Yes indeed, but the rest of the team too, excellent result!

The preparation for the Giro traditionally starts with the Giro del Trentino, an extremely difficult 4-stage race, with lots of height metres in it.
Last year, the race was won by Gabriele Bosisio.


Startlist



Our team


The favourites
*** Cadel Evans (Katusha), José Rujano (Androni), Gabriele Bosisio (Liquigas).
** Fabio Duarte (Astana), Simon Spilak (Lampre), Tejay van Garderen (Colnago).
* Fredrik Kessiakoff (Nespresso), Tom Peterson (Itera), Daniele Pietropolli (Omega Pharma).

Our goal
Too be honest, no goals.... Without a climber (our best one De Greef isn't in form), we won't have any chance to win a stage or ride a good GC.

Stage 1
The Giro del Trentino starts with a flat 13 km ITT from Riva del Garda to Arco.


Joost Posthuma is the best rider from our team, and finishes in the 8th place, 25 seconds behind the winner.


And that winner is the Italian TT-champion Adriano Malori. The rider from the Lampre team is the first to be faster than 18 minutes (17'50) and has to wait a long time before all riders have finished. Tejay van Garderen comes pretty close, only 1 second behind.


Results

1	Adriano Malori	Lampre - Generali	17'50
2	Tejay Van Garderen	Colnago - CSF Inox	+ 1
3	Cadel Evans	Katusha Team	+ 15
4	Frantisek Rabon	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 19
5	Bert Grabsch	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 21
6	Artem Ovechkin	Katusha Team	+ 23
7	Yaroslav Popovych	D'Angelo & Antenucci - Nippo	s.t.
8	Joost Posthuma	Monster Energy - Subway	+ 25
9	Marzio Bruseghin	D'Angelo & Antenucci - Nippo	+ 29
10	José Rujano	Androni Giocattoli	+ 31

Stage 2
The 2nd stage from Dro to Ledro Bezzecca is the easiest of the 3 climbing stages. The last climb to Ledro Molina (summit 5km before the finish) has low gradients, so also the hilly riders have a chance here.


3 riders go in the early attack, before the last climb starts, and they manage to hold on untill the finish. Daniele Callegarin from Team Type 1, drops Daniele Pietropolli and Federico Canuti in the last 2 kilometres and takes th ewin. The first peloton follows at '57, with surprisingly Westra in 24th place included.


Results

1	Daniele Callegarin	Team Type 1	4h31'03
2	Daniele Pietropolli	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 30
3	Federico Canuti	Colnago - CSF Inox	s.t.
4	Cadel Evans	Katusha Team	+ 57
5	Gabriele Bosisio	Liquigas - Cannondale	s.t.
6	Marco Marzano	Colnago - CSF Inox	s.t.
7	Tejay Van Garderen	Colnago - CSF Inox	s.t.
8	Manuele Mori	Lampre - Generali	s.t.
9	Fabio Felline	Nespresso - Algarve	s.t.
10	José Serpa	Pro Team Astana	s.t.

4 riders in top 10 in La Fleche, awesome.

And the girl on Bosisio's pic is not a Monster girl (but she is nice though )

Stage 3
The 3rd stage is the most difficult one in this Giro del Trentino. The Fei della Pagella has to be climb twice in the last 45 kilometres, and with 9.5km at 7.5%, it's a tough climb.


Marc De Maar is in the attack for over 100 kilometres, but unfortunately for him, nobody joins him. He gets passed by Bisolti (Farnese) and Marzano (Colnago), who start the last climb together.
Before the last summit, Duarte, Rujano, Garzelli, Ulissi, Peterson, Serpa, Sella and Evans go in the counter attack. As not foreseen, this causes a splashed peloton, with small groups of riders all over the place.
In the end, José Rujano outclasses his opponents, and takes the stage-GC double. Fabio Duarte finishes in 2nd and Bisolti surprises with a 3rd after managing to hold on after being caught.
Francis De Greef is our best placed rider, with a 35th place at 6'11.


