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Paolo Savoldelli - Historical Giro d'Italia
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| Rammus |
Posted on 13-10-2011 23:26
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Stagiare
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It's 2004 and Poalo Savoldelli is out on a mission to obtain a 2nd Giro d'Italia victory ! His first year at T-Mobile was a barren one to say the least, but his passion has returned for the maglia rosa ...
'Il Falco' is by far the best descender in the world, and it is this quality that Paolo hopes will give him the edge against his competitors.
Spoiler
Flat: 72
Mountain: 80
Hill: 79
TT: 75
Prologue: 74
Sprint: 50
Acceleration: 68
Downhill: 85
Fighter: 72
Stamina: 79
Resistance: 75
Recovery: 78
The falcon also has the support of one of the strongest teams in the peleton, the magenta regiment of T-Mobile !
Here we have the full roster for the Giro:
Poalo Savoldelli
Santiago Botero
Matthias Kessler
Giuseppe Guerini
Danielle Nardello
Mario Aerts
Sergui Ivanov
Torsten Heikmann
Tobias Steinhouser
We are here for one objective and so the team has been chosen accordingly, so sadly no Erik Zabel !
Before we analyze the competition we should take a look at the setting of this quest; the route !
Thanks to Emmea90 for making this particular route
Spoiler
Prologue: Milano - Milano (ITT) Flat
Stage 1: Pioltello - Varazze Flat
Stage 2: Varazze - Massa Carrara Mountain
Stage 3: Massa Carrara - Firenze Flat
Stage 4: Lucca - Pisa (TTT) Flat
Stage 5: Pisa - Piombino Flat
Stage 6: Portoferraio - Portoferraio Hills
Stage 7: Grosseto - Monte Cetona Hills
Stage 8: Arezzo - Misano Adriatico Flat
Stage 9: Rimini - Forlì Hills
Stage 10: Imola - Monte Abetone Mountain
Rest
Stage 11: Venezia - Monte Zoncolan Mountain
Stage 12: Ovaro - Arabba Mountain
Stage 13: Arabba - Plan de Corones Mountain
Stage 14: Brunico - Prato allo Stelvio Flat
Stage 15: Spondigna - Bormio 2000 Mountain
Rest
Stage 16: Bormio - Colico Mountain
Stage 17: Lecco - Como (ITT) Hills
Stage 18: Como - La Thuile Mountain
Stage 19: Aosta - Sestriere Mountain
Stage 20: Torino - Milano Flat
Possibly the hardest route to date with a number of potential queen stages, it's going to be a real guaranteed slug fest ! Except the attrition rate to be over the moon, the winner may be the last rider to retire.
Let's now take a look at Savoldelli's rivals ...
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The Italians are once out in force again as to win their home event amongst the tifosi holds is a specail event for them. Perhaps the most dangerous and one of the favourite pre-race is Ivan Basso.
He showed great promise finishing 7th in the 2003 Tour de France at such a young age and many journalists have been reporting that he has stepped up his game to a whole new level over the winter ! Well we shall find out. He also made the transition to team CSC from Fassa Bortolo this year who can provide him with good support in the mountains.
Spoiler
Flat: 72
Mountain: 85
Hill: 79
TT: 72
Prologue: 67
Sprint: 51
Acceleration: 78
Downhill: 62
Fighter: 78
Stamina: 80
Resistance: 77
Recovery: 82
Gilberto Simoni, the winner of one year ago will be looking to defend his crown. He also won back in 2001, superb climber.
Not only does he have the experience, he also has arguably the strongest team, Saeco.
Spoiler
Flat: 68
Mountain: 84
Hill: 76
TT: 65
Prologue: 65
Sprint: 59
Acceleration: 77
Downhill: 75
Fighter: 65
Stamina: 77
Resistance: 79
Recovery: 80
Normally this rider wouldn't have cropped up on the radar at all ! But young Damiano Cunego has been rumoured to have been matching Simoni in the climbs in training, can he come onto the scene with a splash ?
Is being in the team as Simoni a good or bad thing ? Can they work together or will there be a rift in the team ...
