Ahem after a shameful delay I thought I would try to wrap up this Saxobank story. In truth it is already a partial fail following Andy Schleck's magnificent failure in the Tour, but hey lets just see how the rest pans out.
Hoping to get right the way through to the Lombardy race - you can disregard the transfers I will be going at it using the pcmdaily 2011 DB, suggestions at a squad are welcome ... I was veering toward Geox (and missing the tour) on the bus ride home, but maybe thats because I was reading about the Giro in a delicious but expensive preview mag I picked up. Anyway back to the story....
Quick reminder:
Andy won the Giro and Suisse...
but lost the tour on the TT to Berti.
Also Cancellara conquered the Cobbled triple crown...
and Frank took Paris Nice and La Fleche Waloonie and is set to try and bring about Saxo a Vuelta triumph.
The betreyal of the stars joining the 'Luxembourg cycling project' dominates the backdrop of this one folks.
Yes for the record in the next one my Radioshack wrath will be saved from Nygaard and his twattish mob. (Hey they signed Gerdemann - it is inevitable).
Anyway what of the racing well lets sum up the gap between Le Tour and La Vuelta quickly.
San Sebastian Classic.
Andy's last race, he can go off and get drunk now and tell everyone how his DS wasted his chance at Le Tour this year. He celebrates by losing a close two man sprint with hometown hero Sammy Sanchez. Nope I am not going to dignify a picture of that!
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
Player
1
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
6h10'13
2
Andy Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
3
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky Professional Cycling Team
+ 1'17
4
Fabian Cancellara
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
5
Alexandr Kolobnev
Team Katusha
s.t.
6
Bradley Wiggins
Sky Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
7
Carlos Barredo
Quick·Step
s.t.
8
Fabian Wegmann
Team Milram
s.t.
9
Simon Spilak
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 1'50
10
Christian Knees
Team Milram
s.t.
15
Philippe Gilbert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
24
Joaquím Rodríguez
Team Katusha
s.t.
27
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
35
Jakob Fuglsang
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
82
Nicki Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
+ 8'13
Player
83
Jonas Aaen Jørgensen
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
89
Jens Voigt
Team Saxo Bank
+ 10'45
Player
126
André Steensen
Team Saxo Bank
+ 11'25
Player
171
Jarosław Marycz
Team Saxo Bank
+ 25'41
Player
Post Danmark Rundt.
Yeah predictable domination by a Saxo B squad here and yeah despite O Grady joining the Leotard crew he still gets that loyal domestique lets give him a go.
He and Matti Breschel utterly dominate the race taking the overall honours winning stages aplenty.
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
Player
1
Stuart O'Grady
Team Saxo Bank
19h38'25
Player
2
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo Bank
+ 1'44
Player
3
Marcel Sieberg
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 2'02
4
Dominik Roels
Team Milram
+ 2'44
5
George Hincapie
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
6
Mads Christensen
Glud & Marstrand - LRØ Rådgivning
+ 2'54
7
Markus Fothen
Team Milram
+ 2'56
8
Jimmi Sørensen
Team Designa Køkken - Blue Water
+ 3'05
9
Adam Hansen
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 3'06
10
Stanislav Kozúbek
PSK Whirlpool - Author
+ 3'14
22
Kasper Klostergaard
Team Saxo Bank
+ 3'33
Player
25
Domenik Klemme
Team Saxo Bank
+ 3'38
Player
27
Frank Høj
Team Saxo Bank
+ 3'40
Player
54
Michael Mørkøv
Team Saxo Bank
+ 5'21
Player
61
Jonathan Bellis
Team Saxo Bank
+ 5'54
Player
124
Baden Cooke
Team Saxo Bank
+ 14'25
Player
Tour of Poland
Right time to build Frankie's form at the Tour of Poland. Amazingly JJ Haedo manages to win a sprint.
... and then Frank dominates in the hills.
Are you not glad we didn't send you to Le Tour now Frank? You get a nice win in rainy Poland a second Protour stage win of the year!
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
Player
1
Fränk Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
26h44'15
Player
2
Paolo Tiralongo
Astana
+ 2'38
3
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Doimo
+ 2'40
4
Tiago Machado
Team RadioShack
+ 2'41
5
Riccardo Riccò
Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
+ 2'42
6
Kurt-Asle Arvesen
Sky Professional Cycling Team
+ 3'20
7
Thomas Löfkvist
Sky Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
8
David Moncoutié
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
9
Bauke Mollema
Rabobank
+ 3'28
10
Johnny Hoogerland
Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
+ 3'36
13
Ryder Hesjedal
Garmin - Transitions
s.t.
19
Alexandre Vinokourov
Astana
+ 3'52
20
Richie Porte
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
29
Chris Anker Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
+ 4'08
Player
30
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Doimo
s.t.
46
Anders Lund
Team Saxo Bank
+ 4'56
Player
69
Laurent Didier
Team Saxo Bank
+ 9'16
Player
96
Gustav Erik Larsson
Team Saxo Bank
+ 12'20
Player
141
Lucas Sebastián Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
+ 35'32
Player
156
Juan José Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
+ 54'44
Player
Actually we went to a small time French tour Tour de L'Ain and Frankie training on some decent sized mountains.
Vattenfalls.
Cancellara still has some form left from Le Tour and decides to utterly destroy the sprint mob and win here. This I admit was an awesome display of brilliance from a +5 daily form and on fire Cancellara.
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
Player
1
Fabian Cancellara
Team Saxo Bank
5h08'55
Player
2
Gerald Ciolek
Team Milram
s.t.
3
Philippe Gilbert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
4
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
5
Gert Steegmans
Team RadioShack
s.t.
6
Leonardo Duque
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
7
Tom Boonen
Quick·Step
s.t.
8
Allan Davis
Astana
s.t.
9
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
10
Mirco Lorenzetto
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
11
Óscar Freire
Rabobank
s.t.
12
Jens Voigt
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
15
Mark Cavendish
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
16
Filippo Pozzato
Team Katusha
s.t.
