Today we want to send some riders in the breakaway, as the fight for the green jersey is over and we can do nothing on the account of he GC today.
Bernhard Kohl was feeling good today and he tried to join the break.
I wasn't certain that peloton would let the escape go, but eventually they stopped pushing and Kohl was secure.
In fact, he was so strong that he dropped his breakaway companions without breaking the sweat.
Kroon and Bonnafond were in the group of poursivants that tried to bridge the gap on the downhill.
Frischkorn, King and Amorison were unable to reach the leaders so they drifted in between.
Bernie decided to let the poursivants catch him so he could rest a bit before the deciding kilometers.
When the leaders reached the 10km to go banner, it was obvious that the breakaway is going to succeed.
Kohl and Moser responded to Kroon's attack.
But moser didn't have the strength to grab the wheel of one of the leaders.
And Berhard Kohl has brought Team Columbia High-Road it's first breakaway win of the year.
Good job, and a sign of good form!
Stage Classification:
1 Bernhard Kohl Team Columbia - High Road 3h32'41
2 Karsten Kroon Rabobank s.t.
3 Leonardo Moser Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli + 38
4 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team Designa Køkken s.t.
5 Guillaume Bonnafond Bbox Bouygues Télécom s.t.
6 Glen Chadwick Cervélo Test Team s.t.
7 Tom Boonen Silence - Lotto s.t.
8 Enrico Rossi Liquigas s.t.
9 Matti Breschel Astana Cycling Team s.t.
10 Simone Ponzi Quick·Step s.t.
General Classification:
1 Thomas Dekker Silence - Lotto 26h48'43
2 Stefan Schumacher Astana Cycling Team + 29
3 Stijn Devolder Team Columbia - High Road + 30
4 Taylor Phinney Trek Livestrong + 54
5 Stef Clement Rabobank + 56
6 Andy Schleck Team Saxo Bank + 1'17
7 Carlos Barredo Quick·Step + 1'54
8 Damiano Cunego Quick·Step + 1'56
9 Mathieu Sprick Bbox Bouygues Télécom + 1'58
10 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road + 2'15
Points Classification:
1 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road 0 95
2 Matti Breschel Astana Cycling Team 7 75
3 Filippo Pozzato Team Saxo Bank 4 61
4 Taylor Phinney Trek Livestrong 0 52
5 Samuel Dumoulin Cofidis, le crédit en ligne 5 52
KOM Classification:
1 Karsten Kroon Rabobank 10 38
2 Julien El Fares Cofidis, le crédit en ligne 0 32
3 Guillaume Bonnafond Bbox Bouygues Télécom 12 22
The profile of today's winner:
If offense is the best defence, does it mean that defence is the worst defence?
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord will delete my browser history.
Last stage of the race, a final chance to change the overall classification.
Devolder is 3rd, just a second down on second placed Stefan Schumacher, and he has clearly stated his intention to attack today.
He feels strong and would hate to see his California campaign finish in disappointment again.
In order to help him in the latter part of the stage, we decided to send a rider in the breakaway to help him when the time comes.
Pereiro and Girschweiler were the first to form a lead on the second KOM sprint.
Wynants followed.
But a group with Flecha, Rossi and Eisel wasn't allowed to go.
Albasini decides to attack along with Danielson, Levarlet and Facci as the peloton reeled in the first escapes.
And that was our break of the day, although it was obvious that Albasini and BBox's Levarlet were much stronger then the other two riders.
They easily passed the highest peak of the day and made a comfortable advantage of 6 minutes over the main bunch.
Both of them are out of the GC race and this could be a chance for Albasini to try and win.
30km from the line, Danielson has lost all chances to reach Albasini and Levarlet.
Facci was lost for the larger part of the race, but he still wasn't caught by the peloton. A sign that an attack is possible?
When it came obvious that the breakaway would succeed again, Maaskant made a surprise attack in order to see how hard can the peloton work.
Devolder was having a great day and enjoyed a +5 daily form.
I thought to myself that I would be an idiot if I hadn't let Devolder try his luck.
Astana and Saxo Bank were working at the front, but Stijn is there and he waits for his chance.
As the leading duo safely approached the finish line, Albasini was in position behind Levarlet's wheel.
And Devolder attacked! Just as the peloton passed under the 10km to go banner, he made his attack.
With the help of the energy bar, he just might make it. In the worst case, the 3rd place 8 second bonification could lift him to 2nd place overall.
Noone responded.
Michael Albasini easily outsprinted Levarlet on the finish line, great job and a sign of good form by our best puncheur.
Devolder passed Tom Danielson just before the 1km to go banner and he seemed certain to grab the time bonus.
Will he be able make a time gap?
Do you remember what happened to Big George at this year's TdF, when he almost grabbed the leader's jersey?
