This is the first time this story travels outside of Europe. The Santos Tour Down Under will open the 2010 season with a fairly flat route and no time trials. This will be the sprinters land. The general classification will probably end with a compromise between the bonus time the sprinters win in the 5 flat stages and the finish at Willunga Hill.
Favourites:
- Tyler Farrar (Saxo Bank): The American is the best sprinter in the field and will be aiming to earn enough bonus seconds in order to have a cushion before Willunga Hill.
- Alexandre Vinokourov (Garmin): Farrar’s former teammate will be his main threat. Although not as fast sprinting, the Kazakh will be very dangerous at the hilltop finish.
- Lloyd Mondory (Liquigas): The Liquigas leader is a real puncheur, and has stated that he comes to Australia looking for a win. His main chance will come at Willunga Hill, were he is expected to be in the front.
- Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard): Not the best sprinter, but his abilities on the flat should allow the Leopard rider to be on the fight for the first places.
The first stage of the season is one for the sprinters. The only climb is more for marketing purposes than a real climb, so the chances for a mass sprint are really high here. The favourites are, therefore, the likes of Farrar and Vinokourov.
The first break of the season had 7 riders: Denis Menchov (HTC), Bjorn Leukemans (Liquigas), Marco Pinotti (Leopard), Luis León Sánchez (Euskaltel), Roman Kreuziger (Radioshack), Robert Gesink (Omega) and Eros Capecchi (Lampre). By the time they reached the first sprint, they had almost 5 minutes on the peloton. The rider most interested in the points was Denis Menchov, who won both sprints and the mountain jersey.
However, the break never seemed to work. With 14 kilometres to go, Eros Capecchi tried a solo attack while the others in the break were caught by the peloton.
As expected, the Italian wasn’t very successful, as the peloton was already preparing for the mass sprint. With 5 kilometres to go, many teams were showing up in front.
The sprint was already on when they crossed the 1 kilometre sign. Tyler Farrar seemed to be locked between a couple of riders, but he was finally progressing on the left side of the road.
Tyler Farrar wins in Clare! The American bags the first win of the season and is the first leader of the TDU. It was a very close sprint, with Peter Kennaugh and Andreas Kloden very close to the Saxo Bank rider.
The second stage of the Tour Down Under is not as flat as it looks. The race starts with a circuit around Lobethal before heading to the small climb in the km 48 (1.7 km at 7.2%). The race turns south afterwards and we enter a circuit around Stirling were the riders will climb 4 times a gentle but long slope. The uphill finishers might stand a chance here against the likes of Farrar.
A break had not taken shape by the time the pack reached the first sprint, and Tyler Farrar was able to bag 2 more bonus seconds. Shortly after the attacks started and in the climb the break had settled with: Rui da Costa (Radioshack), Daniele Bennati (Quickstep), Giacomo Nizzolo (Sky), Laurens Ten Dam (Euskaltel), Kanstantsin Sivtsov (HTC), Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank) and Maxime Monfort (Omega). The gap was only 4’ 10’’ when the peloton started chasing them, so it would be tough for them.
With 20 kilometres to go, Kruijswijk tried to go alone to the finish. He had 30 seconds on the other men in the break and 1’ 20’’ on the pack.
However, the Dutch wasn’t strong enough to stay in front and he was caught with 9 kilometres to go. The pack was starting the last climb to the hill with all the sprinters trying to improve their positions.
Pozzato is clearly ahead whit 1 kilometre to go. Rojas is on his wheel, while Sorensen, Bozic and Vinokourov all try to get closer to the Italian. Farrar isn’t anywhere near, so he’s not going to repeat yesterday’s victory.
Filippo Pozzato wins in Stirling! The Lampre rider didn’t let anyone come close to fighting for the win. This is the first win for Pozzato, as he finished last year without a win.
Tyler Farrar will retain the yellow jersey, as the 2 bonus seconds he got in the first sprint are enough to keep a small advantage. The American will also retain the green jersey.
The Tour Down Under heads south today for another flat stage ending in Victor Harbor. There will be no uphill finish today, so the pure sprinters should have a good chance today. The only danger could be the risk of the wind blowing hard, as the last part of the stage runs along the sea.
