Stage 6: Civitanova Marche - Camerino



The penultimate stage of the Tirreno Adriatico is the most important of the race. It is a hilly marathon of 234 kilometres that also has the climb to the Sasso Tetto (13 km at 7.1%). If that was not enough, the final 5 kilometres are a climb to Camerino, where some seconds could be won if there is a finish in a group. Anyone willing to win the Tirreno will have to do a good performance on the way to Camerino.



Five riders were almost 6 minutes ahead at the first KoM sprint: Maxime Monfort (Omega), Simone Ponzi (Quickstep), Francisco Ventoso (Lampre), Mikel Nieve (BMC) and Taylor Phinney (Euskaltel). None of them was dangerous in the GC, so the peloton let them do. However, they still had 160 km in front of them.



Marco Marcato, the leader of the race, suffered a puncture with 117 km to go. As many as 6 Liquigas riders waited to bring him back to the pack.



The Liquigas riders were having a hard time bringing Marcato back to the group. As Peraud had lost all his chances of a good GC in a fall, he was put to work in front of the peloton. This also meant that riders started to be dropped way before the climb to Sasso Tetto. The Liquigas group lost 2 minutes on the pack with 100 km to go.



The break starts the climb to Sasso Tetto with 1’ 55’’ on the pack. Liquigas had to do a big effort to put Marcato back in the group and that means he is left almost without teammates.



As expected, Mikel Nieve was the best of the group in front climbing the Sasso Tetto. He was on his own at the top, but others were closing in: Dupont was 45 seconds behind and the group 1’ 15’’. The group was now down to 30 riders. The main rider not to make it in that group was Oscar Freire, second overall.



Mikel Nieve was finally caught with 25 kilometres to go. At that time, Hubert Dupont seemed to suffer a bonk and lost the pace of the group in the descent.



The last climb towards Camerino starts when the riders cross the 5 kilometre sign. Janez Brajkovic leads a group that has slimmed a little more to 24 riders. An amazing Vinokourov has been able to keep the pace of the group. Dupont is losing 1’35’’ and Freire 2’ 45’’ at this point.



Weening is the first to launch the final attack. With 1 km to go, he leads with Brajkovic and Devenyns right behind.



Janez Brajkovic wins in Camerino! The Slovenian wins ahead of Pozzato and Weening to grab his second win in the Tirreno. Small time gaps opened in the front group, as Hushovd jumps to second and Brajkovic to third overall.

With only one flat stage ending tomorrow in San Benedetto del Tronto, the race is pretty much sttled. Marco Marcato is going to win the Tirreno ahead of Hushovd and Brajkovic. Alexandre Vinokourov is the main favourite for the points competition and Mikel Nieve for the mountain jersey.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1	Janez Brajkovic	TEAM RADIOSHACK	7h02'39
2	Filippo Pozzato	LAMPRE - ISD	s.t.
3	Pieter Weening	HTC - HIGH ROAD	s.t.
4	Fränk Schleck	LEOPARD TREK	s.t.
5	Thor Hushovd	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	s.t.
6	Dries Devenyns	QUICKSTEP	s.t.
7	Marco Marcato	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	s.t.
8	John Degenkolb	LEOPARD TREK	+ 18
9	Alexandre Vinokourov	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	s.t.
10	Daniel Martin	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 28

General Classification

1	Marco Marcato	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	24h43'41
2	Thor Hushovd	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 17
3	Janez Brajkovic	TEAM RADIOSHACK	+ 29
4	Alexandre Vinokourov	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 42
5	Dries Devenyns	QUICKSTEP	+ 43
6	Pieter Weening	HTC - HIGH ROAD	+ 55
7	Peter Kennaugh	SKY PROCYCLING	+ 58
8	Lloyd Mondory	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	+ 1'01
9	Andy Schleck	LEOPARD TREK	+ 1'34
10	George Hincapie	BMC RACING TEAM	+ 1'45

