Maybe you could post full DB, If you still have PCM 09, not PCM 12 files (playing Track on the road, Daily DB, '96, '03 and dBa databases over and over again is boring)
MARSUPILAMI wrote:
Can you post the stats of all the riders? I don't know the stats of the people who don't win
If you can't, don't worry
Actually, yes I can do it. I'll upload a file with the stats.
murao22 wrote:
Maybe you could post full DB, If you still have PCM 09, not PCM 12 files (playing Track on the road, Daily DB, '96, '03 and dBa databases over and over again is boring)
Sadly my PCM09 data died with my last laptop. I only keep the PCM12 files...
Willunga Hill was the decisive stage last year and it should be very relevant again this season. The riders will have to tackle the hill that sits to the South of Adelaide a couple of times, the second of them to finish the stage at its top. In principle the rider that leads the race before Willunga does not have many chances of taking the win but Lloyd Mondory is quite strong in the hills and it would not be unthinkable of him keeping up with the best.
The break of the day was formed by 7 riders, including Yauheni Hutarovich (HTC), Elia Viviani (Cannondale), Sylvain Chavanel (Giant), George Hincapie (Lotto) and Vincenzo Nibali (Lampre). Their gap over the main bunch was 4' 30'' at the first intermediate sprint, in Snapper Point. A few of the riders in the break are quite close in the GC, so Quickstep is keeping the pace up in the peloton. In the sprint in the bunch Jose Joaquin Rojas beat Marcel Kittel and Kenny van Hummel.
The second sprint was placed in the next lap to the circuit around McLaren Vale. This time around there was only 1 point available for the sprinters, as Igor Anton and Gregory Rast had attacked shortly before. However, their gap to the main bunch was barely a few seconds. Quickstep was increasing the pace in the stage and the gap to the break had also reduced to 2' 30''. If Quickstep keeps sustaining this pace it will be difficult for any other rider to attack before the last climb.
It was surprising that Cadel Evans attacked in the first climb to Willunga Hill. The Australian was one of the favorites for the stage and for the overall win and joined Luca Paolini, who had attacked a bit before, at the top of the climb. With 23 kilometers to go, Jonathan Hivert was leading the way with a gap of 15 seconds on George Hincapie and Vincenzo Nibali. Bernhard Eisel and Miguel Rubiano had bridged the gap to the early break. The peloton was losing 50 seconds to Cadel Evans but they still had plenty of kilometers to bring him back.
Cadel Evans' attack provoked a reaction from other teams, including Giant and Katusha, which helped Quickstep organize the chase. With 9 kilometers to go it was only George Hincapie who remained ahead of the peloton. The American from Lotto had a gap of 50 seconds over the bunch but with many teams involved in the chase his task seemed hopeless. Maarten Tjallingii was leading the chase but a lot of Katusha riders were also present at the front of the group, surely taking care of Simone Ponzi's chances.
George Hincapie never was a threat today and he was finally reeled back in the first kilometer of the climb to Willunga Hill. The first rider to start the attacks in the final climb was the winner of stage 1, Tony Gallopin. The French was followed by Cadel Evans and Tom Slagter, followed a bit later by Davide Rebellin and Anthony Roux. Quickstep did not like the attacks and Enrico Gasparotto was increasing the pace of the reduced peloton. They only had 2 kilometers to go at this point, not much to think about waiting to attack.
Tony Gallopin managed to break from the peloton but he could not hold on to the pace and started to drift off before the last kilometer. Cadel Evans and Tom Slagter were chasing right behind and ready to overtake the French. The three of them had a small gap of 12 seconds over Davide Rebellin and Philippe Gilbert, while the main bunch was 20 seconds behind. The leader, Lloyd Mondory, was either not strong enough or he did not have the legs to attack. Meanwhile, other strong riders in the hills like Bjorn Leukemans did not seem to have the best day of their lives.
Cadel Evans took the first position on the road with 500 meters to go but many other riders were trying to bridge the gap to the break. Davide Rebellin and Philippe Gilbert had made it into the front group but even Bjorn Leukemans or Simone Ponzi could be a threat. The gaps are not big enough at the front of the race and the Quickstep riders are still leading Lloyd Mondory to ensure that he does not lose any time at the top of Willunga Hill.
Davide Rebellin wins in Willunga Hill. The Italian narrowly got past Cadel Evans in the last few meters of the stage to take the win. This is Rebellin's first race with Astana and this win will raise the hopes from Astana for the season. If they manage to have Marcel Kittel and Davide Rebellin getting a few wins they can have a good season. Evans was very ambitious today but only managed to grab the second place in the end.
Philippe Gilbert also showed that he has good legs but the time he lost in stage 3 means that he is nowhere close in the GC. However, the stage was a bit disappointing and the work that Quickstep did to ensure that Lloyd Mondory did not lose time paid off. In the end, more than 80 riders were awarded the same time at the top of Willunga Hill, which puts the French on course to taking the overall win in the Tour Down Under.
The Tour Down Under will finish with a stage that is more a Criterium than a real stage. The riders will have to do 20 laps to a circuit in downtown Adelaide with no difficulties other than the potential crashes that a tight circuit might provoke. The sprinters have another great chance to fight for the win. Additionally, there are a few riders that could take the overall win in the race only taking the bonus seconds at the finish line.
Today's break was surprisingly big, as 9 riders formed the front group at the first intermediate sprint. Quickstep tried to control the race but in the end had to allow them to take the lead. The break included riders like Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel), Philippe Gilbert (Trek), Vincenzo Nibali (Lampre), Rui Costa (Ag2r) and Michal Kwiatkowski (IAM). Their gap was only 1' 10'' with 65 kilometers to go. Astana was the only team collaborating with Quickstep at the front of the pack but they were having trouble keeping the gap in control.
The gap that the break enjoyed at the second intermediate sprint, with 6 laps remaining, had increased a bit to 2 minutes but Astana was at the front of the pack in full force and they looked set to bring the front group back. However, Quickstep also have to collaborate as Philippe Gilbert is only 1' 42'' behind in the GC and Simon Clarke is 1' 43'' behind. There will also be a few more teams willing to fight for the win in the final sprint.
Fabio Aru and Rui Costa worked hard at the front of the break but were unable to prevent the break of being swallowed by the bunch. With 9 kilometers to go it was only Michal Kwiatkowski that was at the front with a small gap of 15 seconds on the main bunch. Cannondale and Lotto joined the chase, especially the Italian team. They had put Jerome Baugnies, Nicolas Roche and Matti Breschel to work. Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel should be the favorites in the final sprint but they have been rather poor in this Tour Down Under.
The attempt by Michal Kwiatkowski was not meant to last for long and the stage was heading towards a mass sprint. Cannondale was the only team that was able to form a proper sprint train today and they were going to put Theo Bos to work for Elia Viviani. The Italian has done nothing so far in the Tour Down Under but his team still keeps his confidence in him. Tyler Farrar, Giacomo Nizzolo and Alexander Kristoff were the riders best placed, while Lotto and Astana were surprisingly nowhere to be seen at the front.
