Today is stage two, yet another flat one. However, our team manager let me know this morning that I will be allowed to attack today. It's always fun being in the breakaway, so today I hoped it would succeed. Then I heard even better news: Spilak would be in the breakaway too! It's always nice having a teammate in the breakaway
About 10 kilometers in, me and Simon both attacked. Four other riders joined us. Me and Simon were the only ones doing all of the work at the front. The gap continued to float around one minute. Over the top of the one and only climb, no one would (or could), challenge me and Simon and we went over the top first and second. Eventually we were caught by the peloton, still with 90k to go. I guess it wasn't a very strong breakaway. However, simon wouldn't give up and attacked again, this time going solo, because I simply didn't have the legs left to follow him. He's always been better than me in the flats.
His pace was extremely fast. I guess he was in pretty good form.
Eventually he too began to tire, and the peloton began to close in. Just after Simon was caught, four riders attacked, including Daniel Martin. Our team manager saw this as a threat, so he sent Marco Marzano after them, and he chased furiously, catching up to the leaders in no time. As the other riders settled in and allowed the speeding peloton to catch them, Marzano set off on his own. He was feeling good today, and managed to keep the the peloton at bay, which was beginning to get angry. It began to gain on him, and he was only ahead by 30" with three kilometers to go. With 1k left, down to 15". The sprint was on! He barely hangs on, with the peloton nipping at this heels! the rest if the team finished safely within the peloton, losing no time overall.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1. Marco Marzano Lampre-ISD 4h09'43"
2. Nico Eickhout Ana Pest-Jeans Kelly s.t.
3. Sebastien Hinautl AG2r La Mondiale s.t.
4. Nicki Sorenson Saxo Bank-Sunguard s.t.
5. John Lee Augustyn Team Sky s.t.
... 86. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD s.t.
Once again, today is yet another flat stage, the last one before the mountains. We decided that we would save our energy today. No attacks.
The first part of the stage was a long but not difficult uphill section, and it seemed as though most teams had the same idea as us, to save our energy for the mountains, because there were no early attacks. It could've also been due to the fact that it was only 10 degrees Celsius, and many riders were probably cold.
Finally, one came, with 100k to go. It included three riders, but I heard from the team manager that there were no major threats, so there was no need to chase.
More and more riders attacked, but we still weren't worried.
With 60k to go, the gap was at 3'30" to the leading group of now 12 riders. It wasn't until Christophe Riblon attacked that we started following. Riblon joined the breakaway, and it opened up a one minute gap with 20k to go. We were chasing now, because /riblon was a potential contender in the overall.
With 10k to go, the leaders were 30" ahead. They were caught with 3k to go. Ana Pest-Jeans Kelly was at the front for Eickhout, their sprinter. Sebastien Hinault was nowhere in sight! It was close at the finish, but Eickhout did managed to secure the win in the first bunch sprint of the Tour so far. Once again we had a fine stage with everyone finishing amongst the rest.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1. Nico Eickhout Ana Pest-Jeans Kelly 3h18'38"
2. Murilo Foscher Garmin-Cervelo s.t.
3. Juan Pablo Furero Carreno Colombian y Pason-Kafe Colombian s.t.
4. Andre Scholze CCC Popol s.t.
5. Pieter Ghyllobert Ana Pest-Jeans Kelly s.t.
... 14. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD s.t.
I am very happy with my 14th place today. Especially in a flat stage, a top 20 is always a great results. Simon did beat me by one place however, out sprinting me in the end. It doesn't really matter though, because all was even heading into the first mountain stage.Edited by Flash127 on 03-09-2011 04:10
Status quo before the mountains, After todays 14th, Diego surely feels confident. I hope he will make a great result or help Bertagnolli the best way he can, i'm looking forward to your report after the race
This is it. The first tough stage of the year. It isn't leg busting difficult, but it is certainly hard. Beratgnolli is the number one race favorite for today's stage, and he is certainly hoping to pull through on that. Riders like Daniel Martin, Jerome Coppel, and Jean-Christophe Peraud would be challengers though, so he would not have an easy time.
