The first hilly-classified stage of this tour. Dominik is probably going to try to gain the mountain jersey. Let's see if he succeeds.
Km 3: The first riders attack.
Km 11: Liquigas tries to control the pack. Obviously, they don't want any break to go free until the mountain sprint.
Km 24: Björn Leukmans wins the intermediate sprint. With a group of four, he has an advance of one and a half minutes, Liquigas is still pacing.
Km 26: That is interesting: As a couple of other riders atack, Liquigas stops chasing and Dominik Nerz tries to follow the escapees instead.
Km 57:Dominik finds himself in a group of six in front of the peloton, but the advance isn't big and some other riders try to bridge the gap.
Km 68: The peloton let the escapees go and Dominik Nerz is within the top group, the pack is down by about three minutes.
Km 81: A big step towards the mountain jersey: Dominik leads the escapees over the mountain and takes the points.
Km 115: The pack already started to chase. The advance, once at 5 minutes, is down at about 3 and a half minutes.
Km 144: It would be very important for Dominik if he could take some points at the second mountain sprint, too. With 14 km till there, the pack is down by 2 minutes.
Km 155:Reinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r) and Sergej Lagutin (Vacansoleil) attack. Dominik Nerz isn't able to follow, so probably no points for him there.
Km 158:Christophe Le Mevel comes in second over the mountain. He is now 2 points behind Dominik, which means that musn't come over the last mountain within the Top 15.
Km 167: On the last climb, Amets Txurruka attacks, followed by Joaquim Rodriguez and Cadel Evans.
Km 169: Top favorite Alberto Contador follows them. No sign of Le Mevel so far, that looks good.
Km 170: A lot of riders attack now. It's hard to keep the overview.
Km 176: 11 riders pass the mountain together, another five follow, and that's it! Dominik Nerz will be wearing the mountain jersey tomorrow!!!
Km 179:Luis Leon Sanchez and Cadel Evans lead the 15 men leading group on the downhill. The winner will be among them, Damiano Cunego is probably the best sprinter.
Km 184: The final kilometre is uphill, with a gradient of 7,7%. Sanchez leads with a nice advance, Evans and Cunego are chasing.
Km 185: While Evans faded completely, the Rabobank rider kept up the pace and wins. David Blanco (Geox) completes the podium.
But today's picture is this: Dominik Nerz presents his mountain jersey on the victory ceremony!
I guess, he looked happier today: Stage win and overall lead for Luis Leon Sanchez.
Result
1
Luis Leon Sanchez
Rabobank
4h39'34
2
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - ISD
s.t.
3
David Blanco
Geox - TMC
s.t.
4
Andy Schleck
Leopard - Trek
s.t.
5
Thomas Voeckler
Europcar
s.t.
6
Bradley Wiggins
Sky ProCycling
s.t.
7
Haimar Zubeldia
Team RadioShack
s.t.
8
Alberto Contador
Saxo Bank - Sungard
s.t.
9
Joaquim Rodriguez
Katusha Team
s.t.
10
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
...
56
Dominik Nerz
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 3'22
General Classification
1
Luis Leon Sanchez
Rabobank
8h46'58
2
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - ISD
+ 12
3
Ruben Plaza
Movistar Team
+ 18
4
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
+ 19
5
Bradley Wiggins
Sky ProCycling
+ 20.
6
Alberto Contador
Saxo Bank - Sungard
+ 21
7
Andy Schleck
Leopard - Trek
+ 25
8
David Blanco
Geox – TMC
+ 27
9
Danilo Di Luca
Katusha Team
+ 29
10
Joaquim Rodriguez
Katusha Team
+ 34
…
77
Dominik Nerz
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 8'11
Dominik's Comment
Wow! I'm so happy and excited! The feeling on the podium during the victory ceremony was just amazing! It makes me really proud to wear the jersey tomorrow, and I will do everything to defend it.
My team was really happy, too, and congratulated me. What a perfect day!
I hope that I will be able to sleep with all that adrenaline in me. But I will give it a try now.
See you,
Dominik
Edited by cunego59 on 22-06-2011 12:05
The queen stage of this Volta. The general classification should be fixed today. Dominik Nerz will be trying to defend his mountain jersey.
