Short stage but 3 climbs and the wind is blowing hard today so need to be careful for potential splits in the peloton.
On the second climb of the day things get a bit interesting when Gomez Marchante, sitting in 5th place, decides to attack for no obvious reason. He doesn't get far though.
Today is looking like a day for the break. The lead break group of Ting, Serpa and Campanile has a 10 minute lead with 70 km to go. These are all very good cyclists but too far back in the standings to be of any real threat. They are chased, further back, by Claude Tardi.
With 15 km to go and the wind howling, there is a split in the peloton. Fortunately all Discovery Channel riders are on the right side of the split.
Up ahead, Tardi has bridged the gap to the lead group of 3 and, entering the sprint, is in the lead.
Tardi crosses the line first for a great win.
With that, we've made the sponsors very happy. After not meeting a single sponsor goal last season, we've hit our first one this season so already doing much better. Andy now gets a well deserved rest until June when his Tour de France preparation starts.
A 10 man break today includes Bauke Mollema. Looks like it will be their day as they reach a 9 minute lead with 60km to go. This works fine for us as it keeps anyone from eating into Heinrich Haussler's points lead. Still, it is not wise to let a guy like Mollema pick up too much time (he was 11'25" back at the start of the day) so we pick up the chase to manage the time gap.
Splits in the break occur, and with 1.2 km to go Jan Almblad is in front all by himself.
He'll get the win.
There are still a few points on offer for the main pack and Haussler is well positioned to get them, sitting behind Cancellara and Bertin.
As the sprint starts, he follows Bertin past Cancellara.
Haussler passes Bertin with Ciolek coming up fast.
Haussler holds on, though, and slightly extends his points lead.
Results
1 Jan Almblad LIQUIGAS 3h05'35
2 Carlo Scognamiglio TEAM LPR s.t.
3 Mirko Allegrini CERAMICA FLAMINIA s.t.
4 Lars Ytting Bak GEROLSTEINER + 54
5 Andrew Towers TEAM ASTANA s.t.
6 Bauke Mollema CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
7 Pasquale Muto TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
8 Tiziano Dall'Antonia RABOBANK s.t. 9 Heinrich Haussler DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'31
10 Gerald Ciolek TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
11 Patrick Bertin TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Eros Capecchi PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
13 Assan Bazayev T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
14 Claudio Corioni GEROLSTEINER s.t.
15 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
16 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
17 Nicolas Sanderson AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
18 Beniamino Cangelosi BARLOWORLD s.t.
19 Matthew Goss TEAM MILRAM s.t.
20 Danilo Wyss CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t. 21 Zhou Sui DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
22 Martin Mortensen LIQUIGAS s.t.
23 Martijn Maaskant T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
24 Bernhard Eisel LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
25 Gregory Baugé LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
GC
1 Vincenzo Nibali TEAM MILRAM 19h57'55
2 Riccardo Riccò T-MOBILE TEAM + 4 3 Jason Donald DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 6
4 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA + 10
5 Elias Morca CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 41
6 Danilo Di Luca QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
7 Eros Capecchi PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 2'32
8 Juanjo Cobo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 2'47
9 Michele Ciano RABOBANK s.t.
10 Saul Raisin EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
Points 1 Heinrich Haussler DISCOVERY CHANNEL 2 38
2 Claudio Corioni GEROLSTEINER 0 28
3 Eros Capecchi PREDICTOR - LOTTO 0 25
4 Patrick Bertin TEAM CSC 0 24
5 Jan Almblad LIQUIGAS 16 21
Mountain
1 Andrea Pagoto TEAM LPR 0 14
2 Vincenzo Nibali TEAM MILRAM 0 12
3 Andrew Towers TEAM ASTANA 1 11
4 Jan Almblad LIQUIGAS 3 8
5 Chris Sørensen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 0 8
Today's ITT will decide the winner. It can only be one of the top 4 guys and in reality it will only be Nibali or Jason. Both are superior time trialists to Sanchez and Ricco. Jason is only slightly stronger than Nibali but it is so close that anything can happen.
This will be a truncated update as I screwed up on a number of levels: 1) I did not write down most of the times as I figured I would get them later from the export file, 2) I failed to export, 3) I did not take a screenshot of Jason. Way to screw up a critical stage! Anyway, here is what I do have:
Brian Vandborg set the first strong time at 23'44".
That held up until Fabian Cancellara hit the road. Cancellara proceeded to crush Vandborg's time with 22'49".
