The UCI has presented today in Milano, just before the time trial that will decide the outcome of the Giro, the calendar of next year's season. After two years of absence, the main attraction will be the Tour de France.
The other main focus of the season will be the three Ardennes races, as it is the first time that the three races are done in the same season. The riders will also go back to Australia in the beginning of the season, a place much welcome by the sprinters.
A change in the rules of the races has also been announced for next year. The classics and races with less than 7 days of racing will only admit 7 riders per team, the races between 7 and 9 days will admit 8 riders per team and in the longer races there will be 9 riders per team.
The last stage of the Giro is the only long time trial in the race, if you can call long a 26 kilometer time trial in this mountainous Giro. The favorites for the stage will not be the specialists, as most reach the end of the race very tired, so don’t expect them to be on top of their form. The main fight of the stage will be that for the overall win, as Weening starts the stage 40 seconds ahead of Dupont but the French is a bit better in this kind of stages.
Oscar Freire (Rabobank) is one of the best time trialists, but even as he set a good time he could only be 6th when he crossed the line. He lost 16 seconds on David Millar, the rider with the best time so far when more than half of the riders had made its run.
Marco Marcato (Liquigas) was the local hope for today’s time trial and he delivered, as he improved the best time in the finish line. He set a 38’ 29’’ that was 1 second better than the best time so far, set by the winner yesterday Taylor Phinney.
Denis Menchov (Katusha) ended the Giro in good shape and kept the white jersey after defending it from Bart de Clerq. He was so good in the time trial that he even improved the best time so far in 3 seconds: 38’ 26’’.
Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) only had 16 seconds on George Hincapie before the stage but it was clear from the first intermediate point that he would have no trouble defending his 7th place. In the end, the Belgian set the 5th provisional time, 6 seconds slower than Menchov. He had improved Hincapie’s time in 20 seconds.
Dries Devenyns (Quickstep) had the 6th place overall pretty much secured and considering he is not one of the best time trialists out there, he didn’t have much to do today. He set the 13th best time, losing 26’’ on Denis Menchov.
Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) had the fifth place secured before the stage, but he is a much better so he gave his best in Milano. He was able to improve the best times both in the second intermediate and in the finish line: 38’ 21’’. That was 5 seconds better than Denis Menchov.
The biggest fights of the day started with the start of Levi Leipheimer (Discovery). The American needed to win 35 seconds on Nieve to take the podium place in Milano. Levi gave everything he had inside and improved Mollema’s time in 6 seconds: 38’ 15’’. By that time, Nieve had lost 19 seconds on the American in the second intermediate point.
Mikel Nieve (BMC) isn’t as good a time trialist as Leipheimer, so he would suffer to defend his podium place. He had lost 19 seconds in the second intermediate and when he crossed the finish line… He had kept the third place! Nieve finished a provisional 10th, 28 seconds behind Levi and kept the 3rd overall by just 7 seconds. The Spaniard had arrived in Torino with the aim of being a luxury teammate for George Hincapie and ends in Milano in a podium place. This is a magnificent result for Nieve.
However, the fight for the podium place was completely overshadowed by the fight for the win. Hubert Dupont (Saxo Bank) and Pieter Weening were only separated by 40 seconds, a gap quite big for a 26 kilometer time trial but not impossible. Dupont was the best in the field by far as he set the best time in both intermediates and the finish: 38’ 08’’. That was 7 seconds better than Leipheimer. Meanwhile, Weening was losing 20 seconds on the second intermediate and almost touching the win of the Giro.
Pieter Weening (HTC) had a 20 seconds margin for the last 7 kilometers of the stage, so only it would be close but he should hold to the lead. There were a lot of nerves before he crossed the line… Pieter Weening wins the Giro d’Italia by 9 seconds! The Dutch wins his first Grand Tour by the smallest of the margins.
This Giro has been probably the best race in this story so far. The fights for the overall win and for the podium have gone down to the last kilometers of the race after 100 hours of racing. There have also been nice surprises, as the podium place from Mikel Nieve. In the end, Pieter Weening won this year what he lost in the last stages of last year’s Vuelta. It would have been very cruel for the Dutch to lose again in the final stages of a Grand Tour after wearing the pink for so long.
The Criterium du Dauphine is one of the most complete one week races in the calendar. In only 8 days of racing we will face 2 time trials, the second of them more than 40 kilometers long, and climbs like the Mont Ventoux, Izoard, Galibier, Croix de Fer… The kind of rider that can win here is very wide, and it depends a lot on the attitude of the riders in the mountains. Most climbers will start the last stages with quite a bit of time lost, as the time trial in the fourth day is really long.