The stage's first climb came immediately after the start, putting some riders into difficulty already, and that included Balloni. I was near him in the peloton, and I could tell just by looking at him that he probably wasn't going to have a great day.
Christian Knees from Team Sky launched the first attack of the day, and he was a dangerous rider, so we needed a rider to go into the breakaway with him. Simon was in the perfect position, so he went off after them.
Apparently no other riders in the breakaway could keep up with Spilak and Knee's pacemaking, and the two set off alone. In the meantime, I was ordered to protect Bertagnolli on the second climb. At this point, the peloton began to split. Alfredo was stuck in the back group, and the race leader was in the middle. Me, Marzano, and Bertagnolli were still in the front group, riding strong, although I was beginning to feel the lactic acid, and we were still only on the second climb.
Finally the summit came, and I was still safely in the front of the peloton, three minutes behind Spilak and Knees.
The gap continued to come down, and they were finally caught at the bottom of the third climb. I spoke to Simon, who said that he was feeling fine, and wasn't too tired.
Luckily, I got the KOM sprint, and moved closer to Knees, who was leading that competition. 60k to go, and our leading group including the favorites had a 4'30" lead on the main peloton. In the peloton, Nicki Sorenson fell! What awful luck. Hopefully he can continue the stage. Finally, the pain was too much, and I began to lose contact with the lead group on the second to last climb. Soon, Simon and Daniel Martin also fell off the pace.
It became clear that the nine leaders would fight it out for the victory. All I wanted to do was not fall back into the peloton.
The groups split, however, and soon it was only Coppel and Bertagnolli that were left to sprint for the victory!
They were neck and neck with 500 meters to go, fighting desperately for the stage win. Coppel just barely took it! He had more energy left in the end, which was probably the deciding factor.
I finished alone in 12th place, but was thankfully never caught by the peloton.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1. Jerome Coppel Saur-Sojasun 5h01'49" 2. Leonardo Bertagnolli Lampre-ISD s.t.
3. Bert De Waele Landboukrediet +0'39" 4. Marco Marzano Lampre-ISD s.t.
5. Serge Pauwels Team Sky s.t.
6. Jean-Christophe Peraud AG2r La Mondiale +1'11"
7. Chris Anker Sorenson Saxo Bank-Sunguard s.t.
8. To, Danielson Garmin-Cervelo s.t.
9. Christian Knees Team Sky s.t. 10. Simon Spilak Lampre-ISD +3'57"
... 12. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD +5'55"
GC Standings
Spoiler
1. Jerome Coppel Saur-Sojasun 14h39'35" 2. Leonardo Bertagnolli Lampre-ISD +0'20" 3. Marco Marzano Lampre-ISD +0'51"
4. Bert De Waele Landboukrediet +0'57"
5. Serge Pauwels Team Sky +1'09"
... 9. Simon Spilak Lampre-ISD +4'21"
... 11. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD +6'21"
KOM Standings
Spoiler
1. Jerome Coppel Saur-Sojasun 20pts
2. Christian Knees Team Sky 14pts 3. Simon Spilak Lampre-ISD 14pts
4. Bert De Waele Landbourkrediet 14pts 5. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD 12pts
U25 Standings
Spoiler
1. Jerome Coppel Saur-Sojasun 14h39'35" 2. Simon Spilak Lampre-ISD +4'21" 3. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD +6'21"
4. Daniel Martin Garmin-Cervelo +7'15"
5. John Lee Augustyn Team Sky +7'21"
So all in all you could call it a pretty good stage for me. Even though I didn't finish amongst the leaders, I did help Bertagnolli loads, and allowed him to conserve energy until the end. I also helped us take the lead in the team classification! Tomorrow is a tougher mountain stage, and you can count on me being tired. I don't know if I can duplicate today's performance in helping Bertagnolli, but we'll see soon enough.