Points

1	Alexandre Vinokourov	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	79
2	Janez Brajkovic	TEAM RADIOSHACK	73
3	Marco Marcato	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	68
4	André Greipel	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	54
5	Oscar Freire	RABOBANK	36

Mountain

1	Mikel Nieve	BMC RACING TEAM	19
2	Maxime Monfort	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	17
3	Hubert Dupont	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	14
4	Lloyd Mondory	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	10
5	Borut Bozic	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	10

Young

1	Giovanni Visconti	LAMPRE - ISD	24h47'50
2	Tejay Van Garderen	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 30
3	Rui Da Costa	TEAM RADIOSHACK	+ 37
4	Alexander Kristoff	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 54
5	Pierre Rolland	QUICKSTEP	+ 1'15

Teams

1	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	74h13'28
2	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 6
3	TEAM RADIOSHACK	+ 2'02
4	LEOPARD TREK	+ 3'27
5	LAMPRE - ISD	+ 9'04

Nice win for Brajkovic

Stage 7: San Benedetto del Tronto - San Benedetto del Tronto



The last stage of the Tirreno Adriatico is very flat, a stage for the sprinters. The last kilometres will be raced in a circuit in the city of San Benedetto del Tronto, the place where the Tirreno normally ends. The GC is already set, with Marco Marcato on his way to the first important win.



A 6 men break was at the front before starting the last descent towards San Benedetto del Tronto. The most important men there were Ivan Basso (Leopard), Sylvain Chavanel (Quickstep) and Wouter Poels (Rabobank). The gap they had built during the few hills was 9’ 20’’.



However, the teams with sprinters were very keen on another mass sprint, especially Sky and Garmin. They were caught at the second intermediate sprint, with 20 kilometres to go.



As the sprint started, Peter Kennaugh was clearly ahead of the rest. However, Tyler Farrar looked very strong on the other side of the road and Hushovd was also trying to get ahead.



Tyler Farrar wins in San Benedetto del Tronto! The American was the strongest by far today and shows that he is feeling good for Sunday’s Milano Sanremo. Behind him were Peter Kennaugh and Alexandre Vinokourov. The Kazakh goes home with the second consecutive points jersey and the lead in the World Tour. An impressive start of the season for Vinokourov, who has 4 stage victories, a second and a fourth overall and two points jerseys.

Marco Marcato grabbed the overall win for Liquigas, even though some thought that Lloyd Mondory would be the leader of the team. He climbs to fourth in the World Tour. Brajkovic also improved in that classification, taking the second place that belonged to Tyler Farrar.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1	Tyler Farrar	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	4h23'39
2	Peter Kennaugh	SKY PROCYCLING	s.t.
3	Alexandre Vinokourov	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	s.t.
4	Thor Hushovd	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	s.t.
5	Alberto Contador	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	s.t.
6	Francisco Ventoso	LAMPRE - ISD	s.t.
7	Borut Bozic	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	s.t.
8	Andreas Klöden	TEAM RADIOSHACK	s.t.
9	André Greipel	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	s.t.
10	Jakob Fuglsang	LEOPARD TREK	s.t.

General Classification

1	Marco Marcato	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	29h07'20
2	Thor Hushovd	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 17
3	Janez Brajkovic	TEAM RADIOSHACK	+ 29
4	Alexandre Vinokourov	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 38
5	Dries Devenyns	QUICKSTEP	+ 43
6	Peter Kennaugh	SKY PROCYCLING	+ 52
7	Pieter Weening	HTC - HIGH ROAD	+ 55
8	Lloyd Mondory	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	+ 1'01
9	Andy Schleck	LEOPARD TREK	+ 1'34
10	George Hincapie	BMC RACING TEAM	+ 1'45

Points

1	Alexandre Vinokourov	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	95
2	Janez Brajkovic	TEAM RADIOSHACK	73
3	Marco Marcato	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	72
4	André Greipel	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	61
5	Tyler Farrar	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	54