After a bit of fight, a break with 9 riders was established: Bernhard Eisel (HTC), Maxime Monfort (Omega), Michael Albasini (BMC), Igor Antón (Euskaltel), Rui da Costa (Radioshack), Vasili Kiryenka (Liquigas), Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank), Cadel Evans (Sky) and Kanstantsin Sivtsov (HTC). They were 3’ 38’’ ahead on the first sprint. However, that was when the pack started chasing so their chances of making it to the end were already slim.
With only 10 kilometres to the finish 5 men from the break remained ahead. They had 43’’ on the peloton, but it didn’t seem enough as there was a very organised chase behind with Saxo and Garmin collaborating.
At that time we had the bad news that Pozzato, the winner yesterday, had to abandon the race due to a broken wrist on a fall.
The sprint is launched and Ventoso is slightly ahead of Sagan. The main favourite, Farrar, wasn’t well positioned today although he is progressing fast.
Ventoso holds off Sagan and Kennaugh to win in Victor Harbor! That is the second win in a row for Lampre and a good gift for the injured Pozzato. Farrar is still holding the yellow and green jerseys after finishing fourth. The main threat for the points competition is Peter Kennaugh, who was able to cut the lead a little bit today.
On the overall classification, the uphill finishers are increasing their chances. None of the sprinters have been able to take many bonus seconds and therefore, the likes of Mondory and Vinokourov will have a good opportunity in Willunga.
The fourth stage is another flat one. Although there is the small Menglers Hill that is topped 20 kilometres to the finish, it would be hard for a rider to jump there and make it to the finish. The most probable outcome is another mass sprint.
10 riders were ahead halfway through the stage. The most notable ones were Bjorn Leukemans (Liquigas), Wouter Poels (Rabobank), JoaquÃn RodrÃguez (Radioshack), Oliver Zaugg (BMC) and Damino Cunego (Lampre). They got a maximum gap of 4' 40'' before the peloton started to hunt them.
The break broke in two groups in the climb to Menglers Hill, but the difference between the two groups was small. Meanwhile, in the peloton there were no attacks and the work from Garmin and Saxo Bank was paying off, as the difference had gone down to 1' 40'' at the top.
The break came to an end with only 8 kilometres to go. By that time, the sprinters were already positioning themselves in the front of the peloton.
Coming out of the last turn Tyler Farrar put himself in front ahead of Greipel and Fuglsang. The Saxo Bank rider looked very strong today.
Tyler Farrar makes it two in Tanunda! The American hold off Vinokourov, who came very fast from behind to take second place ahead of Jakob Fuglsang. This leaves us with 4 stages and only 2 teams that have stage wins in the Tour Down Under.
Farrar consolidates his lead on the overall classification, with 12 seconds on Kennaugh and Ventosos. However, he will have to work hard tomorrow on the hilltop finish of Willunga Hill. The mountain jersey changed hands today, Bjorn Leukemans will be the one holding it tomorrow. He bagged a lot of points today, so he could well win the red jersey for the race.
We had another abandon today, as Gregory Rast suffered a fall in the finish straight and couldn't continue.
The stage in Willunga is usually the one were differences can be made in the Tour Down Under. Besides, this year the stage ends at the top of the hill. The uphill finishers have the chance to drop the sprinters and bid for the yellow jersey.
6 riders were in today’s break: Joost Van Leijen (Rabobank), Simon Gerrans (Quickstep), Luis León Sánchez (Euskaltel), Cadel Evans (Sky) and Levi Leipheimer and Roman Kreuziger (Radioshack). With 75 kilometres to the finish they were 4’ 45’’ ahead of the pack.
Saxo Bank was doing a good job in front of the peloton, and by the time they reached the first climb the gap of the break had reduced to 1’ 25’’.
Few breaks make it to the finish, and this was no exception. The six riders were caught with only 6 kilometres to go, when all the favourites were starting to move towards the front of the pack.
The Dutch Weening was the first to attack in the climb. However, the Willunga Hill is very short and the riders didn’t accumulate much fatigue during these days. The climb was very fast and Weening was caught when other started sprinting.