18
Tyler Farrar
Garmin - Transitions
s.t.
22
Juan José Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
24
Daniele Bennati
Liquigas - Doimo
s.t.
43
Alexandre Vinokourov
Astana
s.t.
55
Jakob Fuglsang
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
78
Stuart O'Grady
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
79
Alessandro Petacchi
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
80
Lucas Sebastián Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
83
Domenik Klemme
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
Eneco Tour.
Two Time Trials and a hilly sort of cobbled stage. Cancellara wins then, we decide screw the crazy Lombardy plan and try for this instead. In fact we take Breschel and O Grady here as well and completely run the whole proceedings.
Stage one of course was a procession in the opening TT for Cancellara, but at stage two we use the hilly ending to dominate the sprint too.
The Cobbled/Hilly stage was a tactical masterpiece another of the five stage wins Cancellara takes.
We even had Breschel up comfortably in second, so we had a picture perfect moment in the final stage TT. Cancellara catches Breschel!
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
Player
1
Fabian Cancellara
Team Saxo Bank
29h39'55
Player
2
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo Bank
+ 3'23
Player
3
Tom Boonen
Quick·Step
+ 3'33
4
Xavier Tondo
Cervélo Test Team
+ 4'26
5
Rubén Plaza
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 4'33
6
Geraint Thomas
Sky Professional Cycling Team
+ 4'36
7
Vladimir Karpets
Team Katusha
+ 4'50
8
Marcel Sieberg
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 4'51
9
Stijn Devolder
Quick·Step
s.t.
10
Vasil Kiryienka
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 4'54
18
Michael Mørkøv
Team Saxo Bank
+ 5'14
Player
29
Domenik Klemme
Team Saxo Bank
+ 5'34
Player
80
Stuart O'Grady
Team Saxo Bank
+ 9'20
Player
144
Kasper Klostergaard
Team Saxo Bank
+ 21'49
Player
148
Frank Høj
Team Saxo Bank
+ 24'59
Player
161
Jonathan Bellis
Team Saxo Bank
+ 38'22
Player
GP Ploauy
No Cancellara or the Schlecks but after slowly building our form in Italy we hit the ground running in the big French hilly Classics. In a brief summary of the results from the warm-ups.
Tre Valli Varasine - 3rd JA Jorgenson (Winner: Bernardo Riccio)
Coppa Agnostini - 6th Jacob Fuglsang (Winner: Ruslan Pidgornyy)
Coppa Bernocchi - 3rd LS Haedo (Winner: Martin Pedersen)
Trofea Melinda - 19th Jacob Fuglsang (Winner: Miguel Rubiano)
In the Ploauy race then we put an on form Jorgenson in the break and with about 120km to go we bridged Fuglsang up there noting that this tactic had worked pretty well in the recent Italian classics. Indeed with the peleton struggling to shut down the gap Fuglsang went solo with 25km to go and held a big enough gap to take his biggest victory of his career!
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
Player
1
Jakob Fuglsang
Team Saxo Bank
6h41'24
Player
2
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 52
3
Carlos Barredo
Quick·Step
+ 1'08
4
Joaquím Rodríguez
Team Katusha
s.t.
5
Vladimir Efimkin
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 1'19
6
Philippe Gilbert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
7
Simon Gerrans
Sky Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
8
Alexandr Kolobnev
Team Katusha
s.t.
9
Nick Nuyens
Rabobank
s.t.
10
Niki Terpstra
Team Milram
s.t.
12
Alexandre Vinokourov
Astana
s.t.
24
Jens Voigt
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
27
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Doimo
s.t.
28
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Doimo
s.t.
33
Filippo Pozzato
Team Katusha
+ 2'04
40
Chris Anker Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
44
Jonas Aaen Jørgensen
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
Player
48
Denis Menchov
Rabobank
s.t.
74
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
+ 3'24
83
André Steensen
Team Saxo Bank
+ 3'48
Player
113
Tony Martin
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 7'08
148
Jarosław Marycz
Team Saxo Bank
+ 12'20
Player
167
Alex Rasmussen
Team Saxo Bank
+ 19'24
Player
The August race season then had been a ridiculously successful one for Saxobank which papered over the divisions in the team.
Pellizotti2: Thanks for the comments, it is great to see you with the Schlecks and Cancellara in the Leopard story. Hope you don't mind the Leopard digs, they are an easy target I guess and they did look silly in that daft presentation (and they ain't winning much in real life at the mo'.
Valverde321: Well your words kind of awakened that nagging voice to finish this year off. We are enjoying Vailleux hope that keeps going also.
28th August 2011 - Seville (after the 16km Team Time Trial opener)
What a fiasco in the team test for Saxo - last night we had a huge blow out when Frankie realised that Gustav Larsson was hugely out of form. In fact he had virtually none of his Leotard cronies with him here in southern Spain. Little does he realise this is by my design .
We hope that once he stops throwing his toys out of his pram he will realise that without his drinking buddies that will undoubtedly take the proverbial by visiting the Spanish bars. He will have a great support. Chris Anker Sorenson and Richie Porte are primed for this, with Klemme, Larsson, Lund and Didier also very useful little domestiques. The Haedos are here also, who knows they may even grab a big win?
Anyway for the records here is a picture of the team coasting around the team circuit.
We finished plum last of the teams finishing 20th at 1.20, losing valuable seconds on rivals.
Who are the rivals you may ask? Well let's with who's not here.
First the defending chump is at home looking after his doggie.
Thankfully fellow suspicious cycling Spaniard Mosquera is home 'injured'.
Liquigas decide not to bother here in Spain, prospective champion rider Nibali will not be repeating his real life exploits.
But whilst the team in green and Mosquera's Galician outfit have no chance Caisse will no doubt throw their weight around and they have done this evening winning the team time trial.
It was JJ Cobo (not exactly the cleanest of course) who takes the leaders jersey as he passes the line first. LL Sanchez, Arroyo, Solar and Ruben Plaza are some of the other powerhouses in the no real GC threat but plenty of top 10 shout type team.
