Posts: 8245 Joined: 01.05.10 Location: Sweden PCM$: 138.95
Thanks.
Stage 6 - Foggia > Napoli
Last pure sprint stage for a while now. The only real obstacle along the day's route will be the Taburno climb, about halfway through. However, it's far out from the finish line, so we should definitely see a mass sprint at the end of the day. Unless a breakaway succeeds in denying the sprinters of course.
We figured that the sprinters' teams would make sure that this rare opportunity for one of few mass sprints ends up in one. Therefore we saw no reason to jump into the day's breakaway, as it would probably not be successful. Gustavo César Veloso and Lloyd Mondory among others, disagreed.
Surprisingly, no battle at all for the mountain points atop Passo del Taburno. Davide Viganò just led his seven companions over the top, focusing on keeping the pace high. Their lead was about six minutes at this point.
In the descent, some teams started to work up the pace. Once again it was OPQS and Radioshack doing the labour, with a little help from Vodafone, who hoped that Mark Renshaw could make it two out of two.
The escapees realized that it was over already with twenty kilometres to the line. After a tenacious pace from the main field over the last hour, the gap was down to a mere minute. As expected, mass sprint again today then.
Viganò made one last jump with just under five k's to go, but he was quickly closed down when Vodafone built a big train at the front, which was only challenged by our own one. All the sprinters locked on to Renshaw's wheel.
Van Emden emptied himself just as the sprint began. Kluge launched early, surprising the Vodafone boys a bit, allowing us a slight advantage over them. Bernardo Riccio placed himself behind Bozic.
The gap became smaller and smaller once our former team mate Marcel Kittel kicked off Renshaw's final leadout to the line. Bozic went for an all or nothing by jumping a bit early, just before the final kilometer.
For a moment, it looked like it could actually work for Bozic, but when the top sprinters, led by Farrar and Renshaw, jumped after the Slovenian inside the final kilometer, they clawed him back quickly.
And at the line it's Farrar who finally gets his anticipated stage win, seizing an even stronger grip over the points jersey. Chicchi came back with great speed in the end to finish second, with Renshaw in third. Bozic lost speed in the final metres, falling to 8th.
Best story here Pelli, love it. Waiting for the next mountain stage, JvDB should have his vengeance then You should think of doing video tutorials on extreme showing us how to win in mountains, hilly stages and classics
Alakagom wrote:
Best story here Pelli, love it. Waiting for the next mountain stage, JvDB should have his vengeance then You should think of doing video tutorials on extreme showing us how to win in mountains, hilly stages and classics
Can't add much to this, except keep up the great work.
Posts: 5708 Joined: 08.09.09 Location: Portugal PCM$: 300.00
valverde321 wrote:
Alakagom wrote:
Best story here Pelli, love it. Waiting for the next mountain stage, JvDB should have his vengeance then You should think of doing video tutorials on extreme showing us how to win in mountains, hilly stages and classics
Can't add much to this, except keep up the great work.
I think Alakagom speaks for all.
And when this story ends, which I hope it doesn't for a looooooooong time, I'd hope you could provide this awesome save game.
Posts: 8245 Joined: 01.05.10 Location: Sweden PCM$: 138.95
Wow, thanks a lot guys. Really appreciate the nice words!
To show my gratitude, I'll give you the day's second report now, and kick off the serious mountains on the Blockhaus tomorrow. Stay tuned for that!
Stage 7 - Gaeta > Roma
One of the more spectacular stages in the whole Giro according to me. The day's racing includes quite a few kilometres on old Roman roads, just outside Rome. Fortunately it's dry today, but we could still see some big gaps.
A big group, including the likes of yesterday's breakaway boys Lloyd Mondory, Alexander Kuschynski and Gustavo César Veloso jumped clear early, becoming the day's long breakaway. Quite an interesting group, with a few of them being decent on the cobbles.
They were controlled however, and at the top of the Velletri climb, the main field even had them in eyesight. Clearly some teams were worried about the coming cobbles, making sure of clear room in front of the pack.
Down on the first paved section, it was immediately the mentioned decent "cobblers" in the breakaway who took command, with Kuschynski, Mondory and Ongarato doing most of the work.
A few minutes later, also the peloton reached the first cobbles. We had a tactic planned for the day, so we sent up Kluge to push the pace a bit already here, with seventy kilometers to the finish.
Just a couple of hundred meters later, our work payed off. A group of maybe 40 riders split off from the rest, leaving many, many riders left behind. This was exactly what we hoped for, as Van den Broeck could profit from his relatively high cobble-stat to stay in front.
