You probrably should change the 3rd stage to hilly and the 4th to mountain, because I think they're swapped. Besides, the 3rd stage hasn't got a big mountain like the 4th has.
@FreitasPCM
Yeah, I could do that, but I think that if I edit DB with Editor the already done startlists for my team (Season Planner) won't be working, so I'll have to do every race manually. At least I think I've tested once and got this result. If it isn't like that, than I think I'll change =)
April 28th: Vuelta a Asturias
Stage 1: Oviedo - Llanes, 155.7 kms
The day has come. Today’s stage is almost 100% flat. Towards the middle of the stage we’ll one small climb, that will be by the way giving KOM points, and 20 km from the finish another tiny hill. There is a sprint check just 16 km after the beginning and we’ll be trying to get max points on that. It won’t change anything if we can’t get a good result in the end. Pagliarini and Walker have fitness 95~96, which should be 99 but isn’t. Anyway, if they can’t sprint here, they can sprint nowhere.
The day started, as usual, with a lot of attacks. We didn’t want that because of the sprint points. With 6 km for the sprint, 7 riders were 40 seconds in front of the peloton, but the pack wasn’t seeing problems in letting them go, so the peloton was on a very slow pace.
We had to do something, so we set a small train with Kangert - Walker - Pagliarini. Kangert going as fast as he could, but as the sprint started with 2 km left for the check we still hadn’t reached the escapees.
The escapees decided not to sprint for the points, though, so Walker and Pagliarini had an easy time reaching and passing them. And thanks to the breakaway being in the lead until the last moment, no other sprinter in the peloton was prepared. Pagliarini got 6 points while Walker got 4.
Now our riders would go and recover in the peloton. A break of 5 riders eventually broke clear, but they stood no chance against the peloton and the last survivors were reeled in with 8 kilometers to go. Pagliarini and Walker had passed without struggling in the last hills, but were suffering a bit on the fast pace of the peloton now (53 km/h).
Thanks to Tanel Kangert, we had a nice position with the sprint about to start in the wheel of Reynès. The other favorites for the sprint had no lead outs or good wheels, so we had an advantage. The problem was that Pagliarini and Walker were really suffering now, they had few energy left for the sprint.
Indeed, when the sprint started, the others easily passed them. Under the kilometer to go sign, Visconti was leading, but he was too early in the wind; Huguet and Barbosa were coming fast.
In a close finish, Barbosa took the win ahead of Dumoulin and Iglinskiy. Walker got 9th and Pagliarini, 11th. We’ll have to run after this difference in the next stages.
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Cândido Barbosa
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
3h35'15
2
Samuel Dumoulin
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
3
Maxim Iglinskiy
Astana
s.t.
4
Geoffroy Lequatre
Team RadioShack
s.t.
5
Rodrigo García
Xacobeo - Galicia
s.t.
6
Giovanni Visconti
ISD - Neri
s.t.
7
Yann Huguet
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
8
Giampaolo Cheula
Footon - Servetto
s.t.
9
Nicholas Walker
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
s.t.
10
Vicente Reynès
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
Well.. gotta tell you that with the quite weak startlist for sprinters and with Pagliarini and Walker fitness near perfect I expected a lot more. Anyway, we have our both riders 14 points after leader in points classification. We'll try to attack tomorrow, it is possible to get those 14 points but difficult because both of my sprinters are in Top 10 GC. Their form, by the way, as said before should be 99: they are in the middle of 2 peaking weeks in their training, but fitness on that is only 76/80. Anyway, really expected more. I was disappointed after this stage.
@Alakagon and baia
Next stage is classified as hilly, so no chance for Paga or Walker. Even if it finished in a sprint, there are too many climbings where our sprinters would struggle. Also, on the beggining of the career I changed the values such as points given on hilly and mountain stages so we don't get unreal results (TdF winner winning points and mountain classification). Or, a example in a smaller race, in my PCM 09, on Tour de San Luis, Kangert won GC and mountain and points rankings.
So I change the values so that in mountain stages few or no points are given and in hilly stages few points are given. In this case, Asturias is a 2.1 race so hilly stages gives 10 points to the winner while flat gives 25. As I'm trailing by 14 points, even if I won the stage wouldn't help =P We'll try to attack, hope for the peloton to let us go even being good on GC and collect at least 15/18 points. Just making it clear =]
First off, just want to tell that I played a bit with the graphics settings and the game still runs ok, so hopefully if the game does not crash I can continue with better graphics compared to old settings and you can enjoy more =)
April 29th: Vuelta a Astúrias
Stage 2: Llanes - Avilés, 134.5 km
Today’s stage is classified as hilly, but isn’t very tough. We’ll have 3 main climbs, the 3 giving KOM points for the winner. The biggest is the first one, La Encrucijada. With a flat finish, I expect a medium sized peloton arriving first and deciding the winner in the sprint. As for our interest in the sprinter jersey goal, there are 3 sprint check, each giving 6 points. We’ll have to hope for the peloton to let one of our sprinters go clear and have him collect the points. Not enough, we’ll still need to hope for a puncheur to win today’s stage, so the sprinters who already have points don’t get more of them in the end and our efforts by attacking will be useless.
With 3 kilometers for the sprint check, the peloton was still in the lead. Some rides tried to attack, and Walker tried to go with them. We didn’t know if the peloton would let him go, as he is 8th in GC.
But he failed on the sprint check, as Fabio Felline got full points. Walker had to stick with only 4 points, which means he would now have to collect the other 12 to pass points leader Barbosa.
The break was formed containing 12 riders, and it was looking the peloton would let them go. Trying to establish the group in the lead, the pace up those small hills after the first sprint check was very high. Walker struggled and even dropped on one of them, but made his way back on the flat sections.
This time, on the second sprint check, Walker easily got full points, as nobody else had interest to sprint for it. He did struggle on the hills, though, and we now were heading to La Encrucijada: our young Aussie would need luck or something more to not be dropped on it.
First part of the climb is done, Walker is still with the group but suffering a lot. He can now recover a bit on the flat part, but will he still keep up in the other four steep kilometers?
