The opening stage of this year's Tirreno - Adriatico is the same time trial that saw BMC take the win last year. The American team is again one of the favorites along with HTC and Vacansoleil in the 17 kilometers flat route along the Tirreno sea. The length of the time trial is not an issue, so the gaps that are expected today are not big at all.
Movistar was the first important team to start the time trial. The Spanish team comes with Cadel Evans as team leader and had a good chance of putting a good performance. They easily beat Lampre, the only team that had departed ahead of them, by 6 seconds. The first reference time was therefore 22' 06''.
The other Spanish team in the World Tour was next. Euskaltel is famous for their terrible time trial in comparison with their good performance in the climbs. However, today the team did not let David Lopez down and they took the 1st place at the finish line improving on Movistar's time by 2 seconds. They surprisingly recovered 10 seconds in the second part of the stage, probably thanks to the pace setting of Alexander Kristoff and David Lopez.
Last year's winners, BMC, were the next important team to reach the finish line. They were 4th in the intermediate checkpoint but recovered amazingly to take the lead 16 seconds ahead of Euskaltel. This performance will be difficult to match by the best teams in the race. Tejay van Garderen will be in a good position to face the rest of the race already with 16 seconds on a rider like David Lopez.
Quickstep will be missing Cameron Meyer in this team time trial and that fact alone put them out of the main contenders for the stage even though some of their riders, like Monfort and Menchov, are very good. However, the reality is that the Belgian team ended taking the 2nd provisional time but lost a precious 15 seconds on BMC.
Saxo Bank has found a good time trialist in Michael Rogers, who should work well with the leader of the team for this race, Rui Costa. The Danish team was not among the top favorites but nevertheless took the 2nd provisional place from Quickstep, 12 seconds behind BMC. It will be interesting to see if the Portuguese is able to join the fight for the GC or tries his luck in the hilly stages.
Radioshack needed to do well so that Frank Schleck does not lose much time in this time trial and didn't do too bad. The Luxembourgish team took the 4th provisional time 16 seconds behind BMC. That is an acceptable loss for Schleck, who surely thought that he could take a bigger loss given that Cancellara, the best time trialist of the team, did not come to Italy.
The important moments of the time trial were at the end, as Vacansoleil and HTC started towards the end of the day. The Dutch team has the undisputable lead of Bauke Mollema, who should play a good part in today's outcome for the team. They had the best time in the intermediate point but ended up losing 4 seconds in the finish line against BMC. Even though they missed the win today, the gap is small and could give Sagan a chance of wearing the leader's jersey if he gets bonus seconds.
HTC was the last of the relevant teams and the top favorite to win the team time trial, as they have riders like Geraint Thomas, Andrew Talansky, Levi Leipheimer and Taylor Phinney that are great time trialists. However, after a poor first part of the stage they only managed to be 3rd at the finish line 8 seconds behind BMC.
BMC is therefore the winner of the first stage of the Tirreno - Adriatico and Tejay van Garderen the first leader of the race. This is exactly the same result that they got last year in the same time trial. However, the time differences were so small that no real advantage was gained from this stage.
It looks like the organizers of the Tirreno - Adriatico wanted to compensate for yesterday's short TTT, as today's stage is 233 kilometers long. The riders will travel inland from the west coast of Italy towards the town of Indicatore. The stage only has some difficulties in the first part, with two 3rd category climbs. Afterwards the route is very good for the work of the bunch and a mass sprint is widely expected. Last year there was a very similar stage finishing in Indicatore and the winner was Peter Sagan.
It took a fair while to form the break of the day, but in the second categorized climb, Cantoniera Montebello, it was already clear that a group of 5 riders would make the break of the day. They were Jan Barta (Lampre), Anthony Roux (Astana), Filippo Pozzato (Quickstep), Sebastian Langeveld (Movistar) and Geraint Thomas (HTC). At the top of the mountain they had 2' 45'' over a now quiet group. Geraint Thomas took the most points in the day and will wear the mountain's jersey tomorrow.
