay proved too strong - running away in the final 200 metres to claim her third straight win of this season. Although, Findlay did say it had been tougher as Jenkins turned-up the pace with two kilometres to go.
“I’m just thrilled again, that was a really hard race, I have so much respect for Helen, I really didn’t think I could stay with her, I was running at maximum the whole way,”
Paula Findlay on her win in Austria.
 
Jenkins said it had been a tactic to try and push Findlay earlier than she did in Madrid.
“After Madrid, I knew I wasn’t going to beat her over the last 400 metres and over the last 2.5 kilometres I was just really trying to push on and break her, and I could see she was working, but in the last few hundred metres I just couldn’t catch her,” Jenkins said.
“I’m happy with second, I wish I hadn’t waited now, but it’s racing you had to give it a go, Sarah is so strong and I thought we could get there. I’m just happy with the run, I felt awful on the first lap, but came good.”
Early in the race it was Haskins, who won her first career ITU World Cup title just last month in Monterrey, who started aggressively with the swim and had a 20-second lead out of the water. Jenkins was next out and worked hard to catch the American on the first lap. Together, they evoked memories of the 2008 Vancouver ITU World Championships, when they made a break on the bike and Jenkins (nee Tucker) out-sprinted Haskins in the final straight to win her first world title.  It wasn’t to be in Kitzbühel though as a chase pack of 19 athletes, led by Andrea Hewitt, Svenja Bazlen and Annabel Luxford - and including Findlay and reigning World Champion Emma Moffatt – consistently cut the gap. After it started at 40 seconds in the first lap, the chase caught Haskins and Jenkins at the end of the fourth lap.

That group of 21 then hit T2 together, with Findlay, Haskins, Bennett, Groff, Melanie Annaheim, Erin Densham and Barbara Riveros Diaz moving to the front quickly in the run. Moffatt then caught that group and as others dropped - it came down to her, Groff, Findlay and Jenkins in the final lap. Groff held on to win bronze, her first ever Dextro Energy Triathlon Series medal.

In other notable results, Ai Ueda of Japan ran through a large portion of the field to finish seventh.


















Elite Women

1. Paula Findlay CAN CA 02:05:52
2. Helen Jenkins GBR GB 02:05:56
3. Sarah Groff USA US 02:06:27
4. Emma Moffatt AUS AU 02:06:31
5. Barbara Riveros Diaz CHI CL 02:06:41
6. Laura Bennett USA US 02:06:44
7. Ai Ueda JPN JP 02:07:00
8. Erin Densham AUS AU 02:07:03
9. Svenja Bazlen GER DE 02:07:10
10. Nicky Samuels NZL NZ 02:07:11                 

23 Kate Roberts RSA ZA 02:08:15     

 RESULTS
Start lists 

by triathlon.org

terça-feira, 7 de junho de 2011

W.C.S. Madrid 2011

http://madrid.triathlon.org/uploads/12.jpg







ITU Dextro Energy World Championship Series Madrid


Madrid



                   May the best one win.....Have a great race....