Spoiler
Flat: 69
Mountain: 83
Hill: 80
TT: 63
Prologue: 63
Sprint: 61
Acceleration: 77
Downhill: 76
Fighter: 81
Stamina: 81
Resistance: 77
Recovery: 79
Another former winner comes in the form of Stefano Garzelli. It was a close call between him, Simoni & Casagrande but that was 4 years ago now. Has he still got it ?
One thing going for him going for him though is his lack of hair ! Redcued weight and better aerodynamics !
Spoiler
Flat: 71
Mountain: 83
Hill: 78
TT: 66
Prologue: 66
Sprint: 67
Acceleration: 71
Downhill: 72
Fighter: 61
Stamina: 78
Resistance: 78
Recovery: 78
A rider that gets better and better with age is Leonardo Piepoli ! He lacks consistency, but on his day he is one of the finest climbers around.
Interestingly this italian rides for a spanish team, Saunier Duval.
Spoiler
Flat: 67
Mountain: 83
Hill: 78
TT: 61
Prologue: 61
Sprint: 50
Acceleration: 82
Downhill: 65
Fighter: 80
Stamina: 76
Resistance: 80
Recovery: 72
The final of the Italians is Dario Cioni. Like Cunego he has yet to prove anything big but he has a strong set of skills and an ambition to match it.
He has to share a leadership role in his team with Alejet, not ideal for targeting the GC but it could take the pressure off.
Spoiler
Flat: 71
Mountain: 81
Hill: 76
TT: 68
Prologue: 67
Sprint: 50
Acceleration: 59
Downhill: 68
Fighter: 62
Stamina: 74
Resistance: 72
Recovery: 76
***************************************************
It seems this year the Italians will face a bit of an invasion as a number of Spaniards have entered the race. Perhaps becauase of it's mountainous nature ?
Roberto Heras 2 times winner of the Vuelta and a countless number of top 10's in a variety of GT's has the best palmares of any contender here.
Backed by Liberty Seguros, Heras along with Basso and Simoni is a major favourite to take the title.
Spoiler
Flat: 68
Mountain: 84
Hill: 77
TT: 74
Prologue: 64
Sprint: 53
Acceleration: 81
Downhill: 66
Fighter: 73
Stamina: 78
Resistance: 76
Recovery: 76
The most stylistic and elegant of riders, Francisco Mancebo will also be at the start in Milan, well maybe not the most but hey it works right ?
Paco is at the peak of his career so if he's going to take down a GT this will be a good as time as any ! A perfect route for him, 2 Osa's and a Menchov really stack a lot of power behind his campaign.
Spoiler
Flat: 72
Mountain: 82
Hill: 79
TT: 73
Prologue: 73
Sprint: 68
Acceleration: 74
Downhill: 72
Fighter: 74
Stamina: 82
Resistance: 81
Recovery: 76
A wild card to be considered also is Oscar Pereiro from Phonak. Again another good climber, can he cope with a full 3 weeks though ?
Except at least a cameo from this dark horse.
Spoiler
Flat: 69
Mountain: 80
Hill: 77
TT: 74
Prologue: 66
Sprint: 52
Acceleration: 66
Downhill: 66
Fighter: 71
Stamina: 74
Resistance: 75
Recovery: 72
***************************************************
Lastly come 3 talented riders from perhaps the smaller cycling nations of europe.
Serhiy Honchar is by far and away the strongest time trialist of all the favourites and though the route contains many mountains the 55km TT around lake Como could prove to be decisive, especially as it comes up in the 3rd week.
Unfortunately for him he won't be recieving much support from a rather weak De Nardi team. Then again this guy is a monster.
Spoiler
Flat: 74
Mountain: 81
Hill: 72
TT: 82
Prologue: 81
Sprint: 50
Acceleration: 68
Downhill: 67
Fighter: 61
Stamina: 80
Resistance: 78
Recovery: 80
Later on in the year Jose Azevedo will be expected to help Lance Armstrong break a record by winning a 6th Tour de France, but for now he has free reign over the powerful US Postal service !
He's already come top 5 in the giro before back in 2001, we will see if he can improve on this result.
