The Tour of Romandie is the next and an important part of the Giro build-up. 6 of our Giro bound riders are here: Team leader Cadel Evans, leading ‘assistant’ Franco Pellizotti, Giro del Trentino winner Alex Efimkin, sprinters Wes Sulzberger and Edvald Boasson Hagen, and World Champion Rigoberto Uran. Also here, and looking to capitalise on his post-Ardennes form is Konovalovas – before taking a long break ahead of his next goal, all the way in October, of Giro di Lombardia. Completing the squad is our young Spanish stage racing talent of Justo Tenorio – with his eye on the Volta a Catalunya coming up.
And it seems like Evans gets the extra pressure of starting as favourite. And according to the race organisers, lead challenger #1 is Luis Leon Sanchez. Last seen crashing out of the Vuelta, to the add of Pliuschin, his only result so far this year is 6th in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco TT, where he was 40th overall. Theres Ruben Plaza for Saunier Duval, 2nd in the Tour de Georgia, Tirreno-Adriatico winner Vincenzo Nibali for CaIsse-d’Epargne (who was 3rd here last year) and Colombian climber Edwin Orozco is down as the Barloworld leader – a fan of Switzerland, having made the Top 10 of the Tour de Suisse for the past 2 years. Also to look out for are Jurgen van den Broeck, with 2 GT Top 10s to his name, and the talented young Saturnino Ferrer, stuck with limited opportunities at Ceramica Flaminia, making his ProTour debut here, having been 5th in the Giro del Trentino.
DFL Tour of Romandie history:
In 2008 Aleksandr Pliuschin took 6th overall, with Fran Perez 7th in a race that Jens Voigt won – which included two second places and a 4th in stages for the Moldovan, while Rigoberto Uran was also 3rd in the final time trial as he took 24th overall. Last year Alex Efimkin managed 21st overall, our best results being 4th in a sprint for Boasson Hagen, and 5th on the hilly stage for Konovalovas, while Spaniard Manuel Lloret won the GC. We have never won a stage here, maybe that can change?
Stage 2 has hills, and so Uran and Konovalovas are looking forward to it. The Cote de Rochfort is repeatedly climbed throughout the day.
Uran goes first, on the penultimate hill but on the descent only has a small gap alongside Stijn Devolder.
It all comes back together so Konovalovas goes on the final ascent up the Rochfort. And at the top, he leads by 40 seconds.
Nibali attacks over the top of the hill, and so Evans has to respond, and does – unlike any of the other favourites.
Evans cant quite get to Nibali and so with 6km of flat/slightly uphill roads to go, can Konovalovas hold on to his slender 15 second lead on the Italian?
No. 3km later and Nibali has charged up to Konovalovas
And away he goes to take victory.
23 seconds later and 2nd goes to Konovalovas. Evans is 3rd, having not quite made it past him.
Oliver Zaugg is deemed close enough in 4th so the only gain Evans therefore gets is the 8 second time bonus – still enough to move up to 6th overall as Nibali takes the race lead. 14th on the stage is Boasson Hagen – already showing promising signs of form.
Stage 3 is a flat stage, but free of drama? Nope. 11km to go and theres a split in the bunch! 31 men have a gap, and while you can see that Sulzberger has missed it, there is DFL representation up there.
Evans is importantly up there, and just behind him is Boasson Hagen! Showing some great signs considering this is just his 4th race day of the season.
Can he get a victory then? Stevic (Ag2r), Forero (Lampre), Ciolek (T-Mobile) and Gasparotto (Liquigas) are the other sprinters to make the split and all stick themselves behind Hagen, but fortunately he finds someone to follow in Swiss rider Albasini.
Stevic is firmly on his wheel and with about 1400m to go Boasson Hagen has to go for it – Albasini fading badly.
Ciolek and Gasparotto – followed by Evans – are going strong and closing on Boasson Hagen, but he has a better advantage on them than Stevic. Can our former rider benefit from an effective mini-leadout here then?