Then nothing really happened until with ten k's to go. Only three members of the early break were still in front, Mondory, Ongarato and Kuschynski, who at this moment decided to leave his two companions.
Behind, a bigger peloton merged with the smaller one we had created, so we gave it one last try to split it once again by sending up our last domestique, Bozic, to the front, raising the pace a lot.
Meanwhile, it looked like Kuschynski's little jump could actually pay off, as he managed to build a small advantage over the other two. More worrying for him however, was the fact that the pack came closer and closer.
Or to say it was a pack chasing is a heavy exaggeration, because Bozic had managed to shatter the main field in to a million pieces. Only four other riders could take the pace: Van den Broeck, Tyler Farrar, Francisco Ventoso and Mauro Finetto!
The sprint kicked off for real once we jumped on to the last paved section, now inside the streets of Rome. Interestingly, Mondory started to close down Kuschynski's advantage after dropping Ongarato.
Ventoso launched the sprint behind, leading Farrar and Finetto. Van den Broeck just couldn't resist the pace, so we decided to let Bozic leave him and try for the stage win. Unfortunately maybe a bit late, since he was back in fourth position.
Farrar made his move under Flamme Rouge, setting off in a deadly pursuit of Kuschynski and Mondory, who desperately tried to hang on for an incredibly prestigious stage victory. Bozic clawed his way back too.
Bozzy came back with real strength in the finale, but Farrar had already built himself too much of an advantage, as he blew past the two early escapees with incredible speed. Also a tired Van den Broeck finished in this group, but on the back, in 7th.
Even though the clock had already ticked up to over a minute once Marco Marcato led home what was left of the peloton, they somehow managed to receive the same time as Farrar, meaning that all Van den Broeck's effort had been of no use! CYANIIIIDE!
I agree with Valverde, at least you will not have to work wearing the pink jersey
Just wanted to tell you your Giro coverage is absolutely amazing, i feel like i am breathing with yout team, i have never seen such a story.
Posts: 8245 Joined: 01.05.10 Location: Sweden PCM$: 138.95
Thanks a lot guys, especially Avin W! As I said, it's incredibly nice to hear such great things!
Stage 8 - Tivoli > Blockhaus
The real mountains begins here, with the infamous Blockhaus climb. Even though it's still early in the race, we expect selection between the favourites today, due to the incredible length of the climb. First serious GC battle!
There was never any question whether the breakaway would be caught or not, since UniCredit and Sky hammered on at the front of the main field during the whole day, keeping the escapees in complete control.
The last two remnants of the early group, Kevin De Weert and our Johannes Fröhlinger was gobbled up by the peloton already in the lower slopes of the final climb. Still the same teams in control at the front.
Moments later, we started to see how the pace affected the rest of the main field. Not even fifty riders left with more than fifteen kilometers left to climb. And the pace didn't exactly get slower by the second.
The first serious attack came a few k's later, when Fredrik Kessiakoff attempted to make a small jump. Peter Velits apparently also saw this as the perfect moment to make the move.
The two only lasted for a few seconds, before they were swallowed up again. The serenity didn't last long either however, as Pellizotti was the next to jump, just moments later.
He was also shut down pretty quickly by Sergio Henao however, and as we entered the final ten kilometres, Van den Broeck started to get isolated. Lagutin wasn't far behind, but he was struggling.
Kessiakoff clearly wasn't done, since he soon made his second try, this time without any company. Possibly not the most clever moment however, since there was an absolutely brutal speed at the front of the group.
As expected, Kessiakoff once again couldn't resist the strong domestiques and was once again brought back. At the very same time, Scarponi made the day's, so far, strongest move, creating a gap immediately.
Sivtsov caught up with the Italian to form a duo at the front, but the now very select chasing group wasn't far off. At the front of it Domenico Pozzovivo eliminated one by one, assisting his team captain Nibali.
Pozzovivo cracked just as he brought the leading duo back, but more interestingly, Marzano jumped on the other side of the road, followed only by the other Liquigas leader, Betancur.
Defending champ Cunego made his way up to Marzano, and then jumped around him, with tremendous speed. Sivtsov also tried to join the party, while Van den Broeck stayed cool behind.
Cunego's move was stronger than it first looked, dropping everyone but Marzano and building up a gap over the others. Race leader Nibali saw this move as too dangerous, setting off in pursuit.
The pink jersey made his way up to Cunego with just over a kilometer to go. Marzano meanwhile were really struggling to keep the pace, and a slight gap started to appear between him and his two countrymen.
Nibali took command once the sprint kicked off, with Cunego waiting for the right moment to pounce. Marzano was still in with a shout, but probably too tired to match the other two.