Favorites:
- Frank Schleck (Radioshack): Frank Schleck comes back to racing after retiring from the Giro in the ninth stage. The Dauphine has been his main target for the season, but it is difficult to say if the injuries he sustained in the Giro and his retirement will help him or not in France. Besides, the Luxembourgish will have to recover time in the mountains, as his time trial abilities are not the best in the peloton.
- Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil): Mollema has been one of the most improved riders this season. After winning the Volta a Catalunya, he was fourth in Pais Vasco and fifth in the Giro. The route fits him well, as he is both good in the time trials and in the mountains so he is expected to do well again.
- Hubert Dupont (Saxo Bank): Dupont fought right to the end for the win in the Giro, so that may weigh on his fitness to be able to win in the Dauphine. The route does fit the French rider however, as there is good amount of climbs. This is probably the last race in the calendar that Dupont is able to win, so expect a fight from the Saxo rider.
- Denis Menchov (Katusha): The Russian from Katusha has had a good season so far, after winning one stage and wearing the pink jersey. He also won the white jersey after ending the Giro very strong in a good 12th position. Menchov has to take full advantage of the two time trials, as he is expected to lose some time in the mountains.
The first stage of the Criterium du Dauphine is a 12 kilometer long time trial. It is fairly long for a prologue, so probably some relevant time differences will appear in the GC. The route is very flat around the city of Nancy, so the specialists should have an edge this time.
Samuel Sanchez (Saxo Bank) was only the fourth rider to hit the road. However, the Spaniard is a specialist of this kind of discipline and set a very good time: 13’ 46’’. Sanchez could well be the favorite to hold the lead after the time trial in the fourth stage.
David Millar (Sky) was pretty strong in this first time trial of the Dauphine. The British set the second best time as he crossed the finish line, 14 seconds behind Samuel Sanchez. Millar has been working in his time trial abilities lately and it is starting to pay off.
Cameron Meyer (HTC) came right behind Millat and was able to match the British time. The Australian was 3rd however, due to the tenths of a second.
Liquigas has a deer need for good results, as they have had a poor start of the season. Marco Marcato was a good hope for them in this time trial, but though he set the second provisional best he still was 13 seconds slower than Samuel Sanchez.
Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) arrives in France after coming slightly short of the third place in the Giro. The American is a very good time trialist and he recoded the 2nd best time. However, he was 12 seconds slower than Sanchez. As time passed, it was clear that the time set by the Spaniard would be very hard to beat.
Marco Pinotti (Radioshack) had a great time trial and took the second provisional time, 5 seconds behind Sanchez. Radioshack is having trouble this season, as they lack big results, but they have big hopes on Dauphine.
Rigoberto Uran (Sky) started after his teammate John Gadret had surprisingly set himself within 10 seconds of Sanchez’s time. The Colombian was even better, clocking the third best time 8 seconds slower than Sanchez.
Denis Menchov (Katusha) was the last of the candidates to the stage win to start. He was never a contender, but he finished with the sixth provisional time 12 seconds behind. That’s a good way to start in Dauphine after doing a great end of the Giro.
Even later than Menchov came Bauke Mollema, who set an impressive time only 8 seconds behind Sanchez. Other favorites had done worse today, as Frank Schleck lost 22 seconds and Hubert Dupont lost 25.
The second stage is the longest in the race and probably the only opportunity for the sprinters to shine in this Dauphine. The route goes all the way south to Dijon, where a mass sprint is expected. The favorites are the usual: Farrar, Vinokourov, Sagan...
The brave riders of the day had an advantage of 6’ 50’’ at the first climb of the day. The group of 4 riders was composed of Miguel Angel Rubiano (Lotto), Fabian Cancellara (Movistar), Domenico Pozzovivo (Lampre) and Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Katusha).
However, the breakaway never had a chance after many teams decided that they wanted a mass sprint, like Saxo Bank, Garmin, Euskaltel and Liquigas. Sivtsov was the last rider to be caught with 27 kilometers remaining.
Several trains were fairly matched in the fight for the best positioning ahead of the final sprint. The strongest ones were Saxo Bank’s, with Matthew Goss leading Farrar and Ventoso at the wheel of the American; and the one from Liquigas, with Alessandro Ballan leading Lloyd Mondory and Albasini at the wheel of the French. Samuel Sanchez wanted to avoid any trouble and stayed in front of the group.
Farrar starts the sprint faster, with his teammate and leader Samuel Sanchez on the other side of the road. Behind them, Menchov and Ventoso also try to join the party. Meanwhile, Vinokourov is nowhere to be seen in today’s sprint.