The stage was rather boring after the first 50 kilometers, when Sky and Katusha wanted to control the size and members of the break. It wasn't until the last kilometers with 2 intermediate sprints in Indicatore that the pace picked up. The second of those sprints was won in the main bunch by Ben Swift ahead of Sacha Modolo and Simone Ponzi. The break was still ahead but with 23 kilometers still remaining they had less than 1 minute gap. The stage is completely controlled by the main bunch.
The break was finally caught in the final straight with one lap remaining in the circuit around Indicatore. There were 13 kilometers remaining and Euskaltel, working for Modolo, and Katusha, working for Simone Ponzi, seemed to be well in control of the pace.
Katusha seemed to be contending with Euskaltel to have the best train but the Russian team disappeared and with 4 kilometers remaining it is only the Spaniards with Lloyd Mondory ahead of Alexander Kristoff and Sacha Modolo. Behind them there is a big mess with Ben Swift, Alessandro Petacchi, Elia Viviani and Peter Sagan showing their faces in the front of the bunch.
The leadout by Euskaltel was perfect but it looks as if Modolo has gone a bit too early. With 1 kilometer remaining he is already leading the way with Alessandro Petacchi on his tail. Peter Sagan started sprinting on the other side of the road and everyone else seems to be out of position. Modolo is clearly the favorite to take the win at the time.
It seems like Alessandro Petacchi can't even follow Modolo's wheel, let alone try to pass him. With 500 meters remaining the leading Italian looks good for the win. Peter Sagan is still third, while the rest of the field is quite far behind led by Yauheni Hutarovich.
Sacha Modolo wins in Indicatore! It looked like a comfortable win but in the end he lost a lot of speed and ended up winning less than a wheel ahead of Simon Ponzi. Not only Ponzi put a good recovery in the last part of the sprint, but Hutarovich climbed to the third place and Goss was fourth while Petacchi dropped to fifth. This is the second win of the season for Modolo, who had already taken the stage in Orleans in the Paris - Nice.
No changes happened in the GC, where Tejay van Garderen is still on top. Meanwhile, the first point's jersey will be for Sacha Modolo and the first mountain jersey will go to Geraint Thomas. Another rather easy stage tomorrow should mean that the rider that ends the day in the point's jersey tomorrow will have a big chance of taking it to the end.
The third stage in the Tirreno - Adriatico will not be as easy to control for the teams of the sprinters as the previous one. However, the mass sprint still looks very much likely. After a very easy first part of the stage the second part is quite bumpy, especially with the short but really steep climb to Todi. If it was closer to the finish line it would definitely be a place where to try to open a gap for the fighters.
The race reached the climb to Todi with not much to report. The break of the day was not too difficult to form and 4 riders formed it: Enrico Gasparotto (Astana), Rinaldo Nocentini (Katusha), Jeremy Roy (Ag2r) and Richie Porte (HTC). With 67 kilometers remaining they still had a good gap of 5 minutes on the main bunch. At the top of the climb Gasparotto took maximum points to replace Geraint Thomas as the leader of the KoM classification.
The second intermediate sprint was placed in Narni Scalo, 22 kilometers to the finish line. The break was almost caught by the bunch, but Sacha Modolo crossed the banner for the 5th place 10 seconds behind the leading group. The Italian was ahead of Ben Swift and Yauheni Hutarovich and consolidating his lead in the point's classification. The stage is heading for a mass sprint.
There were two contending sprint trains today. Lotto was slightly ahead with 3 kilometers remaining as they worked for Matthew Goss, while Sky also had a couple of riders ahead of Ben Swift. Sacha Modolo was well placed behind Matthew Goss, while other good sprinters like Daniele Bennati and Tyler Farrar were well positioned.
Ben Swift could not hold himself and started sprinting way before the flame rouge dragging Tyler Farrar on his wheel. It looks like the British has gone way too early and the American is taking advantage of the situation. Matthew Goss is the only sprinter coming from behind, while Sacha Modolo is the first among the rest of the sprinters.
Tyler Farrar tries to go side by side with Swift at the 0.5 kilometers to go mark. It looks like the stage win will be in the legs of one of these two. Behind them Mathhew Goss is still holding the third position but clearly dropping back, while Mark Renshaw is now 4th.