Mountain

1	Mikel Nieve	BMC RACING TEAM	19
2	Maxime Monfort	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	17
3	Hubert Dupont	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	14
4	Lloyd Mondory	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	10
5	Borut Bozic	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	10

Young

1	Giovanni Visconti	LAMPRE - ISD	29h11'29
2	Tejay Van Garderen	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 30
3	Rui Da Costa	TEAM RADIOSHACK	+ 37
4	Alexander Kristoff	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 53
5	Pierre Rolland	QUICKSTEP	+ 1'15

Teams

1	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	87h24'25
2	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 6
3	TEAM RADIOSHACK	+ 2'02
4	LEOPARD TREK	+ 3'27
5	LAMPRE - ISD	+ 9'04

Bring on the Milan-San Remo

Milan - Sanremo report will have to wait until tomorrow I will update the World Tour rankings and the preview of the race.

UCI World Tour rankings riders (after Tirreno Adriatico)

1	Alexandre Vinokourov	Garmin	244.11
2	Janez Brajkovic	Radioshack	152.55
3	Tyler Farrar	Saxo Bank	150
4	Marco Marcato	Liquigas	123.22
5	Peter Kennaugh	Sky	121
6	Thor Hushovd	Garmin	89.11
7	Francisco Ventoso	Lampre	82
8	Dries Devenyns	Quickstep	58
9	Peter Sagan	Liquigas	49.22
10	Chris Anker Sørensen	Saxo Bank	42
11	Andreas Klöden	Radioshack	41.55
12	Pieter Weening	HTC	41
13	Oliver Zaugg	BMC	40
14	Lloyd Mondory	Liquigas	32.22
15	Jakob Fuglsang	Leopard	31

UCI World Tour rankings teams (after Tirreno Adriatico)

1	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	356
2	LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE	242
3	TEAM RADIOSHACK	231
4	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	216
5	SKY PROCYCLING	129
6	LAMPRE - ISD	114
7	BMC RACING TEAM	104
8	QUICKSTEP	76
9	LEOPARD TREK	67
10	HTC-HIGHROAD	46

How much money does Vino have left?

What do you mean how much money he is left?

It's a joke which i fell for earlier in the week
Apparently Vinokourov paid off rivals so he could win LBL

That sounds like a lot of riders...pretty difficult to believe

Not all his rivals, just Kolobnev. It's just rumours though.

And nice story btw.

The World Tour couple of weeks in Italy end with the first of the Monuments. The Milano Sanremo is one of the longest races of the calendar, as it is close to the 300 kilometres mark. Among the Monuments, it is the classic that is more prone to be won by an sprinter, as the profile of the route is quite flat. The only climbs that matter are the Cipressa and the Poggio, both within 25 kilometres of the finish.
Favourites:
- Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard): The Leopard rider enjoys long and flat routes, so he should have a chance here. Besides, he can be fast in small group finishes. He hasn’t done anything remarkable yet this season but has been in the top 15 in both races.
- Alexandre Vinokourov (Garmin): Vino has been outstanding so far. He has already won four times this season and has proven to be almost at the level of Farrar in mass sprints.
- Lloyd Mondory (Liquigas): The French aimed for the Tirreno Adriatico to be his race, but in the end it was won by his teammate Marcato. He would like a hillier route, but he should profit his current form to try an attack in one of the last hills.
- Tyler Farrar (Saxo Bank): The American is the fastest sprinter in the field, so he has every chance if he can hold on to the front group. He already has 3 wins this season, but the feeling is that Vinokourov is stronger than him at the moment.

Hope you have a great Liege-Bastogne-Liege

And hope you send a team full of strong sprinters

Milano - Sanremo



The route of the Milano Sanremo is well known. The most favourable classic for the sprinters, as only the Cipressa and the Poggio can make a difference. They are not demanding climbs, though.



