Disaster - What a time for Weening to lose the Lead

DUPONT! from nowhere to Yellow amazing!

Stage 20: Bilbao - Vitoria



The penultimate stage of the Vuelta looks good for a break to succeed. The GC men will probably have nothing to say today, while many sprinters will be too fatigued after the numerous climbs in the stage. The toughest of those is the last one, the Alto de Urkiola, is a 5.7 km climb averaging 9.2%.



A group of 5 riders were ahead at the second climb of the day, Elosua, with 125 km to go. Among them were Philippe Gilbert, Stefano Garzelli and Jose Joaquin Rojas. Igor Anton was with them, but cracked on this climb. He was losing 35’’ on the top. Meanwhile, the peloton was taking things easy 5’ 20’’ behind.



The peloton started chasing on the way to Urkiola. The rhythm was high during the climb and Frank Schleck almost bridged the gap to the break while fighting for KoM points. The break was effectively over by then.



Things were very difficult after the last climb of the Vuelta. Many domestiques had either been left behind or exhausted, so no team took the responsibility to control the peloton. With 15 kilometers to go, a group of 7 riders including Peraud, Vanendert and Marcato had 1’ 05’’ on the peloton. However, disorganization was the rule in both groups.



When the peloton decided to chase it was late already. The gap wasn’t big at all but the riders in the break had the time to look for the stage victory. Marcato started the sprint ahead of Frank Schleck, David Lopez and Vanendert.



David Lopez wins in Vitoria! The Spaniard takes his first win of the season and the third for Euskaltel in this Vuelta. He edged Brajkovic and Marcato by less than a bike length.



As the peloton goes through the finish line, Hincapie and Tondo hit the ground. Fortunately for them, they can recover quickly enough and they are awarded the time delay of the peloton.

With only a walk in the park in Madrid remaining, only something strange can strip Dupont of his second GT win. Pieter Weening and Jean-Christophe Peraud will share the podium with him. Meanwhile, Jelle Vanendert secured today the KoM jersey. It is the first day that the Belgian holds the lead in that classification in the whole Vuelta.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1	David López	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	5h35'25
2	Janez Brajkovic	TEAM RADIOSHACK	s.t.
3	Marco Marcato	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	s.t.
4	Fränk Schleck	LEOPARD TREK	s.t.
5	Jean-Christophe Peraud	LEOPARD TREK	s.t.
6	Rigoberto Uran	SKY PROCYCLING	s.t.
7	Jelle Vanendert	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	s.t.
8	Alexandre Vinokourov	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 30
9	Jakob Fuglsang	LEOPARD TREK	s.t.
10	Tyler Farrar	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	s.t.

General Classification

1	Hubert Dupont	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	91h27'29
2	Pieter Weening	HTC - HIGH ROAD	+ 59
3	Jean-Christophe Peraud	LEOPARD TREK	+ 1'28
4	Jelle Vanendert	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	+ 2'46
5	Xavier Tondo	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	+ 4'46
6	George Hincapie	BMC RACING TEAM	+ 6'48
7	Marco Marcato	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	+ 16'22
8	David López	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	+ 20'53
9	Fränk Schleck	LEOPARD TREK	+ 23'12
10	Oscar Freire	RABOBANK	+ 25'55

Points

1	Jelle Vanendert	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	195
2	Pieter Weening	HTC - HIGH ROAD	175
3	Hubert Dupont	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	158
4	Jean-Christophe Peraud	LEOPARD TREK	153
5	George Hincapie	BMC RACING TEAM	147

Mountain

1	Jelle Vanendert	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	110
2	Hubert Dupont	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	109
3	Pieter Weening	HTC - HIGH ROAD	104
4	George Hincapie	BMC RACING TEAM	99
5	Jean-Christophe Peraud	LEOPARD TREK	91

Young

1	Chris Froome	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	91h56'32
2	Denis Menchov	HTC - HIGH ROAD	+ 47
3	Pierre Rolland	QUICKSTEP	+ 1'54
4	Yoann Offredo	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 2'59
5	Luis Leon Sanchez	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	+ 3'16

Teams

1	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	274h23'54
2	LEOPARD TREK	+ 10'25
3	BMC RACING TEAM	+ 11'53
4	HTC - HIGH ROAD	+ 23'42
5	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	+ 25'26

Stage 21: San Sebastian de los Reyes - Madrid



The last stage in the Vuelta is the typical circuit in Madrid. The stage is very short, so it should pose no problems for the riders and a mass sprint is almost guaranteed.