Hey guys. I've been sitting in my bed for awhile, and it's getting boring, so I've decided to put up another update.
Today was a pretty exhausting stage. I worked my butt of for Bertagnolli, and he came up to me after the stage, and let me know that if me and Simon hadn't been pulling for him all day, he surely wouldn't have been able to keep up with Coppel. That is another confidence builder. He certainly knows how to make you feel good.
As for Alfredo, he said he just had an awful day. He wasn't feeling good, and was having fits with his stomach. He thinks it's been getting better, and perhaps he'll be feeling better tomorrow. Hopefully he isn't coming down with a cold. He lost almost 15 minutes on the stage, and it wasn't great for his morale.
Nicki Sorenson was fine, as I heard. Some minor injuries, and he ended up about two minutes behind the pack, but he should be able to finish the race and continue the season.
Well that's it for now. I hope to be reporting good news tomorrow.
Good night everyone.
It was finally here. The queen stage of the Tour de Langkawi. It was pretty flat for the majority of the race, and then we hit the mountain. One long, tough climb that would sort out the contenders from the pretenders.
One problem we had was Alfredo. He was feeling pretty bad, and it seemed that he had a stomach virus. He was considering dropping out, but I've never seen him give up before, I hoped that it didn't start now.
Because Coppel was wearing the yellow jersey and Spilak was wearing the KOM jersey, that left only me in third place in the U25 standings to wear the white jersey. Although I wasn't leading the competition, it still felt great to be wearing it. The early morning breakaway consisted of eight riders, all from continental teams, and all more than 10 minutes behind in the GC, so we had no worries.
More and more riders attacked, and soon there were 16 riders in all in the breakaway.
However, 16 riders still wasn't enough as they were caught with 80k to go.
A more promising attack came with 70k to go, when only two riders went, and pushed the gap to over 2'30" with under 60k to go. As the climb began, the gap was still hanging around 2'30", and our whole team was riding safely at the front of the peloton. It came down fast, however, and they were caught with 15k to go. A valiant effort by the two nevertheless.
About halfway up the climb, my legs really began to feel the pain. the peloton was splitting every which way, but I was just managin to stay with the front runners once again. There was still over 10k left, however, and I wasn't sure if I could make it with the leaders.
I was finally dropped with about 6k to go, as I hit the wall, and fell off the pace. the leading group began to split, and finally with 1 kilometer left, it was down to a sprint between four riders. Coppel, Bertagnolli, Marzano and Sorenson.
In the end, it was once again Coppel who outpsrinted the others and took his second stage win in a row. Bertagnolli took third and Marzano fourth.
I finished in the front of a group of three, a bit behind the main peloton. Not as good of a results as yesterday, but I am more of a hilly rider rather than mountains, and I was exhausted from the previous day, so it was still a pretty good result. I was dissapointed that I couldn't keep contact with the main group however.
+++++++++++++ There was a crash at the finish when the peloton came through, but luckily Balloni was not involved, and he was still in the race.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1. Jerome Coppel Saur-Sojasun 3h32'55"