The rest of the day, nobody really came close to Cancellara's time. None of it really mattered until we hit the top 4. Sanchez came in, as expected, with a poor time. Jason came in +1'00. Ricco was over Jason's time so Jason was guaranteed at least second as we waited for Nibali to cross the line. Nibali came in +50, and with that Nibali retained the leaders jersey with Jason moving to second.
Flat 210 km stage today. Haussler only needs a couple of points to clinch the points jersey and Corioni is realistically the only guy who can take it from him.
A 6 man break today and it looks like it will be the breaks day. With 108 km to go they have a lead of 15'30. Given there are a few guys in the break who are only 11'44 behind, Milram picks up the chase.
The break winning is okay for us as it means Haussler clinches the points jersey. However, the point becomes moot when Corioni gets a flat 18 km from the finish. The Gerolsteiner team stops to help him back but with the pack in full chase mode, he has no chance.
With under 10 km to go, the break starts to split. Gutierrez is up front on his own.
The pack has quickly narrowed the gap in the final 25 km. They are lining up for the sprint.
Up ahead, Gutierrez crosses the line for the win. Good ride for him, while Nilbali wins the tour and Haussler takes the sprinter jersey.
It has been a successful early season for Jason with 1 win and 3 podiums total. He now goes on a long vacation until Vuelta preparations start. We only hope that we did not overuse him and damage his Vuelta chances. Time will tell.
Results
1 José Iván Gutiérrez CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 4h50'02
2 Guido Seinig TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 51
3 Jesús Tendero CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
4 Dominique Cornu CERAMICA FLAMINIA s.t.
5 Andrea Pagoto TEAM LPR s.t.
6 Andreas Linden CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
7 Danilo Wyss CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
8 Beniamino Cangelosi BARLOWORLD s.t.
9 Martijn Maaskant T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Gerald Ciolek TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
11 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
12 Bernhard Eisel LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
13 Nicolas Sanderson AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
14 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
15 Eros Capecchi PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t. 16 Zhou Sui DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
17 Patrick Bertin TEAM CSC s.t. 18 Heinrich Haussler DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
19 Matthew Goss TEAM MILRAM s.t.
20 Gregory Baugé LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
21 Marco Bandiera TEAM MILRAM s.t.
22 Enrique Mata TEAM LPR s.t.
23 Assan Bazayev T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
24 Martin Mortensen LIQUIGAS s.t.
25 Sebastian Forke EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
GC
1 Vincenzo Nibali TEAM MILRAM 25h12'27 2 Jason Donald DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 16
3 Riccardo Riccò T-MOBILE TEAM + 40
4 Danilo Di Luca QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 49
5 Elias Morca CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 59
6 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA + 1'02
7 Janez Brajkovic TEAM CSC + 3'09
8 Luca Zanasca SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'15
9 Juanjo Cobo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 3'19
10 Michele Ciano RABOBANK + 3'31
11 Hernâni Brôco BARLOWORLD + 3'33 12 Yaroslav Popovych DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'59
13 Eros Capecchi PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 4'00
14 Saul Raisin EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 4'17
15 Mikhail Ignatiev TEAM CSC + 4'37
16 Stijn Devolder CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 4'45 17 Heinrich Haussler DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 4'47
18 Davide Malacarne PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 4'59
19 Matija Kvasina SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 5'43
20 Abram Garcia TEAM CSC + 5'45
21 Rigoberto Urán EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 5'55
22 Donato Cannone SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
23 Martin Mortensen LIQUIGAS + 6'00
24 Alejandro Valverde AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
25 Ruslan Tatulyan QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 6'01 26 Elia Casanova DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 6'02