So the other challengers who are here, well Tour de France champion Alberto Contador is looking to finish his season off in fine style.
His team finish 4th, 11 seconds off the pace.
Actually the other two of the fab TdFrance four are here two, Sammy Sanchez will likely be the biggest threat at home. He has Anton for company too for those who like complicated team dynamics.
They give a steady if unspectacular performance here finishing 10th, 23 seconds behind Caisse.
Denis Menchov will likely do little of note until that long time trial after most of the mountains are over. He of course has won the Vuelta twice (and a Giro too) with these sorts of tactics, and will see the Tour podium as a success also.
His Rabobank squad do a great job finishing 2nd, 9 seconds back.
Other notable mentions, best put a picture of 3rd placed Garmin up before Jonny V gets the union of team bosses against me.
Not that they have anyone worth worrying about for GC. They do match Rabobank's time but spend that millisecond too long listening on their earpieces and lose those precious milleseconds.
Here is a picture of 'the ego' - he just cannot retire yet without bringing his media circus to one more grand tour.
They finish 6th, 14 seconds back. He tweets something derogatory about cycling at night-time and that they are working for fellow geriatric Chris Horner. Anyway back to the real contendors.
Purito is here with his Katusha crew hoping to avoid small insects.
Unremarkable stuff in the team time trial though 15th at 33 seconds.
Cervelo are here too, with Sastre and an on form Tondo.
8th at 19 second for the soon to be defunct team.
Finally we shouldn't discount 'the little prince' from doing something.
He was looking good in the Ploauy race and has been building his form up in Italy. Lampre though don't do him any favours finishing 14th at 28 seconds.
Pelli: Yeah, we have to say it was similar in the Tour. Truth is I suck at TTT's I think it is best to have your best TTers doing all the pulls!
August 30th 2010: Malaga, Spain
We are right back in it now, back to the real world away from those crappy team tests. Yesterday we were a little surprised to see Caisse D'Epargne throw away the leaders jersey, good luck getting it back Arroyo and co...
Stage 2
Yeah yesterday we went into Marbella to see where rich businessmen park their yachts on the Costa del Sol avoiding some of those less desirable resorts. The stage itself was one loong climb:
The breakaway of nine was allowed to stay clear in this one folks and it was Xaviar Florencio (Cervelo) who took advantage to be the second Spaniard in the Orange jersey. He outsprinted the likes of Carlstrom (Sky), Riblon (AG2R) and Pietropelli (Lampre)
Stage 3
Florencio's day out on the leaders jersey would prove a difficult on the road from Marbella to Malaga. They are actually not that far apart but the route planners devilishly hit the riders with dual ascents of a nasty medium mountain Puerto del Leon.
Frankie has built his form and we knew the others had been using August to holiday with the schoolkids. So we set a blistering pace to catch an early breakaway which contained Carlstrom and Pietropelli, on the lower slopes of the Leon, Radioshack old timer Horner and former leader Cobo went off. The Saxo young star and in this race luxury domestique Richie Porte controlled the gap.
The other Radioshack old timer was dropped along with classics kingpin Phillipe Gilbert.
Oh and the race leader Florencio too, he is being shepharded by a true veteren hero Inigo Cuesta, now just what is that guy on?
This all on the first ascent! By the second, it was action stations and Berti Contador having rediscovered the art of attacking in the Pyrennees at the Tour de France, decides that he is off again.
This was a bit of a blow to our plans, didn't really think Conta would be showing this sort of form here. Frankie didn't let his head drop and bridged up to the Spanish grand carnivore along with Euskatel duo Anton and Sanchez as well as Purito.
As we went over the top these five were well clear, who is missing well Mr Menchov is not here, but the five up front were tetchy attacking each other right the end uphill in Malaga. Frankie saved himself to kick hard in the last 2km and take an excellent stage win ahead of Contador who unfortunately was able to wheelsuck.
But we are back in the game, all is forgiven for now Frankie.
The press are focussing on Berti and Samu that's a good thing, I think they are beginning to feel the heat.
Are you off form Alberto? Samu are you really a Grand Tour rider? They ask.
Stage 4
It has been a fascinating last few days and the worlds number one team (that's us in case you ask) have been flexing their muscles. Stage four's hilly parcours:
May have been assessed as perfect for a breakaway, but going on the previous day we knew that whilst Frank was in form his rivals were not there yet. Hitting the peleton with a lot of early pace nullifying the early naff break, a much better six man move headed toward the final climb with about 2 and half minutes.
Horner (Radioshack), Gilbert (Omega Pharma), Kolobnev (Katusha), Pineau (Quickstep), Kessiekoff (Garmin) and Arrieta (AG2R) were the riders. You can see from the names they are not your usual breakaway men nor are they the type of riders who are out and out favourites for GC.
The strongest two proved to be Gilbert and Horner who attacked on that final climb the Valdepenes.
From the peleton the first to fire off an attack was trigger happy Cunego and LL Sanchez from the multi faceted Caisse d'Epargne team.
Behind though Frank was making his move with race leader Contador trying to follow our on fire team leader.
J Rod also tries to go with the move, but both he and Contador cannot hold Franks wheel and Frank reaches and passes Cunego and LL Sanchez.
Out of the pack racks the late attacker Sammy Sanchez as sensationally Contador looking pretty knackered drops back to the peleton. Frank meanwhile plows on to our leaders with Gilbert just ahead of Horner, Kolobnev and now Schleck. Behind Cunego having dropped one Sanchez (Luis Leon) is now joined by another (Samu). Conta looks fried back in the peleton!
Phillipe Gilbert will hold off the attackers to take the stage win ahead of Kolobnev (2nd) , F Schleck (3rd), Horner (4th).
The big news though was Cunego and Samu rolling in at 1.06, with the LL Sanchez led peleton coming in at 1.43. That is a big gain on a stage like this.
Stage results:
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Philippe Gilbert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
4h47'17
2
Alexandr Kolobnev
Team Katusha
s.t.
3
Fränk Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
4
Chris Horner
Team RadioShack
s.t.
