North American wrap: Abbott faces controversial blockade in Giro Rosa

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Tejay van Garderen shows grit and determination on stage 10(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

North America's top pro men have welcomed the first rest day at the Tour de France on Tuesday, after a challenging first 10 stages. Check out a few of the highs and lows from the French Grand Tour and the Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile, along with events held in the US and Canada. In addition, there’s some exciting racing still to come at the National Racing Calendar (NRC) Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend and the National Criterium Calendar (NCC) Intelligentsia Cup Prairie States Cycling Series in Lake Bluff.

BMC’s Tejay van Garderen has had his share of bad luck during the first week of the Tour de France including a crash during the eighth stage that saw him lose over a minute to other GC contenders. Despite multiple crashes, and losing precious places in the overall classification, he managed to move up into seventh place after a strong finish during stage 10 on Monday. The American rider is currently sitting 3:56 minutes behind the overall race leader, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) as the race heads into the high mountains.

His fellow countryman Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) was also involved in a series of crashes but hasn’t been able to bounce back quite as well. He crashed close to the stage 7 finish line in Nancy during the bunch sprint and the three-kilometer rule protected him from losing time in the overall classification. He crashed again on a descent during stage 8 and lost nearly two minutes to his rivals. After stage 10, and before the first rest day, Talansky slipped to 26th place in the overall, 14:44 minutes behind Nibali, but a terrible day on stage 11 saw Talansky narrowly make the time cut after riding 90km solo. He is now 44th at 46:49.

UnitedHealthcare’s Mara Abbott went to the Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile with the goal of defending her 2013 title, and although she gave it her best effort, she ended the 10-day race in fourth place overall behind a dominant Rabo-Liv Woman Cycling Team; overall winner Marianne Vos, Pauline Ferrand Prevot in second and Anna van der Breggen in third. The race concluded with stage 9 on Sunday on the Madonna del Ghisallo.

Emma Pooley (Lotto Belisol Ladies) attacked and went on to win the final stage alone, while Abbott was part of a four-rider chase group that also included Rabo-Liv trio Vos, Ferrand Prevot and Van der Breggen. A video of the final stage provoked speculation on social media that suggested the Rabo-Liv Woman Cycling teammates used unprofessional tactics to try and block Abbott from attacking during the last five kilometers of the climb.

Stevens crossed the finish line of the Giro Rosa on Sunday and headed straight for the start line of the Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen 2014 on Monday, a stage race held from July 14-20 in Germany. She placed 15th in the prologue in Gotha on Monday and secured a third place on the podium during stage 1 in Erfurt on Tuesday, behind stage winner Lizzie Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) and her Specialized-lululemon teammate Lisa Brennauer. Brennauer is currently leading the overall classification.

BMC’s Brent Bookwalter finished the UCI 2.HC Tour of Austria in 18th place overall, the top-placed American rider. A series of American riders also competed at the tour including his teammate Larry Warbasse, Nathan Brown for Garmin - Sharp, and Joseph Dombrowski and Ian Boswell for Team Sky, who were working for their teammate and overall race winner Peter Kennaugh. The race ended with stage 8 on Sunday in Vienna.

American continental team 5-Hour Energy p/b Kenda placed two riders in the top five during stages at the UCI 2.HC Tour of Qinghai Lake this weekend. James Stemper took fifth place during stage 7 in Hualong on Saturday and his teammate Gavin Mannion took fifth place during stage 8 in Linzhao on Sunday. Their teammate Chad Beyer is also positioned in eighth place overall after eight of the 13 days of racing.

Criterium specialists were at the Andersen-Banducci Twilight Criterium on Saturday, where Ken Hanson (UnitedHealthcare) and Erica Allar (Colavita-Fine Cooking) won the elite races. It was the 12th stop on the National Criterium Calendar (NCC) series and the eighth stop on the USA Crits Series. Hanson’s teammate Luke Keough, who placed second in the men’s race, is leading the NCC men’s standings ahead of Hanson and Daniel Holloway (Athlete Octane). Allar is leading the women’s NCC standings ahead of Tina Pic (Fearless Femme) and Laura Van Gilder (Mellow Mushroom).

The Intelligentsia Cup Prairie States Cycling Series will host the next NCC round for the elite men and women on July 19 in Lake Bluff, IL. The Northwestern Medicine Lake Bluff Criterium offers a 90-minute criterium for the men and a 60-minute criterium for the women. In addition to the NCC events, Intelligentsia Cup Prairie States Cycling Series offers eight days of back-to-back racing from July 18-27.

"We are currently working with our partners in Downers Grove to include them in our series and to bring back one of the hallmarks of American criterium racing," said Prairie State Cycling Series partner Tom Schuler. "For those cyclists that were lucky enough to race the course previously they will remember it as one of the most exhilarating and challenging criterium courses that exists in the whole country. And this will make for a fitting conclusion to eight days of challenging racing."

"This is a historic announcement for our brand and for our team! The Tour de France is the undisputed benchmark. It’s an important step for us, since it secures Argon 18’s position among the world’s top brands," explains Gervais Rioux, the company’s founder. "We were excited to announce that we had reached an agreement with a team that is currently participating in the Tour de France. Unfortunately, we can’t disclose which team it is at this point because of contractual questions. We’ll have to wait until the end of the Tour to do so, but I can assure you that we’ll be following the team closely until then!" adds Martin Rioux, co-owner and president of Argon 18.

Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.

Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.

She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.