Tactics meeting
The shortest stage of the race is far from the easiest. The riders will have to overcome a 23km climb with an average gradient of 7%. Even though we had the second rest day of the Giro yesterday, I'm not overly optimistic on Brajkovic's behalf. The captain looks like he's struggling in the mountains at the moment, and we just hope he will keep inside of the top 10 after the stage.
About halfway up the mountain, a small lead group began to form, as riders fell off. Unsurprisingly, Brajkovic was one of those who struggled.
The five or six best climbers soon got a decent gap.
The front group contained Pozzovivo, Soler, Scarponi, Basso and Nibali. Igor Anton found himself in no-mans land between the leaders and Brajkovic's quite large group.
The two strongest today was obviously Soler and Basso. Pozzovivo and Nibali had to give a few meters, while Scarponi (outside of the picture) was in serious trouble.
Brajkovic pushed on up the steep mountainside together with riders like Bruseghin and Valjavec. The latter was about to ride himself out of contention for a podium finish overall, as these riders were now almost three minutes behind Soler and Basso in the front.
Mauricio Soler had superb legs today, and attacked Ivan Basso, who could not answer.
In the meantime, Scarponi had found some energy from somewhere. He worked his way past Pozzovivo, who had cracked, and all the way up to Nibali with the mauve jersey.
Today's big man was Mauricio Soler, though. The Colombian won over Ivan Basso, and took his second stage win in the Giro 2009.
Scarponi came eight seconds too late to keep his second place in the GC. He lost it to Soler. Pozzovivo finished 5th, thus passing Brajkovic in the GC.
Janez Brajkovic finished three minutes behind Soler, with riders like Valjavec, Bruseghin and Larsson. That's something we can't be disappointed with after this hard climb. One rider who was nowhere to be seen, was Rinaldo Nocentini. The man who was 7th in the GC before the stage, reached Blockhaus three minutes later than the Brajkovic group, and dropped three places in the GC. Now there's just one mountain stage left. If Brajkovic can repeat today's decent performance, he's looking good for the top ten.
Tactics meeting
Between the two last mountain stages, there's a relatively flat stage. Length and profile suits a breakaway perfectly, but seeing as not one break has gone in so far, I'm not very optimistic. It's possible though, that even Liquigas needs a little rest this late in the Giro, so we'll continue looking for that stage win.
Out photographer failed to show up today as well, so pictures are absent (game crashed again). Chris Horner (pictured) joined the quite large break of the day, and to my joy and surprise, their advantage continued to grow without Liquigas taking action. At most, their lead was 15 minutes. Towards the end of the stage, the pack started chasing, but then it was too late. It would end in a breakaway win.
With 10km remaining, three riders attacked and Horner joined them. Two of them were dropped quickly, so Horner and Danny Pate from Garmin were alone in the lead. With the finishing line closing in, Horner stuck himself on the back wheel of Pate, and refused to go past him. The Garmin rider slowed down during the last two kilometres, and tried to force Horner to the front. The Discovery veteran exploited Pate's slow speed, and leaped out from his back wheel. Pate didn't have time to react, and Chris Horner was first over the line! A brilliant stage win for the American in his last season as a professional! I'm lost for words for how disappointing it is that I don't have pictures, because this was the best stage of the Giro. The only proof is this screenshot of the result list. The main field came in seven minutes behind Horner.
Today's winner
Results 1 Chris Horner Discovery Channel 4h31'36
2 Danny Pate Garmin - Slipstream + 0
3 Mauro Finetto CSF Group - Navigare + 27
4 Christophe Riblon AG2R La Mondiale + 27
5 Kurt Hovelynck Quick-Step + 27
6 Peter Velits Team Milram + 27
7 Adam Hansen Team Columbia - High Road + 27
8 Nicolas Portal Caisse d'Epargne + 27
9 Nikita Eskov Team Katusha + 27
10 Geoffroy Lequatre Agritubel + 27
GC
1 Ivan Basso Liquigas 76h37'15
2 Mauricio Soler Barloworld + 11'00
3 Michele Scarponi Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli + 11'08
4 Tadej Valjavec AG2R La Mondiale + 14'28
5 Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas + 14'48
6 Igor Antón Euskaltel - Euskadi + 15'11
7 Gustav Larsson Team Saxo Bank + 19'11
8 Domenico Pozzovivo CSF Group - Navigare + 20'31 9 Janez Brajkovic Discovery Channel + 21'10
10 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R La Mondiale + 21'51
Tactics meeting
We've finally reached the last mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia. It's not one of the worst ones, only the last 13 kilometres offer some challenge. The riders are climbing up Monte Vesuvio, 1000m above sea level. Our plans for the day are the same as with all other mountain stages: Avoid losing too much time.