5
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 1'05
6
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
7
Luis León Sánchez
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 1'43
8
Fredrik Kessiakoff
Garmin - Transitions
s.t.
9
Jérôme Pineau
Quick·Step
s.t.
10
José Luis Arrieta
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
11
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
12
Alberto Contador
Astana
s.t.
15
David Arroyo
Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
16
Carlos Barredo
Quick·Step
s.t.
21
Tom Danielson
Garmin - Transitions
s.t.
22
Chris Anker Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
23
Carlos Sastre
Cervélo Test Team
s.t.
31
Paolo Tiralongo
Astana
s.t.
33
Jelle Vanendert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
35
Xavier Tondo
Cervélo Test Team
s.t.
37
Denis Menchov
Rabobank
s.t.
39
Joaquím Rodríguez
Team Katusha
s.t.
43
Richie Porte
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
44
Bauke Mollema
Rabobank
s.t.
52
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
s.t.
66
Lance Armstrong
Team RadioShack
+ 4'01
68
Anders Lund
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
70
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
76
Xavier Florencio
Cervélo Test Team
s.t.
88
Gustav Erik Larsson
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
89
Óscar Freire
Rabobank
+ 6'01
105
Domenik Klemme
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
112
Daniele Bennati
Liquigas - Doimo
+ 11'13
114
Laurent Didier
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
118
Lucas Sebastián Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
145
Mark Cavendish
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 20'09
150
Danilo Napolitano
Team Katusha
+ 24'41
151
Tyler Farrar
Garmin - Transitions
s.t.
162
Juan José Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
+ 25'13
166
Theo Bos
Cervélo Test Team
+ 36'01
173
Adam Blythe
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 38'01
Stage 5
We took a break on this one and it would be Oscar Freire taking the sprint ahead of Bobbie Traksel who took a bit of a flier here for Vaconsoleil. JJ Haedo managed a pretty decent fifth confirming that he is here in fine form.
Stage 6
We realised that we had to try and snatch anything we could and todays stage with the extravagantly named Alto de la Cresto del Gallo crested with 11km to go we decided to try and put the hammer down.
It may have not looked like much but after four tough road stages we thought it would be worth the gamble so Frank hit the front on the bottom.
As a Schleck the elder got a gap the other favourites sent their luxury domestiques to the front to try and shut Frank down.
It proved Viva la Vuelta indeed as Frank held off a fast finishing peleton to register his third stage win in six stages of this years Vuelta.
No time gaps but a useful twenty second bonus .. just about justified we think!
They are saying it cannot last, Schleck is happy on the hilly ones but one bad day and the jersey will go to Sanchez or Contador. Frank though is holding up really well, his morale is sky high as is the teams, we seem to exist in a bubble away from that Leopard stuff. I am actually enjoying giving those Spanish a good caning.
Stage 7
Even JJ is getting close to being in on the action, he knows the stages between Andorra (stages 12 and 13) give him some good stage win chances. He came close narrowly being pipped by Rojas and stage winner Koldo Fernandez on stage 7.
Stage 8
The Xorret de Cati stage really had a nightmarish profile, even Frank was apprehensive about this one.
But I had full confidence that today would be our day, Contador and Samu just haven't got that top end power they had at the tour yet and we needed to take advantage. Gustav Larsson who has become early pace man par excellence this season put the peleton on the rack early and then the quietly impressive Richie Porte did the same on the penultimate climbs.
Before we got to the big Cati climb the favourites were trigger happy, the Sanchez's LL and Samu tried a move.
As we reach the foot of the climb Samu begins to drop Luis Leon, Chris Anker Sorenson impressively paces Frank Schleck up past the Caisse man, close to Samu's wheel.
Where's Berti, here he comes...
But he cannot bridge and Frank manages to creep out some distance on Samu too, giving him a solo win on the descent.
Not huge gaps...
Stage:
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Fränk Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
4h59'02
2
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 22
3
Alberto Contador
Astana
+ 47
4
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
5
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
6
Carlos Sastre
Cervélo Test Team
s.t.
7
Haimar Zubeldia
Team RadioShack
s.t.
8
Xavier Tondo
Cervélo Test Team
s.t.
9
Ángel Vicioso
Andalucía - Cajasur
s.t.
10
Chris Horner
Team RadioShack
s.t.
12
Tom Danielson
Garmin - Transitions
s.t.
15
Chris Anker Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
17
Denis Menchov
Rabobank
s.t.
18
David Arroyo
Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
19
Richie Porte
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
21
Joaquím Rodríguez
Team Katusha
s.t.
22
Luis León Sánchez
Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
33
Jelle Vanendert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
34
Lance Armstrong
Team RadioShack
s.t.
36
Philippe Gilbert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
37
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
s.t.
49
Anders Lund
Team Saxo Bank
+ 2'41
69
Laurent Didier
Team Saxo Bank
+ 3'53
73
Gustav Erik Larsson
Team Saxo Bank
+ 5'29
78
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky Professional Cycling Team
+ 7'21
92
Óscar Freire
Rabobank
+ 10'25
100
Xavier Florencio
Cervélo Test Team
s.t.
108
Lucas Sebastián Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
+ 19'05
110
Koldo Fernández
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 29'29
111
Daniele Bennati
Liquigas - Doimo
s.t.
113
Juan José Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
123
Mark Cavendish
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
125
Tyler Farrar
Garmin - Transitions
s.t.
144
Danilo Napolitano
Team Katusha
s.t.
153
Domenik Klemme
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
172
Kenny De Haes
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 47'53
Stage 9
After yesterdays tough day, it was no rest for the wicked yesterday.
More of the same from Saxo, there is this fear that the others will come back at us particularly on the later time trial. Sorenson today is the torturer!
Coming up to the last KOM primes it is J Rod who makes a strong move.
This looks like one for keeps as oppesed to the KOM points, but Sorenson and Porte keep the pace high behind.
We kick up again for the finish into Alpoy, Eukatel make their move with Igor Anton.