Alexandre Vinokourov wins at Willunga Hill! The Kazakh was the fastest on the uphill sprint ahead of Brajkovic. However, he cannot claim the yellow jersey as no time differences were awarded throughout the peloton. The Garmin rider does claim the green jersey 2 points ahead of Tyler Farrar, though he will have a hard time defending it tomorrow on the flattish stage in Adelaide.
Tyler Farrar has now 6 seconds ahead of the last stage. As it will most probably be decided in a mass sprint, the American has every chance of winning the overall classification on Australia. He would start the year like he ended last, wining.
On the mountain jersey classification, Bjorn Leukemans has secured the win with almost double the points of the second.
The last stage of the Tour Down Under is a short criterium in the streets of Adelaide. The circuit is very short, less than 5 kilometres per lap. That means Farrar will only have to be on Vinokourov's wheel to grab the overall victory in the first race of the season.
Four riders tried to break away at the start of the stage: Igor Anton (Euskaltel), Michael Matthews (BMC), Eros Capecchi (Lampre) and Giaccomo Nizzolo (Sky). Saxo Bank wasn't willing to throw away the overall victory and started working in front of the peloton as soon as they had an advantage of 2' 15''.
The pack never let the break have any hopes of making it to the finish, and with one lap to go all the sprinters are already positioning themselves upfront. On the main train, Offredo was ahead of Vinokourov and Farrar was behind.
Vinokourov progressed as soon as Offredo set him free to sprint. However, he has Farrar right behind and both are cruising by Marco Marcato. A second place for Farrar is enough to secure the overall win.
Alexandre Vinokourov wins in Adelaide! However it was not enough to secure the overall win, as Tyler Farrar came second to earn him his first stage race win. Third today wan Francisco Ventoso, who jumps ahead of Peter Kennaugh and ends in the third place of the podium.
The American and the Kazakh have shown that they were the fittest in this start of the season in Australia. Both go home with two stage wins, the first two places on the overall results and in the points classification.
Farrar and Vinokourov hold the leading spot in the World Tour after the TDU, while Saxo Bank is the best team.
The World Tour starts its European season in Italy with the Tirreno Adriatico. The race crosses Italy from West to East, ending in the city of San Benedetto del Tronto. The main characteristic of the race is the amount of stages with small final climbs, such as the fourth stage ending in Montelupone. This year’s route, however, has a big climb in the stage ending in Camerino, the Sasso Tetto. The most determining stage should be the time trial in Macerata, a hilly stage with 30 kilometres.
Favourites:
- Rigoberto Uran (Sky): The Colombian is a great time trialist who can keep up with the best puncheurs in the peloton. Besides, he has stated that the Tirreno is his main target for the season.
- Óscar Freire (Rabobank): Freire arrives in Italy with chances both in the Tirreno and the Milano Sanremo. He is one of the riders best suited to the Camerino stage, so you can count him among the favourites for the race.
- Thor Hushovd (Garmin): Garmin had a good start to the season with the second place of Vinokourov in Australia and aims to continue with Hushovd. The Norwegian will have a chance as long as he doesn’t lose too much time in the time trial.
- Marco Marcato (Liquigas): An Italian rider in an Italian team has to be in the fight this week. Marcato and Mondory make a good duo, so the chances of Liquigas are strong.
The race starts with a flat stage, but with a nice surprise 15 kilometres from home. It will not probably be enough to break the peloton, but we could see some nervous riders as we approach the little climb of Valgiano.
Only three riders in the break of the day: Marco Pinotti (Leopard), Kanstantsin Sivtsov (HTC) and Laurens Ten Dam (Euskaltel). They had a maximum gap of 6 minutes before the peloton started chasing them.
The three of them were caught before the start of Valgiano. Some riders like Bozic and Freire tried to attack on the climb, but the slope wasn’t hard enough and the climb was very short. That is good news for the sprinters, who will get the chance to fight for the stage win.
Massive crash in the downhill! A total of 20 riders went to the ground during the descent towards Capannori. The biggest names involved were: Grega Bole, Francisco Ventoso, Filippo Pozzato, David López, Tom Boonen and Alberto Contador.
While some riders are still recovering from the fall, the final sprint is on. Alexandre Vinokourov and Andre Greipel are side by side with Simon Gerrans one bicycle behind. It’s going to be tight.
