Latest news with #MichaelStorer
ABC News
27-05-2025
- General
- ABC News
Giro d'Italia favourite Primož Roglič out and Isaac del Toro's lead slashed in chaotic 16th stage
A gripping 16th stage of the Giro d'Italia has ended with the pre-race favourite out, the leader just hanging on to the maglia rosa and Italy celebrating a 1-2-3. Amid the chaos, Australia's Michael Storer moved up five places to be one of around eight riders still in contention to be in pink on the podium in Rome on Sunday. Pre-race favourite Primož Roglič, the 2023 champion, abandoned after suffering his fourth crash in barely a week in a stage initially made treacherous by torrential rain. Isaac del Toro, the 21-year-old Mexican riding his second grand tour, held on to the maglia rosa, but only just, as he was broken by Simon Yates on the final climb of four, totalling 4,900m of elevation. The demanding ride through the Dolomites began in rain but ended in sun, and it shone on the host nation. Christian Scaroni led home an all-Italian trio for the first home stage win of this year's race, hand-in-hand with the mountains leader and XDS Astana teammate Lorenzo Fortunato. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe) was third. However, another Italian, Alessio Martinelli, was hospitalised after sliding into a ravine. The VG Group Bardiani-CSF Faizane team said Martinelli was "conscious and in stable condition". He was carried up from the ravine on a stretcher by an Alpine rescue team. As the gradients rose on the 203km leg from Piazzola Sul Brenta to San Valentino, so did the drama. Roglič (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe) was 10th at the start of the day, but a fall that also involved Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) forced him to finally quit with a series of injuries. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), the 2021 champion, fell in a separate incident but continued. The absence of reigning champion Tadej Pogačar and Dane Jonas Vingegaard had meant Roglič was favourite when the Giro began. As crashes derailed the Slovenian's chances, Del Toro had begun to look as if he could hold on to his lead after a week in pink. But the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider's lead was reduced from 1 minute, 20 seconds to 26 seconds ahead of Briton Yates (Visma–Lease a Bike) and, 11 seconds further back, Carapaz. The Ecuadorian, who won in 2019, had been 2:07 back at the start of the stage but produced a powerful ride to finish fourth in the stage. "In end, I didn't have the best legs. They weren't bad but they weren't sufficient. I was happy to make it to the finish," Del Toro said. Del Toro's teammate Juan Ayuso, who was third at the start, 1.26 behind, cracked and came in 35th, 14:47 adrift and out of GC contention. Storer (Tudor) acquitted himself well, finishing seventh, 1.52 behind the leaders, and is up from 12th to seventh overall, 3.31 behind Del Toro. Wednesday's Stage 17 is a 155 km leg from San Michele All'Adige to Bormio featuring three climbs — including the Mortirolo, one of the Giro's toughest and most fabled. AAP
The Guardian
09-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘I can live up to it': Giro d'Italia contender Michael Storer on his Destroyer nickname
Few people get to choose their own nickname. And when a sportsperson is labelled as 'The Destroyer', it could go one of two ways. Michael Storer has carried the weighty moniker since Nico Denz coined the nickname during a celebratory dinner for one of the Australian cyclist's two stage wins at the 2021 Vuelta a España. Former teammate Denz turned to his native German to find 'Der Zestörer' as a nod to Storer riding away to a pair of victories in Spain as much as for the similarities to his surname. Storer backed up his breakout Grand Tour with second place overall in the Tour of the Alps the following year, but had to wait longer before impressing again in a three-week race. A top-10 finish in last year's Giro d'Italia was the first sign that Storer might be a general classification challenger in the making. An overall triumph in the Tour of the Alps last month now has the 28-year-old being spoken about as one of the leading GC contenders when the Giro starts in Albania on Friday. 'The Destroyer … yeah, that is my main nickname, at least in the cycling world,' Storer says. 