Three riders had the guts to try a break in the last day: Maxime Monfort, Filippo Pozzato and Steven Kruijswijk. With 34 km to go they still had a gap of 3 minutes on the peloton, but with Garmin and Saxo Bank in chase mode their chances were slim.



As the break was reeled in with 10 km to go, a crash happened involving the white jersey Chris Froome and Mikel Nieve. Judging by the time it is taking Froome to recover and the slim advantage he had on Menchov (47 seconds), this could as well cost him the jersey.



Another bigger pile up happened at the end of the same lap. What a bad way to end the Vuelta. This time, riders like Hushovd, Hincapie, Frank Schleck or Gregory Rast were involved.



Vasili Kiryenka started sprinting for far away, what gave him a big advantage. Behind him, Bart de Clerq, Philippe Gilbert and Bauke Mollema tried to catch the Belarusian. The favorites were caught napping a bit after the chaos that followed he crashes.



Alexandre Vinokourov wins in Madrid! He edged out Tyler Farrar after a good recovery by the two strongest sprinters in the field. Hubert Dupont was a surprising third, while Kiryenka blew in the last meters but still ended fourth.

Chris Froome arrived 4 minutes later, losing the white jersey on the way. Denis Menchov wins it, which is a minor prize for HTC after losing the yellow jersey only two days ago.

Hubert Dupont will be joined in Madrid’s podium by Pieter Weening and Jean-Cristophe Peraud. The Saxo Bank rider has won the two Grand Tours raced so far in this story, but it will be very difficult for him to repeat the first place in the World Tour classification. The mountain and points jersey go to Jelle Vanendert, fourth overall.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1	Alexandre Vinokourov	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	2h19'05
2	Tyler Farrar	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	s.t.
3	Hubert Dupont	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	s.t.
4	Vasili Kiryenka	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	s.t.
5	Peter Sagan	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	s.t.
6	Jakob Fuglsang	LEOPARD TREK	s.t.
7	Rigoberto Uran	SKY PROCYCLING	s.t.
8	Simon Gerrans	QUICKSTEP	s.t.
9	Bauke Mollema	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	s.t.
10	Jean-Christophe Peraud	LEOPARD TREK	s.t.

General Classification

1	Hubert Dupont	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	93h46'30
2	Pieter Weening	HTC - HIGH ROAD	+ 1'03
3	Jean-Christophe Peraud	LEOPARD TREK	+ 1'32
4	Jelle Vanendert	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	+ 2'50
5	Xavier Tondo	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	+ 4'50
6	George Hincapie	BMC RACING TEAM	+ 9'30
7	Marco Marcato	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	+ 16'26
8	David López	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	+ 20'57
9	Fränk Schleck	LEOPARD TREK	+ 25'54
10	Oscar Freire	RABOBANK	+ 25'59

Points

1	Jelle Vanendert	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	195
2	Pieter Weening	HTC - HIGH ROAD	175
3	Hubert Dupont	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	174
4	Jean-Christophe Peraud	LEOPARD TREK	159
5	Tyler Farrar	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	150

Mountain

1	Jelle Vanendert	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	110
2	Hubert Dupont	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	109
3	Pieter Weening	HTC - HIGH ROAD	104
4	George Hincapie	BMC RACING TEAM	99
5	Jean-Christophe Peraud	LEOPARD TREK	91

Young

1	Denis Menchov	HTC - HIGH ROAD	94h16'24
2	Pierre Rolland	QUICKSTEP	+ 1'07
3	Yoann Offredo	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 2'12
4	Chris Froome	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	+ 3'11
5	Michael Albasini	BMC RACING TEAM	+ 3'20

Teams

1	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	281h21'09
2	LEOPARD TREK	+ 10'25
3	BMC RACING TEAM	+ 14'31
4	HTC - HIGH ROAD	+ 23'42
5	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	+ 25'26

So disappointed for Weening, he rode so well throughout the race.