Tyler Farrar wins in Narni Scalo! The American wins almost a year from his last win, which was also in Italy during last year's Giro. Farrar took advantage of Ben Swift acting almost like a lead-out man for him and easily beat him in the last meters of the stage. Swift sprint was not bad at all, as even though he sprinted for far out he kept the second place of the stage in the end.
Tony Gallopin, Sacha Modolo and Mark Renshaw completed the top 5 of the stage, while Matthew Goss run out of gas and finished outside of the top 10. The GC leadership now changes hand and goes to Tony Gallopin, but still remains in BMC hands. Tomorrow we will face the most decisive stage of the Tirreno - Adriatico as the race will finish at the top of Prati di Tivo.
The fourth stage is potentially the most decisive in this year's Tirreno - Adriatico. The final in Prati di Tivo will be the only mountain top finish in the race and is therefore the place where the climbers should try to get a bit of time over the time trial specialists. However, Prati di Tivo will not be the only climb of the day, but right before it the route heads up the Passo della Capanelle, a climb not as demanding as Prati di Tivo but a good climb nevertheless.
30 kilometers into the race a break is not established yet and Jonathan Hivert (Sky) is leading the race on his own with a 40 seconds gap over the main group. The Frenchman took the points in the first climb of the race, the Forca di Arrone. BMC is trying to control every break of a decent size, making the average speed of the first part of the stage very high. Such a high pace could weigh on the riders later in the stage.
The break of the day turned out to be a one man show with Jan Barta (Lampre) on his own. At the intermediate sprint in Sella di Corno (80 kilometers to go) the Czech is 4 minutes ahead of the main bunch. Meanwhile, Tony Gallopin seems to be the rider keenest on taking the points in the intermediate sprints. However, he will still be quite far behind in the classification after the stage.
The climb to the Passo della Capanelle was not too hard in the main group as most of the riders remained in the main bunch. BMC and Vacansoleil were doing all the work in the climb but not pushing a lot. Jan Barta still had a gap of 3' 35'' at the top, quite a good gap but probably not enough for the climb to Prati di Tivo. At the top Matthias Frank took the points ahead of Mikel Nieve and Cadel Evans.
Rinaldo Nocentini tried an attack in the descent of the Passo delle Capanelle and started the final climb with around 20 seconds of advantage over the main group. Meanwhile, Jan Barta's lead has started to decrease and is now at the 3 minutes mark. In the main bunch no attacks had happened with 13 kilometers remaining in the final climb. Vacansoleil seems to have taken the working role and Fuglsang is upping the pace.
Robert Gesink (Belkin) did the first serious attack a bit more than 10 kilometers from the finish line. He opened a small gap that Davide Rebellin and Matthias Frank are trying to close without success. However, the differences among them and the main group are quite small. In the group BMC seems to be collaborating with Vacansoleil at setting the pace, but the size of the group is still very large.
The awaited attack by Bauke Mollema arrived with 7 kilometers remaining to the top of Prati di Tivo, shortly after Thibaut Pinot had attacked and easily passed Robert Gesink. At that point Jan Barta was still ahead but his gap was decreasing rapidly. Thibaut Pinot was losing 30 seconds on him while Bauke Mollema and Robert Gesink were chasing 55 seconds behind the leader of the stage. The main group is 20 seconds behind the Dutch duo as Oliver Zaugg is trying to break away and follow Mollema.
Mollema and Pinot joined in the lead of the stage with 4 kilometers remaining. However, the focus is now on the narrowing chasing group. Emanuele Sella, Robert Kiserlovski and Juanjo Cobo are all trying to close the gap of 25 seconds that has opened between the two leaders and them. However, none of them seem to be strong enough. It is surprising that we haven't seen anything from the likes of Nieve, F. Schleck, Van Garderen or Dupont yet.
Plenty of hard attacks happened in the favorites group within the last 2 kilometers as Thibaut Pinot cracked a bit earlier after trying to follow Bauke Mollema's pace. As the Dutch goes through the flame rouge Laurens Ten Dam has been able to open a gap and is trailing by 25 seconds. David Lopez and Hubert Dupont are 35 seconds behind Mollema and the group of favorites is losing 50 seconds as Quickstep riders try to increase the pace.