'When I'm in my best shape, I can live up to it. Like in the Tour of the Alps, I think I lived up to that nickname, and hopefully I can in some more races this year. But Grand Tours are a lot about following, there aren't too many riders blowing the rest of the peloton away.' Storer looked to be in the form of his life at the Tour of the Alps as he launched solo attacks on three of the five stages, each in different circumstances. The early move on stage two went a long way to setting up Storer's overall victory, but he still had to dig deep to defend the leader's jersey on the penultimate stage and finally reclaim the lead the next day. Ineos Grenadiers' Thymen Arensman was the only rider able to keep pace with Storer on the GC, but the Australian is confident he kept enough in reserve to still have the legs to ride out three weeks at a higher level. This year's Giro will be missing defending champion Tadej Pogacar but even the absence of the dominant rider of our time is not quite enough to throw the race wide open. Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates teammate Juan Ayuso will also bring strong form to Albania and then Italy, while 2023 winner Primoz Roglic is the heavy favourite to claim his second maglia rosa for Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe. Storer will be riding the Giro for the third time and his second since joining Tudor Pro Cycling ahead of last season. While a 10th place finish last year and recent success in the mountains will ensure he won't fly under the radar, let alone ghost into a high finish, Storer is backing himself to make the most of his climbing legs while aiming to 'minimise losses' in the two individual time trials. 'I'm feeling really good about the Giro because I've held really strong fitness since January and then been slowly building on that,' says Storer, who first showed form this season when winning a stage and finishing fourth overall at Paris-Nice in March. 'I've hit a good level and then just scraped away at those extra marginal gains. I've had a really smooth run up until now. 'I want to target the general classification again but I'd also like to win a stage at the Giro. If I'm really, really good, I can win that from the peloton, otherwise it'll need to be from a breakaway. Either way, I'll get something out of the race. Hopefully I can keep up with Roglic and Ayuso, that would be a really good start.' Sign up to Australia Sport Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk after newsletter promotion One of Storer's old friends will be working against him in the mountains, with fellow Western Australian and 2022 Giro winner Jai Hindley riding in support of Roglic. Hindley has not been back on the podium of a three-week race since finishing runner-up at the 2020 Giro, then becoming the second Australian to win a Grand Tour two years later. The pair of climbers will be among as many as 13 Australians on the start line of the Giro this year, with sprinter Kaden Groves out to add to his eight Grand Tour stage wins and Jay Vine back in form with third place at the Tour de Romandie. 'I saw how Jai won the Giro, which is a very clever way to do it, just stay second and hunt GC in the last week,' Storer says with a laugh. 'You don't have to have responsibility for the pink jersey the whole way, just at the end. I've known Jai for ages, since I was 12 years old, and he lives 30kms from my place here [in Italy]. We still go for a couple of training rides together.' Storer has lived near the mountains of northern Italy for five years after first joining the world tour with Team Sunweb in 2018 and later spending two seasons with Groupama FDJ. While he doesn't meet up with Hindley as often as they would like, there are enough riders nearby to keep Storer company and he enjoys coming across 'strong local amateurs' when he is on what he calls an easy day. A familiarity with the Italian terrain and budding links to the locals has made the Giro the 'dream race' for Storer. 'It's the culture around the race that I like, the vibe is really special,' Storer says. 'It's like real cycling. It's not like at the Tour [de France] where it's really international and you get people that aren't really into cycling going to watch. The Giro is authentic. It still feels like something real.'