Theo Bos did a great job of delivering Elia Viviani in the best position before the last kilometer of the stage. The Italian should deliver a win but he is closely followed by Tyler Farrar, Giacomo Nizzolo and Alexander Kristoff. Simone Ponzi was also in the mix for the final win. Meanwhile, Lloyd Mondory is taking care of Ben Swift, the only rider that could realistically prevent him from taking the overall win in the Tour Down Under. In Lotto, John Degenkolb was trying to make Andre Greipel make progress but it was too late and too far back.
A disappointing Elia Viviani could not hold on to the first place for long and had already been overtaken by Tyler Farrar with 500 meters to go. A few riders were fairly matched and it was not unthinkable to think of Giacomo Nizzolo or Alexander Kristoff for the win at that stage. Simone Ponzi was slightly behind but probably a bit too far behind to be a threat. Meanwhile, all the other sprinters were well behind and not a factor.
Alexander Kristoff wins in Adelaide! The Norwegian was one of the sensations in 2015 and he seems to be set to continue his winning streak in 2016. Euskaltel might have lost part of the strength of their train but Kristoff did not need it to take the win today. Simone Ponzi was surprisingly fast in the last few meters to grab the 2nd place in the stage, while Giacomo Nizzolo, Tyler Farrar and Elia Viviani completed the top 5.
The Tour Down Under finished with Lloyd Mondory's win, while Alexander Kristoff and Simone Ponzi climbed to the final podium thanks to the bonus seconds they got today. All in all, the race was a bit disappointing, with almost 50 riders finishing almost in the same time. Mondory also got the points' competition, which was also decided today.
The European season starts once again with the Paris - Nice. The French race will take the riders from the outskirts of Paris to the hopefully sunny Mediterranean. The route will be a repetition of what we saw last year. The first few stages are designed for the sprinters, although the wind could always be a factor in the central part of France. After that part, the stages will be a bit more complicated and the hills and small mountains will replace the flatlands. With no time trials in the route the outcome of the race is quite unpredictable.
Jelle Vanendert took the win last year in a very dramatic final stage, when he managed to take the yellow jersey from the shoulders of Dries Devenyns. David Lopez completed the podium. The routes in the previous years had been very different, with the 2014 edition very conditioned by the final time trial to the Col d'Eze. Peter Stetina won in that occasion ahead of Laurens Ten Dam and Hubert Dupont. Dupont is the only local rider to take the win so far.
Favorites:
- Jelle Vanendert (Lotto - Soudal): The winner of the World Tour rankings last year will start his season in the Paris - Nice, a race that he won last year in a dramatic last stage towards Nice. The Belgian is one of the riders that can equally fight for win in one-week long races, classics or Grand Tours, Although his weaker point are the time trials, there are none in this Paris - Nice, so he should be the favorite to repeat the win he got last year.
- David Lopez (Euskaltel - Euskadi): David Lopez is another rider that can go through the hills and the mountains equally well. The Spaniard had a very good season last year, especially considering his wn in the Tour de Suisse. However, he could not convert that form into a podium in the Tour de France, an achievement that seems to be avoiding Lopez.
- Laurens Ten Dam (Team Cannondale - Garmin): Laurens Ten Dam is the only rider among the favorites that is clearly better in the mountains than in the hills. Nevertheless, the Dutch has been so strong in this last few seasons that he has to be a favorite in almost every race that he participates in. In principle, the stage that finishes in Fayence, which has the toughest climb of the week, might be where Ten Dam should try to put a few seconds on his rivals.
- Emanuele Sella (BMC Racing Team): Even though Peter Stetina will be present in the race for BMC, it should be Emanuele Sella who takes the leading role for the team. The Italian is a very good riders on the hills and he proved it by winning the Fleche Wallonne last year. If he can repeat a performance like that in any of the hills close to the finish line he could well be a contender. However, it will be interesting to see whether he can be consistent for a few consecutive stages.
Other riders that have a chance of fighting for the overall win are Rui Costa (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Joost van Leijen (Team Giant - Alpecin), Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling), Simone Ponzi (Team Katusha), Frank Schleck (Etixx - Quickstep) and Philippe Gilbert (Trek Factory Racing).
The sprinters that will be present in the start line include Kenny van Hummel (Team LottoNL - Jumbo), Marcel Kittel (Astana Pro Team), Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Andre Greipel (Lotto - Soudal), Lloyd Mondory (Etixx - Quickstep) and Ben Swift (Vacansoleil - DMC).
The Paris - Nice starts in the outskirts of Paris with a stage in the surroundings of Mantes-la-Jolie. The riders will first ride a loop to the North of the town before heading to a circuit that includes the Cote de Vert. Nevertheless, the climb is quite easy and will only serve to award the first KoM jersey. The mass sprint should be almost guaranteed in this first stage of the Paris - Nice as the last time it is climbed is more than 20 kilometers from the finish line.
There was quite a battle to form the break of the day and in the end the group of 4 that managed to go was quite strong. Its members were Tom Boonen (Sky), Yauheni Hutarovich (HTC), Gregory Rast (Orica) and Chris Sutton (Vacansoleil). Rast was the quickest in the first intermediate sprint in Mantes-la-Jolie, 96 kilometers from the finish line. The peloton was 2 minutes behind but there was another group of 4 trying to bridge the gap to the front of the race.
The Cote de Vert only counted for the KoM classification in two of the four climbs. By that time, 3 of the chasers had made it to the front group, including Julien Simon. The fight for the first KoM jersey was won by Gregory Rast, while the gap to the peloton was still 4 minutes at the top of the climb with 54 kilometers remaining. Lotto and Ag2r were chasing to control the gap to the break but it would have to be a job for the teams of the sprinters to bring them back in the final kilometers. The front group was quite strong and the teams of the sprinters seemed a bit weak.
The peloton did not want to risk it and the chase was started earlier than usual. That meant that the break was effectively brought back with 18 kilometers to go. Philip Deignan and Michael Morkov were still trying to make it last a bit longer by it was a futile attempt. Quickstep, Cannondale and Lotto are the teams most interested in the final sprint and even Bjorn Leukemans had to collaborate at the front with some quality relays.
The nerves in the peloton appeared in the final part of the stage and two consecutive crashes took down many riders in the bunch. In the first, smaller crash Julien Simon had to retire. That was a huge blow for FDJ. On the second crash, easily a third of the riders in the peloton were involved after Lloyd Mondory crashed from the front of the group. A few other important riders were down, including Peter Stetina, Matthew Goss, Mikel Nieve and Tiago Machado. There were also a few riders injured but most of them seemed to be ready to finish the stage.
The sprint was not very chaotic considering the circumstances. LottoNL managed to build a sprint train, with Alessandro Petacchi ready to lead Kenny van Hummel, while Marcel Kittel was right behind the Dutch. Meanwhile, Francesco Gavazzi was bringing Elia Viviani to the front of the race for Cannondale, while Simone Ponzi was behind. Mark Renshaw and Jose Joaquin Rojas were also quite close. Meanwhile, it was confirmed that Thomas Voeckler and Pavel Brutt had to retire following the big crash.