Alexandre Vinokourov wins in Capannori! The Kazakh wins again, his third of the season. Greipel and him were side by side until the last 300 meters, when the Kazakh pulled ahead to take the win and the leader’s jersey.
The final sprint took place with a slim peloton, 82 riders were on the same time as the winner. Among those left behind was the whole Lampre team, as all its leaders hit the ground on the descent. That was a big hit for the Italian team, who aimed to have a good performance in home soil. Euskaltel also had a bad day, only Xavi Tondo making it in the front group.
The second stage also has a small trap 15 kilometres to the finish. The climb may not be hard enough, but surely the peloton will be nervous about it. Before that, we have a very flat stage with the climb to Monte Serra, a tough climb but that shouldn’t pose much of a problem so early in the stage.
A total of 8 riders were ahead at the top of the Monte Serra, among those: the white jersey Maxime Monfort, Cameron Meyer, Beñat Intxausti, Tom Boonen and Oliver Zaugg. The most dangerous one is Tom Boonen, as his time trial abilities could put him in a perfect position if he can take some time advantage in today’s stage. They had 6 minutes on the top of the climb.
Maybe Boonen in the break was the reason that Garmin started working in the last kilometres of the Monte Serra. That was painful for some riders who lost contact. Surprisingly, one of them was Alessandro Ballan, probably suffering from yesterday’s fall.
However, the peloton was still keen for a mass sprint finish and Pozzato was caught with 5 kilometres to go. Once the sprint was launched, the Leopard riders tried to surprise everyone else, as Jean- Christophe Peraud was ahead of Fabian Cancellara and Vincenzo Nibali. It looks like the sprinters haven’t made their way to the front after the climb.
Janez Brajkovic wins in Marina di Carrara! Great sprint from the Slovenian to overtake Peraud in the last metres. On the wheel of Brajkovic was Andre Greipel, but the German had to settle for third. Peraud was able to keep a good speed through the sprint and bagged a good second place on the stage.
Greipel will be wearing the leader’s jersey tomorrow. With the same time are Alexandre Vinokourov and Janez Brajkovic, with Peraud 4 seconds behind. Tomorrow the stage looks more comfortable for the sprinters, so we could see Farrar or Fuglsang in front again.
The third stage of the Tirreno Adriatico is the last quiet one in a while. The stage will end with 3 laps in a long circuit with a couple of small climbs. However, the sprinters will have an easier time than in the past two stages.
A three men break was ahead at the first intermediate sprint. They were: Jose Rujano (Rabobank), Roman Kreuziger (Radioshack) and Peter Stetina (BMC). As Rujano took the two sprints, he was the virtual leader of the young riders.
The break didn’t look good though. Omega and Garmin were working hard at the peloton and had reduced the gap to 1’ 30’’ by the time the passed by the mountain sprint. The trio was finally caught with 30 kilometres to go.
A huge fall happened again at the last kilometres of the stage. Some riders lost control of their bikes in a change of direction and brought down a massive pile of 28 riders. One of the main favourites, Rigoberto Uran, was on the ground and will be losing almost all chances for a good overall result. Bad news don’t end up there for Sky, as they lose John Gadret after breaking his wrist in the fall. Other big names hitting the ground were Peraud, the Frenchman being also a favourite for the overall classification, Maxime Monfort, Alessandro Ballan, Tom Danielson and Mikel Nieve.
The peloton was a bit disorganised after the fall, and therefore we found Cunego, Kloden and Petacchi leading the sprint. However, Tyler Farrar and Alexandre Vinokourov come progressing from behind.
An amazing Vinokourov wins again! In a close call with Andreas Kloden the Kazakh bags yet another win in this start of the season. Obviously, he will wear again the leader’s jersey in the stage ending in Montelupone. Seeing his form, he could well retain it one more day.
The most disappointing fast riders have been so far the Liquigas duo: Lloyd Mondory and Peter Sagan. Being in an Italian team, they should be doing a lot better in their home race.
The fourth stage is the first of the three decisive stage for the overall classification. The route takes us east, through a slightly hilly profile towards three demanding hills in the last 30 kilometres: Recanati and a double climb in Montelupone. This will be the first time we see the favourites fighting for the stage finish and trying to make a time gap.