While the last remains of the BotD were swept up halfway up the climb, the usual suspects made their moves.
Janez Brajkovic felt good today, and joined the attacks.
Michele Scarponi and Ivan Basso, second and first in the GC, gained a lead over the other favourites.
Brajkovic was in a chase group with Bruseghin, Soler, Pozzovivo and Valjavec. Nibali was a bit further up the mountain side, chasing Basso and Scarponi.
Scarponi was really strong today. Just like the previous mountain stage, Basso struggled a little bit towards the finish.
Bruseghin and Brajkovic were dropped by the Soler group, but the finishing line was not far away, so the time loss would be minimal.
Michele Scarponi won the last mountain stage of the Giro, and for the first time in this race, somebody managed to gain time on Basso in the mountains. We are talking only 13 seconds, but nevertheless...
We've got to be pleased with Brajkovic's 8th place on the stage. He and Bruseghin finished 57 seconds behind winner Scarponi. Our captain climbed better than riders like Anton, Larsson and Nocentini, so we should call it a well executed stage. The first six places in the GC are as good as decided, as the time gaps are too big for the Roma TT to make any difference. Brajkovic is almost guaranteed the 8th place if he stays away from accidents. The 7th placed rider, Pozzovivo, is an abysmal time trialist, and it would be a sensation if he didn't lose more than 1'30 to Brajkovic and Larsson on the last stage.
Tactics meeting
The last road race stage is almost like a rest day. The statistics of this year's Giro tells us there will probably be a bunch sprint. The last kilometers are a bit too hard for regular sprinters, so if the peloton arrives at the finish all together, I guess we'll see a stronger rider take the stage win. We'll try to do a breakaway and get ourselves another stage win, before the Giro ends in Rome tomorrow.
As usual, there was a mass sprint and as expected, few sprinters had enough to contest it. The winner was Ivan Basso's loyal leutenant Vincenzo Nibali. The victory probably tastes good for the young Italian, who has been second in two similar stages earlier in the race.
Tactics meeting
The last Giro stage is a short time trial outside Rome. It's not too exciting, as the top six in the GC is more or less wrapped up. Janez Brajkovic though, has a chance to move up one place if he beats Domenico Pozzovivo with 74 seconds or more. That's very probable, as Pozzovivo is an awful time trialist. Ivan Basso can just do a walk in the park and wave his hand to the spectators if he wants to. The victory is already secure.
Vladimir Gusev had a good day, and came in eight seconds behind the rider with the best time so far, Marco Pinotti.
A man who used this day well, was Luis Leon Sanchez, who worked his way back into the GC top ten, relegating Rinaldo Nocentini to 11th.
Janez Brajkovic was behind Sanchez at the finish. The Slovenian was 3rd so far, 11 seconds back. Anyway, that was enough to overtake Pozzovivo in the GC, which meant 8th overall for our Giro captain.
The rider starting just after Brajkovic, Gustav Larsson, had superb legs. The Swede rode a really strong time trial, set the best time by a large margin and would probably win the stage.
Vincenzo Nibali also rode well, but finished 19 seconds behind Larsson.
The last rider to take the course was the man himself, Ivan Basso. He obviously had no plans to just sit back and enjoy his overall win. La Maglia Rosa pushed himself to the limit, and when he crossed the finishing line, his time was one second faster than Larsson! Unbeatable Basso won his fourth Giro stage of the year, and his 10th in total.
Today's winner
Results
1 Ivan Basso Liquigas 21'09
2 Gustav Larsson Team Saxo Bank + 1
3 Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas + 20
4 Luis León Sánchez Caisse d'Epargne + 26
5 Marzio Bruseghin Lampre N.G.C + 27 6 Janez Brajkovic Discovery Channel + 37
7 Marco Pinotti Team Columbia - High Road + 46
8 Markus Fothen Team Milram + 52 9 Vladimir Gusev Discovery Channel + 54
10 Evgeni Petrov Team Katusha + 55
Final GC
1 Ivan Basso Liquigas 86h25'03
2 Michele Scarponi Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli + 12'06
3 Mauricio Soler Barloworld + 13'09
4 Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas + 15'10
5 Tadej Valjavec AG2R La Mondiale + 16'50
6 Igor Antón Euskaltel - Euskadi + 18'37
7 Gustav Larsson Team Saxo Bank + 21'03 8 Janez Brajkovic Discovery Channel + 22'51
9 Domenico Pozzovivo CSF Group - Navigare + 23'14
10 Luis León Sánchez Caisse d'Epargne + 24'49
11 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R La Mondiale + 25'52
12 Stefano Garzelli Acqua & Sapone - Caffé Mokambo + 26'02
13 Marzio Bruseghin Lampre N.G.C + 26'29
14 Gabriele Bosisio LPR Brakes Farnese Vini + 27'06
15 Gilberto Simoni Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli + 29'50
Ivan Basso did a Giro d'Italia clean sweep. He won the pink jersey, the mauve points jersey and the green KoM jersey. In addition, his Liquigas team won the team classification in style, mainly because of Basso and Nibali. Another team doing well, was French team AG2R. Two men among the best eleven without bringing Vladimir Efimkin is impressive. Nocentini also won two stages for the French, while A.Efimkin got their third.