Francesco Gavazzi did a perfect lead out for Elia Viviani to get him to the last kilometer of the stage in a perfect position. However, the Italian might be doing the same mistake he did in the last stage of the Tour Down Under and start the final sprint a bit too early. This is especially considering that Simone Ponzi and Jose Joaquin Rojas are stuck to his rear wheel and ready to take advantage of his work. Meanwhile, Alessandro Petacchi did not such a great lead out and LottoNL are a bit behind. However, we have new characters in the sprint as Alexander Kristoff made it to the front of the pack.
Elia Viviani was still leading the way with 500 meters remaining but he had three riders on the surroundings that were gaining on him: Simone Ponzi, Jose Joaquin Rojas and Mark Renshaw. Nevertheless, the stage was difficult to predict as any of the 4 riders at the front could well take it. The fifth man on the road was Alexander Kristoff but he was probably too far behind to be a threat for the stage. It is surprising how bad riders like Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel have started their season after being among the strongest sprinters last year.
Simone Ponzi wins in Mantes-la-Jolie! That was a great sprint by the Katusha rider, who progressed on the left hand side of the road to get past Elia Viviani and hold off Jose Joaquin Rojas, who had to settle for the second place in the stage. This is the first win of the season for Katusha. At some point it seemed that Rojas would be able to get past. However, the quickest finisher was Alexander Kristoff but he was following Ponzi in the sprint and could not get past. The top 5 was completed by Elia Viviani an Kenny van Hummel.
The worst part of the day was the huge crash in the closing kilometers of the stage. A total of 3 riders had to go home and only 89 riders were awarded the same time as the winner. Most of the candidates for the final win managed to avoid the crash but Peter Stetina lost 4' 30''. Tomorrow's stage should be one for the sprinters again.
The race starts its trip South with a long stage between Rambouillet and Saint-Georges-sur-Baulche. The route is pan flat, so a sprint will probably the way to go. The wind could be the only feature that had the potential to spice things up but the predictions are for quite a good day in central France. On the final part of the stage there will be a circuit around the finish line to take the length of the stage above 200 kilometers.
The break was formed quite fast today, almost on the first attempt. Not many riders seemed keen to work at the break considering their slim chances of success. The group of 4 at the front was formed by Marco Marcato (BMC), Martin Elmiger (Orica), Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) and Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana). Marcato beat Elmiger in the intermediate sprint of Malesherbes, where they had a gap of 3' 45'' on the peloton, while Elia Viviani won the sprint in the bunch.
The only categorized climb today was the Cote de la Ferte-Loupierre. It was a small hill 44 kilometers from the finish line that the riders had no trouble with. Lotto NL, IAM and Cannondale had taken over the role of controlling the peloton and the gap was steadily going down with the kilometers. It was 3' 30'' at that point, completely within reach for them. Today's stage might be the longest so far this year but the pace in general has been quite slow.
Marco Marcato tried to prolong the break a few more kilometers but with 10 kilometers to go they were all effectively caught. The pace had picked up considerably in the last 30 kilometers and even riders like Laurens Ten Dam and Mathias Frank had given a couple of relays to help their sprinters. It is a good sign for the rest of the team members that will have to work for them later in the week. The mass sprint seemed to be almost guaranteed at this stage.
Jerome Baugnies was leading the peloton for Cannondale with 3 kilometers remaining but their teammates were having trouble building up a sprint train. LottoNL had taken the lead on that side as Alessandro Petacchi was already leading Kenny van Hummel, while in Cannondale Francesco Gavazzi was still approaching from behind to help Elia Viviani. IAM was also trying to work coordinately and Anthony Roux was leading Mark Cavendish. Among the rest of the sprinters, Ben Swift, Mark Renshaw and Alexander Kristoff were the best positioned.
Anthony Roux was perfect in leading Mark Cavendish to the front of the pack ahead of the last kilometer of the stage. IAM do not normally set a sprint train for the British but maybe they should start to think about it. However, it seems that Cavendish was a bit too early in the start of his sprint. He was bringing Alexander Kristoff, Andre Greipel and Ben Swift on his wheel, which was not a good sign. The other trains were much weaker and they seemed to be out of the equation.
Mark Cavendish kept the lead with 500 meters to go but he had Ben Swift and Alexander Kristoff on both sides and he was starting to drift away. It is unclear who could take the stage win as Andre Greipel and Kenny van Hummel were also in the mix. It is the first time this season that Andre Greipel is on the fight for the win, as he has been really poor so far in the start of the season. However, Van Hummel was on the verge of getting ahead of him and looked stronger.
Kenny van Hummel wins in Saint-Georges-sur-Baulche! The Dutch took the inside of the final turn and managed to overtake 4 riders in the final 400 meters to take his first win of the season. It is also the first win for the Lotto - Jumbo team with their new sponsors. At some point it seemed like Ben Swift would take the win today but he did not manage to hold Van Hummel behind.
The third position was for Alexander Kristoff, who does not need a lot to take wins and good positions. He is the sprinter that has started his season better. The top 5 was completed by Giacomo Nizzolo and Andre Greipel. There was not much else interesting today but the point's competition is now led by Van Hummel, only 1 point ahead of Kristoff.
The last time we featured Peter Stetina he was a rising star in the World of cycling, but as we have witnessed with many riders this does not guarantee that all the young riders settle as part of the best riders in the peloton. However, that was not the case with Stetina. That first article was in the final part of the 2013 season. He had achieved a top 10 in the Giro and a podium in the Tour de Suisse. A glance at his service sheet today highlights how things have changed for the American since then.
Peter Stetina is also one of the rare cases when a rider commits his career to only one team. He has ridden all these year for BMC Racing, where he has found the environment to maximize his potential. The year that marked a before and after for him was 2014. BMC had two very strong stage riders in Tejay van Garderen and himself, both 28 years old at the time and on both on the verge of breaking through. Crucially, Van Garderen was a bit more experienced and got the leading role in the Tour de France after his 2nd place in the Giro in 2013.
Van Garderen won the Dauphine and the Tour de France, which put a lot of pressure on Stetina to do well in the Vuelta. The American had had a good start of the race and took the lead of the race at the Alto de Peñas Blancas. He seemed to be in control but Rob Ruijgh was threatening, only a few seconds behind on the GC. The Dutch was better and better in the last week of the race and a stage that was not meant to make a difference, a hilly stage finishing in the Alto del Naranco in Oviedo, was crucial. Ruijgh put a few seconds on Stetina and took the lead. There were only 2 stages left, a parade in Madrid on Sunday and the finale in the Alto de L'Angliru on Saturday. That was the day when Peter Stetina moved from a hopeful to a star. The American turned things around and won the stage and the Vuelta with a margin of 28 seconds over Rob Ruijgh.
That win served Stetina not only to win the Vuelta, but also the World Tour rankings for the season. He had also won the Paris - Nice at the start of the season. In the end BMC had to decide between Stetina and Van Garderen as having two Grand Tour winners in the team was difficult to manage. Tejay moved to Trek and Peter was awarded a 1.5 million per year contract. He made good on the contract by winning the Giro 2015 in style, taking stage wins at Alpe di Pampeago and the Passo dello Stelvio.
The central part of France is almost completely flat, so the route of the Paris - Nice is almost always flat in the first few days. Today's stage will finish in the Grand Prix circuit of Magny-Cours, close to the city of Nevers. The wind is expected to be a bit stronger than yesterday but it will depend a lot on the attitude of the riders and will be in general headwind, which is not good for the attacking mood of the riders.