ABC News
09-05-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Giro d'Italia challenge led by outsider Michael Storer as Aussie hopes hinge on supporting favourites
Michael Storer may have hoped to come into this year's Giro d'Italia under the radar. There's fat chance of that now. After winning the Tour of the Alps last month in a thrilling battle with Thymen Arensman, the 30-year-old West Australian has firmly announced himself as a contender for a podium spot at the year's opening grand tour. Not that the softly-spoken rider seems too worried. "I just take it as a compliment that people think I can do it," Storer said to a small group of journalists in an online press conference from Albania, where this year's Giro gets underway on Friday night (AEDT). "It just shows that I've come a long way, now I'm getting mentioned. "Hopefully I can also deliver on that. But if I don't, like, I'm used to getting beaten, so it's not a big problem for me." It's not as if Storer is an unknown. In 2021 Storer won the prestigious Tour de l'Ain as well as two stages and the mountains classification at the Vuelta a España, only the second rider from Australia to do so after Simon Clarke in 2012 (Jay Vine went on to win it in 2024). Storer also won the Tour de l'Ain in 2023, before coming 10th at last year's Giro — one of two Aussies who finished inside the top 10 overall, alongside Ben O'Connor (fourth). But it is his performances this year that have got his teammates purring, including a snowy stage victory at Paris-Nice. Road captain of Tudor Pro Cycling Larry Warbasse recently told the Cycling Podcast that Storer was capable of surpassing O'Connor's performance and making the podium. "Last year I did the Tour of the Alps and Giro d'Italia with Ben O'Connor. Michael is physically at least one level above Ben last year. "I think he is capable of showing great things … Michael really has that enormous talent. "On a purely physical level, Michael is capable of going for the podium. Even if he maintains the same level as in the Tour of the Alps. His values are unreal. "He himself prefers to go for stages, because that gives less stress. But when you're as good as he is, you just have to go for the general classification." When it was put to Storer that he was producing eye-catching numbers in training, he again batted off the question. "Him [Warbasse] saying I have really good power numbers, it was our first year as a teammate with him, so I've always been doing good power numbers, he just didn't know me before joining the team," Storer said with a grin. "But yeah, I found a little bit extra this year," he acknowledged. Storer has put extra emphasis on his position on the bike this year, particularly in the time trial, in anticipation of being able to challenge for general classification spots. Storer acknowledged that the time trial was "a clear weakness" for him, the Australian sacrificing too much time to his rivals to stay in contention. But the talent in the race of truth has always been there — Storer is a junior World Championship bronze medallist in the discipline, beating out noted time triallist Filippo Ganna in Ponferrada in 2014. With 42.3km on the TT bike at this year's Giro, Storer said the extra work he put into the event was key and could prove to be a bonus. "It's also an opportunity," he said. "Because working on it there's a lot more gains to be made, so hopefully that pays off this year." It goes without saying, that if Storer is to claim victory — or even stand on the podium in Rome on June 1 — he will need the ride of his life. "Who doesn't dream of it?" Storer said when asked if he was dreaming of wearing the pink jersey in Rome. "But let's be realistic here. It's extremely hard to win this race. "I'd be happy with my race as long as I do the best I can, whether that puts me in the top 10 or the pink jersey or or I'm struggling to get through, if I do the best race I can, I'm satisfied with that. "But of course I wanna bring home some results too." Working against him to get those results will be several of his fellow Australians, mostly in aid of their team leaders. Indeed, this 108th edition of the Giro d'Italia features one of the deepest fields of favourites at any grand tour this century and the Australian super domestiques could end up being decisive in the overall destination of the pink jersey. Five-time grand tour winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) leads the charge as favourite and one of five former Giro winners who will appear on the start line, with 22-year-old Spanish upstart Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates) tipped as his closest challenger. Roglič has 2022 Giro winner Jai Hindley at his disposal, while Ayuso will have last year's mountains classification winner at the Vuelta Jay Vine as part of his all-star