Hey guys,
third attempt. Liege-Bastogne-Liege. La Doyenne. The biggest of the hilly classics. Finally the top 10 we want?
201 km of up and down towards Ans felt much faster than the previous classics. The break had absolutely no chance, and they were already caught when the peloton splitted up on the Redoute over 30 km before the line.
I found myself far back in agroup with some strong names, highly notable Alaphilippe & Sagan. Nike chased hard for Julien, but sturggled to bring the group back to the fore. With 10 km to go the race looked already lost, as our group got smaller and smaller and finally Alaphilippe let fly.
That brought the following race situation:
Leader: van der Poel, Kwiatkowski (1.9 to go)
Chase 1: Martin, Valverde, Meintjes, Alaphilippe 13"
Chase 2: Teuns 1"22
Chase 3: Thomas, Wellens, Benoot, Mollema, Matthews, Contador, Aru and me
Tim Wellens was pacing our group for Tiesj this time.
But the gap was too big, the six in front fought for the victory, once again with the best end for Mathieu. He finished first in front of Kwiatek and Martin.
I came in at the end of our group, 13th at the end.
Not really disappointing, but not what I hoped for at all.
1
Mathieu van der Poel
Tinkoff-Saxo
6h31'53
2
Michał Kwiatkowski
Nike
s.t.
3
Daniel Martin
Team Cannondale - Garmin
s.t.
4
Julian Alaphilippe
Nike
s.t.
5
Alejandro Valverde
Desigual
s.t.
6
Louis Meintjes
TEAM Touch Africa
s.t.
7
Dylan Teuns
Lotto Soudal
+ 1'53
8
Tiesj Benoot
Lotto Soudal
+ 2'24
9
Fabio Aru
Team Giant-Alpecin
s.t.
10
Michael Matthews
FDJ
s.t.
13
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
s.t.
To put it in a nutshell you need some luck if you are not the strongest. I didn´t had the needed luck and honestly there were ten riders stronger than me every ardennes classic. Nothing to shame on though on my World Tour comeback year, next year I will be here again, stronger than before.
Upcoming now is the Tour de Romandie just two days ahead.
Bis bald, Andy
Spoiler
Dunbar won the Fleche, sry my mind told me something other...
Hey guys,
it´s the Romandie coming up with the Giro shining on the horizon. The last test before my Grand Tour comeback.
Starting up was a team time trial, something I was fear of looking at our squad. Tinkoff-Saxo was the strongest; we only lost 30 seconds, which was better than we expected.
The hilly second stage was hilly with a flat finish. Santambrogio was in the break for us, so I could sit back with the riders protecting me. As Santambrogio got dropped Howes attacked for us, but he also wasn´t sucessful.
26,6 km before the finishing line the attack came from me, right at the bottom of the climb.
Astana chased for Froome, but the man who brought me back was Kreuziger. He attacked than with yellow jersey and teammate Fuglsang, firstly I was the only man who could follow. We also got brought back, but Tinkoff wasn´t done yet. Nibali went on the attack for Fuglsang, and they came over the peak first with an advantage of a minute. They got brought back very late on the flat, but I had trouble following the horrendous pace on the last 15 flat kms. I finally lost contact and a minute to the group of twenty;
Froome won the sprint, the other podium places were taken by Swiss riders, Reichenbach and Frank.
A tough day for me, GC ambitions got kind of a hit from this day. But I´m here to fight, I´m here for the competition and that´s what you will see from me the next days at the Romandie!
On stage 3 Oliveira went into the break for us. In the meantime Simon Spilak was in yellow for Tinkoff, with the teammates Kreuziger, Fuglsang and Nibali on time. What a strong team Oleg sent here...
The breakaway sadly had no chance today as the wind crushed this hilly stage. There were groups all over the place on a stage where I didn´t expect time gaps (as last stage, which proved me wrong). I was early behind, in a group with Adam Yates and many others. He jumped away and sucessfully made the jump onto the first group ehile I made my effort two late. I could overtake a lot of riders and finish tenth at the end of the day, but still had remarkable timegaps to the front (including winner Vanendert) and the back (including Froome).
Spoiler
1
Jelle Vanendert
Lotto Soudal
4h06'19
2
Ben Swift
Bwin
s.t.
3
Dominik Nerz
Orica-GreenEDGE
s.t.
4
Vincenzo Nibali
Tinkoff-Saxo
s.t.
5
Bauke Mollema
Bwin
s.t.
6
Romain Bardet
Ag2r La Mondiale
s.t.
7
Jakob Fuglsang
Tinkoff-Saxo
s.t.
8
Davide Villella
Team Cannondale - Garmin
s.t.
