sutty68 wrote:
Nice win from Trek but with such a strong team of time triallists you wouldn't have expected anything else
They have three very good riders but the others in the team had to keep up with their pace. I actually thought it would be closer between them and HTC.
The trip East in the Tirreno - Adriatico starts on Thursday with a very long stage, 234 kilometers, between San Vincenzo and Indicatore. The stage is difficult in its first part, with climbs to Volterra and to Castellina in Chianti. However, the last 100 kilometers are very flat and the mass sprint should be difficult to avoid for any attackers. Most of that part will be held in a 34 kilometers long circuit in the surroundings of Indicatore and Arezzo.
The break of the day was really small today, as only Geraint Thomas (Tinkoff) and Andrea Guardini (Astana) were the attackers today. The peloton, led by Euskaltel, Vacansoleil and Cannondale, had brought back any attempt with more than 3 riders on it. In the climb to Volterra, 174 kilometers to go, the gap of the leaders to the peloton was already at the 3 minutes mark. Guardini was the first to go through the KoM sprint, increasing his chances to be the first KoM leader.
The first intermediate sprint of the day was already in the second half of the stage. Montevarchi was 95 kilometers from the finish line in Indicatore. The sprint in the main bunch was won by Ben Swift, who was quicker than Elia Viviani and Alexander Kristoff. Andre Greipel was also in the starting list but Lotto has not being involved in any chasing. The gap to the break had increased to the 6 minutes mark but it was within range for the bunch, especially with a completely flat remainder of the stage.
We had a few crashes in the Paris - Nice and the Tirreno - Adriatico was no different. The rain made an appearance in the last few kilometers around Indicatore and many riders kissed the ground. Among those involved in the crash were Alessandro Ballan, Pierre Rolland, Dries Devenyns, George Hincapie and Chris Anker Sorensen. The long stage was not enough to make the riders not that nervous to keep the positioning at the front of the pack.
The hopes of Geraint Thomas and Andrea Guardini were over with 11 kilometers to go. The peloton, led by Gorka Izagirre, Damiano Caruso and Tom Slagter was already a few seconds behind and the mass sprint seemed unavoidable at this stage. The peloton had only 100 riders surviving after many riders lost track with the peloton after the crash. Cameron Meyer was holding on without problems. Among those that were most affected by the crash were Beñat Intxausti, Alois Kankovsky and Julian Alaphilippe, who had to retire from the race.
Only two teams managed to form a sprint train. Euskaltel had Greg van Avermaet leading Alexander Kristoff, while Mark Renshaw was right behind the Norwegian. On the left hand side of the road, Vacansoleil has Robbie McEwen ahead of Ben Swift. Bernhard Eisel was behind Swift but he does not seem to be capable of fighting in a mass sprint. Andre Greipel, Simone Ponzi and Giacomo Nizzolo were well positioned. Meanwhile, Cannondale could not form a sprint train and Elia Viviani was too far behind in the group.
Ben Swift apparently started the final sprint way too early, more than 1 kilometer away from the finish line. However, he was leading the way at that stage, while Alexander Kristoff was still behind Greg van Avermaet. Mark Renshaw was taking advantage of the good lead-out by Van Avermaet to still have a shot at the stage. Andre Greipel seems to be the rider making progress from those in a second tier in the final sprint. On the other hand, Elia Viviani lacked the correct positioning before the sprint and was paying dearly for that.
Ben Swift was holding on to the lead very nicely and with 500 meters to go Alexander Kristoff was far behind the British. Today's stage was really hard, 234 kilometers are a considerable distance even if the pace is slow. Mark Renshaw was behind Kristoff but did not seem to have the legs to overtake the Norwegian, while Ben Eisel was in the fourth place, almost on par with Matthew Goss, who was close to the barriers on the left hand side of the road.
Ben Swift wins in Indicatore! The British was far stronger than the competition in the final sprint and easily took his 2nd stage win of the year in the first long stage in the Tirreno - Adriatico. This is a very good sign for the British ahead of the Milano - Sanremo, which will be raced next week, and where Swift was already in the podium 2 years ago. Alexander Kristoff held on to the second place but would have needed much more to get the win today.