UCI World Tour rankings riders (after Vuelta a España)

1	Pieter Weening	HTC	456.11
2	Tyler Farrar	Saxo Bank	455
3	Alexandre Vinokourov	Garmin	421.11
4	Hubert Dupont	Saxo Bank	418
5	Jelle Vanendert	Omega	337.55
6	Xavier Tondo	Euskaltel	287.22
7	Marco Marcato	Liquigas	284.77
8	Janez Brajkovic	Radioshack	282.55
9	José Joaquin Rojas	Omega	248.55
10	Dries Devenyns	Quickstep	238.55
11	Jean-Christophe Peraud	Leopard	234.55
12	Rigoberto Uran	Sky	203
13	Oscar Freire	Rabobank	201.55
14	George Hincapie	BMC	193.33
15	Filippo Pozzato	Lampre	187.22

UCI World Tour rankings teams (after Vuelta a España)

1	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	1107
2	LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE	848
3	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	848
4	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	715
5	LEOPARD TREK	696
6	EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI	657
7	HTC-HIGHROAD	634
8	BMC RACING TEAM	601
9	TEAM RADIOSHACK	579
10	LAMPRE - ISD	471

Very happy for Dupont quick question Mpardo will the stats go up based on performance again this season please say yes i reckon Weening and Dupont need joint Mountain stats after this year performances

Yes, the changes will be based on the performance. However, the riders that were comparatively very good will have it harder to improve. Therefore, even though Dupont did very good this year he won't improve a lot as he was already the best climber in the story.

Transfer market update 1

Saxo Bank has just announced that one of his leaders, Tyler Farrar, will continue riding for the team next season. The American, who is arguably the best sprinter around, has seen han increase in his income and will be riding for the Danish teams the following 2 years.

One of the positive surprises of the season, Bjorn Leukemans, has announced that he reached an agreement with Lotto - Bellisol to be their leader in the three cobbled races next season. The Belgian was 4th in the Eneco Tour and 7th in the Vattenfall Cyclassics.

The Australian sprinter Matthew Goss will join Tyler Farrar in Saxo Bank next year, as the Danish team aims to increase their dominance in the mass sprints. Goss is rumored to be maikng slightly above 400.000 euros per season.

The new Spanish outfit Movistar reported today that their new leader will be the Dutch Steven Kruijswijk. The Rabobank rider was the surprising winner of the Eneco Tour this year, after winning a stage with a break that took 4 minutes on the peloton.

The last week of racing in the season starts with a trip to Canada for the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal. This is a very recent addition to the calendar of cycling. This is the first time that the rider in this story travel to America, so we expect a warm welcome. The route has some hilly sections, so a puncheur might be the favorite for the race. The circuit runs along the Mont Royal, in a nice place for cycling.

Favourites:
- Janez Brajkovic (Radioshack): The Slovenian is one of the best classics riders around, but he is lacking a major win this season. He didn't do anything good in the last Vuelta, except of a second place in the penultimate stage, so his form might be on the rise.
- Dries Devenyns (Quickstep): Quickstep ambitions were surpassed when Devenyns won the Liege Bastogne Liege. Another race win would be asking too much from the Belgian, but he is among the favorites nevetheless.
- Filippo Pozzato (Lampre): Pozzato's season has been very erratic. He has produced big days, especially the win in Milan-Sanremo, and disappointing performances. However, he can add a second on Liege and a stage win in the Tour Down Under to complete a rather satisfying season.
- Lloyd Mondory (Liquigas): The French has been nowhere this season, as his most remarkable result was 8th overall in Tirreno-Adriatico. His 30th place so far in the World Tour classification only underlines how poor his season has been compared to the expectations. Maybe he can find the legs on the closing of the season to improve his performances.

Montreal - Montreal



The Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal takes places around a course of around 13 kilometers. 16 laps will be completed to complete the 208 km of the classic. The route is not very hilly, but the 1.5 km climb at an average 7% should give a good chance to riders who go well over the hills.



The early break had 5 riders including George Hincapie, Jose Joaquin Rojas and Vasili Kiryenka. With 7 laps to go they only had a gap of 2’ 25’’ on the peloton as the understanding among the riders wasn’t very good.



Boasson Hagen, Nocentini and Rui Costa were able to bridge the gap to the break. This gave it new strength, but the peloton was already chasing and with 45 km to go the difference was 55’’. Saxo Bank seemed to be the team most interested in chasing.



George Hincapie was the last survivor of the break, but he was eventually caught with a bit less than 2 laps to go. Garmin and Leopard had already joined Saxo in chasing, so they were maybe looking for a mass sprint finish.



A few riders didn’t really care about a mass sprint. Pozzato was the first attacker in the last lap and he was followed by Freire, Devenyns, Brajkovic and Albasini.



The last climb hurt many domestiques in the pack and Tom Danielson took responsibility for the chase in the last km. However, the gap had grown to 1 minute with 5 km to go so the break looked very good.