Although it seemed he would lose contact in the last 500 meters, Walker was able to keep with the group. So, on the descent, with 56 km left, the group was 5 minutes in front of the peloton. Walker had now only some small uphill sections before the last sprint check of the day.
Again, Walker had an easy time getting full points. He now had 27 points agains 25 from Cardoso. We were very close to the sponsor goal, all we needed was Cardoso (25 pts) or Dumoulin (21 pts) not scoring in the end, where only the 5 first riders would get points (1st 10; 2nd 8…).
Actually, no. I thought points given today would be 10, 8, but no, they will be normal 25,20,16.. so Cardoso only need to get 13th and he will pass us. Visconti is also a big threat as favorite for today’s stage, and so is Iglinskiy who is also good on points classement. That’s pretty bad and now we’re with very high chances of seeing someone else get the points jersey in front of Walker. Bad. Anyway, with 35 km to go for the peloton, escapees are 3’11 ahead. Euskaltel and Xacobeo are the main workers now.
Walker dropped from the break as soon as the climbings started again. Surprisingly, the peloton wasn’t able to control the escapees: with 15 km to go, the 10 leaders on the course still had 3 minutes to the peloton! If the break went clear up to the finish line, it would be much more difficult for Walker to not get the jersey!! Come on, escapees, you can do it!!
With 5 kilometers left, the breakaway had the same three-minute advantage! We had no attacks, so… sprint time! Who’ll be crowned winner in Avilés and wear the leader jersey tomorrow?
On the peloton, we had two riders still with a lot of energy, Kangert and Nazaret, so we decided Kangert should sprint today. In the last kilometers, Nazaret was pulling hard to give his leader the best position possible.
The attention was a few kilometers ahead though: in the sprint, Petrov and Rabon created a gap to the rest of the escapees, with the Bulgarian champion being able to celebrate a great win for him and for Madeinox-Boavista!
Well, we still have 5 positions giving points in the end, so to the battle in the peloton! 11th would get 5 points, then 4,3,2 and 1. All we needed was Barbosa not finishing 14th or more and the jersey would be ours! 1.5 kilometers to go, Jufré leading the sprint, Kangert on his wheel.
NOOO!! How unlucky can that even be?? Yellow jersey Cândido Barbosa appears from nowhere with an incredible acceleration and takes 11th! I can’t believe it. No way. Well, at least some better news: Tanel Kangert got 4th on the sprint of the peloton, so we better watch him out in the next stages.
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Danail Petrov
Madeinox - Boavista
3h19'27
2
Frantisek Rabon
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
3
Bruno Pires
Barbot - Siper
s.t.
4
Sébastien Delfosse
Landbouwkrediet
s.t.
5
José Luis Roldán
Andalucía - Cajasur
s.t.
6
Byron Guama
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
s.t.
7
Fabio Felline
Footon - Servetto
s.t.
8
Nelson Victorino
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
s.t.
9
Aketza Peña
Caja Rural
s.t.
10
Matthew Busche
Team RadioShack
s.t.
You gotta be kidding me. No way. I can't believe Barbosa survived the hills and simply, dunno, appeared on the middle of the sprint!! Ah, this is unbelievable. Peloton, by the way, arrived 1'45 after escapees. Well, we will have to attack again tomorrow. Walker is 12th on GC, so again it should be hard to get in the break. There will be 3 sprint checks, but the end is flat. Don't know if again 25 points will be given. If yes, I believe we will be no longer possible to fulfill the goal on the end of the day. Let's just hope that our stock of bad luck is in the end... at least temporarily.. for one day.
Bad luck there but its no surprise that Barbosa survived the hills..i can tell you he´s better then you think...he can climb good althought he´s a sprinter.Good luck for the next stage,i think Rio already deserve better luck..
baia wrote:
Bad luck there but its no surprise that Barbosa survived the hills..i can tell you he´s better then you think...he can climb good althought he´s a sprinter.Good luck for the next stage,i think Rio already deserve better luck..
Indeed, with hill 73 it's no surprise he passes the ascents, but the peloton has guys better guys such as Visconti, who has hill 77, so I wasn't expecting he would have enough in his legs to repeat the high level performance in a tougher stage. =|
April 30th: Vuelta a Asturias
Stage 3: Cafés Toscaf - Sto. del Acebo, 91.3 kms
The shortest stage of the race takes us from Cafés Toscaf to Sto. del Acebo. The stage is classified as a mountain stage, but mountain is what you certainly are not going to see. Yes, there are some small hills, but it doesn’t get tougher than last stage. The stage is probably too short for a breakaway and with the descent to a flat finish, I believe we’ll see a sprint in the end. We have three intermediate sprints today, and we’ll try to collect them all with Walker. We’ll also aim to put another rider in the breakaway to help the Aussie. And, of course, let’s hope the peloton lets Walker go, as he is 12th on GC he could be considered a ‘threat’.
It took 20 kilometers of race for a breakaway to establish. Walker and Nazaret successfully got into it. Most notable name between the 12 riders was probably Giampaolo Cheula.
Ok, so here I really slept on the battlefield: I was analyzing jerseys on the peloton when the breakaway crossed the first intermediate check with me doing nothing. We finally had a bit of luck, though, and Walker, I don’t know how, crossed third. Yukihiro Doi was trying to leave his companions on the same moment and got the 6 points.
Soon I found out: the same bug that happened on Oman stage 1 was happening now. One rider attacks, nobody works anymore. If the attacker is reeled in, other attacks, and there it goes. So, Nazaret had to do all the work alone for Walker.
2 kilometers before the intermediate sprint, Doi was caught thanks to Nazaret pushing hard all the way. In the same moment he was caught, Reynès attacked, so Walker had competition this time in the sprint. Fortunately Walker was able to cross first and get 6 points. With 35 kilometers to go, peloton was 3 minutes behind the escapees.
