Pre-Tactics
Another tough stage is coming up. After yesterdays work in the front of the pack, i can now feel the hundreds of kilometres i've already ridden. Team tactics for todays stage will be to remain calm and defensive.

	B. Wiggins
	C. Froome, S. Gerrans
	R. Gesink, C. Horner, R. Kreuziger

A breakaway got away without any trouble and quickly stabilized the pack. The group consisted 7 riders with Gerdemann and Cummings being the only theoretical threat to the GC.


No one except us were willing to take the lead in the pack, so we gave the breakaway a big gap before the final climb. At the climb, several riders attacked, but our defensive ride brought them all back, except for one. The favorite group was now dramatically reduced.


Gerrans were the only one able to brake free of the pack (again!) and tried a solo move which unfortunately for him didn't last very long.


The breakaway was too strong and had a gap too big for the favorite group to bring them back. Therefore the stage had to be decided in a small group sprint.


A rather equal sprint developed into a massive domination from Cardoso. After following Gerdemann in the start, he quickly pasted the others in the group, building up a fine gap.


With several bike lengths Cardoso takes a well deserved victory. Trofimov and Tjallingii finishes of the podium. 5 minutes after the favorite group arrives with Sánchez taking 8th just ahead of Wiggins.

1	Manuel Cardoso	Caja Rural	5h26'44
2	Yury Trofimov	Katusha Team	s.t.
3	Maarten Tjallingii	Rabobank Cycling Team	s.t.
4	Stephen Cummings	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
5	Nikolas Maes	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
6	Vicente Reynès	Lotto Belisol Team	s.t.
7	Linus Gerdemann	RadioShack - Nissan	s.t.
8	Luis León Sánchez	Rabobank Cycling Team	+ 5'46
9	Bradley Wiggins	Sky Procycling	s.t.
10	Rui Costa	Movistar Team	s.t.
...
45	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	+ 7'54

1	Bradley Wiggins	Sky Procycling	24h13'36
2	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	+ 30
3	Chris Horner	RadioShack - Nissan	s.t.
4	Rui Costa	Movistar Team	+ 1'09
5	Robert Gesink	Rabobank Cycling Team	+ 1'24
6	Roman Kreuziger	Astana Pro Team	+ 1'28
7	Beñat Intxausti	Movistar Team	+ 2'06
8	Andreas Klöden	RadioShack - Nissan	+ 3'04
9	Luis León Sánchez	Rabobank Cycling Team	+ 3'26
10	Marco Pinotti	BMC Racing Team	+ 4'04
...
38	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	+ 20'37

1	Bradley Wiggins	Sky Procycling	102
2	Chris Horner	RadioShack - Nissan	46
3	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	42
4	Luis León Sánchez	Rabobank Cycling Team	42
5	Rui Costa	Movistar Team	38
6	Cyril Lemoine	Saur - Sojasun	33
7	Roman Kreuziger	Astana Pro Team	27
8	Manuel Cardoso	Caja Rural	26
9	Andreas Klöden	RadioShack - Nissan	25
10	Robert Gesink	Rabobank Cycling Team	24
...
20	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	16

1	Jackson Rodríguez	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	62
2	Stephen Cummings	BMC Racing Team	49
3	Cameron Meyer	Orica - GreenEdge	45
4	Bradley Wiggins	Sky Procycling	41
5	Nicki Sørensen	Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank	40
6	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	36
7	�ngel Vicioso	Katusha Team	36
8	Mikel Astarloza	Euskaltel - Euskadi	32
9	David Le Lay	Saur - Sojasun	32
10	Chris Horner	RadioShack - Nissan	28

1	Thibaut Pinot	FDJ - BigMat	24h17'59
2	Jonathan Castroviejo	Movistar Team	+ 2'08
3	Gorka Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 3'28
4	Rigoberto Urán	Sky Procycling	+ 11'25
5	Cameron Meyer	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 13'51
6	Damiano Caruso	Liquigas - Cannondale	+ 14'03
7	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	+ 16'14
8	Egor Silin	Astana Pro Team	+ 20'13
9	Jesús Herrada	Movistar Team	+ 34'43
10	Simone Ponzi	Astana Pro Team	+ 36'49

I'm glad there wasn't that much pace on this stage. I needed a little break before going completely cold. Most of the day went quiet on, but on the final climb everything went nuts, but it was still better than yesterday.

I'm still feeling okay in the pack and i can feel that my shape is exactly where i want it to be, so i'm confident for the last two stages.

Pre-Tactics
My sports director Sean Yates came to me after todays briefing, asking me about how i felt and whether i was ready to take this race a step further. Due to my great shape and yesterdays relatively quiet stage, i said i was ready to try getting into todays breakaway.