Cursed be Tom Danielson! If it weren't for him, Devolder would be in yellow even though Mark Cavendish was sprinting for the remaining points.
The stage was classified as hilly so I expected that gaps would be set at a 10 second margin.
And although those moments of anxiety seemed like eternity, in the end they all got the same time.
We have every right to feel disappointed.
Stage Classification:
General Classification:
Points Classification:
KOM Classification:
The profile of today's winner: Edited by Deda on 09-11-2009 20:51
If offense is the best defence, does it mean that defence is the worst defence?
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord will delete my browser history.
With all the races over, it is time to sum up the results in the month of February.
Tour of Qatar: 4 wins by Mark Cavendish, yellow and green jerseys.
There is still a feeling that we should have done much better in the team time trail, but nonetheless a very good race for us, especially Mark, who bettered his last year's result of three stage wins.
Challenge Vuelta a Mallorca: 3 stage wins, 2 by Martijn Maaskant, one by Mark Renshaw. Green jersey and 2nd place overall for Maaskant.
Maaskant had one bad day in which Valverde seized the overall lead, but nonetheless it is more than we expected, Martijn is far from being a top class puncheur and his 2nd place is something he can really be proud of.
Amgen Tour of California: 3 sprint victories by Mark Cavendish, two wins from the breakaway by Berhnard Kohl and Michael Albasini. Green jersey for Cavendish, three podiums and 2nd overall for Stijn Devolder.
This was the first race we had a good opposition, both in the sprints and the GC battle. Only goal for this year's California Tour that wasn't fulfilled was a TT win for Devolder or Boasson Hagen, but when I roll the film back it seems that it was pretty hard to expect when riding against such top class riders as Phinney, Schumacher and Dekker.
Cavendish proved that he can beat even the strongest of the sprinters with or without help from his teammates. World Road Race Champion Tom Boonen, Filippo Pozzato, Enrico Rossi, Bernhard Eisel, Samuel Dumoulin, Simone Ponzi and Enrico Gasparotto were no match for our rocket Cav.
Only Breschel managed to snatch one head to head contest.
Breakaway wins by Bernhard Kohl and Michael Albasini were clearly a sign that we can expect more from them in the coming months.
Vuelta a Andalucia: 4 stage wins, Heinrich Haussler and Tony Martin won two each. Green jersey and 1st place overall for Tony Martin.
Total domination in this race has made me review all of our applications for the other 2.1 races in the coming months.
From now on we will (if we take part in any of them) use them solely for the training purposes and I will simulate them with "no exertions" option set for all our riders, with the option of a breakaway for one or two riders.
If offense is the best defence, does it mean that defence is the worst defence?
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord will delete my browser history.
beagle wrote:
Didn´t notice, have you changed difficulty as you said during Qatar?
Actually no, only 1st stage of Mallorca was on extreme as a bit of a test run.
I've figured that all I needed was a bit of competition. As the stars get in form, it will be much more difficult.
If offense is the best defence, does it mean that defence is the worst defence?
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord will delete my browser history.
beagle wrote:
Didn´t notice, have you changed difficulty as you said during Qatar?
Actually no, only 1st stage of Mallorca was on extreme as a bit of a test run.
I've figured that all I needed was a bit of competition. As the stars get in form, it will be much more difficult.
hope so, your bunch of monsters seems to be almost unbeatable
But Omloop Het Nieuwsblad isn't a race where the fun will start.
I've ran through the rosters of the other Pro Tour teams to see which riders will take part today, and nothing interesting came up.
Therefore, we've decided to send our young Aussie boys to get some racing experience, and a few riders to assist Edvald Boasson Hagen until he attacks.
Start list:
Team Columbia
1. E.Boasson Hagen
2. L.Batty
3. A.Hansen
4. S.Lang
5. G.Lines
6. D.Rayner
7. V.Reynès
Looking at the start list, this looks like the most interesting race so far this season. All the big guns are there.
Cancellara (Rabobank), Pozzato (Saxo Bank), Boonen (Silence - Lotto), Ballan (Lampre), Breschel (Astana), Langeveld (Vacansoleil), Meersman (Franciase de Jeux), Hoste (Quick-Step), Offredo (Agritubel), and of course, Devolder and his mighty Columbia death squad.
We can win this race and we will do our best to secure it.
Last year, Martijn Maaskant lost the sprint to Filippo Pozzato, but this year we hope to go one place better, all the way to the top!
All the top favorites for this race, Pozzato, Boonen and Breschel are all good sprinters.
This means that we'll have to attack in order to win.
Last year, Maaskant came to the finish line with Pozzato and eventually couldn't outsprint him even though he had the back wheel advantage.
This race offers little place to do so, as the last 25km are completely flat.