And now we had a little problem: the last intermediate sprint would be in 12 kilometers, and two hills are on the way. So Nazaret can’t pull that hard to catch the attackers otherwise Walker will struggle. Not that being enough, both Nazaret and Walker were already pretty tired, so it would be very difficult to get full points on the last.
Well, we had no other chance but to try. So, with 600 meters for the sprint, Reynès was there, in sights while Walker and Nazaret tried to pull that last effort. It was gonna be a close one.
But no, we can’t get full points. Reynès got 6, while Walker had to stick with 4, so 39 points in the point classment. Our riders were too tired to get Reynès in time.
With Reynès reached, it was the turn of Vona to attack. There were no more intermediate sprints today, so we had nothing more to do on the breakaway, which means Vona quickly build a good gap. With 20 kilometers to go, Vona had 2 minutes and a half to the peloton.
In the pack, we saw the first moves: it was yellow jersey Petrov giving it a go.
A lot of attacks and counter attacks followed. Kangert and Vítor were among the attackers, who easily caught the main breakaway group. With 10 kilometers left, a 23-rider group was formed, with most of the favorites and some breakaway riders. Vona was almost 2 minutes ahead and looked like today’s stage winner. But some team leaders had missed the attack trains, so the peloton was going fast, and with 6 kilometers left, everybody was grouped again. Vona was still 1’40 in front, so he was surely today winner.
The stage was going to, again, give normal points to the best positions: 25,20,16… Walker had 39 points, Barbosa, 30, and Petrov 27. So all we needed to accomplish the goal was Barbosa not finishing 9th or Petrov not finishing 5th. Vona was already stage winner by now, and this was great to us, as it meant one less points position in the peloton sprint. Some riders such as Taaramae and Navarro were trying a last attack with 5 kilometers to go: I was hoping with all possible forces these attacks were successful, so it would be much more difficult and maybe even mathematically impossible for Walker to not wear the sprinter jersey tomorrow!!
Unfortunately, they weren’t successful, so with 3 kilometers to go the peloton was together and getting ready for the sprint. Kangert was on Petrov’s wheel, while Vitor tried to give Nazaret the best position possible. Barbosa was in the very middle of the peloton, so it looked like he wasn’t sprinting today: another big step for the goal!
With 1 kilometer to go, Petrov was coming fast on the right side, but there are others coming fast on the left side!!! Please, Petrov can’t pass the others!
So while Vona celebrates his solo win…
… Petrov still had 7 riders in front of him in the last turn! I was almost already celebrating when I saw who was leading….
Again, Barbosa wins the sprint of the peloton. Again, he appeared out of nowhere, even though this time I had seen him in the very middle of the peloton with 2.5 kilometers to go. The difference between today and yesterday was that yesterday he got 11th, collecting 5 points. Today, he got 2nd, collecting 20 points. And so, he is wearing the leader jersey for one more day.
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Emanuele Vona
ISD - Neri
2h13'08
2
Cândido Barbosa
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
+ 50
3
Rodrigo García
Xacobeo - Galicia
s.t.
4
Frantisek Rabon
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
5
Hugo Sabido
LA Rota dos Móveis
s.t.
6
Rasmus Guldhammer
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
7
Alejandro Marque
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
s.t.
8
Julien El Fares
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
9
Danail Petrov
Madeinox - Boavista
s.t.
10
Tanel Kangert
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
s.t.
Well, well, well... Kangert got a nice Top 10 today, but who cares? It has happened again: 3 times out of 3 Barbosa wins the sprint on the peloton, and now on the three types of stage: flat, hilly and mountain. Dear god. We missed some silly points with Walker also thanks to the bug, but still are in the battle. By the way, checking the replay again, I saw that Barbosa indeed was in the middle of the pack with 2.5 km to go, but going forward and reaching the first positions a kilometer after. Pretty horrible. Anyway, tomorrow's mountain top finish stage will still have 3 intermediate sprints, and if Barbosa wins the sprint of the peloton tomorrow, I give up on Asturias.
Great top10 with Kangert...i can´t agree with you when you said the most prominent name in Break was Cheula...now you know why i don´t agree..
Another great solo win by Vona...
Great work by Kangert, only shame now wearing points jersey will be hard to achieve, i don't like how sposor goals are done for conti teams, as you can get great reuslt with Kangert and you sponors's confidence won't improve a lot, only doing sponsor goals does, very unfair, but hopefully with bit of luck you can do it
Thanks for the comments.
Indeed, Vona is the solo wins rider atm
P.s.: month review will be delayed two days so we’ll have Tour of Romandie results and not interrupt Vuelta a Asturias.
May 1st: Vuelta a Asturias
Stage 4: Cangas del Narcea - Gijón, 152.1 kms
Although classified as hilly, our fourth stage is the only one with a mountain top finish, so it could be decisive. After a warm up in La Espina, the riders will finish on top of Alto del Acebo. As for our concern, there are 3 intermediate sprints today. Walker is 11 points behind Barbosa, so we need to win at least two of them. The beginning of today’s route has some ‘hills’, that although very small could be enough to put Walker in a big trouble trying to enter the breakaway, so it might be a difficult task. We’ll try and hope for the best.
As expected the small hills in the beginning were enough for Walker to struggle, especially when the body isn’t really warmed up. Anyway on top of the last hill before the first intermediate sprint, Walker was on the wheel of Kangert who was leading the peloton against early attackers. Our young sprinter was suffering a lot, but Kangert was doing everything he could to still give us chance in the first intermediate sprint.
Thanks to the great job from the Estonian, with 2 kilometers to go for the sprint the peloton was in the lead, and although Dumoulin came very fast from the middle of the pack, Walker was able to get 6 points. He was very tired now and wouldn’t be able to join any attacks for a while.
We had now 30 kilometers before the next sprint. Walker was by now down to only 5 points to Barbosa, so a win in another intermediate sprint would virtually put us in the points jersey. The riders would now face 3 small hills with considerable slopes and, after them, the way to the sprint check would be fairly easy with low gradients. Walker still needed to recover, though, so it was hard for us. What he should do now was sit in the peloton and enjoy a bit the ride.