27 Rinaldo Nocentini TEAM MILRAM + 6'04
28 Javier Moreno CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 6'12
29 Carlos Barredo QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 6'13
30 José Antonio Redondo BARLOWORLD + 6'14
31 Jelle Vanendert EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 6'23
32 Vladimir Gusev LIQUIGAS + 6'24
33 Amets Txurruka EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 6'27
34 Valerio Agnoli TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 6'31
35 Mirdjalol Mitodorov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
36 Robert Kiserlovski EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 6'38
37 Sébastien Joly AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 6'42
38 Jaume Rovira QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 6'45
39 Matteo Bono SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 7'08
40 Edwin Parra TEAM ASTANA + 7'24
41 Simone Ponzi QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 7'34
42 Andrea Palini TEAM CSC + 7'36
43 Luca Pierfelici T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
44 Giovanni Visconti RABOBANK s.t.
45 Francesco Civero T-MOBILE TEAM + 7'48
46 Assan Bazayev T-MOBILE TEAM + 8'00
47 Alessandro Vanotti LIQUIGAS + 8'04
48 Micula De Matteis CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 8'08
49 Jonathan Castroviejo AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 8'12
50 Martin Gilbert BARLOWORLD + 8'16 52 John Devine DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 8'38
65 Mauricio Ardila DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 11'02
84 Zhou Sui DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 13'54
91 Brian Vandborg DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 18'23
Points 1 Heinrich Haussler DISCOVERY CHANNEL 0 38
2 Claudio Corioni GEROLSTEINER 0 28
3 Eros Capecchi PREDICTOR - LOTTO 0 25
4 Patrick Bertin TEAM CSC 0 24
5 Vincenzo Nibali TEAM MILRAM 0 22
Mountain
1 Andrea Pagoto TEAM LPR 0 14
2 Vincenzo Nibali TEAM MILRAM 0 12
3 Andrew Towers TEAM ASTANA 0 11
4 Jan Almblad LIQUIGAS 0 8
5 Chris Sørensen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 0 8
Edited by SeoulYank on 03-08-2009 00:58
Past Winners
2007: Luca Paolini (Liquigas)
2008: Alessandro Ballan (Lampre)
2009: Vladimir Gusev (Liquigas)
2010: Jesus Del Nero (Saunier Duval)
2011: Preben Van Hecke (Predictor Lotto)
2012: Philippe Gilbert (Gerolsteiner)
We hate this race. It is always an absolute nightmare for us. In the past 6 years we've only ever managed one top 5 finish here and not many more top 20 finishes. For whatever reason, we can't seem to conquer this course.
This season we'll try with the following team:
Leader: Ivan Rovny
Lieutenant: Heinrich Haussler
Sprinter: Mark Cavendish
Teammates: Maxime Monfort, Frederik Nolf, Elia Casanova, Juan Van Heerden, Brian Vandborg
Did not get a screenshot of the profile, but I think we all know what this race looks like.
There is a 4 man break today which consists of a pair of Argentinians: Dotti and Haedo, along with Hoberg and Marycz.
The lead hits 13 minutes with 160km to go when T-Mobile and Rabobank start the chase. With 75km to go, Cancellara launches a surprise attack. He's quickly joined by Malacarne, Sabatini and Franzoi. QuickStep, Milram and Caisse come forward and chase them down.
As we reach the final climb, Palini launches a very strong attack.
Rovny and Gilbert attempt to counter.
They can't bridge the gap, however, and Palini is on his own. The field appears weak this year and nobody else is able to get away from the pack.
On the flat, disaster hits Discovery Channel once again as Rovny cracks, unable to keep pace with Gilbert. Gilbert can't challenge Palini, who crosses the line for an impressive win.
Gilbert, last years winner, crosses the line alone for 2nd place.
Hit the next button before the export button. Nobody from Discovery Channel finished in the top 20, continuing our string of ugly Milano - San Remo's. Good riddance to the race, hope to skip it next year.
Edited by SeoulYank on 05-08-2009 14:07
Past Winners
2007: Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne)
2008: Joaquim Rodriguez (Caisse d'Epargne)
2009: Thomas Lovkvist (Discovery Channel)
2010: Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel)
2011: Jose Angel Gomez Marchante (Discovery Channel)
2012: Amets Txurruka (Euskatel)
Unlike Milano - San Remo, we like this race and have had good success here in the past. We'll be looking to repeat it hear. There is a strong field here this year with guys like Thomas Dekker, Humberto Amilcar, Michael Rogers and Alexandr Pliuschin; however many of them are just starting their seasons and should not be factors in the race.
Maxime Monfort is our main guy for this race although Ivan Rovny will be ready should he falter:
Leader: Maxime Monfort
Sprinter: Tyler Farrar
Free: Zhou Sui, Ivan Rovny
Teammates: John Devine, Linus Gerdemann, Brian Vandborg, Mauricio Ardila
Flast stage today, will end in a sprint. 9 riders went in the break and were split over two groups. The lead hit 8 minutes with 120km to go when we started the chase along with Saunier Duval.