Spoiler
Flat: 71
Mountain: 81
Hill: 78
TT: 73
Prologue: 68
Sprint: 50
Acceleration: 68
Downhill: 67
Fighter: 58
Stamina: 80
Resistance: 76
Recovery: 79
This brings us to the last major contender, Georg Totschnig. He has a collection of top 10's in grand tours and even finished 5th last year in the Giro.
He will be heading up Gerolsteiner.
Spoiler
Flat: 69
Mountain: 81
Hill: 77
TT: 68
Prologue: 68
Sprint: 53
Acceleration: 69
Downhill: 66
Fighter: 77
Stamina: 73
Resistance: 74
Recovery: 77
This has to be the strongest feild the Giro has ever had !
A few other notable names riding this year:
Oscar Freire
Michael Boogerd
Paolo Bettini
Tom Boonen
Frank Vandenbroucke
Alessandro Petacchi
Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano
Francesco Casagrande
Igor Asatarloa Current WC
Robbie McEwen
Davide Rebellin
Mario Cipollini
Stuart O'Grady
Emanuelle Sella
Franco Pellizotti
Pavel Tonkov
***************************************************
Notes/Infomation
Hi this is my 2nd 'short story' I'm attempting, please check out my first one Gilbert the next step - Tour de France contender ! at https://pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread....d_id=19361.
Difficulty: Normal (I'm having trouble deciding between normal and hard but because of the many stronger climbers I think it is ok for normal ?)
Database: Thanks to Sali who I'm using the 2004 database of. I added the stage race emmea made to use for this story.
I'll probably do this story in the same style as my last one, where I put a lot of focus on Savoldelli and the GC and so provide more detail on the more 'important' stages and less on a sprint stage for example. The updates will be slighlty more irregular to warn you since its not the holidays anymore !
I was thinking of something different to do and thought a historical stage race would be a bit unqiue ... so here it is ...
I hope you enjoy it ! |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 23:41
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| baia |
Posted on 13-10-2011 23:48
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Nice...i´ll follow Azevedo.
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| GreenEDGEFan |
Posted on 14-10-2011 07:48
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Under 23
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Seems really great. Will certainly keep looking.
GreenEDGE 100%
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 14-10-2011 09:17
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World Champion
Posts: 14236
Joined: 20-06-2011
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Nice start, it looks interesting, good luck against so many strong climbers 
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 14-10-2011 10:25
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Breakaway Specialist
Posts: 897
Joined: 08-08-2011
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I loved Gilbert's one. I'm really looking forward to it!
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| RHW |
Posted on 14-10-2011 11:29
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Free Agent
Posts: 101
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Cool story idea. Which DB is this? |
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| pcm2009fan |
Posted on 14-10-2011 13:00
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Posts: 1105
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Yes! Il Falco! |
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| Rammus |
Posted on 14-10-2011 13:37
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Stagiare
Posts: 223
Joined: 08-07-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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RHW wrote:
Cool story idea. Which DB is this?
It's Sali's 04 DB https://pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread....d_id=20432
It doesn't come with any stages though, so I'm using emmeas giro which I added. The jersey's are really nice. 
Thanks all comments aswell ! From feedback from my previous story I've now learnt how to change screenshots to jpg from png so images should load faster. |
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| Rammus |
Posted on 14-10-2011 14:18
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Stagiare
Posts: 223
Joined: 08-07-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Prologue Milano - Milano
Spoiler I'm going to use the stage profile shots from emmeas thread since it saves a lot of time ! 
T-Mobile Stage Plan
A prologue is really great start for Savoldelli to position himself well in the 1st week. We expect him to gain time over all the other favourites except for the Ukranian Honchar. It's a fairly flat route so to do an even pace the whole route is probably the best tactic for Paolo.
The Stage
Since most of the GC riders were starting last many of the prologue specailists started out early.
David Millar from team Cofidis put in a storming time of 11"33 to start the day off.
It didn't last long though as German National Champion Michael Rich from Gerolsteiner went a whole "11 faster. Here he is powering out of the starthouse.
It was a corker of a time and so far no one could get close ! The best attempts came from Menchov and Zabriskie. It was now time for the team captains to take to the course. Jose Azevedo negotiates a roundabout ...
He came in "43 down on Rich, not bad but not great either. Savoldelli is now out on the course and powering around the streets of Milan !