With the peloton slowing down, some riders saw the opportunity and attacked. A group of 8 riders was formed.
With 12 kilometers for the sprint, their gap to the peloton was nearing a minute and a half. We were now facing the easier sections as the ‘major’ hills on the way to the second sprint had already passed, so we sent Vítor, Morandi and Nazaret to the front of the peloton to pull as hard as they could.
It was actually working, and with 6 kilometers for the sprint, gap was down to only 47 seconds. And so, enters the scene Tanel Kangert again, pulling as hard as possible for Walker. The Australian wasn’t fully recovered, and so was having some problems in following: we couldn’t pull hard, but we had to pull hard.
With only 1 kilometers left to the check, we reached the escapees, but they still had some meters gap! As Walker tried to burn the last energy he could find, we were wondering whether there was time to reach the breakaway riders!
YES, there was! Walker passed them with only 200 meters for the sprint, and could take another 6 points! Everyone in the team car celebrated together with the riders, as now Walker had 51 points against 50 from Barbosa!
Well, you all might remember what happened the last two times we were very close to completing the goal: in both stages 2 and 3, Barbosa appeared out of nowhere to own the peloton sprint and crash our plans again. So no early celebrations today. While Walker received slaps on the back for “Congrats”, two riders tried their luck alone: Sicard and Landa.
We knew there was still one spot in the intermediate sprint left, which would give two points, so if we got to 10 kilometers for the sprint with no more attacks, Kangert would attack to collect those and avoid other riders to do it. But we didn’t need to do that: Visconti and Marque attacked some kilometers after the Sicard and quickly got to them. The 4 leaders reached the first big mountain of today’s stage, La Espina, with a 4 minute gap to the peloton.
Landa couldn’t follow the other 3 riders and was dropped out of the group. The peloton was also going fast, paced mainly by Madeinox and Astana, and on the descent was down to 74 riders.
The three leaders started climbing Alto del Acebo (9.0 kms 8.6%) 3 minutes ahead of the peloton. Would it be enough for us to see the third consecutive breakaway win in four stages?
Well, the peloton had other intentions. A lot of team leaders had some plans for the last climb, as Barbot - Siper, Astana, HTC - Columbia and RadioShack were doing the pace. Madeinox riders had all hit the wall, so yellow jersey Petrov was alone now. Meter by meter, second by second, the peloton was eating up all the gap of the leaders up the Acebo climb, and with 7 kilometers left, gap was down to 2’15.
Then, with only 5 kilometers for the line, some splits occurred in the front of the 72-rider peloton: the front group had 3 Astana riders and Tiago Machado. Yellow jersey Petrov was on the second group together with other 2 riders.
With the other 2 Astana riders being dropped, Daniel Navarro and Tiago Machado worked together and soon caught the escapees: first Visconti and Sicard, and with 2.5 km left, Alejandro Marque. By now, the peloton where was yellow jersey Danail Petrov was more than 3 minutes behind, so you could say the winner today would be one of these three, who would also go to tomorrow’s queen stage leading the race.
Navarro increased again; this time even the RadioShack rider wasn’t able to follow. On the last kilometer, he had a small gap. Machado was giving it all trying to bridge it, but it was only getting bigger!
In the end, the Astana rider was able to celebrate a great solo win! What a brilliant ascent of the Acebo climb this man has done. Machado crossed second 22 seconds later, and Marque held for 3rd. The 4th place was Jesús Hernández, and dear god, look at the gap! 2’38, and he arrived alone!
Yellow jersey Petrov crossed the line 25th, more than 5 minutes behind Navarro, and is now 7th on GC. Anyway, there wasn’t much pressure on him given he got the jersey on a breakaway.
The battle through Acebo was great, but let’s remember something:
NICHOLAS WALKER WILL WEAR THE POINTS JERSEY TOMORROW!! Our young Aussie has done it, he beats Barbosa by a single point and will wear the white points jersey tomorrow! We have fulfilled our goal!
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Daniel Navarro
Astana
4h09'40
2
Tiago Machado
Team RadioShack
+ 22
3
Alejandro Marque
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
+ 50
4
Jesús Hernández
Astana
+ 2'38
5
Romain Sicard
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 3'05
6
Giovanni Visconti
ISD - Neri
+ 3'17
7
David Moncoutié
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 4'07
8
Rein Taaramäe
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 4'23
9
Amaël Moinard
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
10
Gorka Verdugo
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
Let me only get my breath.... YEEEEEEESSS!!! We have done it!! I still can't believe, but it is true! Nicholas Walker is leading the points classification, and by so, we have completed our sponsor goal! Oh my god, how we have battled for this, kilometer by kilometer, stage by stage.. the first intermediate sprint on stage 1, bad performance on final sprint on stage 1, attacking on BotD on both stages 2 and 3, not reaching the goal by very few points.. but it's finally done. The difficulties turn achievements only better! I am so happy and proud Thanks to Kangert, Vítor, Nazaret and Morandi today we were able to reach the goal. Oh and thanks all who support us =)
General Classification
1
Daniel Navarro
Astana
13h19'45
2
Tiago Machado
Team RadioShack
+ 30
3
Alejandro Marque
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
+ 1'00
4
Jesús Hernández
Astana
+ 2'58
5
Romain Sicard
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 3'19
6
Nelson Victorino
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
+ 3'26
7
Danail Petrov
Madeinox - Boavista
+ 3'28
8
Giovanni Visconti
ISD - Neri
+ 3'33
9
Bruno Pires
Barbot - Siper
+ 3'42
10
David Moncoutié
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 4'27
Spoiler
Points
1
Nicholas Walker
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
51
2
Cândido Barbosa
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
50
3
Danail Petrov
Madeinox - Boavista
34
Mountain
1
Alejandro Marque
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
20
2
Daniel Navarro
Astana
20
3
Romain Sicard
Euskaltel - Euskadi
19
Young
1
Tiago Machado
Team RadioShack
13h20'15
2
Romain Sicard
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 2'49
3
Rein Taaramäe
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 4'13
Team
1
Astana
40h07'28
2
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
+ 2'46
3
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 5'38
I just wanted to add something that I would write in the 'middle stage results - GC results' text but then it would be too long:
Kangert, Nazaret, Morandi and Vítor already quit the race as planned because tomorrow we have Giro di Toscana;
And as you might have seen, sorry for a lot of writing and screenshots. I was happy and excited, and I write too much then. Thanks for reading too =)
May 2nd: Vuelta a Astúrias
Stage 5: Gijón - Oviedo, 200.4 kms
The queen stage of the race! The stage that takes us from Gijón back to starting point in Oviedo is the biggest and the toughest one. Through 200 kilometers, the riders will face 6 big mountains, but the flat finish gives a chance for the winner to be decided in a small group sprint. Our 4 best riders in this type of terrain quit the race yesterday, so we only have four riders. Walker will wear the points jersey, and our intention is to defend it. I believe it will be very difficult for Barbosa to gain points if not in an intermediate sprint, so the only thing that could stop Walker from finishing in top of the podium would be not finishing in time, and that’s where we will focus today’s stage.
