Posts: 720 Joined: 25.06.10 Location: New York, NY PCM$: 100.00
@ all: Thank you for the kind words and all the encouragement. Riding the same exact course the race before kind of helped. I knew Frapporti needed to be in the front to have a chance and the team did a good job of getting him there.
Giro dell'Emilia
Cento - San Luca in Bologna: 192.3km
The peloton can begin to smell the Giro di Lombardia. Thus, the big contenders are starting to move to the fore as the prepare for the final Monument of the season. Names like Basso, Cunego, and Scarponi are all here for the Giro dell'Emilia.
The race will be a good test for the riders, with two big climbs before a short steep climb to San Luca is repeated 5 times.
The first half of the race was flat and without much notable action. A breakaway formed, but it was made up of unremarkable riders. Even so, the peloton did not give them much breathing room to operate.
The break never builds up a big lead.
On the biggest climb of the day, to Monzuno, Paulo Tiralongo (Pro Team Astana) took off from the peloton in a solo adventure. A strange move.
Tiralongo has a tough road ahead.
A strong and capable rider, Tiralongo stayed away from the peloton as they hit the final San Luca climb for the first time.
He was riding well, as behind him, the peloton was riding hard. After the first ascent, only 56 riders remained in the main field; the number was down to 40 after the second pass.
The pace is pushed by Liquigas, Lampre, and Geox.
The fast riding eventually saw Tiralongo brought back into the fold.
On the fourth climb, Italian champion Daniele Callegarin (Team Type 1) attempted to get away from the field.
Callegarin makes a late move.
Going with Callegarin was Damiano Cunego (Lampre - ISD).
Cunego was able to separate a bit from Callegarin and now led the race on the descent.
The other favorites quickly organized, picking up their pace in an effort to catch Cunego and Callegarin. Unfortunately, the speed was too much for both Domenico Pozzovivo and Marco Frapporti.
In fact, only 6 riders made up the chase group; Roman Kreuziger (Pro Team Astana), Ivan Basso (Liquigas - Cannondale), Miguel Rubiano (D'Angelo & Antenucci - Nippo), Stefano Garzelli and Alessandro Proni (Acqua & Sapone), and Cunego's teammate, Michele Scarponi (Lampre - ISD).
The chase group.
Despite being dislodged, Pozzovivo and Frapporti were in a group of around 10. While the leading chase group chased up ahead, the second group did not give up hope. Thanks to some savvy descending, and a moment of respite up ahead, the entire race came back together.
The leading group hit the final climb together; there were 18 riders.
Czech champion Kreuizger was in the lead.
Kreuziger hits the climb first.
Much like Frapporti the other day, Kreuziger maintained his advantage all the way up the climb. Once again, Liquigas settled for second place, with Basso edging a slowing Cunego.
Frapporti and Pozzovivo made it up the final drag well. Despite being a bit too hard for the former, and the latter being a bit out of shape, they took 8th and 9th for the team.
A very good result for Colnago after losing contact before! And I love this pic of Kreuziger attacking on last climb He indeed seems in shape for Lombardy.. but Pozzo can do some damage there, too!
Posts: 13249 Joined: 22.08.10 Location: North Wales PCM$: 127.35
tsmoha wrote:
A very good result for Colnago after losing contact before! And I love this pic of Kreuziger attacking on last climb He indeed seems in shape for Lombardy.. but Pozzo can do some damage there, too!
Posts: 720 Joined: 25.06.10 Location: New York, NY PCM$: 100.00
@ all: The start list was quite hard and I can't complain with two in the Top 10.
G.P. Beghelli
Milano - Vignola: 187.4km
The climb outside the commune of Vignola will be today's main feature, with the peloton doing six laps of a circuit course, before finishing down below in the town center.
Colnago tried to get Angelo Pagani into the break of the day. He fought hard, but once again failed to make the right move. The team has not been as aggressive as it was when the season opened, something, the director sportif has openly expressed concern about. Perhaps pressure from the sponsors.
Pagani had a brief moment in front of the cameras.
Six minor riders got away and starting building a lead.
At the completion of the third lap, they were 5'33 ahead, the maximum advantage they'd enjoy.
The break on a sunny day.
Colnago moved to the front to control the proceedings. Alberto Contoli, Manuele Caddeo, and Gianluca Brambilla all worked well together. Paolo Locatelli and Federico ensured team co-leaders Domenico Pozzovivo and Marco Frapporti were well protected.
After one more lap, the lead was down to 3'55; at the end of the fifth, 2'39.
Colnago working on the front.
In the flat before the final climb, the team's riders absolutely killed themselves, clawing back the breakaway. A great show of teamwork.
The peloton hit the final climb with Pozzovivo and Frapporti both near the front of the group. With a downhill finish, a move had to come early. Being the better climber, Pozzovivo went.
Pozzovivo attacks.
Giro dell'Emilia winner Roman Kreuziger (Pro Team Astana) led the chase. As the Czech star brought the peloton back to Pozzovivo, Frapporti stayed in his wheel, measuring himself.
Pozzovivo's acceleration strung out the group, but failed to break it. Kreuziger led the plunge down the other side.
The leading descenders.
