News Round-up: Simon Carr dedicates Tour de Langkawi win to late grandfather

We have today's headlines alongside the results from the CRO Race and Tour de Langkawi

Updated 08:30, Thursday 28th September 2023. Published 19:30, Wednesday 27th September 2023

George Poole

Junior Writer

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Simon Carr won atop the steep climb in the Genting Highlands

Simon Carr wins the Queen stage of the Tour de Langkawi in style

Carrying on his best season to date with EF Education-EasyPost, Simon Carr won stage 5 of the Tour de Langkawi alone, as his teammates dominated the day's stage to the Genting Highlands. Behind Carr, it was his invaluable right-hand man Alexander Cepeda who finished second, with Pablo Castrillo (Equipo Kern Pharma) rounding out the podium in third.

As well as being Carr's fourth victory of a tremendous 2023 campaign, it was a day made all the more important for the British/French rider by the poignant message behind his celebratory point to the skies.

“For me, it means a lot, not just because of this race but also because I was really, really motivated to win today," Carr said after the finish. "My grandfather passed away just last Monday and he was a big fan so I really wanted to win this for him."

The crowds always provide an incredible spectacle at the Tour de Langkawi

Throughout the entire stage, EF Education-EasyPost had swarmed the front of the peloton in their bright pink jerseys, forcing a high pace ahead of the day's final challenge - the 8km Genting Highlands climb. It was here that their plans successfully deployed, much to the chagrin of those hoping to wrestle back control from the WorldTour side.

With 6km to ride, Cepeda attacked on some of the peak's steepest slopes, catapulting himself clear of the select group that remained at the head of the race. With no response offered up by their rivals, Carr saw his opportunity and danced his merry way up to his teammate, leaving the rest to forge a path of regret in their wake.

At the front of the proceedings, the EF Education-EasyPost duo worked in unison to extend their advantage, before Cepeda ceded that the day would belong to Carr. It was with 4km to ride that the Colombian let the Brit go alone to the finish, by which point the gap between the first two over the line had grown to 39 seconds.

Carr's solo conquest earned him the stage victory, a touching tribute to his grandfather and control of the green race leader's jersey. His advantage stands at 49 seconds over Cepeda, with Castrillo is the only other rider within a minute of the 25-year-old's lead.

Going into the final three stages, the in-form Carr looks well set to defend his lead and possibly win his first stage race.

Iúri Leitão sprints to victory ahead of Elia Viviani at the CRO Race

Just 24 hours after taking his first victory of the season, Ineos Grenadiers' Elia Viviani got oh so close to doubling up on stage 2 of the CRO Race, but the Italian's hopes were dashed by a rampaging Iúri Leitão. The Caja Rural-Seguros RGA sprinter picked up his third win of the season, whilst Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Pro Cycling) was forced to settle for third place.

Iúri Leitão made the most of his well-earned celebratory champagne

"This is a great victory for me and the whole team because it came against big competitors from the WorldTour," a triumphant Leitão said after the line. "I'm thankful to my team for their trust in me and I'm happy to finally have justified that trust."

As has become the case with many races over the past few seasons, the start of the day's racing was ferocious and led the battle for the breakaway to extend for some time, but eventually, four riders got a sufficient gap and sensed their opportunity. In a stage peppered with short hills, Kristijan Koren (Adria Mobil), Marvin Hammerschmid (Hrinkow Advarics), Anže Skok (Ljubljana Gusto Santic)and Jan Kašpar (ATT Investments) may have fancied their chances at staying away, but the sprinters' teams within the peloton put paid to that idea.

A traditional sprint was all but guaranteed as they approached the line in Novalija, but the element of surprise remained a handy tool for the Portuguese Leitão.

250m from the line, the 25-year-old opened up a powerful sprint and just moments later, his teammate and Venezuelan national champion Orluis Aular produced a fine piece of race craft by manoeuvring himself to the front of the peloton, thereby disrupting the sprint behind Leitão and allowing a gap to open up.