The break was formed quite quickly again today. The group of 4 riders that was at the front of the race was formed by Grega Bole (Astana), Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep), Tom Boonen (Sky) and Tom van Asbroeck (Vacansoleil). It was curious to see Mondory in a break, but it must be a sign that he is still not recovered from the crash that he suffered in stage 1. The riders got to the only climb of the day, the Cote de la Chapelle Saint-Andre, with a gap of 7 minutes over the bunch, where Lotto - Jumbo had the help of many other teams to control the pace.
The second intermediate sprint was placed in La Machine, 38 kilometers from the finish line. Elia Viviani clearly won the sprint ahead of Mark Renshaw and Ben Swift. The Italian seems to be in a good shape in this start of the season but has had no luck so far. Lotto - Jumbo was working hard to reduce the gap to the break, which was at 2' 30''. The wind had picked up considerably but it was a headwind that was hurting the chances of the break. The route changed direction after the sprint, so maybe the cross winds might affect the outcome.
Lloyd Mondory was keen on fighting against the peloton and tried to go on his own in the last kilometers. However, even though he is a great flat rider the gap with 11 kilometers remaining was very small, only 25 seconds. Meanwhile, Ramunas Navardauskas was leading the pack for IAM Cycling. Laurens Ten Dam and Rob Ruijgh were also giving a couple of relays to help their sprinters. It seemed that another mass sprint was in the horizon.
The peloton entered the Magny-Cours circuit and the sprint was already being prepared by the teams. Cannondale had the lead with Francesco Gavazzi leading Elia Viviani. The Italian has not been able to convert the work of his team into a win so far. Andre Greipel was right behind him. On the other side, Alessandro Petacchi was leading Kenny van Hummel, while BMC's Tony Gallopin was on his wheel. Other sprinters that were well positioned included Marcel Kittel, Mark Cavendish and Simone Ponzi. Sadly, another crash hit the peloton a few kilometers before the entrance to the circuit and Michael van Staeyen had to retire from the race.
Once again, Elia Viviani was too keen to start his sprint and was already leading the way a few meters before the 1 kilometer mark. Kenny van Hummel was very smart to follow the move of the Italian and was enjoying a good lead out from him. The two riders opened a nice gap ahead of the last part of the stage, while other sprinters like Tony Gallopin, Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel were a bit behind. It already seemed that the stage win was going to be fought among the top 2.
The fight for the stage was clearly a battle of two after the last turn of the road. With 500 meters to go Kenny van Hummel emerged from behind Elia Viviani and was the clear favorite to make it two out of two wins. Among those chasing were Tony Gallopin, Andre Greipel and a very fast progressing Alexander Kristoff. The Norwegian already won in the Tour Down Under and if Euskaltel had worked a little harder for him in this Paris - Nice he might have added to that win.
Elia Viviani wins in Magny-Cours! It was difficult to separate between Kenny van Hummel and Elia Viviani as they crossed the finish line and, even though I thought that the Dutch was the be winner, it turned out that Viviani had taken the win after close scrutiny of the images by the jury. That was a show of power on the side of the Cannondale rider, who started the sprint from very far our but clearly had very good legs today. The third place went to Marcel Kittel, while Andre Greipel and Simone Ponzi completed the top 5.
Van Hummel will be the leader for one more day but tomorrow he will have to suffer to keep the yellow jersey. It would not be unthinkable for him to go through with the bunch through the final tough hill but it will not be easy. The Dutch is also holding on to the lead in the points' competition, although Elia Viviani is very close behind. The days of easy mass sprints are over in the Paris - Nice and the battle for the overall win will start tomorrow.
The easy stages that were clearly for the sprinters are over in the Paris - Nice and the route will now feature hills and small mountains every day until the finish in Nice. The fourth stage is flat for the first part but the final kilometers include 4 categorized climbs, including the Mont Brouilly, a 4 kilometer long climb that has sections above 14% gradient. The top is only 14 kilometers from the finish line in Belleville so the outcome is quite unpredictable.
There was a lot of fighting to get the break of the day. It was not until after the first intermediate sprint of the day that a break settled at the front. Mark Cavendish took advantage of the maximum points, beating Elia Viviani. The break was rather small, with only Christophe Riblon (Cofidis), David Millar (HTC) and Romain Feillu (FDJ). With 110 kilometers to go the group of 3 riders had a gap of 4' 30'' over the main bunch. Lotto - Jumbo was setting the pace but was not worried at all about the break at that stage.
Lotto - Jumbo started to work quite early in the stage in order to have the gap to the break under control when the hills started. That would also allow the pace to be slower up the hills and Kenny van Hummel to have more chances of making it with the front group at the finish line. The riders reached the Col du Champ Juin and the peloton was losing 3' 25'' to the break. IAM and Cannondale had replaced LottoNL at the front of the pack and Michael Albasini was leading the way. The men in the break were fighting hard for the KoM points and Christophe Riblon was first this time.
The attacks from important riders started quite early today. Jelle Vanendert was the first to give it a go and attacked on the descent towards Regnie-Durette. Rui Costa also made and attempt but they were both unsuccessful. By the time the riders got to the bottom of the Cote du Mont Bruilly the break had been caught and Joost van Leijen attacked straight away. The puncheurs were all ready to fight for the stage and make it difficult for the sprinters and a few more attacks followed.
There were lots of attacks in the climb to the Mont Brouilly and a group of 5 riders managed to get to the top with a gap of 40 seconds over the peloton. They were David Lopez, Philippe Gilbert, Joost van Leijen, Emanuele Sella and Jelle Vanendert. There were no surprises as to who the riders that made it to the front were, although they would have to work hard even with the sizable gap they enjoyed if they wanted to take the win in Belleville. Rui Costa and Mathias Frank were leading the chase with Kenny van Hummel very well positioned close to the front.
The descent of the Mont Brouilly was very fast but the front group soon started to lose time as soon as they hit the flat. The group of the chasers had only 70 riders although all of the important riders were there. With a gap of 12 seconds and 7 kilometers remaining it seemed quite unlikely that they made it to the finish line. Laurens Ten Dam, Mathias Frank and Rob Ruijgh were the riders leading the chase in the group behind, where many sprinters had managed to stay. Meanwhile, Mikel Nieve crashed again today and said goodbye to the remote chances of a good GC.
Jelle Vanendert's group was reeled back in with around 5 kilometers to go and Simone Ponzi tried to surprise straight away. However, Kenny van Hummel did not want to let the yellow jersey go and was welded to the Italian's rear wheel. However, Ponzi was not going to give up that easily and jumped again with a bit more than 2 kilometers to go. Again Van Hummel was very rapid in taking his wheel and they even opened a small gap over the chasers. Jose Joaquin Rojas, Alexander Kristoff and Lloyd Mondory were the riders that led the chase at that stage, while most of the pure sprinters are not close to the front.