It's a good time ! He only lost "23 to the german Rich and sits just inside the top10 though with a few more riders to come in he might be knocked out. Francisco Mancebo gave it a really good go today sprinting around all the corners ...
Mancebo finishes "27 down, something he'll be very happy with. He did quite a bit better than his compatriot Heras who comes in "51 adrift !
And now the only person who can possibly beat Rich ...
Honchar engages the big gear and puts in a great ride ... but alas he finishes 2nd at 4 seconds. The skinny frame of Simoni is not suited to this prologue but he does ok at "43.
Ivan Basso is the last rider to start.
He looks good out on the course yet he comes in at "41, I shouldn't think he'll be too bothered though at this stage.
That means that Michael Rich takes the first maglia rosa of 2004 ! Paolo finishes a respectable 11th with his teamate Tobias Steinhouser in 9th place.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1.Rich
2.Honchar +"4
3.Menchov +"5
4.Zabriskie +"6
5.Gonzalez de Galdeano +"11
6.Millar +"11
7.Dominguez +"14
8.Voigt +"17
9.Steinhouser +"19
10.Pollack +"20
11.Savoldelli +"21
19.Mancebo +"27
50.Totschnig +"40
53.Basso +"41
59.Cioni +"42
60.Garzelli +"42
64.Azevedo +"43
65.Simoni +"42
101.Heras +"51
140.Cunego +"59
149.Piepoli +1"00
Overall I think it was a good stage for the team, everything went as expected. |
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| Rammus |
Posted on 15-10-2011 13:04
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Stagiare
Posts: 223
Joined: 08-07-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Stage 1 Pioltello - Varazze
T-Mobile Stage Plan
Keep Paolo in the first quarter of the peleton at all times, no dangers today. It looks tempting to push it on the descent comming off the Turchino but the roads are wide and the winds are low, and we must remember its a long & very hard Giro, best to conserve our efforts for better oppotunities.
The Stage
So the Giro is now out on the open roads with the official start at Pioltello. A break formed fairly quickly and largey uncontested to say the least. It contained Horrilo, Vasseur, Ferrigato, Bortolami, Secchiari, (Bo)Hamburger,Gasparre and Gutierrez.
Many of the riders choose not to wear helmets despite the dangers ! Infact the leader Michael Rich takes the no helmet approach, he is riding towards the front a row behind Savoldelli.
The turchino comes and goes with Fassa Bortolo and Gerolsteiner pacing the peleton up, there seems to be no real concerted effort to shut the break down though ! Due to the lack of speed with 15km to go Perdiguero from Saunier attacks and bridges a 1 minute gap to the break.
With 1km to go they have retained a handful of seconds and will fight it out for victory ! The finish is not the easiest however as there is a vicious kick up just under the 1km banner ...
Perdiguero leads them around, he's looking fresh but has he gone too early ?
Gianluca Bortolami the more experienced rider has the most strength left and takes the first road stage. The sprinters have got to be dissapointed with this as there are not many oppotunities ! Bortolami can add this to an already long list of palmares including winning the Tour of Flanders back in 2001.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1.Bortolami
2.Perdiguero +0"00
3.Ferrigato +0"00
4.Horillo +0"00
5.Gutierrez +0"00
6.Gasparre +0"00
7.Vasseur +0"00
8.Hamburger +0"00
9.Secchiari +0"00
10.Boonen +0"00
...
The entire pack finished with the same time except for Pinotti who had an unfortuante puncture. The top 10 GC remains the same as yesterday.
GC Results
Spoiler 1.Rich
2.Honchar +"4
3.Menchov +"5
4.Zabriskie +"6
5.Gonzalez de Galdeano +"11
6.Millar +"11
7.Dominguez +"14
8.Voigt +"17
9.Steinhouser +"19
10.Pollack +"20
11.Savoldelli +"21
Going to be an interesting stage tomorrow with a few climbs and a downhill finish ! |
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| The Blues |
Posted on 15-10-2011 21:54
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First of all: Great idea for a story, and I am most definetely following this.
With that said, I may believe you will perhapse struggle a bit with a peloton of this class. With this huge amount of fantastic climbers; many of them even better than your man.
