Yes . With moderately good cobble skills (COB 76), Viviani was meant to be Benoot's helper at GW. Once Benoot rode away from the pack, Viviani did the smart thing and sat in the group, conserving energy. Once the sprint for 4th place ensued, he had better legs than many others and clinched a top 10 finish!
Update from the first cobbled Monument of the year...
Ronde van Vlaanderen
Mathiue van der Poel was the only big name in the early 4 man breakaway. They built up a lead of 11 minutes before the peloton started to pick up the pace. Degenkolb fell in the first cobbled section but recovered back to the peloton. Four riders attacked with 150 km to go followed by Boonen who attacked 20 km later. The pack eventually split up trying to counter Boonen's surge, with only 34 riders left in the lead group behind the breakaway. With 70 km to go, there were four groups out in front of the peloton. The third group had Kristoff, Degenkolb and Vanmarcke in it while Benoot and Coquard was in group 4. At 60km, the pack had bunched up and four groups had become two. At 35 km, there was only one group of leaders left out in front. Kristoff attacked soon after and Benoot could not follow. He played catch to the former and to other favourites from that point till the finish. He did manage to overtake some of them, getting into the last spot in the top 10. Kristoff won again, his third consecutive victory in WT classics/Monument. Degenkolb recovered marvelously from his fall, to claim 2nd while Geraint Thomas won the sprint for 3rd place.
This was Movistar's highest placing in a cobbled Monument under the current management. However, the 10th place wasn't ideal, as the sponsor objective was a top 5 finish!
Edited by AbhishekLFC on 20-02-2016 09:52
Tamijo wrote:
Anyway a fine result, those sponsors are sometimes hopeless.
Thanks .
No kidding about the sponsors though . Yeah well, gotta keep them happy to have the moolah coming in...
RACE PREVIEW - VEULTA CICLISTA al PAIS VASCO
Stage List
ITT - 1
Hilly - 5 (2 HT)
Stage 1
We're off the mark with a tough stage straight away in the Basque country. The battle among the GC favourites will be fought out on the last climb with the descent ending in the stage finish. Should be an exciting stage to start.
Stage 2
A couple of tall climbs start off the stage but then the profile mellows down a little. However, another climb just before the finish, with another downhill leading to it should make this stage no less exciting.
Stage 3
The climbs keep coming here in the Basque country with this stage ending on top of a hill. The fight for the GC will intesify as the leaders look to start bringing in crucial time gaps. It is unlikely that a breakaway will survive here.
Stage 4
The second successive hill-top finish. This stage will have a major role in shaping the final GC. A sedate first half of the race rolls into a monster second half as the riders go over climb after climb in search of victory.
Stage 5
Nine climbs dot the tough terrain. It must be said that the organizers have not left any stone unturned in putting up a challenging route to the riders. The GC favourites will have their work cut-out. There are chances of a breakaway surviving here as fatigue starts catching up with the peloton.
Stage 6
The only flat stage of the race but there'll be no time to relax for the leaders as they go up against the clock to bring this tour to a conclusion. There is a possibility of this stage deciding the final GC, depending on how things shape up in the hills.
Overall Assessment
A great stage route awaits the riders at Pais Vasco. They will have to be at their best on this route, and any small mishap can ruin their chances completely. Expect a big fight among the GC favourites in the hills and the uphill finishes. And yet, it could all come down to the ITT at the end to decide the winner.
Movistar Starting List
Nairo Quintana
Roman Kreuziger
Adriano Malori
Ion Izagirre
Juan Jose Lobato
Luis Leon Sanchez
Rafael Valls
Ruben Fernandez
The tour of the Basque country comes at a time when the team is getting back on track after a bit of a lull in March. Roman Kreuziger was targeting this race as an objective while Movistar also sent Nairo Quintana for his first outing of the season. The latter would be looking to build up his form and rhythm before the impending Giro a month later. Also, it would be a chance for the pair to rebuild their understanding as they're slated to start the Tour de France later in the year. Movistar had a strong team in support of their leaders. The competition included Fabio Aru, Bauke Mollema, Adam Yates, Rui Costa, Thibaut Pinot and Tom Dumoulin, just to name a few. The race looked like it would favour the climbers, but with quite a few punchers showing up, there might just be some surprises in store for us.
