Overall, hilly classics didn't bring much to me. I was in the hunt during the Flèche Wallonne, but too much energy was spent over the distance and the penultimate hill broke my team. The race ended with Martin 1-2. Different teams, different nationalities.
1 Daniel Martin UAD 5h14'57
2 Guillaume Martin WGG s.t.
3 Julian Alaphilippe QST s.t.
4 Dylan Teuns BMC s.t.
5 Michał Kwiatkowski SKY s.t.
6 Alejandro Valverde MOV s.t.
7 Sérgio Luis Henao SKY + 30
8 Michael Albasini MTS s.t.
9 Louis Meintjes DDD s.t.
10 Roman Kreuziger MTS s.t.
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18 Alexandre Geniez +2'01
22 Oliver Naesen +2'01
30 Romain Bardet +3'22
44 Tony Gallopin +4'17
46 Jan Bakelants +4'17
60 Mathias Frank +4'17
140 Stijn Vandenbergh +10'08
Liège-Bastogne-Liège was a chaotic due to rain. Almost every top rider crashed at least once. From my riders Geniez was in the early crash but later in the race he was in a 6-man break which included Alaphilippe. The latter group had strong riders and was able to catch it.
Romain Bardet crashed and suffered minor injury. Even without that, this was going to be his last race for a while. The plan for my top rider is one small one-day-race, Dauphiné and national RR before Tour de France.
1 Alejandro Valverde MOV 6h56'57
2 Daniel Martin UAD s.t.
3 Michael Albasini MTS s.t.
4 Michał Kwiatkowski SKY s.t.
5 Primož Roglič TLJ + 21
6 Fabio Aru UAD + 2'41
7 Rui Costa UAD s.t.
8 Domenico Pozzovivo TBM + 2'54
9 Guillaume Martin WGG s.t.
10 Julian Alaphilippe QST s.t.
-
15 Jan Bakelants + 3'20
17 Alexandre Geniez + 3'31
20 Alexis Vuillermoz + 4'25
36 Mathias Frank + 7'14
41 Oliver Naesen + 7'36
DNF Romain Bardet
DNF Tony Gallopin
Other DNFs: Mikel Nieve, Nicolas Roche, Emanuel Buchmann, Rafal Majka, Egan Bernal, Bjorg Lambrecht, Richard Carapaz.
With regards to real life, tragedies like Lambrecht may make playing a game like this little harder, but I will try my best. So far in this game, his best achievement has been 3rd place in Klasika Primavera.
The race started with a prologue which had quite a tough profile. To even surprise myself, I got a stage win in courtesy of Nico Denz. He had a fitness peak towards the day, even though this race was not in my mind for training.
Second stage was hilly. It was ridden hard and Denz was the only my rider who could stay in the front group, with Dillier about two minutes behind. However, the lead was gone thanks to bonus seconds for top riders. Uran crashed out of the race.
1 Thibaut Pinot FDJ 4h27'59
2 Adam Yates MTS s.t.
3 Nairo Quintana MOV s.t.
4 Vincenzo Nibali TBM s.t.
5 Richie Porte BMC s.t.
6 Michał Kwiatkowski SKY s.t.
Stage three was easier but it contained again lots of crashes, and Pinot, Denz and Nibali were on those. Denz continued but lost lots of time, Pinot and Nibali had to leave the race. The break seemed certain to win it but Marcus Burghardt was catched on the final metres.
1 Michał Kwiatkowski SKY 4h32'53
2 Mihkel Räim ICA s.t.
3 Roman Kreuziger MTS s.t.
4 Marcus Burghardt BOH s.t.
5 Marco Haller TKA s.t.
6 Nikias Arndt SUN s.t.
1 Nairo Quintana MOV 9h10'13
2 Michał Kwiatkowski SKY + 3
3 Adam Yates MTS + 6
4 Richie Porte BMC + 10
5 Roman Kreuziger MTS + 11
6 Tom Dumoulin SUN s.t.
A mountain time trial followed with Quintana increasing his lead with a stage win. It was quite close for top three though.
1 Nairo Quintana MOV 28'49
2 Richie Porte BMC + 12
3 Adam Yates MTS + 15
4 Ion Izagirre TBM + 55
5 Tom Dumoulin SUN s.t.
6 Sébastien Reichenbach FDJ + 58
1 Nairo Quintana MOV 9h39'02
2 Adam Yates MTS + 21
3 Richie Porte BMC + 22
4 Tom Dumoulin SUN + 1'06
5 Roman Kreuziger MTS + 1'22
6 Bauke Mollema TFS s.t.
The supposed queen stage didn't matter at all. The small gaps build on the final climb were caught as the stage ended in downhill section. The break got the stage honors.
Giro d'Italia offers a very back-loaded route for this edition. Starting in Israel with time trial and two flat stages, the race then goes to Sicily, visiting Etna as the first mountaintop finish on stage 6.
