The Hell of the North. One week after Flanders we move south west towards France for another of the monuments in cycling. Paris-Roubaix has over one century of history, a race with a high name but considered as too hard for many riders, who have disregarded it due to the difficult conditions. The main hope before the start is we see a good show and none get injured.
The stage between Compiegne and Roubaix is really flat, nothing like the hills we saw last week in Flanders. However, the amount of cobbled sections is much greater. As usual in this kind of classics, the first 100 kilometres will be easy and will only add wear on the riders legs.
Not 10 kilometres had passed when the first attack happened. Igor Anton (Saxo Bank), Francisco Ventoso (HTC), Wouter Poels (Omega) and Marteen Tjallingii (Garmin) were the riders in front. Poels had been in the break at Flanders and it worked well, giving him a fifth place. With 225 kilometres to go, they already had 5 minutes on the peloton.
As the pack reaches the first cobbles, the difference is growing to 8’ 20’’. Liquigas and Sky are the teams most interested in following, but the gap only decreases slowly. 120 kilometres to the end the break is almost 6 minutes ahead.
With 55 kilometres to the end, the difference was slowly decreasing. It looks as if the pack is playing with the break. No major attacks in the pack, but Saxo Bank suffered two falls: Chris Anker Sorensen and Bauke Mollema. They would never make it back to the group.
Liquigas was, by far, the team most interested in closing the gap to the break. Approaching Bourghelles the group in front had 1’ 25’’, it would be really difficult for them to make it to the finish.
The break gave all they had at the Carrefour de l’Arbre to maintain the lead; however, they were already showing strong signs of wear. 15 kilometres to go and the pack were 50 seconds behind. Liquigas was increasing the pace and many riders started to fall behind the peloton.
Huge crash in front of the peloton! One of the Liquigas riders lost control of his bike coming out of Hem cobbled section and 10 more riders fell with him. He took three other teammates with him. They had been working all day long and now Liquigas has half the team on the ground: Sagan, Kreuziger, Ponzi and Nibali. David Lopez, fourth in the World Tour rankings had to abandon following the fall.
The break finally came to an end with 6 to go. The front of the peloton was now one big mess following the fall. No team seemed able to control the pace.
Marco Marcato was the first to launch the sprint with one lap to go inside the velodrome of Roubaix, Fugslang, Bozic and Basso were behind. Around 60 riders made it to the end in the front group.
Borut Bozic wins in Roubaix! He gives back to back victories for Sky in Flanders and Paris – Roubaix! Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard) came second, while Simon Gerrans (Sky) was third. This is a great result for Sky, with two riders in the podium.
Another of the winners of the day is Oscar Freire, who moves to the leading place in the World Tour rankings. He is now followed by his teammate Dupont. The Spaniard has had two good weeks, with this result following a second at Flanders. Boruz Bozic also moves up in the rankings, he is tied at the 7th with Tony Martin.
The Amstel Gold Race is the only race in the Netherlands of the World Tour and closes the spring classics season. It takes place in the southern part of Limburg. The profile is full of hills, the Cauberg being the most representative of them. It is climbed three times and the race ends at its top. However, the riders will not have to deal with cobbles this time, making the job a little bit easier.
The difficulties in the Amstel Gold Race start much earlier than in Flanders or Roubaix, where the first 100 kilometres are cruising through flat terrain. There are a total of 32 hills between Maastricht and Valkenburg. The weather is awful at the start, it is raining and the temperature is only 7º.
The break of the day took shape very early in the race again. This time it was made of David Millar (Garmin), Tiago Machado (Radioshack) and Peter Kennaugh (Sky). After winning Flanders, it would be quite a milestone for Kennaugh to go for victory at the Cauberg too. They were 5 minutes ahead with 190 kilometres to go.
The weather was as bad as it gets as the riders reached half the distance. The leaders already had 9’ 30’’ on the peloton at that point. No team seemed in a hurry to close the gap, but they would have to work hard on the final part of the race to catch them.