Km 1:Dominik Nerz shows his jersey in the front part of the peloton.
Km 2: The first attacks. Immediatly, Liquigas sets themselves in front of the pack.
Km 9: An early end for the first break.
Km 14: Oh, we must have missed that: Dominik Nerz is in the front group now.
Km 45:Dominik Nerz finds himself in a group of 7, more than four minutes in front of the peloton. That looks good for the first mountain.
Km 70: The escapees are in the steepest part of the first climb now, and Dominik does a lot of leading work, which causes Enrico Gasparotto (Astana) to lose contact. Very impressive!
Km 77: With a short acceleration, Dominik Nerz secures the full 16 points on the mountain and extends his lead in that ranking!
Km 80:Mathieu Ladagnous (FDJ) lost contact too, and so only four riders accompany Dominik.
Km 91: The pack is down by 9 minutes, and the penultimate mountain is only 62 km away. If he could take the points there, too, the overall mountain jersey would come very close to Dominik.
Km 96: Some riders attack out of the pack, among others Andreas Klöden and Robert Kiserlovski.
Km 139: The pack is still down by 5 minutes. The group will survive at least until the next mountain, but Dominik Nerz mostly is at the end of the group. On the paper, he's the weekest climber of the 5.
Km 143: The group around Klöden rides about a minute in front of the peloton.
Km 154: Amazing! With a great effort, Dominik Nerz takes another 16 mountain points. He leads now with 34 points in front of Christophe Le Mevel. You should see his face now: A funny mixture of pain and happyness.
Km 162: With 18 km to go, GC's third, Ruben Plaza attacks. Except for the last five, every former escapees were already caught.
Km 166:Nerz is completely empty and can't attack anymore. Nevertheless, he gets another five points, beeing third over the last mountain before the final climb.
Km 170: On the final climb, with 10 km to go, Dario Cataldo got rid Herrada and leads solo. The pack is down by 1'30.
Km 173:Dominik Nerz is eventually back in the pack. But his efforts today were really great!
Km 174: Cataldo is caught, too, and now Andy Schleck attacks. Alberto Contador, Damiano Cunego and some others follow.
Km 178: With 3 km left, Contador has a small advance to Andy Schleck. His brother follows about half a minute behind.
Km 181:Contador does it. He wins on top of the Coll de la Botella in front of the brothers Schleck.
Guys, I am so exhausted. That was probably the hardest race of my career. My legs burnt like hell when I attacked on the penultimate mountain sprint. But it was so worth it! Again, I was on the podium after the race, and the feeling is awesome!
Oh, hold on a second, there is somebody at the door...
…
Oh! My! God! That was Christiano Salerno, and he congratulated me to the overall mountain jersey! I was a little surprised, but then he told me that my advance to Le Mevel was bigger than the amount of points left to achieve! Can you believe that? I will be King of Mountain here! God, I hope this hotel has a minibar
Today is a mostly flat stage. It's the best chance for Liquigas to get a decent stage result.
Km 1: The first riders attack. Among them are Finish champion Jussi Veikkanen and Simone Ponzi.
Km 38: At the first intermediate sprint, a ten men group has an advance of about 1'45. Ponzi is present there.
Km 67: Another two riders contacted to the group, which leads now with more than four minutes.
Km 131: With 70 km to go, the pack is already on the chase. Having been at 10 minutes, the advance of the leaders decreased to 6 minutes.
Km 172:Simone Ponzi falls back. But the group probably won't come through either.
Km 186: Strong winds afflict the riders and the pack is very long. The only Liquigas-rider close to the front is Tiziano Dall'Antonia.
Km 194: The last escapees are caught with now 7 km to go.
Km 197: The sprint is about to begin and Tiziano Dall'Antonia is in a good position behind Matthew Goss and Tom Boonen.
A good day to calm down a little. I kept it slow on the last kilometres and let go. I lost a bit time but I saved some energy. Not that I would need it, the last stages are for the sprinters. But I don't need to waste my energy either.
The second of three flat stages, who terminate this stage race.
Km 2: Astana's Dimitri Fofonov opens the race. Simone Ponzi follows again, just as yesterday.
