Movistar Starting List
Mikel Landa
Julian Arredondo
Adriano Malori
Tiejs Benoot
Ion Izagirre
Pello Bilbao
Ruben Fernandez
Eustaquio Sanchez
Coming off the back of the Giro, Movistar spirits were soaring as they prepared for the next World Tour race. Mikel Landa was the leader here and he would be supported by a trio of climbers. The competition was decent, with Froome the most high profile starter among the opposition. The team would be looking to keep the winning run going after their Grand Tour success.
The following is a summary of stages...
Stage 1 - Individual Time Trial - Hilly - 7.4 km
The time trial on the first stage saw some surprises. Tom Dumoulin and Adriano Malori, two pre-stage favourites, lost a chunk of time. At the top though, it wasn't much of a surprise as Rohan Dennis won the stage ahead of Ion Izagirre and Yohann Paillot. Froome and Landa, the latter with a surprisingly high finish, didn't lose any time to each other.
Stage winner - Rohan Dennis Movistar - Ion Izagirre 2nd, losing 10", Mikel Landa 6th, losing 19" Other important results - Chris Froome 5th, losing 18"
Stage 2 - Flat with 3 minor intermediate climbs
Many attempts later, a 4 man breakaway escaped from the pack with Benoot the representative for Movistar. They were not allowed to build up a big lead and were caught with almost 50 km still to go. The pace of the peloton prevented any more breakaway attempts as the sprinters prepared themselves. The bunch sprint saw Matthew Goss take the win.
Stage winner - Matthew Goss
Stage 3 - Flat with 3 minor intermediate climbs
Another 4 man breakaway built up a 6 minute lead over the pack. Vuillermoz and Meintjes attacked on top of the third climb. Simultanously, Clement Koretzky went off the front of the break. The 3 other breakaway riders and the late attacking duo were all caught with 2 km to go. Koretzky stayed ahead and won the stage. He also took over the lead in the GC standings. All GC favourites finished in the same group.
Stage winner - Clement Koretzky from breakaway. Took GC lead by 40" Movistar - Ion Izagirre 2nd, Tiejs Benoot 9th, 51" behind
Stage 4 - Individual Time Trial - Hilly - 46 km
The second time trial of the race was sure to shake up the standings. Adriano Malori set the pace, taking 2 minutes off the previous best, finishing with half the pack still to go. Yohann Paillot pipped Malori's time. Next, Ion Izagirre destroyed Paillot's time by over 90 seconds. Rohan Dennis claimed 2nd place eventually, but again, almost 90 seconds behind the Movistar rider.
Stage winner - Ion Izagirre Movistar - Adriano Malori 4th, losing 1'56" Other important results - Rohan Dennis 2nd, 1'27", Chris Froome 8th, losing 2'53", Tom Dumoulin 9th, losing 2'56", Clement Koretzky lost 5'18"
The GC as it stood after this stage...
Spoiler
Stage 5 - Mountain with mountain top finish
A 3 man break was allowed to build up 9 minutes over the pack. The break was caught at the base of the climb to the finish. With 9 km to go, the lead group was down to 50. Chris Froome and Ion were dropped next as Landa and Dennis's trains took control. Landa went away with 7 km to go, gradually increased his lead over Dennis and won the stage.
Stage winner - Mikel Landa Movistar - Julian Arredondo 3rd, 2'54" behind, Ion Izagirre 5th, 3'5" behind Other important results - Rohan Dennis 2nd, 1'47" behind, Chris Froome 6th, 3'27" behind, Tejay van Garderen 10th, 3'56" behind
The change in the GC after this stage...
Spoiler
Stage 6 - Hilly with 2 major and 4 minor intermediate climbs
A 9 man breakaway was formed but 1 rider soon came back to the peloton. They build up a lead of 8 minutes over the pack. Betancur, Froome and Vuillermoz attacked with 17 km to go. The latter was caught by the reduced chase group of 14 riders. Ion was already dropped by this stage. No further changes took place as Betancur and Froome went head to head for the stage win. Betancur came out on top and the duo gained almost a minute on the pack. Only Ion lost time to his rivals.