The following is a summary of stages...
Stage 1 - Hilly with downhill finish, including 4 major and 2 minor intermediate climbs
With a strong squad, Movistar felt like they could send someone stronger into the break in search of KOM points. Thus, Ion Izagirre joined the early breakaway. Lobato was dropped by the pack early on but he managed to catch up. The peloton split into three groups on the road on the third climb. On the fourth climb, Ion was alone in front, with the others falling away, while the lead group was down to less than 40 riders after the same climb. Bauke Mollema placed a strong attack on the last climb to gain some time over the pack. Ion won comfortably from the break with Mollema in 2nd. Behind them, the other favourites finished together with four Movistar riders in the top 10.
Stage winner - Ion Izagirre. He was leading all three individual jerseys while Movistar was leading in the team classification Other important results - Bauke Mollema 2nd, 1'59" behind. The leaders finished 2'21" behind
Stage 2 - Hilly with downhill finish, including 2 major and 3 minor intermediate climbs
A similar stage to the previous one, but a lot less excitement to report. The break was caught easily and a late atack from Dumoulin saw him take the stage win, but with no time gains. Movistar had three riders finish in the top 10 this time. Ion held on to his three jerseys.
Stage winner - Tom Dumoulin
Stage 3 - Hilly with hill top finish, including 1 major and 3 minor intermediate climbs
The early break of 5 included Gesink and Kangert and they built up a 9 minute lead. The leaders were busier fighting their own battles allowing some leeway to the breakaway. It resulted in Jan Polanc staying away till the end and winning the stage. The trio of Dan Martin, Pinot and Mollema attacked on the last climb, followed by Slagter only to be caught after 5 km. Ulissi attacked next but it didn't succeed. Pinot attacked on top of the ast climb, which was followed by both Nairo and Kreuziger. The Movistar pair left Pinot behind and got a time gap to the rest of the field. Ion hung on to his overall lead by finishing in the second group of leaders.
Stage winner - Jan Polanc form breakaway Movistar - Roman Kreuziger 5th, Nairo Quintana 6th, both 1'46" behind, Ion Izagirre 2'52" behind. Movistar still held on to all four jerseys Other important results - Thibaut Pinot 7th, 2'3" behind, Tom Slagter 8th, Adam Yates 10th, Louis Meinjtes 11th, all 2'31" behind, Rui Costa and Tom Dumoulin 2'52" behind
The GC after stage 3...
Spoiler
Stage 4 - Hilly with hill top finish, including 4 major intermediate climbs
There was a split in the pack going up the first clib. Jose Herrada attacked first, followed by three others. The stage did not see much action till the last intermediate climb when a group of eight leaders went away from the front. They were behind a lone breakaway rider on the road. While Kreuziger made the eight man lead group, Nairo was in the next group and he helped drag Ion up the road. The leaders were all back together a little distance after the afore-mentioned climb. Aru and Mollema attacked at the base of the last climb. They were chased down by Nairo and Kreuziger. This time, there was no way back for Ion. Aru attacked again but in vain as Kreuziger and Nairo were too strong and rode away up the hill. Kreuziger won the stage from Nairo, with a few seconds gap, taking the overall lead and the points jersey. Ion, unfortunately lost all three jerseys on the same day.
Stage winner - Roman Kreuziger Movistar - Nairo Quintana 2nd, 10" behind, Ion Izagirre 2'34" behind. Kreuziger took the lead in the GC and in the Points classification Other important results - Fabio Aru 3rd, 18" behind, Thibaut Pinot 4th, 1'33" behind, Rui Costa 5th, Adam Yates 7th, Bauke Mollema 8th, 1'48" behind
Stage 5 - Hilly with 4 major and 5 minor intermediate climbs
The last climbing stage was another exciting affair. An early break of seven riders included Kangert and Kruijswijk. A group of GC leaders, including Kreuziger, rode away ahead of the pack. Nairo and Ion were in the third group on the road. Kreuziger was dropped from the group of leaders a little distance before they caught the breakaway. With 35 km left, there were three main groups of leaders. Kreuziger was in the second group with six others including Fabio Aru and Adam Yates. Nairo was alone in the third group. The first group was caught by Kreuziger's group before the last climb but Nairo never made the gap. Rui Costa, Dan Martin, Pinot and Mollema attacked with 20 km to go. Kreuziger and Adam Yates chased them down, dropping Aru along the way. The stage came down to a sprint,with Dan Martin winning. Kreuziger took another podium position.