Being in the breakaway would be a part of a bigger stragical plan, where i had to bring the breakaway to the final climb and help Wiggins on the descent after he had made a long solo attack - Today was the time to settle all doubts in the GC.

	B. Wiggins
	L. Sánchez, S. Gerrans
	C. Froome, C. Horner, R. Kreuziger

6 riders established todays breakaway. R. Navardauskas, R. Perez,
B. Kadri, J. Van Den Broeck, J. Herrada and a Sky rider... Yeah it was Puccio who managed to slip through and get into the right escape!


At every stage until now, Sky were the team who had been taking the front to drive in breakaways, but now the situation was turned upside down when Puccio was in the breakaway. Puccio's group therefore quickly built up a great gap since no other team really took initiative to close the gap.


At the highest point of todays stage, 80 km from the finish, Puccio and co. already had a gap of 10 minutes, and this only grew, as with 40 km to go, the gap had reached its maximum being 16 minutes!


With 35 km to go BMC thought the breakaway had taken enough time, where Puccio actually was the highest placed rider, only 20 minutes after Wiggins in the GC. But BMC were too late, there was no doubt that the breakaway would make it to the finish and thereby our tactic was ruined - meaning that i was to ride my own chance!


Going up the final climb Herrada sat an extreme pace, but the breakaway stayed all together. At the top Van Den Broeck attacked, but Puccio reacted quickly and followed him with Herrada right behind.


Van Den Broeck's attack didn't succeed, and the breakaway was united again. In the pack L. Sánchez made a solo attack right before the final climb and the rest of the Sky-team had to overtake the front.


When the breakaway finished the downhill section, Van Den Broeck once again tried his chance with 8 km to go. Puccio didn't have any trouble following him and neutralized his attack.


Puccio was feeling great, but knowing that R. Perez was in his group, he knew he couldn't bring him to the finish line. With 6 km to the finish, Puccio therefore attacked and built up a fine gap quickly.


With 2 km to the finish line, Puccio was alone in front with only a couple of seconds to the other escapees. Was he able to keep the gap?


Behind Puccio, Herrada started sprinting with Perez right in his wheel. Puccio gave his all, going under the final kilometer banner. Being able to see the finish line, Puccio began to think it could suceed


Going under la flamme rouge, Perez left Herrada's wheel, sprinting towards Puccio and the finish line. But did he even have a slight chance to catch up the gap to Puccio?


Only a couple of metres from the finish line, Perez had almost reached Puccio. Puccio was so close to the biggest win of his career, but was the gap enough to cross the finish line as the first?


Do you even dare to look?

1	Rubén Pérez	Euskaltel - Euskadi	4h17'01
2	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	s.t.
3	Blel Kadri	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
4	Ramunas Navardauskas	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
5	Jurgen Van den Broeck	Lotto Belisol Team	s.t.
6	Jesús Herrada	Movistar Team	s.t.
7	Grega Bole	Lampre - ISD	+ 12'13
8	Lieuwe Westra	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling	s.t.
9	Pim Ligthart	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling	s.t.
10	Xavier Florencio	Katusha Team	s.t.

1	Bradley Wiggins	Sky Procycling	28h42'50
2	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	+ 30
3	Chris Horner	RadioShack - Nissan	s.t.
4	Rui Costa	Movistar Team	+ 1'09
5	Robert Gesink	Rabobank Cycling Team	+ 1'24
6	Roman Kreuziger	Astana Pro Team	+ 1'28
7	Beñat Intxausti	Movistar Team	+ 2'06
8	Andreas Klöden	RadioShack - Nissan	+ 3'04
9	Luis León Sánchez	Rabobank Cycling Team	+ 3'26
10	Marco Pinotti	BMC Racing Team	+ 4'04
...
24	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	+ 8'14

1	Bradley Wiggins	Sky Procycling	102
2	Chris Horner	RadioShack - Nissan	46
3	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	42
4	Luis León Sánchez	Rabobank Cycling Team	42
5	Rui Costa	Movistar Team	41
6	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	40
7	Cyril Lemoine	Saur - Sojasun	33
8	Rubén Pérez	Euskaltel - Euskadi	31
9	Roman Kreuziger	Astana Pro Team	27
10	Manuel Cardoso	Caja Rural	26

1	Jackson Rodríguez	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	62
2	Stephen Cummings	BMC Racing Team	49
3	Cameron Meyer	Orica - GreenEdge	45
4	Bradley Wiggins	Sky Procycling	41
5	Nicki Sørensen	Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank	40
6	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	36
7	�ngel Vicioso	Katusha Team	36
8	Mikel Astarloza	Euskaltel - Euskadi	32
9	David Le Lay	Saur - Sojasun	32
10	Chris Horner	RadioShack - Nissan	28
...
37	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	6