Results

1	José Rujano	Androni Giocattoli	4h45'37
2	Fabio Duarte	Pro Team Astana	+ 6
3	Alessandro Bisolti	Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli	s.t.
4	Cadel Evans	Katusha Team	+ 24
5	Stefano Garzelli	Acqua & Sapone	+ 1'01
6	José Serpa	Pro Team Astana	+ 1'21
7	Tejay Van Garderen	Colnago - CSF Inox	s.t.
8	Sylwester Szmyd	Liquigas - Cannondale	s.t.
9	Diego Ulissi	Liquigas - Cannondale	+ 1'32
10	Gabriele Bosisio	Liquigas - Cannondale	+ 1'42

Stage 4
The last stage has a few mid-stage climbs, and ends in skiresort Madonna di Campiglio.


A breakaway is succesful today, as Pierre Rolland (Omega Pharma) takes the win, after dropping Davide Frattini in the last climb. Fabio Duarte tries to ride Rujano out of the leaders jersey with a late attack, manages to gain some time, but Rujano wins the Giro del Trentino.

1	Pierre Rolland	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	4h08'16
2	Davide Frattini	D'Angelo & Antenucci - Nippo	+ 1'22
3	Fabio Duarte	Pro Team Astana	+ 3'06
4	José Rujano	Androni Giocattoli	+ 3'18
5	Diego Ulissi	Liquigas - Cannondale	+ 3'27
6	José Serpa	Pro Team Astana	+ 3'37
7	Francesco Masciarelli	Pro Team Astana	s.t.
8	Cadel Evans	Katusha Team	s.t.
9	Stefano Garzelli	Acqua & Sapone	s.t.
10	Sylwester Szmyd	Liquigas - Cannondale	s.t.

GC

1	José Rujano	Androni Giocattoli	13h47'12
2	Fabio Duarte	Pro Team Astana	+ 25
3	Cadel Evans	Katusha Team	+ 47
4	Tejay Van Garderen	Colnago - CSF Inox	+ 1'30
5	Stefano Garzelli	Acqua & Sapone	+ 1'46
6	Daniele Callegarin	Team Type 1	+ 2'04
7	Diego Ulissi	Liquigas - Cannondale	+ 2'20
8	José Serpa	Pro Team Astana	+ 2'29
9	Simon Spilak	Lampre - Generali	+ 2'40
10	Daniele Pietropolli	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 3'08

Overall winner


Word from the DS
Nothing much to say. De Greef is the best in the GC, 37th time.

A quiet race for the team in Trentino

Good win for Rolland, I'm happy for him
Up to LBL!

The riders that started in the Giro del Trentino also race the 53rd edition of the Vuelta a la Rioja. It's a nice hilly race in the province of Rioja, with start and finish in Logroñes. Last year, Andy Schleck won the race, being only the 5th non-Spanish winner in the race history.


The route
With the Alto del Villaroya in the first part, the rider immediately have to face some ascending kilometres. Next follows a long downhill and flat part, before the 2 climbs in the final, the Alto de Labraza and Alto de Moncaletre.


Startlist



Our team


Our goal
A top 10 would be nice.

The race

53km to go
The first goal today is to be part in a breakaway. But when the first breakaway is formed, even before the ascend of the Alto de Villaroya, we decide that this is too early. We help Euskaltel and Nespresso in chasing them, with success.
Back on the flat, when Silvère Ackermann (Barbot) attacks, we feel that this is the time and Jack Bobridge counters. He gets David Hesselbarth (Team NetAPP) in his wheel, and the 2 join Ackermann. Another group of 3 attacks out of the peloton, and �ngel Vallejo (Burgos), Jurgen Van Goolen (Accen.Jobs) and Eduardo Gonzalo (Euskaltel) join the leading 3. Even before the last 2 climbs start, 2 more rider join them, namely Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) and Esteban Chaves (Colombia).
With 53 kilometres, and 2 climbs, remaining, they have a margin of 4'43 to the peloton.