2. Chris Anker Sorenson Saxo Bank-Sunguard s.t. 3. Leonardo Bertagnolli Lampre-ISD s.t.
4. Marco Marzano Lampre-ISD s.t.
5. John-Lee Augustyn Team Sky +0'40"
6. Jean-Christophe Peraud AG2r La Mondiale +1'09"
7. Rom Danielson Garmin-Cervelo s.t.
8. Daniel Martin Garmin-Cervelo s.t.
9. Hubert Dupont AG2r La Mondiale s.t. 10. Simon Spilak Lampre-ISD s.t.
... 28. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD +5'33"
GC Standings
Spoiler
1. Jerome Coppel Saur-Sojasun 18h12'10" 2. Leonardo Bertagnolli Lampre-ISD +0'32"
3. Marco Marzano Lampre-ISD +1'11"
4. Chris Anker Sorenson Saxo Bank-Sunguard +1'49"
5. Serge Pauwels Team Sky +2'38"
... 14. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD +12'14"[/color
U25 Standings
Spoiler
1. Jerome Coppel Saur-Sojasun 18'12'10" 2. Simon Spilak Lampre-ISD +5'50"
3. John-Lee Augustyn Team Sky +8'21"
4. Daniel Martin Garmin-Cervelo +8'44" [color=#990066]5. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD +12'14"
So today I dropped a bit in the overall standings. I'm now in 14th place, but I am fine with still being in the top 20. I also fell to 5th in the Young Rider competition, and am now out of contention for the KOM jersey. However we did still have a firm grasp on the team classification lead. So it wasn't a great stage, but other than me the team itself did perfectly fine, which is good enough for me.
I'm sorry, but for Stage 6 of the Tour de Langkawi, I let it play without me being there, which means that none of the riders attack, chase, get water, protect, sprint, or do anything. They just ride at the back of the peloton. It also means I didn't get any screenshots. Here's the results anyway.
In the end, a breakaway won by five minutes, but luckily there were no major changes in the GC or any other competition, and Diego was still in 14th place.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1. Mikael Cherel AG2r La Mondiale 3h24'18"
2. Jonathon McCarty Spidertech s.t.
3. Michael Vank Trek-Livestrong 23 s.t.
4. Davide Ricci Bitti Farnese-Vini s.t.
5. Travis Meyer Garmin-Cervelo s.t.
... [b]78. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD +5'01"[/b]
So we're well into the home stretch now, with the just four more flat stages left in the Tour. Bertagnolli was still sitting in second place, and Marzano was in third. Having two riders on the podium was great for the team. Simon was also in the top ten in ninth place, and I was just out of the top ten in 14th place. Since I was over 12 minutes behind in the GC, none of the favorites would consider me a danger, so I was thinking of joining the breakaway of the day.
Of course the first attack of the day came very early, and I was in it. I was joined by J. Hosek of PSK, T. Meyer of Garmin-Cervelo, A. Wetterhall of Endura Racing, and M. Rabottini of Farnese-Vini. We opened up a lead of over a minute.
Some riders in the break did more in terms of setting the pace than others, so I took the front and started pulling hard. Apparently we were still working harder than the peloton, because we pushed the gap to over six minutes pretty soon, however there was still over 120k to go, so we couldn't get too excited.
With 100k to go, our manager informed me that we had a gap over 8 minutes.
The stage continued to move along at a steady pace, and slowly the peloton began to close down. With 25k to go, It was within two minutes.
As the gap continued to shrink, I knew I had to start something, so I attacked, but couldn't pull away. We were caught with just 10k to go.
With under 5k to go, more and more attacks came, including our very own Aitor Perez.
With 1k to go, it was Ian Stannard of Team Sky who had control.
And Stannard barely holds on at the very end, with Scholze of CCC-Popol closing fast.
So I was spent after spending the enitre day in the breakaway, so I didn't really contest in the sprint for the finish, but it's okay, I didn't need to.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1. Ian Stannard Team Sky 3h59'30"
2. Andre Scholze CCC-Popol s.t.
3. Murilo Fischer Garmin-Cervelo s.t.
4. Nico Eickhout Ana Pest-Jeans Kelly s.t.
5. Reiner Honig Landboukrediet s.t.
6. Steve Cummings Team Sky s.t. 7. Aitor Perez Lampre-ISD s.t.
8. Bert De Waele Landboukrediet s.t.
9. Stanislav Kozubek PSK 10. Simon Spilak Lampre-ISD s.t.
... 119. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD s.t.
No changes in the GC
Tomorrow I will be too tired to attack most liekly, but I may get a chance on the last stage. We'll see.Edited by Flash127 on 06-09-2011 03:25
Today is Stage 8 of the Tour de Langkawi, and I'm almost done with my first stage race of the year. There are only three more flat stages left, and my goal fpor atleast one of them is to be in a successful breakaway, which I haven't been able to do yet this Tour.
