February 18th, Stage 2: Vegas del Genil - Cazorla 176 km
Today's stage has the same hilly profile, but there are hills closer to the finish line too. It's another chance for our young talent, Chiquita, to maybe have another good performance, while the other favourite will surely attack.
The BOTD formed about 30 kms into the stage. Silence - Lotto sent another strong man in the breakaway, Gustav Larsson being their choice, while danish sprinter Casper Jorgensen of Milram was another notable presence.
The breakaway had a maximum lead of 7 minutes, with Quick Step driving the chase.
On the penultimate hill of the day, Pozzato attacked.
The favourites quickly responded. Pozzato was joined by Gasparotto, Markus Fothen and Geraint Thomas of Rabobank, while world TT champ Tony Martin felt this could be a stage winning selection and jumped from the peloton. There were 29 kms to go, the race was now on.
Soon afterwards, Chiquita attacked near the top of the hill and hoped he would join the leaders on the descent.
He managed to reach a group formed of the day's breakaways and some other attackers from the peloton, but he could not join the leaders.
Pozzato, Gasparotto and Martin formed the leading group and they already started playing cat and mouse games with 2 kms to go.
Despite being the worst sprinter in the group, Martin took the stage and jumped to second place overall.
Stage 2 Results:
1. Tony Martin Team Milram 4h35'50"
2. Enrico Gasparotto Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
3. Filippo Pozzato Quick Step s.t.
4. Andriy Grivko Silence - Lotto +51"
5. Markus Fothen Skil Shimano s.t.
6. Paulino Galyamin Andalucia s.t.
7. Kevin Seeldraeyers Saunier Duval s.t.
8. Enrico Franzoi Saunier Duval +1'31"
9. Etor Izaguirre Extremadura s.t.
10. Avelino Chiquita Tinkoff +1'53"
General Classification:
1. Filippo Pozzato Quick Step 8h56'29"
2. Tony Martin Team Milram +8"
3. Enrico Gasparotto Caisse d'Epargne +20"
4. Paulino Galyamin Andalucia +1'11"
5. Andriy Grivko Silence - Lotto +1'19"
6. Kevin Seeldraeyers Saunier Duval s.t.
7. Markus Fothen Skil - Shimano s.t.
8. Etor Izaguirre Extremadura +1'59"
9. Enrico Franzoi Saunier Duval s.t.
10. Avelino Chiquita Tinkoff +2'09
Points Classification:
1. Filippo Pozzato Quick Step 41
2. Tony Martin Team Milram 34
3. Enrico Gasparotto Caisse d'Epargne 27
KOM Classification:
1. Gustav Larrson Silence - Lotto 32
Young Rider Classification: 1. Avelino Chiquita Tinkoff 8h58'38"
Teams Classification:
1. Quick Step
Unfortunately, Chiquita lost his blue jersey and probably any chance of winning the Ruta del Sol, but he's still the wearer of the white jersey. Tomorrow's stage will again be very hilly and it's the last chance of a GC shake-up, before the last two stages which will probably end in bunch sprints.
Edited by arthon on 21-02-2010 11:50
February 19th, Stage 3: La Guardia de Jaen - Jaen 159 km
Unfortunately, the game crashes when I try to play the race replay, so I'll have to tell you what happened.
About 55-60 km to go, the ones who had the legs today started attacking, amongst which was Avelino Chiquita, trying to improve on his 10th overall so far. He and all the other riders who attacked failed to make an important gap, so they were recaptured about 25-20 km to go. He had nothing left in the tank, so I had to find another solution.
On the penultimate climb of the day, at 18 km to go, Bohumil Vlasak attacked, pushed hard on both the climbs and resisted the chasers to take team Tinkoff's first stage victory at the Ruta del Sol. He was closely followed by Tony Martin and Kevin Seeldraeyers.
Vlasak's effort got him the white jersey from team-mate Chiquita, while Tony Martin moved into the leader's position and will wear the red jersey tomorrow.
Points Classification:
1. Tony Martin Team Milram 54
2. Filippo Pozzato Quick Step 50
3. Paulino Galyamin Andalucia 40
KOM Classification:
1. Gustav Larrson Silence - Lotto 32
Young Rider Classification:
1. Bohumil Vlasak Tinkoff 13h21'58"
Teams Classification:
1. Saunier Duval - Scott
After another GC shake-up, I'm really glad we have two riders in the top 10 now. The last two stages are pretty flat and will probably end in bunch sprints, so I don't think there will be any GC changes.
2011 Tour de France:
GC: Alberto Contador
Points: Riccardo Ricco
KOM: Alberto Contador
Youth: Roman Kreuziger
Team: Tinkoff Credit Systems
It was that time of the year again. The time of epic battles, thrills, spills, winners and losers. And it was time for another Contador - Kreuziger clash.