It was a sunny day when the riders departed in Gijón. They all knew it was going to be a tough and long day.
And here is Walker with his new jersey: our task today is to defend it by making sure he finishes on time. That’s the only thing we can actually do today.
On the first climb, Pozo de las Milieres Mijertas (9.4 kms 7.9%) we had several attacks trying to form a breakaway. The peloton was going on a very fast pace, though, and all the attempts failed. So, the pack was on the lead on top of the climb. Rein Taaramae collected full points on the KOM check.
Among the high number of riders dropped were all Seara/Vivo riders. Walker, Glockner and Pagliarini found themselves in a 9 riders gruppetto.
Down to 94 riders on the descent (from 147 in the beginning), the pack finally let a break go clear. It contained 11 riders and fortunately they attacked before the intermediate sprint, so Barbosa, who was in the peloton, didn’t have the chance to get any points.
The lead group passed the next two mountains and are now on top of Puerto de Somiedo, our fourth climb of the day. We had now 80 kilometers left and gap to the peloton was in about 7 minutes and a half. Walker’s gruppetto was 8 minutes behind the pack.
The break group got to Puerto San Lorenzo (8.9 kms 8.7 %), one of the toughest climbs today. 61 km to go, their advantage to the peloton was 5’51. Most notable riders in the break were probably Beñat Intxausti and Kanstantsin Siutsou. No riders had dropped yet.
On the peloton, Rubiera had been making the pace for RadioShack during almost the whole climb. Maybe Tiago Machado was feeling good today? Walker’s group was 21 minutes behind the leaders when the peloton got to the top.
Such a difficult climb surely saw some action in the breakaway as two riders were dropped. When the break started today’s last climb, Alto del Tenebredo (5.4 kms 7.9 %) the peloton was still 4 minutes behind them! We had 25 kilometers left, so things were looking good for the breakaway riders. Astana had now joined RadioShack in the pace making.
Intxausti and Siutsou proved to be the stronger among the escapees and dropped the others on the final climb. They now had only 15 easy kilometers, and their gap to the peloton was near two minutes and a half! Down to only 32 riders, the pack had also passed the climb, and thanks to the fast pace made by Astana, no attacks were successful.
Walker’s gruppetto was already on the last climb about 27 minutes behind the leaders. Apparently we had great chances of finishing on time, despite being the 3rd last group (the other two groups were only one rider, one of them being Escuela).
Entering the city of Oviedo, the 2 leaders were preparing for the sprint! Siutsou had got Intxausti’s wheel, as they were cheered by a large amount of spectators!
The HTC - Columbia rider waited until the last moment to make his move, and when he did, there was no way for Intxausti to follow! Kanstantsin Siutsou wins today stage after being in the breakaway for more than 170 kilometers!
The other three breakaway survivors were caught by the peloton, but still held their positions. Simon Geschke won the sprint among them three to finish today’s podium.
Nicholas Walker finished pulling the gruppetto 36 minutes and a half behind Siutsou. Pagliarini and Glockner were exhausted and couldn’t finish with the group. They had motives to be happy, though, as their job was done! Actually, in the end everybody finished within time, what was unexpected given a lot of riders were dropped already in the first climb.
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Kanstantsin Siutsou
Team HTC - Columbia
5h47'39
2
Beñat Intxausti
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
3
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
+ 1'07
4
Serafín Martínez
Xacobeo - Galicia
s.t.
5
Bartosz Huzarski
ISD - Neri
s.t.
6
David De la Fuente
Astana
s.t.
7
Jesús Hernández
Astana
s.t.
8
Josep Jufré
Astana
s.t.
9
Tiago Machado
Team RadioShack
s.t.
10
Mikel Nieve
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
Without a doubt, the most tough stage in the season so far for us. The riders were probably glad to see the finish line. Escuela, Glockner and Pagliarini were exhausted in the end of the day, but thanks to them and all the team during the whole race Walker was able to complete our goal. This is a stage I surely wouldn't bet on a breakaway: the peloton usually gain much time on the climbs. But strong riders were part of the botd, so win number 3 for a break in 5 stages.
General Classification
1
Daniel Navarro
Astana
19h08'31
2
Tiago Machado
Team RadioShack
+ 30
3
Alejandro Marque
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
+ 1'00
4
Jesús Hernández
Astana
+ 2'58
5
Romain Sicard
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 3'19
6
Nelson Victorino
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
+ 3'26
7
Danail Petrov
Madeinox - Boavista
+ 3'28
8
David Moncoutié
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 4'27
9
Rein Taaramäe
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 4'43
10
Damien Monier
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
Spoiler
11
Gorka Verdugo
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
12
Amaël Moinard
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
13
Maxim Iglinskiy
Astana
+ 4'47
14
Juan Manuel Gárate
Rabobank
+ 4'55
15
Laurens Ten Dam
Rabobank
s.t.
16
David De la Fuente
Astana
+ 5'03
17
Gustavo César Veloso
Xacobeo - Galicia
s.t.
