Endura gunning for Tour du Finistère

Endura gunning for Tour du Finistère

Team Endura Directeur Sportif Julian Winn believes he has a potential race winner in his team as they head to the 1.1-rated Tour du Finistere on Saturday, he has told Cycling Weekly

"I definitely think we've got a potential winner in our team," he told CW. "I know at least three of them have the condition to put them in the frame."

Endura will be firing on three fronts this weekend, at the Tro-Bro Léon and the CiCLE Classic on Sunday as well as at the Tour du Finistere.  

Winn picked out Maarten de Jonge, René Mandri and Iker Camaño as his main men in the race. "I think we'll be looking to get them into the closing stages unscathed and they can look after themselves," he said. "It suits their styles. It's very tough and has got a good climb at the finishing circuit."

"There's an element of luck to the other races," he continued. "The Tro-Bro is a tremendous race but if your riders get a puncture it's so hard to get to them that it's impossible to predict. The same stands for the CiCLE Classic, although it's not as severe."

Winn will be looking to Alexandre Blain for a good result in the Tro-Bro Léon, and believes he has a number of riders who could make an impact in Rutland.

Endura were in action on Tuesday at Paris-Camembert, where Camaño finished seventh. The race split on the finishing circuit with Camaño missing out on the winning six-man breakaway. He was coming back to the front group up the long drag that led to the finish, but had left it too late to bridge to them.

Rapha-Condor-Sharp suffer with jet lag at the Tour of Korea

Rapha-Condor-Sharp suffered a difficult day in the opening stage of the Tour of Korea this morning.

Having only arrived in the country on Wednesday, Kristian House yesterday tweeted that some of the team were still suffering from jetlag.

And it showed during today's 108km stage from Gumi to Geochang, as only Andy Tennant and Jon Tiernan-Locke finished within two minutes of stage winner Tobias Erler (Tabriz Petrochemical Team).

House himself finished in the third group on the road, 8-24 behind Erler, as did Ed Clancy and Casey Munro. Dean Windsor - another rider to admit he is struggling to acclimatise to Korea - crossed the line 103rd, exactly thirteen minutes after the stage winner.

The race continues tomorrow with a 213.3km undulating stage from today's finishing Geochang to Gangjin.

Rowe eighth in Cote Picarde

Luke Rowe continued his recent good form with eighth at the U23 Nation's Cup first round event, the Cote Picarde in Northern France.

Frenchman Arnaud Demare won the race, which finished with a forty-nine-strong bunch at the front. He out-sprinted Alexey Tsatevitch (Russia) in second and Tosh van der

Sande (Belgium) in third.

Rowe has achieved a series of impressive results this year. He led the Tour of Normandy for its third and fourth stage, was fourth in the Dengie Marshes Tour and thirteenth

in the U23 Tour of Flanders.

Other Brits in the race included Erick Rowsell, who finished forty ninth, Mark Christian (70th), Tom Moses (88th) and Felix English (97th).

The U23 Nation's Cup continues, with its second event, the ZLM Tour, on Saturday.

Tour of Britain announce Sharp sponsorhip

The Tour of Britain has announced that global electronics giant Sharp will sponsor the television

coverage of the race, having been its official electronics partner in

2010.

It will continue in its electronics partner role as well as

becoming this year's broadcast sponsor.

Sharp's partnership with

the Tour of Britain is its third major sponsorship in British cycling,

as it also sponsors the Tour Series and Rapha-Condor-Sharp.

The

Tour of Britain will be held between September 11 and September 18. The

next issue of Cycling Weekly, out on April 21, will reveal the 2011

route.

Spaces free for on-the-line entry at Les Ingram memorial race

There are places still up for grabs in the National B-ranked Les Ingram Road Race to be held in Outwood, Surrey this weekend.

The race starts at eleven o'clock on Sunday, and participants should make themselves known to organizers at Lloyd Hall in Outwood in advance of the race.

Other races of note this weekend include the Cheshire Classic Women's Road Race, the second race in the Women's National Road Series and the Echelon Cycles Road Race, both of which will be held on Sunday.