The weather is different today, compared to what the riders have been used to lately. It will be clouded with showers from time to time and a hard wind of 48-55 km/h mostly from behind.
Astana’s plan was to get Miguel López in the breakaway, but it fails. Instead it is Fabio Aru who slips away. This was not the plan, but manager Stefano Zanini sitting in the team car today, decides to let him go, the stage is short, Nibali should be fine.
The others in the breakaway are Maxime Bouet (Etixx - Quick Step), Rory Sutherland (Movistar), Omar Fraile (Dimension Data) and Warren Barguil (Giant – Alpecin)
Just before the start of Passo Della Mendola, Yury Trofimov (Tinkoff) attacks from the peloton. At this point the breakaway has 3’15, starting the hardest 13.5 km of the 80km they have left.
From the breakaway also Aru attacks, might be a risky move this early, seems the young Italian climber find it hard to restrict himself now that he is finally out on this own agenda.
Back in the peloton, it is Amets Txurruka (Orica) and Davide Formolo (Cannondale) pulling. Looks like Adam Yates and Rigoberto Urán might have good legs. The peloton are reduced to 54 riders on the climb.
In front Warren Barguil was the only one able to follow Aru, Barguil takes the KoM.
Over the top the duo has 6’38 to the peloton. Trofimov at 4’07, Sutherland at 3’29, Bouet and Fraile at 1’34
On the 45 km long descent from the top of Passo Della Mendola at the foot of Fai Della Paganella, the pace in the peloton is high, while the two groups in front melt together riding is a moderate pace, the distance is reduced to 3’03”.
On Fai Della Paganella Barguil and Aru drops the other, from the peloton Nibali attacks.
The peloton explodes, Amador close the gap to Nibali, before they reach the top, 43” behind Barguil and Aru, not far behind them Pozzovivo, another 1’16 down to the Yates brother, and 25” more to the peloton.
Group Nibali and group Aru melt together just before the final obstacle the uncategorized Andalo climb.
On the climb Porte attacks from the peloton and makes contact to the front, also Pozzovivo close up.
Pozzovivo and Barguil used it all on the climb, now have to let go. A little later it is also over for Aru, it is between Amador, Porte and Nibali
Amador wins the stage to Andalo in front of Porte, the Astana riders take 3rd and 4th.
Evaluation:
Overall:
This was the 2nd season win by 29 years old Costa Rican Andrey Amador Bikkazakova, after he won a stage in Volta ao Algarve back in February. His 2nd individual grand tour win, he won stage 14 in the 2012 Giro from a breakaway.
The positive surprice today was clearly Amador, his bold move following Nibali’s attack paid out. Also Simon Yates for the first time in this Giro showed himself, coming it at 5th.
Top GC riders losing substantial time was, Brambilla and Kreuziger (1’14”), Yates (1’29”) and Miguel López (1’41)”. Brambilla lost a position in GC to Riccardo Zoidl.
Astana:
A fine stage with two riders in top 5 but did not chance much, besides the fact that Miguel Ángel López lost time again, seems his form is decreasing marked by the long race.
24/5 Stage 17/21 Molveno – Cassano d’Adda 190.8 km
It’s a nice day sunny with very little wind on most of the route.
The stage starts with a steep downhill from Molveno down towards Lago di Molveno (Lake Molveno), the pace is very high due to the constant breakaway attempts and the result is a series of bad crashes.
Already on the first 5 km we have a total of 19 riders down, including top sprinters Kittel, Greipel and Sbaragli.
Again Astana is hit hard with 3 riders down, Michele Scarponi, Dario Cataldo and Miguel López, but things settle down and everyone makes it back, with various amounts of bruising.
Meanwhile a breakaway have been established from several smaller groups, it is Houle (Ag2r), Boem (Bardiani), Ladagnous (FDJ), Polanc (Lampre), Frison (Lotto), Visconti (Movistar) De Backer (Giant), Campenaerts (LottoNL) and Boaro (Tinkoff).
When they start the climb to the uncategorized Berguzzo, the 9 riders have 2’45” to the peloton.
The peloton is taking it easy, the sprinter teams saves themselves for later, and the GC teams have no rush on this transition stage between the mountains, the rider are chatting a little, enjoying the nice weather and stunning landscape.
With 120 km to go the distance is 5’35”, peloton speed 38-42 km/hour.
Just before the start of the climb to Sant'Eusebio Quick Step and Katusha takes the lead, upping the pace.
It seems the sudden change in pace surprised some rider in the rear end of the peloton, another crash takes 9 riders down. They get back close to the sprint in Brescia.
Just another 16 km and we have another accident, Scarponi just touch the wheel of an IAM rider in front of him, and lose control. Other riders behind him hit the brakes and it ends in a mass crash. Sebastian Langeveld (Cannondale) can’t continue.
Besides Scarponi down are also GC 3rd Rigoberto Urán, Alexandre Geniez, Peter Kennaugh, Niccolò Bonifazio and Sébastien Reichenbach, many domestic riders are send back to help especially Cannondale riders.