He can, and so Stevic takes the win. Boasson Hagen just holding onto 2nd.
Evans takes a strong 6th but unfortunately none of the gaps stuck, and so again, no time gains. Both Pellizotti and Efimkin lost time behind though.
Stage 4 ends up the first mountain of the race as we climb to Nendaz.
A good day to be in the breakaway? If a large gap is gained it could be held up on the climb, and so both Konovalovas and Tenorio successfully get into a 13 man breakaway – but it takes a lot of effort to eventually get the break away from the peloton which does not help hopes of managing energy all the way to the line.
Caisse d’Epargne controlled the peloton but the gap is there on the final climb! 13km to climb, and the break’s lead is 3’42. Konovalovas and Tenorio move to the fore front as the break begins to splinter
Only Fritsch of Predictor, and Zagorodny of CSC can keep with our pair – Konovalovas doing the work for Tenorio. Not often you can get such a lead onto a final climb with a 79 MO rider, but Tenorio is not fully in form yet of course.
And attacks behind! Saturnino Ferrer looking to make a name for himself, and thats Cadel Evans in the green points jersey right behind him
Evans puts in the strongest attack but threading through the breakaway helps others come back. They reach Konovalovas and Tenorio so now use Tenorio must use up the rest of his energy to chase – as Edwin Orozco has shot past. The likes of Jose Ivan Gutierrez and Jurgen van den Broeck are all in this group with Evans.
Nibali isn’t though and only now does he attack. While Tenorio is now out of energy, and so Oliver Zaugg takes up the chase of Orozco. Ferrer, Txurruka and Grivko are just behind Evans.
It isn’t good enough to just stay in this group though when we do have in Spanish champion Gutierrez a very strong time triallist, so Evans really puts everything into it once Zaugg has had his turn and gets a gap on the group!
He has 2km to close down 18 seconds, which just seems a little out of reach
But he very nearly does it, and looks to be on the same time as Orozco as the Colombian celebrates his first victory in a ProTour event.
Zaugg leads the next group, who are 30 seconds down – with a slight split occurring to cost Van den Broeck and Ferrer a little move. Then at 1’19 to Orozco is Nibali’s group – led in by our former rider Igor Anton.
Luis Leon Sanchez is further back at 1’51 with most of our team in the peloton at 2’39.
But harshly it seems that the commisaires have awarded an 8 second gap between Orozco and Evans. Made all the worse by the fact that Orozco now takes the race lead ... by 7 seconds.
Three second places in a row, would be nice to get our first ever Tour of Romandie stage win soon! Not just that, but it would be a great boost for Cadel Evans pre-Giro to win a stage, and the GC here. 7 seconds down on Orozco, but plenty of others are still close – notably Jose Ivan Gutierrez, with a final stage time trial to come.
Now he may have won the Vuelta a Colombia last year, and featured in the Top 10 of the Tour de Suisse, but his victory yesterday was the first time Edwin Orozco has come to the attention as a real contender on the climbs.
And today he seems keen to back that up, Igor Anton set to work on the climbs – destroying the peloton. Here we are on the last climb up to Cote des Crosets, the peloton down to just 42. Uran, Tenorio, Efimkin and Pellizotti are all still here with Evans but all have a red bar, and Evans himself has felt better.
Luis Leon Sanchez launched attacks early but didn’t get away. Orozco did, as did Zaugg. With half a blue bar, Evans didn’t risk it just yet – instead the idea was for Tenorio to put in a chase on the peloton. But bloody Weening hogged the front of the peloton for 3/4km, we could not get past him.
Eventually Evans just had to force his way off the front and go alone, Orozco seems long gone though.
And indeed he is. The Colombian takes the stage to all but secure GC triumph, 29 seconds ahead of Oliver Zaugg, with Cadel Evans at 1’28, and the rest at 3 minutes.
Evans slips to 3rd overall, behind Zaugg – but the time trial is still to come tomorrow, and Zaugg isn’t known for doing well in those! The Points jersey lead is looking good though. Evans will at least win something!