36km to go
Already at the slopes of the Alto de Labraza, the leading group becomes smaller. Chaves is th efirst that can't follow the pace and gets dropped, followed by Hesselbarth.
When they start ascending the Alto de Moncaletre, also Ackermann gets dropped. Then, with 36km to go, Bobridge cracks, just as Dumoulin, and they have to let Gonzalo, Vallejo and Van Goolen go. The peloton is still over 3 minutes behind, so a win is possible for one of the 3 leaders!


Finish
With the 3 leaders cooperating very well, Bobridge and Dumoulin can't close the gap, 1 minute at the summit, in the descend. With 7km to go, Van Goolen launches his attack, not relying at his sprint.
This cracks Vallejo, while Gonzalo is giving it all to stay in the backwheel of the Belgian. But it's Van Goolen who wins the Vuelta a la Rioja, followed by Gonzalo (same time) and Vallejo (+ '30).
Jack Bobridge who has dropped Dumoulin with 10km to go, finishes in a good 4th place at 1'09. The peloton finishes at 1'36, with Rafael Valls beating Lieuwe Westra in the sprint for the 5th place.


Results

1	Jurgen Van Goolen	Accent.Jobs - Veranda's Willems	5h35'30
2	Eduardo Gonzalo	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
3	�ngel Vallejo	Burgos 2016 - Castilla y León	+ 30
4	Jack Bobridge	Monster Energy - Subway	+ 1'09
5	Rafael Valls	Nespresso - Algarve	+ 1'36
6	Lieuwe Westra	Monster Energy - Subway	s.t.
7	Arkaitz Durán	Nespresso - Algarve	s.t.
8	David De la Fuente	LA - Antarte	s.t.
9	Jonathan Castroviejo	Saur - Sojasun	s.t.
10	Peter Kennaugh	Sky ProCycling	s.t.

The winner


Word from the DS
This is a surprising result for us. Bobridge did a great job, unfortunately not being able to follow the first 3 in the last climb. But a 4th is a great result, considering the heavy injury sustained in the Tour Down UNder.

You must be pleased with two riders in the top six

Not bad, I didn't expect a result like this in the race. Nice!

The spring classic season always ends with Liège - Bastogne - Liège, th eone with the most height metres. This year, it's the 99th edition of La Doyenne.
The record winner is Eddy Merckx, with 5 wins in the seventies. Th elast 2 editions were won by the most beloved rider out of Wallonne, Philippe Gilbert, who was born next to the route of LBL, near the famous Côte de La Redoute.


The route
After the start in Liège, the peloton heads South to the town of Bastogne. That is the easiest part of the route, as in the remaining 160 kilometres, the riders have to face 10 tough climbs, that make a total of more than 3300 height metres. The most difficult part are the last 30 kilometres, with the 3 steep climbs of the Côte de La Redoute, Côte de La Roche aux Faucons and the Côte de Saint-Nicolas. Even the last 1500 metres are difficult, with 8 ascending metres towards the finish in Ans.



Startlist



Our team


The favourites
The question is, who can stop Philippe Gilbert in taking his 3rd consecutive win in LBL, something that hasn't been performed since Moreno Argentin the late 80's?
*** Philippe Gilbert (Lotto), Joaquím Rodríguez (Katusha), Andy Schleck.
** Damiano Cunego (Radio Shack), Simon Gerrans (Qantas), Roman Kreuziger (Astana).
* Igor Antón (Euskaltel), Fränk Schleck (Omega Pharma), Giovanni Visconti (BMC), Peter Sagan, Cadel Evans (Katusha), Jelle Vanendert.

Our goal
Our first goal is the Top 3. But with the race progressing, maybe we'll aim for something more....

Lots of luck!
You could put pressure on (the team of) Gilbert by attacking with Vanendert/Sagan or De Gendt, maybe?

Good luck on Fleche. And Bosisio, he is naughty. His hand is almost their, but the camera decides to ruin his thing.

The race

256km to go
The race hasn't even left the streets of Liège, when the first attack occurs. Stefan Denifl (Red Bull) and Geert Dockx (Lotto) are the ones, but they won't get far.