Colnago was in perfect position, with Frapporti being the strongest sprinter heading into the line. He perhaps started his final burst too soon, but was able to hold off a fast closing Michael Reihs (Christina Watches - Onfone) and Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone).
Posts: 720 Joined: 25.06.10 Location: New York, NY PCM$: 100.00
@ all: Thank for you the bananas, double bananas, and kind words.
Milano - Torino
Milano - Torino: 193.3km
Today should be a fast day. The course from Milano to 2006 Winter Olympic host, Torino is almost entirely flat. Almost. The Colle di Superga, just outside the city will be the springboard to attacks. Likely, a select group will get away and decide the day there.
After working so hard for the team last race, Gianluca Brambilla had an opportunity to ride for himself. The youngster instigated the day's attacking. He was joined by a whole host of other riders.
Brambilla got the day's excitement started.
The attacking came from most of the teams, but Brambilla fought hard to stay clear. Ultimately, he accomplished his goal, and was accompanied by two riders, Tomáš Buchácek (PSK Whirlpool - Author) and Krzysztof Jezowski (Bank BGZ).
Brambilla is quite small compared to his Eastern European companions.
As the three riders rode away, a late move from some outside contenders came. A group of 9 riders bridged the gap. This group contained riders like Constantino Zaballa (Miche - Guerciotti), Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling), Daniel Moreno (Katusha Team), Tomasz Nose (Adria Mobil), and Fabio Taborre (Androni Giocattoli).
The now larger breakaway group.
With 50km remaining, the break's lead was at 4'23.
They continued to push on, reaching the final climb ahead of the chasing peloton.
The break hits the Colle di Superga first.
The slopes of the climb immediately broke up the breakaway. Brambilla was easily dropped.
Luca Ascani (D'Angelo & Antenucci - Nippo) pushed the pace as the favorites in the main field were preparing to attack.
The leading group on the road.
With the domestiques exhausted, the big favorites went to work to reel in the escape. As the climb was nearing its end, four riders found themselves clear of the peloton. They were Ivan Basso and Eros Capecchi (Liquigas - Cannondale), Roman Kreuziger (Pro Team Astana), and Marco Frapporti.
They had the leaders in their sights as the climb actually descended before reaching a second peak.
Frapporti is in great company as the escapees are hunted down.
The group reached the breakaway. As well, Domenico's Pozzovivo group, which was just behind, made the junction. A group of 13 were set to tackle to final rise.
Spurred by the confidence of winning two recent races, and feeling great, Frapporti attacked the group.
Frapporti explodes over the crest.
A perfectly timed acceleration, Frapporti immediately created a sizeable gap over his rivals. With only a couple of kilometers to the line, Frapporti easily descended to the line ahead of the field. Today, he had time to savor his win. His third victory of the week!
Frapporti is clearly enjoying his rich vein of form.
Posts: 720 Joined: 25.06.10 Location: New York, NY PCM$: 100.00
@ roturn: Thanks!
@ sutty68: No steak. Just great form/low fatigue. I've always found it a bit too easy to win at the end of the season because the AI does such a terrible job managing rider training/schedules.
@ tsmoha; Thanks. It was a great week for Frapporti and the team. 7 wins is a good result and baseline to try to improve for next season. Just need to figure out Modolo and sprinting...
Giro del Piemonte
Novara - Domodossola: 192.9km
Held just before the Giro di Lombardia, the Giro del Piemonte is the final warm-up for those looking for glory. Still, today's race is chock-full of history and there will be plenty riders gunning for victory. In the past years, this race has been Philippe Gilbert's playground. Not present, another Belgian, Tom Boonen (Quick·Step Cycling Team) is the betters' favorite.
A large break got away early in the day. Colnago were not astute enough to get a rider in the move.
The breakaway.
The day meandered along, with very little notable action. At 100km to go, the break had an advantage of 4'35.
While not large, the peloton did a bad job at closing down this advantage. Before they knew it, they were in trouble.
Feeling a sense of urgency, Filippo Pozzato (Katusha Team) attacked from 15km out. When he made his move, the break was still 2'15 ahead.
Pozzato goes.
With the peloton desperately chasing, he never got very far. Still, the breakaway's lead was not coming down fast enough. It began to feel as if the peloton let this one slip away.
Not ready to give up, Domenico Pozzovivo accelerated with 4.5km left.
Pozzovivo makes a last ditch effort.
But as Pozzovivo went, attacks came in the breakaway group. Nikolas Maes (Quick·Step Cycling Team) made the initial move, but was quickly followed by John-Lee Augustyn (Sky ProCycling), David Rosch (Atlas Personal), Bersvenn Støen (Amore & Vita), and Elia Viviani (Liquigas - Cannondale).
The breakaway battles it out up the road.
Pozzovivo's attack was very strong, but the gap was too large to reach all the breakaway riders. He closed extremely fast, coming in 4th place. Had the team controlled the race better, he likely could have won.
The surprising winner was Støen who jumped past all his breakaway mates in the final kilometer to grab a shocking victory.
Nobody expected Støen to emerge as the day's winner.
He indeed seems in shape for Lombardy.. but Pozzo can do some damage there, too!