He nips past Rodriguez and Frankie tries to follow with the on fire Basque, nipping up to Rodriguez's wheel.
Again Samu is the only one who can live with this as Contador festers back in the peleton, he badly needs a rest day booster! Frank Schleck cannot add to his win tally here but does stick with Anton, Sanchez and Rodriguez. Anton takes Euskatels second win of the race.
Stage:
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
5h25'01
2
Joaquím Rodríguez
Team Katusha
s.t.
3
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
4
Fränk Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
5
Gustavo César Veloso
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 37
6
Tom Danielson
Garmin - Transitions
s.t.
7
Rubén Plaza
Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
8
Javier Moreno
Andalucía - Cajasur
s.t.
9
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
10
David García Dapena
Xacobeo - Galicia
s.t.
11
Luis León Sánchez
Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
15
Alberto Contador
Astana
s.t.
16
David Arroyo
Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
19
Richie Porte
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
20
Jelle Vanendert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
23
Carlos Sastre
Cervélo Test Team
s.t.
24
Xavier Tondo
Cervélo Test Team
s.t.
25
Juan José Cobo
Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
26
Chris Anker Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
27
Chris Horner
Team RadioShack
s.t.
30
Denis Menchov
Rabobank
s.t.
41
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
s.t.
42
Philippe Gilbert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
47
Lance Armstrong
Team RadioShack
+ 4'54
71
Anders Lund
Team Saxo Bank
+ 8'26
81
Laurent Didier
Team Saxo Bank
+ 12'34
82
Gustav Erik Larsson
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
92
Domenik Klemme
Team Saxo Bank
+ 14'50
100
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky Professional Cycling Team
+ 15'22
127
Lucas Sebastián Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
+ 20'10
136
Óscar Freire
Rabobank
+ 24'18
140
Tyler Farrar
Garmin - Transitions
s.t.
143
Mark Cavendish
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
144
Juan José Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
159
Danilo Napolitano
Team Katusha
+ 35'06
165
Kristof Goddaert
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 36'10
We have to be pleased with the gap back to the likes of Contador and Menchov here.
Fränk is doing great, especially on stage 4, 6 and 8. Contador's form is decreasing I guess, since his results isn't good at all anymore. Samuel Sánchez looks strong, though. Watch out for him in the mountains. However, Fränk has been looking strong enough to win this I think.
Valv: Matching my thoughts exactly the question is, is how long shoul I be going to get gaps and when do I turn defensive?
Pelli: Contador doesn't seem to want to attack, everything is a response and he never can get to Schlecks wheel. Sanchez and Anton have been more impressive but Euskutel have not seemed to pick a leader here.
September 8th 2010: Andorra
Spain are still waiting. Their men Samu and Berti still are searching for their best form and frankly (excuse the pun) I am not sure they will find it.
It has been two more days of Frank Schleck looking for ever more time, and yes we are still ever fearful of the TT factor. Yesterday didn't look like it would be the world's most decisive stage.
Stage 10
After getting over that Frankie had that magical +5 form figure a day early, I thought to myself what the hell lets give it a go on that steep old climb. It was called the Rat Penat and Frank pulled away brilliantly on the climb.
It was now a familiar sight with the usual scrambling around in the media area and angry locals looking from a response for the camps Euskatel, Astana and Caisse. But it was Katusha who sent one of their better buys forward in Kim Kirchen as Frank reeled in the breakaway leader Gasparotto.
Gaspa actually aided Frank here, certainly not a rider who will be on Berti's Christman card list. Of course Frank would then steam away on the flatter sections and had enough of a gap to seal a comfortable and quite unexpected stage win.
Another 39 plus of course those all important bonifications.
Stage 11
The mountains arrived today proper.
Frank's four stage wins had come so far with short sharp climbs near the end, perfect really for his classic style climbing ability. Here though we had a proper mountain top finish to contend with, no big climbs leading in however, meaning the peleton was largely intact coming to the bottom of the climb. Apart from a decent three man breakaway that is.
Andalucia's Calvente was marking his card for future protour team bids or possibly some Fuentes doctor's new patient list here. He was with Armstrong drone Rubiera and one of those HTC young projects Peter Velits.
With 25km to go they have three minutes, but the peleton are active behind as we get onto the main climb and it is the overactive small guy Rodriguez who is keen to get away with Moreno (another Andalucia rider marking his card) and thus far big failure Menchov.
We go for the teammate chase down strategy keeping our powder dry for later. Chris Anker Sorenson does a great job.
With now only Peter Velits up front it is time for Frank Schleck to go as Sorenson runs out of top end energy with 5km to go.
Once again the big favourites Samu and Contador just have not got it in them to respond. Frank passes Velits into clear road territory.
Meanwhile, it is Sastre who goes last with 2km to go from the peleton and Igor Anton, Chris Horner and J Rodriguez are marking the Cervelo man.
Frank though holds them off for a magnificent fifth stage win on stage 11 of the Vuelta!
Igor Anton emerges from the pack to take second overtaking Sastre in the finale.
It's good news really unlike Samu, Berti and Menchov, Igor Anton is not a threat in the TT. It is slowly but steadily opening up in this exciting Vuelta.
Menchov so impressive on the last stage of the Tour is nearly six minutes back, the big threats are the Euskutel duo and of course Contador!
Edited by Smowz on 30-04-2011 15:04
Pelli: The record for stage wins in a Vuelta is held by Freddy Maertens who took a whopping 13 stages on the way to winning the 1977 Vuelta (it says so on wikipedia ) The interface is teh fcm2011 one. I actually deleted it and made a clean install of the pcm2011db ready for my next story (which will be kind of a continuation of this one). Thanks once again for the kind words.
September 11th, 2010: Pena Cabrega, Spain
The climb up to Andorra a couple of days ago confirmed Frankie's form and underlined that Berti and Samu were indeed someway behind where they were in July. As we moved through to the third weekend we had two more transitional stages.
No hidden surprises by us here, we just tap out a rhythm in the peleton hoping to rest ourselves for our final push. We have to remind ourselves that at the beginning of the season neither Schleck had won a Grand Tour.
