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Grand Tour (cycling)
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage (bicycle race), stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the ''Grand Tours'', and all three races are similar in format, being three-week races with daily stages. They have a special status in the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI regulations: more points for the UCI World Tour are distributed in Grand Tours than in other races, and they are the only stage races allowed to last longer than 14 days, and these differ from major stage races more than one week in duration. All three races have a substantial history, with the Tour de France first held in 1903, Giro d'Italia first held in 1909 and the Vuelta a España first held in 1935. The Giro is generally run in May, the Tour in July, and the Vuelta in late August and September. The Vuelta was originally held in the spring, usually late April, with a few editions held in June in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques Anquetil
Jacques Anquetil (; 8 January 1934 – 18 November 1987) was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964. He stated before the 1961 Tour that he would gain the yellow jersey on day one and wear it all through the tour, a tall order with two previous winners in the field—Charly Gaul and Federico Bahamontes—but he did it. His victories in stage races such as the Tour were built on an exceptional ability to ride alone against the clock in individual time trial stages, which lent him the name "Monsieur Chrono". He won eight Grand Tours in his career, which was a record when he retired and was surpassed only by Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault. Early life Anquetil was born on 8 January 1934 in a clinic in Mont-Saint-Aignan, a suburb of Rouen in Normandy situated next to Bois-Guillaume, where his parents had a house at the time. His father Ernest was the grandson of a Prussian soldier called Ernst, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Vuelta Femenina
La Vuelta Femenina (; "The Female Tour") is an elite List of women's road bicycle races, women's professional bicycle race held in Spain. The race is organised by Unipublic and Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), which also organises the men's Vuelta a España. It is part of the UCI Women's WorldTour, UCI Women's World Tour. Some teams and media have referred to the race as a Grand Tour (cycling), 'Grand Tour', as it is one of the biggest events on the women's calendar. However, the race does not meet the UCI definition of such an event. La Vuelta Femenina replaces the Challenge by La Vuelta stage race (previously one day race) run between 2015 and 2022, staged at the same time as the men's tour. History Challenge by La Vuelta In 2015 La Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta, 2015, La Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta was first held as a one-day road race in the centre of Madrid, coinciding with the final day of the Vuelta a España. The race was similar to the La Course by Le Tour de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008 Vuelta A España
The 2008 Vuelta a España was the 63rd edition of the Vuelta a España, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race began with a team time trial on 30 August in Granada. The Vuelta came to a close twenty-three days later with a flat stage, which brought the peloton into the streets of Madrid. Nineteen teams entered the race, which was won by the Spaniard Alberto Contador of . Second and third respectively were the American Levi Leipheimer of and the Spanish Carlos Sastre of . Alberto Contador first gained the race lead after the race's thirteenth stage, which contained a summit finish on the Alto de El Angliru. Contador took the lead from 's Egoi Martínez, who had held the race lead for four stages. Through the first nine days of racing the race leader's golden jersey had been worn by eight different riders. The day after Contador gained the lead of the race, he attacked again and won the stage, while also expanding his lead over his competitors. Contador lost about thirty seco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Team Columbia
A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to information, resources, knowledge and skills and who seek to combine their efforts to achieve a common goal". A group does not necessarily constitute a team. Teams normally have members with complementary skills and generate synergy through a coordinated effort which allows each member to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Naresh Jain (2009) claims: Team members need to learn how to help one another, help other team members realize their true potential, and create an environment that allows everyone to go beyond their limitations. While academic research on teams and teamwork has grown consistently and has shown a sharp increase over the past recent 40 years, the societal diffusion of teams and teamwork actually follo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008 Tour De France
The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th running of Tour de France, the race. The event took place from 5 to 27 July. Starting in the French city of Brest, France, Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regular final destination, which was reached in the 21st stage. The race was won by Carlos Sastre. Unlike previous years, time bonuses were no longer awarded for intermediate sprints and for high placement on each stage. This altered the way the Yellow Jersey, General Classification was awarded in comparison to previous seasons. Teams Long running disputes between the event organisers, the Amaury Sport Organisation, ASO and the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI reached a head when the race organisers insisted upon the right to invite, or exclude, whichever teams it chose for the event. Under UCI rules, any UCI ProTour, ProTour event must be open to all member teams of the UCI's top level. The ASO made it clear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astana Team