Possibly my favourite time trial in the whole of PCM, its Stage 6 of the Tour of Romandie, in Lausanne. Starting down hill, a flat section in the middle, then an uphill rise to the line, a real test of time trialing skill here.
And its all about taking it easy early on and charging up that last hill. Ignas Konovalovas, 55 seconds down halfway through, comes in for a provisional 3rd, 2 seconds down on much better time trialists Maxime Bouet and Benoit Vaugrenard.
Thomas Lovkivst takes over the lead by 11 seconds, but in a masterclass of tactics, Justo Tenorio storms to the lead by 47 seconds!!! He was 77th at the split, 44 seconds down, but tore up that final climb.
Next we have Edvald Boasson Hagen, and Alex Efimkin – the latter most definitely not a time triallist. But they go tied 3rd, at 49 seconds. Its not all well and good for us though. Franco Pellizotti pushes too hard up that final climb, runs out of energy far too soon, and loses a lot of time, 1’37 down on Tenorio.
Here is Rigoberto Uran then on the climb up, on his way to 2nd place. Still 31 seconds behind that incredible Tenorio time.
Soon all riders are out on course. Can Tenorio actually win this? We will soon see. Cadel Evans could be a threat, but his main focus is to gain the 23 seconds required on Zaugg, who starts after him and can be seen in the distance behind him as Cadel powers up the hill.
And Tenorio’s hopes are dashed! Jose Ivan Gutierrez takes the lead by 34 seconds.
Evans takes 2nd in the stage from Tenorio as well, but still 18 seconds down on Gutierrez – easily enough to pass Zaugg though. Edwin Orozco wraps up the Tour of Romandie with 5th on the stage.
That ends this Swiss race then, a race with a few important breakthroughs for a number of riders. There is Orozco of course, then Zaugg – his 3rd overall beating 4th here in 2008 as his best ProTour result. 5th is an excellent showing for former DFLer Iglinskiy, Costa Rican Saturnino Ferer takes 8th on his ProTour debut, with 22 year old Italian climber Gabriele Tassinari in 10th – will we see him up there in future Giros maybe? And last but not least, Justo Tenorio. 3rd on the time trial at the end shows real promise, expect more from him later in the season – or perhaps not so much later – Catalunya is his target before his GT debut at the Tour.
Very much a race of two halves, with a predominantly flat first couple of weeks, and almost all the mountains filled into the final week. Recovery will be key for the GC contenders.
S1: Genova - Pisa
S2: Pisa - Follonica
S3: Grosseto - Roma
S4: Roma - Sora S5: Sora - Montevergine S6: Avellino - Foggia S7: Foggia - Chieti
S8: Chieti - L'Aquila S9: L'Aquila - Giulianova S10: Giulianova - Giulianova ITT S11: Ancone - Faenza
S12: Faenza - Ferrare
S13: Rovigo - Marostica S14: Marostica - Passo Duran
S15: Dont - Case Bortot a Belluno
S16: Udine - Anthoz Anterselva
S17: Bolzano - Monte Baldo
S18: Anfo - Livigno S19: Livigno - Como S20: Canzo - Ghisallo ITT S21: Cantu - Milano
DFL Team
In 2008, Aleksandr Pliuschin took 5th overall which included what at the time was the team's biggest win, the opening prologue to the race. And of course Contadope won last year, while Deignan took the KoM jersey.
Cadel Evans leads the team for us. Hoping to show that he can still compete in Grand Tours, despite his dissapointing showing in last years Tour, struggling to 4th overall. He can do it in the smaller races, winning the Deutschland Tour last year, and coming 2nd just now in Romandie.
Support in the mountains comes from Franco Pellizotti and Aleksandr Efimkin. Pellizotti was 8th in 2007, 6th in 2008 but only 44th last year, when he did not have the right form into the race. Efimkin meanwhile is on a high after Trentino, and certainly expects to better his 95th overall last season.