Simone Ponzi was working hard but could not get rid of Kenny van Hummel. The Dutch was having a perfect lead out in the sprint and the duo maintained a gap of 7 seconds over the group, where the sprint was starting. It seemed unlikely that Van Hummel lost the yellow jersey today, if anything he was going to increase the gap. There was a mixture of puncheurs and sprinters at the front of the main group, including Emanuele Sella, Stefan van Dijk and Jelle Vanendert.
Kenny van Hummel wins in Belleville! The Dutch took advantage of the work that Simone Ponzi did in the last couple of kilometers to easily take his second stage win in the Paris - Nice. He will increase his lead in the GC but sooner or later the hills will be too much for him. The peloton almost caught up with him and he did not have any seconds, as Tony Gallopin took the second place ahead of Simone Ponzi. The top 5 was completed by Joost van Leijen and Jelle Vanendert.
Van Hummel is clearly very fit as all the riders surrounding him are much better in the hills that the Dutch. He will have a good test tomorrow as, potentially, he could make it with the front group to the finish line. However, expect the group that fights for the stage win to be quite reduced. Other classifications started to take shape today, especially the young classification where Jerome Baugnies has a good lead.
The stages are progressively more difficult in the Paris - Nice and the fifth will have a couple of longer climbs> the Cote de Saint-Martin-en-Haut and the Cote de Sainte-Cathrine. The final circuit around Rive-de-Gier should be hard enough for most of the sprinters to disappear from the top places of the GC and for Kenny van Hummel to lose the yellow jersey. However, the group that fights for the win might be not so small if no attacks are successful.
The weather was awful at the start of the stage but the riders did battle for getting into the break of the day. In the end it was a group of 8 riders that managed to get ahead. Stefan van Dijk (Giant) managed to beat Jonathan Hivert (Sky) at the intermediate sprint in Brindas (65 kilometers to go). Other members of the break were Danilo di Luca (Euskaltel), Stefano Garzelli (Movistar) and Janez Brajkovic (Quickstep). Trek and Quickstep were working at the front of the pack. There were a few crashes in the slippery roads, including Francesco Gavazzi and Igor Anton.
The first serious climb of the day was the Cote de Saint-Martin-en-Haut, 48 kilometers from the finish line. Quickstep was leading the group at the final part of the climb with Jens Debusschere and Pierre Rolland. Trek was also collaborating at the front. Their work had only managed to reduce the gap to the break to 3' 30'', quite considerable for the kilometers remaining. However, the peloton had lost many riders and barely 100 riders were still in the leader's group. The most recognisable name to lose track was Bart de Clercq, while Kenny van Hummel was very solid at the front of the pack.
The riders descended towards Rive-de-Gier and the climb to the Cote de Sainte-Catherine started with around 25 kilometers to go. A few kilometers into the climb a group of 4 riders formed ahead of the peloton, including 2 Trek riders: Philippe Gilbert and Simon Gerrans, joined by Rob Ruijgh and Mathias Frank. They were 1' 45'' behind the riders of the break but barely 15 seconds ahead of the bunch. Ag2r and Quickstep had taken the lead in the peloton while the break still had a chance to succeed.
Danilo di Luca attacked from the break in the last kilometer of the climb and managed to open a gap of 10 seconds over the rest of the riders in the break. He only had 13 kilometers of descent towards the finish line at that point. Meanwhile, the group of the leader was still 45 seconds behind the Italian. There were quite a lot of attacks but none of them consolidated. Luca Paolini, Juanjo Cobo and Jean-Christophe Peraud were the last riders to attack. Among those who lost contact very early was, surprisingly, Francesco Gavazzi, surely affected from his earlier crash.
There was a bit of an impasse on the main group after they caught most of the riders in the break. It was mainly caused by a crash where important riders were involved, including Dries Devenyns, Rob Ruijgh, Philippe Gilbert and Joost van Leijen. Only Danilo di Luca remained at the front with a gap of 25 seconds with 6 kilometers to go. Bjorn Leukemans tried to take advantage of the doubts in the bunch and attacked but was swiftly followed by Kenny van Hummel, Luca Paolini and Juanjo Cobo.
Danilo di Luca reached the flat last 2 kilometers with 40 seconds over the group of the leader and the stage effectively in the bag. The Euskaltel rider had been outstanding in the race and managed to hold off the pace from the main group. Quickstep was leading the way with Janez Brajkovic but probably thinking in putting distance over other riders than in the stage win. Meanwhile, the Dries Devenyns' group, also including Philippe Gilbert, was losing 2' 35'' and Rob Ruijgh's group was 4' 30'' behind. The chances of those riders in the GC were going to become slim.
Danilo di Luca still had 30 seconds as the riders behind started the final sprint. Emanuele Sella was the first to lead the sprint, followed by Peter Stetina, Giovanni Visconti, Rinaldo Nocentini and Hubert Dupont. It seemed like BMC and Euskaltel were determined to cope all the front places in the stage but some of the quicker riders that made it through should overtake a few of those riders. Today's stage might not have been a classic but it was entertaining enough.
Danilo di Luca wins in Rive-di-Gier! This is the first time in the season that a break is successful in getting the stage win. The Italian did a great job to hold off the peloton and took a well deserved stage win, his first with Euskaltel. He took his time to celebrate and was not awarded a time gap with the bunch but surely he will not care that much. The quickest in the sprint of the peloton was again Kenny van Hummel, who will stretch his gap in the GC even further. He is now 10 seconds clear of Simone Ponzi.
Chris Sutton tool the 3rd place in the stage, ahead of Jose Joaquin Rojas and Hubert Dupont. A total of around 60 riders made it home in this front group. Meanwhile, important riders like Tejay van Garderen, Joost van Leijen, Philippe Gilbert and Dries Devenyns lost 2 minutes, while Rob Ruijgh lost 5 minutes, burying his chances of a good result in the GC.
The sixth stage is probably the one where the gaps will appear easier in the Paris - Nice. The stage is rather long at 220 kilometers, which is always a bonus for time gaps but it also finishes at the high part of Fayence after a 1.5 kilometers long climb averaging more than 9% gradient. Additionally, the Col de Bourigaille will be climb in the loop on the surroundings of Fayence. Its top is only 19 kilometers from the finish line and not a big group is expected to make it to the top.
Getting in the break was very hard today but a group of 11 riders was more or less settled at the front of the race at the first intermediate sprint, in Lourmarin. Dries Devenyns (BMC) was the only riders interested in the points, although actually he probably wanted the bonus seconds. Other riders in the group were Bart de Clercq (Sky), David Millar (HTC), Sylvain Chavanel (Giant), Geraint Thomas (Tinkoff) and Anthony Roux (IAM). They had a 2 minutes gap on the main bunch, where LottoNL - Jumbo was finding Ag2r collaborative to try to control the pace.
LottoNL never allowed the original break to get any significant gap and they eventually reeled them back in with 100 kilometers to go. This meant that the stage was really fast. However, catching the break was the worst idea that LottoNL could have had as another much stronger break formed. The 7 riders were Mathias Frank (IAM), Luca Paolini (Astana), Johan Vansummeren (HTC), Stefano Garzelli and Michele Scarponi (Movistar), Andy Schleck (Vacansoleil) and Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel). At the Cote de Tuilieres, 57 kilometers to the finish line, they had built a gap of 2' 30''. The peloton is going to have to work very hard to bring them back.