With a peloton speed of 56-57 km/h, the Cannondale riders have to give it everything they got to close the 2’30” gap, but they make it. With about 22 km to the line Urán (and Scarponi) is back in the rear end up the peloton.
With just 6 km to the line another crash was reported, though not caught on camera, a solo crash by Orica’s top GC riders Adam Yates, 4 riders are send back to help.
The peloton is hammering towards the line with 60 km/h but it is all in vain, the stage was won in a sprint between the breakaway riders.
The stage to Cassano d’Adda was won by Jan Polanc (Lampre) in front of Frederik Frison (Lotto) and Giovanni Visconti (Movistar).
38 sec. later Marcel Kittel won the bunch sprint for 10th.
Evaluation:
Overall:
This was the 1st season win by 24 years old Slovenian Jan Polanc, his last victory was in last year’s Giro, where he won a solo victory from a breakaway on stage 5.
Due to his crash Adam Yates lose 5 minutes, faling from 7th to 10th in GC, his white jersey is taken over by Miguel López
Many teams report riders with minor injuries from all the crashing today.
This is a complete list of everyone starting tomorrows stage with smaller or larger injuries:
Besides what López will gain from Yates falling, not much interesting seen with Astana eyes, besides the fact that they were also hit by a lot of crashing and minor injuries. Cataldo have been down so many times now.
Stage
1
Jan Polanc
Lampre-Merida
4h15'06
2
Frederik Frison
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
3
Giovanni Visconti
Movistar Team
s.t.
4
Hugo Houle
Ag2r La Mondiale
s.t.
5
Manuele Boaro
Tinkoff
s.t.
6
Bert De Backer
Team Giant - Alpecin
s.t.
7
Matthieu Ladagnous
FDJ
s.t.
8
Nicola Boem
Bardiani - CSF Pro Team
s.t.
9
Victor Campenaerts
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
s.t.
10
Marcel Kittel
Etixx - Quick Step
+ 38
Spoiler
21
Andrea Guardini
Astana Pro Team
+00:38
26
Vincenzo Nibali
Astana Pro Team
+00:38
33
Tanel Kangert
Astana Pro Team
+00:38
57
Dario Cataldo
Astana Pro Team
+00:38
66
Miguel Ángel López Moreno
Astana Pro Team
+00:38
67
Andrey Zeits
Astana Pro Team
+00:38
164
Fabio Aru
Astana Pro Team
+03:56
180
Michele Scarponi
Astana Pro Team
+08:19
GC
1
Richie Porte
BMC Racing Team
65h41'00
2
Vincenzo Nibali
Astana Pro Team
+ 5'35
3
Rigoberto Urán Urán
Cannondale Pro Cycling Team
+ 7'22
4
Roman Kreuziger
Tinkoff
+ 12'37
5
Andrey Amador Bikkazakova
Movistar Team
+ 13'05
6
Mikel Landa Meana
Team Sky
+ 13'53
7
Miguel Ángel López Moreno
Astana Pro Team
+ 20'46
8
Riccardo Zoidl
Trek - Segafredo
+ 20'50
9
Gianluca Brambilla
Etixx - Quick Step
+ 21'32
10
Adam Yates
Orica-GreenEDGE
+ 23'05
Spoiler
38
Michele Scarponi
Astana Pro Team
+57:13
40
Tanel Kangert
Astana Pro Team
+01:00:36
50
Fabio Aru
Astana Pro Team
+01:19:51
78
Dario Cataldo
Astana Pro Team
+02:03:25
109
Andrey Zeits
Astana Pro Team
+02:45:43
132
Andrea Guardini
Astana Pro Team
+03:14:47
Points
1
Richie Porte
BMC Racing Team
164
2
Rigoberto Urán Urán
Cannondale Pro Cycling Team
154
3
Vincenzo Nibali
Astana Pro Team
132
KoM
1
Warren Barguil
Team Giant - Alpecin
228
2
Richie Porte
BMC Racing Team
110
3
Yury Trofimov
Tinkoff
104
Team: Astana Pro Team
Young: Miguel Ángel López Moreno - Astana Pro Team
25/5-29/5 2016 Baloise Belgium Tour 2. HC
(5 stages)
First Winner:
1908 Lucien Petit-Breton (FRA)
Latest Years Winner’s
2013 Tony Martin
2014 Tony Martin
2015 Greg Van Avermaet
The race is hard to predict, but there is consensus between the bookmaker and the sports media that the best riders on the ITT will be the most likely to win.
The bonus points from sprints may come into play, and even an attack on the final undulated stage 5.
Media Favorites:
Tom Dumoulin (Giant) Tony Martin (Quick Step)
Taylor Phinney (BMC)
Secondary Favorites:
Barta (Bora) Thomas (Sky) Boom (Astana)
The weather is awful with a lot of rain and very wet roads, the pace is very high due to the early intermediate sprint and all attacks are rolled back, just 25 km from the start Daniil Fominykh is involved in a crash, 11 riders down.