Our own performance is quite pleasing. From early on, it was clear that Brajkovic was unable to finish on the podium, so an 8th overall and two stage wins are a nice result. We dominated the stage we had targeted in advance, and Chris Horner's spectacular breakaway win in his last season before he hangs up his wheels was great. Just a shame that day was partially destroyed by the lack of pictures.
The Giro didn't present many disappointments. One exeption has to be Milram's Markus Fothen. The German, who should have been capable of a top ten finish overall, was 27th. I had also expected Luis Leon Sanchez to perform a bit better in the mountains, but the Caisse d'Epargne rider made it up in the time trials. One big, positive surprise was Gustav Larsson's 7th place overall. The Swede is usually not among the best climbers, but he kept up really well on most mountains in this race. His abilities against the clock also contributed to the high placing.
The first Grand Tour of the year is over, and now we're setting our eyes on the Tour de France - our big target for the season. But first, the Tour squad will ride the Tour de Suisse to prepare themselves for France. We're aiming for the win in Switzerland. Stay tuned!
As preparation for the Tour de France, we have chosen to do only the Tour de Suisse and not Dauphiné Libéré. We aim for the win in Switzerland, and then it's better to have a really strong team instead of spreading it out over two stage races. The Tour de Suisse is not the most challenging of races. Even though there are three hilltop finishes, none of them are very selective. The 40km time trial at the end will be crucial.
Our leader for the Tour de Suisse, Andreas Klöden, couldn't have got any better help. Almost the entire Tour de France team is here, and Klöden will be disappointed with anything less than victory. Riders who will try to make sure that doesn't happen are, among others, Alberto Contador, Roman Kreuziger, Jurgen Van Den Broeck and Joaquim Rodriguez. Markus Fothen is also an outsider, while Columbia bring three possible podium candidates, namely Thomas Lövkvist, Tony Martin and Michael Rogers.
Discovery Channel Andreas Klöden Lance Armstrong Levi Leipheimer Yaroslav Popovych Floyd Landis Egoi Martinez George Hincapie José Rubiera
Tactics meeting
Tour de Suisse begins with a short prologue. With such good time trialists as Leipheimer, Armstrong and Klöden on the team, our chances to win the stage are pretty good.
Thomas Lövkvist was one of the first to take the course, and he set a time it would prove difficult to beat.
Garmin's Canadian time trial champion Svein Tuft came close, but saw himself beaten by the Swede with six seconds.
Levi Leipheimer came in to a provisional second place, five seconds behind Lövkvist. Levi's time eventually earned him a third place on the stage.
Then it was Andreas Klöden's turn to challenge Lövkvist, but not even he managed to ride the 5.8km any faster than the Columbia rider. Second place for our captain, one small second behind.
Lance Armstrong was last man out of the starting blocks, and the veteran rode a decent prologue, which ended in an eight place.
Today's winner
Results
1 Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia - High Road 5'40 2 Andreas Klöden Discovery Channel + 1
3 Levi Leipheimer Discovery Channel + 5
4 Floyd Landis Discovery Channel + 6
5 Svein Tuft Garmin - Slipstream + 6
6 Tony Martin Team Columbia - High Road + 7
7 Benoit Vaugrenard Française des Jeux + 8 8 Lance Armstrong Discovery Channel + 8
9 Tanel Kangert AG2R La Mondiale + 9
10 Paul Martens Rabobank + 9
Tactics meeting
The stage is a loop around Davos, and the last half of the course goes uphill. Anyway, it's not a hard stage, and if there's not a bunch sprint, there will at least be a large group of riders finishing together. I guess Lövkvist in his yellow jersey will easily keep up with the best today, so we're only defending our current placings in the GC.