And the pack finally awoke with a little more than 100 to the finish. The lead of the break was already over 10’ 30’’. BMC and HTC took the responsibility to chase the leaders down.
In the second climb of the Cauberg, Omega started to help in front of the bunch. The gap was dropping like a stone and the leaders were only 4’ 30’’ ahead.
The first backmarkers start to lose ground with 36 kilometres to go. They are Rigoberto Uran, who suffered a puncture early on, Alexandre Vinokourov and Janez Brajkovic. The rhythm is very high in front of the peloton and the break only has 1’ 35’’. The hopes of them making it to the end are very slim.
The break lost all hope at the Keutenberg. They had 45 seconds at the foot, but they were caught before reaching the top of the hill. The peloton was one big mess, as many teams had lost riders. A group of 55 riders would fight for the win atop the Cauberg.
Attack by Contador! Less than 6 kilometres to the end the Saxo Bank rider tries to gain an advantage over the pack. We haven’t seen much from the Spaniard this season, maybe Amstel can be his race. HTC and Omega set the pace in the pack.
As we enter the last kilometre Contador has a slim advantage on the peloton. Hincapie is already launching the sprint of the peloton followed by Bernhard Eisel. It is going to be tight at the finish.
Alberto Contador wins the Amstel Gold Race! He was able to maintain the lead through the Cauberg climb with much trouble. 10 seconds later arrived a group of 33 riders, lead by George Hincapie, with Samuel Sanchez behind him. It was a great day for Saxo Bank and BMC, who topped the top 5 of the classic.
George Hincapie climbs to first in the World Tour rankings with his 4th overall at Catalunya and 2nd here. Alberto Contador also appears at the 10th position, while Saxo Bank retakes the lead in the teams classification.
Damn, Contador won! But Hincapie is leading the WT, nice
The stats are only going to change in the end of the year, right? (So all riders right now still have 55 on everything)
lluuiiggii wrote:
Damn, Contador won! But Hincapie is leading the WT, nice
The stats are only going to change in the end of the year, right? (So all riders right now still have 55 on everything)
Hey, I'm Spaniard, let us win sometimes Anyway, I like Samuel Sanchez better.
All the riders will have 55 on everything until the end of season. They will win and lose points depending on their World Tour rankigs. I hope the followers of the story (if there's any left) will help on that.
YvesStevens wrote:
AMG isn't the only WT race in the Netherlands, we also have the Eneco Tour!
After the spring classics the riders have enjoyed a month and a half of rest. We are now in the first week of June, ready to start the Tour de Suisse. The race takes place through 9 stages, where the first and the last are time trials. The first one is very short (less than 5 kilometres, but the last one in Bern is a tough one, with almost 40 kilometres. The mountain stages are a bit disappointing, as only the fifth stage, between Stafa and Serfaus, could prove decisive.
The prologue in Liechtenstein is really flat and short, even shorter than the one in the Volta a Catalunya. The differences will be really small in this first stage, but at least it will let the riders get back the feeling of the bike.
The local hero Fabian Cancellara was the first to set a good time. He did 6' 09''.
Robert Gesink then improved the Swiss time by one second. The Dutch would better start adding points to his rankings, as he has a 0.
Alexandre Vinokourov looked good but was tenths of a second slower than Gesink's time.
One of the last to make it on the course was André Greipel, he made it to third with the same time as Gesink. That was all for the prologue, Robert Gesink is the first leader of the Tour de Suisse so Omega will have to take responsibilities in front of the peloton.
The second stage in Switzerland is a circular course around Davos. The first part of the stage is downhill towards the valley, then we have around 60 kilometres flat before climbing back to Davos. The climb marked in the profile is Wiessen, which top is 24 kilometres to the finish.
The Tour de Suisse didn't start well for George Hincapie. The American was on the ground before 10 kilometres had passed. As the pack rhythm was not very fast yet, he could recover easily.
Tyler Farrar (Garmin), Joost Van Leijen (Lampre), Lloyd Mondory (Liquigas), Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank) and Frank Schleck (Leopard) where ahead in both intermediate sprints. With the bonuses, Van Leijen was the virtual leader of the race. Their maximum advantage was 7 minutes, but in the second sprint it was down to 5' 30''.