The third place in the stage went to Mark Renshaw, ahead of Bernhard Eisel and Simone Ponzi, who completed the top 5. Among those that lost time at the finish line were Dries Devenyns, Pierre Rolland and Vincenzo Nibali, all of them 6 minutes behind. Their chances of a good GC are effectively over. However, all of the main favorites for the race managed to avoid the crash and the show will probably not suffer too much when we get to the difficult stages.
The last time we had our focus in David Lopez it was 2013 and his contract with Euskaltel was about to run out. The Giro was looking good and he had just been in the podium of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. However, he had never won a stage race and his career was on the tipping point between been a GC contender or just a good climber. The final podium in the Giro confirmed that Lopez was on the verge of becoming a very good rider.
Since 2013, David Lopez became the marquee rider for Euskaltel. He managed to be third in the 2013 World Tour rankings, 2nd in 2014 and 4th in 2015. These results tell a lot regarding the Spaniard's performances. Lopez has been especially good in the week-long races, where he accumulates 3 wins. The first one was the 2014 Volta a Catalunya, which was a very dominant win. He put 58 seconds between himself and 2nd place rider Peter Stetina. Last year he managed to take the win in the Tour de Suisse, his best win of his career so far. It was a very contested affair against Mathias Frank. However, even though the win in the Tour de Suisse marked him as a candidate for the win in the Tour de France, he could not get in the podium of the race.
The failure to get in the podium of the Tour de France last year confirmed that Lopez is not as good in Grand Tours as he is in 1 week races. It is not arguable that he had great results, including podiums in the Giro 2013 and Vuelta 2014. However, it looks like he will only be able to take the overall win in a Grand Tour if his rivals fail. David Lopez is already 31 and he is not going to get any younger so he should start thinking about winning a Grand Tour sooner than later. His main goal this season is the Vuelta, where he will be one of the favorites for the win again.
2016 could not have started better for the Euskaltel rider. He took his third win in a GC in his career after taking the Paris - Nice. The race was very tight but he managed to finish 5 seconds ahead of Rui Costa. This is the last year of his contract and will be looking to improve on the terms he signed almost 3 years ago. This is the 7th season with the Basque outfit and another contract with them might see him finish his career in the team that saw him become the best Spanish rider.
The riders will start in Indicatore today, where yesterday's stage finished. The stage will probably be one for the sprinters again, given that there are only a couple of difficulties with around 50 kilometers to go, most notably the climb to Todi, followed by a few kilometers in roads that do not favor the chasing of a big group. However, it does not seem to be enough to prevent the teams of the sprinters to control the race.
Some teams seemed determined to control the main group again today and the group that was allowed to break away was rather small. It was formed of 4 riders: Alessandro Ballan (BMC), Michal Kwiatkowski (IAM), Chris Anker Sorensen (Tinkoff) and Filippo Pozzato (Quickstep). They got to the sprint in Fratta Todina, which was 66 kilometers from the finish line, with a gap of 4' 30'' over the main bunch. Ben Swift beat Simone Ponzi and Alexander Kristoff in the bunch. The pace setting was a task mostly for Euskaltel today, although Vacansoleil was also willing to collaborate.
The climb to Todi was not far after the second intermediate sprint, its top 48 kilometers from the finish line in Terni. Rob Ruijgh was surprisingly interested in collecting KoM points and jumped from the bunch without opposition to grab a few points. Cannondale had started to put riders at the front of the bunch at that point, including Fabian Cancellara and Matti Breschel, and the gap had come down to 3' 30''. The roads following the climb were not easy for the peloton but they looked in control.
The riders in the break were of very high quality, including the former World Champion Alessandro Ballan. That meant that with 9 kilometers to go they were still ahead of the main group with a gap of 25 seconds. However, good flat riders like Fabian Cancellara and Tom van Asbroeck were leading the chase. At that point, Chris Anker Sorensen attacked from the front group and dragged Filippo Pozzato with him. The move seemed to be a little bit desperate as the gap was being closed rapidly by the main peloton.
Three sprint trains were fairly matched with 3 kilometers to go in the third stage of the Tirreno - Adriatico. Vacansoleil was slightly ahead as Robbie McEwen was ready to lead out yesterday's winner, Ben Swift. Euskaltel had Greg van Avermaet ready to work for Alexander Kristoff, while Giacomo Nizzolo was following the Norwegian's wheel. Slightly behind was the Cannondale train, with Theo Bos working for Elia Viviani. Other sprinters that were very well positioned were Andre Greipel, Mark Renshaw and Bernhard Eisel.