9
Adam Yates
Orica-GreenEDGE
s.t.
10
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
+ 59
12
Roman Kreuziger
Tinkoff-Saxo
s.t.
13
Matthias Frank
Sprite
+ 1'37
17
Tejay Van Garderen
Bwin
+ 1'57
20
Simon Spilak
Tinkoff-Saxo
s.t.
23
Rigoberto Urán
Desigual
s.t.
24
Simon Yates
Bwin
s.t.
25
Kenny Elissonde
Rusal
s.t.
29
Pierre Rolland
FDJ
s.t.
36
Chris Froome
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Stage 4 was not that huge, a break went away and the hills were ridden realy slow. 10 minutes down on the six man break with winner Koen Bouwman the peloton came in; I finished tenth and Willy on P8.
The fifth stage was the ultimate day for the GC, with a mountain top finish in Champex-Lac. Starting the day I was fifteenth 2"30 down. It should be Nibali (who was in yellow now) against Froome, with many riders having chances to scratch for places. But the peloton let a strong group wenting away, Poels and Purito most notably and Howes for us. Poels, as Rodriguez unly 7 minutes down, were virtually in yellow for a long time, when Tinkoff put on the pressure for Nibali. Roman Kreuziger completely destroyed the peloton on the penultimate climb, so that Nibali could go solo all the way. I found myself in a group of six chasing (Frank, Fuglsang, Uran, Nerz, Rolland), Chris Froome was down on us already. Poels was victorious at the end with a slight advantage on Nibali and Purito, our group came in with small gaps and Didier from the break in between. Despite Rolland, who could go away from us. Froome finished another two minutes down on us, and coming in eigth I already lost four and a half minutes on Nibali.
1
Wout Poels
Orica-GreenEDGE
4h28'52
2
Vincenzo Nibali
Tinkoff-Saxo
+ 33
3
JoaquÃm RodrÃguez
Rusal
+ 49
4
Pierre Rolland
FDJ
+ 3'13
5
Rigoberto Urán
Desigual
+ 4'36
6
Dominik Nerz
Orica-GreenEDGE
+ 4'51
7
Matthias Frank
Sprite
s.t.
8
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
+ 5'10
9
Laurent Didier
Sprite
+ 5'22
10
Jakob Fuglsang
Tinkoff-Saxo
s.t.
11
Chris Froome
Astana Pro Team
+ 7'36
Before the closing Time Trial of 18 kilometers I went up to seventh in GC now. There I had a decent day, losing only 17 seconds to victorious Ludvigsson (Phonak) in Lausanne.
Nibali was the big dominator of this Tour, losing time nowhere. Behind him there was Dominik Nerz, my former teammate who had a great time in the Romandie and Nibalis man Jakob Fuglsang.
1
Vincenzo Nibali
Tinkoff-Saxo
17h29'37
2
Dominik Nerz
Orica-GreenEDGE
+ 4'45
3
Jakob Fuglsang
Tinkoff-Saxo
+ 5'05
4
Matthias Frank
Sprite
+ 6'43
5
Pierre Rolland
FDJ
+ 6'46
6
Wout Poels
Orica-GreenEDGE
+ 6'59
7
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
+ 7'27
8
Rigoberto Urán
Desigual
+ 7'44
9
Bauke Mollema
Bwin
+ 8'00
10
JoaquÃm RodrÃguez
Rusal
+ 9'21
11
Chris Froome
Astana Pro Team
+ 9'25
12
Simon Spilak
Tinkoff-Saxo
+ 9'33
13
Roman Kreuziger
Tinkoff-Saxo
+ 10'18
That´s a good closing result before the Giro, but it also shows me that I´m not at the level of the Shark of Messina in good shape. And we also have to see how tired my legs will be after a tough spring.
You will here from me at the Giro the next time, so look forward to some great action!
[img-r]https://i1033.photobucket.com/albums/a413/BlackAkinfenwa27/Giro_Team_zpsa30lpmqc.jpg[/img-r]Hey guys,
the comeback is on. Over 1000 days have passed since my last Grand Tour. I don´t want that to happen again for a long time. And now I´m sitting here, after 3 days of racing with my Bora guys.
Stage one already was a hard task. Our squad is weaker than most of the others, and we struggled at the 17.8 km TTT around San Remo. At least we lost 1"04 to the fastest time set by Orica - GreenEdge, which meant Damien Gaudin was the first man in pink.