At the start of the climb, the difference was already down to 2 minutes. Back in the pack, it was Omega, BMC and Radioshack doing the main job.
Van Leijen was first at the Wiessen and will wear the mountain jersey tomorrow. The group had 1' 40'' over the peloton on the top of the climb. The chasers would need to work hard in the last part of the stage to bring them back.
On the second smaller climb Gerald Ciolek (Radioshack) tried an attack, he brouth Joaquim Rodriguez (Lampre) and seven other with him. Although they managed to open a 30 seconds gap on the peloton they lacked understanding to progress. This break meant that no team was pulling in the pack and the group in front was increasing the advantage.
Less than 5 kilometres to the finish and the break is ready to fight for the stage win and the leaders jersey. The small chasing group is back in the pack, where no team seems to take responsibility for the chase and the difference is up to 2' 55'.
Chris Anker Sorensen wins in Davos! The Dane was fastest in the line ahead of Tyler Farrar and Franck Schleck. The leaders jersey goes to Farrar, on the same time is Sorensen.
Petacchi wins the sprint of the pack, that arrived with a deficit of 3' 27''. Alexandre Vinokourov, second in the prologue, arrived later in another group more than 5 minutes behind.
A strange stage where the peloton lost it once it seemed to be in control. The Omega team was nowhere to be found once we started climbing, and that weighed too much on the pack.
Stage 3 takes us to the south of Switzerland. It has a very tough climb, the Passo del Lucomagno, with 16 kilometres of ascent. However, the climbs are really far from the finish and no fight is expected there. The small Galbisio though is only 4 kilometres away to the finish, so it could be good ground for the fittest to attack.
Five riders were in today’s break: Francisco Ventoso (HTC), Xavier Tondo (Radioshack), Marco Marcato (Liquigas), Nick Nuyens (Saxo Bank) and Michael Matthews (BMC). While approaching the first intermediate sprint they were almost 6 minutes ahead.
The peloton was in no hurry climbing the first mountain of the day. Leopard and Garmin had their riders in front, but they weren’t working really hard. The difference had climbed to 9’ 20’’ by then.
Ventoso was the first on the Passo del Lucomagno, as he was aiming for the climbers jersey. The group in front was doing a solid stage, but the pack was awakening. The difference had reduced to 7’ 35’’ before the long descent. However, the followers’ chances decreased, as Garmin lost Van Summeren and Vinokourov.
Less than 20 kilometres to go and the break is already looking good, as they still have 3’30’’ on the pack. That’s when the attacks started. The most successful of all saw Xavi Tondo take 15 seconds on the group before the Galbisio climb.
Reaching the top of the Galbisio, Matthews and Marcato joined Tondo. They were 37 seconds ahead of Nuyens and Ventoso and more than 1’ 30’’ ahead of the peloton. The three on the front would fight for the win in Lumino.
Robert Gesink showed that he has good legs on the climb and jumped ahead of the peloton. Kennaugh and Van Leijen tried to go with him but didn’t succeed and the Dutch was on his own.
Michael Matthews wins in Lumino! He outsprinted Marco Marcato by half a wheel. This is the first win in the career of the Australian. Behind the head trio, Nuyens and Ventoso arrived 48 seconds behind. Peter Kennaugh was able to join Robert Gesink on the short descent and the two made it to the line 1’ 14’’ behind the winner. The peloton, led by Hushovd, arrived more than 2 minutes back.
The three in the front group are now within two minutes of the leader, Tyler Farrar, but there were no changes on the top 5 of the General Classification.
I want to increase the size of the peloton for next year, cause 90 riders is a little bit small... I will be adding 3 teams and 27 riders. As I want the followers of the story (anyone?) to play their part on it, let me know who you want to see in the story. I will start:
Teams:
Euskaltel
Riders:
Chris Froome
Juanjo Cobo
Rein Taaramae
Pierre Rolland
Giovanni Visconti
Feel free to put any number of teams and riders you like. The most popular will be added at the end of the season.