cast of domestiques which includes former Tour de France young rider jersey winner Adam Yates, who may have his own aspirations of glory in the absence of world champion teammate and last year's winner, Tadej Pogačar. They are just two of the 14 Aussies on the start list this year. "I think it's really nice that we have a lot of Australians in the race," Storer said. "It just shows that what was going on in the cycling scene in Australia 10, 15 years ago, up until now, is really good for bringing us all up to a high level where we can all make it into the top of the sport. "And for Perth we also had a really good local scene back when I was coming through and that was really essential for me to becoming professional." It's not just Roglič and Ayuso who Storer will likely be up against, though. Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers), winner in 2021, is finally looking like himself after a horrific collision with a bus almost cost him his life in 2022 and has Storer's Tour de Alps nemesis Thymen Arensman and Aussie Lucas Hamilton at his disposal. Even further down the list of contenders there are Aussies who will do anything to disrupt Storer's challenge. Aussie pair Simon Clarke and Nick Schultz will be working for Israel-Premier Tech's challenger, Derek Gee, Team Picnic PostNL's Alex Edmonson and Chris Hamilton are set to be Romain Bardet's top teammates, while Team Jayco AlUla will have Michael Hepburn and Luke Plapp working to set up Chris Harper for an assault on the top 10. Richard Carapaz (EF Education), the 2019 Giro winner, is another who cannot be discounted from the overall race win, as is Bahrain-Victorious's Italian hope Antonio Tiberi. At the other end of the peloton, Australian sprinter Kaden Groves has been handed leadership responsibility at Alpecin-Deceuninck with one goal in mind — the sprinters maglia ciclamino. The two-time defending points jersey winner at the Vuelta a España and eight-time grand tour stage winner (one of which came at the Giro in 2023, the other seven at Spain's grand tour) is yet to win a race in 2025, but was fifth in Milan-Sanremo and had a second and a third place finish at the Volta a Catalunya behind teenage British phenom Matthew Brennan. "For sure, we are aiming for stage wins at this Giro. That's what this team is built for, and that's our ambition again this year," sport director Gianni Meersman told the Alpecin-Deceuninck website. "Kaden Groves is our leader. After dealing with knee issues earlier this year, his full focus has been on the Giro, he's pain-free now, and we believe he's ready to show his form, hopefully right from the first sprint opportunity in Tirana." Belgian trio Edward Planckaert, Timo Kielich and Fabio van den Bossche will make up Groves' sprint train, although 24-year-old Victorian Jensen Plowright will also be on hand to assist, riding in his first ever grand tour. "This Giro will be about gaining experience," Meersman said. "It's time for him to taste what racing over three weeks is like. We see potential in him for the future." Six of the stages are classed as "flat" in this year's race, but a handful of those could be considered lumpy at best, downright hilly at worst, meaning sprinting is not going to be for the faint hearted — or potentially the big fast men. Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) is the most experienced straight sprinter of the bunch, with 10 grand tour stage wins to his name — albeit none since 2022 — although the 34-year-old Irishman has been in great form to start the year, picking up three wins. Rising French star Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick Step) is someone who cannot be discounted after he beat a host of top talent to the line in the first stage of Étoile de Bessèges earlier this year, with Milan Fretin (Cofodis) also one to watch after taking some serious scalps at the Volta ao Algarve. Visma-Lease a Bike seemingly have options aplenty in this regard, with Olav Kooij desperately fast on the flat and the clear sprint leader, but unfairly maligned team leader Wout van Aert is also in the pack, desperate to show the world that he still has it and could pick up plenty of points on the harder days. Mads Pedersen though should be the favourite, a rider who has proven his ability to power through the toughest of sprints after the toughest of terrains in the lead-up — he beat van Aert and classics king Mattieu van der Poel to finish runner up at the Ronde van Vlaanderen. The Giro gets underway on Friday night (AEDT), with all stages shown live on SBS Viceland.
The Advertiser
25-04-2025
- Sport
- The Advertiser
Aussie Storer rides to glory in the Tour of the Alps
Australian Michael Storer has ridden to the biggest triumph of his flourishing cycling career, pedalling brilliantly to the Tour of the Alps title in Austria.