Stage winner - Carlos Betancur Movistar - Mikel Landa 9th, 56" behind, Ion Izagirre 2'25" behind Other important results - Chris Froome 2nd, same time. All other GC contenders finished in Landa's group
Stage 7 - Mountain with downhill finish, including 4 major and 1 minor intermediate climbs
A 9 man break, with Benoot, pulled out a 10 minute lead over the peloton. 1 of them was dropped on the second climb. The peloton was reduced to around a 100 riders on the third climb. The breakaway started splitting uup, with Benoot not able to keep pace with the first group. The group of leaders stayed together on the last climb till Landa attacked 3 kn from the summit. He held on to a slender lead on the descent, attacking again with 3 km to go, and gaining valuable seconds over Dennis. Ahead of him, Mithcell Lovelock-Faye won the stage out of the original break. Benoot finished a few seconds ahead of Landa.
Stage winner - Mithcell Lovelock-Faye from breakaway Movistar - Tiejs Benoot 7th, 2'58" behind, Mikel Landa 8th, 3'32" behind Other important results - Rohan Dennis 10th, 3'56" behind. GC lead was down to 45 seconds
Stage 8 - Hilly with 9 minor intermediate climbs
A 7 man breakaway formed on this conducive stage. They pulled away to a 6 minute lead. With 40 km to go, 4 more riders attacked in search of the stage win. The leaders were looking after themselves till about three climbs from the finish. Arredondo set a high pace for Movistar and Landa caught his wheel and was pulled ahead from the front of the pack. Landa attacked with 9 km when his team-mate could not relay any more. The break was caught in the process. Meintjes attacked on top of the last climb, sweeping past Landa and holding on through the descent to win the stage. No time gaps were created between the GC leaders.
Stage winner - Louis Meintjes Movistar - Mikel Landa 5th Other important results - Carlos Betancur 2nd, Rohan Dennis 4th, Chris Froome 6th
General Classification
1)Rohan Dennis (Astana)
2)Mikel Landa (Movistar)
3)Chris Froome (Sky)
Astana get a measure of revenge with Dennis edging out Landa for the win. The stage 4 ITT played a major role in deciding the outcome of this race. Landa lost too much time to make up in the mountains. Even with Ion's superlative performance on that stage, he wasn't strong enough on the climbs to challenge the top 3. 4th place is a good return for him in a race like this. The team are quite happy with the outcome of this race. All eyes now turn towards Switzerland.
The ITTs meant Landa had too much to do in the other stages. A good recovery in the mountains ensured 2nd place. One of the best rides for Ion in his career on stage 4. A GC 4th place in this field is a testament to that. Happy with the outing for the team.
Am taking a break for about 3 days. Gonna catch up with some other stuff and come back to writing around the middle of the week. Till then...
Stage List
ITT - 2 (1 Hilly)
Flat - 2
Hilly - 2 (1 HTF)
Mountain - 3 (2 MTF)
Stage 1
The prologue TT is not expected to see big time gaps, although it should favour the climbers. Might be an opportunity for one the favourites to get the leader's jersey first up.
Stage 2
The first of two mountain stages early on will see the big guns forced to show their hands. The first, taller, climb should not have much impact on the peloton but the two climbs in quick succession at the end will be decisive on this stage. Expect the favourites to dominate this stage.
Stage 3
Another tough climbing stage comes early on in this race. This stage is expected to follow a similar pattern as the last one, although the downhill finish might mean a reduced bunch finishing together.
Stage 4
The peloton come away from the mountains to tackle this tricky little stage. The punchers are favourites for the stage here, as the short climb just before the finish should play into their hands.
Stage 5
The first flat classified stage is not without its challenges. A total of four classified and a couple of unclassified climbs await the peloton. This stage is perfect for a breakaway to try for the win as the peloton will be in recovery mode after the previous stages.
Stage 6
The last mountain stage of the race starts off without many difficulties. The first challenge comes in the form of a moderate climb just after the halfway mark. This is followed by another shorter climb before the pack hits the wall to Triesenberg. The head to head showdown between the GC favourites is expected to heat up as they tackle arguably the toughest climb of the race.
A bit of a reprieve for the peloton as the second flat stage awaits them before the race-ending ITT. Another good stage for a breakaway to try and sneak a win from the slowing peloton. Otherwise, this might go the way of the punchers again.