They both came in top form, they both fought again in the mountain and in the time - trials, but Contador proved better yet again. Contador rode well when it mattered and sealed his victory in the final week, by winning 3 consecutive stages (17th, 18th and 19th). He now was one short of equaling the legends: Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain. Contador also won his 3rd climber's jersey.
Kreuziger on the other hand won two stages, finished 2nd overall and proved once again that his win in 2009 was no fluke.
A revigorated Riccardo Ricco finished 3rd overall, together with the points jersey, the Cofidis rider riding his first ever Tour de France, despite riding the Giro almost every year.
During the off-season, Garmin Chipotle made the transfer of the season: Andy Schleck joined the team, after missing from the 2010 Tour. He had the reputation of a winner, capable of taking on Contador or Kreuziger. He was always close, but that was all of it: he finished 4th, although he could have won it easily. But Garmin wasn't really finished, with Schleck's right hand, Vladimir Efimkin, finishing 6th, after a miserable 20th last year.
Tinkoff put a great performance once again and the team's leader, Peter Velits, finished 5th. He finally came of age, and without Nibali in the Tour squad, he was free to drive his own race.
Sastre finished 7th, adding another top 10 to his palmares, while the top 10 was completed by Brajkovic of Caisse d'Epargne, Thomas Dekker of FdJ and Ramon Domene of Tinkoff.
This year, Tinkoff placed two riders in the top 10 and we were slowly building a team capable of winning the Tour. Also, the team's consistency and high placings in the GC resulted in another victory in the teams classification.
2012 Tour de France:
GC: Roman Kreuziger
Points: Mark Cavendish
KOM: Peter Velits
Youth: Bauke Mollema
Teams: Tinkoff Credit Systems
This was Contador's chance of winning a 5th Tour de France. He could have become a true legend of the Tour. He joined Caisse d'Epargne in the off-season, the spanish team gladly welcoming Spain's current hero. Caisse d'Epargne didn't really have a strong GC contender, Brajkovic not being able to crack the top 5, so Contador became their man for 2012.
All the other contenders were in top form, once again ready to battle for the Tour. There were some improvements, but the usual suspects fought it again.
Kreuziger finally managed a second Tour victory, after two second places overall in 2010 and 2011. He won only two stages, but finished 2nd on three more stages. He was definitely the strongest of the bunch and this win surely took some pressure of his shoulders.
Andy Schleck continued being close, but not on the top spot, by finishing 2nd overall for the second time in his career. He gave it all over the three weeks, but it still wasn't enough against Kreuziger.
Surprisingly, Thomas Dekker of FdJ came in 3rd place, after being 9th in last year's edition, finally giving the Netherlands something to cheer about.
Although the media was all over him during the 2012 season, all about the prospect of winning his 5th Tour, Contador finished only 4th overall. With all the aid of his Caisse d'Epargne team, he failed to add another win to his palmares, but he was ready to contest it again next year.
Tinkoff continued improving and our GC contenders, Velits and Nibali, finished 5th and 6th. Velits also won the climber's jersey, clearly been in mood of attacking throughout the Tour.
The top 10 was completed by Chris Froome of Liquigas, Brajkovic of Caisse d'Epargne, Pieter Jacobs of Silence - Lotto and Remy Di Gregorio of Rabobank.
The peloton's top sprinter, Cavendish, added another green jersey to his palmares, while his Lampre team-mate, Mollema, won the white jersey for the best young rider.
Since the last two stages ended in sprints and had no major effect on the GC, I decided to post them both now.
On stage 4, although Quick Step had two better sprinters on the team (Van Avermaet and Trussov), they choose Tom Veelers as the main sprinter and they were fully rewarded, as Veelers took the stage ahead of Gasparotto.
Our sprinter, Palkus, was really tired after the last climb of the day and couldn't put in a good sprint.
On stage 5, Gasparotto missed another win, just being defeated on the line by danish sprinter Casper Jorgensen. This time, Palkus was pretty fresh at the finish line and managed a respectable 4th.
KOM Classification:
1. Rikke Dijkxhoorn Skil Shimano 32
Young Rider Classification:
1. Bohumil Vlasak Tinkoff 21h45'40"
Teams Classification:
1. Saunier Duval - Scott
I'm very happy with the team's performance, finishing with two riders in the top 10 and the white jersey.
Now we will be heading back to team HQ in Verona, in order to prepare for Paris - Nice and Tirreno - Adriatico in three weeks time.
Edited by arthon on 27-02-2010 14:38