The second day wast mostly flat until the finishing line to Genova. Slight bumps on the closing kilometers into the harbour city took their account on the finish, and riders like Kittel and Cavendish weren´t strong enough to fight for the victory. Main favourite Bouhanni (Phonak) was still there, but at the end he struggled due to a lack of teammates and timing. All in all it was a battle between two guys, and at the end of the day irish champ Bennett (Bwin) couldn´t come fast enough out of victorious Demares (Giant) slipstream.
With this result Demare could also take the pink jersey by one second out of the hands of Gaudin. Bennett was the first person to wear red, while Ewan took white.
I finished eigth, hoped for a slightly harder race but I didn´t had enough speed to come even close to a Top 5.
Stage 3 was the shortest of this years Giro, a hilly circuit to Sestri Levante with 40 flat/downhill kilometers after the Trananto de Barlagelata. At the morning I felt bad due to a viral infection, but giving up was no option at the moment.
A breakaway attempt didn´t suceed very well; Vakoc secured the mountains jersey and Chaves was the only man staying in front of the peloton over the last climb, but he only had a marginal advantage. I really struggled over that mountain, but Paul could stay on my side for a long time having a great day and I stayed safely in the group. The final downhill helped me recovering, while Chaves got caught. Demare looked comfortable, but the sprinters didn´t seem to have the manpower as the place was really slow for a run in to a sprint. Feeling good I decided to go for it on the seaside, with 4 kms and the help of Kohlhoff I created a gap to the peloton.
To my surprise no one really reacted despite Arredondo, who tried to chase me down on his own. But against the small colombian I definitely had an advantage of strength on the flat and body issues, so I could pull away from him. Still no one wanted to chase (Demares men protected Aru, Bennett had Arredondo in front & Bouhanni had no one left), so I came over the critical point, hold Arredondo off my wheel and came over the line first.
Arredondo still went second, before the chasing pack lead by Ewan came in. He took rosa with the bonus seconds for the third place, while I gained some seconds and celebrated my unexpected victory.
1
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
3h22'51
2
Julian Arredondo
Bwin
+ 24
3
Caleb Ewan
Orica-GreenEDGE
s.t.
4
Kristian Sbaragli
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
5
Sacha Modolo
Team Cannondale - Garmin
s.t.
6
Michał Kwiatkowski
Nike
s.t.
7
Nacer Bouhanni
Phonak
s.t.
8
Niccolo Bonifazio
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
9
Sam Bennett
Bwin
s.t.
10
Arnaud Demare
Team Giant-Alpecin
s.t.
A great day for me, special thanks to Paul who guided me all the way to the win. Such a great talent you are, without you I wouldn´t have won this stage for us!
Now that we already achieved something out of this Giro (Stage win or Top 10), all we do now is coming on top of the expectations. It´s an invitation for spectacular, attacking style of cycling. That´s what you want to see, and that´s what my claim on cyling is. What I stand for and what I participate in. The passion of cycling.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Hey guys,
the second part of my Giro diary comes now...
After the stage victory in beautiful Sestri Levante there was a hilly stage to La Spezia. Looking at the profile I couldn´t see anything special, it should´ve been a reduced bunch sprint or a late attack like mine.
However nothing happens like it´s planned and I really struggled all over the stage, losing contact on the last climb. At this point my teammate Howes left me behind, went on the attack. And guess what, he didn´t win the stage but cracked and couldn´t even hold my wheel at the end. The battle for victory was between Talansky and Aru, who took the stage. 38 seconds there was Kwiatek third leading a group of six containing Berti. My group was the third, Elissonde lead us in 1"38 down on Aru.
1
Fabio Aru
Team Giant-Alpecin
3h39'53
2
Andrew Talansky
Team Cannondale - Garmin
s.t.
3
Michał Kwiatkowski
Nike
+ 38
4
Alberto Contador
Desigual
s.t.
5
Dominik Nerz
Orica-GreenEDGE
s.t.
6
Vincenzo Nibali
Tinkoff-Saxo
s.t.
7
Simon Yates
Bwin
s.t.
8
Peter Kennaugh
Bwin
s.t.
9
Kenny Elissonde
Rusal
+ 1'34
15
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
s.t.
Stage 5 was mostly flat until the impressive climb to Abetone started. It turned out to be what was expected, a spectacular battle between Aru, Nibali and Contador. My domestiques Malacarne and Howes did a good job bringing me into that climb, but still suffering I couldn´t follow the strongest with 7 to go. While the best fought out the victory I found myself in a group containing Arredondo, Morton, Hirt, Frank, Poels, myself, Talansky and Dombrowski.
Damn it´s a strong climbing peloton at the Giro this year... Well I stayed in that gorup, losing not too much time on surprise winner Formolo. The three main characters had a tough battle, but at least there wasn´t much time between them, only Contador lost a little bit of time. I was 12th on the stage, losing nearly two minutes to Formolo, Aru, Simon Yates and Nibali.