At the top of the Turchino 4 riders were in front: Greg Van Avermaet (Quickstep), Mikel Nieve (BMC), Robert Gesink (Omega) and Laurens Ten Dam (Euskaltel). None of them was really dangerous and they had built a small gap of only 3’ 25’’. Garmin was predictably in control of the peloton, as Vinokourov has won himself some respect.



The break came to an end too soon and right before another set of riders tried to break away. In the end, only Cadel Evans was strong enough to hold a lead for a while. He was 1’ 05’’ ahead in the Capo Cervo, 54 km to the finish.



Garmin was determined to leave behind some sprinters who aren’t good on the hills and therefore was acting as a luxury teammate for Vinokourov while climbing the Cipressa. He reduced drastically the gap to Evans and started dropping people off the pack.



Filippo Pozzato attacked on the last slopes of the Cipressa and holds 40’’ on the pack when he starts climbing the Poggio.



No rider is willing to go after Pozzato and the Lampre rider tops the hill with an advantage of 1’ 05’’. Garmin wanted some other to help on the chase and the misunderstanding is big in the peloton.



Pozzato is already celebrating with 2 kilometres to go, as he has more than 1 minute on his chasers. On the pack, the Liquigas train is so fast that they have broke away from the peloton bringing 9 riders with them.



Filippo Pozzato wins the Milano Sanremo! A hard attack in the last slopes of the Cipressa gave the Lampre rider a big enough gap to cause confusion in the peloton. No team took the responsibility for the chase and therefore they gifted the win to Pozzato. The two races in Italy have been won by two Italian riders.



Andre Greipel takes the second place ahead of a Liquigas trio, Marcato being the third to the line. Marcato ends a great week, having won the Tirreno and claiming third in Sanremo.

Pozzato jumps to 6th overall in the World Tour classification, while Greipel grabs some needed points in Omega to jump to 10th. Marco Marcato is third, but will have it difficult to defend that position as most of his preparation is aimed towards the Vuelta a España.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1	Filippo Pozzato	LAMPRE - ISD	8h11'47
2	André Greipel	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	+ 1'05
3	Marco Marcato	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	s.t.
4	Alessandro Ballan	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	s.t.
5	Peter Sagan	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	s.t.
6	Tyler Farrar	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	s.t.
7	Tony Martin	HTC - HIGH ROAD	s.t.
8	Lloyd Mondory	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	s.t.
9	Alexandre Vinokourov	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	s.t.
10	Simon Gerrans	QUICKSTEP	s.t.

Nice attack by Pozzato and a great win

UCI World Tour rankings riders (after Milano Sanremo)

1	Alexandre Vinokourov	Garmin	249.11
2	Marco Marcato	Liquigas	173.22
3	Tyler Farrar	Saxo Bank	170
4	Janez Brajkovic	Radioshack	152.55
5	Peter Kennaugh	Sky	121
6	Filippo Pozzato	Lampre	97
7	Thor Hushovd	Garmin	89.11
8	Francisco Ventoso	Lampre	82
9	Peter Sagan	Liquigas	79.22
10	André Greipel	Omega	74.55
11	Dries Devenyns	Quickstep	58
12	Lloyd Mondory	Liquigas	42.22
13	Alessandro Ballan	Liquigas	42.22
14	Chris Anker Sørensen	Saxo Bank	42
15	Andreas Klöden	Radioshack	41.55

UCI World Tour rankings teams (after Milano Sanremo)

1	LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE	372
2	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	361
3	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	236
4	TEAM RADIOSHACK	231
5	LAMPRE - ISD	194
6	SKY PROCYCLING	129
7	BMC RACING TEAM	104
8	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	92
9	QUICKSTEP	78
10	LEOPARD TREK	67