Stage 9
This ITT, unlike the prologue will favour riders who are inherently good in this discipline. The small up-and-downs will not hurt the TT specialists much, but might also help some of the climbers and punchers to pull back time. Expect a closely fought stage, despite the length.
Overall Assessment
A tough race is in store for the riders. Most of the decisive climbs are challenging, with gradients reaching close to 20% in many cases. Stage 2,3,6 and 7 should go a long way in deciding the winner. That's a lot of opportunities for the favourites to attack their rivals!
Movistar Starting List
Roman Kreuziger
Rafal Majka
Dayer Quintana
Benat Intxausti
Julian Alaphilippe
Jasha Sutterlin
Isidro Pintassilgo
Manuel Moreno Capitan
Nairo Quintana was a late withdrawal from this race for Movistar. He chose instead to go to Route du Sud for a less dramatic preparation for the TDF. In his place, the out of form Kreuziger was drafted in at the last minute. The team overall was quite strong with Majka, Dayer and Intxausti all very capable of winning stages themselves. The competition was strong once again as Kelderman, Zakarin, Frank and Gesink in the starting line-up. Both Zakarin and Kelderman were using this as their prep race for the Tour.
The following is a summary of stages...
Stage 1 - Individual Time Trial - Hilly - 7 km
The prologue time trial did a lot of favours to the climbers as they reigned supreme. Mathias Frank won the stage and took the jersey by the smallest of margins. Rafal Majka was the best finisher for Movistar, in 4th. None of the favourites lost a significant amount of time.
Stage winner - Mathias Frank Movistar - Rafal Majka 4th, losing 8", Roman Kreuziger 7th, losing 9" Other important results - Wilco Kelderman 3rd, losing 5", Romain Bardet 5th, losing 8"
Stage 2 - Mountain with mountain top finish, including 2 major intermediate climbs
The first stage with the peloton saw a 14 man break spread across 7 groups out in front of the peloton. The peloton was reduced to just 65 riders at the top of the first climb itself. Some riders did manage to get back into the peloton in th eflat section after that climb. The break was down to just 5 riders, in a bunch, with 50 km to go. The group of Power, Bardet, Zakarin and Kelderman attacked at the base of the second climb. With 9 km to go, it was Kelderman and Power out in front, with Bardet following close behind. Dayer launched an attack to cut his losses towards the end, leapfrogging Bardet into 3rd place on the stage. Power won with a late acceleration over Kelderman, but the latter took the GC lead.
Stage winner - Robert Power Movistar - Dayer Quintana 3rd, 1'28" behind, Isidro Pintassilgo 7th, 2'26" behind Other important results - Wilco Kelderman 2nd, 12" behind, Romain Bardet 4th, 1'38" behind, Dan Martin 5th, 1'55" behind, Rigoberto Uran 8th, Ilnur Zakarin 9th, Mathias Frank 10th, all 2'26" behind
Stage 3 - Mountain with downhill finish, including 2 major intermediate climbs
Having struggled with form and fitness in the last stage, Movistar decided it best to withdraw Kreuziger instead of risking injury or illness. As such, the race leader's position in the team became vacnt. The management was willing to give it to whoever showed they deserved it on this stage.
A 9 man breakaway went away only for 3 of them to fall back to the pack. The peloton was down to 85 riders at the top of the first climb. Mollema and Fuglsang attacked with 25 km left, followed soon after by Gesink. They were allowed to build up a lead, given that they'd lost time on the previous stage. Kelderman and Pintassilgo soon started riding away from the pack, crested the hill and tackled the descent in tandem. They could not pull back the gap to all of the breakaway and Benedito took the stage win, with Gesink following close behind. Some GC favourites lost significant amounts of time.
Stage winner - Adriano Jorge Benedito Movistar - Isidro Pintassilgo 4th, 1'48" behind, Rafal Majka 5th, 2'29" behind, Dayer Quintana 7th, Benat Intxausti 9th, 3' behind Other important results - Wilco Kelderman 3rd, 1'48" behind, Robert Power 6th, 2'29" behind
The state of the GC after this stage...
Spoiler
Stage 4 - Hilly with 1 major and 1 minor intermediate climbs
A 5 rider early break saw a 6 minute lead evaporate as the punchers planned their stage win. A late attack from Michal Kwiatkowski saw him take the stage win, after building up half a minute over the pack. The GC leaders took it easy and finished together in the bunch.