18
José Ángel Gómez Marchante
Andalucía - Cajasur
s.t.
19
Rodrigo García
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 5'11
20
Beñat Intxausti
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 5'14
21
Josep Jufré
Astana
+ 5'19
22
Koos Moerenhout
Rabobank
s.t.
23
Marcos García
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 5'27
24
Miguel Rubiano
Meridiana Kamen Team
+ 5'35
25
Bruno Pires
Barbot - Siper
+ 5'38
26
Mikel Nieve
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 5'43
27
Pieter Weening
Rabobank
s.t.
28
David García Dapena
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 5'51
29
Iban Mayoz
Footon - Servetto
s.t.
30
Steven Kruijswijk
Rabobank
s.t.
31
Manuel Calvente
Andalucía - Cajasur
s.t.
32
Gorazd Stangelj
Astana
+ 6'15
33
Bartosz Huzarski
ISD - Neri
+ 6'23
34
Patrik Sinkewitz
ISD - Neri
+ 6'31
35
Hugo Sabido
LA Rota dos Móveis
+ 6'33
36
Serafín Martínez
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 6'37
37
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
+ 6'41
38
Byron Guama
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
+ 6'46
39
Gonzalo Rabuñal
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 6'47
40
Giovanni Visconti
ISD - Neri
+ 7'05
41
Pedro Merino
Footon - Servetto
+ 7'17
42
Óscar Pereiro
Astana
+ 7'19
43
Kanstantsin Siutsou
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 7'22
44
Gregory Brenes
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
+ 7'25
45
David Bernabéu
Barbot - Siper
+ 7'31
46
Rui Sousa
Barbot - Siper
+ 7'39
47
Kai Reus
Rabobank
+ 7'47
48
Mauricio Ardila
Rabobank
s.t.
49
Fabio Felline
Footon - Servetto
+ 8'16
50
José Luis Roldán
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 8'32
51
Rasmus Guldhammer
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 8'35
52
Emanuele Vona
ISD - Neri
+ 8'37
53
Aitor Pérez Arrieta
Footon - Servetto
+ 8'43
54
Arkaitz Durán
Footon - Servetto
+ 9'07
55
Cândido Barbosa
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
+ 9'23
56
Ruslan Pidgornyy
ISD - Neri
s.t.
57
Javier Ramírez Abeja
Andalucía - Cajasur
s.t.
58
Stef Clement
Rabobank
+ 9'35
59
José Antonio De Segovia
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 9'39
60
Giampaolo Cheula
Footon - Servetto
+ 9'47
61
Dmitriy Fofonov
Astana
s.t.
62
José Luis Rubiera
Team RadioShack
+ 10'31
63
Julien El Fares
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 10'51
64
Yukihiro Doi
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
65
Matthew Busche
Team RadioShack
+ 11'16
66
Ricardo Vilela
Madeinox - Boavista
+ 11'19
67
Samuel Dumoulin
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 12'33
68
Ricardo Mestre
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
+ 13'11
69
Frantisek Rabon
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 14'42
70
Maxim Belkov
ISD - Neri
+ 15'27
71
Sérgio Sousa
Madeinox - Boavista
+ 16'11
72
Rubén García
Caja Rural
s.t.
73
Miguel Mínguez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 17'35
74
Ivan Rovny
Team RadioShack
+ 20'03
75
Vergílio Dos Santos
LA Rota dos Móveis
+ 20'07
76
Mikel Landa
Orbea
+ 20'51
77
Patrick Gretsch
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 21'03
78
Sébastien Minard
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 21'11
79
Jose Mendes
LA Rota dos Móveis
+ 21'51
80
Thierry Hupond
Skil - Shimano
+ 22'36
81
Iván Melero
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
+ 22'38
82
Célio Sousa
Madeinox - Boavista
+ 24'11
83
Ion Izagirre
Orbea
+ 24'27
84
Nelson Rocha
LA Rota dos Móveis
+ 24'50
85
Manuel Ortega
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 24'59
86
Alexander Kvachuk
ISD - Neri
+ 25'06
87
Markel Irizar
Team RadioShack
+ 26'36
88
David Gutiérrez Palacios
Footon - Servetto
+ 26'44
89
Geert Verheyen
Landbouwkrediet
+ 26'54
90
Geoffroy Lequatre
Team RadioShack
+ 27'08
91
Frederik Wilmann
Skil - Shimano
+ 27'48
92
Sébastien Delfosse
Landbouwkrediet
+ 28'23
93
Daniel Sesma
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 28'52
94
Salvatore Commesso
Meridiana Kamen Team
+ 29'16
95
Francisco Javier Aramendia
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 31'16
96
Arnaud Labbe
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 31'56
97
Joseba Larralde
Orbea
+ 32'20
98
Aketza Peña
Caja Rural
+ 32'23
99
Yann Huguet
Skil - Shimano
+ 33'20
100
Alberto Morrás
Madeinox - Boavista
+ 33'28
101
Márcio Barbosa
LA Rota dos Móveis
+ 34'16
102
Bjorn Selander
Team RadioShack
+ 34'56
103
David De la Cruz
Caja Rural
+ 35'32
104
Mario Costa
Barbot - Siper
+ 35'44
105
Carlos Baltazar
Barbot - Siper
+ 40'52
106
Pascual Orengo
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
+ 44'08
107
Nicola D'Andrea
Meridiana Kamen Team
+ 44'20
108
Vicente Reynès
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 45'14
109
Roy Curvers
Skil - Shimano
+ 45'45
110
Gustavo Rodríguez
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 47'40
111
Thomas Faiers
Footon - Servetto
+ 47'49
112
José Carlos Lara
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
+ 48'24
113
Rubén Reig
Caja Rural
s.t.