The Liege-Bastogne-Liege is the last of the monuments to appear in the World Tour. It is raced in the Ardennes region of Belgium, with an easy first part going south to Bastogne and the more demanding return towards Liege. The race has finished lately in the town of Ans. There are quite a few hills in the last 60 kilometres of the race that should settle the final results; therefore, the riders that can ride through the hills are the favourites.
Favourites:
- Janez Brajkovic (Radioshack): The Slovenian rider has its main targets for the season here and in Montreal. Even though he is a typical classics rider, he did a great Tirreno and grabbed 2 stages and the third overall.
- Filippo Pozzato (Lampre): The route of Liege fits the Italian much better than Milano Sanremo (which he won), therefore we should see him in the battle.
- Dries Devenyns (Quickstep): Quickstep will be looking for a good result in their first race in home soil. Dries Devenyns Is their best chance for a good result, although he lacks a bit of speed if the riders arrive in a group.
- José Joaquín Rojas (Omega): The other Belgian team also has lots of chances with the Spaniard, and he will have a good helper in Jelle Vanendert, as the team leader prepares for Romandie.

Which team are you managing? And are there any transfers ever happening?

I manage a team that only has a bad rider. You'll never see him. Besides, I run stage races (not a career), so all transfers are done by myself. I put the transfer dealings between the seasons.

Liege - Liege



Welcome to the Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The fairly hilly terrain should allow for plenty of action today, with renowned climbs, such as La Redoute, Roche aux Faucons, Stockeau or Ans.



A group of 8 riders settled in front after a bit of fighting at the start of the race. They had built a gap of 6’ 50’’ in the first 110 kilometres. Among them were Rigoberto Uran (Sky), Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank), Andreas Kloden (Radioshack) and Ivan Basso (Leopard).



Two teams were keen to reduce the distance to the break, Omega Pharma Lotto and Lampre. They were able to reduce the gap to a bit more than 3 minutes by the time they started climbing Wanne, with 91 kilometres to go.



The group of chasers had reduced dramatically by the time they were climbing Rosier, and they still had 70 kilometres to go. No more than 30 riders stayed with the group led by Omega. There was a drama moment when 5 riders of Omega, including Rojas, took away. However, they were soon reeled back to the group.



At La Redoute it was already clear who wasn’t going to win the Liege. The break was already back in the group and names like Frank Schleck, Tom Danielson, Jelle Vanendert, Hubert Dupont and Gregory Rast were already losing 3’30’’.



No big attacks happened before the Roche aux Faucons, but the group continued losing riders. It was now down to 25 with 25 kilometres to go. The tries to bridge the gap to this group were all unsuccessful.



The riders left the big attacks for the last two climbs. At Saint Nicolas a dangerous trio departed: Dries Devenyns, Jose Joaquín Rojas and the Milano Sanremo winner Filippo Pozzato. They managed to go through the top with 25 seconds on the already broken group.



Although the trio looked not that strong on the small way to Ans, it was enough to start the sprint ahead and fight for the victory among them.



Dries Devenyns wins the Liege-Bastogne-Liege! This is the first victory of Quickstep and what a victory! The Belgian was able to hold to the attack from Rojas in Saint-Nicolas and was fastest in the uphill sprint at Ans. Behind him were Filippo Pozzato, who can be very satisfied of his last two performances, and José Joaquín Rojas.

One surprise was the fifth from the rookie Giovanni Visconti, who surprisingly was able to stay in front for the whole race. Devenyns climbs now to 6th overall in the World Tour, while Pozzato is now up to 5th.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1	Dries Devenyns	QUICKSTEP	7h46'11
2	Filippo Pozzato	LAMPRE - ISD	s.t.
3	José Joaquin Rojas	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	s.t.
4	Janez Brajkovic	TEAM RADIOSHACK	+ 44
5	Giovanni Visconti	LAMPRE - ISD	s.t.
6	Nick Nuyens	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	s.t.
7	Greg Van Avermaet	QUICKSTEP	s.t.
8	Xavier Tondo	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	s.t.
9	Pierre Rolland	QUICKSTEP	s.t.
10	Chris Anker Sørensen	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	s.t.