And I think that may be a problem for you, honestly spoken. Taken to consideration, they might be able to gain time, you cannot take, and with, apparently, not that many TT-kilometres, you will have to take every change you get to win some time.
Nevertheless I think it is a pretty spectacular route; still haven't seen all the stage profiles, but nine mountain stages is a lot. I hope some of them finishes downhill. ;-)
Good luck! Counts both for the story-writing, and for Paolo Savoldelli.
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| Rammus |
Posted on 16-10-2011 13:06
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Stagiare
Posts: 223
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For sure it will be tough, but I think a tough challenge is also a fun one ! Thanks for following. |
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| Rammus |
Posted on 16-10-2011 13:07
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Stagiare
Posts: 223
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Stage 2 Varazze - Massa Carrara
T-Mobile Stage Plan
An unusual stage, it's not quite mountainous but it's a bit tougher than your average hills stage, and it features a downhill finish after reaching the summit of the Passo Scala. Looking realistically at all the stages in the Giro this one, along with stage 16, is the most suited to Savoldelli and so we will be most definetly be trying a move here. Something to note aswell is the prescence is bonus seconds so we will put a few men on the front of the peleton to make sure those are available at the end of the stage.
The Stage
A bunch of cobble specialists formed the core of the break inspired presumably by Bortalami's win on the previous stage. Flecha, Van Petegem & Dekker were all present. As per the plan we had Matthias Kessler help the CSC boys control the stage.
Things got a bit out of hand though as on the Montiefiore an attack came from Casagrande. Di Luca, Boogerd and Figueras reacted to the move as they basically romped across a 5 minute gap to the break in no time.
Botero and Geurini were struggling a bit today and so we were seriously lacking in any strength to pull this one back. The only good thing going for us was Kessler despite working a lot today as going great, but since he is only 1 rider it seemed a better idea to take him off the front and protect Savoldelli for the remainder of the race. On the Scala it was chaos as pretty much every man and his dog attacked, including the world champion.
Savoldelli and Kessler were doing well to stay with most of the favourites.
The siuation at the top of the Scala was this: Boogerd&DiLuca first, then Casagrande&Figueras at 2 minutes. Around 3 minutes behind Cunego crested the Scala shortly followed by Basso ...
Savoldelli was not too far behind in a group of 10 that included a mixture of climbers and classics riders. A surprising number of favourites were struggling however ! The next group over contained Azevedo, Piepoli, Rasmussen & Totschnig. Honchar was having a nightmare ...
Heras wasn't faring much better either as he's only just up ahead in the tunnel. With all the small groups out on the road it's time the falcon pounced !
He drops like a stone and passes Basso ... Cunego ... Casagrade ... Figueras ...
Bettini attempted to go with him but was too slow ! The elastic in many of the groups was breaking, Garzelli goes for it fully commited.
Di Luca and Boogerd sprint for the win.
Michael Boogerd takes the stage victory and also the maglia rosa, what a great day for the rabobank rider. Just over a minute down Savoldelli crosses the line, he'll pick up 8 bonus seconds for that.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1.Boogerd
2.Di Luca +0"00
3.Savoldelli +1"12
4.Casagrande +1"51
5.Bettini +1"51
6.Figueras +1"51
7.Cunego +1"51
8.Garzelli +1"51
9.Asatarloa +2"26
10.Mancebo +2"26
11.Vandenbroucke +2"26
12.Periero +2"26
13.Simoni +2"26
14.Basso +2"26
15.Rebellin +2"26
16.Pellizotti +2"26
17.Tonkov +2"26
18.Scarponi +2"26
19.Piepoli +3"05
20.Rasmussen +3"05
21.Azevedo +3"05
22.Belli +3"05
23.Totschnig +3"05
24.Sella +3"05
25.Merckx +3"05
26.Paolini +3"05
27.Osa +3"05
28.Van Petegem +3"05
29.Bartoli +3"05
30.Kessler +3"05
31.Dekker +3"05
32.Cioni +3"51
33.Mecnhov +3"51
34.Osa +3"51
35.Heras +3"51
36.Dufaux +3"51
...