As the sprint trains formed, Zhou Sui found a good spot on the back of Boasson Hagen while Farrar shifted across to join the Fuertaventura train.
As the sprint started, it was looking obvious that Sui chose better. The Fuertaventura sprinters appeared to be stuck in quicksand while Boasson Hagen had a strong burst.
Coming down the stretch, Boasson Hagen was leading the way followed by Sui and Kopke.
Sui made his move to try and pass Boasson Hagen.
Nothing doing, though, as Boasson Hagen is simply too strong and grabs the win.
Results
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen RABOBANK 4h27'12 2 Zhou Sui DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
3 Klaus-Michael Köpke TEAM CSC s.t.
4 Fernando Torres RELAX - GAM s.t. 5 Tyler Farrar DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
6 Luis Ángel Maté ORBEA - OREKA S.D.A. s.t.
7 Gustavo Domínguez ANDALUCÍA - CAJASUR s.t.
8 Alexis Rodríguez RABOBANK s.t.
9 Ximo Ortega FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
10 Jon Aberasturi VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU s.t.
11 Francesco Ginanni ORBEA - OREKA S.D.A. s.t.
12 Ángel Vicioso RABOBANK s.t.
13 Jakob Fiedler TEAM CSC s.t.
14 Alexei Zaitsev VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU s.t.
15 Tom Veelers TEAM CSC s.t.
16 Sean Finning SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA s.t.
17 Matteo Carrara TEAM CSC s.t.
18 Sergiu Cioban RELAX - GAM s.t.
19 Alain Van Katwijk GRUPO NICOLÁS MATEOS s.t.
20 Mark Jamieson FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
21 Carlos Bruquetas VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU s.t.
22 Stéphane Bonsergent VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU s.t.
23 Sébastien Rosseler TEAM CSC s.t.
24 Rubén Reig ORBEA - OREKA S.D.A. s.t.
25 Matej Jurco ORBEA - OREKA S.D.A. s.t.
Edited by SeoulYank on 05-08-2009 14:38
A TTT today. We like our chances as we have a good time trialing team and we've generally fared quite well in TTT's in the past. Main competition will come from: Caisse, Saunier Duval, Rabobank and CSC.
Caisse is the first big threat to hit the course. They come in at 52'50".
Saunier Duval is 23 seconds slower than Caisse.
Next is our turn. We're led out by Brian Vandborg who does the lion share of the work over the second half of the course. We're looking pretty fast and some of the team has a hard time keeping up. As we cross the line it is.... 51'50"! 59 seconds faster than Caisse and 1'22 faster than Saunier Duval!
Rabobank, +1'00.
CSC, +44.
We've shattered the field and now hold the top 7 spots in the overall standings. Only guy missing from the top 10 is Zhou Sui, who was dropped early on and finished well back.
Results 1 Brian Vandborg DISCOVERY CHANNEL 51'50
2 Ivan Rovny DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
3 John Devine DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
4 Linus Gerdemann DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
5 Tyler Farrar DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
6 Mauricio Ardila DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
7 Maxime Monfort DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Luis Cuadrado TEAM CSC + 44
9 Jakob Fiedler TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC s.t.
11 Sébastien Rosseler TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Raúl Gurpegi TEAM CSC s.t.
13 Matteo Carrara TEAM CSC s.t.
14 Matthias Hahn CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'00
15 Alexis Rodríguez RABOBANK s.t.
16 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t.
17 Humberto Amílcar CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
18 Andrés Antuña CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
19 Edvald Boasson Hagen RABOBANK s.t.
20 Jesus Guréndez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
21 Sergio Pardilla RABOBANK s.t.
22 Enrique Salgueiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
23 Theo Eltink RABOBANK s.t.
24 Micula De Matteis CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
25 Gil Suray RABOBANK s.t.
Past Winners
2007: Nick Nuyens (Cofidis)
2008: Philippe Gilbert (Francaise des Jeux)
2009: Tom Boonen (QuickStep)
2010: Leif Hoste (Predictor Lotto)
2011: Philippe Gilbert (Gerolsteiner)
2012: Tom Boonen (QuickStep)
Not expecting much from our guys, who are still not in top shape yet. This is the start of the last warm up period for the three main cobblestone classics.
Gilbert (a two-time winner), Boonen and Hoste have to be the top 3 favorites here, although there are a host of other guys who could win this.
Horrible weather today. Rainy, cold and winds at 69km per hour. Need to watch for splits today. The riders look pretty miserable in this weather.
