Ronde van Vlaanderen: From the Start

As soon as the start flag was pulled in, the attacks went off the front.  With the peloton facing 260 kilometers in the saddle, it was literally a long shot to succeed with the break away.  This early group of escapees included Julien Morice (Direct Energie), Oliviero Troia (UAE Abu Dhabi), Mark McNally (Wanty Groupe Gobert), Stef Van Zummeren (Veranda's Willems-Crelan), and Julian Duval (Ag2r La Mondiale).  In the distance you can see others trying to bridge across to the group.  They did gain over eleven minutes before the big names decided to bring them back into the fold.

This is a small watercolors and ink painting measuring just 4"x6" and was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.  This painting and all of my Olympics artwork will be available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  To purchase this particular painting just follow the direct link at the end of this post.  It is only $75 USD and international shipping is available.

It seems that the gremlins have reappeared in my interface with technology.  I am unable to upload the artwork to my website so if you are interested in purchase this piece please email me at greigsart@gmail.com.

Paris Nice, Final Stage: Do Some Work!

After sprinting away from the peloton with the help of his teammate, Jarlinson Pantano (Trek Segafredo), Alberto Contador quickly caught up with the large break away that was just up the road.  He was able to slip up to the front of the group and use them to slow down Sergio Henao's chase.  Contador started to get a bit frustrated as the break away simply jumped onto the Spaniard's wheel and didn't contribute to the effort.  He repeatedly turned around to gesture to those following to come forward and do a pull.  On his wheel was Marc Soler (Movistar) who wasn't about to help Contador put time into his team leader, and I doubt Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) had much to offer.  Finally, the UAE Abu Dhabi riders, Simone Petilli and Diego Ulissi came to the front to give a bit of a break to the gesticulating Spaniard.

This is a small watercolors and ink painting measuring just 4"x6" and was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.  This painting and all of my Olympics artwork will be available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  To purchase this particular painting just follow the direct link at the end of this post.  It is only $75 USD and international shipping is available.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring%20Classics%20/2932896-375-195767/PaintingDo%20Some%20Work!%20%20PN17-39.html

Paris Nice, Final Stage: Opening Up a Gap

Even though there was a large break away up the road, these three decided that there just wasn't a hard enough pace in the peloton, so off they went in search of stage glory.  Up the road Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) was grabbing up all of the King of the Mountain points, by the summit of this climb he made sure that he would be the winner of the Polka Dot Jersey for the whole of this year's race.  All he has to do is make sure he finished along the coast in Nice.  The trio of David de la Cruz (Quickstep), Simone Petilli (UAE Abu Dhabi) and Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) used the upper slopes of the penultimate climb of the day, the Cote de Peille to simply ride the others off of their wheels.  Not only was this the penultimate climb of the day it was the same for the entire 75th Paris Nice.

This is a small watercolors and ink painting measuring just 4"x6" and was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.  This painting and all of my Olympics artwork will be available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  To purchase this particular painting just follow the direct link at the end of this post.  It is only $75 USD and international shipping is available.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring%20Classics%20/2932872-373-195767/PaintingOpening%20Up%20a%20Gab%20PN17-37.html

Paris Nice, Stage 7: Trading in the Maillot Jaune

Julian Alaphilippe (Quickstep) was unable to go with the big accelerations from the domestiques of Sergio Henao (Sky) and Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo).  He quickly lost contact with the main peloton and had his faithful assistant, David de la Cruz to help him limited his losses.  Alaphilippe could take some comfort from knowing that his teammate Dan Martin was still hanging tough with the heads of the climbing state.  He can find further comfort in realizing that while he may not keep the Maillot Jaune, he will be holding the Maillot Blanc since the next closes in that classification has already been dropped.  Joining the Quickstep duo, but not offering any assistance, were Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) and Diego Ulissi (UAE Abu Dhabi).  Ulissi had been on the front of the race at the bottom of the climb, but just couldn't hold onto the peloton as it sped past.

This is a small watercolors and ink painting measuring just 4"x6" and was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.  This painting and all of my Olympics artwork will be available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  To purchase this particular painting just follow the direct link at the end of this post.  It is only $75 USD and international shipping is available.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring%20Classics%20/2932585-370-195767/PaintingTrading%20in%20the%20Maillot%20Jaune%20PN17-34.html

Paris Nice, Stage 7: In Pursuit

This trio comprised of Cyril Gautier (Ag2r La Mondiale), Quentin Pacher (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) and Diego Ulissi (UAE Abu Dhabi) were trying to chase down the lone Frenchman who was just up the road.  The three certainly had the advantage of numbers now that the four had reached the valley roads ahead of the final climb up the Col de la Couillole.  Unfortunately for them, the peloton wasn't far behind, and all of the General Classification were looking to use the mountain top finish to put time into their rivals.

