4 wins is pretty impressive

Thanks to all . Indeed there are 4 wins for Ventoso but none in a WT race so we expect at least one from him in WT this year . Milano San - Remo will be up soon , but now I rest a little by playing PCM Lets see how good we are in Vuelta Catalunya .

Milano San-Remo





The first Monument of the season - La Primavera . Our sponsor has very high expectations from us , the goal is a Top 3 . It will be very , very difficult but we will try.


Our team

Hope you get that top 3, but like you said, it'll be very hard

The break-away contained Bertagnoli , Vinther , Alan Perez , Simon Clarke , Battaglin and Parrinello .





Bertagnoli was the strongest from the BOTD and here he entered on Cipressa with a little over 1 minute over the peloton .





Boonen attacked from the peloton . Cancellara , Nuyens , Flecha and Breschel countered .




Bertagnoli was caught and Boonen , Cancellara , Sabatini and Nuyens entered on Poggio with 20 seconds over the peloton led by Ballan and Gilbert.




Cancellara attacked again . This time on the downhill. There were only 25-30 riders in the chasing gropu and only Rui Costa from Movistar





Fall in the peloton on the downhill from Poggio . Goss , Sagan , Hushoved were involved , while Vansumeren abandoned with a fractured hip . His classics season is over.




Gilbert is trying desperatly to catch Spartacus . There are only 2 km left and the peloton in too far back to contest the win .




Gilbert wins ! First win of the season for him and what a win !Behind Rui Costa was fighting with Cavendish , Boonen and Greipel for the 3rd place . Seemed impossible. Still he manages a 6th place . Not bad to mentain his 1st place in the WT ranking .




1.Philippe Gilbert
2.Fabian Cancellara
3.Mark Cavendish
4.Michael Morkov
5.Luis Leon Sanchez
6.Rui Costa
7.Tom Boonen
8.Bjorn Leukemans
9.Andre Greipel
10.Fabio Sabatini

6th is very, very good for this team, excellent

A Great ride by Costa to grab sixth place

Thanks sutty and Ian .

Our team is now prepared for Vuelta Catalunya . I find a very good opportunity to grab some WT points as the competition is not very tought . Still L.L.Sanchez will be here , the winner from Tour of Oman and Paris - Nice and he will attack Rui's postion in the WT ranking . Also Nibali and Scarponi are here but is doubt they are in a good condition.




Our team :




Our leader s Nairo Quintana . He finished 9th in Tirreno with a tougher competition so we expect a Top 5 for him here. I should mention that the Sponsor's goal for this race is a Top 3 . Jesus Herada will fight for the KOM jersey .

Best of luck against raging Sanchez

Thanks Ian

Stage 1




With 3 climbs today I think it is a good opportunity for Jesus Herada to get in the BOTD and get the KOM jersey.




And he succeded in getting in the break-away . He is joined by Navarro and Palamontes . After a few kms El Fares joined us aswell.




Jesus is very happy after winning the first mountain sprint , beating Daniel Navarro.




He won the 2nd climb as well . The peloton was 3 minutes behind. At the top of the last climb we had a little over 2 minutes over the peloton and Jesus decided to attack . The peloton was not chasing and Herada just coludn'd lose the stage win.




A solo win by Jesus Herada!




The other 3 men from the break-away were caught in the last 2 kms .



Marcato won the sprint in the peloton and they came at 2'07"after Herrada. Jesus took the Leader's Jersey , the Points Jersey , the KOM Jersey and the Young Riders Jersey.
What a day for him ! Lets hope he can keep his 1st postion in the GC just like Albasini .

What a stage

Stage 2



Jesus will try to defend his jersey..actually his jerseys


An early break-away was formed .




Here we can see a group of riders attacking from the peloton with 40 kms to go . It contained Scarponi , Henao , Stybar , M.Frank and Jeremy Roy . It was a dangerous gropup so we started chasing.




On the last climb the chasing group caught the early break-away but the peloton was close . On the downhill Stybar attacked again .He had 20 seconds with 3 km to go.





But he was caught in the last meters by Luis Leon Sanchez and Milar . Sanchez took his 8th stage win this season .
and he looks like the biggest threat for Jesus Herrada tomorrow . Also he will probably take the lead in UWT indiviudal ranking

Team is doing well in Catalunya

Stage 3




It is the most difficult stage in this tour and we will try to defend Herrada s Jersey.




The BOTD contained 6 riders , including Lars Bak , Fabio Aru and Brice Feillu .





On the first HC climb Thscopp , Salerno , Daniel Martin , Zabriskie and Cameron Meyer joined the riders from the break-away .




Thscopp was the strongest and he was the only one who was not caught by the peloton . He was joined by Navarro , wearing the KOM Jersey.




The other teams did not want to help us to chace the break-away so Herrada and Quitana tryed something on the downhill .But then Rabobank and RadioShack started chasing so we gave up .





As soon as Port Aine started Andy Schleck attacked . Luis Leon Sanchez was in the 2nd group , while Herrada was already in the 3rd group .





But what a ride by Luis Leon Sanchez who caught Andy in the last km and then beating him with an amazing sprint . Another victory for Sanchez - his 9th this season.




Stage results

1.L.L.Sanchez
2.A.Schleck +10s
3.J.Gadret + 1 08
4.Daniel Moreno +1 08
5.Richie Porte + 1 49
.........
10Jesus Herrada + 3 43


GC

1.L.L.Sanchez
2.A.Schleck +24s
3.J.Gadret + 1 24
4.D.Moreno + 1 28
5.Jesus Herrada + 1 46


Herrada lost all the jerseys except the Young Riders Jersey . He will probaly win it , but I think it will be better to fight for KOM Jersey ( 12 points behind Navarro ) rather than hoping for a Top 3. What do you think I should do ?

KoM sounds good for me

If he wins Best Young Rider, that will be quite an achievement

But let's go for the KOM as well

Sorry that it was some time since my last post but I really did not have a lot of time for PCM . But here is Stage 4 .




A break-away was not formed yet and Jesus Herrada sprinted to win the 2nd cat. climb . But Navarro finished 5th and he grabed some points as well .






The break-away was formed . The strongest men were Zabriskie , Roux and Tiralongo . No threat for KOM jersey and that is good for us .




On the next climb , Herrada won the sprint in the peloton for the reamaining points and now he is only 1 point behind Navarro .





The break-away was caught except Tiralongo who had 40 seconds over the peloton with 8 km to go . Quintana decided to attack on the downhill and he caught Tiralongo . The peloton came closer with 5 km to go and Quintana decided to attack again .




1 km to go and Quintana had around 30 seconds over the peloton . It seemed he could not be stopped .






What a superb win for Nairo ! First win of the season after showing great shape in Tirreno - Adriatico .



Stage results

1.Nairo Quintana
2.L.L.Sanchez +15s
3.T.Machado +15s
4.M.Monfort +15s
5.Z.Stybar +15s

Great riding from Quintana to get the stage win

Nice win by attacking

Intelligent riding.