114
Mariano Giallorenzo
Meridiana Kamen Team
+ 50'00
115
Gert Dockx
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 50'09
116
Fumiyuki Beppu
Team RadioShack
+ 50'16
117
Jonathan Bertrand
Landbouwkrediet
+ 51'08
118
Luis Silva
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
+ 51'54
119
Martial Ricci Poggi
Landbouwkrediet
+ 52'08
120
Rubén Martínez
Caja Rural
+ 53'57
121
Benjamin Gourgue
Landbouwkrediet
+ 54'25
122
Olegs Melehs
Meridiana Kamen Team
+ 55'01
123
Henrique Casimiro
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
+ 55'22
124
Arturo Mora
Caja Rural
+ 55'28
125
Nicholas Walker
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
+ 57'09
126
Egoitz García
Caja Rural
+ 57'35
127
Antonio Cabello
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 58'05
128
Luis Pinheiro
Madeinox - Boavista
+ 58'40
129
Adrián Sáez de Arregi
Orbea
+ 1h02'13
130
Denys Kostyuk
ISD - Neri
+ 1h02'29
131
Adam Hansen
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 1h02'53
132
Garikoitz Bravo
Caja Rural
+ 1h04'05
133
Andoni Blázquez
Orbea
+ 1h05'41
134
Antonio Amorim
Barbot - Siper
+ 1h06'08
135
Luciano Pagliarini
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
+ 1h06'39
136
David Boucher
Landbouwkrediet
+ 1h07'30
137
Floris Goesinnen
Skil - Shimano
+ 1h07'34
138
Jon Aberasturi
Orbea
+ 1h07'38
139
Rubén Calvo
LA Rota dos Móveis
+ 1h10'05
140
David Deroo
Skil - Shimano
+ 1h11'22
141
Marin Andelini
Meridiana Kamen Team
+ 1h14'42
142
David Francisco
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
+ 1h14'50
143
Tom Van den Haute
Landbouwkrediet
+ 1h16'02
144
Burkhardt Glöckner
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
+ 1h18'28
145
Leigh Howard
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 1h19'30
146
Bart Dockx
Landbouwkrediet
+ 1h26'56
147
Ricardo Escuela
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
+ 1h36'35
Points
1
Nicholas Walker
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
51
2
Cândido Barbosa
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
50
3
Danail Petrov
Madeinox - Boavista
34
4
Frantisek Rabon
Team HTC - Columbia
34
5
Rodrigo García
Xacobeo - Galicia
32
Spoiler
6
Emanuele Vona
ISD - Neri
25
7
Samuel Dumoulin
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
22
8
Fabio Felline
Footon - Servetto
20
9
Maxim Iglinskiy
Astana
19
10
Hugo Sabido
LA Rota dos Móveis
18
11
Bruno Pires
Barbot - Siper
16
12
Vicente Reynès
Team HTC - Columbia
16
13
Giovanni Visconti
ISD - Neri
14
14
Byron Guama
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
14
15
José Luis Roldán
Andalucía - Cajasur
14
16
Sébastien Delfosse
Landbouwkrediet
14
17
Geoffroy Lequatre
Team RadioShack
14
18
Alejandro Marque
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
12
19
Luciano Pagliarini
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
11
20
Rasmus Guldhammer
Team HTC - Columbia
10
21
Yann Huguet
Skil - Shimano
9
22
Sérgio Sousa
Madeinox - Boavista
9
23
Nelson Victorino
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
8
24
Giampaolo Cheula
Footon - Servetto
8
25
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
8
26
Julien El Fares
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
8
27
Yukihiro Doi
Skil - Shimano
8
28
Matthew Busche
Team RadioShack
8
29
Javier Ramírez Abeja
Andalucía - Cajasur
8
30
Mikel Landa
Orbea
8
31
Aketza Peña
Caja Rural
7
32
Romain Sicard
Euskaltel - Euskadi
6
33
Beñat Intxausti
Euskaltel - Euskadi
6
34
Geert Verheyen
Landbouwkrediet
6
35
Egoitz García
Caja Rural
6
36
Ricardo Vilela
Madeinox - Boavista
5
37
Aitor Pérez Arrieta
Footon - Servetto
4
38
David Bernabéu
Barbot - Siper
4
39
Thomas Faiers
Footon - Servetto
4
40
Rui Sousa
Barbot - Siper
3
41
David García Dapena
Xacobeo - Galicia
3
42
Rein Taaramäe
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
2
43
Serafín Martínez
Xacobeo - Galicia
2
44
Pedro Merino
Footon - Servetto
2
45
Gregory Brenes
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
2
46
Kanstantsin Siutsou
Team HTC - Columbia
2
Mountain
1
Bartosz Huzarski
ISD - Neri
53
2
Pedro Merino
Footon - Servetto
38
3
Javier Ramírez Abeja
Andalucía - Cajasur
37
4
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
28
5
Rein Taaramäe
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
26
Spoiler
6
Beñat Intxausti
Euskaltel - Euskadi
26
7
Kanstantsin Siutsou
Team HTC - Columbia
26
8
Byron Guama
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
24
9
Serafín Martínez
Xacobeo - Galicia
24
10
Gregory Brenes
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
23
11
Daniel Navarro
Astana
20
12
Alejandro Marque
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
20
13
Romain Sicard
Euskaltel - Euskadi
19
14
Danail Petrov
Madeinox - Boavista
18
15
José Luis Roldán
Andalucía - Cajasur
17
16
Giovanni Visconti
ISD - Neri
16
17
Tiago Machado
Team RadioShack
14
18
Hugo Sabido
LA Rota dos Móveis
14
19
Patrik Sinkewitz
ISD - Neri
12
20
Matthew Busche
Team RadioShack
12
21
Jesús Hernández
Astana
10
22
Frantisek Rabon
Team HTC - Columbia
10
23
Gorazd Stangelj
Astana
8
24
Mikel Landa
Orbea
7
25
Yukihiro Doi
Skil - Shimano
6
26
Ricardo Vilela
Madeinox - Boavista
6
27
Egoitz García
Caja Rural
6
28
David Moncoutié
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
5
29
Óscar Pereiro
Astana
5
30
Rubén García
Caja Rural
5
31
Fabio Felline
Footon - Servetto
4
32
Josep Jufré
Astana
4
33
Aketza Peña
Caja Rural
4
34
Thomas Faiers
Footon - Servetto
4
35
Amaël Moinard