Stage 12
Thursdays stage into Lleida was won by Angel Vicioso, with the top name sprinters once again floundering behind.
Stage 13
On friday we saw a breakaway make it and the Astana guy from a few days ago Enrico Gasparotto took a fine solo win.
Stage 14
Today the heat was back on though and with the parcours:
revealing a nasty little kick at the end, it was again time for Frank to have a go over his favoured terrian. The classic Saxo tactic that we have seen over and again all season was put into action with Chirs Anker Sorenson really showing his worth setting a ferocious pace up the earlier and bigger climbs.
Coming into the finale with the Saxo main men Porte, Sorenson and Frank well positioned we see 2nd on GC Samu (at 3.33) poorly positioned.
As Frank hammers on the front it is the other Sanchez (Luis Leon) who is matching him.
But not for long as a gap appears...
...and Frank races to an incredible 6th victory at this year's Vuelta.
Behind Chris Horner and Igor Anton emerge from the pack to take the other podium places.
It was a hugely impressive performance before the big dual mountain stages tomorrow and the next day. Contador and Menchov were absolutely nowhere today, with three mountain stages and long TT to come it is a bit early to rule them out.
GC after stage 14:
But the plan was to always get Frank as far clear before this point and five minutes is now what we are looking to defend in the less favoured terrain.
Roturn: I guess I modelled it on seeing LL Sanchez win the Vuelta in yours, I was of course aiming to win all three GTours with the Schlecks. The Italians always have a couple of their big stars keyed up for the Giro meaning I had to go at it with Andy. But no-one is ever really optimal for the Vuelta so it was good to go with Frank here.
Pelli: It is the same in Giro's and Vuelta's, the nationality thing takes over which is usually true of real life. No stage wins in this update though!
September 14th, 2010 Penefiel, Spain
Well here we are again, a long time trial towards the end of a grand tour and whilst nerves are high, we are pretty hopeful that Frank can hold on here.
The last couple of days has seen a new Grand Tour threat emerge in the shape of Igor Anton, who is a bit of an unknown quantity in a time trial.
Stage 15
The much anticipated climb into Lagos de Covadonga was not that high on our list of concerns even if Frank reported early on in the stage that he was not at his best. It has a long flat run-in before the big climb, rather than the tougher to control shark toothed profile we would see yesterday.
Even so, it ruffled a few feathers that Alberto Contador would attack at the bottom evoking memories of his grand attack on the last Tour de France mountain stage this year.
However no amount of specially prepared beef can get Berti up to his best here, he is just too far off that peak form. It was clear 3km later that this was going to be no peleton shredder as old man Horner bridged up to him.
Given that Saxo leader Frank Schleck was not at his best, this is a defensive day for Saxobank allowing the break a big enough advantage to duke it out for the stage win and importantly the bonifications.
Its Vanotti (Liquigas), Caruso (Katusha) and Brandt (Omega Pharma) who would fight it out ahead, meanwhile it was time for Igor Anton to show his hand as he bridged easily up to Berti and Horner with 4.5 to go.
After using his teammates as much as possible Frank seeing 3rd, 4th and 5th on GC ahead decides to try the classic 'Valverde' tactic of closing it down in the final. He bridges as we see Didi make a rare Vuelta appearence next to Anton.
As Frank moves past Contador he shouts 'This ones for Andy' waving a pistol salute and continues to kick on. Suddenly his form is not so bad after all, but Igor Anton shows his form by matching Schleck the elder.
No catching the lead trio, which turns out to be a shame, Frank would have gain some bonuses. Caruso takes the win moving away in the last kilometer.
Frank eases to 4th place on the same time as Anton who moved into 2nd place on GC ahead of teammate Samu who had another tough day.
GC after stage 15.
Stage 16
Whilst the Cotobello climb is probably not as difficult as the Lakes climb on the day before, it was the lumpy profile that was going to be a problem.
Also for the second successive day Frank was complaining of not feeling the best, I kept banging on the headphones come on Frank you are so close. We decided to try and play it as defensive as we could but Euskutel were setting a pretty high tempo they knew they had the cards with two men in podium places.
Impressively Igor Anton went before the last climb began with Carlos Barredo.
This forces us to send Porte and Sorenson to the front to try and keep the gap sensible, this pace proves too much for Samu whose form seems to be falling away quite rapidly.
The gap to Anton however is approaching one minute as for the first time in the race really Saxobank are looking troubled. As Sorenson swings off the attacks are coming from the likes of LL Sanchez, Sastre, Horner, Contador and the following race leader Schleck.
We play a game of cat and mouse here as Anton increases his advantage to 70 and then 80 seconds. We have time to play with but with 5km to go we can see Anton beginning to look like he will take more than two minutes off of Schleck. Frank launches a panicky attack with Horner holding his wheel.
It's bye bye Berti again but hello to Carlos Sastre who overtakes a blown Chris Horner up to Franks wheel.
Impressively Franks former CSC teammate then goes past him, Frank is struggling slightly here.
Igor Anton takes a quite brilliant victory, no denying this guy is on great form.
Behind Frank manages to just about hold onto Carlos Sastre's wheel who tows him over the line 1.50 down on Igor Anton. Meaning with bonifications Frank loses two out of the five and half minutes he had on Anton. We do however put another minute into Contador, but it is Sammy Sanchez who has a shocker finishing 20th at 4.48.
Wacko: Anton was pretty strong, good job he sucks at TTs.
September 19th, 2010 Madrid, Spain
Once again we reach the end of a grand tour and reality bites, the team are fractured once more Andy and Frank form their clique in the bar this evening.
I, though feel professional no doubt with my reputation enhanced following this and the other two grand tours this year. The Schleck's think they can do better we shall see, they will no doubt need to improve slightly on their time trialling of they are looking for world domination. I cast my mind back to a couple of days previous...
Stage 17
Halfway round and Frank was really puffing for long flat TTs are not really his thing.