The final wall in Fayence was climbed at the start of the Col de Bourigaille. Katusha took the front of the pack with Denis Menchov, Ben Hermans and Carlos Betancur. Ag2r and LottoNL had been chasing on the approach to the climb but were now leaving the job to Katusha, who were working for Simone Ponzi. Meanwhile, Stefano Garzelli, who was working for Michele Scarponi in the break could not follow the pace and lost contact with the front group. The stage is going to be very interesting whatever the outcome.
Andy Schleck was the first rider to attack in the break, 2 kilometers from the top of the Col de Bourigaille. Michele Scarponi was the first to try to react, while the other members of the break were not in a rush to try to bring him back immediately. Stefano Garzelli was chasing 30 seconds behind the front, still trying to get back if the pace slowed down a bit. Meanwhile, there was no reaction from the bunch. The gap was still almost 3 minutes, which meant that the chances of the break succeeding were increasing by the minute.
David Lopez was the surprising first attacker in the peloton, given that his teammate Hubert Dupont was in the break. However, the French might not have had the best legs of his life. The Spaniard was only joined by Jelle Vanendert at the very top of the Col de Bourigaille, 19 kilometers from the finish line. Andy Schleck had opened a gap of 1 minute at that stage to Mathias Frank and Johan Vansummeren. David Lopez was 2 minutes behind at the top of the climb, 2' 20'' behind was a group of 6 including Laurens Ten Dam and Rui Costa, while the group of the leader was 2' 55'' behind.
Kenny van Hummel fought hard not to lose much time at the top of the climb and, him being one of the best descenders in the World Tour, managed to make much progress in the descent. He was leading a group that ended up swallowing even David Lopez and Jelle Vanendert. On the other side of the descending skills is Andy Schleck, who was starting to lose time. With 10 kilometers remaining, 5 of them downhill, his gap had come down to 35 seconds over Johan Vansummeren and Mathias Frank and 1' 20'' over the group of chasers.
The group of the leader descended so fast that they managed to bring back even Andy Schleck at the bottom of the descent. The lack of control in the flat towards the wall in Fayence allowed Tejay van Garderen to attack and open a small gap. A small group of counter-attackers, including Emanuele Sella, David Lopez and Mathias Frank reacted not to allow the American to take much of an advantage, although Van Garderen is a bit behind in the GC as he waited for Philippe Gilbert when he crashed yesterday. The gaps were very small nevertheless.
The final climb started with Tejay van Garderen still with a small gap on his chasers. However, Bjorn Leukemans managed to get on his wheel as they went under the flame rouge. The Belgian should be much stronger in a finish with these characteristics. David Lopez was chasing alone, around 20 seconds behind, while the leader, Kenny van Hummel, was very brave to come chasing Laurens Ten Dam when the Dutch attacked. They both had a small gap on the rest of the group. The last climb was 1.5 kilometers long, so there was time to make a difference with the gradients it had.
David Lopez managed to get to the front of the race and with 500 meters to go there were 3 riders still with options of taking the stage win in Fayence. Bjorn Leukemans had tried to leave Tejay van Garderen behind but the former winner of the Tour de France still had enough energy to stay with him. Laurens Ten Dam was chasing alone but the 25 seconds separating him from the front seemed too much. On the bigger group, Philippe Gilbert and Rui Costa were leading the way while Kenny van Hummel was starting to fade along with his chances to retain the yellow jersey.
Bjorn Leukemans wins in Fayence! David Lopez was very quick but Leukemans responded with the authority of a double World Champion to take the stage win and the leader's jersey in the Paris - Nice. Leukemans is the best rider in the hills but there were doubts as to whether he could go through the Col de Bourigaille with the best. David Lopez took the 2nd place in the stage and will be trailing Leukemans on the GC but the gap is only 2 seconds. The third position in the stage was for Tejay van Garderen.
The second group was led by Jelle Vanendert and included Laurens Ten Dam, Rui Costa, Emanuele Sella, Philippe Gilbert and Simone Ponzi. The Italian will be third in the GC. The former leader, Kenny van Hummel, faded in the final climb and ended up losing more than 1 minute. The two remaining stages are hilly but it will be difficult to open gaps among those at the front in the GC. Realistically, it seems that only those inside the top 7 currently have a chance.
The penultimate stage in the Paris - Nice is already close to the Mediterranean coast. The first part of the stage will see the riders go to the mountains, with climbs to the Col de Vence and the Col de L'Ecre. However, the final part of the stage will take place in a circuit in the surroundings of Biot. The stage has more to it than it meets the eye because the final circuit is much more difficult than what the profile suggests. Also the final kilometer is uphill, although not as hard as yesterday's.
The first climb of the day was the Col de Vence. Its top was only 50 kilometers into the stage but the break was still not consolidated at the front. A group of 5 riders: Wout Poels (Vacansoleil), Andrea Guardini (Astana), Sylvain Chavanel (Giant), Matthew Goss (Movistar) and Marco Marcato (BMC) had 1 minute ovre Francesco Gavazzi (Cannondale) and 2 minutes on the main bunch. The break was originally much larger but Bradley Wiggins worked hard for Lotto - Soudal in order to bring most of them back.
Lotto started to manage the gap to the break early in the day. They had Robert Kiserlovski, Tony Martin and Bradley Wiggins at the front of the pack in the climb to the Col de L'Ecre. It was still the first half of the race, as the KoM sprint was 111 kilometers from the finish line, and there were riders already dropped from the back. Several of them had had issues with crashes at the start of the week but were willing to hang on to the race. There was another crash today that involved Jean-Christophe Peraud but he had no trouble getting back to the pack.
The Cote de Gourdon (65 kilometers from the finish line) awarded the last KoM points today. It was Wout Poels who took them, as he had done in every single climb. This put him clearly ahead in the classification ahead of the last stage in the surroundings of Nice tomorrow. The chances of the break making it to the finish were on the rise as their gap was still 5' 25'' and Lotto only seemed to care that the gap was not too big, given that Marco Marcato was only 7 minutes behind in the GC. Nevertheless, all these climbs had surely put much strain on the rider's bodies.
The descent onto the final circuit in Biot was fairly quick. The riders in the break had almost completed one lap when the attacks in the bunch started. It was the riders that had lost a bit of time in previous days that attacked earliest, starting with Philippe Gilbert and Jose Serpa. However, it would be Joost van Leijen's move the one that was most successful. With 23 kilometers to go he had opened a gap of 1' 15'' on the group of the leader. Katusha was still working at the front of the pack, surely in order to pave the way for an attack from Simone Ponzi.
Wout Poels was the first rider to attack from the break. With Francesco Gavazzi seemingly still affected by his crash earlier in the week, the Dutch should be the strongest rider in the group. With 10 kilometers to go he had 25 seconds on the rest of the group. Meanwhile, the race among the favorites was rather chaotic. Simone Ponzi and Philippe Gilbert had attacked and were chasing Joost van Leijen. Another group of strong riders including David Lopez and Laurens Ten Dam was 30 seconds behind. Meanwhile, Bjorn Leukemans did not have a response to the attacks and his group was 50 seconds behind Lopez's. The general could well take another turn today.