Robbie McEwen did a perfect lead out for Ben Swift, who waited a bit longer to emerge from the wheel of hi teammate today. He seems to be either timing it better or he does not have the legs he had yesterday. They were also dragging Giacomo Nizzolo right behind his rear wheel, a nuisance that the British would have to endure. Theo Bos was also making good progress leading Elia Viviani, but Euskaltel's train was a bit behind and losing track. Among the other sprinters, Andre Greipel was much better positioned than he usually is.
Elia Viviani had the lead of the sprint with 500 meters to go after starting the final sprint ahead of Ben Swift. However, they were both really close and there was not much to choose between them. Other riders were really close, starting with Viviani's lead out man, Theo Bos, who was fading but was still ahead of Giacomo Nizzolo and Bernhard Eisel. There were many riders also making progress from behind and very close to the front, most notably Andre Greipel and Mark Renshaw.
Ben Swift wins in Terni! This is the second win in a row for the British sprinter. Swift was marginally faster than Elia Viviani, who lost the stage by less than half a wheel. The sprinters will probably have no further opportunities in the Tirreno - Adriatico but the balance for Swift has to be outstanding. He also built a good lead in the points' jersey that he will have to maintain in the next days. Viviani was very frustrated after the stage, given the small margin between the two.
The third place went to Andre Greipel, who was also quite close to taking the stage win today. The top 5 was completed by Mark Renshaw and Giacomo Nizzolo. Cameron Meyer easily retained the leader's jersey and tomorrow he will have the first serious test in the Tirreno, 246 kilometers to Chieti in a very hilly stage that will put a test on all the favorites for the final win in the GC.
The stages for the sprinters are over in the 2016 Tirreno - Adriatico and the puncheurs and the Ardennes riders will have a chance in the 4th stage. The stage will take the riders from Amelia to Chieti through a very long 246 kilometers, which will put a big stress in the riders this early in the season. It will be a good training for the upcoming Milano - Sanremo. The only categorized climb of the day will be the Sella di Corno, but there will be other small climbs towards the end of the day, including the Valico della Forchetta, Bucchianico and the double climb to Chieti.
The break of the day was on the small side, especially considering the characteristics of the stage. Only 4 riders formed the front group: Tom Boonen (Sky), Jan Barta (Lampre), Danny van Poppel (LottoNL) and Yoann Offredo (Astana). They got to the Sella di Corno (148 kilometers to go) with a considerable gap over the main bunch: 10' 30''. Nevertheless, they still had more than half of the stage to go. Marco Marcato was leading the group for BMC but there were many teams interested in controlling the break, especially as there are not many chances to win in the Italian race.
An intermediate group was formed in the last few kilometers of the climb to the Sella di Corno. They were still 1 minute ahead of the main bunch at the sprint in L'Aquila, 129 kilometers to the finish line. The 4 riders were Stefano Garzelli, Jonathan Hivert, Maxime Vantomme and the leader of the KoM classification, Andrea Guardini. In the sprint for the last couple of points in the peloton it was again Ben Swift who took the lead. There were few points on offer but Swift does not want to take any chances.
The biggest climb close to the finish line was the Valico della Forchetta. Its top was only 37 kilometers from the finish line and, even though the intermediate group had been reeled back in, there were no attacks from the peloton in its slopes. It seemed like the many small climbs remaining would provide a better opportunity for the favorites. IAM and Cannondale were chasing harder and had reduced the gap to the early break to 2' 45''. With more than 200 kilometers already in their legs, many riders were disconnecting from the stage and saving energies for other stages.
Mathias Frank was the first among the favorites to start the attacks towards the final part of the stage. The IAM rider attacked with 20 kilometers to go, in the climb to Bucchianico. It was a short but quite steep climb. Other riders, like Rui Costa and Simone Ponzi, tried to follow but did not make it. However, it was Emanuele Sella who seemed to be closing the gap. However, Peter Sagan was leading the chase in the group of the leader. As many as 70 riders were still at that group. Meanwhile, Tom Boonen seemed to be suffering in the break.