Cunego waited and waited, but apparently didn't have the legs to challenge the man in pink today. Therefore Nibali increases his overall lead even more, now leading everyone else by a minute. If he'll be this strong all the race, then this is already over.
Van den Broeck came back with stored energy in the finale and almost overtook Marzano for the eight bonus seconds. A good day even though we lost some more time to Nibali. Scarponi followed in fifth.
After them we had Sivtsov, Betancur and Kessiakoff, who all probably overestimated their strength earlier, when trying to follow the decisive attacks. Still a good result for them.
A while later, the next group arrived, led by the still disappointing Anton. Pellizotti, Pozzovivo, Basso, Rujano and Pirazzi followed, with some smaller time gaps in between.
Another bigger group came in almost four minutes behind the day's winner. White jersey wearer Poels, Henao and Velits the biggest losers of these. Also in this group was Lagutin and Geniez.
Posts: 8245 Joined: 01.05.10 Location: Sweden PCM$: 138.95
@ MitchNL - Thanks! I'm not as sure as you are, but we'll see.
@ valverde - Cervélo Team Documentaries? What's that?
Oh, and thanks!
Stage 9 - Chieti > Pescara (ITT)
We've seen uphill time trials quite often in the Grand Tours over the recent years, but this downhill one is pretty special. From the start up on the hilltop in Chieti, it's down on sea level, before hitting the road towards the sea, and the finish line in the coastal city of Pescara.
First one to go through the course on a notable time was our Van Emden. The earlier best times quickly got blown out of the water, placing the Dutchman in the hot seat.
28'24
A few minutes later, he had to step down. Worlds bronze medallist Cameron Meyer was the man responsible for that, topping Van Emden's time with twelve seconds.
28'12
After Meyer's so far superior time, we had to wait a long time for someone to even challenge him. First one to push down the Australian was Portuguese time trial champion Sérgio Paulinho, by just one second.
28'11
Also the strong Paulinho was forced to step down from the podium a few minutes later, when Alexander Dyachenko whittled down the top time by another five seconds.
28'06
Levi Leipheimer continued to disappoint today, coming nowhere close to challenging Dyachenko. The American seems to be completely out of form, otherwise he should do a lot better than this.
28'17
Then a huge surprise. Full of both confidence and form, French champion Geniez took the course with storm, unseating Paulinho from the hot seat. What an amazing ride by Mr. 71 TT!
28'03
Moments later, another surprise - Androni's young stage racing talent Alessandro De Marchi. Second best time so far for the Italian, just a second slower than current leader Geniez.
28'04
Geniez' time as current leader became short, since he was soon surpassed by Richie Porte, big time. Best time so far by a mile, possibly even securing the Australian the stage win, with many riders to go.
27'29
Tenth overall Wout Poels lost time yesterday on the big climb, but limited his losses very well today. Still in tenth at the end of the day, without problems.
28'50
Fredrik Kessiakoff returned to his normal level on the Blockhaus, after a disastrous first week, and proved once again that his form is on it's way up, by breaking a stage Top 10 at the end of the day.
28'20
At place eight in the general we have Franco Pellizotti. The returning Italian isn't reknowned as a top class timetriallist, but still did pretty well out on the course today, and even moved up a spot due to this.
28'46
Best young rider, Carlos Alberto Betancur, has been one of the big surprises in the mountains so far, but lost big time today. Sure, he's not known to enjoy the time trials, but today he was worst of the whole Top 20.
29'21
The reigning champion then, Damiano Cunego. He gained back some time on most of his rivals yesterday, and more or less kept that over them today. A great time trial from him, I'd say.
28'31
Marco Marzano has developed into the definition of pure climber, and we could see that on the course today. Quite a heavy loss to his main rivals, but still not as bad as it could've been. He's still in the battle.
29'12
And now, here he is! The, from our view, most interesting rider today, Van den Broeck. It turned out to be a dream scenario. After saving himself during the first part of the day, he unleashed the stored energy towards the end, crossing the line just two seconds slower than his team mate Geniez.
28'05
Michele Scarponi had one of his worse days so far in the race, losing quite a lot of time. Most likely even a bit more than he had hoped for, causing him to drop to fifth place overall. Ouch!
29'02
Belarussian time trial champion Kanstantsin Sivtsov then, as penultimate man left on the course. He kept a strong, solid pace throughout the whole day, ending up with a 12th place. Good day for him.
28'21
And finally, the man in pink! He has been by far the strongest rider this far into the race, and once again showed it. Second place on the stage for Vincenzo Nibali, knocking Geniez down to bronze on the stage.
28'02
And nice top 10 with Kluge this stage. 