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
3
36
Gorka Verdugo
Euskaltel - Euskadi
2
37
Geert Verheyen
Landbouwkrediet
2
38
Damien Monier
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
1
39
Maxim Belkov
ISD - Neri
1
Young
1
Tiago Machado
Team RadioShack
19h09'01
2
Romain Sicard
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 2'49
3
Rein Taaramäe
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 4'13
4
Beñat Intxausti
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 4'44
5
Marcos García
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 4'57
Spoiler
6
Steven Kruijswijk
Rabobank
+ 5'21
7
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
+ 6'11
8
Byron Guama
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
+ 6'16
9
Pedro Merino
Footon - Servetto
+ 6'47
10
Gregory Brenes
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
+ 6'55
11
Kai Reus
Rabobank
+ 7'17
12
Fabio Felline
Footon - Servetto
+ 7'46
13
José Luis Roldán
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 8'02
14
Rasmus Guldhammer
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 8'05
15
Arkaitz Durán
Footon - Servetto
+ 8'37
16
Julien El Fares
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 10'21
17
Matthew Busche
Team RadioShack
+ 10'46
18
Ricardo Vilela
Madeinox - Boavista
+ 10'49
19
Maxim Belkov
ISD - Neri
+ 14'57
20
Rubén García
Caja Rural
+ 15'41
21
Miguel Mínguez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 17'05
22
Ivan Rovny
Team RadioShack
+ 19'33
23
Mikel Landa
Orbea
+ 20'21
24
Patrick Gretsch
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 20'33
25
Jose Mendes
LA Rota dos Móveis
+ 21'21
26
Ion Izagirre
Orbea
+ 23'57
27
Nelson Rocha
LA Rota dos Móveis
+ 24'20
28
David Gutiérrez Palacios
Footon - Servetto
+ 26'14
29
Frederik Wilmann
Skil - Shimano
+ 27'18
30
Francisco Javier Aramendia
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 30'46
31
Joseba Larralde
Orbea
+ 31'50
32
Alberto Morrás
Madeinox - Boavista
+ 32'58
33
Márcio Barbosa
LA Rota dos Móveis
+ 33'46
34
Bjorn Selander
Team RadioShack
+ 34'26
35
David De la Cruz
Caja Rural
+ 35'02
36
Mario Costa
Barbot - Siper
+ 35'14
37
Carlos Baltazar
Barbot - Siper
+ 40'22
38
Pascual Orengo
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
+ 43'38
39
Thomas Faiers
Footon - Servetto
+ 47'19
40
José Carlos Lara
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
+ 47'54
41
Rubén Reig
Caja Rural
+ 47'54
42
Gert Dockx
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 49'39
43
Jonathan Bertrand
Landbouwkrediet
+ 50'38
44
Rubén Martínez
Caja Rural
+ 53'27
45
Benjamin Gourgue
Landbouwkrediet
+ 53'55
46
Henrique Casimiro
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
+ 54'52
47
Arturo Mora
Caja Rural
+ 54'58
48
Nicholas Walker
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
+ 56'39
49
Egoitz García
Caja Rural
+ 57'05
50
Antonio Cabello
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 57'35
51
Adrián Sáez de Arregi
Orbea
+ 1h01'43
52
Garikoitz Bravo
Caja Rural
+ 1h03'35
53
Andoni Blázquez
Orbea
+ 1h05'11
54
Antonio Amorim
Barbot - Siper
+ 1h05'38
55
Jon Aberasturi
Orbea
+ 1h07'08
56
Rubén Calvo
LA Rota dos Móveis
+ 1h09'35
57
David Deroo
Skil - Shimano
+ 1h10'52
58
Marin Andelini
Meridiana Kamen Team
+ 1h14'12
59
David Francisco
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
+ 1h14'20
60
Tom Van den Haute
Landbouwkrediet
+ 1h15'32
61
Burkhardt Glöckner
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
+ 1h17'58
62
Leigh Howard
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 1h19'00
Team
1
Astana
57h33'46
2
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 4'31
3
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 5'40
4
Palmeiras Resort - Prio
+ 6'18
5
Rabobank
+ 6'56
Spoiler
6
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 7'36
7
Andalucía - Cajasur
+ 7'43
8
Footon - Servetto
+ 10'11
9
ISD - Neri
+ 10'12
10
Barbot - Siper
+ 12'43
11
Team RadioShack
+ 14'02
12
Team HTC - Columbia
+ 23'00
13
Madeinox - Boavista
+ 23'15
14
Burgos 2016 - Castilla y Leon
+ 28'42
15
Skil - Shimano
+ 29'33
16
LA Rota dos Móveis
+ 39'04
17
Orbea
+ 1h09'33
18
Meridiana Kamen Team
+ 1h09'46
19
Caja Rural
+ 1h15'53
20
Landbouwkrediet
+ 1h34'58
21
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
+ 3h00'28
Nicholas Walker did it. The Aussie wins the sprinters jersey, so not only reaching our goal but going further. This accomplishment is probably the biggest of all season. Well, it's a very short list of achievements, I mean, what are the other ones? Kangert winning mountain jersey and.. a Top 10 in East Midlands Classic? Anyway, we had to battle on all stages for this, and thanks to the great work by all riders we've now got the jersey.
The Astana favorites Daniel Navarro and Jesús Hernández didn't disappoint, getting 1st and 4th in the overall. Tiago Machado was another name, got 2nd. He and Navarro proved to be the strongest in the race on fourth stage, winning by more than 3 minutes to almost everybody in the peloton. This was actually a very good race for breakaways. From five stages, three won by breakaways, something that doesn't happen often in PCM.
As I have already said, Kangert and the others quit the race yesterday because right now they are taking part in Giro di Toscana. Before that, though, we will recap what has happened in our Month Review. Stay tuned!
Besides, the 3rd stage hasn't got a big mountain like the 4th has.