This one was shorter than the Tour de France one, but not by much! Before we get to the main contenders I must put a shout out to young Richie Porte who produced a very fine performance.
The youngsters had a good little year and I wish him luck for the worlds this evening, he has solid top 10 claims in the TT if he holds some of his form. Today he finishes 6th at 1.21 to the stage winner, young Richie has come close to the young riders jersey here and I will follow his Saxo career next year with much interest.
Final Youth classification:
Spoiler
Name
Team
General Time
Marcos García
Xacobeo - Galicia
83h53'50 (1)
Richie Porte
Team Saxo Bank
+ 4'34 (2)
Antonio Piedra
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 11'33 (3)
Jelle Vanendert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 16'50 (4)
Delio Fernández
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 30'32 (5)
Bauke Mollema
Rabobank
+ 31'02 (6)
Kevin Seeldraeyers
Quick·Step
+ 38'45 (7)
Branislau Samoilau
Quick·Step
+ 44'17 (8)
José Joaquín Rojas
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 44'38 (9)
Daniel Martin
Garmin - Transitions
+ 44'44 (10)
The main contenders roll through, two big disappointments Menchov and Samu post good times.
Menchovs time was good enough for 8th on the day at 1.32 and Samu was better here finishing 3rd at the end of the day at 26 seconds down.
The best performances of the day were by Contador and Sastre.
Sastre going great to finish 5th at 57 seconds to the stage winner Alberto Contador who goes 24 seconds quicker than Xacobea man Cesar Veloso.
However Spanish eyes were all on unknown quantity Igor Anton, however he proved a little weak against the clock finishing 2.32 slower than Contador. This was a relief because Frank Schleck struggled early on but came back well to finish 16th on the day 2.27 back from Berti.
Stage:
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Alberto Contador
Astana
1h03'21
2
Gustavo César Veloso
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 24
3
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 26
4
Luis León Sánchez
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 46
5
Carlos Sastre
Cervélo Test Team
+ 57
6
Richie Porte
Team Saxo Bank
+ 1'21
7
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
+ 1'30
8
Denis Menchov
Rabobank
+ 1'32
9
Xavier Tondo
Cervélo Test Team
+ 1'50
10
Ángel Vicioso
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 1'55
11
Philippe Gilbert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 2'02
12
Rubén Plaza
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 2'09
13
Carlos Barredo
Quick·Step
+ 2'10
14
Gustav Erik Larsson
Team Saxo Bank
+ 2'21
15
Haimar Zubeldia
Team RadioShack
+ 2'22
16
Fränk Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
+ 2'27
17
Chris Horner
Team RadioShack
+ 2'28
18
Kim Kirchen
Team Katusha
+ 2'29
19
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 2'32
20
Tom Danielson
Garmin - Transitions
+ 2'38
29
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 3'38
30
Lance Armstrong
Team RadioShack
+ 3'39
40
Joaquím Rodríguez
Team Katusha
+ 4'21
62
Chris Anker Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
+ 5'08
65
Laurent Didier
Team Saxo Bank
+ 5'09
94
Domenik Klemme
Team Saxo Bank
+ 5'57
104
Anders Lund
Team Saxo Bank
+ 6'24
116
Juan José Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
+ 6'48
147
Lucas Sebastián Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
+ 7'53
164
Francesco Bellotti
Liquigas - Doimo
+ 9'52
Schleck had gained five seconds on Anton, meaning the Basque would need a super effort on the last mountain stage to dislodge the golden boy.
GC:
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Fränk Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
70h13'14
2
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 3'29
3
Alberto Contador
Astana
+ 6'02
4
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 7'09
5
Carlos Sastre
Cervélo Test Team
+ 7'16
6
Chris Horner
Team RadioShack
+ 7'45
7
Luis León Sánchez
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 7'47
8
Xavier Tondo
Cervélo Test Team
+ 10'19
9
Carlos Barredo
Quick·Step
+ 10'25
10
Joaquím Rodríguez
Team Katusha
+ 11'12
11
Denis Menchov
Rabobank
+ 11'15
12
Ángel Vicioso
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 11'26
13
Javier Moreno
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 12'13
14
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 13'05
15
David Arroyo
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 13'20
16
Haimar Zubeldia
Team RadioShack
+ 13'48
17
José Ángel Gómez Marchante
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 13'58
18
Gustavo César Veloso
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 14'43
19
Chris Anker Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
+ 17'06
20
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
+ 18'09
25
Richie Porte
Team Saxo Bank
+ 22'18
38
Philippe Gilbert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 35'23
44
Lance Armstrong
Team RadioShack
+ 43'49
69
Anders Lund
Team Saxo Bank
+ 1h12'49
77
Laurent Didier
Team Saxo Bank
+ 1h24'06
78
Gustav Erik Larsson
Team Saxo Bank
+ 1h25'18
109
Domenik Klemme
Team Saxo Bank
+ 2h19'11
118
Lucas Sebastián Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
+ 2h47'03
150
Juan José Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
+ 4h05'31
164
Kenny De Haes
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 5h21'44
Tensions rose on
Stage 18
won impressively by JJ Rojas
and
Stage 19
won by Rojas again!
The main issue was the arrival of the Schleck family expectant of a Frank Grand Tour victory. Hell Nygaard and Anderson were along as well, there was a part of me suddenly that wanted an Anton miracle.
Stage 20
However on the day I spoke to some of the boys who had been working their butt off in the race, I realised it was as much a victory for them as it was Frank Schleck. We decided early on to stay on the defensive here, even our top end riders were looking tired.
The profile would not look too appetising of course it's time for the Bolo del Mondo!
The break was caught comfortably before the last stages with Euskutel doing a lion's share of the work . Then as they peeled away it was Anton who went hard with 9km to go.
We have all our cards in place with Porte, Sorenson and Frank looking on with Sastre and Contador looking for Antons wheel. Sastre and Contador cannot make it as Anton rides away with Porte now doing the work on the front behind the two Spanish GTour winners. We have that 3.30 on Anton in the bank and we are cautious we don't want Frank to blow up as Sammy Sanchez did a couple of days ago.