A big break was formed climbing the Passo del Cornelle. There were 14 riders in it, including: Tom Danielson, Rinaldo Nocentini, Robert Gesink, Marcel Kittel and Carlos Barredo. Garmin didn't like the break and forced the peloton to a fast climb, losing only 48'' at the top.
The first break was eventually caught, but another one soon took shape. The most important men in that break were: Tom Boonen (HTC), Tom Danielson (Liquigas) and Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard). When the most hilly terrain was about to begin, they were 3' 37'' ahead of a small group that tried to bridge the gap, with Contador and Ponzi. The peloton was 4' 20'' behind.
Tom Danielson leads the front group in the intermediate sprint of Recanati ahead of Fuglsang. They still have 2' 20'' on the peloton.
As the riders reach the first climb to Montelupone, Giacomo Nizzolo tries the first attack. Vincenzo Nibali is the only one willing to go after him.
Both Italians are ahead at the top. They are 45'' ahead of the others in the break and 1' 40'' ahead of the favourites group, that reduced to only 27 riders on this first climb to Montelupone.
Jacob Fuglsang tried to bridge the gap with the Italians on the flat between both climbs, but he was 15'' behind when the last climb started. Only 2.5 kilometres were left in the stage and the group with the favourites was also closing in.
Halfway through the climb the favourites closed down on the men in the break. Tom Danielson was doing a good climb, same as Janez Brajkovic on the right side of the road.
Marco Marcato wins in Montelupone! The Liquigas rider did a great sprint to the line overtaking Janez Brajkovic, who was looking good. Liquigas managed to put 3 riders (Marcato, Danielson and Mondory) in the small group of 11 that were on the same time as the winner. A good performance for Oscar Freire, who came out of nowhere to be second in the stage.
Alexandre Vinokourov was able to keep the leader's jersey, as he was in the front group. Another eleven rider lost 19 seconds, some of those were Fuglsang, Andy Schleck, Hincapie and Tondo. Among those who lost time are Rigoberto Uran (1' 26'', Andre Greipel (53'' and Simon Gerrans (2' 56''.
The time trial in the Tirreno Adriatico is very demanding. The riders will have to face two very tough hills, especially the arrival in Macerata, with maximum percentages around 11%. The specialists will still be favourites but they won't make as much time as they expected in a 33 km time trial.
Rigoberto Uran was the first favorurite to run. He started the stage as 69th in the GC. On the second intermediate point he was 19'' better than Capecchi. He increased the difference in the last hill, ending in 53' 14'', 26 seconds ahead of the Italian.
Tom Boonen is a good time trialist but he suffered too much in the hills. He departed right behind the Colombian and ended up losing 34 seconds at the finish line.
Samuel Sanchez did a great time trial to improve Uran's time in 3 seconds. The Colombian had done a great hill climb, but it was not enough to recover the 5 seconds of difference in the second intermediate.
Alessandro Petacchi was a nice surprise, as the Italian put the third time in the finish 8 seconds behind Samuel Sanchez.
Hubert Dupont ended up losing quite a bit of time, as the French could only be 30th when he crossed the line 41 seconds behind Sanchez.
Thor Hushovd was much better, as the Norwegian set the 4th best, 21'' behind Sanchez.
Oscar Freire was even better, as he took the fourth position from Hushovd. The Spaniard is one of the favourites to win the Tirreno Adriatico and he met the expectations losing only 16 seconds to Sanchez.
Marco Marcato was very strong again, as he ended 4th ahead of Freire. He lost 14 seconds in the finish to Sanchez.
Janez Brajkovic was expectedly not very strong in the time trial. He ended 77th, 58 seconds behind.
Alexandre Vinokourov couldn't keep the leader's jersey, as he lost 48'' to Samuel Sanchez. However, that doesn't leave him out of contest, as he is fourth overall now only 24 seconds behind Marcato.
The time trial didn't make big differences, as many riders who are strong in the hills could defend themselves against the specialist. That leaves us with many riders in the fight for the overall win. Eleven of them are within one minute of Marco Marcato ahead of the marathon ending in Camerino tomorrow.