228km to go
The 2nd breakaway attempt seems to be the right one to get the approval of the peloton. 8 riders, namely Monsalve (Androni), Boasson Hagen (Lotto), Herrada (Movistar), Pellizotti (Lampre), Pires (Saxo), Teklehaimanot (FDJ), Commeyne (Landbouwkrediet) and Bardet (FDJ), quickly create a 2-minute gap. But there is still a very long way to go!


125km to go
2 riders have managed to bridge the gap from the peloton to the 8 leaders, namely Markus Eibegger (Red BUll) and Remmert Wielenga (Rabobank). The 10 already have a margin of 7'05 to the first part of the peloton.
First part? Yes, at the short but steep Côte de Saint-Roch (1km at 11%), the peloton breaks into 2 pieces and a group of 55 riders lead the 2nd group of 60 with over a minute. Some favourites and outsiders have got surprised, as they were placed too far behind: S. Sánchez, Kruijswijk, Monfort, Gerrans, Antón, F. Schleck and Evans can bang their heads against the wall.
As soon as we find out that the gap has occurred, we set Dumoulin & Ligthart in the lead of the peloton, increasing the pace!


113km to go
As a result, the margin of the breakaway to the first peloton decreases rapidly to 4'40. The 2nd group, with the domestiques of Euskaltel and Qantas doing the pace, is loosing ground, and follows at 6'18.
But strangely, some riders still want to attack out of the first peloton, even the pace towards the hills is extremely high. So Kreder, Kirchen, Mayoz, Van der Sande and Rogers get caught immediately.


96km to go
When the breakaway starts the ascend of the Côte de Wanne, they're already about to be caught. The development of the race was for sure in thier disadvantage. The 2nd peloton has seen it's gap to the 1st peloton increasing to 3 minutes, so also Lampre starts to help in the chase. As we still have to do the work in the peloton, desperataly asking the other teams (Lotto, Astana and Radio Shack) to help us to get rid of some opponents.


85km to go
Ascending the Côte de la Haute-Levée, the margin of the first peloton to the 2nd has decreased with about a minute to 2'04. As Dumoulin & Ligthart aren't able of doing the pace in the hills, Rob Ruijgh is leading the peloton now.


73km to go
Ruijgh is still leading the first peloton over the Col du Rosier and his pace makes that the group is getting smaller and smaller, only 40 riders left. Lampre is decreasing the margin to 1'40 and without the help of other teams, the 2 groups will emerge....


50km to go
Finally, when ascending the Mont-Theux, we get some help. Radio Shack send their domestiques to the front to help in doing the pace, as the 2nd peloton is only 1 minute behind. Well, domestiques..... Vincenzo Nibali, Levi Leipheimer and Jakob Fuglsang aren't exactly domestiqeus, but outsiders!


34km to go
A group of 32 riders reaches the foot of the Côte de La Redoute (2.0km at 8.8%). But at the same time as Andy Schleck takes the lead and controls the pace, the 2nd groups has found contact, and the favourites that were placed in that group are starting to make their way to the first ranks.


32km to go
A lot of changes happen in the ascend of the Redoute, with riders falling back out of the first group, and riders making their way to the first ranks out of the second group.
As a result, a group of 12 riders have created a small margin to a second group of 13 riders.
Present in the first group are: Andy Schleck, Peter Sagan, Thomas De Gendt, Jelle Vanendert from Monster Energy - Subway, Jakob Fuglsang, Damiano Cunego, Ben Hermans and Levi Leipheimer from Radio Shack, Chris Froome and Kim Kirchen form Sky and Joaquím Rodríguez (Katusha) and Philippe Gilbert (Lotto).
Only 20 seconds behind follows the next group with Roman Kreuziger (Astana), CA Sorensen, Giovanni Visconti & Jurgen Van den Broeck (BMC), Enrico Gasparotto (Lampre), Michel Kreder (Garmin), Fränk Schleck (Omega Pharma), Nibali & Wiggins (Radio Shack) and Cadel Evans (Katusha) in it. Igor Antón, Rob Ruijgh and Simon Gerrans are about to join this group.