Tom Boonen was not looking good at the climb to Bucchianico but he recovered and actually joined forces with Yoann Offredo to leave the others behind in the flat section towards Chieti. The final part of the stage was a double climb to the town were the stage finished, the second one especially steep. The two riders at the front still had a chance, as they had 1 minute with 8 kilometers remaining. However, Laurens Ten Dam attacked at the bottom of the penultimate climb and that was not good news for them. Trek still had a few riders to control this attempt.
The favorites increased the pace a lot in the first climb to Chieti and the break was reeled back in before the top of the climb. A very small group of 4 riders formed at the top of the climb: Laurens Ten Dam, Emanuele Sella, Mathias Frank and Hubert Dupont. They had built a gap of 25 seconds over the bunch with 5 kilometers to go, half of them downhill. Simone Ponzi and Andrew Talansky were leading the chase in the group of the leader. Meanwhile, Cameron Meyer was holding on quite well in that group but Trek had lost many riders in the climb.
The descent of the first hill was very quick but it was long enough to allow another 4 riders to join the group at the front: Andrew Talansky, Peter Stetina, Robert Kiserlovski and Simone Ponzi. They had approximately 35 seconds on the group of the leader with 2 kilometers to go. The last climb was very hard, but the hardest section was soon in the climb, with the last kilometer of the stage a bit gentler. It was difficult to name a favorite for the stage, maybe Laurens Ten Dam. Among those in the front group, Andrew Talansky was the best placed in the GC, 10 seconds behind.
Emanuele Sella was the strongest in the toughest part of the final climb in Chieti and reached the last kilometer with a tiny gap of 7 seconds ahead of Peter Stetina, Hubert Dupont, Mathias Frank and Laurens Ten Dam. The Italian already won the Fleche Wallonne in this manner last year and could well become the king of the uphill finishes. His gap looks good enough and his teammate Peter Stetina is taking care of the rest of the riders in the break to benefit Sella.
Emanuele Sella wins in Chieti! The Italian is the rather surprising winner in the fourth stage of the Tirreno - Adriatico, given the competition that he had to face. Sella is among the best in the World when a stage finishes in an uphill finish and takes his first win of the year. BMC had a perfect day, given that Peter Stetina led the chasing group, 10 seconds behind Sella. However, not everything was joy for the Italian as he missed on the leader's jersey by only 1 second.
The new leader will be Andrew Talansky, who made it home in Stetina's group. Other riders in that group were the third placed, Laurens Ten Dam, ahead of Simone Ponzi, Mathias Frank, Hubert Dupont and Rui Costa. Cameron Meyer held on quite well but ended up losing 55 seconds today. He finished a bit behind another group of riders that are favorites in the GC, which crossed the line 33 seconds behind Sella. The GC is still very tight ahead of tomorrow's mountain-top finish at Prati di Tivo.
After the marathon yesterday on the way to Chieti, the riders face the queen stage of the Tirreno - Adriatico today. The stage starts close to the Adriatic Sea, in Martinsicuro, and finishes at the top of Prati di Tivo. The last climb is preceded by another big climb, Piano Roseto. All in all, the almost 200 kilometers will be a proper test for the Grand Tour riders. Andrew Talansky and Emanuele Sella will have to take care of each other but also quite a few other riders that will have a chance today.
Many riders tried to get in the break of the day, so it took as many as 50 kilometers to have a break settle at the front. It was not until the first slopes of the first categorized climb of the day, Atri, that the peloton slowed down. The resulting group had 8 riders, including Geraint Thomas (Tinkoff), Oscar Freire (Lampre), Davide Rebellin (Astana), Tom Slagter (Cannondale) and Jose Rujano (Quickstep). Geraint Thomas managed to beat Jonathan Hivert for the KoM points and he will probably get the KoM jersey at the end of the day. Their gap was around 3' 30'' at that point but IAM and HTC were setting a pace in the pack not to let it grow too much.
The first intermediate sprint was placed in Teramo, 62 kilometers from the finish line. The sprinters did not even care about the few points on offer, given that Ben Swift has basically clinched the points' jersey for the race. Tanel Kangert was the first to go through in the main bunch wearing the best young rider jersey. He was followed by Astana riders, who were disrupting the pace of the bunch, given that they have Davide Rebellin at front. The break had a gap of 5 minutes but they had lost Arthur Vichot due to a crash and he was about to be caught by the bunch.