1	Thibaut Pinot	FDJ - BigMat	28h47'13
2	Jonathan Castroviejo	Movistar Team	+ 2'08
3	Gorka Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 3'28
4	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	+ 3'51
5	Rigoberto Urán	Sky Procycling	+ 11'25
6	Cameron Meyer	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 13'51
7	Egor Silin	Astana Pro Team	+ 20'13
8	Damiano Caruso	Liquigas - Cannondale	+ 21'06
9	Jesús Herrada	Movistar Team	+ 22'28
10	Simone Ponzi	Astana Pro Team	+ 36'49

So many feelings at the same time... I was so damn close, but i didn't managed to complete my spectacular solo ride. I was so angry on myself after crossing the line, but when looking back now, i'm really proud of this stage. I did everything right without making any mistakes. If i hadn't attacked, Perez would still have oversprinted me, so being 2nd is really good for me.

The guys on the team really encouraged me after the stage. They were ecstatic and happy on my behalf, and suddenly it felt like i wasn't second anymore, i felt like a winner.

With a gap of 12 minutes to the pack, i also advances a lot in the GC-ranking, ending up in 24th place, 8 minutes after Wiggins.

This has been a great day for me, and i'm going to enjoy it fully.

@fcancellara: Well... Perez was just better than Puccio (Today only of course )

@Ian Buttler: Yeah, Puccio really timed it perfectly, but he simply didn't have anything left to drive with when Perez was closing in on him. Next time perhaps?

@Daggen: I think so too. You can't really be mad about this result i think

@FreitasPCM: Yeah, i don't think you can get much closer than this I'm sure Puccio is happy about his result

@Wild Dog: Heeh, yeah a real shame it was - But i have to admit that Perez probably would have won the stage nevertheless. He seemed very strong, and the result also reflects that

@sutty68: As said, Perez was probably the strongest anyway Yeah, Puccio was really mad at himself after crossing the line and not being able to step onto the podium. But as time went he realized that his result was really great

Pre-Tactics
Approaching the last stage of this year Tour of Catalunya, i'm in for my last crucial effort in this race, trying to bring leader and team-mate Wiggins to overall victory in this prestigious World Tour race.
Undoubtfully there will be a lot of dangerous breakaways in the final, resulting in some more hard work for me.

	S. Gerrans
	C. Horner, L. Sánchez
	R. Costa, B. Wiggins, C. Froome

A lot of riders wanted to get into todays breakaway, but eventually only two managed to slip away. Saur's D. Le Lay and Androni's mountain classification leader J. Rodiguez were the two lucky riders.


With 45 km to the line, the breakaway was already caught, and Evans, Nibali and Sørensen tried to escape from the pack. But they were too big a threat and therefore another strong breakaway got free reins. The 4 escapees were Marcato, Sørensen, Millar and Florencio.


The cooperation between the escapees wasn't great, and therefore Millar decided to go solo with just above 10 km to the line.


Going up the final climb, Wiggins wanted to get of and settle his victory by trying to go solo. He gave his all and caught a suffering Millar, but eventually after going first over the top, he was caught by the pack, leaded by S. Gerrans. The last stage was going to end in a sprint!


Not particularly optimal, Gerrans started in the front when going into the final sprint. Portuguese R. Costa passed him right, while Sánchez in great speed passed him left. Froome and Wiggins were also placed up in front following Kreuziger and Costa.


After attemping almost every stage through this race, Sánchez finally succeeds winning the last stage of this years Tour of Catalunya. Wiggins and Froome were also going well, when finishing in 3rd and 4th, meaning that Wiggins wins the race with Froome in 2nd!

1	Luis León Sánchez	Rabobank Cycling Team	2h58'09
2	Vincenzo Nibali	Liquigas - Cannondale	s.t.
3	Bradley Wiggins	Sky Procycling	s.t.
4	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	s.t.
5	Yaroslav Popovych	RadioShack - Nissan	s.t.
6	Andreas Klöden	RadioShack - Nissan	s.t.
7	Thibaut Pinot	FDJ - BigMat	s.t.
8	Jérémy Roy	FDJ - BigMat	s.t.
9	Fränk Schleck	RadioShack - Nissan	s.t.
10	Rui Costa	Movistar Team	s.t.
...
19	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	s.t.