Bauke Mollema wins in Prati di Tivo! The Dutch takes his first win of the year, the mountain's jersey and the leader's jersey and looks very good to grab his second Tirreno - Adriatico. Laurens Ten Dam is also proving that his start of the season is very strong by arriving 2nd 27 seconds behind Mollema. After them, a group of 4 riders lost 37 seconds: Tejay van Garderen, Hubert Dupont, David Lopez and Andrew Talansky.
A bigger group of 20 riders lost 49 seconds on the finish line but, thanks to the bonus seconds, Mollema's lead will be a bit larger. Tejay van Garderen is 2nd 39 seconds behind and the American is also the best in the time trial among those chasing. However, the time differences were not big at all and a brave attack tomorrow in the Passo Lanciano could well turn the GC upside down.
Climbing Prati di Tivo yesterday cleared quite a bit the GC but the favorites should pay a lot of attention to today's stage as well. The stage is a long one today at 230 kilometers between Ortona and Chieti but its main difficulty is not its length but the climb to the Passo Lanciano, a proper HC climb which top is 42 kilometers to the finish line. An attack in its slopes has the potential to turn the GC around. If the attacks are not successful there, the riders will also have the chance in the final 5 kilometers in the streets of Chieti, where its two already famous hills will allow for seconds to be gained and lost.
It was very hard to make the break work, as Vacansoleil was not willing to let go the attempts of riders like Dries Devenyns and Ivan Basso. It was not till close to the Forchetta di Palena that a group of 10 riders got away, including the World Champion, Alessandro Ballan (BMC), Wout Poels (Belkin), Chris Horner (HTC), Rein Taaramae (Katusha) and Mark Renshaw (Discovery). However, it was Jeremy Roy and Jonathan Hivert who fought for the mountain points at the top of Palena (139 km to go) with the former winning the sprint. The main bunch did not push in that climb and crossed the top 5' 30'' behind.
Not much happened in the favorable terrain until close before the start of the Passo Lanciano. A group of 4 riders (Nibali, De Clercq, Kreuziger and Zaugg) attacked and quickly closed the gap to the break ahead. They managed to catch the front group a couple of kilometers after the start of the climb. The two Lampre riders (Nibali and De Clercq) were trying hard to make this attempt work. Meanwhile, Cannondale had taking responsibility as they were defending Laurens Ten Dam place in the GC. It had been a long time since we had seen the Italian team working in the front of the bunch. However, halfway through the climb the gap to the front break was still 3' 40''.
It looked like no favorites would take advantage of the Lanciano and it would only serve to add fatigue to the riders but Frank Schleck changed things with 3.5 kilometers to the top. The Luxembourgish launched an attack that no one followed and he committed to it. Cannondale and Vacansoleil were taking turns at the front of the bunch, but they were not able to reduce the gap. Meanwhile, the chances of the Lampre duo in front kept increasing.
Bart de Clercq won the sprint for the points at the top of the Passo Lanciano ahead of Jeremy Roy and Jonathan Hivert. That puts both De Clercq and Hivert on par at the top of the KoM classification. Meanwhile, Frank Schleck is doing a good climb and loses only 1' 25'' at the top. In the main bunch it is Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale) and Samuel Sanchez (Discovery) setting the pace now, arguably better climbers than the riders that were in front before the attack by Schleck.
The stage reached a very tense moment when Andy Schleck (Quickstep) attacked at the top of the Lanciano and dragged a group of 9 riders with him, the leader among them. They kept the gap all the descent and with 15 kilometers remaining they are 40 seconds behind the break and 30 seconds ahead of teh main bunch. Frank Schleck got to the break in the descent. Among those who lost the move are both BMCs in the top 5, Tejay van Garderen and Marco Pinotti, Levy Leipheimer and Vasil Kiryienka.
BMC's work paid off and they were able to bring everyone back together before the sharp climbs in Chieti. As soon as the road went up it was Frank Schleck again the first to try and break from the group. This time he was followed by Laurens Ten Dam and Hubert Dupont, but nevertheless he went first through the second intermediate sprint of the day taking 3 bonus seconds in the process (5 km to go). Andrew Talansky and Oliver Zaugg are both close behind but there was a small gap over the rest of the group at the top.
