MANX cycling stars Peter Kennaugh and Mark Cavendish have both been in action this week.
On Sunday, Cav produced a brave effort to claim an impressive ninth-place finish at a snow-hit and chaotic Milan-San Remo in Italy. The classic race had to be reduced from the scheduled 298-kilometre trek through northern Italy down to 243km after heavy snowfall made the gruelling Passo del Turchino impassable. As a result riders were transported by bus to the town of Cogoleto where the race was restarted with 131km remaining.
The field was decimated by the enforced change, with many of the riders opting to retire from the race, including several of the Manx Missile’s Omega-Pharma Quick-Step team-mates which made Cav’s task even more challenging.
One OPQS rider who chose to carry on was Sylvain Chavanel who drove the pace during the closing stages and battled it out with the likes of pre-race favourite Peter Sagan and Team Sky’s Ian Stannard for the win. Eventually Gerald Ciolek took victory ahead of Sagan, Fabian Cancellara and Chavanel while Cavendish claimed an impressive ninth.
Fellow Manxman Kennaugh is playing the role of domestique for Sir Bradley Wiggins during this week’s Volta a Catalunya in Spain. The Olympic gold medal winner, along with team-mates Danny Pate, David López and Dario Cataldo, rallied to protect Wiggo during the closing stages of Monday’s 159.3km trek around Calella and the 2012 Tour de France winner eventually claimed sixth place in a sprint finish.
Team Sky produced a similar effort in Tuesday’s 160.7km stage from Girona to Banyoles until a crash occurred late on, meaning they did not lose any time on the leaders.
The race entered the mountains on Wednesday where Wiggo was expected to challenge the overall classification.