Stage winner - Michal Kwiatkowski
Stage 5 - Flat with 4 minor intermediate climbs
A 2 man break meant it was unlikely that they'd be able to rob the sprinters of a win. They were allowed to stay out ahead for almost the entire stage, before being caught with just 5 km to go. Degenkolb powered to the sprint victory. Robert Power strangely lost over 3 minutes to put himself out of contention for the GC.
Stage winner - John Degenkolb
Stage 6 - Mountain with mountain top finish, including 2 minor intermediate climbs
A strong 8 man break with Mohoric, Fuglsang, Moser and Terpstra was allowed to go away. They were kept on a small leash, with the peloton aware of the dangers of letting them pull ahead too far. The attacks in the peloton started on top of the second climb as the quartet of Kelderman, Zakarin, Mollema and Bardet made the first move. Movistar held the gap steady from some time before Pintassilgo started the solo chase. He made the gap with 8 km still to go. The break was caught at this juncture. Kelderman attacked with 4 km to go. Only Pintassilgo could follow and caught back up with 1.5 km to go. From here to the finish, the Movistar youngster controlled the pace, leaving Kelderman behind, in one of the most powerful performances of the season. Isidro Pintassilgo had arrived! A tired Kelderman, out on his bike at the finish, was proof.
Stage winner - Isidro Pintassilgo Movistar - Dayer Quintana 5th. 1'22" Other important results - Wilco Kelderman 2nd, same time, Robert Power 3rd, 59" behind, Ilnur Zakarin 4th, 1'8" behind
The GC as it stood then
Spoiler
Stage 7 - Hilly with hill top finish, including 2 major intermediate climbs
The 5 man breakaway had Fuglsang as the danger man in terms of ability but he was a long way down in the rankings. Not much action to report of in the first climb. The group of GC leaders was down to 10 riders as they crossed the second climb. While Wilco Kelderman had no support from his team, Dayer Quintana had been dropped from the group. The peloton caught up with the leaders after the descent. The group of leaders was again down to 10 riders. Robert Power launched the first attack. He pulled out a few seconds over the others and held on to get some time back. Ahead of him, Sergey Chernetskiy took the stage win from the breakaway. Behind Power, Pintassilgo attacked with only Ulissi in tow. The Movistar rider once again got the better of Kelderman, who seemed content to drop a few seconds, given his sizeable lead at the top.
Stage winner - Sergey Chernetskiy from breakaway Movistar - Isidro Pintassilgo 7th, 2'27" behind. Dayer lost 3'37" and dropped a place in the GC Other important results - Robert Power 5th, 2'2" behind, Ilnur Zakarin 9th, Wilco Kelderman 10th, 2'47" behind
Stage 8 - Flat with 2 minor intermediate climbs
The peloton rode most of this stage on cruise control behind the breakaway before the teams of the sprinters chased down the 7 man breakaway. They were caught with 5 km to go. Degenkolb took another win on another flat stage. Three Movistar riders got into the top 10.
Stage winner - John Degenkolb Movistar - Benat Intxausti 5th, Julian Alaphilippe 6th, Rafal Majka 9th
Stage 9 - Individual Time Trial - Flat - 32.2 km
Almost every Movistar rider messed up their times, with Dayer losing out the most. The exhaustion was showing. Not just them, most of the GC contenders barring Frank, had a day to forget, the damage from 8 hard days of racing evident. Frank won his second time trial of the race. Sutterlin was Movistar's best on this stage.
Stage winner - Mathias Frank Movistar - Jasha Sutterlin 16th losing 1'49", Isidro Pintassilgo lost 2'14", Dayer Quintana lost 4'5" Other important results - Wilco Kelderman lost 1'38", Robert Power lost 1'36", Ilnur Zakarin lost 1'19", Robert Gesink lost 2'3"
General Classification
1)Wilco Kelderman (Giant-Alpecin)
2)Isidro Pintassilgo (Movistar)
3)Robert Power (American Express)
Young Riders' Classification
1)Robert Power (American Express)
2)Adriano Jorge Benedito (Sky)
3)Maximilian Garger (IAM)
Team Classification
1)Movistar
2)Astana
3)American Express
With four riders in the top 10, the team can classify this race as a success. Pintassilgo showcased his talent to the world, something we were always confident about since we signed him. The way he dominated Kelderman, in not one, but two stages, is something to remember. Kreuziger's early retirement did not cause a lot of problems.