It was Mollema himself who had to work in the descent towards the final hill to close the gap that the three riders in front had opened. Frank Schleck tried to go again as soon as they were caught but it was clear that it was not his day and this time he was easily followed by all the favorites. With 1.5 kilometers remaining it seems like they are all looking at each other looking for a hint of weakness.
Laurens Ten Dam was the first to go after the road eased up a little bit for the last 700 meters of the stage. He was promptly followed by the strongest riders of the field, led by Hubert Dupont, Frank Schleck and Bauke Mollema. However, there is a small gap behind them and we cannot see Tejay van Garderen among those trying to react to the attack. It is only Chris Froome behind the group of 8 riders going for the stage.
Hubert Dupont wins in Chieti! A great finish by the French, who probably was the rider that used the least energy in the run towards Chieti. He had already gone with Frank Schleck in the first hill and got a very difficult win today ahead of Bauke Mollema and Laurens Ten Dam. A total of 8 riders crossed the finish line with the same time as the winner, most notably Andrew Talansky, who is holding Robert Kiserlovski back in the hunt for the young rider jersey.
On the losing side it was BMC today. They had 2 riders in the top 5 of the GC and both of them lost 25 seconds in the finish line today. However, we cannot count Tejay van Garderen out of the fight for the podium yet, as he is well within reach of the 2nd place in the last day's time trial. On top of that classification Bauke Mollema seems to be closer to his 2nd Tirreno - Adriatico with each day that goes by.
The Adriatic coast will be witness to a stage that has a big question mark over it. The 210 kilometers around Porto Sant'Elpidio are plagued by small hills. As many as 18 climbs will have to be tackled by the riders, most notably the three passes through Sant'Elpidio a Mare. However, considering that the organizers accumulated most of the difficult parts of the stage in the middle part it will be down to the riders whether this is a stage that plays a role in the GC or not.
Vacansoleil made no intention today to control the break and 10 kilometers after the start it was already well settled. It turned out to be quite a dangerous group of 7 riders including: Vicenzo Nibali (Lampre), Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto), Oscar Freire (Belkin) and Dries Devenyns (BMC). Nibali and Van den Broeck were less than 2 minutes behind in the GC, so they were a real threat. 100 kilometers to the finish line they had a nice gap of 6' 30'' but it had to be Saxo Bank the team with the biggest interest on controlling them, riding either for Vasil Kiryienka or Rui Costa.
Saxo Bank worked all day long in the front of the pack with Radioshack for Rui Costa and the Portuguese was the first important rider to attack. He did it at the start of the final climb to Sant'Elpidio a Mare (20 kilometers remaining). Costa soon opened a small gap with the main group and, though some tried to follow they could not. However, the break still looks quite strong and they hold a nice gap of 2' 30''. It is very dangerous, as Van den Broeck still is the virtual leader of the race at this stage.
Jurgen van den Broeck proved to be the strongest in the break and he went solo in the last slopes of the climb to Sant'Elpidio a Mare. He initially attacked with Nibali but the Italian could not follow the Lotto rider. He started the last hill (13 km to go) with 20 seconds over the rest of the break. Meanwhile, Rui Costa has closed the gap to 1 minute with them and maintains a tiny 20 seconds gap with the bunch. Other riders like David Lopez, Frank Schleck and Robert Kiserlovski tried to break away but weren't allowed.
David Lopez made a move in the last hill, but all he could do is bringing everyone back together. Rui Costa had a tiny gap and the riders from the break paid for their earlier efforts. However, the Spaniard was followed by all the favorites and only when he stopped attacking Frank Schleck countered and opened a 20 seconds gap as he descended through the 10 kilometers mark. Frank is going to depend on the willingness of the riders behind to collaborate in the chase, as it is quite a long flat section to maintain that gap.
Frank was finally caught with 3 kilometers remaining after Bjorn Leukemans tried going solo for the win in the flat. The confusion after catching him was taken advantage of by his brother Andy Schleck to attack on the right hand side of the road. It is clear that no teams have enough riders in the front group to control the pace in these final kilometers.
