While Mark Cavendish has been making headlines around the world thanks to his record-breaking 35th stage victory at the Tour de France, some of his fellow Manx cyclists have been busy competing across Europe. 

Lizzie Holden and Becky Storrie are both riding in the prestigious Giro d’Italia Women which got underway on Sunday. 

The week-long race got underway with a individual time trial around Brescia in the northern Italian region of Lombardy. 

Holden (UAE Team ADQ) and Storrie (dsm-firmenich Post NL) both had good rides in the opening 15.7-kilometre TT.  

Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) was the winner in 20 minutes 37 seconds, with Holden 1m 30s behind in 55th place and Storrie only four seconds further back in 63rd spot.  

The duo were the third and fourth best of the Great Britain riders, with only Joscelin Lowden (Uno-X) and Lizzie Deignan (Lidl) ahead of them.  

Stage two was a 110km road race from Sirmione to Volta Mantovana. Following good work from her fellow UAE Team ADQ members – including Holden – Chiara Consonni won the stage in a bunch sprint.  

Holden was 106th some 1min 8secs behind Chiara, with Storrie coming home in 135th place at 4mins 25secs. 

Elsewhere in Europe, fellow Manxie Max Walker continued his superb form by winning the individual time trial on the second day of the Sibiu Cycling Tour. 

Having finished 19th on the opening stage on Saturday before repeating that result in the following day’s first half-stage, the 22-year-old excelled in the short but very technical ITT over 3.3km in the evening. 

Speaking afterwards, the Astana Qazaqstan rider said: ‘The half stages are difficult and honestly not my type.  

‘The first part in the morning was quite tough, especially in the end, and yeah I wanted to give it a try but it wasn’t successful, so I decided to focus as much as possible at the second half-stage. In the evening, I felt quite good and ready to race.  

‘The distance was short and featured a very technical second part with corners and cobbles, so I pushed as hard as I could in the first part of the distance and then tried to do my best on the technical part to keep my time.  

‘A victory as a result is a good way to finish this day of racing.’

Max Walker (centre) celebrates on the top step of the podium after winning the individual time trial on the second day of the Sibiu Cycling Tour in Romania on Sunday (Photo: Dragoș Dumitru)
Max Walker (centre) celebrates on the top step of the podium after winning the individual time trial on the second day of the Sibiu Cycling Tour in Romania on Sunday (Photo: Dragoș Dumitru) (Dragoș Dumitru)