The Week That Was...
The 2006 Tour of Britain route was last week announced with the final
The stage starts in
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The six stages of this year?s Tour of Britain race are:
Stage 1 ? August 29:
Stage 2 ? August 30: Northwest, Blackpool to Liverpool
Stage 3 ? August 31: Yorkshire, (TBC)
Stage 4 ? September 1: West Midlands, (TBC)
Stage 5 ? September 2: Southeast,
Stage 6 ? September 3:
Current World Champion, Tom Boonen, is making his return to the peloton in the Tour of Belgium running from May 24th to 28th. Speaking to VRT, the Belgian explained that, ?I'm a bit tired of the long training rides I've done in recent weeks. I yearn for competition. After the Scheldeprijs, I did nothing for eight or nine days. I had to recover, especially get my head clear again. I was still in reasonably good form, so then you come back to your level quickly. I built up calmly and I'm reasonably good again. Of course I'd like to win the Tour of Belgium again, but I don't know if that will happen immediately."
The five stage race takes in many of the well known roads of
While Boonen hopes to repeat last year?s dominating performance in the race, other riders hoping to be competitive include Peter Van Petegem (Davitamon-Lotto), Leif Hoste, Stijn Devolder (Discovery Channel) and former winner of the Tour de France green jersey, Baden Cooke (Unibet).
Following his dominant performance in the recent Time Trial stage of the Giro, Jan Ullrich is the man to watch come the Tour de France 2006 according to German, Marcel Wust.
Speaking to sport1.de, Wust commented that, "If you figure his time advantage over Basso in this time trial to the time trial in the 2006 Tour de France in six weeks, then it could be two or three minutes that he wins over Basso. And this Tour is one for the time trialist."
The former pro went on to wonder aloud about his fellow German?s disruptive Spring campaign. "Who knows - maybe there weren't any serious knee problems. But Jan Ullrich is a good example that you don't necessarily have to ride a lot of races to get in shape. Hard training is sometimes more effective."
For his part, Ullrich said that his victory in the time trial had given him a ?lot of morale,? according to Algemeen Dagblad. The time trial is an event that Basso has spent a great deal of his time trying to improve in.
Keep up to date with all the latest results from the Giro here at Roadcycling.com. Impressed with Basso?s ride? Disappointed with Cunego? Feel that Ullrich is riding well within himself? Discuss these topics and many more in the Roadcycling.com bike forums.
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Until next time?
Ian