A group of 10 riders came together chasing Joost van Leijen. There was no response from the leader and at this point the chances of a change in the leader were quite big. Among those in the group were David Lopez, Jelle Vanendert, Emanuele Sella and Simone Ponzi. The good news for Lotto are that at least they had two options and Jelle Vanendert was up there with the best. At the front of the race Wout Poels was holding off to his gap of 25 seconds over the chasers. These roads close to the Mediterranean coast make it difficult for any group to be organized.
Wout Poels made it to the last kilometer of the stage with a gap of 20 seconds over his chasers. It seemed that the Dutch was going to take his first win of the season. Marco Marcato was leading the chasers up the final hill, followed by Andre Guardini, Matthew Goss and Francesco Gavazzi. Sylvain Chavanel had been dropped at the start of the climb. In the group of the leader there were still teams trying to bring back the riders ahead, including LottoNL. Rob Ruijgh was trying to help Kenny van Hummel not to lose that much time.
Wout Poels wins in Biot Sophia Antipolis! The Dutch did not have to push too hard in the final hill towards the line and took his first win of the season. Poels had a great day of racing because, apart from his win he also took the lead in the KoM classification and got a margin that might give him the overall win in the classification tomorrow. Marco Marcato crossed the line in 2nd place 10 seconds behind, while Matthew Goss, Andrea Guardini and Francesco Gavazzi lost 31 seconds to the Vacansoleil rider.
Rui Costa finished very strong among the favorites and even got to Joost van Leijen in the final meters of the stage. The Portuguese almost built a gap big enough to take over the lead of the race but he will have to settle for second today. Jelle Vanendert lost 10 seconds against them, while the group including David Lopez, Simone Ponzi and Laurens Ten Dam lost 8 seconds. They all left Bjorn Leukemans far enough behind to overtake the Belgian, who will drop to the 7th place in the GC after losing 58 seconds to Rui Costa.
The GC after the penultimate stage could not be more interesting. There are still 7 riders within 38 seconds and tomorrow's stage potentially allows the riders to generate gaps. Last year, Jelle Vanendert managed to take the overall win after overtaking Dries Devenyns in that same last stage. On Lotto's camp the feelings were mixed, given that Leukemans lost the leader's jersey but Jelle Vanendert is now 3rd. It is surprising how a great rider like Leukemans cannot keep up when faced with several consecutive days of racing.
Nice will host the start and the finish of the last stage of the Paris - Nice. Instead of the time trial to the Col d'Eze, the organization has prepared a very interesting last stage with a continuous succession of climbs in the surroundings of the coastal town. The last climb of the day will actually be the Col d'Eze, only 15 kilometers away from the finish line. Although short, the stage can make things change rapidly in the GC as we witnessed last year. David Lopez's gap at the front of the GC is very small but the time bonuses at the finish line will not be enough.
Euskaltel did not care about controlling the race in the first kilometers and a big break quickly took shape. The group of 12 riders included Eros Capecchi (BMC), Jonathan Hivert (Sky), Anthony Roux (IAM), Chris Anker Sorensen (Tinkoff), Pierre Rolland (Quickstep) and Carlos Betancur (Katusha). Additionally, Rigoberto Uran was still trying to bridge the gap at the Cote de Duranus (94 kilometers to the finish line). The most dangerous rider in the group was Eros Capecchi, 1' 51'' behind in the GC. This meant that oter teams, like Cannondale had a reason to work at the front of the pack.
Cannondale was not willing to take any chances and they put Nicolas Roche and Francesco Bongiorno at the front of the pack since early on in the stage. They are not willing to allow Eros Capecchi to take advantage of the break and take the overall win in the GC but they want to try to win it themselves with Laurens Ten Dam. They had managed to reduce the gap to 3' 20'' at the Col de Calaison, 57 kilometers from the finish line. As a side effect, they were also reducing the size of the group considerably and only 100 riders stayed in the group of the leader.
Catching back the break was not an easy task. A few of the riders at the front were quite good. like Tom Danielson, who was leading the group in the last kilometers of the Cote de Peille, the hardest climb of the day. The gap had come down to 2' 50'' at that stage but Eros Capecchi was still the virtual leader of the race. In the bunch a few important riders had already dropped, all of them affected by crashes earlier in the week, like Dries Devenyns, Jean-Christophe Peraud and Bart de Clercq.
The attacks from outsiders started at the flat section after crowning the Cote de Peille. The first rider to try was Johan Vansummeren. The HTC rider is very powerful and soon opened a gap. With 24 kilometers to go, in the descent towards the start of the Col d'Eze, he had reduced the gap to the front to 40 seconds. By that time, Tejay van Garderen and Oliver Zaugg were also ahead of the bunch. They had all lost time at some point during the Paris - Nice so the bunch was not very worried about them, especially with the Col d'Eze about to start.
Johan Vansummeren, Tejay van Garderen and Oliver Zaugg all made it to the break at the Col d'Eze, forming a massive 16 men group at the front of the race. 2 kilometers from the top of the climb the race situation was a bit strange as the favorites were still looking at each other while Eros Capecchi was the virtual leader of the race. Nevertheless, the gap had come down to 1' 55'' and Rinaldo Nocentini was working for Euskaltel, followed by Ag2r's Jose Serpa.
The favorites finally attacked in the Col d'Eze and, surprisingly, they caught David Lopez napping. The Spaniard went through the top of the climb (15 kilometers to go) with the race lost at that stage as he was 40 seconds behind a group including Rui Costa. Meanwhile, Tejay van Garderen attacked from the break at the top of the climb and had a few seconds over the break. The group of favorites, including Costa and Laurens Ten Dam, was 1 minute behind and the group of the leader was losing 1' 40''. Bjorn Leukemans had also missed the attack and could not even follow Lopez's group.
David Lopez saved his race in the flat at the top of the Col d'Eze and the subsequent descent and with 5 kilometers to go the front groups joined together to form a big group of 25 riders at the front of the race. Van Garderen's attack had not been successful but Oliver Zaugg attacked as soon as he was caught. The Swiss had 15 seconds over the group of the leader under the 5 kilometers banner. Bjorn Leukemans was chasing, 50'' behind, while Tony Gallopin, Lloyd Mondory and Kenny van Hummel were also missing from the front group.
Tejay van Garderen was determined to fight for the stage win until the last kilometer and he attacked again with 3 kilometers to go. He was within the last 2 last kilometers of the stage when he overtook Oliver Zaugg, who could not follow the pace of the American. In principle, David Lopez's win in the overall classification was now quite safe. The bonus seconds awarded at the finish line would not be enough to strip him from the yellow jersey.
The sprint started in the main group as they swallowed Oliver Zaugg back into the group. Simone Ponzi should be the quickest on paper but it was Rui Costa, David Lopez and Philippe Gilbert who were ahead with 800 meters to go. However, Tejay van Garderen still had 12 seconds of advantage and was grasping at the stage win already. Van Garderen has been working for Philippe Gilbert during the weel but today he has been very determined in trying to get himself the stage win.
