Unfortunately none of our guys showed something today. We congratulate the surprise winner Izagirre (Euskaltel).

As we have no strong time trialists at all (with the only exception being stage racer Christian De Vries, who is not starting here), we were just trying not to get last overall. Unfortunately we had to go as the first team, so that the TV cameras even missed us. Damn you, Italian television!
But we were proud that we beat several teams and finished 17th. With Colombia, Caja Rural and Bardiani Valvole we have been beaten some other weaker PCT squads. Still something.

Again a quiet day for us. Come on guys, you can at least do something! Watching the big battle at the front was still interesting. We congratulate Nibali (Astana) on the stage win. We would have never thought that he would ride here against Rodriguez (Katusha) and Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff).

It really gets boring, now. You still have one day left to at least show our jersey once, guys!
I will not make any joke about the winner's name (Winner Anacona - Lampre), because that is just getting annoying.

Yup, in five days overall we have not been once in TV. Did anybody even notice we were applying to the race? We will just pretend we were not, so nobody can blame us for doing nothing at all.

Right from the start, Champion System is all active! Stage 1 seems to be perfect for a breakaway because of the tough climb in the middle of the stage, which will sort most sprinters out (except for Sagan), but cannot decide GC. Matthias Friedemann was the one to show himself - and he did really good.


While he did not fight for the intermediate sprint, Matthias decided to go for the KoM instead, which he did pretty well.


This decision seems weird, becuase he usually is a sprinter, but maybe he will have a chance on the mountain jersey overall, while in the sprint jersey competition he will not be able to compete again the likes of Sagan, etc. He pursued his task pretty good and therefore also gained the second KoM, which brought massive points as it was category 2.


Another good result of Matthias being in the breakaway, was that our whole team could relax in the main field an concentrate on bringing Christian De Vries safely over the climb. However, it was ridden to hard for our domestiques, so Christian had to stay alone in the massively reduced pack. But he managed quite well, as the pace was abolutely thrilling with attacks going on!


As Birt (NetApp) joined the breakaway the chances for our guy were nearly negated, because that guy was pretty fresh from the peloton and Matthias has worked all day. So it was no shame that he finally dropped away on the last mountain sprint, but he gave it everything he had left to secure some last points. He could even take the mountain jersey for the following day!


Now back in the peloton, Mathias showed great fighting spirit and did not drop from the peloton, but even helped Christian out by giving him a rest on his back wheel (can be seen on the far left side).


That saved Christian so much energy, that he even could compete in the final sprint, which did not feature great sprinters, except for Sagan, so that he had a decent chance to score a nice result, which we could not presume beforehand.


And he got fifth! Congratulations to the winner Mitchell Birt, who held off the peloton all the way to the line, but what a great sprint by the non-sprinter de Vries! This place is even better than our top sprinters usually get, so we are very happy with it (which casts a poor light on our sprinters, indeed).

Stage 2 was up to bring some shape in the GC for the first time, so today we had to be attentive. At the beginning, a pretty big breakaway made its way and, luckily, Christopher Butler was in there for our team, so we had no duty to chase.


As he was feeling strong today, Chris upped the pace on the climbs, so that his weaker companions really had to suffer there and the gap to the peloton increased.


As the riders made their way all to the summit finish, the intermediate sprints and KoM sprints were no goal for Chris as he totally focused on achieving our sponsor's objecitve of a stage win today. At the same time, the rest of the team including our GC-man Christian De Vries was riding comfortably in the pack. But you could already feel the nervosity everybody had there before entering the final climb as the pace now stretched out the big group.


Meanwhile there were attacks in the front group, so that Clancy (TNN), Miles (AJW) and Quintero (COL) broke free.


But the rest of the group was working well together and therefore got the escapees back. Now it was up to the total strength for the climb. Chris was always in good position to make it a good day for us.


Then it came to the final uphill sprint! Chris was always at the front, but could he even grab the win, as the peloton was flying behind?


Ah, he narrowly missed out! Just Pomoshnikov (RVL) and Dyachenko (AST) finished in front of him. Still, this podium place is a nice result. That was a strong ride from Chris. He is showing major strength now. Will he become even more than just a domestique in future? Who knows?
But let us not forgot the happenings a bit behind. The GC-contenders were all attacking hard and many little groups formed.


Sadly, Christian missed out on those first attacks and therefore could not get up to the likes of König (TNE) or Costa (MOV) anymore. But when Chris Horner (RLT) attacked, he was following him closely still looking to gain time on the rest of the peloton (look a bit down the road).


In the end, it was not a good stage result as many of the breakaway riders finished in front of him, but still, he did not lose much time on König and Costa, while with finishing just on the back wheel of Horner made him gain an advantage on many other stron climbers like Po-ding Kim (EUC), Talansky (GRS) or van Garderen (BMC). All in all, a strong ride by Chrisitan as well!

It was everything ready for the first stage to be decided in a bunch sprint, so Cannondale with Sagan were eager to produce one. That task turned out to get rather easy, as Garzelli (VIN) attacked alone with nobody following him - You should have followed him, guys!


Our biggest problem with it was that Garzelli easily got all the KoM points, so he obviously could take away the mountain jersey from Matthias Friedemann.


What we did not like today as well, was that he never tried to challenge the remaining points. Though he had been fighting for them all the way on the first stage, today he was not attentive enough to increase his points, so that even the helpers rolled over the sprint in front of him. That was all but a perfect action. We are therefore discontent with his riding today.


With 7km to go, the strong Cannondale team catched Garzelli, so that everything was set up for a bunch sprint. Could our sprinter duo Fabian Schnaidt and Matthias Friedemann (who did not challenge the KoM sprints, so he should have had enough power still) surprise in that one?


No, they could not. Insted Fabian decided to help our leader Christian De Vries to safely stay in front throughout the whole sprint to avoid crashes and time gaps. We are wondering if that was the right decision to guide Christian to the overall victory or if Fabian just waisted the possibility of a good result here?

We were heading out for a rather flat stage again, so a perfect chance for Team Sagan again.
Nonetheless, Chad Beyer tried to get into the breakaway today. But, unluckily, he failed. Still, we appreciate his effort.


The main happening in this stage was that, in a descent, there has been a major split in the peloton! I repeat: In a descent! BMC were the only ones that had a disadvantage through this, because their leader and former top-favourite Tejay van Garderen was caught behind. With no more help by other teams, they could not close the gap and he lost all chances for a good GC. Luckily, Christian De Vries was right at the front when the split happened, so he was in the front group. He also had help by Chad Beyer which was even better, so he could save some energy.


In the end, the break won, it was Rabottini for Vini-Fantini gaining the stage win (which we would have highly appreciated). We are still proud of Christian that he could even get some ranking points by his 8th place in the sprint at the end. However, most important is, that he is still in front of the young riders' competition and third in the GC. Well done!


Two minor things by the way: 1. Matthias Friedemann told us that he is not feeling well and he probably will not have the legs to compete for the KoM, where he already has some major gap to the first. So it is not interesting for us anymore, but we are sad for that. 2. Zachary Bell keeps getting last on every stage. Although he is working much, that is nothing we could accept, so the whole team decided that we are just going to laugh about his, because we can not help it.