With 10 flat stages, it would be mad not to bring a sprinter here. And we've brought 2. Edvald Boasson Hagen leads the way. He has 4 Vuelta stage wins and 3 TDF stage wins to his name - and a points classification in each. The plan for now is only to add stage wins from the Giro for the list though - and for him to withdraw before the final week as he also rides the Tour this year. For Wes Sulzberger this is his first TT, and he will hope to show himself to be better than Matt Goss was for us in last year's Giro - even if the Aussie champion is 'limited' more to a lead out role here.
Not to be forgotten is World Champion Rigoberto Uran, who felt like a marked man in the Ardennes, and has his eye on the pair of hilly stages at the end of the first week. Perhaps the King of the Mountains aswell - having taken the TDF Polkadots last year.
Then into the 'domestique' category. Rafaa Chtioui will be vital on the flat in support of Boasson Hagen and Sulzberger, with also some support coming from our Italian cobbles rider Fabio Sabatini. Dan Lloyd meanwhille will hope to hold on as long as possible in support of Evans in the climbs.
The Competition
Danilo di Luca (T-Mobile)
- 1st, 2007
- 12th, 2008 (1st, KoM jersey)
- 3rd, 2009
He clearly has the form, winning Liege-Bastogne-Liege and will ride with the number 1 on his back.
Bernhard Kohl (Ag2r)
- 1st, 2008
- 3rd, 2009 TDF
Having won this race for Astana, Ag2r being a french team, sent him to the TDF instead last year. Now he has back on the Giro starlist, but having done nothing so far this season, is he in form?
Juan Maurico Soler and/or Janez Brajkovic (Discovery Channel)
Soler: - 2nd, 2009.
Brajkovic - 29th, 2008 (Along with 4th in the TDF, and 3rd in the Vuelta that year), - 5th, 2009 TDF
A surprising move to see Discovery Channel send both Soler and Brajkovic here. Is Brajkovic looking to repeat his 2008 consistency trick, or actually taget the Giro, or is Soler repeating last season and focusing entirely around this race? Time will tell.
Carlos Sastre (Saunier Duval)
- 3rd, 2009 Vuelta
It took Sastre a long time to achieve anything of note in a GT, but he finally managed it last season with 3rd in the Vuelta. Saunier Duval will now hope he can carry this momentum through to the Giro, having signed him from CSC.
Yaroslav Popovych (Lampre)
- 6th, 2008 TDF
So far in this game, he has only ever won the Ukrainian TT Champs. Still, the game rates his chances.
Damiano Cunego (Astana)
- 3rd, 2007 Giro
- 5th, 2008 Vuelta
He may have done next to nothing of note last season, and struggled to win any race of any form. But he is clearly in form, podiuming in all 3 Ardennes classics.
Riccardo Ricco and/or Edwin Orozco (Barloworld)
Ricco: 3rd in 2008, 7th in 2009, 14th in 2007
Orozco: 1st Tour of Romanide 2010.
Riccardo Ricco must have taken it as a given that he would lead Barloworld's Giro team this year, but Edwin Orozco really emerged at the Tour of Romandie and deserves to be given a chance to lead. Orozco has already improved since the start of the season, up to 79 mountain, and is due another stats increase at some point in this Giro - most likely before we reach the mountain stages at the end.
From Genova to Pisa, theres a few bumps in the middle, but this is a flat stage. The break has already been caught by 28km to go, and so some sprinter go for the intermediate sprint. With Boasson Hagen’s pre Giro plan being to pull out about 2/3 of the way through, he has no desire to waste energy here. Calogero wins from Marcato and Haedo.
And surprisingly, Marcato decides to stay clear. He still leads by 14 seconds with 3km to go, as we set up our sprint train for the first time at the front of the peloton. Rafaa Chtioui had led it into the position, with Wes Sulzberger next, and then of course, Edvald Boasson Hagen.
So as soon as possible, Sulzberger makes his move past Chtioui but Marcato is looking good here.