The break did make it ahead. The last kilometer was a slight uphill (3.5%) and Brajkovic was leading ahead of Pozzato, Freire and Devenyns.



Janez Brajkovic wins in Montreal! The Slovenian caps a great season with his best win of the season. He was the strongest in the last uphill meters, where Albasini and Pozzato showed some weakness. Behind Brajkovic arrived two other men that did great seasons: Freire and Devenyns.

This leaves Brajkovic 5th in the World Tour standings and with a good chance to wear the rainbow jersey at the end of the week.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1	Janez Brajkovic	TEAM RADIOSHACK	5h41'36
2	Oscar Freire	RABOBANK	s.t.
3	Dries Devenyns	QUICKSTEP	s.t.
4	Filippo Pozzato	LAMPRE - ISD	s.t.
5	Michael Albasini	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
6	Tyler Farrar	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	+ 1'10
7	Jakob Fuglsang	LEOPARD TREK	s.t.
8	Peter Kennaugh	SKY PROCYCLING	s.t.
9	Simon Gerrans	QUICKSTEP	s.t.
10	Lloyd Mondory	LIQUIGAS - CANNONDALE	s.t.

UCI World Tour rankings riders (after Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal)

1	Tyler Farrar	Saxo Bank	475
2	Pieter Weening	HTC	456.11
3	Alexandre Vinokourov	Garmin	421.11
4	Hubert Dupont	Saxo Bank	418
5	Janez Brajkovic	Radioshack	362.55
6	Jelle Vanendert	Omega	337.55
7	Dries Devenyns	Quickstep	288.55
8	Xavier Tondo	Euskaltel	287.22
9	Marco Marcato	Liquigas	284.77
10	Oscar Freire	Rabobank	261.55
11	José Joaquin Rojas	Omega	248.55
12	Jean-Christophe Peraud	Leopard	234.55
13	Filippo Pozzato	Lampre	227.22
14	Rigoberto Uran	Sky	203
15	George Hincapie	BMC	193.33

UCI World Tour rankings teams (after Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal)

1	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	1127
2	LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE	850
3	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	848
4	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	715
5	LEOPARD TREK	711
6	TEAM RADIOSHACK	659
7	EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI	657
8	HTC-HIGHROAD	634
9	BMC RACING TEAM	631
10	RABOBANK	523

Nice to see Brajkovic getting a well deserved victory

Transfer market update 2

Denis Menchov has been stating lately that he would like to take the leading role in a GT and that his chances are harmed by Weening in HTC. He will be therefore moving to the new Russian squad Katusha, where he will take the leading role in the Giro.

Katusha also reached an agreement with the Spaniard Beñat Intxausti. Intxausti was the surprising winner of the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Germany. He also won one stage in the Eneco Tour.

The German John Degenkolb also found a new team, after the rebranding of his former team Leopard. Lampre will be the new destination of the sprinter, who had a solid season but without any major achivement.

The Dutch part of the Euskaltel team seems to be leaving and one of them already found a new destination. Laurens Ten Dam will be a new rider in the BMC Racing squad. The Dutch was twice close to a stage win in the Vuelta, but still had an active participation.

The World Championships take place in Melbourne this year. Tom Danielson won last year in Mendrisio, after the peloton couldn’t control the break properly and let the American win with a small margin. Danielson will not be one of the favorites today considering his poor performance this year.
The route this year is much easier than in Switzerland, and the option of a reduced group sprint cannot be ruled out. However, in my opinion the main favorites should be the puncheurs with much stamina.

Favorites:
- Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia): The main favorite for the win has to be Brajkovic. His form and momentum are very good after winning at Montreal and the route suits him well. The only handicap he will have is the small size of the Slovenian team. Only Grega Bole and Boruz Bozic will help him.
- Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark): Fuglsang is a rider that enjoys the long routes, and the World Championship usually meets his expectations. The Dane will probably suffer in the hill, but if he can stick with the front group he will be a rider to take into the equation.
- Dries Devenyns (Belgium): Devenyns is the main favorite with a strong team behind him. Belgium will field 9 riders to help Devenyns control the race. The Belgian was in the fight in Montreal, so he will be looking to add to his win count in Melbourne.
- Filippo Pozzato (Italy): Pozzato will be the strong leader of the Italian team. However, the feeling in Montreal wasn’t as good as it could have been. Filippo got into the last attack, but wasn’t able to find the strength to fight for the victory in the last kilometer.

