Brazilian Grand Prix Report

By Imran Ashraf.

Jenson Button is the new Formula One World Champion after a 5th place finish was good enough at the Brazilian Grand Prix won by Red Bull’s Mark Webber. Button’s team-mate and main title rival Rubens Barrichello suffered a late puncture while in 3rd and dropped to 8th after the resulting pit stop. The 2nd Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel finished in 4th but it wasn’t good enough to take the Championship into the season finale at Abu Dhabi. Button started from 14th but executed a series of spectacular early overtaking moves to complete a sublime recovery drive to finish 5th. Button has an unassailable 15 point lead over Vettel who leapfrogs Barrichello with just one race remaining. It completes a fairytale season for Brawn who also clinched the Constructors Championship. Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber comfortably won the race +7.626 seconds ahead of the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica. The man Button takes over from as World Champion Lewis Hamilton finished 3rd in his McLaren. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished in 6th but it could have been even better if he had not suffered a broken nose after he ran into Mark Webber on Lap 1 after a blistering start. The resulting pit stop saw Heikki Kovalainen exit with the fuel pump still attached and the spilt fuel saw Raikkonen caught up in a fireball. Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Buemi finished in a solid 7th with Barrichello making up the final points position. Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Force India’s Adrian Sutil were involved in a first lap collision which resulted in Renault’s Fernando Alonso being caught up in the aftermath.

European Grand Prix – Report

Rubens Barrichello claimed his 1st victory in 5 years as he took the chequered flag in the European Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen.
The Brazilian took advantage of a pit stop error from Hamilton’s McLaren pit crew. Hamilton came in for his 2nd stop on Lap 37 he arrived in his pit stop box but the tyres weren’t ready. This cost him valuable time as the crew rushed to get the tyres on his car. Hamilton exited the pits behind Barrichello on the track.
Barrichello produced consistent lap times to win the race by +2.3 seconds ahead of Hamilton who never really recovered from his 2nd pit stop error. Kimi Raikkonen finished 3rd in his Ferrari +15.9 seconds behind Barrichello.
Hamilton’s team-mate Heikki Kovalainen – who was overtaken by Raikkonen in the 2nd round of pit stops – finished 4th ahead of the Williams of Nico Rosberg who was consistent again as he finished 5th.
Fernando Alonso finished 6th in front of his home crowd but Championship Leader Jenson Button could only finish in 7th. Robert Kubica finished in the final points position in his BMW Sauber.
However, it wasn’t all bad for Jenson Button as his main rivals for the Championship before this race were the Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel who both failed to score any points. Webber finished in 9th with Vettel failing to finish a race for the 2nd consecutive Grand Prix as he suffered Engine Failure.

Tour de France 2009 – Review

Lancashire Lightning vs Yorkshire Carnegie Twenty20 Cup Highlights – 26th May 09

Tour of Ireland preview

The next cycling race that will be covered on Sargeant Sports News by daily stage reports and possibly live text commentary via our Twitter feed will be the Tour of Ireland starting on Friday (21st August) to Sunday (23 August).

The tour itself may sound easy on paper due to the fact that it is only 3 stages long, but none of the stages go without any climbing.

Stage 1 is a 196 km route from Powerscourt to Waterford. It houses 2 category 3 climbs, 1 category 2 climb and 1 category 1 climb.

 

There is 2 category 2 climbs in 196km stage 2 from Clonmel to Killarney, however the interesting climb of the day is the only other climb on the profile – it is a category 1 climb that comes just 35 km to the finish so expect there to be some moves coming from riders who fancy trying to take a breakaway win.

There should be more breakaway attempts on the final stage - stage 3, 185km from Bantry to Cork because towards the end of the stage there is 3 laps of category 1 st patricks hill. The only other climb on the stage is a category 3 climb at the start of the stage.

The Tour of Ireland is not a tour for unknown riders - Lance Armstrong and Mark Cavendish are 2 of the big names riding the race. Stuart O’Grady, Bert Grabsch and last years winner Marco Pinotti are also riding the race.