Stage winner - Dan Martin Movistar - Roman Kreuziger 2nd, same time, Nairo Quintana 13th, 2'3" behind Other important results - Rui Costa 3rd, same time, Adam Yates 4th, 48" behind, Carlos Betancur 5th, Bauke Mollema 6th, Thibaut Pinot 7th, Fabio Aru 9th, Tom Slagter 10th, 2'3" behind
Stage 6 - Individual Time Trial - Flat - 24 km
Quashing previous speculation, this last stage did not play an important role in deciding the final GC as the damage was well and truly done by Movistar on the hills. Adding to their great race, Nairo took 3rd place here, behind the winner Tony Martin and Tom Dumoulin in 2nd place.
Stage winner - Tony Martin Movistar - Nairo Quintana 3rd, 43" behind, Adriano Malori 10th, 1'25" behind, Roman Kreuziger 11th, 1'25" behind Other important results - Tom Dumoulin 2nd, 22" behind, Rui Costa 8th, 1'10" bwhind, Thibaut Pinot 1'32" behind, Fabio Aru 2'5" behind
General Classification
1)Roman Kreuziger (Movistar)
2)Nairo Quintana (Movistar)
3)Rui Costa (AG2R)
Mountain Classification
1)Marc de Maar (Giant-Alpecin)
2)Igor Silin (IAM)
3)Ion Izagirre (Movistar)
Young Riders' Classification
1)Dennis Shmatovalenko (Astana)
2)Adriano Jorge Benedito (Sky)
3)Mathieu van der Poel (Philips)
Team Classification
1)Movistar
2)Orange
3)Astana
First there was Andalucia, now there's this! Complete dominance from Movistar in a climbing heavy race once again. Roman Kreuziger is making a case for a contract extension with the team, after reports of differences arising in negotiations. These kind of performances can do his reputation no harm whatsoever. An ideal preparation for Nairo as well, giving him a lot of climbing to do in his first outing. A word of apprecation to Ion Izagirre, who wore the leader's jersey for three days. His ride in the breakaway on stage 1 was simply superb. Two stage wins, a total of sevem podium positions, the points classification, the team classification and offcourse the overall classification. Talk about dominance! I'm sure I spotted a hint of a smile on the sponsors' faces in the post race press conference
This would be Movistar's chance to build on a good showing at the Ronde and build their reputation as a team capable of competing in major cobbled races. Benoot was once again the main man for them as Viviani played his side-kick role. The race saw an early breakaway of 10 riders with Warren Barguil and Cyril Gautier eager participants. This group was chased down by the peloton not long after, only for another 5 man breakaway to emerge. There were a couple more solo attacks along the first half of the route to join the break. The pack split up over the cobbles with 90 km to go. The lead group behind the breakaway was down to only 20 riders, with Benoot in it. At 40 km to go, 5 favourites - Kristoff, Stybar, Degekolb, Vanmarcke and van Aevermaet attacked, with Benoot following a little distance back. Soon Kristoff and Vanmarcke were dropped by the other trio, while Benoot failed to make up the gap. The entered the stadium at Roubaix, in three groups; E1 -> Stybar, Degenkolb, van Aevermaet, E2 -> Kristoff, Vanmarcke, E3 -> Benoot; with less than 1 lap separating them. Stybar was the first to launch the sprint but was no match for Degenkolb's acceleration, who took 1st place here for the second year in a row. van Aevermaet pipped Stybar to 2nd place, while the latter had to settle for 3rd. Benoot came home in 6th, to sign off an impressive race for Movistar.