After the sprint the pace settles down, and a breakaway are formed, it is Grégory Rast (Trek), Simone Antonini (Wanty), Bryan Nauleau (Direct Energie) and Paolo Tiralongo.
Over the next 50 km the breakaway builds a lead of 6 minutes, then with 118 km left Simone Antonini crashed from the breakaway, many others will be down on today’s slippery roads.
Antonini gets back in the break quickly, he seem to be ok.
The sprinter teams Quick Step, Tinkoff and LottoNL, wants to get a mass sprint finish on this first day of the race, they start working together pulling very hard, and the distance melts fast. With 30 km left it already reduced to 2 minutes.
The rain has stopped. With 7 km to the line only one rider is left in front of the peloton, Grégory Rast (Trek) has 32”, but the pace is insane high and he won’t make it.
It is LottoNL and Astana side by side on a wide straight road, when the sprint is about to start.
But even without help from a strong train, Peter Sagan is the fastest in the last km, he wins a close sprint in front of Moreno Hofland, Maximiliano Richeze takes the last podium.
Evaluation:
Overall:
Even though 26 years old Slovakian World Champion Peter Sagan had a disappointing Classics season without top ten’s, this was his 6th season win. His most important win so far this season was the general classification in Tour down under.
The positive surprise today was Giant’s young talent Zico Waeytens, making it to top 5.
The negative was FDJ, not getting their top sprinter William Bonnet close to a top 10 (16th)
There will be 12 riders starting with some damage or injuries from the crashes including Astana’s Daniil Fominykh, none of the favorites was down or lost time.
Astana:
Ok stage seen with Astana eyes, Fominykh has some bad bruises but everyone else came through a hard stage without injuries and a top 10 is fine.
At the first 130 km of the stage we have a scenario starting over and over, a small breakaway starts to form, growing in a larger group of 8-10 riders, BMC leading the peloton in a relaxed pace, then at some point Warren Barguil attacks and after a while Tinkoff starts hunting is all back in.
Then we starts the hilly section a new breakaway form, trying to take some time over the uncategorized Colletta di Cumiana, Kadri (Ag2r), Visconti (Movistar) Polanc (Lampre) Fraile (Dimension Data) Serry (Quick Step) Taaramae (Katusha) Campenaerts (LottoNL) and Popovych (Trek)
Again several times Warren Barguil attacks from the favorite group forcing the pace up, he does not get away but the group is reduced to 21 riders. Urán is sitting dangerously close to the rear end, over the top.
But on the downhill and flat section after Colletta di Cumiana the pace is reduced, everyone catching their breath, the peloton grows back to almost 100 riders.
On Parmartion, Miguel Ángel López is setting pace right from the start, it is very steep with 10% gradient. Both Richie Porte and Rigoberto Urán seems to be struggling a little already, and gaps might open at any moment.
But soon Warren Barguil attacks again, closing up to Kadri (Ag2r), Campenaerts (LottoNL) and Popovych (Trek) from the breakaway, soon Aru with Nibali on wheel also close up, they get 24” down to group Porte.
When Aru is done Nibali attacks from the group, almost simultaneous Jarlinson Pantano (IAM) attacks from the favorite group.
Over the top only Jan Polanc (Lampre) is left in front, he got 47” to Nibali
At 1’12 Pantano
At 1’38 Caruso, Kreuziger, S. Yates, Porte, Serry, Landa and Aru
At 2’27 Barguil, Urán, Amador Miguel López and Adam Yates both 3’35” back in a larger group.
7 km to the line, Polanc has 25 sec. to Nibali, 25” behind him Porte leads a group with Kreuziger, S. Yates, Serry, Landa and Pantano, but Porte seems empty and they are not closing in.
Nibali get contact with Jan Polanc just as they swing into the start of the final cobbled hill.
Nibali has been able to safe some power, he is hammering up the cobbled climb with no option for Polanc to hold wheel, Nibali wins in Pinerolo, Jan Polanc 2nd and Simon Yates 3rd.
Evaluation:
Overall:
This was the 3rd stage win by Nibali in this Giro, and his 7th season win. Nibali have now won a total of 11 Grand Tour stages.
Today positive surprise was Jan Polanc, with a great effort in the breakaway he was very close to taking his second back to back stage wins. Also notable was Siman Yates, having in general quite a bad Giro today he was sitting with the favorites sprinting himself on the podium.
The worst result was Amador, losing 1’31” to his closes rival Landa and thereby losing his top 5.
Astana:
Another great stage by Nibali and again a great effort from Aru making it possible.
Also Miguel López very happy not to lose time to Adam Yates in the fight for White.
Both Dario Cataldo and Michele Scarponi showed very little affect from their previous injuries today, it is safe to assume they will be fine from now on.
6/5-28/5 2016 Giro d'Italia
25/5-29/5 2016 Baloise Belgium Tour 2. HC
