While Suisse was going on, the team also raced in the Netherlands.
Ster Elektrotoer, 2010
Evans, Ignatiev, Kittel, Cavendish, Millar, Wiggins, Henshaw
An important race for race day fitness for Ignatiev, and Kittel as they head to the Tour, and Millar and Wiggins prior to the Eindhoven TTT. Cavendish is parachuted into the team after dropping out of the Tour de Suisse. And Cadel Evans is here too. His season is basically over so he might as well race while there is still some form left!
Shamefully, we didn't win the opening TT. Kittel 2nd to Rick Flens, with Ignatiev 4th and Evans 8th.
It soon picked up.
Stage 2 had a hill with 20km to go. Ignatiev went away with Barredo, and beat him.
On Stage 3, rather than chase down the breakaway, Millar, Wiggins and Henshaw managed to ride off the front of the peloton and cross the gap to the breakaway themselves.
When it eventually came back together, Kittel attacked over a slightly bumpy finale, and earnt himself a stage win.
Stage 4 was a bit odd. At 28km long, you would expect it to be a time trial - but no, it was a road race. Evans attacked at the very start, held off the peloton all stage, and hung on for a great win. With Ignatiev 2nd, Cavendish 3rd and Kittel 5th, we had all bases covered though!
On the final stage we had a sprint train of Evans, Kittel, Ignatiev and Cavendish. It almost derailed when Evans crashed.
But Kittel held it together and launched the sprint, before handing over to Ignatiev and then Cavendish. The Brit got his stage win out of the race, Ignatiev sealed the GC with 2nd place.
With such a strong team in races like this, the 'Extreme' difficulty level doesnt really exist.
Here are the final GC standings. Evans would have been 5th overall if not for his crash.
Tour de Suisse, 2010 Stage 9: Davos - Zurich