Previuos winners

	First	Second	Thrid
2009	Tom Danielson	Jelle Vanendert	Edvald Boasson Hagen

Startlist

Can't wait to see the outcome of the World Road Race

Melbourne - Geelong



The route of the World’s in Melbourne is much easier than last year in Mendrisio. It takes place in a circuit in Geelong, a town close to Melbourne. There is only one hill in the circuit, but the 10% gradient it has in a small part of it may cause trouble in the pack. As usual in the World Championships, the route is fairly long.



It took a lot of time today for a break to be settled, and it was a rather big one with 11 riders. Among those in it were Peter Sagan, Andreas Kloden, Damiano Cunego, Joost Van Leijen and Maxime Monfort. Spain and France don’t have anyone in the break, so it should be down to them to set a chasing pace. With 6 laps and 97 km to go, the gap is 8’ 55’’.



While France waited for Spain to chase and Spain did the same, only Slovenia worked in front of the peloton for Brajkovic. This meant that with 50 km to go the difference had grown to 12’ 15’’. Brajkovic only had Bole and Bozic to help him and they couldn’t bring down the difference. The break had every chance to arrive by now.



Joost Van Leijen and Chris Froome were the first to move in the break, with 20 kilometers to go. They managed to open a small gap of 25’’ on Horner, Cunego, Sagan, Daniel Martin and Monfort in the hill. The peloton was out of the game, 10’ 40’’ behind.



Van Leijen and Froome were caught as they passed the finish line for the last lap, but the Dutch wasn’t done with it and tried to go away again in the last hill. With 9 km to go, no one was following. Sagan was the main favorite in the break, but the Slovakian is playing it cool.



Van Leijen is very close to the rainbow jersey, as he has 25’’ on the chasers with 4 km to go. The understanding is not good among the group behind, so it’s going to be tough for them.



The group sprints for second, as Van Leijen is already celebrating. Cunego leads Sagan and Froome in the fight for silver and bronze medals.



Joost Van Leijen wins in Geelong and is the new World Champion! Tremendous surprise in the Road World Championship, as a break makes it all the way to the finish and all the favorites are far behind. Behind the Dutch, Damiano Cunego got the silver medal for Italy and Peter Sagan the bronze for Slovakia.

The first riders from the peloton ended up crossing the line almost 8 minutes behind the winner. This puts an end to the cycling 2010 season, what means that Joost Van Leijen will have to wait until March to wear the rainbow jersey for the first time.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1	Joost Van Leijen	NETHERLANDS NATIONAL TEAM	6h58'05
2	Damiano Cunego	ITALY NATIONAL TEAM	s.t.
3	Peter Sagan	SLOVAKIA NATIONAL TEAM	s.t.
4	Chris Froome	GREAT BRITAIN NATIONAL TEAM	s.t.
5	Daniel Martin	IRELAND NATIONAL TEAM	s.t.
6	Maxime Monfort	BELGIUM NATIONAL TEAM	s.t.
7	Chris Horner	USA NATIONAL TEAM	s.t.
8	Roman Kreuziger	CZECH REP NATIONAL TEAM	+ 2'37
9	Andreas Klöden	GERMANY NATIONAL TEAM	s.t.
10	Michael Matthews	AUSTRALIA NATIONAL TEAM	s.t.

Awesome win by an unknown rider think he deserves better fighter stats next year

Well, i must admit that i didn't see that one coming

Van who

UCI World Tour rankings riders (final standings)

1	Tyler Farrar	Saxo Bank	475
2	Pieter Weening	HTC	456.11
3	Alexandre Vinokourov	Garmin	421.11
4	Hubert Dupont	Saxo Bank	418
5	Janez Brajkovic	Radioshack	362.55
6	Jelle Vanendert	Omega	337.55
7	Dries Devenyns	Quickstep	288.55
8	Xavier Tondo	Euskaltel	287.22
9	Marco Marcato	Liquigas	284.77
10	Oscar Freire	Rabobank	261.55
11	José Joaquin Rojas	Omega	248.55
12	Jean-Christophe Peraud	Leopard	234.55
13	Filippo Pozzato	Lampre	227.22
14	Rigoberto Uran	Sky	203
15	George Hincapie	BMC	193.33

UCI World Tour rankings teams (final standings)

1	SAXO BANK SUNGARD	1127
2	LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE	850
3	OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO	848
4	TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO	715
5	LEOPARD TREK	711
6	TEAM RADIOSHACK	659
7	EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI	657
8	HTC-HIGHROAD	634
9	BMC RACING TEAM	631
10	RABOBANK	523