This is a small watercolors and ink painting measuring just 4"x6" and was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.  This painting and all of my Olympics artwork will be available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  To purchase this particular painting just follow the direct link at the end of this post.  It is only $75 USD and international shipping is available.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring%20Classics%20/2932577-368-195767/PaintingIn%20Pursuit%20PN17-32.html

Tour Down Under Final Stage Every Sprint

Every sprint!  Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) has won all four flat (or sprint) stages of this year's Tour Down Under!  In fact only two riders have won stages this year Ewan taking the flat ones and the winner of the Tour Richie Porte (BMC) taking to two hill top finishes  Both race with Australian licenses so it was a shut out for the hometown boys  Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished second for the third time  It was Marko Kump (UAE Abu Dhabi) who claimed the third step of the podium in Adelaide and Danny Van Poppel (Sky) just missed out on the prizes on the final stage of the 2017 Tour Down Under

This is the end of my coverage of this event  Be sure to check back during the Spring Classics and Monuments to see what I can capture with pen and brush as the 2017 season unfolds

I apologize the punctuation gremlins have return to my computer leaving me with not periods commas or colons unless I use the follow cut and paste section

This is a small watercolors and ink painting measuring just 4"x6" and was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.  This painting and all of my Olympics artwork will be available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  To purchase this particular painting just follow the direct link at the end of this post.  It is only $75 USD and international shipping is available.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour%20Down%20Under/2908901-133-194179/PaintingEvery%20Sprint%20TDU17-35.html#.WIUyYvkrLIU

Tour Down Under Stage 3: Hoping to Stay Away

Vegard Laengen (UAE-Abu Dhabi) must have felt the combined sensations of his break away companions loosing steam and the approaching peloton about to swallow them up  He used a small rise on the finishing circuit to jump clear of his erstwhile companions in a potentially vain attempt to take a solo victory ahead of the sprinters.  It certainly falls into the 'nothing ventured nothing gained' category, but it was a long shot to be sure (12 kilometers long to be exact).  Behind the Norwegian you can see the race director standing up (and popping out of the sun roof) keeping a close eye on all of the motos around the rider.  He is just making sure that the motorcycles don't provide a slipstream to help Laengen (or the peloton) gain an unfair advantage.

This is a small watercolors and ink painting measuring just 4"x6" and was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.  This painting and all of my Olympics artwork will be available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  To purchase this particular painting just follow the direct link at the end of this post.  It is only $75 USD and international shipping is available.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour%20Down%20Under/2906684-113-194179/PaintingHoping%20to%20Stay%20Away%20TDU17-15.html#.WIDvl_krLIU

Tour Down Under Stage 3: Little Help?

The Frenchman, Jeremy Maison (FDJ) holds out his arm to call his team car forward.  He does have radio, but it is just easier to talk directly to the team director through the window, plus you can get a bidon and a bite to eat at the same time  On Clement's wheel is Vegard Laengen riding for one of the new teams on the Pro Tour, UAE-Abu Dhabi.  They are joined in the break away by Clement Chevrier (Ag2r) and Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal).  De Gendt went out in search of KOM points in hopes of pulling on the Polka Dot jersey at the end of the day.  He achieved that goal by tying the score of race leader, Richie Porte (BMC) who will still be in the Ochre Jersey of race leader tomorrow (should nothing unexpected happen on the run in to the finish).

This is a small watercolors and ink painting measuring just 4"x6" and was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.  This painting and all of my Olympics artwork will be available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  To purchase this particular painting just follow the direct link at the end of this post.  It is only $75 USD and international shipping is available.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour%20Down%20Under/2906654-111-194179/PaintingLittle%20Help?%20TDU17-13.html#.WIDqkvkrLIU

Tour Down Under Stage 3: On Open Roads

The title of this piece might be construed as a misnomer, while the road is wide open ahead of these four in the early break, Clement Chevrier (Ag2r), Jeremey Maison (FDJ), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Vegard Laengen (UAE Abu Dhabi), the roads, in fact, are closed to all but the racers and the support vehicles.  Unlike previous stages, when Maison went on the attack, he was joined by three other riders thus creating the first multiple racer break of this year's Tour Down Under.

This is a small watercolors and ink painting measuring just 4"x6" and was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.  This painting and all of my Olympics artwork will be available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  To purchase this particular painting just follow the direct link at the end of this post.  It is only $75 USD and international shipping is available.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour%20Down%20Under/2906646-110-194179/PaintingOn%20Open%20Roads%20TDU17-12.html#.WIDnYfkrLIU