After this stage it looks like 7 riders are competitive for the Giro victory, and I am not part of this group.
The next one was flat, having the finishing line in Castiglione della Pescaia. As Kittel, Cavendish, Kristoff, Viviani and van Asbroeck couldn´t show off until now they surely wouldn´t miss out the chance of a mass-sprint. For me it was a perfect day, much recovery could be done as the pace wasn´t high and the race was calm until the sprint started. There it was Arnaud in red again winning the french battle agains Bouhanni and Bennett.
Hey guys,
this is me writing from the first rest day and already being dead-tired.
Stage 7 was extraordinary tough. over 250 hilly kilometer to Fiuggi. I wasn´t in the best of shape from the beginnning of the day, but since 50 km before the finish line it was critical. I just had nothing in the tank anymore, my legs felt horrible. The engine was burnt as I found myself in the second group, losing more and more ground already before the final kicks started.
At the end of the day there stood a complete desaster, the intention of damage limitation didn´t work out really well. I finished 118th - together with the famous puncher Guardini - and lost over seven minutes to Michal Kwiatkowski, who won out of a group of four.
1
Michał Kwiatkowski
Nike
5h37'50
2
Jelle Vanendert
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
3
Wout Poels
Orica-GreenEDGE
s.t.
4
Leopold König
Bwin
s.t.
5
Davide Cimolai
Team Cannondale - Garmin
+ 1'01
6
Arnaud Demare
Team Giant-Alpecin
s.t.
118
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
+ 7'18
Our GC ambitions were down after this day, already having a deficit of over 10 minutes to Kwiatek. But that meant we had to comeback on the mountain stage 8 with the peak finish in Campitello Matese.
Yesterday I thought that this is the last I needed after the horrible day, and it turned out to be exactly that. I really suffered, it was all about survival. As I got caught out on the flat again it was Meisen to try and limit the damage for me before the final climb. He did well - we were two minutes down at the bottom - but then going up I was all on my own for the whole climb. I could overtake a lot of riders on my way up, but I chased a group of 80 so nothing special about that... Nibali dominated the day, while everybody had to go for their own. As the Shark of Messina had finished we still had 3k of horrendous climbing to go.
It turned out to be P25 at the end with a disadvantage of 8"11 on Nibali.
1
Vincenzo Nibali
Tinkoff-Saxo
4h46'29
2
Simon Yates
Bwin
+ 1'30
3
Jan Hirt
Etixx - Quick-step
+ 2'34
4
Sergey Chernetskiy
Rusal
s.t.
5
Dominik Nerz
Orica-GreenEDGE
s.t.
6
Alberto Contador
Desigual
+ 3'39
7
Leopold König
Bwin
s.t.
8
Domenico Pozzovivo
Astana Pro Team
+ 3'49
9
Fabio Aru
Team Giant-Alpecin
s.t.
10
Davide Formolo
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
11
Esteban Chaves
Colombia
s.t.
25
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
+ 8'11
Given the fact that I suffered from the beginning of the day I wasn´t too unhappy with that, but the top 5 are far far away now. I wasn´t the only one being in trouble, maglia rosaKwiatkowski as well as Elissonde, Talansky, Adam Yates, Vuillermoz and Craddock lost even more time than I today...
Nibali sits now comfortably in first place, three minutes up on main opponent Aru. But also Simon Yates, Nerz, Formolo and Contador still look good in terms of a podium spot.
current GC:
1
Vincenzo Nibali
Tinkoff-Saxo
29h22'38
2
Simon Yates
Bwin
+ 1'22
3
Dominik Nerz
Orica-GreenEDGE
+ 2'37
4
Fabio Aru
Team Giant-Alpecin
+ 2'57
5
Davide Formolo
Astana Pro Team
+ 4'50
6
Leopold König
Bwin
+ 5'53
7
Alberto Contador
Desigual
+ 5'54
8
Jan Hirt
Etixx - Quick-step
+ 6'21
9
Sergey Chernetskiy
Rusal
+ 6'37
10
Lachlan Morton
Lampre-Merida
+ 7'32
29
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
+ 17'26
To be honest I´m not really sure whether I should carry on with the Giro or not. I´m temptet to go due to the viral infection, having in mind that I already done something for the team here, but that wouldn´t fit to my philossophy normally. Cause I am a fighter!
Ans, 26.4.2017 
Lausanne, 3.5.2017 
Sestri Levante, 11.5.2015 
Always great to get that win as a way to come back to GTs. 