Today’s stage performs one of the biggest climb in Switzerland, the Passo del San Gottardo. Sadly, it top is 150 kilometres to the finish. After that, we will only have the Sattelegg, a climb that will not break the pack so far from the end. Anyway, a good day for a break to win again.
Three riders were ahead at the top of the San Gottardo: Igor Anton (Saxo Bank), Simone Ponzi (Liquigas) and Marco Pinotti (HTC). Garmin was in no rush to bring the peloton up, only the fight for the mountain points, where Tondo succeeded, spiced up the last kilometre of the climb. They were losing 6 minutes when the descent began.
The strength of the men in the break was questionable in the second climb. The Italians left Anton halfway through the climb and in the last meters Pinotti lost contact to Ponzi. They were more than 3 minutes ahead, but one man fights against the peloton usually end up bad.
And it did end up bad for the break. The pack was approaching the finish really fast and there were lots of nerves in the first positions. This is where falls happen. Fortunately, no rider was caught unaware and there were no falls.
5 kilometres to the end Rojas was too strong while leading Cancellara to sprint and he found himself in front of the group. The same happened with two BMC men. Is this a team attack
Cancellara wins in Stafa! He will have to thank Rojas for the win, as the Spaniard was so strong that he was second in the stage. Behind came two BMC riders, but only one of them was in the “combined attack”.
An easy stage for the men in front of the overall classification, they will not have such an easy time tomorrow on the arrival to Serfaus.
The queen stage of the Tour de Suisse ends in Serfaus, Austria. The main two climbs the riders will have to face will be the Arlbergpass, with its last 10 km averaging 7% gradient and the Fisser Joch, with 6 km close to 9%. It is a very good day to recover lost time and make a statement for the riders that are willing to win the Tour de Suisse.
Nick Nuyens (Saxo Bank) and Tony Martin (HTC) were ahead of the peloton on the first climb. They had an advantage of 8 minutes there.
The peloton woke up after an unsuccessful attack from Peter Weening afoot the Arlbergpass. Halfway through the climb the difference between the break and the pack had reduced to 5 minutes.
Horner attacks at the Arlbergpass! He brings Wout Poels on his rear wheel. The two men manage to get away from the pack even as the pace is high.
Lampre, Leopard and Garmin were the team at the front of the peloton as they rode over the top of the mountain. At the front, Tony Martin had left Nuyens and would try to do everything on his own. He had less than 4 minutes on the peloton. Horner and Poels were 36 seconds ahead of the pack.
However, the flat allowed the peloton to put pressure on the leading riders. By the second intermediate sprint only Tony Martin remained ahead, that allowed Vinokourov and Cancellara to sprint for some points. By the time they reached the foot of the Fisser Joch, there was no rider in the front, the peloton was made of around 70 riders.
Franck Schleck was the strongest in the first slopes of the mountain. When they had 5 km to the finish, he had 22 seconds on Ventoso, 43 seconds on Tondo and 1’ 03’’ on the group. Wining the stage would give him the yellow jersey for sure.
Two kilometres later, Schleck was showing himself even more strong. A small group of riders formed between Ventoso and the group, including Mondory, Tondo, Sorensen, Farrar and Van Leijen. Schleck now had 47 seconds on Ventoso and 1’ 08’’ on the favourites group.
Franck Schleck wins in Serfaus! Two in a row for Leopard. He will take the yellow jersey too and with a good difference, as only Ventoso is seen at the finish straight while Schleck celebrates.
Ventoso comes second 57 seconds behind Schleck. Behind, the group of favourites has broke in two in the last km of the climb.
Farrar was left behind, along with Matthews and Van Leijen. The trio lost 1’ 51’’ on Fracnk Schleck. The American will now drop to fourth in the overall result.
Schleck will have tomorrow a day to enjoy the jersey, as there are no significant difficulties. He will have to be more worried about the last two stages: the mountain top finish in Crans Montana and the time trial in Bern. However, he has a significant time difference to play with.