Under the 5km banner then we had...
Anton leading:
Sastre and Contador chasing at 50 seconds back:
With Sorenson leading the remnants of the peleton at 1.20:
We left it as late as possible but when Sorenson started to fade we realised we had to launch Frank with about 4.5 to go and try to get to the wheel of Sastre and Contador.
Anton holds strong, showing incredible last week strength here in the Vuelta, this guy is a new Grand Tour rider to watch.
Sastre, who has also been good in the last week leads Contador home in a group also contain Schleck, Samu and Arroyo.
The clock stops at 1.50 back, adding on the 20 seconds that gave Anton 2.10 on Schleck.
Stage:
Spoiler
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
4h58'32
2
Carlos Sastre
Cervélo Test Team
+ 1'51
3
Alberto Contador
Astana
s.t.
4
Fränk Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
5
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
6
David Arroyo
Caisse d'Epargne
s.t.
7
Javier Moreno
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 2'15
8
Joaquím Rodríguez
Team Katusha
+ 2'46
9
Xavier Tondo
Cervélo Test Team
s.t.
10
Chris Horner
Team RadioShack
s.t.
11
Denis Menchov
Rabobank
s.t.
12
Marcos García
Xacobeo - Galicia
s.t.
13
Haimar Zubeldia
Team RadioShack
s.t.
14
Luis León Sánchez
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 3'11
15
Chris Anker Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
16
Gustavo César Veloso
Xacobeo - Galicia
s.t.
17
José Ángel Gómez Marchante
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 4'12
18
Carlos Barredo
Quick·Step
s.t.
19
John Gadret
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
20
Óscar Pujol
Cervélo Test Team
s.t.
21
Ángel Vicioso
Andalucía - Cajasur
s.t.
22
Vladimir Efimkin
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 4'20
23
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
s.t.
24
Rodrigo García
Xacobeo - Galicia
s.t.
25
Richie Porte
Team Saxo Bank
+ 4'28
35
Lance Armstrong
Team RadioShack
+ 6'04
54
Anders Lund
Team Saxo Bank
+ 7'32
57
Philippe Gilbert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 8'52
73
Laurent Didier
Team Saxo Bank
+ 10'12
87
Gustav Erik Larsson
Team Saxo Bank
+ 12'12
122
Lucas Sebastián Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
+ 39'48
130
Domenik Klemme
Team Saxo Bank
+ 39'56
154
Juan José Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
+ 40'20
164
Frederik Veuchelen
Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
+ 40'36
Bottom line we had won the Vuelta!
GC:
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Fränk Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
83h33'29
2
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 1'18
3
Alberto Contador
Astana
+ 5'54
4
Carlos Sastre
Cervélo Test Team
+ 7'04
5
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 7'09
6
Chris Horner
Team RadioShack
+ 8'40
7
Luis León Sánchez
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 9'07
8
Xavier Tondo
Cervélo Test Team
+ 11'14
9
Joaquím Rodríguez
Team Katusha
+ 12'07
10
Denis Menchov
Rabobank
+ 12'10
11
Javier Moreno
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 12'37
12
Carlos Barredo
Quick·Step
+ 12'46
13
David Arroyo
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 13'20
14
Ángel Vicioso
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 13'47
15
Haimar Zubeldia
Team RadioShack
+ 14'43
16
Gustavo César Veloso
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 16'03
17
José Ángel Gómez Marchante
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 16'19
18
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+ 17'02
19
Chris Anker Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank
+ 18'26
20
Marcos García
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 20'21
21
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
+ 20'38
22
John Gadret
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 22'58
23
David García Dapena
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 23'02
24
Richie Porte
Team Saxo Bank
+ 24'55
25
Vladimir Efimkin
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 25'46
26
Rubén Plaza
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 26'14
27
Paolo Tiralongo
Astana
+ 29'42
28
Juan José Cobo
Caisse d'Epargne
+ 29'48
29
Simon Gerrans
Sky Professional Cycling Team
+ 29'49
30
Carlos Castaño
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 31'28
38
Philippe Gilbert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 42'24
42
Lance Armstrong
Team RadioShack
+ 48'02
68
Anders Lund
Team Saxo Bank
+ 1h18'30
78
Laurent Didier
Team Saxo Bank
+ 1h32'27
79
Gustav Erik Larsson
Team Saxo Bank
+ 1h35'39
112
Domenik Klemme
Team Saxo Bank
+ 2h57'16
122
Lucas Sebastián Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
+ 3h25'00
151
Juan José Haedo
Team Saxo Bank
+ 4h44'00
164
Kenny De Haes
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 6h00'29
Stage 21
For the record JJ Rojas took his third stage win ahead of the cheeky Anton who nabbed second place in a close sprint.
But for all Anton's last week dominance was not enough to do anything against Franks first two weeks blitz. Schleck takes the Overall.
He also wins the Mountains and Points classifications as well.
Mountains:
Rank
Name
Team
General
1
Fränk Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
154
2
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
136
3
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
76
4
Carlos Sastre
Cervélo Test Team
74
5
Alberto Contador
Astana
71
6
Joaquím Rodríguez
Team Katusha
71
7
Johan Van Summeren
Garmin - Transitions
69
Points:
Rank
Name
Team
General
1
Fränk Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
202
2
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
141
3
Óscar Freire
Rabobank
125
4
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
122
5
José Joaquín Rojas
Caisse d'Epargne
121
6
Alberto Contador
Astana
103
7
Koldo Fernández
Euskaltel - Euskadi
101
8
Carlos Sastre
Cervélo Test Team
88
9
Chris Horner
Team RadioShack
73
10
Mirco Lorenzetto
Lampre - Farnese Vini
69
As I see Frank celebrating with Andy he gives a nod of approval over to me, pah, he then turns and calls for Brian to come over and have pictures taken with them.
I turn and receive a hearty hug from Chris Anker Sorenson and a smiling Riis, knowing that the Schlecks will be hard pressed to live up to this years achievements in the next.
.
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