(Degenkolb winning in the Roubaix stadium)
(And yes, we met the sponsor objective of a top 10 finish!)
The week of racing in the Ardennes starts in the Netherlands with the Amstel Gold Race. The race saw a three man breakaway form early on while there was not much action in the peloton. The lead of the breakaway went up to about 11 minutes but they never looked like staying in front till the end. The first real bit of action came when a group of ten riders who were among the likely winners of this race attacked with about 45 km to go. This prompted an organization in the peloton and they were chased down 10 km later. In another 5 km, the breakaway was caught as well. Another group of four, this time lesser riders, attacked, but were not successful. The lead group was down to 12 riders with 20 km left, Movistar being represented by Konig and Intxausti. Dan Martin then attacked with 12 km to go, followed by Rui Costa with 9 km left. They were caught with just 4 km remaining. Taking advantage of a momentary lull at the front, Intxausti attacked with 3 km to go. Konig too followed suit 1.5 km from the line. They followed each other home, Intxausti ahead of Konig, to give Movistar a 1-2 finish!! Matej Mohoric capped off an excellent ride, showcasing his rise in the cycling world, to claim 3rd place for Orica.
@Tamijo: Thanks. Intxausti and Konig played that to perfection
@The Schleck Fan: There was similar dancing and celebrating long into the night for the team
Hoping to keep this up for the rest of the week...
A harmless two man breakaway was allowed to build up an 8 minute gap by the peloton. There was absolutely nothing to report from the peloton for the first 150 km or so of racing. Luis Leon Sanchez launched the first attack amongst the riders with classics prestige. He stayed ahead for around 20 km before being pulled back into the peloton. This was followed by a tandem attack by Diego Ulissi and Bauke Mollema, wherein they bridged the gap to the breakaway. All four riders were caught with just under 20 km to go. Then started the real action in the peloton. The usual suspects - Dan Martin, Rui Costa and a couple of others launched attacks with the 10 km banner being passed by the peloton. They were pulled back in by the pack at the 2 km to go mark. The finish turned into a sprint for the line, with Jakob Fuglsang coming 1st. He beat Adam Yates to 2nd place by less than a bike length, while Roman Kreuziger claimed 3rd place for Movistar. Konig and Intxausti followed up their Amstel Gold Race exploits with a 5th and a 6th place here respectively.
Not an ideal preparation for Nairo here, being blown away by Froome and Bardet. Even his young team-mate pipped him to the top 10 spot on the last stage ITT. Let's hope for an improvement with the Giro coming up in 3 weeks' time. Well done to Pintassilgo to get a top 10 GC finish in a relatively strong peloton.
After chasing down the first couple of breakaway attempts, the peloton finally let a four man breakaway form. They built up a lead of around 9 minutes. There was a pack split in the peloton with about 130 km to go. Konig wasn't paying attention and got caught in the same along with the entire Sky team. They huffed and puffed but made it back to the front group with just under 100 km still to go. Dayer Quintana tried to take advantage of the hilly terrain by launching an attack with 75 km to go. He didn't succeed, being caught by the pack who soon after caught the breakaway too. Pinot and Wellens were the next to attack 30 km from the line but they too were quickly dragged back. The lead group was down to less than 40 riders with 20 km to go. There was a 7 man attack with 15 km to go, but they were caught as the pack was further reduced heading past the 10 km banner. Nieve, Fuglsang and Mohoric launched the final attack with Fuglsang taking back-to-back wins to follow up La Fleche Wallone. Mohoric continued his good form, taking 2nd place while Fabio Aru pipped Nieve at the sprint to the line to take 3rd place. Nieve finished 4th while Kreuziger took 7th place for Movistar. The team had two more top 15 finishers.
. With moderately good cobble skills (COB 76), Viviani was meant to be Benoot's helper at GW. Once Benoot rode away from the pack, Viviani did the smart thing and sat in the group, conserving energy. Once the sprint for 4th place ensued, he had better legs than many others and clinched a top 10 finish!
. Yeah well, gotta keep them happy to have the moolah coming in...