SBS Australia
25-04-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Midday News Bulletin 25 April 2025
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with . TRANSCRIPT: Police interview a man accused of heckling at this morning's Melbourne Dawn Service; Thousands march through Auschwitz on the 80th anniversary of the camp's liberation; Australia's Michael Storer holding onto hope in the Tour of the Alps. Victorian Police have interviewed a man over a heckling incident at this morning's Anzac Day Dawn Service in Melbourne. They've released a statement saying they expect to charge the 26 year old man on summons with offensive behaviour. The man was allegedly part of a small group of people who disrupted the dawn service at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance, as Bunurong elder Mark Brown delivered the Welcome to Country. "Welcome everybody to my father's country. Beautiful Bunurong country. But before we do that we pay our acknowledgements and our respects." The major party leaders have taken a short break from election campaigning to attend Anzac Day events. The Prime Minister has appeared at the Dawn Service held at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. "We who are gathered here think of those who went out to the battlefields of all wars but did not return. We feel them still near us in spirit. We wish to be worthy of their great sacrifice." The opposition leader Peter Dutton has attended a Brisbane event. "Anzac Day is one of the most significant and most solemn days and sacred days on our national calendars. A day when we honour all Australians who have served suffered and sacrificed in wars and military operations on behalf of our nation. And this Anzac Day we will especially feel the weight of history. 2025 marks 80 years since the end of the second World War. That conflict engulfed almost every continent across every country." Thousands of people have marched through the former Auschwitz Nazi German death camp in Poland in a ceremony to remember the 80th anniversary of its liberation. The annual ceremony known as the March of the Living follows a three-kilometre route to the crematoria of Auschwitz-Birkenau. This year's march has been joined by 80 Holocaust survivors, among them 87 year old Dr Martin Stern, who was arrested at school and sent to Terezin concentration camp in what's now the Czech Republic. He says humanity must learn from the Holocaust. "If we concentrate exclusively on the Holocaust, we're fighting the last war. We have a war now. We have to deal with the situation that exists today. And it is our duty to learn the facts from both sides, to educate people about them and to assert that every human being has the same right to life, Jew or Arab." Thousands of displaced Sudanese continue to arrive in camps in the North Darfur region of Tawila, as the African country's civil war reaches the two-year mark. UNICEF says the war has created the world's largest humanitarian and displacement crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people trapped by the fighting facing hunger and starvation. UNICEF volunteer Heba Abdullah says the organisation has been providing families and children in the Zamzam and Al-Omda camps with nutrition supplements. 'We are here to provide nutrition support to children between 6 months and 5 years. In some families, 4 or 5 children are suffering from acute malnutrition. We're seeing many cases of both severe and moderate malnutrition. So far, we've helped more than 2,000 children here in the camp, and there are still many more in need of support. We've also spoken with several mothers who told us, our children are not eating at all.' A teenager has been charged with murder after allegedly stabbing to death a shop owner who tried to stop him stealing from his supermarket. The eighteen year old was reportedly on bail when the 71 year old Darwin man was killed. The incident has prompted the Northern Territory government to announce it is reviewing the Top End's bail laws. Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro says the chamber will sit on Wednesday next week to consider tougher bail conditions. "What we want for the Northern Territory is to have the toughest bail laws in this country, and we will continue to work tirelessly on coming to government in those first sittings of parliament." An experimental aircraft made by an Australian-based company has crashed at a military base near the coast of Virginia. US Air Force spokesperson Airman Donnell Ramsey says the incident occurred at the Joint Base Langley-Eustis in the city of Hampton. The plane has been identified as an MX-S single-seater, made by the MX Aircraft company in Perth. The National Transportation Safety Board has said on X it was investigating the accident, without providing more details. Australian rider Michael Storer remains in prime position to claim victory in the Tour of the Alps, despite seeing his lead disappear on the penultimate stage in Austria. The Perth rider was leading by 41 seconds overnight. But he's been forced to chase down an opportunist breakaway by Dutch stage winner Thymen Arensman during the 62.7km fourth 'queen' stage.