46.Honchar +5"21
GC Results
Spoiler
1.Boogerd
2.Di Luca +0"08
3.Savoldelli +0"43
4.Garzelli +1"51
5.Figueras +2"06
6.Cunego +2"08
7.Casagrande +2"10
8.Mancebo +2"11
9.Bettini +2"11
10.Vandenbroucke +2"22 (Frank and not Jurgen btw!)
11.Basso +2"25
12.Simoni +2"27
13.Astarloa +2"27
14.Pereiro +2"30
15.Rebellin +2"30
...
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| AndySchleck |
Posted on 16-10-2011 13:25
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Great downhill! You got a lot of seconds there!
I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.
Alexander The Great
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| YvesStevens |
Posted on 16-10-2011 13:25
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Good start with Savoldelli keep it up |
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| Rammus |
Posted on 17-10-2011 12:19
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Stagiare
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Stage 3 Massa Carrara - Firenze
T-Mobile Stage Plan
Sprint stage which finishes with 4 laps around the city of Florence. Fairly easy though not entirely flat, but it gives us a day to recover for the TTT since many of our riders recovery fell after the previous stage.
The Stage
The sprinters teams worked hard in the first 50km of the stage to stop a big group forming after failing on stage 1. In the end they were only happy to let a lone break go, and it was Ekimov from the US Postal squad.
Though he is a really great rouleur, the sprinters teams tactic worked as he could not hold them off and was caught with 20km remaining. Fassa Bortolo had a perfect train set up but Petacchi got lost in the peleton, so it became a bit of a scruffy sprint.
Stuart O'Grady from Cofidis went for a long one as he didn't have a train to follow.
All he did though was succeed in giving Mario Cipollini the most perfect lead out ...
Unsurprisingly Mario Cipollini won the stage in convincing fashion. Fassa Bortolo must be furious with Petacchi as he could only manage 6th after they did a ton of work today. McEwen also had a poor sprint as he picked a poor wheel to follow, better luck next time.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1.Mario Cipollini
2.Oscar Freire +0"00
3.Stuart O'Grady +0"00
4.Paolo Bettini +0"00
5.Francisco Mancebo +0"00
6.Alessandro Pettachi +0"00
7.Davide Rebellin +0"00
8.Freddy Rodriguez +0"00
9.Luca Paolini +0"00
10.Jose Ivan Gutierrez +0"00
GC Results
Spoiler
1.Boogerd
2.Di Luca +0"08
3.Savoldelli +0"43
4.Garzelli +1"51
5.Figueras +2"06
6.Cunego +2"08
7.Casagrande +2"10
8.Mancebo +2"11
9.Bettini +2"11
10.Vandenbroucke +2"22 (Frank and not Jurgen btw!)
11.Basso +2"25
12.Simoni +2"27
13.Astarloa +2"27
14.Pereiro +2"30
15.Rebellin +2"30
...
Next stage is a TTT from the walled town of Lucca to Pisa. Should be good. |
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| pcm2009fan |
Posted on 17-10-2011 13:19
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Nice start & keep the reports coming!
Hmm I remember driving from Luca to Pisa on holiday once haha, anyway good luck for the TTT |
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| Rammus |
Posted on 17-10-2011 15:19
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Stagiare
Posts: 223
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pcm2009fan wrote:
Nice start & keep the reports coming!
Hmm I remember driving from Luca to Pisa on holiday once haha, anyway good luck for the TTT
Thanks ! I've also been to Lucca on holiday, it's really unique as it is basically one big maze. Tuscany is such a great region in Italy so I like that this Giro route goes through it.
Edited by Rammus on 17-10-2011 15:19
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| Rammus |
Posted on 18-10-2011 18:51
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Stagiare
Posts: 223
Joined: 08-07-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Stage 4 Lucca - Pisa TTT
T-Mobile Stage Plan
23km won't create any big gaps, which is a shame as we have a really strong squad for this event. Santiago Botero (81), former world champion, will be taking big pulls on the front as will Tobias Steinhouser (78), and Paolo Savoldelli (75). Kessler (58) and Guerini (62) won't be of much help at all, so we need 2 more solid rides from Heikmann (71), Aerts (65), Ivanov (67) or Nardello (69).