Km 10: And again, he succeeds, at least for the moment: Together with four fellow escapees, he leads with 2 minutes to the pack, but a couple of other riders attack from the pack.
Km 46: Ponzi is within the leading group, together with 11 other riders. The pack is down by about 2'30.
Km 69: Over the second mountain, they lead by 4'30.
Km 93: The pack starts chasing: 6 minutes seem to be enough for them.
Km 127: 25 km to go, and only 2'16 left for the escapees. Quick·Step and Garmin do what needs to be done for a mass sprint.
Km 145: The breakaway has come to an end and the sprinter teams pull off their trains. Tiziano Dall'Antonia slipped between Tom Boonen and his lead out Jerome Pineau.
Km 151: Shortly before the finish, it's a tough decision between Juan Jose Haedo, Tom Leezer and Leonardo Duque. Dall'Antonia couldn't use his good position.
Km 152: After his amazing early season, Leonardo Duque achieves his first big win this season. Dall'Antonia with a respectable 9th rank.
What an extraordinary season for the Colombian. 10th win for him, and it's only March.
I guess I need to improve my flat skills... I really have problems when the sprinter teams pace hard on the final kilometres. But that is not important at the moment. Tiziano brought us another decent sprint result, the DS should be really happy with our performances here. And of course, in addition, there is THE highlight: My mountain jersey.
Maybe we can finish the race on a high note tomorrow.
See you,
Dominik
Thank you all for the comments. I really appreciate them!
@ roturn: Breakaways are his only chances, you're right, and I think he does a good job trying to use them. And you'll get a picture of him wearing it at the victory ceremony on the next report, if that's ok for you
@ valverde321: I have ordered PCM2011 and I hope that I will get it tomorrow. But I plan to finish this season on PCM09 and then continue the story on PCM11. So I would do all the transfers and stats adjustment etc and then continue with season 2012.
@ lluuiiggii: Nice to see you back And thank you, I think he deserved it, too. He did a lot for it. Also, I agree about Dall'Antonia. But a podium is a little out of reacht I think.
The last stage of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. Liquigas has another chance to perform well in a sprint today, and Dominik will be taking home the mountain jersey.
Km 2: Simone Ponzi is Liquigas' attacking machine: He gives it another try today.
Km 18:Ponzi didn't succeed this time.
Km 39: Three rides lead now with 5 minutes to the pack. 10 other riders are in between them and the peloton.
Km 48: The last mountain ranking is passed, and now is official what was already safe a couple of days ago: Dominik Nerz is the winner of the mountain ranking of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya!
Km 68: On the descent, the pack starts chasing. The advance is down to 2'30.
Km 94: With 11 km to go, the escapees are nearly caught. Meanwhile, in the pack happens a giant crash: Thor Hushovd is affected as well as GC's second Andy Schleck!
Km 101: During the chaos after the crash, Tiziano Dall'Antonia got himself in a great position for the sprint: He is behind Jeremy Hunt and Joquin Rojas.
Km 103: Dall'Antonia overtook Hunt and is in second position. Can he attack Rojas?
Km 105: No! He lost a lot of speed on the last kilometer and comes in only on four. With Ponzi on seven, it's nevertheless a great result for Liquigas.
With his win today, Rojas also overtakes the points jersey.
Dominik Nerz with his first season win, and not a minor one.
Young Riders
1
Roman Kreuziger
Astana
24h50'36
2
Robert Gesink
Rabobank
+ 1'21
3
Cyril Gautier
Europcar
+ 4'50
4
Matthias Frank
BMC Racing Team
+ 4'56
5
Pierre Rolland
Europcar
+ 5'08
…
14
Dominik Nerz
Liquigas – Cannondale
+ 15'34
Team Ranking
1
Leopard – Trek
.
74h25'53
2
Katusha Team
.
+ 57
3
Saxo Bank – Sungard
.
+ 3'31
…
23
Liquigas – Cannondale
.
+ 1h18'40
Dominik's Comment
What a great ending for this great tour! Two men in the Top 10 is pretty much the optimum what we can get with this team in such a race. Four Top 10 places all in all, plus my mountain jersey make this a really successful Volta for us, the DS was very pleased.
We will now stay here in Spain because we will participate in the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco in a week.
