US cyclists are battling it out for high positions in bike races in Belgium, Ireland and the US on Friday.
Cyclist Tyler Farrar missed a third straight stage victory at the Eneco Tour when Tom Boonen sprinted right past him at the finish line in Hasselt, Belgium, on Friday.
Farrar, the sprinter for Garmin Slipstream, is from Wenatchee, Washington. He's been on a tear this week with Stage 1 and 2 victories at Eneco Tour in Belgium and The Netherlands, as well as winning the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Germany on Sunday.
Although nudged at the finish after the 98-mile race, Farrar still leads the Eneco Tour by 10 seconds overall. Belgium's Boonen sits in second place.
Tour of Ireland
Meanwhile, Lance Armstrong's highly touted participation in the Tour of Ireland ended with him finishing in the main peloton, just 16 seconds behind the winner, Russell Downing of Great Britain.
Economic considerations have cut the Tour of Ireland to just three stages, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday's first stage traveled 121 miles from Powerscourt to Waterford.
VeloNews reports that Armstrong was swarmed by fans and media before the race. Race director Darach McQuaid noted, “…he has put a spotlight on it like pretty much no other athlete could.”
The Tour of Ireland is being shown at Versus. Here's the schedule:
Stage 1 — 196km, The Ritz-Carlton Powerscourt, Enniskerry to Waterford : Friday, August 21st @ 6PM ET/3PM PT
Stage 2 — 196km, Clonmel to Killarney : Saturday, August 22nd @ 5PM ET/ 2PM PT
Stage 3 — 184km, Bantry to Cork City : Sunday, August 23rd @ 4PM ET/ 1PM PT
Darren Lill of Team Type 1 won Thursday's Stage 2 at the Tour of Utah, which is led overall by Spain's Francisco Mancebo.
Lill is originally from South Africa, but now lives in New Jersey. He trailed Mancebo by 35 seconds for the overall lead after Thursday's race.
Iowa born and bred Tom Zirbel, 30, of the Bissell pro cycling team won the individual time trial on Friday at the Miller Motorsports Park on Friday evening. Utah's David Zabriskie, who is competing at Tour of Utah without his Garmin-Slipstream teammates, finished in 5th place.
No information yet on the overall leader after Friday's race.
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