On the descent following the first climb, the very first split emerges with QuickStep (Boonen and company) going clear of the pack.
The ensuing chase leads to the peloton splitting into three groups. The front group catches Boonen and is comprised of 35 people (Boom is there for us). The second group has 52 and the third group has 78 guys. Bit early for splits like this to emerge.
The front two groups come together briefly before they split again, with a group of 21 going clear. The bulk of the race continues like this: splits, chases, coming back together with riders falling off along the way. Boonen gets a flat and is dropped.
More splits emerge and an elite group of 7 goes clear: Decouttre, Fieber, Steurs, Vanspeybrouck, Franzoi, Hoste and Nuyens.
Behind them a group of 3 Discovery Channel riders: Nolf, Meersman and Van Heerden.
Up front, Franzoi and Fieber fall off the pace, reducing the group to 5.
Suddenly we spot two men coming up on us extremely fast. It is Boonen and Gilbert. They blow by the Discovery Channel riders trying to catch the front group.
Despite a strong effort, it is too late and they won't get there. Up front, Nick Nuyens doesn't wait for the finish. He attacks, gets a lead on his compadres and takes the win.
Our guys fade and are caught by a number of competitors. Still, good effort given the lack of fitness. In the end, with all of the splits and high wind speeds only 81 people finished the race.
Results
1 Nick Nuyens LIQUIGAS 5h29'14
2 Jonas Decouttere GEROLSTEINER + 22
3 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
4 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
5 Stanislav Fieber TEAM CSC s.t.
6 Pieter Vanspeybrouck T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'16
8 Philippe Gilbert GEROLSTEINER + 3'25
9 Enrico Franzoï LIQUIGAS + 6'04
10 Marcus Burghardt TEAM CSC + 9'26
11 Kenny De Haes CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
12 Bastiaan Giling COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
13 Jan Almblad LIQUIGAS s.t. 14 Juan Van Heerden DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT s.t. 16 Frederik Nolf DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
17 Stèphane Poulhiès RABOBANK s.t.
18 Dimitri Claeys RABOBANK s.t.
19 Wilfried Cretskens BABES ONLY s.t.
20 Andoni Aranaga DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
21 Bobbie Traksel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
22 Niels Albert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t. 23 Lars Boom DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
24 Dimitry Kozontchuk CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT s.t.
25 Nerijus Shatas FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
26 Wim De Vocht T-MOBILE TEAM + 11'02
27 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
28 Deniss Tikenberg T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
29 Martin Mortensen LIQUIGAS s.t. 30 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
31 Arne Hassink LIQUIGAS s.t.
32 Stijn Ennekens COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 12'24 33 Thierry Lamborelle DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
34 Anthony Colin GEROLSTEINER s.t. 35 Björn Leukemans DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
36 Kevin Hulsmans QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 13'02
37 José Joaquín Rojas UNIBET.COM s.t.
38 Damien Gaudin QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
39 Anders Lund CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
40 Stefan Schreck T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
41 Marco Brus ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
42 Giuseppe Cerbone TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
43 Nick Ingels QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
44 Tim Ulbrich TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
45 Sébastien Joly AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
46 Koen Barbé COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
47 Markus Eichler COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
48 Henry Bochu CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
49 Greg Batty JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t. 50 Kristoffer Nielsen DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
Stage 4: La Alberca - Estacion de Esqui de la Covatilla
Today's goal is very simple: make sure we don't let anybody get away on the final climb and either keep Rovny in yellow or Monfort.
We went a long time without any breaks today. When one finally happened, it was a break of 14 riders.
The break was held at around a 3 minute lead all day. However, with 11.7km to go that lead still stood at 3 minutes. One of our goals was to push the pace and wear out the other teams but we clearly failed. The first to attack up the climb was Luis Cuadrado with Duarte and Jesus Gurendez following close behind.
These weren't the guys we were afraid of, but they were dangerous enough so Rovny countered, followed by Zubeldia. Monfort tried to follow Rovny but struggled to keep up.
Eventually, Cuadrado, Duarte, Gurendez, Rovny and Zubeldia came together. Further down the hill, Monfort and Pardilla were chasing.
Near the peak of the climb, the Rovny group caught most of the days break. However, up ahead in the distance two men were still away.
It was Hanno Bartelsen and Angel Vicioso, and they were looking good for the win.
Bartelsen was able to stay ahead of Vicioso and come away with a nice stage win.