Vattenfall Cyclassics Report

American Tyler Farrar of team Garmin-Slipstream has won the 2009 Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg, meaning that every edition of the race, since the start 13 years ago has been won by a different rider.

There was many attacks on the day but none could survive, meaning that the race ended in a bunch sprint. Finishing second was Saxo Bank’s Matti Breschel and third was Gerald Ciolek.

Contador expected to stay on at Astana

The Astana cycling team have recently released a statement in regards to the contract of Alberto Contador, saying that he will be expected to stay on at the Kazakh sponsored team in 2010, alongside Alexandre Vinokourov. This news comes despite the rumours that Contador has had a number of contract offers from different teams such as Caisse d’Epargne, an offer that Contador would find interesting. Team boss Johan Bruyneel is expected to go to Team RadioShack with Lance Armstrong at the end of the season. Below is a copy of Astana’s press release. PRESS RELEASE In order to clarify some misunderstandings reported in the media, the Astana Cycling Team Management reconfirms that 2009 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador is expected to ride for Team Astana in 2010. Prior to the 2008 season, Contador signed a three-year contract with Team Astana, ensuring that the rider will represent the Kazakh sponsored team for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010. Rinus Wagtmans, official spokesperson for the Kazakh authorities, emphasizes that the Kazakh sponsors are excited about the future of Team Astana. “Our sponsors are keen to continue with the Team at least till the end of 2013. It is clear that Alberto Contador will be our absolute leader of the Team for next season. We are surprised to read that many other teams have reportedly shown their intention to engage our Tour winner when he remains under contract. A transfer is not negotiable and we will honor the signed contract. We look forward to more victories from Alberto in 2010.” Wagtmans concluded that he has spoken with General Manager Johan Bruyneel about the successful season. “Johan has ensured that he, as well as all riders and staff of the Team are looking forward to the remaining part of the season and hopeful for more victories.”

Vattenfall Cyclassics

There will be live text commentary of the Vattenfall Cyclassics annual one day race in and around Hamburg on the Sargeant Sport News’ Twitter feed from 1400BST today, with the scheduled commentary finish around 1600BST. It is a race usually won by sprinters or breakaway riders. This years race is around 217kms long and the stage map and profile is shown above. Riders always keep up the tension with fierce attacks as the race returns from the banks of the river Elbe. Just a small bit of trivia – the Vattenfall Cyclassics has never been won by the same rider twice.

Which riders could be entering The Shack?

We all know that Lance Armstrong will be riding in his new team next year, but what about the other candidates to ride for ‘The Shack’. In this article I analyse the riders who could be/are rumoured to be/confirmed to be riding for the American team in their debut season.

Janez Brajkovic

DoB: 18/12/1983

Nationality: Slovenian

Current team: Astana

Rider type: All-rounder

Major  wins: World Individual U23 Time Trial Champion 2004, Tour de Georgia 2007, Slovenian Individual National Time Trial Champion 2009

Sergio Paulinho

DoB: 26/03/1980

Nationality: Portuguese

Current team: Astana (Confirmed as RadioShack rider for 09)

Rider type: Time-triallist

Major wins: Portuguese Individual National Time Trial Champion 2004/2008, Volta a Tras os Montes 2004

Yaroslav Popovych

DoB: 04/01/1980

Nationality: Ukrainian

Current team: Astana

Rider type: All-rounder

Major wins: World U23 Road Race Champion 2001, Porec Trophy 2 2002, GP de Geneve 2002, Trofeo Androni Giocattoli 2004, Volta a Catalunya 2005

Gregory Rast

DoB: 17/01/1980

Nationality: Swiss

Current team: Astana

Rider type: Classics specialist

Major wins: Grand Prix Istanbul 2008, Tour de Luxembourg 2007, Swiss National Road Race Champion 2006/2004, Swiss National U23 Road Race Champion 2002