Andy clearly had no legs and was swiftly reeled back in. Bjorn Leukemans started the final sprint from far away but had already been overtaken by Bauke Mollema in the right side of the road as they go under the flame rouge. However, there are riders behind him that should be much better sprinters like his teammate Peter Sagan, Davide Rebellin or Lloyd Mondory.
Lloyd Mondory is charging and got to the first place with 500 meters remaining in the stage. It does not look like anyone else can take this win away from him. Bauke Mollema is holding onto the second place with Sagan in third and Robert Kiserlovski on fourth. The lack of sprinters in the 70 men group that survived today is encouraging the rider in the GC to fight for the bonus seconds.
Lloyd Mondory wins in Porto Sant'Elpidio! The French did well to hang on to the front group through the hills and was clearly the strongest in the final sprint. This is already the fourth win in the start of the year for the Euskaltel team, a good achievement considering that last year they got 2 wins in the whole season. Bauke Mollema was second in the stage strengthening his lead in the GC. It looks like tomorrow he will be in the podium celebrating the win in the Tirreno - Adriatico.
Oscar Freire completed the podium of the stage with Peter Sagan fourth and Robert Kiserlovski fifth. Sagan has had several stages where he should have done much better than the final result. He always started the seasons in a very good manner, but this time he has not been completely up to speed even after wearing the leader's jersey in the Paris - Nice for 5 days.
A time trial in the town of San Benedetto del Tronto will put an end to the Tirreno - Adriatico 2014. The route is the same that was raced last year, so expect small differences in the 9 kilometers that the riders will race today. Bauke Mollema will surely take the overall win but the podium places of Ten Dam and Talansky are under threat, especially from Tejay van Garderen. The American is currently 6th but within few seconds of the podium.
Samuel Sanchez (Discovery) was the first favorite for the stage to appear. The Spaniard is not a good enough climber to go for the GC, but nevertheless he was 17th before the last stage. His time trial was very good and he matched the best time so far, by Rigoberto Uran. However, the Colombian will still be the leader of the stage on the tenths of a second. Samuel could be making a good progress in the GC.
The disappointing start of the season by Denis Menchov (Quickstep) continued in the Tirreno - Adriatico. The Russian crossed the finish line on the provisional 11th place 13 seconds behind Rigoberto Uran. His slim chances of getting a top 10 in the GC vanish after this performance in a race that he clearly won last year. The Russian had marked the Tirreno - Adriatico as one of his targets for the year and clearly underperformed.
Levi Leipheimer (HTC) started the day on the 11th place overall and with the aim of climbing to the top 10. However, his time trial was discrete. The American finished 11 seconds behind Uran with the 9th place at that time. Nevertheless, it is very probable that he gets to the top 10 but he lost to Samuel Sanchez in the GC by only 1 second.
Marco Pinotti (BMC) will complete today one of his best weeks of racing in his career, if not the best. The Italian started the day 9th, but his time trial abilities should make him move forward at the end of the day. His performance today could barely be better. He tied on the first place with Rigoberto Uran but again, as had happened with Samuel Sanchez, he lost of the tenths of a second. However, he was obviously the leader at the finish line.
His teammate Tejay van Garderen needed a good time trial to attack the podium. It was an achievable target, as the American is one of the best time trialists and the riders ahead are not particularly good. Van Garderen met the expectations and clearly beat the best time so far by 4 seconds, a good amount of time for the short distance. He was the leader at the finish line 20 seconds ahead of Pinotti, as the Schlecks had made rather poor performances.
David Lopez (Euskaltel) is not a great flat rider and he showed it today by losing 38 seconds to Van Garderen and setting the 92nd provisional time. The time trialing is something that the Spaniard has to improve if he wants to have a chance of winning a Grand Tour, as should be his target in the coming years if not this one. This result puts him clearly behind Pinotti in the provisional GC.
Hubert Dupont (Belkin) also knew that he would lose some time but his result was not so bad. The French lost 27 seconds with Tejay van Garderen and kept himself ahead of Pinotti in the final GC by only 4 seconds. Dupont keeps putting great performances year after year even if last year he has to share the leading role of the team with Rob Ruijgh and other riders like Kruijswijk and Gesink have joined the team.