Tyler Farrar wins in Dijon! Great sprint by the American, who wins again after a disappointing Giro. He can now leave France much more satisfied, as he came here for this victory. Behind the American came Francisco Ventoso and Peter Sagan. Both of them are having nice seasons and they seem to continue with good shape.
There were no changes in the GC, as the time trial differences were very big for the sprinters. Tomorrow’s stage doesn’t have big mountains, but the route is hilly enough to rule out a mass sprint. Let’s see if the favorites take part in the race or a breakaway is allowed to take the win.
Bauke Mollema has surprised everyone this year by raising his performance levels a lot compared to the previous years. He has moved from being just a domestique to being the leader of the team Vacansoleil in all the mountain tours.
Mollema's carrer started 2 years ago in the Saxo Bank outfit, where he mostly played a supporting role for Hubert Dupont. The French wonthe Paris - Nice and the Tour de France that year, but Mollema's season was mediocre, so he had to find a new team for the following year. He moved to Spain, where a new team was taking shape: Euskaltel - Euskadi.
The year started very similar to the year before, but it all changed when the Vuelta a España arrived. Mollema's performance was very good for a domestique, as he got one stage win in Noja and the 19th place overall. His performance rang some bells in other teams, as he had only signed a 1 year contract with the Spanish team. In the end, although Euskaltel was interested in retaining him he moved to another new team: Vacansoleil.
Mollema has felt at home in Vacansoleil and his performances have raised to a greater level. He took the leading role for the team in Catalunya and he delivered a magnificent win in Vallnord and the overall win. This was the first major victory for Mollema. Since then, he has also been 4th in Pais Vasco and 5th in the Giro, what has taken him to the 4th position in the World Tour rankings. There are question marks on whether he will continue with the Dutch outfit once the season ends, as he only signed a 1 year contract. o doubt many teams will be looking to give him the leading role for the next Tour de France.
Wins:
2010
- 1st Stages 18 Vuelta a España
2011
- 1st Stage 4 Volta a Catalunya
- 1st Volta a Catalunya
Other notable results:
- 4th 2011 Vuelta al Pais Vasco
- 5th 2011 Giro d'Italia
The third stage brings us some hills on our way to Saint Etienne. It is however a stage that fits a break very well, as considering the amount of mountains ahead it is difficult to see the main riders fighting in this terrain.
The start of the stage was a crazy thing. There were plenty of attacks before a group settled down in the front of the race. It was a very big group of 16 riders with some quality members, although some who will arguably lose time in the mountains. The group had names like Sylvain Chavanel (Quickstep), Filippo Pozzato (Lampre), Oscar Freire (Rabobank), Janez Brajkovic (Discovery), Greg Van Avermaet (Movistar), Matthew Goss (Saxo Bank) and Tom Danielson (Garmin). After the first small climb they had a gap of 4’ 55’’ on the bunch.
Radioshack and Vacansoleil took the responsibility of chasing the break and they were quite successful considering the quality of the break. At the top of the Cote de Duerne, the toughest climb of the day, the peloton was losing 1’ 50’’. Meanwhile, several riders dropped from the break and the number of riders in it was down to 10.
The 10 men in front remained together before the descent towards Saint Etienne. They had 19 km ahead and every chance to fight for the stage and the yellow. Behind them a lot of attacks among some of the favorites happened in the last climb: Visconti and Vanendert are losing 1 minute, A. Schleck and Cunego are 1’ 15’’ behind the break and F. Schleck and Van Leijen are 1’ 40’’ behind.
A group of 10 men joined in the descent ahead of the bunch, which was much disorganized after that last climb. Among them were F. Schleck, Dupont, Vanendert, Marcato and Kruijswijk. The were losing 55 seconds on the break, but had already built a gap of 1’ 25’’ ahead of the peloton with only 6 kilometers remaining.
Chavanel takes the lead in the final sprint ahead of Freire, Brajkovic and Zaugg. Matthew Goss, the favorite in the group, made a mistake starting the sprint far behind.
Oscar Freire wins in Saint Etienne! The Spaniard takes his second win of the season ahead of Chavanel and Brajkovic. He will also take the leader’s jersey thanks to the bonus seconds and will be the last to depart in tomorrow’s long time trial. The men in the break spent so much time looking at each other before the final sprint that the group of favorites behind them joined them in the finish.
Samuel Sanchez leads the bunch across the finish line but still losing 1’ 57’’ on the leading group. The Spaniard is the favorite for tomorrow’s time trial but the 1’ 50’’ he is losing in the GC makes it difficult for him to recover the yellow.