The Stage
It's a really cloudy today which is a shame as it obscures a lot of the scenery. Nonetheless though the teams get underway here from Lucca. One of the first big squads out is US Postal looking to gain some time back for Azevedo.
That's Zabriskie with the national shirt and Ekimov holding the mountains jersey. They do a good time 31"09.
Alex Zulle did a large portion of the work for Phonak. They finished at 31"24.
Vini Caldirola, the squad of Garzelli, approaches the 1st check point ...
Not so great for Vini, 31"31. Big favourites CSC powering away from the start ...
Fast time ! 30"21 The 5 riders were Basso, Jaksche, Julich, Voigt and Peron with Bartoli just a couple of seconds behind. Fassa Borotlo looking smooth as they go around a corner ...
Cioni is the italian TT champion. It's a good ride, 30"51, it puts them up right near the top of the board. Now it's the turn of Liberty Seguros who should do very well today with Nozal and Gonzalez de Galdeano. Here they are well over half way at the second checkpoint.
They did ok at 31"03. Lost a lot of time to Basso though, Heras can't be happy with that. Next up are the magenta boys of T-Mobile ! You can't miss them as they stand out so well from the dull background.
Santiago brings them home with Nardello, Steinhouser, Savoldelli and Heikmann in his wheel ... 30"21 ... they go right to the top of the leaderboard 1 second faster than team CSC. Illes-Balears have a good squad with Menchov, Gutierrez, Karpets etc ...
They nip just infront of Fassa Bortolo with the same time of 30"51. It was drizzling a bit earlier but now its really starting to rain which is not good news for the later teams ! Boogerds pink jersey is now under threat and they really have to pull together if they stand a chance of keeping it !
They still look strong with 1km to go and they finish with a time of ... 31"04, "44 behind T-Mobile. The difference at the start of the day between Boogerd and Savoldelli was "43 ! Can Di Luca, Simoni and Cunego cause an upset though as they are the last team to come in. Cunego has the white ...
Unfortunately for them they are way off the pace down at 31"24. Savoldelli will have to thank Botero a lot as it was largely due to his efforts that he takes the maglia rosa by one second! Shame there are 8 whopping mountain stages to go still  ... maybe we should end the Giro after stage 4 !
Stage Results
Spoiler
1.T-Mobile 30"20
2.Team CSC +00"01
3.Illes Balears - Banesto +00"31
4.Fassa Bortolo +00"31
5.Liberty Seguros +00"43
6.Rabobank +00"44
7.Gerolsteiner +00"44
8.Saunier Duval +00"49
9.US Postal +00"49
10.Quick Step - Davitamon +00"53
11.Phonak Hearing Systems +01"04
12.Saeco +01"04
13.Alessio - Binachi +01"06
14.Cofidis +01"09
15.Vini Caldirola - Nobili Rubinetterie +01"11
16.Panaria - Margres +01"14
17.Lampre +01"16
18.Domina Vacanze +01"18
19.Acqua & Sapone +01"22
20.De Nardi +01"28
21.Lotto - Domo +01"35
GC Results
Spoiler
1.Savoldelli
2.Boogerd +00"01
3.Di Luca +00"29
4.Basso +01"43
5.Mancebo +01"59
6.Vandenbroucke +02"10
7.Garzelli +02"19
8.Bettini +02"21
9.Cunego +02"29
10.Bartoli +02"31
11.Rebellin +02"32
12.Figueras +02"41
13.Casagrande +02"43
14.Dekker +02"48
15.Simoni +02"48
16.Pereiro +02"51
17.Astarloa +03"00
18.Menchov +03"02
19.Pellizotti +03"02
20.Osa +03"03
21.Totschnig +03"05
22.Tonkov +03"08
23.Azevedo +03"13
24.Scarponi +03"18
25.Frigo +03"20
26.Kessler +03"29
27.Piepoli +03"29
28.Rasmussen +03"30
39.Heras +04"00
47.Honchar +05"29
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 19-10-2011 09:19
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World Champion
Posts: 14236
Joined: 20-06-2011
PCM$: 300.00
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Great TTT, now keep the pink jersey on your back!
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