On the last hill, Björn Leukemans from Vacansoleil and Volodymir Gustov from Cervélo had got themself a small lead. They were caught pretty fast, though.
Midway through the flat part before the finish, Anthony Geslin attacked. Leukemans seemed to be on the offensive today, and got Geslin's back wheel.
Those two held on to their lead of one minute over the pack, and with the finishing line approaching, it was obvious that Geslin was the strongest. The Frenchman accelrated away from Leukemans.
Anthony Geslin lifted his hands in the air and celebrated the stage win. The peloton finished almost a minute behind him, so Geslin is the new man in yellow.
Today's winner
Results
1 Anthony Geslin Française des Jeux 3h43'58
2 Björn Leukemans Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team + 24
3 Mauricio Soler Barloworld + 50
4 Jussi Veikkanen Française des Jeux + 50
5 Philippe Gilbert Silence - Lotto + 50
6 Pierrick Fédrigo Bbox Bouygues Télécom + 50
7 Francesco Ginanni Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli + 50
8 John Gadret AG2R La Mondiale + 50
9 Ángel Vicioso Andalucía Cajasur + 50
10 Alessandro Ballan Lampre N.G.C + 50
GC
1 Anthony Geslin Française des Jeux 3h49'46
2 Björn Leukemans Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team + 32
3 Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia - High Road + 42 4 Andreas Klöden Discovery Channel + 43
5 Levi Leipheimer Discovery Channel + 47
6 Floyd Landis Discovery Channel + 48
7 Tony Martin Team Columbia - High Road + 49 8 Lance Armstrong Discovery Channel + 50
9 Benoit Vaugrenard Française des Jeux + 50
10 Tanel Kangert AG2R La Mondiale + 51
Tactics meeting
Today, we're climbing the Lukmanier Pass at almost 2000 meters above sea level, but the climb itself is not too hard, and those riders losing contact on the mountain have 70km of downhill or light terrain where they can get themselves back in the peloton again. The little hill just before the finish could be interesting.
The break of the day, lead by Bert Grabsch, had a lead of 14 minutes at one point. Here was also Stuart O'Grady, Fabian Wegmann and Benoit Vaugrenard.
With 10km remaining, Vaugrenard went away. The pack was now only a few minutes behind, but it was heading towards a breakaway win.
In the little hill five km before the finish, Vaugrenard had gotten himself a nice lead.
Fabian Wegmann didn't want to give Vaugrenard the stage win without a fight for it, and he went in pursuit of the Frenchman when the breakaway reached the hilltop.
A bit further down the small hill, Andreas Klöden attacked the peloton. He felt good today, and hopefully the other riders in the pack were tired after chasing down the breakaway.
Klöden laid down the gauntlet, and caught the breakaway during the descent from the hill. Only Vaugrenard and Wegmann were in front of him now. No one from the peloton had gone after our captain when he attacked.
Close to the finish, Klöden had almost caught Wegmann as well.
Vaugrenard though, was too far ahead, and nobody could do anything to prevent him taking Française des Jeux's second stage win in a row. They now have a new man in yelllow.
At the final stretch, Klöden went past Wegmann and claimed second place on the stage! Impressive by Andreas, especially considering that Wegmann is a much better sprinter on paper. But the Milram rider was probably tired after spending the whole day in the break. The two Germans and the rest of the breakaway (who got the same time as Klöden) were 52 seconds behind Vaugrenard. The peloton was almost a minute further behind, 1'50 behind the French stage winner.
Today's winner
Results
1 Benoit Vaugrenard Française des Jeux 4h48'24 2 Andreas Klöden Discovery Channel + 52
3 Fabian Wegmann Team Milram + 52
4 Stuart O'Grady Team Saxo Bank + 52
5 Jesús Del Nero Fuji - Servetto + 52
6 Marco Marcato Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team + 52
7 Maxim Iglinskiy Astana Cycling Team + 52
8 Bert Grabsch Team Columbia - High Road + 52
9 Hubert Schwab Quick-Step + 52
10 Luca Solari Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli + 52
GC
1 Benoit Vaugrenard Française des Jeux 8h38'50 2 Andreas Klöden Discovery Channel + 49
3 Anthony Geslin Française des Jeux + 1'10
4 Stuart O'Grady Team Saxo Bank + 1'19
5 Hubert Schwab Quick-Step + 1'22
6 Marco Marcato Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team + 1'27
7 Luca Solari Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli + 1'33
8 Fabian Wegmann Team Milram + 1'36
9 Björn Leukemans Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team + 1'42
10 Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia - High Road + 1'52
He crushed them totally