As the day began, an attack was made by about ten riders, including our very own Aitor Perez.
The most notable riders in the breakaway besides were Sutherland from UnitedHealthCare and Liverde J. of Colombian Y Pason.
Only five riders, including Perez, made it into the front group. A second group of 8 was about a minute behind, and the peloton was about 3'45" behind.
With 80k to go, the two breakaway groups joined up, and they soon pulled ahead to more than 6 minutes. It started to come down fast. With 10k to go, it was dwon to just one minute. However, the breakaway continued to fend off the peloton.
With 4k to go, and the breakaway still one minute ahead, I decided to attack.
With 1k to go, it was clear the breakaway would sprint it out for the win. It was Ian Stannard who had the early lead.
And he managed to hold on, fending off Rory Sutherland at the end.
I finished in a solid 14th place, which also happened to be my current place in the overall standings.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1. Ian Stannard Team Sky 3h54'19"
2. Rory Sutherland UnitedHealtchCare Pro Cycling s.t.
3. Davy Commeyne Landboukrediet s.t.
4. Jonas Buchachek PSK s.t.
5. Jacob Neilsen Glud & Marstrand s.t.
6. Luis F. Liverde J. Colombian Y Pason-Kafe Colombia s.t.
7. Carter Jones Trek-Livestrong 23 s.t.
8. Dimitri Claeys NetApp s.t.
9. Hugo Houle Spidertech s.t.
10. Jack Bauer Endura Racing s.t.
... 14. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD s.t.
So although there were gaps between the breakaway and me and the peloton, there were no time gaps given, so no gains or losses ocne again in the overall.
Today is the second to last stage of the Tour de Langkawi, and there is yet another flat one. I expect a boring stage, but you never know.
To be honest, it was beginning for the first half. No attacks succeeded, and basically the peloton just rode along at a steady pace. Every time someone attacked, they would be chased down immediately.
It didn't get interesting until the very end. As the peloton approached the finish, Scholze was leading the way with 1k to go. Then Fischer of Garmin-Cervelo came bursting out from second wheel and pulled into the lead, and taking the win with relative ease.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1. Murilo Fischer Garmin-Cervelo 3h32'28"
2. Paul Voss Endura Racing s.t.
3. Andre Scholze CCC-Popol s.t.
4. Stephane Poulhies Saur-Sojasun s.t.
5. Andreas Dietziker NetApp s.t.
6. Jonathon Hivert Saur-Sojasun s.t.
7. Takashi Miyazawa Farnese-Vini s.t. 8. Leonardo Bertagnolli Lampre-ISD s.t.
9. Nico Eickhout Ana Pest-Jeans Kelly s.t.
10. Andrea Grendene Team Type 1 s.t.
... 54. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD s.t.
So another day, another peloton sprint. No changes in the GC heading into tomorrow's final stage.
And we've finally reached the last stage of this year's Tour de Langkawi. This stage is under 100 kilometers, so it's relatively short and not too difficult. We've had a fine Tour so far, but there's always room to make it better, so we hope to somehow get a victory in this last stage, much like Marzano got one earlier in the Tour.
The early morning breakaway was established very early. It included 11 riders, the only notable one being Liverde J. of Colombian y Pason. He's been extremely aggresive in this year's tour. They quickly got out to a 1'30" lead.
With 77k to go, Rory Sutherland of UnitedHealthCare attacked, and I found this as the perfect opportunity to get into today's break, so I followed, and Vitaly Kondrut followed. He was a great helper. We were joined by R. Partridge of Endura Racing, and we quickly bridged the gap to the leading group, strengthening it to 15 riders.
However, the peloton seemed angry, and we were caught after just 15 kilometers in the lead.
A few kilometers later, another attack was launched, this time by Steve Cummings of Team Sky. This time, Kondrut was too tired to follow with me, so instead Simon took off.