19km to go
Some riders of the 2nd group join the first one, and some of the first one get dropped. As a result, the first group consists of 14 riders when the Côte de La Roche aux Faucons (1.5km at 9.3%) begins. Just as with the Redoute, Andy Schleck takes control of the pace, followed by his team mates De Gendt, Ruijgh, Sagan & Vanendert, as well as Philippe Gilbert, Roman Kreuziger, Simon Gerrans, Michel Kreder, Giovanni Visconti, Joaquím Rodríguez, Cadel Evans and Emanuelle Sella. A 2nd group with Kirchen, Antón, CA Sorensen, Fränk Schleck, S. Sánchez and the Radio Shack guys Nibali, Cunego and Hermans follow at '43.


16km to go
When the Roche aux Faucons is done, Joaquím Rodríguez attacks out of the first group. Simon Gerrans is the first to counter, followed by Roman Kreuziger. When Philippe Gilbert does the same, Andy Schleck jumps at his wheel.


9km to go
In the descend towards the Saint-Nicolas, these 5 riders find each other and start to cooperate. They take a lead of 32 seconds to a 2nd group with Cunego, Gasparotto, De Gendt, Ruijgh, Vanendert & Sagan, Evans, Kreder and Visconti, and 1'09 to Antón, Fränk Schleck, Sella and Hermans.


6km to go
The 5 leaders have managed to increase their lead when the arrive at the foot of the Côte de Saint-Nicolas (1.2km at 8.6%). When the road arises with more than 10%, local favourite Philippe Gilbert launches a furious attack. When Schleck wants to win, he has to counter!


4km to go
Gilbert has created a small gap to Schleck and Rodríguez, when the descend after the Saint-Nicolas start. Kreuziger and Gerrans couldn't follow the attack and are '42 behind.


1500m to go
Andy Schleck pretty easily closes the gap to Gilbert, whereas Rodríguez gets dropped. The road is ascending again towards the finish in Ans, and it will be a sprint-a-deux for the win.
Will Gilbert take his 3rd win in La Doyenne in a row, or will it be the 2nd one for Schleck after 2009? Looking at their faces, Gilbert looks exhausted, will Schleck still looks pretty fresh (thanks to a daily form of +5, thank you PCM!!).


600m to go
Gilbert tries to surprise his opponent with a long sprint, but Andy Schleck has no problems in taking over. Gilbert realizes he won't win this one and cracks.


Finish
After two times a 4th place in the previous week (AGR en Flèche), Andy Schleck wins Liège - Bastogne - Liège! He was way too strong for Gilbert in the sprint, who has to be dissapointed with this week, with a 2nd, a 5th and again a 2nd, in contrast with 3 wins last year.
Rodríguez finishes in 3rd at '34, while Gerrans beats Kreuziger for the 4th place. At 1'38, Jelle Vanendert wins the sprint for the 6th place, beating Peter Sagan, Damiano Cunego, Giovanni Visconti and Enrico Gasparotto in 10th place.


Results

1	Andy Schleck	Monster Energy - Subway	6h55'12
2	Philippe Gilbert	Lotto - Belisol	+ 15
3	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	+ 34
4	Simon Gerrans	Qantas Airways	+ 1'12
5	Roman Kreuziger	Pro Team Astana	+ 1'20
6	Jelle Vanendert	Monster Energy - Subway	+ 1'38
7	Peter Sagan	Monster Energy - Subway	s.t.
8	Damiano Cunego	Radio Shack - Nissan	s.t.
9	Giovanni Visconti	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
10	Enrico Gasparotto	Lampre - Generali	s.t.

The winner


Word from the DS
Oh man, what an unbelievable exciting race. It was full of action for over 100 kilometres, and in the end, we took the win!!
Winning 2 monuments this year, I think I'll get pretty drunk tonight!!

Congratulations!
What a win, beautiful! Gilbert has met his match!
Brilliant racing.

Nice win, congrats!
It was so great to see Andy sprinting away from Gilbert!

Huge win for Andy, well done

This great victory deserves a banana!! Great racing by Andy!

What a brilliant victory for Andy in the Liege-Bastogne- Liege, Well Done

Glad to hear that the story continues!

And a throughout deserved and awesome victory by Andy!