XDS Astana Team () is a professional road bicycle racing cycling team, team sponsored by the Samruk-Kazyna, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital (political), capital city Astana. Astana attained UCI ProTeam status in its inaugural year, 2007. Following a major doping scandal involving Kazakh rider Alexander Vinokourov, team management was terminated and new management brought in for the 2008 season. The team was then managed by Johan Bruyneel, former team manager of Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, U.S. Postal/Discovery Channel team. Under Bruyneel the ethical nature of the team did not improve, although Astana in this period was very successful. With a lineup including Grand Tour winner Alberto Contador, as well as runner-up Andreas Klöden the results were good, but the team was on the verge of financial collapse in May 2009. A battle for control of the team led to the return of Vinokourov for the 2009 Vuelta a España and caused B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unibet
Unibet is a sports betting, online casino, bingo and online poker platform. Unibet is a part of Kindred Group–an online gambling operator which consists of 11 brands along with Maria Casino, Stan James, www.vladcazino.ro, 32Red, and iGame. Today, Unibet has over 1,600 employees and offices in Malta, London, New York, and Gibraltar among others. Unibet launched its first online website in 1999, launched live betting service in 2003 and introduced mobile site in 2004. Overview The Kindred Group, and by extension Unibet, is headquartered in Malta. This arrangement allows Unibet to be licensed, through Platinum Gaming Limited, by the Government of Gibraltar (under Licence numbers RGL 091 & RGL 092) and regulated by the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner for the purposes of serving customers around Europe. In order to legally offer online gambling services to UK based customers Platinum Gaming Limited – and therefore Unibet – also hold a Combined Continuation Remote Operating Lice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UCI ProTour
The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle racing, road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, each of whom are required to compete in every round of the series. It was initially the basis of a season long competition for rankings points, created for 2005 UCI ProTour, 2005 to replace the UCI Road World Cup series, which ended at the end of the 2004 season (although the World Cup did not include any stage races). The ProTour was the subject of continuing disputes involving the UCI, cycling teams, and the organizers of the world's most prominent bicycle races (most notably, the Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours), and in 2009 and 2010 the ranking element of the ProTour was superseded by the UCI World Ranking. For 2011, the ProTour and World Ranking were fully merged into the UCI World Tou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Team Time Trials
A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events). The winning team in a TTT is determined by the comparing the times of (usually) the fourth-finishing rider in each team (though the relevant finish position can be otherwise specified in advance by the race organisers). This means that each team will try to get their first four (at least) riders across the finish line in a tight group: it is actually a disadvantage for any rider to finish far in advance of the fourth rider, as by staying back a faster rider can help the fourth rider to get a quicker time. Where a TTT is part of a stage race, it is necessary for each rider to be given a finish time that can be cumulated into the general classification timings. Hence, all riders in the team who finish in the leading bunch are given the time of the fourth rider, and any rider who has been dropped is timed individ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Individual Time Trial
An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials (TTT). ITTs are also referred to as "the race of truth", as winning depends only on each rider's strength and endurance, and not on help provided by teammates and others riding ahead and creating a slipstream. Individual time trials are usually held on flat or rolling terrain, although sometimes they are held up a mountain road (in Italian: ''cronoscalata'' "chrono climbing"). Sometimes the opening stage of a stage race is a very short individual time trial called a prologue (8 km or less for men, 4 km or less for women and juniors). Starting times are at equal intervals, usually one or two minutes apart. The starting sequence is usually based on the finishing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cycling Sprinter
A sprinter is a road bicycle racer or track racer who can finish a race very explosively by accelerating quickly to a high speed, often using the slipstream of another cyclist or group of cyclists tactically to conserve energy.Menaspà Paolo et a''Performance analysis of a world-class sprinter during cycling grand tours.'' Int J Sports Physiol Perform, 2013 Apart from using sprinting as a racing tactic, sprinters can also compete for intermediate sprints (sometimes called ''primes''), often to provide additional excitement in cities along the route of a race. In stage races, intermediate sprints and final stage placings may be combined in a points classification. For example, in the points classification in the Tour de France, the ''maillot vert'' (green jersey) is won by the race's most consistent sprinter. At the Tour de France, the most successful recipient of this honor is Slovak sprinter Peter Sagan, who has won seven Tour de France green jerseys (2012–2016, 2018–20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Climbing Specialist
A climbing specialist or climber, also known as a grimpeur, is a road bicycle racer who can ride especially well on highly inclined roads, such as those found among hills or mountains. Role of climber in a race In a sustained climb, the average speed declines, the aerodynamic advantage of Drafting (racing), drafting is diminished and the setting of the group pace becomes more important. A good climber modulates his speed and chooses the best line on a climb, allowing the following riders to have an easier job. If the group maintains a high tempo, it is more difficult for a rider to attack and ride away from the group. Another important role in climbing is that of attacker or counter-attacker. Climbing specialists use their superior abilities either to attack on climbs and thereby Bicycling terminology#gap, gap the competitors, knowing that only other climbing specialists will be able to stay with them, or simply to maintain a high pace that others cannot match. A successful ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
