Raphael Visconti has announced days before the National Championships in Gabicce that he will not participate in the race. Following his feud with the leading Italian media, especially La Gazzetto dello Sport, Visconti stirs up yet again controsvery. The 23 year-old posted a picture on twitter, where he was spotted on the beach of Sardinia, titled “Taking a break from douchebags� . Italy’s best rider in the Spring Classics (based upon CQ Ranking) gave no explicit reason for his non-participation though, however, due to the picture, his fans understand that it shall serve as a pay-back and a clear signal towards his harshest critics. Those critics however see as yet another evidence for Visconti's lack of interest in Italy's highly valued cycling culture.


With his stay in Sardinia, Visconti missed out on a fantastic race won by his teammate Moreno Moser though. The recent winner of stage 2 at Tour de Suisse, Moser attacked on the last time climbing the local hill. He finished the city parcour ahead of Fabio Aru, and now deservedly will wear the Jersey of the Italian Champion for a year. This is certainly a better way to shut your critics up, right?

But that’s not the only National Jersey for Team Citigroup – Cannondale. Tejay Van Garderen, Guillaume Boivin and Maciej Bodnar have been successful too at their respective championships.

	Country	National Champion - RR	National Champion - TT
	Austria	Bernhard Eisel	Riccardo Zoidl
	Belgium	Jens Debusschere	Stijn Devolder
	Canada	Guillaume Boivin	Svein Tuft
	Czech Republic	Zdenek Stybar	Jan Barta
	Colombia	Rigoberto Uran	Rigoberto Uran
	Denmark	Matti Breschel	Lasse Hansen
	France	Arnaud Demare	Jeremy Roy
	Germany	Gerald Ciolek	Tony Martin
	Great Britain	David Millar	David Millar
	Italy	Moreno Moser	Dario Cataldo
	Netherlands	Barry Markus	Sebastian Langeveld
	Norway	Alexander Kristoff	Edvald Boasson Hagen
	Russia	Alexander Porsev	Anton Vorobreyv
	Poland	Michal Golas	Maciej Bodnar
	Portugal	Fabio Silvestre	Rui Costa
	Spain	Alberto Contador	Ion Izagirre
	Slovenia	Luca Mezgec	Klemen Stimunlak
	Switzerland	Fabian Cancellara	Fabian Cancellara
	Ukrainy	Makysm Averin	Yaroslav Popovych
	United States	Tejay Van Garderen	Tejay Van Garderen

Contador wins le Tour, Van Garderen second!

Looking back, the past three weeks have been a fantastic run for Citigroup – Cannondale. Early on, the team philosophy showed what it was worth when Italian Champion Moreno Moser scored a 3rd place on the first stage of le Tour. Greg Van Avermaet became the first leader, Contador already had a little advantage on all his GC rivals, and Citigroup’s ambitions were backed by the determination and active riding of Van Garderen in those early days.

On the fourth day, Van Garderen was the best man behind a whole bunch of Time Trial specialists, lead by Tony Martin. A bad ride from Froome showed that the Briton may not be the expected favourite. Valverde, previous winner of le Tour, had a horrible first week, already losing chunks of time. With the following strong performance of Alberto Contador on stage 6, many people already declared the Tour for over. But for Citigroup – Cannondale it was only getting started.


Van Garderen took the 3rd place overall on stage 6, and he kept himself always on the podium. With the intention of finishing up there in Paris, he always tried to put time into his rivals. Sometimes it worked in the mountains or over hilly terrain, sometimes it didn’t. Citigroup – Cannondale had a sort of advantage though. Van Garderen knew that he could beat Rui Costa in the last 50 km long TT easily, and that he was supreme to everybody there. He also knew that riding against Contador, when the Spaniard is in such shape, was pointless. So instead, the team forced their opposition to do their work. While Contador was riding freely around and gaining time on his rivals, Van Garderen kept a tight control, all in order to get his desired podium place.

But that’s no reason to think that Citigroup – Cannondale wouldn’t have attacked. Van Garderen was creative in his attacks, oftentimes moving away when other favourites thought that it’d be quiet for a second. Van Garderen’s late solo run on the hilly stage 18 was much talked about. And with Moreno Moser’s stage win on the 16th stage, the team even got a victory out of the breakaway. The splendid help by Caruso, De Gendt and Moser helped massively too in order to achieve Van Garderen’s and Citigroup’s goal.


The sprint competition was won by Peter Sagan, although the Slovakian did not take a single stage win. Because of Contador’s reign in the mountains, the polka dots belong to him too. Best young rider was Nairo Quintana, who did not convince his new team, Astana, and arrived in Paris behind Nibali, who already rode the Giro d’Italia. Citigroup – Cannondale missed the win in the team classification by 3 minutes against Astana. Citigroup – Cannondale was actually long-time leading the competition, until one bad day from the team ruined it.


Alberto Contador, Tejay van Garderen on second, and Rui Costa on third, are the names and people on the podium in France. For Tejay, it was wonderful moment of bliss. For the team, a reassurance, that they did the right thing. No one was going to talk about the Giro now… or so, they thought.

Stage	Name	Team	Leader’s Jersey
1, HL	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC	Van Avermaet
2, FL	Andre Greipel	Lotto – Belisol	Van Avermaet
3. FL	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma	Van Avermaet
4, TT	Tony Martin	Omega Pharma	Tony Martin
5, FL	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma	Tony Martin
6, HL (MTF)	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff Saxo	Alberto Contador
7, HL	Nicolas Edet	Cofidis	Alberto Contador
8, FL	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma	Alberto Contador
9, MT	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff Saxo	Alberto Contador
10, MT (MTF)	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff Saxo	Alberto Contador
11, MT	Dries Devenys	Giant – Shimano	Alberto Contador
12, FL	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma	Alberto Contador
13, FL	Maarten Wynants	Belkin	Alberto Cotnador
14, FL	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma	Alberto Contador
15, MT (MTF)	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff Saxo	Alberto Contador
16, MT	Moreno Moser	Citigroup – CD	Alberto Contador
17, MT (MTF)	Robert Kiserlovski	Trek Factory Racing	Alberto Contador
18, HL	Janier Acevedo	Garmin-Sharp	Alberto Contador
19, FL	Sylvain Chavanel	IAM Cycling	Alberto Contador
20, TT	Taylor Phinney	BMC	Alberto Contador
21, Fl	Andre Greipel	Lotto – Belisol	Alberto Contador

Final Classification

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff - Saxo	84h09'07
2	Tejay Van Garderen	Citigroup - Cannondale	+ 6'48
3	Rui Costa	Team Katusha	+ 10'16
4	Chris Froome	Team Sky	+ 10'49
5	Andrew Talansky	Garmin Sharp	+ 11'18
6	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	+ 13'50
7	Daniel Moreno	Team Alonso - Ferrari	+ 14'02
8	Nairo Quintana	Astana Pro Team	+ 14'29
9	Fränk Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 14'38
10	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 15'50

Points

Rank	Name	Team	General
1	Peter Sagan	Team Sky	467
2	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma - Quick•Step	454
3	André Greipel	Lotto Belisol	424

KoM

Rank	Name	Team	General
1	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff - Saxo	101
2	Sylvain Chavanel	IAM Cycling	86
3	José Herrada	Movistar Team	74

Young Rider: Nairo Quintana
Team: Astana

Didn't expect Van Garderen on the podium though. His stats must have been increased a lot.

No one was going to talk about the Giro now… or so, they thought.

Shonak wrote:
@SSJ2Lugi: They most certainly don't... I think? But Citigroup just lacks top quality GC italian riders. Obviously Basso is way over his peak by now.