The crucial part of the stage started 47 kilometers away from the finish line, where the climb to the Piano Roseto starts. Halfway through that climb the break was still ahead of the bunch but the gap had decreased dramatically to a mere 45 seconds. There were a few well known riders trying to break in this climb, including Jean-Christophe Peraud, Rob Ruijgh and Michele Scarponi. However, HTC and BMC were determined to control the race and Juanjo Cobo had been given orders to work for Andrew Talansky. The Spaniard was maintaining a good pace that prevented any attacks from being successful.
Rein Taaramae was the first rider at the top of the Piano Roseto, followed by Cadel Evans and Tanel Kangert. HTC is controlling the race with an iron hand but there are still as many as 70 riders at the leader's group. Juanjo Cobo had to bring back a lot of attacks back, including Bauke Mollema and Cadel Evans, and is showing that he can be a team player with a very selfless performance. The main favorites have not appeared so far as the differences are very small in the GC and they don't need to attack from far out.
Tiago Machado attacked in the descent and managed to get to the bottom of the climb to Prati di Tivo with a gap of 35 seconds over the group of the favorites. The Portuguese was 3 minutes behind in the GC, so he had a bigger margin and other teams did not have a need to bring him back. The most difficult part of the climb to Prati di Tivo are the first few kilometers but it would be surprising to see anyone open a significant gap with many riders still in the peloton.
Robert Kiserlovski attacked at the bottom of the climb and managed to open a gap of 30 seconds over the group of the favorites but he was eventually reeled back in. Juanjo Cobo placed himself at the front of the group again, followed by Emanuele Sella and Andrew Talansky, who are closely following each other in the first part of the climb. The group is getting smaller as the kilometers go by and the only important rider to have lost contact is Denis Menchov, probably suffering from yesterday's crash.
The attacks were more serious just before crossing the 5 kilometers mark. A group of 5 riders had a margin of a few seconds over the group of the leader: Robert Gesink, Rob Ruijgh, Chris Froome, Jean-Christophe Peraud and Cadel Evans. Juanjo Cobo had to finally give up chasing as Peter Stetina took the lead of the group not to allow the attackers to open a significant gap. It seems like the American has agreed to help Emanuele Sella, which is a doubtful strategy given the Italian skills for the final time trial. Meanwhile, Simone Ponzi and Cameron Meyer are already suffering to keep contact with the group.
A few other attacks took place in the following kilometers but the single attack that broke the group of the leader to pieces was the one from Hubert Dupont. The French rider managed to open a gap and still had 12 seconds with 2 kilometers to the top of Prati di Tivo. He was only 17 seconds behind in the GC. Peter Stetina was still controlling the pace of the chasers, followed by Emanuele Sella, Andrew Talansky and Mathias Frank. Rui Costa was struggling to hold on to the group, while others like Bauke Mollema and Simone Ponzi had cracked and were losing 1' 30'' already.
Hubert Dupont was still ahead when Laurens Ten Dam attacked with 1.5 kilometers to go. The Dutch could not be followed by anyone in the leader's group and flied past Dupont. At the 700 meters mark he had built a gap of 17 seconds over the group of the leader, led by Hubert Dupont, Emanuele Sella, Tejay van Garderen and Michele Scarponi. If he maintained that gap, he would be a threat to the leader's jersey of Andrew Talansky. The next group on the road, 40 seconds behind, included Marco Pinotti, Chris Froome and Robert Gesink.
Laurens Ten Dam wins in Prati di Tivo! It was enough for the Dutch to attack as the riders were almost seeing the flame rouge to take the stage win in the queen stage of the Tirreno - Adriatico. Ten Dam managed to get a gap of 12 seconds over a group led by Emanuele Sella and Peter Stetina. Hubert Dupont and Tejay van Garderen were the only other riders at that 12 seconds gap. Meanwhile, Andrew Talansky crossed the finish line 33 seconds behind the winner and lost the leader's jersey.
At the end of the day Emanuele Sella inherited the blue jersey from Andrew Talansky but his gap is only 2 seconds over Laurens Ten Dam. This is clearly not enough for the Italian, who is expected to lose a good chunk of time in the last time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto. Tejay van Garderen will also be a threat in that time trial as the American is only 16 seconds behind and could well recover that amount of time even though the stage is really short.