Rovny finished 4th in back of Duarte, 1'13 behind Bartelsen and hangs on to yellow.
Results
1 Hanno Bartelsen LIQUIGAS 4h23'00
2 Ángel Vicioso RABOBANK s.t.
3 Fabio Duarte SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'05 4 Ivan Rovny DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'13
5 Jesus Guréndez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'23
6 David De la Fuente SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA s.t.
7 Luis Cuadrado TEAM CSC s.t.
8 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
9 Jorge Ferrio FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
10 Giovanny Báez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
11 Daniele Ratto AGRITUBEL + 2'28
12 Sergio Pardilla RABOBANK + 3'00
13 Luis León Sánchez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'09
14 Markus Eibegger LIQUIGAS s.t. 15 Maxime Monfort DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
16 Carlos Sastre EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
17 Edvald Boasson Hagen RABOBANK + 3'21
18 Antonio Olmo KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
19 Manuel Lloret GRUPO NICOLÁS MATEOS s.t.
20 Carlos Castaño ANDALUCÍA - CAJASUR s.t.
21 Aarón Villegas ORBEA - OREKA S.D.A. s.t.
22 Rubén Reig ORBEA - OREKA S.D.A. + 3'38
23 Theo Eltink RABOBANK s.t.
24 Xavier Zandio ANDALUCÍA - CAJASUR s.t.
25 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
GC 1 Ivan Rovny DISCOVERY CHANNEL 13h41'55
2 Luis Cuadrado TEAM CSC + 54
3 Jesus Guréndez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'10
4 Fabio Duarte SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'14
5 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1'22
6 Ángel Vicioso RABOBANK + 1'49 7 Maxime Monfort DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'56
8 Jorge Ferrio FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM + 2'06
9 Sergio Pardilla RABOBANK + 2'47 10 John Devine DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'49
On the face of things, this stage does not look that dangerous. Hopefully should have no problem keeping Rovny in yellow for the tour win.
An odd break today: four men went and none of them ever came together. Three were easy for the peloton to chase down. Vladimir Karpets, however, managed to hang on for quite a while and had a lead of 4 minutes with 48 km to go.
The peloton finally caught Karpets on the final climb when the attacks started. Zubeldia was the first to go.
Lloret, Monfort and Rovny all countered.
It was too soon though, the chasing pack had plenty of energy and they were caught. Just as that happened, Gurendez launched his attack.
Gurendez was able to get away and Duarte soon followed, but was unable to catch Gurendez.
The pack chased hard but Gurendez was too strong, riding to a great solo win.
Question now was how far back did Rovny finish. Coming into the stage, he had a 1'10 advantage over Gurendez, however Jesus was pushing close to taking yellow. We waited for the official time to come in.... Rovny finished 59 seconds back and only barely took the win. Harsh on Gurendez who was the stronger of the two but for the TTT. We'll take the win though.
Results
1 Jesus Guréndez CAISSE D'EPARGNE 4h20'28
2 Fabio Duarte SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 28
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen RABOBANK + 59
4 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
5 Manuel Lloret GRUPO NICOLÁS MATEOS s.t. 6 John Devine DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
7 Matteo Carrara TEAM CSC s.t.
8 Luis Cuadrado TEAM CSC s.t. 9 Mauricio Ardila DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
10 Ángel Vicioso RABOBANK s.t. 11 Linus Gerdemann DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
12 Sergio Pardilla RABOBANK s.t.
13 Aleksandr Pliuschin EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
14 Ugaitz Artola ANDALUCÍA - CAJASUR s.t.
15 Luis León Sánchez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
16 Humberto Amílcar CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
17 Carlos Castaño ANDALUCÍA - CAJASUR s.t. 18 Ivan Rovny DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
19 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC s.t. 20 Maxime Monfort DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
21 Raúl Gurpegi TEAM CSC s.t.
22 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
23 Martín Mata ANDALUCÍA - CAJASUR s.t.
24 Theo Eltink RABOBANK s.t.
25 David Martín CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
Good month for Discovery Channel. Got some wins, including satisfying our sponsors by taking Paris-Nice. A podium spot at Tirrenco-Adriatico. At the end of the month we sit on top the individual and team standings in the UCI Pro Tour Rankins.
In the Continental Tour, it is shaping up to be a battle of former Pro Tour teams with Unibet, Bouygues and Credit Agricole currently battling it out.