We pulled away from the peloton, and slowly began to gain on Steve. I was tired as well from my earlier attack, so soon Simon pulled away and joined Cummings as well as C. Juul Jeanson of Glud & M.
I was soon caught by the peloton, which was closing in on the leaders, so Spilak attacked. Only Cummings could follow.
Soon Spilak pulled away from Cummings as well, and pulled away, going solo, with still over 20k to go.
It didn't last too long, though, and Spilak was caught with 10k to go.
With just 4k to go, Marzano made a move for it. Maybe with a perfectly timed attack he could get another victory.
It was to no avail, however, as he didn't have the closing speed to take home the victory, and was passed by many people in the final 500m.
In the end it was Sebastien Hinault who took a pretty easy victory ahead of the rest of the sprinters.
So in the end it was yet another mass sprint finish, this time Hinault took the win, with Paul Voss in second and Murilo Fishcer grabbing third.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1. Sebastien Hinault AG2r La Mondiale 2h12'52"
2. Paul Voss Endura Racing s.t.
3. Murilo Fishcer Garmin-Cervelo s.t.
4. Jerome Coppel Saur-Sojasun s.t.
5. Karl Menzies UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling s.t.
6. Andre Scholze CCC-Popol s.t.
7. Daniele Callegarin Team Type 1 s.t.
8. Bartlomiej Mutysiak CCC-Popol s.t.
9. Matteo Tosatto Saxo Bank-Sunguard s.t.
10. Kevin Lacombe Spidertech s.t.
... 109. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD s.t.
Overall GC
Spoiler
1. Jerome Coppel Saur-Sojasun 35h20'38" 2. Leonardo Bertagnolli Lampre-ISD +0'32"
3. Marco Marzano Lampre-ISD +1'09"
4. Chris Anker Sorenson Saxo Bank-Sunguard +1'49"
5. Serge Pauwels Team Sky +2'38"
... 9. Simon Spilak Lampre-ISD +5'50" 14. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD +12'10"
28. Aitor Perez Lampre-ISD +19'16"
31. Alexander Kvachuk Lampre-ISD +21'19"
32. Vitaly Kondrut Lampre-ISD s.t.
92. Alfredo Balloni Lampre-ISD +32'15"
Points Competition
Spoiler
1. Murilo Fischer Garmin-Cervelo 93pts
2. Andre Scholze CCC-Popol 84pts
3. Nico Eickhout Ana Pest-Jeans Kelly 81pts
4. Jerome Coppel Saur-Sojasun 79pts 5. Marco Marzano Lampre-ISD 56pts
KOM Competition
Spoiler
1. Jerome Coppel Saur-Sojasun 40pts 2. Leonardo Bertagnollie Lampre-ISD 20pts
3. Marco Marzano Lampre-ISD 20pts
4. Simon Spilak Lampre-ISD 16pts
5. Chris Anker Sorenson Saxo Bank-Sunguard 14pts
Young Rider Classification
Spoiler
1. Jerome Coppel Saur-Sojasun 35h20'38" 2. Simon Spilak Lampre-ISD +5'50"
3. John-Lee Augustyn Team Sky +8'21"
4. Daniel Martin Garmin-Cervelo +8'44" 5. Diego Ulissi Lampre-ISD +12'08"
Team Classification
Spoiler
1. Lampre-ISD 106h10'`15"
2. Garmin-Cervelo +3'27"
3. Team Sky +5'23"
4. AG2r La Mondiale +17'55"
5. Saur-Sojasun +26'10"
And with that, my first stage race of the year was complete, and my legs were tired as ever. Me and the team did pretty well, I say. We finished with Bertagnolli in second, and Marzano in third, which was pretty great.
We also finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the KOM competition, in which I finish 8th.
I finished 14th in the overall, so I was happy with a top 20 performance. I was also 5th in the Young rider competition.
Best of all, we won the Team classification, and were ceratainly happy about that.
Well that's it for now. I'll see you all later.