Alessandro Ballan

DoB: 06/11/1979

Nationality: Italian

Current team: Lampre

Rider type: Classics specialist

Major wins: World Road Race Champion 2008, Ronde van Vlaanderen 2007, Three Days of De Panne 2007, Trofeo Laigueglia 2006, Vattenfall Cyclassics 2007, Tour de Pologne 2009

Stijn Devolder

DoB: 29/08/1979

Nationality: Belgian

Current team: Quick Step

Rider type: Time-triallist/Classics specialist

Major wins: Belgian National Road Race Champion 2007, Belgian Individual Time Trial Champion 2008, Ronde van Vlaanderen 2008/2009, Volta ao Algarve 2008

Chris Horner

DoB: 23/10/1971

Nationality: American

Current team: Astana

Rider type: All-rounder

Major wins: Tour de Langkawi 2000, Tour de Georgia 2003, USA Cycling National Racing Calendar Champion 2002/2003/2004

Andreas Kloden

DoB: 22/06/1975

Nationality: German

Current team: Astana

Rider type: All-rounder

Major wins: German National Road Race Champion 2004, Paris-Nice 2000, Vuelta al País Vasco 2000, Tirreno-Adriatico 2007, Tour de Romandie 2008

Levi Leipheimer

DoB: 24/10/1973

Nationality: American

Current team: Astana

Rider type: All-rounder

Major wins: Tour of California 2007/2008/2009, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 2006, Deutschland Tour 2005, Route du Sud 2002, Vuelta a Castilla y León 2009

Taylor Phinney

DoB: 27/06/1990

Nationality: American

Current team: Trek-Livestrong

Rider type: Track rider

Major wins: Tour de l’Abitibi Juniors 2007, U23 Paris-Roubaix 2009

Tomas Vaitkus

DoB: 04/02/1982

Nationality: Lithuanian

Current team: Astana

Rider type: All-rounder

Major wins: U23 World Individual Time Trial Champion 2002, Lithuanian Individual Time Trial Champion 2003/2004, Lithuanian Road Race Champion 2004

Haimar Zubeldia

DoB: 01/04/1977

Nationality: Spanish

Current team: Astana

Rider type: Climber

Major wins: Euskal Bizikleta 2002

Sports round-up

Football

The Championship football season kicks off later this evening with Middlesbrough taking on Sheffield United at the Riverside Stadium at 20:00 BST this evening.

Golf

At the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational after yesterday’s first round at Firestone, Padraig Harrington is leading at -6 by two shots to the tied for second players Prayad Marksaeng, Tim Clark and Scott Verplank who are all -4. Englishman Ian Poulter had a good day and sat on the top of the leaderboard for a while, he went back into the clubhouse tied for five at -3. Poulter’s countryman Paul Casey did not have so much luck however, he pulled out having just played 6 holes with a strained intercostals muscle. Tiger Woods is tied for eighth at -2 alongside Sergio Garcia.

Cycling

Tour de Pologne

5 of the 7 stages have been run in the Tour of Poland so far, and the man who leads the general classification is Lampre-N.G.C’s Alessandro Ballan. 4’’ back in 2^nd is Daniel Fernandez Moreno of Caisse d’Epargne and 3^rd 6’’ back is Rabobank’s Pieter Weening. The tour could well be decided today, as the penultimate stage is very hilly.

Vuelta Ciclista a Burgos

2 of the 5 stages in the Vuelta a Burgos have take place so far, and it is being led by Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver. However just 1’’ back are Ben Hermans, Alejandro Valverde and Alexandre Botcharov. Today’s 3^rd stage is fairly level, so it could end in a bunch sprint.

Volta a Portugal

Just 2 of the 11 stages have taken place thus far, and the leader is  Manuel Cardoso of Liberty Seguros. Just behind him in 2^nd is Candido Barbosa of Palmeiras Resort – PRI and in 3^rd is Jose Pacheco of Contentpolis-AMPO. The sprinters will have to work hard if they want to win today’s stage as there is quite a steep climb, 1,3kms upwards arriving 92,3kms into the stage.