The first stage is mostly flat but gets tricky as the riders approach the end. Although the sprinters are penned down as favourites, the profile might just favour the punchers a bit more.
Stage 2
Similar to stage 1, the end of this stage is again not ideal for the sprinters. It will be interesting to see if any of the punchers take a shot at the stage victory with a late attack.
Stage 3
Three huge climbs with a long flat section in the middle part of the stage should see the stronger climbers come out on top. The climbs are long enough and hard enough to expect big time gaps at the finish, despite the downhill.
Overall Assessment
This race is generally low on the priority list of most WT teams. This year it is of importance to Movistar because of Nairo's presence. Stage 3 should decide the GC.
Tamijo wrote:
Hopefully a Great "preparation" for Nario
Thanks. It shouldn't much of an effort really. Keeping him fresh for the TDF and the Vuelta.
Taking this opportunity to thank everyone again for following and commenting on my story. Past 750 posts and 25k views Never thought I'd get this far to be honest!
On to the race update...
ROUTE du SUD
Movistar Team List
Nairo Quintana
Bryan Coquard
Eduard Korniets
Pello Bilbao
Gorkha Izagirre
Alejandro Valverde
Josef Katzer
Sergei Vovchuk
Bryan Coquard received an invitation to this race. Movistar had brought two of their best talents, in Nairo and Coquard, which jazzed up the start list. Steven Kruijswijk was the only other contender of repute with Valerio Conti expected to be up there in the final standings too. Movistar had not brought a strong team for the mountains and had basically given Nairo free reign to go as he pleased. He would still be the overwhelming favourite to win the GC.
The following is a summary of stages...
Stage 1 - Flat with 3 minor intermediate climbs
A 10 man breakaway formed early on but were caught after the first climb. 6 riders went away soon after, only for 5 of them to be reeled back. Eventually, 7 more attacked and the race stabilized with 8 riders in the breakaway. They had a maximum gap of 12 minutes to the peloton. The peloton never got themselves properly organized, finishing over 3 minutes behind the break. Romain Bacon took the stage win and the leader's jersey.
Stage winner - Romain Bacon from breakaway, 3'27" ahead of the peloton
Stage 2 - Flat
5 of the 6 early breakaway riders survived for the long haul, pulling out a 7 minute lead over the pack. Movistar led the chase, hoping to get Coquard a stage victory. The lead for the breakaway was quickly brought down but then hovered between 1 and 2 minutes for two-thirds of the race. All but one were finally reeled in with 10 km to go. The pack split with 5 km to go and the lone rider in front was caught a km later. Coquard was not in a good position in the finishing straight and finished outside the top 10. Ben Swift picked up the win.
Stage winner - Ben Swift
Stage 3 - Mountain with downhill finish, including 3 major intermediate climbs
A 6 man break got a 6 minute lead on the pack. They were caught at the start of the last climb. Kruijswijk launched the first attack, while four others countered. Nairo set about chasing them with not much help from his team-mates. After the dust settled, it was Nairo, Kruijswijk and Conti in front with just over 20 km to go. A few kilometres later, Nairo was all on his own at the front. He easily wiped out the deficit to the leader and continued to a stage win.
Stage winner - Nairo Quintana Movistar - Eduard Korniets 9th, Gorkha Izagirre 10th, both 4'38" behind Other important results - Steven Kruijswijk 2nd, Valerio Conti 3rd, 1'25" behind, Alexander Foliforov 4th, 3'22" behind
There were no points awarded for intermediate and mountain sprints.
A good outing and result for Nairo. Two more top 10s add to the occasion. No injuries and Nairo getting back into rhythm. Just what the team were hoping for from this race.
It's the eve of the National Championships week. The transfer negotiations window has been open for three days now. But, we have not received any offers for team sponsorship for the coming season! The management have had a sit-down with all of the riders regarding the situation. The riders have verbally agreed to stick with the team till we sort out the situation. As you know, without the sponsors being finalized, we cannot officially sign new contracts or extend existing ones. However, there is only so long that we can hang on to them, before they have to start looking elsewhere for a ride next season.