There have been other riders who stayed in the peloton and also lost most of the chances of an overall win. Among those were Bauke Mollema, Denis Menchov, Levi Leipheimer and Pieter Weening. The easy stages are over in this Dauphine, from now on we will see who is the strongest.
The main time trial of the Dauphine takes place before the mountain marathon. This is the longest time trial of the season, as the time trial in the Giro was much shorter. There is a small climb in the middle of the route, but it lacks tough slopes so this is going to be a stage for the specialists.
Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) was a big disappointment in the stage. The American started on the 27th spot in the GC and couldn’t improve the times set by Bart de Clerq. He was losing 27’’ on the second intermediate and by the time he ended he was 4th, 46 seconds down on the Belgian.
Denis Menchov (Katusha) was much more solid than Leipheimer. However, he couldn’t beat the brilliant time set by De Clerq. The Russian set the 2nd time, 14 seconds behind. It is a shame for the Russian the time he lost yesterday, as he will find it hard to recover it.
Rigoberto Uran (Sky) had the reference times of his teammates Millar and Gadret, who had both made great time trials. Uran mirrored the time set by Menchov in the second intermediate but improved it in the finish, as he set the second time, 12 seconds behind De Clerq.
Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) was very strong today but, as everyone before him, he couldn’t beat De Clerq’s time. The Dutch was only 3 seconds slower than the Belgian so at least he gets to stay ahead of him in the GC. They can’t progress much though, as most of the riders ahead of them are almost 2 minutes ahead in the GC.
De Clerq’s hopes for winning the stage were broken as Samuel Sanchez (Saxo Bank) started to fly on the roads around Valence. The Spaniard took 37 seconds off in the finish from De Clerq’s time and most likely settled the stage win. He will most likely jump ahead quite a bit in the GC with this time.
Sylvain Chavanel (Quickstep) started the stage in the 5th place of the GC and wearing the mountains jersey. He was however very disappointing in the time trial, maybe paying the efforts of yesterday’s breakaway. He ended 99th, 2’ 26’’ behind Sanchez.
The best time trialist among the riders who made it in the break yesterday was Marco Marcato (Liquigas). He delivered a good time: 9th, losing 1’ 21’’ to Sanchez. This was enough to take the provisional lead among those who finished ahead of Dupont and Frank Schelck.
The leader of the white jersey was Giovanni Visconti (Lampre). The Italian was not too bad considering his time trial abilities and finished on the 36th position 1’ 59’’ behind Sanchez. That will take him out of the top 5 in the GC, but he keeps the white jersey.
Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) was expected to do better, but only managed to get a 23rd in the stage, losing 1’ 48’’ on Sanchez and, more importantly, 27 seconds on Marcato. His hopes of wearing the yellow are therefore gone, as he ends 6th in the GC, 25 seconds behind Marcato.
Oscar Freire (Rabobank) always knew that holding the yellow jersey after the time trial would be difficult at best. Nevertheless, he did a good time trial after being 34th and losing 1’ 58’’ at the finish. That will keep him in the top 10 of the GC.
Marco Marcato is therefore the leader before the mountains marathon. It will be very tricky for the Italian to hold the lead, but at least Liquigas seems to be back in business after a disaster start of the season. After him, Hubert Dupont probably didn’t himself to be that well positioned. The French may be tired after the Giro but he is not showing it.
The first mountain stage takes place in one of the toughest climbs of the route: the Mont Ventoux. Before the final climb the route is not really difficult with only a handful of small climbs that should pose no threat to the riders. The candidates for the final win should show themselves in the final climb though.
Not a lot of fight was put on the chase for the break of the day, as many riders seemed to be saving strength for later. The group of 7 riders that went away included: Simon Gerrans (Quickstep), Jose Joaquin Rojas (Lotto), Thomas Voeckler (Movistar) and Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank). At the third small climb, still with 95 km to go, they had a gap of 6’ 45’’.
Radioshack and Liquigas set the pace in front of the bunch during the day, but they seemed in no hurry to take the breakaway down, as they still lost 5’ 40’’ in the sprint of Bedoin, with 26 km remaining. Just before the last sprint Chris Froome had just taken a tumble. The British took a while to recover, so the race will be uphill for him from now on.
Andy Schleck was the first rider to attack in the climb to the Ventoux. However, the Katusha rider could only open a small gap in front of the bunch. With 19 kilometers remaining, the break still had a 5 minutes advantage.
The race started to get serious when Jean-Christophe Peraud started setting the pace. He is a luxury domestique for Frank Schleck in this Dauphine. Andy Schleck was soon reeled back in as the French started dropping riders. However, with 10 kilometers remaining the break still held 2’ 45’’ so they were looking good for the stage win.
Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) attacks with 9 km remaining, much harder than Andy Schleck. The only rider that could react is Frank Schleck and they both leave the group behind. Bart de Clerq tried to go with them but didn’t seem to have the legs and the next riders trying to chase are Tondo, Hincapie and Nieve.
Pavel Brutt (Katusha) and Simon Gerrans try leave their break fellows behind 6 kilometers from the finish. The Russian seems the strongest among them. The couple has 45’’ on the other riders of the break; 2’ 10’’ on Mollema and F. Schleck and 3’ 20’’ on the favorites group.
Several attacks in the group of favorites manage to reduce the gap that Mollema and F. Schleck have in front of them to 35’’. Kruijswijk, De Clerq and Andy Schleck have been the most active, but they all have lacked the strength to open a gap on a still fairly big group.
Gerrans and Brutt reach the last kilometer with enough time to play tactics for the stage win. The other riders of the break are 1’ 20’’ behind; Mollema and F. Schleck, 2’ 20’’; and the group of favorites is 2’ 40’’ behind.
Simon Gerrans wins in the Mont Ventoux! The Australian seemed like he would lose the wheel of Pavel Brutt in the last kilometers of the climb but knew how to suffer to hold on. He then outsprinted the Russian easily in the last kilometer to take his first win of the season.
Frank Schleck does great last kilometers to grab the third position of the stage arriving with the riders from the break. He crossed the line 1’ 16’’ behind Gerrans. In the group of favorites Andy Schleck was able to take a small gap, arriving 1 minute behind his brother, while the other in that group arrived at +2’ 23’’. The disappointment of the day was Dupont, who arrived with a bigger group 2’ 59’’ behind along with Menchov, Leipheimer and Nieve.
Frank Schleck is the new leader of the race, 56 seconds clear of Marco Marcato and 1 minute ahead of Bauke Mollema. The most important conclusion of the day is that the Radioshack rider is the best climber in the field at this stage of the season.
The sixth stage in Dauphine is the shortest one, at only 106 kilometers. It will be quite interesting to see if the main favorites take the stage as a rest before the queen stage tomorrow and leave the battle for other riders. However, the Izoard is a good place for anyone looking to gain some time in the GC. The hors catgorie climb will be a real challenge in this short stage.
A big group of 13 riders were in front at the start of the Izoard, with only 45 kilometers remaining. Among them were: Romain Feillu (Euskaltel), Yoann Offredo (Garmin), Pablo Lastras (Movistar), Lars Boom (Saxo Bank) Rinaldo Nocentini (Katusha), Stefan Van Dijk (Rabobank) and Tony Gallopin (Quickstep). They started the climb with 4’ 55’’ on the main bunch.
Liquigas, Radioshack and Vacansoleil took the responsibility of setting the pace in the peloton. They didn’t go hard but had reduced the gap to 3 minutes with 9 km to the top of the Izoard and 30 to go in the stage.
The break split in two groups in the last kilometers of the climb. In the front group of 7 rides Lastras and Feillu were the favorites for the stage win, as with only 3 kilometers to the finish the main group was still 2’ 50’’ behind.
Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) attacks and Frank Schleck responds with 2 kilometers to the finish in the first relevant move in the main group. Other favorites stay quiet in the peloton.
Romain Feillu takes the mountain sprint at the Col d’Izoard ahead of Pablo Lastras, with only a few meters on the other 5 members of the break. Behind them, Frank Schleck is doing a great final of the climb and is closing in on them. Hubert Dupont is the only rider who jumped behind the Radioshack rider and has a few seconds on the main group.
Frank Schleck got to the front group in the descent and once they were in the streets of Briancon he left the rest behind. This is a terrific exhibition by the Radioshack rider who is looking to add to his current lead. Hubert Dupont is alone 1’ 25’’ behind Schleck, while the main group is 2’ 20’’ behind.
Frank Schleck wins in Briancon! The leader gains more time in his main rivals ahead of tomorrow’s queen stage. The Luxembourgish is showing the best legs in this Dauphine and is now clear favorite for the overall win.
Hubert Dupont lost his entire gap to the group in the streets of Briancon, as the bunch reduced a lot the difference with Schleck. The French was caught in the tough slopes of the city, were Andy Schleck won the group sprint 1’ 26’’ behind his brother.
The older of the Schleck brothers is now 2’ 32’’ ahead of Marco Marcato in the GC, a big difference but one that could be lost tomorrow in the big mountains that await the riders. Other good climbers like Mollema, Kruijswijk and Vanendert are also within 3 minutes of the Radioshack leader.