That gap would not close before the line, with stage 1 winner Viviani forced to settle for second. The Ineos Grenadiers fast man does, however, retain the lead of the race heading into stage 3.

Ineos Grenadiers approached Tadej Pogačar's agent over potential transfer

By Dan Benson

Ineos Grenadiers have sounded out Tadej Pogačar for a possible move to the British team.

The two-time Tour de France winner is under contract with UAE Team Emirates until the end of 2027 and by all accounts, he is happy with his current surroundings. However, Ineos Grenadiers remain on the hunt for a bonafide GC leader as owner Jim Ratcliffe sets his sights on winning the Tour de France for the first time since 2019.

It’s widely believed within the Ineos Grenadiers camp that they do not currently have a rider capable of winning the Tour in the immediate future. Carlos Rodríguez finished fifth and won a stage this year, and Tom Pidcock has yet to reach his full potential, but the team currently don't have a rider who can compete with the might of Jumbo-Visma, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) or Pogačar.

His agent, Alex Carera, who has strong ties to every WorldTour team and has worked with a string of superstars over the years such as Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali, confirmed to GCN that Ineos Grenadiers asked about Pogačar’s position in between this year's Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.

"For sure they are interested in Tadej but at this time he is under contract with UAE until 2027," Carera told GCN. "If Ineos are interested in him before that date then they need to talk to UAE Team Emirates.

Whoop turn to ChatGPT to offer tailored guidance to its users

By Alex Hunt

Wearable tech brand Whoop has launched 'Whoop Coach' as a new feature to allow users to ask questions and receive tailored guidance on their health and fitness.

To facilitate this new experience, Whoop has used the AI language model ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, to provide answers based on user data and the power of artificial intelligence.

EF Education-EasyPost's riders use Whoop to monitor their health

Whoop Coach uses the latest GPT-4 version of OpenAI's model, offering the most advanced responses in over 50 languages, making Whoop Coach a globally accessible asset.

Whoop Coach extends beyond simplistic questions and answers to include things such as nutrition and recipes that it can advise on. Users will also be able to ask more complex and specific questions, such as ‘why do I feel so tired?’ or 'how can you train to achieve a 4w/kg FTP?'

An interesting function that Whoop is including in this update is the ability to draw comparisons between yourself and greater demographics. For example, you will be able to see how your sleeping patterns and recovery stack up compared to other users your age.

This might not be a feature that is to the liking of everyone, but it is there should you get curious.

Liv unveils their new women-specific gravel bike, featuring plenty of Giant tech

By Tom Hallam-Gravels

Liv has unveiled the latest version of its women-specific Devote gravel bike, updating it with a more race-orientated geometry while adopting plenty of tech from parent company Giant.

The new Liv Devote features a flip-chip dropout to allow the altering of both the geometry and tyre clearance

Not only is the geometry more aggressive, it’s also now adjustable thanks to a flip-chip dropout, one of the new additions rolled over from Giant. The changes, according to Liv, are designed to give the bike more of a performance edge while increasing versatility.

There are three models in the new range, starting with the entry-level Devote, followed by the mid-range Devote Advanced, and finished by the range-topping Devote Advanced Pro.

The gravel scene has evolved a lot over the last 10 years, even since the first Devote was released in 2020. Riders are tackling more terrain, putting more demands on their bikes.

In response to this, Liv has attempted to make the new Devote as versatile as possible, and key to this is the new flip-chip dropout. When we say ‘new’, that’s not strictly true as the technology has been around for a while now, first introduced by Giant. It’s since made the crossover to Liv, which is owned by the Taiwanese manufacturer, appearing on its mountain bikes.

That’s now been extended to the Devote gravel bike, with each model in the new range featuring the technology. Through the flip-chip, riders can place the dropout in either a short or long position, with the latter adding 10mm to the wheelbase, while increasing maximum tyre clearance from 45mm to 53mm.