With just over a kilometre to go, Liquigas’ Eros Capecchi is closing in on us so Boasson Hagen launches. Sulzberger has done a good effort to close down Marcato though
The rider in Boasson Hagen’s wheel is Martin Pedersen, but he chooses to go a different way as Boasson Hagen powers forwards, hitting 59km/h, and passing Marcato!
And he takes victory!
Boasson Hagen now has at least 1 stage win in every Grand Tour, and has held the race lead in 2 of them – the Tour last year, and right now in the Giro. But look also at Wes Sulzberger, he takes a great 4th!
Thanks. It was pretty much a perfect sprint scenario, good forms of the day, and a weaker sprinter in Hagen's wheel.
On paper he is the best sprinter, yes, but the 3 likely to be his main rivals: Marcato, Capecchi and Calogero, do all have the Italian factor on their side.
From Pisa we head to Follonica and the route is almost entirely flat. Another sprint then, and this time it is Uran who brings Sulzberger and Boasson Hagen into place at the front of the field.
Marcato has Boasson Hagen’s wheel, and Capecchi was behind him, before foolishly switching to the wheel of one of his teammates. Sulzberger takes the lead, to set up Boasson Hagen, in the maglia rosa.
Capecchi makes his move early so Boasson Hagen has to respond with 1.4km to go. Marcato however, waits, and now looks to pass Hagen inside the final kilometre
And it is role reversal from Stage 1, as Marcato beats Hagen to the stage, and also takes the race lead.
Another good showing from Sulzberger despite leadout duties, taking 7th.
Stage 3 takes us to Rome, aaand its very flat again. Perfect. And a different tactic in the finale today. Danish sprinter Peter Riis Andersen delivers JJ Haedo into a strong position, Boasson Hagen behind the Argentinian, Marcato again on his wheel.
But Milram’s Calogero gets the jump on everyone and leads inside the final kilometre.
He wins the stage aswell, making it Italy 2 – Boason Hagen 1. But crucially, beating Marcato into 2nd gives us the maglia rosa back! And again Sulzberger is right up here, 5th place.
Somewhat ridiculously, the riders just had a rest day. But now its back in action for Stage 4, and the route starts to get a little more challenging. The stage to Sora is still flat today, but a nice little rise at the end which should suit Boasson Hagen nicely.
Strong winds today aswell, and with 18km to go, the peloton has split into a large, but reduced, group of 61. Boasson Hagen is here, so is Sulzberger, Uran, Pellizotti, Chtiou, Sabataini and ... not Evans!!! Very poor positioning from our team leader to miss the cut, alongside Efimkin who is protecting him, and Dan Lloyd.
There is a chase though, and with 8km to go its all back together
But the pace does not relent, far from it, and with 4km to go a smaller group of 28 is away. Right at the front of it Uran leads Boasson Hagen, with Chtioui and Sulzberger further back. So this time Pellizotti has missed the split as well as Evans! Could be crucial for Evans, as right behind Boasson Hagen is Ricco and Di Luca. This is good news for Boasson Hagen though, as it makes Capecchi the closest sprinter to his wheel, a few riders back.
Uran’s job is done by getting Hagen into position, and when Forero makes a charge on the right, Hagen quickly follows.
Marcato and Calogero are too far back, but Capecchi is starting to approach, so Boasson Hagen makes his move into the final kilometre.
Ricco is still there on Boasson Hagen’s wheel though as the road starts to rise, they take the final turn and find out just how steep this last section is.
It is a 6.8% rise, and this can only help Ricco and Di Luca. Ricco is closest to launch a challenge and although further back, Di Luca is the fastest of everyone now.
Boasson Hagen digs deep and holds on, stage win number 2!
Ricco 2nd, Di Luca 3rd, with Cunego also up there in 7th. This is bad news for Evans because the first 10 riders have pulled away from the field. Having used up a lot of energy to get Hagen into place, Uran now had to desperately try and close the gap for Evans – and we see a 28 second gap registered.