Tejay van Garderen wins in Nice! The American held the lead in the last kilometer of the stage to take the win in the final stage of the Paris - Nice. It might not have been the best of the races for Van Garderen in the GC but he fought hard for the win today and he managed to take it. The sprint in the group was won by Rui Costa, but the Portuguese will have to settle for the second place in the podium of the Paris - Nice as well.
The third place in the stage was for Frank Schleck, while Jelle Vanendert and Simone Ponzi rounded up the top 5. David Lopez took the win in the Paris - Nice and he will be joined by Rui Costa and Jelle Vanendert in the podium. The Spaniard was third last year and he now adds this race to the Tour de Suisse he won in 2015 and the Volta a Catalunya he took in 2014. The overall classification was a tight business in Nice with 7 riders in 38 seconds.
The European season second race is the Tirreno - Adriatico, which takes place in Italy. The route of the race takes the riders from the West coast of the Italian peninsula to the East coast, with the race normally finishing in San Benedetto del Tronto. The terrain is very varied in that part of Italy and the organizers can come up with very different stages. The star stage this year will be the one finishing at the top of Prati di Tivo. It will be the first real test for the climbers in 2016. The race has been catalogued HC this year, but surely this is only a one time relegation in category.
The most successful rider in the race is Bauke Mollema, who is also the defending champion. However, this will be the first race of the season for the Dutch this year and it looks unlikely that he will be able to defend his win in 2014. The only Italian winner of the race was Marco Marcato but the characteristics of the race have changed considerably since he won in 2010. The locals don't really have a local to support but will enjoy the presence of the last Tour winner (Laurens Ten Dam) and the last Vuelta and Giro winner (Peter Stetina).
Favorites:
- Laurens Ten Dam (Team Cannondale - Garmin): The Cannondale leader comes from being 6th in the Paris - Nice, a race that does not fit is characteristics as well as the Tirreno - Adriatico does. The Dutch enjoys the mountains better than the hills and is not against the clock. Of course, the current winner of the Tour de France would always be among the favorites in a race such as this.
- Peter Stetina (BMC Racing Team): The American joined the select club of the multiple winners of Grand Tours last year, when he took the win in the Giro 2015. Previously, he had won the Vuelta 2014. He is probably the best climber in the World at this stage and the Tirreno - Adriatico suits him well. However, his performance in the Paris - Nice a few days ago was far for ideal. Therefore, it is difficult to say whether he will fight for the win but he must at least shine in the stage finishing in Prati di Tivo.
- Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling): Mathias Frank's first target of the season is the Tirreno - Adriatico. He is in a much weaker team but their time trial should not be that bad compared to the other favorites. Nevertheless, the rest of the race might be slightly uphill for the Swiss. If the race is close at the final time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto he might have an edge over Ten Dam and Stetina.
- Cadel Evans (Movistar Team): Evans is probably one step behind the rest of the favorites in the mountains. However, he was not in the podium of the Tour de France last year for nothing. He might have problems in the stage finishing in Chieti as he has traditionally not liked the hilly stages that much. Nevertheless, the Australian is an all rounder which will make things difficult for the main favorites for the win.
Other riders with a chance to be at the podium are Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery Channel), Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil - DMC), Robert Gesink (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Tejay van Garderen (Trek Factory Racing), Denis Menchov (Team Katusha) and Rob Ruijgh (Team LottoNL - Jumbo).
The main sprinters in the Italian race will be Ben Swift (Vacansoleil - DMC), Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Andre Greipel (Lotto - Soudal), Elia Viviani (Team Cannondale - Garmin), Simone Ponzi (Team Katusha) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing).
The Tirreno - Adriatico has started with a team time trial for a few years now, always between the towns of San Vincenzo and Donoratico. Therefore, most of the riders already know the route quite well and surprises are not very common. However, the weather is awful this year and most of the teams are set to be racing under the rain. If some team is lucky and finds dry weather they could well do better than anticipated. Nevertheless, the route is mostly straight and flat, which favors the specialists.
HTC was the first team to run and also one of the hottest favorites to take the stage win in Donoratico. However, they were not lucky in starting first today. They did not have any references of their rivals. Their squad included David Millar, Andrew Talansky and Stefan Schumacher, all good time trialists. HTC raced under the weather and their time at the finish line was a respectable, judging by the other teams intermediate checks, 21' 15''.
The second team on the road was Quickstep. The Belgians only had HTC's reference time but it was a good reference. Nevertheless, they could not match the pace of the American team in the second part of the stage and finished 7 seconds behind. It was not a massive difference and, in principle, Quickstep was not among the biggest favorites, especially as they lost Cameron Meyer to Trek this year. It is unclear who will do the GC for Quickstep, but most probably it will be the local Marco Pinotti.
Vacansoleil started the day a bit behind Quickstep with Bauke Mollema as their main rider for the GC and the defending champion of the race. However, the support he will have in the mountains will be really lacking, given that the team is built around helping Ben Swift take stage wins in the sprints. The team was not brilliant today but they managed to take the provisional 3rd place in the stage, 18 seconds behind HTC.
Trek have an incredible team when it comes to time trials and, even though some of the other riders are not that strong, having Tejay van Garderen, Michael Rogers and Cameron Meyer in your team helps massively. The American will be doing the GC, although Michael Rogers also seems to be keen on doing a good result. In today's stage they smashed the competition when they crossed the finish line 11 seconds ahead of HTC. However, Tejay van Garderen was the 6th rider over the line and lost 1 second compared to his teammates.
Sky was one of the team with an outside chance of doing a good result today but it was not really meant to be. They only managed to grab the 4th position so far, 28 seconds behind Trek. This will put them on par with Vacansoleil. Chris Froome will be racing for the first time this year so even if he is the man for the GC in the British team they are not hopeful for a massive result. The targets of the British, especially the Giro d'Italia, are still far away and he is only starting to build his shape.
Lotto should improve considerably in the team time trials this season compared to last year with George Hincapie, Bradley Wiggins and Tony Martin all coming to the Belgian team. Martin did not come to the Tirreno - Adriatico though. They started to show this improvement today as they managed to set the 4th best time as they crossed the finish line in Donoratico. They were 23 seconds slower than Trek but surely Robert Kiserlovski was much happier than last year with this kind of performance.
Tinkoff - Saxo brought Tiago Machado as leader for the Tirreno - Adriatico and were expected to do quite well in today's stage. However, they could only manage to get the 13th best time at the finish line, 33 seconds behind Trek. The Russian team was really lacklustre and, even though the gap to most of the other favorites for the race is not big, it is a bad sign about the overall strength of the team.
The last team among the ones that had options for the stage win was Ag2r. They were also the team that had a better weather and took advantage of that fact. The French team managed to take the third provisional position, 17 seconds behind Trek. Robert Gesink must be very satisfied with the result because he is going to be among the riders fighting for the GC with a better position ahead of the mountains. He will also have support from Rui Costa, a much valuable asset.
The stage was finally won by Trek, which will give the first leader's jersey to Cameron Meyer. Tejay van Garderen will have a nice gap ahead of the rest of the favorites. Among those that lost time are Mathias Frank, 30 seconds, and Rob Ruijgh, 37 seconds behind. The following two stages will be mostly for the sprinters but it seems unlikely that any of them can take the leader's jersey from Meyer.