1	Bradley Wiggins	Sky Procycling	31h40'55
2	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	+ 34
3	Chris Horner	RadioShack - Nissan	s.t.
4	Rui Costa	Movistar Team	+ 1'13
5	Robert Gesink	Rabobank Cycling Team	+ 1'28
6	Roman Kreuziger	Astana Pro Team	+ 1'32
7	Beñat Intxausti	Movistar Team	+ 2'10
8	Andreas Klöden	RadioShack - Nissan	+ 3'08
9	Luis León Sánchez	Rabobank Cycling Team	+ 3'18
10	Marco Pinotti	BMC Racing Team	+ 4'08
...
23	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	+ 8'18

1	Bradley Wiggins	Sky Procycling	118
2	Luis León Sánchez	Rabobank Cycling Team	69
3	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	56
4	Rui Costa	Movistar Team	47
5	Chris Horner	RadioShack - Nissan	46
6	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	40
7	Andreas Klöden	RadioShack - Nissan	35
8	Cyril Lemoine	Saur - Sojasun	33
9	Thibaut Pinot	FDJ - BigMat	33
10	Rubén Pérez	Euskaltel - Euskadi	31

1	Jackson Rodríguez	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	70
2	Stephen Cummings	BMC Racing Team	49
3	Nicki Sørensen	Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank	48
4	Bradley Wiggins	Sky Procycling	47
5	Cameron Meyer	Orica - GreenEdge	45
6	David Le Lay	Saur - Sojasun	44
7	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	36
8	Mikel Astarloza	Euskaltel - Euskadi	36
9	�ngel Vicioso	Katusha Team	36
10	Chris Horner	RadioShack - Nissan	28
...
36	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	6

1	Thibaut Pinot	FDJ - BigMat	31h45'22
2	Jonathan Castroviejo	Movistar Team	+ 2'08
3	Gorka Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 3'28
4	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	+ 3'51
5	Rigoberto Urán	Sky Procycling	+ 11'25
6	Cameron Meyer	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 13'51
7	Egor Silin	Astana Pro Team	+ 20'13
8	Damiano Caruso	Liquigas - Cannondale	+ 21'06
9	Jesús Herrada	Movistar Team	+ 32'35
10	Simone Ponzi	Astana Pro Team	+ 38'30

Finally we've reached Barcelona, ending this years Tour of Catalunya. It has been a magnificent race for the team, but certainly also for me. Wiggins takes 3 stage wins and wins both overall GC and comfortably takes the points classification, while Froome ends up in 2nd overall. I don't think our sponsors could have asked for anything more!

I started out surprisingly taking 3rd on the first stage, resulting in keeping the youth classification jersey for two days. I didn't only surprise myself, but also the rest of the pack, bringing a young unknown Italian guy that high, in such prestigious race.

If stage 1 was particular, yesterdays 6th stage was even greater. Just to get into the morning breakaway was an accepted performance, but ending up being only a bike length from taking the stage victory was something i never dreamed of!

I've recieved a lot of recognitions from many riders and team directors which made me really happy. Especially the guys on the team have really supported me and congratulated me.

This race has been a great experience for me, and i'm ready for a little break, before approaching the Ronde Van Vlaanderen in just a week.

Here's an update of my current contract situation. As you know, my contract with Sky expires at the end of this year, so i'm either in for a renewal or a bigger change. Beneath you'll see my current contract.


If you want to know more about my contract situation and my personal manager Giovanni Lombardi, then go and take a look at my fully extended contract situation here.

Sky Pro Cycling Team

Status on resigning:

Team Sky is very satisfied with Salvatore Puccio's performance so far. According to team principal Dave Brailsford, there's a clear basis for contract renewal, but Team Sky wants to wait discussing contract sitauations when being this early in the season

Vacansoleil - DCM

Contract opportunities:

After riding the Tour of Catalunya, Puccio got contacted by Italian Vacansoleil rider Marco Marcato. Marcato congratulated on Puccio's present results in the world tour race, and asked about thoughts of his future. With a clear ulterior motive, Puccio was introduced to team manager Daan Luikjx, without being introdoced to anything concrete except for a lot of interest in Puccio's thoughts. Puccio's personal manager Giovanni Lombardi has taken over the contact, giving Puccio clear space for doing his current job, riding for Team sky.

Lampre - ISD

Contract opportunities:

Due to Puccio's great results in the Tour of Catalunya, personal manager Giovanni Lombardi was contacted by Lampre's sport manager Roberto Damiani, letting him know that they had taken notice of Puccio's performances.

@Ian Buttler: Well, he has got a lot of time to think it over before making his final decision. There's a long way to 2013, and there's nothing concrete out yet I'm also sure that Lombardi will guide him the right way where Salvatore belongs

@sutty68: Agree! With those results, Puccio really got himself some street-credit there