With only 2 stages remaining the Tirreno - Adriatico is as interesting as it has ever been. The GC is not very clear after the queen stage finishing at the top of the Prati di Tivo and the hills riders and puncheurs will have a chance today of taking the stage win. The route takes the riders around the small town of Offida. There is a big loop that will take almost half the stage followed by a small circuit including the climb to the Ponte di Pietra.
It was fairly easy to form the break of the day and, surprisingly, not many riders wanted to join even if they have a good chance of making it to the finish line. The group of 6 riders included Michael Albasini (IAM), Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lotto), Yoann Offredo (Astana), David Millar (HTC) and Pavel Brutt (Katusha). They had built a gap of 7 minutes with 103 kilometers to go. Offredo was chasing KoM points but he was late to arrive at the break at did not get maximum points at the first climb. It also looked like LottoNL and IAM were not willing to allow a big gap to be built and they had a few riders working.
The climb to the Ponte di Pietra was only valid for the KoM classification only once, with a bit more than 3 laps to go. Yoann Offredo was the first at the top but the points were not enough to catch Geraint Thomas and the British was effectively the winner of the mountain's jersey. LottoNL and IAM were still chasing but they had burnt many riders and the gap had decreased to 3' 35''. Roman Kreuziger was leading the bunch at this stage followed by Anthony Roux and Romain Bardet. The BMC riders were happy that other teams were controlling the race.
The early break still had chances to get the stage win as they still had a gap of 3' 30'' with 20 kilometers to go. They were still together but Michael Albasini and Marcus Burghardt were giving signs of tiredness and looked about to be dropped. It is unclear whether LottoNL and IAM were not chasing hard anymore. It could be that they had burnt most of their riders or they might have been controlling the gap considering that Pave Brutt was only 4' 36'' behind in the GC.
Mathias Frank surprised many riders when he attacked on the penultimate climb to the Ponte di Pietra. This attacked triggered a few others to follow and the leader reacted and made contact with those when they crossed the finish line with 16 kilometers to go. The group of 6 also included Simone Ponzi and Hubert Dupont. Chris Froome and Tejay van Garderen were in between this group and the peloton, where other important riders like Laurens Ten Dam and Rui Costa had stayed. They were losing around 45 seconds.
Cannondale, HTC and Quickstep were chasing hard but the circuit was not good for an organized peloton and they were even losing time to the group of the leader. With 5 kilometers to go that gap had been increased to 1' 10''. Meanwhile, Michael Albasini had an advantage of 1' 05'' to Sella's group. The Swiss had launched what seemed like a desperate attack but was holding on before the last climb of the day. He had 20 seconds over his fellow escapees, which would probably not be enough.
Michael Albasini was surprisingly strong in the last climb to the Ponte di Pietra and held a lead of almost 40 seconds over his chasers. The Swiss was clearly faking and taking advantage of his teammate chasing in the bunch not to do any work in the break. The worry for him is that the group of the leader had caught up to his fellow escapees and he still had around 1 kilometer of climbing to do. The GC might be a bit clearer after today, exactly what Emanuele Sella needed given that Stefano Garzelli was leading the pack but was not able to cut back the lead.
The riders in the main bunch started to get a bit desperate and Rui Costa attacked in the final part of the Ponte di Pietra to try and limit the losses in the GC. He was followed by Andrew Talansky but their chances of cutting the gap back were effectively over at that point. Simone Ponzi also attacked at the chasers group right at the top of the climb and managed to open a gap to go chasing Michael Albasini. The Swiss was still holding on to the lead with 2 kilometers to go but would need to suffer to take the win.
Simone Ponzi managed to get to Michael Albasini with 700 meters to go and he looks unstoppable as he goes for the win in Offida. It seems unlikely that the Swiss can match the sprinting abilities of the Katusha rider after a whole day in the break. They had 15 seconds over the chasers group, led by Emanuele Sella, Rob Ruijgh and Yoann Offredo. It was clear at this point that there was going to be a significant gap between the group of the leader and the chasers, which might play in Sella's favor tomorrow.