We are faced with a very difficult choice now. There are three scenarios we are likely to face going ahead:
1)We find a reputed sponsor or they find us in the near future. Problem solved!
2)We don't find a reputed sponsor and have to settle for a local one.
3)We don't find a sponsor in time.
While option 1 would be lovely, it is looking harder and harder as the days go by. Option 2 is something the management is not considering very seriously as it would mean a reduced budget and maybe a step down from the World Tour. That brings me to option 3. The chances of the team shutting down is a very real possibility. It is hard to imagine we'd be facing this after such a bright season so far. If we don't find a sponsor who can keep us in the World Tour and help us compete for race victories, option 3 would become the reality!
Spoiler
Personal Note
I think the game heard me saying I didn't want to extend the contract in this story and so Movistar actually is withdrawing their sponsorship at the end of this season . I'm considering making this the final season of my story, especially if Nairo wins all 3 GTs. If not, then maybe I'll edit the DB and continue. Will update on this...
Exactly my reaction when I realised what was happening . But if, IF, Nairo does get all 3 GTs, it might be a good way to sign off. Achieving the ultimate goal of this career. If not, then I will probably continue...
Ripley wrote:
You'll have to use an editor and open the dyn_sponsor table to see what the problem is. Good luck at the Tour!
Thanks Ripley. I'm still deciding whether to continue on to next season. Going out on the highest note possible is a consideration. Let's see what Nairo does for the rest of the season
But before that that...
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
SPANISH NC - Individual Time Trial
An uphill start to an otherwise flat TT was expected to take the advantage away from the specialists. Defending champion Luis Leon Sanchez set the pace early on. Intxausti came close for Movistar but it was not till the last two riders went out on the course that Sanchez lost the lead and his title. Ion Izagirre rolled out first and set the marker. Jonathan Castroviejo was the last rider on the road. Despite his best efforts, he could not beat Ion's time and settled for 2nd place. Movistar retained the NC ITT title, this time with Ion Izagirre. Luis Leon Sanchez ended up 3rd.
SPANISH NC - Road Race
The road race favoured the climbers with the pack riding over a climb on the circuit a total of 13 times. Riders started falling off the back of the peloton as Movistar maintained a difficult pace. On the last climb, four riders broke the shackles and left the peloton behind. While Intxausti, Ion and Castroviejo tried gamely, they were no match for Landa's burst up the climb. Mikel Landa crossed the line in 1st after safely negotiating the descent. Benat Intxasuti made it a Movistar 1-2. Jonathan Castroviejo managed to get a measure of revenge on Ion, stealing 3rd place with an acceleration on he descent.
This was a job well done by Movistar.
Updates from other NCs with a focus on Movistar riders (best finish positions only)...
Individual Time Trial
1)Ukraine Winner - Dennis Shmatovalenko : Movistar - Eduard Korniets 14th
2)Czech Republic Winner - Petr Vakoc : Movistar - Roman Kreuziger 5th
3)Portugal Winner - Daniel Freitas: Movistar - Isidro Pintassilgo 17th
4)Italy Winner - Adriano Malori
5)Belgium Winner - Thomas de Gendt : Movistar - Tiejs Benoot 9th
6)France Winner - Alexandre Geniez : Movistar - Julian Alaphilippe 15th
7)Germany Winner - Lennard Kamna : Movistar - Jasha Sutterlin 3rd
8)Poland Winner - Pawel Frackzak : Movistar - Rafal Majka 15th
9)Austria Winner - Matthias Krizek : Movistar - Josef Katzer 31st
Both the Spanish jerseys are back with Movistar for the first time in three years. Ion Izagirre and Mikel Landa both lived up to their top billing. Adriano Malori retained his Italian ITT title. Three more podiums for the team with Sutterlin and Coquard picking up a Bronze and a Silver respectively, to add to Intxausti's Silver in the Road Race.
. Should be good race...
. But if, IF, Nairo does get all 3 GTs, it might be a good way to sign off. Achieving the ultimate goal of this career. If not, then I will probably continue...
. Not ideal I must add!