Andrew Talansky (HTC) is one of the nice surprises of this Tirreno - Adriatico. The American has 1 win his only year as a professional, but had never performed at the level he has done it this week. He arrived at the front in Prati di Tivo and in Chieti and is fighting for a podium place today, as the young's jersey is almost assured. The American did a good time trial, losing 21 seconds to Tejay (26th place so far). That puts him 2nd in the GC among those who arrived 8 seconds behind his fellow American. His podium place now depends on Ten Dam's performance.
Another rider who has started the 2014 year on fire is Laurens Ten Dam. The Cannondale rider already gave the Italian team a win and a podium in Paris - Nice. However, things would not be that sweet in Italy as the 30 seconds he lost today in the time trial to Van Garderen means that he is going to miss the podium by 5 seconds. Anyway, the mood in the Cannondale camp is great, especially considering they were the worst team in the World Tour last year with a lonely win in the Giro.
The stage was a mere walk in the park for Bauke Mollema, as the Dutch will not lose enough time to lose the race. Nevertheless, Mollema did a good time trial by finishing 8th 13 seconds behind the winner of the stage, Tejay van Garderen.
Bauke Mollema has won his second Tirreno - Adriatico and will share the podium with two American riders, Tejay van Garderen and Andrew Talansky. This is the first podium in a stage race in Talansky's career. Mollema swept with every classification, as he won the points and mountain classifications. The Dutch will also be the leader of the World Tour classification after the race.
Italy hosts the first monument of the season, one of those races that give the winner a chance to be remembered in the books of the history of cycling. The Milano - Sanremo is the longest race of the season, at 299 kilometers this year. The route has suffered one significant change over what was raced 2 years ago when this story last visited this part of Italy. Halfway through the Passo del Turchino and the Capos is now the climb to Le Manie. Its almost 5 kilometers averaging 6.7% make it possible to drop some of the main sprinters if the pace is high at that point.
The two editions that we had so far in the story always ended up in a late solo attack making it all the way to the finish line in Sanremo. In 2010 it was Filippo Pozzato who attacked in La Cipressa and no one could follow, while in 2012 it was late in the Poggio when Jakob Fuglsang made the final move of the day opening a gap in the descent that was impossible to close.
Favorites:
- Ben Swift (Sky ProCycling): Swift is probably the hottest favorite for the win in the Milano - Sanremo. Not only is he one of the fastest men around when it comes to a sprint, but he also has a good endurance for long races. The British rider chose the Tirreno - Adriatico to prepare for the first monument of the year and he had to settle with only a 2nd place in the third stage.
- Jose Joaquin Rojas (HTC - Highroad): Among the top 4 of favorites Rojas is the best over the hills. The Spaniard would probably like some movement already in Le Manie to start putting pressure on the other sprinters of the field. However, too many attacks and it can all end up playing in the hands of Ponzi and Leukemans. Rojas already won in the Paris - Nice this year and took also the point's jersey in France.
- Marcel Kittel (Discovery Channel): If Rojas was the best in the hills; Marcel Kittel is probably the best sprinter of the world in terms of pure speed. However, the German will suffer if there is a high pace in the hills before Sanremo. In the battle that Rojas and Kittel fought in the Paris - Nice the Spaniard ended up better, but Kittel also took one stage and proved that he is in good shape ahead of the Italian monument.
- Matthew Goss (Lotto - Belisol): Goss is the other of the best sprinters for the long distance that the Milano - Sanremo features. However, it is difficult to see a race strategy that favors him particularly. He is the only man among the top favorites who has raced both in France and Italy before this race but the best he could do was a 4th place in the 2nd stage of the Tirreno, that has casted some doubts over his potential performance.
Other notable riders that will have a chance are Simone Ponzi (Katusha Team), Andre Greipel (Radioshack - Leopard), Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto - Belisol), Gregory Rast (Sky Procycling), Tyler Farrar (Team Saxo - Tinkoff) and Peter Sagan (Vacansoleil - DMC).