Simone Ponzi wins in Offida! The Italian was outstanding in the final kilometers of the stage to secure his second win of the season, following the one he got in the Paris - Nice. Ponzi showed his credentials ahead of the Milano - Sanremo that will take place on Sunday. Michael Albasini had no response for the final sprint of the Katusha rider and had to settle for the 2nd place in the stage. Nevertheless, it is a good achievement for the Swiss. Emanuele Sella was third and was awarded the same time as the winner, followed by Rob Ruijgh and Pavel Brutt.
The group with the rest of the favorites lost 1' 08'', a very big difference considering the gaps that had been opened in the GC so far. The group was led by Rui Costa, followed by Alexander Kristoff and Peter Stetina. Even if Sella is not such a good rider against the clock it will be hard for Hubert Dupont to gain 20 seconds on him in tomorrow's time trial. However, the race is not over and there are quite a few positions to be gained or lost.
Stage 7: San Benedetto del Tronto - San Benedetto del Tronto (ITT)
The Tirreno - Adriatico will finish with a time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto. This final of the race has been very common lately. Tejay van Garderen took the win 2 years ago over the same route with Bauke Mollema as winner of the General Classification. The time trial is only 9 kilometers long, which means that Emanuele Sella has the race almost in the bag thanks to his 20 seconds lead over Hubert Dupont. However, the Italian is not the best against the clock and there could be surprises today.
Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) started very early in the day, given that he was 116th in the GC before today. The Euskaltel rider is very good in the prologues and has even won now and then. The last of those was the prologue of the 2015 Tour de Romandie in Ascona. This time trial might be a bit long for him but he still set the first reference time. He improved on Samuel Sanchez's time by 28 seconds. A top 10 might be in the cards for the Norwegian.
David Millar (HTC) seemed to have been saving energy for today's stage. The British crossed the finish line taking 19 seconds off the time set earlier by Alexander Kristoff. Millar was 48th before the stage, so it would be irrelevant in terms of the GC but he set a time that would most probably be in the hunt for the stage win. His fiercer rival would probably be the World Champion, Cameron Meyer. The weather seemed like a non issue today as the sun was shining and the wind was very calm in the Adriatic coast.
The World Champion, Cameron Meyer (Trek), was 23rd in the GC before the stage. The Australian had worn the leader's jersey early in the race but could not hold it through the hills and mountains of the weekend. He was the big favorite to take the stage win today but could not deliver and had to settle for the 2nd provisional place, 7 seconds behind David Millar. The first time trial of the year will finish with a defeat for Meyer but his targets for the season are a bit further away.
The European ITT Champion, Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery), was just outside of the top 15 before today's time trial. Peraud had a very good day last year in the National Championships but has never been able to repeat such a good performance. Nevertheless, today he took the 3rd provisional place in the GC 15 seconds behind David Millar. In the end that would serve him to get ahead of Cadel Evans and take the 15th final position in the GC.
Trek has an outstanding team of time trialists. Michael Rogers is normally behind Cameron Meyer and Tejay van Garderen but had a very good week of racing and found himself 12th in the GC before the final stage. The time trial was also quite good for him and he managed to get the provisional 4th place, 16 seconds behind. Rogers will typically be carrying out domestique tasks this season but might well find himself performing in the stage races with time trials.
The fight for the podium started with Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale), who was 5th before today's stage. The current winner of the Tour de France is generally not bad against the clock but might suffer a bit today against much better time trialists. His time today was 23rd provisionally when he crossed the finish line, 34 seconds behind David Millar. It was not a bad time but Tejay van Garderen was very quick and moved ahead of the Dutch in the general classification. The American might even have a shot at the podium today.
Robert Kiserlovski (Lotto) has had a few good results in his career but has not managed to get that breakthrough result. His best result was the 2nd place in the 2013 Tour de Suisse. His biggest liability is the time trialing and today was not much better for him. He took the 62nd place as he crossed the finish line, 50 seconds behind Millar. That meant a loss of 3 positions in the GC for the Croatian, who would most likely finish 7th overall as even Rob Ruijgh got ahead of him.
Mathias Frank (IAM) started the day in the podium and was probably the best rider against the clock among the top 3. However, the gaps in front of him seemed a bit too much for him to be able to gain any positions in the GC. Nevertheless, he managed to get the 27th provisional place, 36 seconds behind David Millar. That put him comfortably ahead of Tejay van Garderen in the GC with a margin of 17 seconds. With this result Frank got his first podium of the season in a stage race. He got two last year, in the Tour de Suisse and the win in Pais Vasco.
Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel) knew that he had to give all he had in him to try to win the Tirreno - Adriatico. The French's last major win was the 2010 Vuelta, so it has been quite a while since he enjoyed a stage race win. He had a shot today only because Emanuele Sella is rather poor against the clock, otherwise the 20 seconds difference would be too much to make up for in 9 kilometers. As he crossed the line he took the 23rd place, 34 seconds behind Millar.
The last rider on the road was obviously Emanuele Sella (BMC). It was quite surprising to see the Italian in this position ahead of the last stage of the race, given that Peter Stetina was the logical choice as leader for BMC. Nevertheless, the Italian got the push of riding at home and Stetina has proved many times that he can also work for his teammates if needed. When he crossed the finish line, Emanuele Sella was 64th, 50 seconds slower than David Millar in only 9 kilometers, but fast enough to claim the overall win in the Tirreno - Adriatico.
The final gap in the GC was only 4 seconds on Hubert Dupont and 33 on Mathias Frank but Sella will surely not care about that. This is his first win in a stage race in his career, a major achievement for the 28 year old. Tejay van Garderen was the rider that improved the most in the TT and took the 4th place overall. Another point of attention in the Tirreno - Adriatico is always the preparation for the Milano - Sanremo, raced on Sunday. Simone Ponzi was the rider that looked best in that sense. He is the current winner and most likely will be the top favorite in the race.
The Milano - Sanremo comes back to the calendar after not making an appearance in 2015 but there has been an agreement among the organizers and the World Tour and the monuments will all be raced every year from 2016 onwards. The route has been slightly changed compared to the race 2 years ago as the climb to La Manie has been suppressed, giving the sprinters a better chance of succeeding in the final part of the race. In principle the favorites should only make an appearance on the last two climbs: the Cipressa and the Poggio di Sanremo. However, the previous 270 kilometers are not worth anything as there will probably be teams interested in a high pace.
The Italians have dominated the race in the last few years with wins from Filippo Pozzato and Simone Ponzi. The only foreigner to win since the World Tour started was Jakob Fuglsang. Other riders have also been prominent in the race, like Yauheni Hutarovich, who took the third position of the podium in the last two editions. He will be in Milano again this year but his form seems to have faded a little bit last year. Among the favorites, Simone Ponzi has stated that he would be very keen on being the first rider to win in Sanremo twice.
Favorites:
- Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel - Euskadi): Alexander Kristoff emerged as one of the top sprinters last season. However, the Norwegian is a bit more than the typical pure sprinter and that will give him an edge when tackling the Milano - Sanremo. In principle, he is one of the favorites with the highest stamina and that is a key issue in the almost 300 kilometers that the riders will have to cover before the fininsh line.
- Lloyd Mondory (Etixx - Quickstep): Although a much better cobbler, Mondory is a fairly similar rider to Alexander Kristoff. As the Norwegian, he also has experience winning classics as the 2015 Gent - Wevelgem. It will be interesting to see how both of them fare against the puncheurs in the Cipressa and the Poggio. If they manage to stay in touch with the front group they will be major favorites.
- Simone Ponzi (Team Katusha): Simone Ponzi has shined in the Tirreno - Adriatico, especially in the stage finishing in Offida, and is widely considered the favorite to take the win in the Milano - Sanremo. The Italian already won 2 years ago and is currently the defending champion of the race. He is by far the best rider over the hills among the sprinters and is even a rider that can do well in the Ardennes, so he will most likely make a move either in the Cipressa or the Poggio to try to eliminate as many sprinters as possible.
- Ben Swift (Vacansoleil - DMC): Swift has already won 3 times this season and took the points' jersey in the Tirreno - Adriatico. However, the British needs a race with a lower pace over the hills. The removal of the climb to La Manie clearly benefits him as other teams could have increased the pace over that climb to put him into trouble. Nevertheless, Swift is not a Mark Cavendish or an Elia Viviani so he will not be that easy to drop.
Other riders with a chance to be at the podium are Tyler Farrar (Tinkoff - Saxo), Marcel Kittel (Astana Pro Team), Andre Greipel and Michael Matthews (Lotto - Soudal), Kenny van Hummel (Team LottoNL - Jumbo) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing).
