Gracia Orlova photos

All the photographs below are by Bell X One, who has very kindly given me permission to use them here. I was going to use them in a report, but they speak for themselves - I haven't seen any better images from this year's race and if you take the time to look at all the images on the owner's website, I think you'll agree.

 Bell X One Photography

(please do not re-use without owner's permission)

Pooley wins Durango-Durango

Emma Pooley

British AA Drink-Leontien.nl rider Emma Pooley chalked up (what by my reckoning) was her 41st professional victory and her first this season at Tuesday's Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria after using her highly respected climbing skills to escape from a strong lead group on the penultimate climb, then rode hard to maintain her advantage all the way to the line.

The initial part of the race had been characterised by constant tit-for-tat battles with various attacks firing off and being chased down only for a new attempt to replace it. In the last 20km, the opposing teams redoubled their efforts and worked together to try to bring Pooley back but were simply outclassed on the final pair of hills.

With 2km it was clear that the only remaining battle was the one for second place: the chase groups merged and began concentrating on getting their sprinters into position and, with Pooley already home and dry, thirteen of them contested second place. Orica-GreenEDGE's Claudia Haussler did a superb job of leading out Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, but on this occasion Teut's incredible sprint didn't deliver and she settled for third behind Specialised-Lululemon's Charlotte Becker.

Elizabeth Armitstead and Sharon Laws, also AA-Drink, took fourth and eighth respectively. With their Dutch team mate Lucinda Brand taking ninth, it was a great day for AA Drink - and further proof that if you want to see British riders dominate cycling, the women are the ones to watch.

It's also indication that a slow start to the season was caused by Pooley timing her peak for the Giro Donne, the last Grand Tour in women's cycling, and for the Olympics. When she does, however, she'll face far tougher opposition that any hill of mountain: Marianne Vos, who won this race for the last two editions but was away this year with a broken collarbone.

Top Ten
  1.  Emma Pooley AA Drink-Leontien.nl 2h51'35"
  2.  Charlotte Becker Specialized-Lululemon +54"
  3.  Judith Arndt Orica GreenEDGE ST
  4.  Elizabeth Armitstead AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST
  5.  Annemiek Van Vleuten Rabobank ST
  6.  Alena Amialyusik Be Pink ST
  7.  Emma Johansson Hitec Products-Mistral Home ST
  8.  Sharon Laws AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST
  9.  Lucinda Brand AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST
  10.  Ellen Van Dijk Specialized- Lululemon ST
(Full results)

On this day...

Amber Neben

Amber Neben
(image credit: Crikey)

Amber Neben, born in Irvin, USA on this day in 1975, originally competed in football (soccer) and cross-country running whilst at college, only adopting cycling when stress injuries forced her to give up running. She first took up mountain biking but soon discovered she performed better in road cycling and rapidly came to the attention of team managers, being signed up to ride with the USA World Championships squad in 2001 and winning a silver medal in the National Championships that same year. One year later, she took silver in both the Road and Time Trial National races.

She became National Road Race Champion in 2003 and began to show promise in stage races, finishing the Giro della Toscana in 7th place overall the next season. This would be bettered with a win at the Tour de l'Aude and a third National Time Trial silver medal in 2005, her l'Aude success repeated in 2006 along with podium finishes at the Route de France Feminin, Thuringen-Rundfahrt and other races, another National Time Trial silver and a bronze in the National Road Race. 2007 was similar, but she topped it all by becoming World Time Trial Champion in 2008. In the following years, she continued to win stages in a series of races and in 2011 won the Chrono des Nations.

Neben tested positive for 19-Norandrosterone in 2003, a recognised metabolite of nandrolone - a banned anabolic steroid. However, the result was delayed for some time and the rider accepted provisional suspension from racing during the following investigation, also stating her belief that the drug had come from dietary supplements. The Court for Arbitration in Sport decreed that while there was evidence to suggest she had been affected by the drug in races that took place prior to the announcement of the positive test, in their opinion she had not intentionally doped. She received a six-month ban beginning from the start of the provisional suspension with the agreement that she would submit to increased checks over the subsequent 18 months and returned to racing, passing every test since.


On this day in 2011 Joanna Rowsell, Wendy Houvenaghel and Sarah Storey set a new British Women's Record when the completed the 4000m Team Time Trial at the World Track Cup in Manchester with a time of 3'19.757".