Almost 300 kilometers are ahead for the riders in a sunny weather along the Mediterranean coast today. As always, the Milano - Sanremo will be a battle between the sprinters that can go through the hills and the purer classics riders. The winner will also need to be a long distance runner, as although the last hills are not too long or too steep they have the potential to upset someone with tired legs.
A good 50 kilometers went by without a break taking shape, but as soon as a group settled in front the gap grew very fast. The 6 riders in front are Luis Leon Sanchez (Movistar), Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale), Michal Kwiatkowski (Garmin), Luke Durbridge (Discovery), Giovanni Visconti (BMC) and Arnaud Demare (Lotto). Hesjedal is by far the most dangerous one. They reached the Passo del Turchino, halfway through the race, with a good gap of 9' 15'', although that was already being reduced by a steady work in the bunch mainly from Radioshack, Katusha and Sky.
It is Ivan Basso who was setting the pace in the main bunch during the climb to Le Manie. However, it is not a hard pace as he does not want to make his sprinter, Andre Greipel, suffer. It looks like everyone in the main bunch is climbing the new difficulty in the route without much trouble. The gap for the guys in the break is currently at 5' 35'' with 93 kilometers still remaining to Sanremo.
The race reached the climb to La Cipressa without much to comment. However, once the climb started Katusha took the lead with Stefan Schumacher and the pace went up considerably. Simone Ponzi needs a hard pace in these climbs to increase his chances, as he is one of the best in the hills among the fastest men. The break is still quite a bit ahead; 1' 40'' with only 26 kilometers remaining so even if it hadn't been Katusha another team would have had to increase the pace to catch them.
The timing of the bunch was perfect to catch the break in the climb to the Poggio. With 10 kilometers to go, almost reaching the last climb the main group is already seeing them up on the road. Katusha took the lead definitely and accumulates 4 riders setting the pace at the front. Among the main favorites Simone Ponzi, Ben Swift and Bjorn Leukemans were very well positioned at the front. An attack from the Belgian is expected at the Poggio.
The climb to the Poggio was one of the most strange I have ever seen. The race director car blocked the peloton in the narrow road and the riders could barely go through. This meant that no one could attack and not even chase the break. The leading group is down to four riders: Hesjedal, Durbridge, Luis Leon Sanchez and Visconti. They have a 30 seconds gap at the top of the hill (6 km remaining).
The descent was very quick in the group of favorites, which is broken down in small groups, and they caught the break with only 3 kilometers remaining. Katusha managed to place at least three riders in the front and they are the only team setting up a sprint train. Tyler Farrar has passed the hills surprisingly well and has taken Ponzi's wheel ahead of the sprint. Ben Swift is not far behind, but Matthew Goss is well behind and there is no news from Marcel Kittel.
Gerald Ciolek is the last man from Katusha launching Simone Ponzi as the front group goes under the flame rouge. It is probably only 20 riders in the front group, with another group in the far end of the road in the image. Simone Ponzi is followed by Tyler Farrar, Ben Swift and Yauheni Hutarovich.
Gerald Ciolek was a great lead-out man for Simon Ponzi and the Italian only had to emerge from his wheel with 500 meters remaining in the race. Tyler Farrar is making progress next to the fences while Ben Swift is already almost at par with the American. Meanwhile, on the other side of the road Matthew Goss is doing a great effort to regain places as he started his sprint from far behind.
Simone Ponzi wins in Sanremo! A great team effort by Katusha gets a reward as Simone Ponzi had enough in his legs to hold off Ben Swift for the race win. It is the first monument in the career of the Italian and where best to start than Sanremo. In truth Ben Swift seemed to be have the best legs in the final sprint and had he enjoyed the kind of support that Ponzi did the outcome could have been different.
The third spot in the podium went to Yauheni Hutarovich, who gained quite a few places in the last meters and repeats the third place that he got here 2 years ago. The top 5 was completed by two Euskaltel riders: Sacha Modolo and Fran Ventoso. Among the favorites who disappointed, Jose Joaquin Rojas could only be 12th and Marcel Kittel was 15h. The chaos in the climb to the Poggio surely played a part on the bad positioning of the two of them.