Rain and wind won't do us any good either.
What surprised us was that there were no attack in the first 50 kilometers.
Because of that, Van Summeren decided to test his legs, and see how the peloton will respond.
Meersman jumped too.
And there we had it. Finally some action. Teams of the other favorites weren't interested in letting Van Summeren and Meersman away.
Although it was impossible to expect anything from this attack, Van Summeren proved that it will be possible to stay in front in case of an attack from the favorites group later in the race.
Finally, after the second climb, we had the first real breakaway. Schar and Sentjens were in the front, their advantage was 3 minutes max.
As the peloton was busy surviving the next cobbled section, Van Summeren attacks again.
No other favorites were interested in an attack, they just pushed the tempo.
Burghardt wasn't feeling good today, he couldn't follow the high tempo on the climbs. He had a -4 daily form.
That leaves us with Devolder and Maaskant for the finish.
Three climbs from the finish, and we have 4 riders in the front group of 22, Schar and Sentjens were almost caught.
Devolder, Maaskant, Van Summeren and Boasson Hagen.
Rabobank still had six.
On the penultimate climb, 15 were left. Hagen couldn't follow.
Maaskant attacks. Hopefully it will tire the leaders even more, Devolder is sitting comfortably at the back.
No one followed again, so Maaskant built up his lead to almost a minute.
Then came some flying, Cancellara style.
Only the cream of the crop survived the high jump session.
Cancellara, Nuyens, Van der Velde of Rabobank, Van Avermaet and Boonen of Silence - Lotto, Lampre's Ballan, Offredo of Agritubel, Pozzato of Saxo Bank, Breschel of Astana, and of course, our own Stijn Devolder.
Maaskant is 50 seconds ahead.
And finally the favorites attacked with 20km to go.
Boonen jumped, followed by Devolder (+3 form) and Pozzato.
They easily passed Maaskant who has done his part perfectly.
11km to go, Devolder attacks Boonen and Pozzato, they don't respond.
Is this it?
Nuyens and Breschel have reached the two poursivants, and Breschel immediately attacks.
Tom Boonen decided it was enough and went for it alone.
Devolder has some 25 seconds to his advantage, but he can't allow Boonen to come too close when the sprint starts.
And he's done it! A great solo victory for Devolder, and a great two win opener of the Northen Classics season!
Tom Boonen finished 2nd, while Pozzato outsprinted Breschel for 3rd podium place.
Maaskant managed to outsprint two Rabobank riders and grab the 5th position. Good result for him too.
Nuyens would have finished in the time of Pozzato and Breschel, but he had fallen around 6km from the finish, and that cost him the 5th place.
Podium:
Next up, Paris - Nice!
Edited by Deda on 10-11-2009 10:57
If offense is the best defence, does it mean that defence is the worst defence?
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord will delete my browser history.
The first big stage race of the season, and we have high hopes in terms of the overall classifications.
Our leader for the job, just like in 2011. will be Thomas Lovkvist.
Last year he looked good to finish on the podium as he was second after the time trial, but eventually had to settle for 4th position as he had a bad day in the mountains, and all the time bonuses in the last two stages went to other favorites. In the end, Sandy Casar pushed him off the podium with just 2 seconds advantage.
Samuel Sanchez, then riding for Quick-Step, dominated last year's race with 4 stage wins.
This time we hope to put Thomas one step further in the GC, or possibly even all the way, but obviously other riders will have something to say on that matter.
Kanstantin Sivtstov has been assigned a job of being Lovkvist's personal Lieutenant, and we are hopeful that no bad luck will hinder our campaign like last time. Tony Martin and Johan Van Summeren will be there to protect them on the hilly stages, Haussler and Renshaw will try to win the flat stage, Hagen and Burghardt will try to win a breakaway in the last two stages.
When talking about favorites, it's important to underline a few names that will most certainly make our job a difficult one.
First of all, when looking at the start list, Thomas Dekker comes to mind as he is a great puncheur as well as a world class time trialist.
Last year Sanchez dominated the race even though he isn't an expert on the TT bike so that makes Dekker the favorite number one.
Other time trialists who might give it a go on the GC are Roman Kreuziger, Bradley Wiggins and Markus Fothen.
Next group are the puncheurs: Damiano Cunego, Fredrik Kessiakoff, Danilo Di Luca and Frank Schleck.
And last, but definitely not the least, climbers: Sandy Casar, Peter Weening and Ruben Plaza.
To sum things up, we've decided to set only two goals for this race.
Podium overall - This means that we will go for the win, but won't be disappointed even with the lowest step.
Stage win(s) - Mountain stage, sprint, two time trials, breakaway. Chances are many, my riders are strong and with a bit of luck this shouldn't be a problem.