Back to continental Italy the race goes heads north-west, switching from west coast to east coast in the process. A feared Monte Zoncolan awaits at the end of the third week, followed by another mountain stage.
After the time trial, the final week has a single mountain stage to Prato Nevoso followed by difficult stages in the Alps. This time the race ends in Rome with a flat stage.
As well as 18 WorldTour teams, the wild card selections were Bardiani-CSF, Nippo-Vini Fantini, Androni Giocattoli and Wilier Triestina. One would question why not Israel Cycling Academy considering the start? Well, that's the game.
BORA-Hansgrohe brings Peter Sagan to the Giro for the first time. The team has some sprint quality with Pascal Ackermann and Sam Bennett also there. Not much hope for GC, as Leopold König hasn't done well for years.
Team Katusha Alpecin is also favouring a sprinter with Marcel Kittel as their captain. Milano-Sanremo winner wants stages. for GC Ilnur Zakarin is a worth of a look.
Quick-Step-Floors has Fernando Gaviria for sprints. Philippe Gilbert lost a major part of the classics season due to injury and hasn't major results. He is likely to hunt stages. It's good to have a look on Enric Mas too.
Movistar Team brings Nairo Quintana who just won Tour de Romandie. He can be considered as one of the favourites of the race. Andrey Amador, Mikel Landa and Marc Soler are among those to help him.
Team Lotto NL-Jumbo wants stages with Dylan Groenewegen. Quite surprisingly considering their strength in climbing, there is no real rider for GC.
UAE Team Emirates sends a strong team led by Dan Martin. Former Vuelta winner Fabio Aru is also there, along with multiple Giro stage winner Diego Ulissi. With Alexander Kristoff in the mix up they can't be counted out on any stage.
Mitchelton-Scott is led by Yates brothers, but the question mark lies above Simon: it's his first race since the Catalunya crash. Luka Mezgec and Caleb Ewan should be good for sprints.
Team Sky goes to Giro with Woet Poels as a captain, so they have major plans coming for Tour. David de la Cruz and Pavel Sivakov are among helpers.
Astana Pro Team is headed by Miguel Angel Lopez who has won several young riders awards already. Pello Bilbao should give important help.
BMC Racing Team brough Richie Porte as a captain, but the depth in the team is not as strong although Damiano Caruso might do something.
Bahrain-Merida suffered from Vincenzo Nibali's injury in Romandie. Domenico Pozzovivo is now the captain. Ion Izagirre gives him support as well as few others.
Team EF Education First is set towards the sprints with Sacha Modolo. Pierre Rolland is their best bet for mountain stages.
My team, AG2R La Mondiale has Alexis Vuillermoz and Mathias Frank as the most important riders. Considering it's a French team the bigger targets are set for Tour, but a stage win is the main target.
Bauke Mollema is leading Trek-Segafredo with Jarlinson Pantano helping. Giacomo Nizzolo tries to win flatter stages.
Team Sunweb is built for flatter stages with Nikias Arndt as a captain. For more difficult stages Laurens Ten Dam is the man to watch.
Lotto Soudal doesn't have too much interesting names. Jens Debusschere is named number one rider and sadly that tells a lot.
Groupama-FDJ has Sebastien Reichenbach as a captain. There are few other climmbers to help like Steve Morabito and Georg Preidler. A big question is whether Thibaut Pinot would have been there barring his injury in Romandie.
Team Dimension Data is among the weakest World Tour teams. Tom-Jelte Slagter won Tour Down Under couple of years ago but he doesn't have much great sprint victories, and the team doesn't have much quality for mountain stages either.
From the wildcard teams Giulio Ciccone is a man to watch in mountain stages. Bardiani CSF also has Andrea Guardini and therefore it could well be the best wildcard team. nine wins for Guardini tells a lot of his season, although they mostly came in two early season events outside Europe: Tropicale Amissa Bongo and Herald Sun Tour.
NIPPO-Vini Fantini didn't bring Damiano Cunego for the event which was quite shocking, even if his best days are behind him. Marco Canola is listed as their number one rider but I would look at Juan José Lobato too.
From Androni Giocattoli I expect Ivan Sosa and Fausto Masnada to be stage-hunting. Not the worst team in their main target of the season, but nothing really spectacular there.
Wilier-Triestina has just one win all season and I don't expect that to stage. Former star rider Filippo Pozzato is not there, and that winner, Jakub Mareczko not either. Their captain is Jacopo Mosca.
The race order gave a good possibility to early target time as Adam Yates was among the first round of riders. He tryly delivered with 12'55. Ilnur Zakarin came in 10 seconds behind, but that was still a good time.
My biggest hopes for this stage were given on Mathias Frank. He lost 20 seconds to Yates, but of course there were lots of riders between them.
The gap between first and second stayed in ten seconds for a long tine. Jasha Sütterlin and Lennard Kämna matched Zakarin, but we had to wait until Mikel Landa for someone to finish closer - four seconds.
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The front had mostly guys targeting GC with one exception - Luke Durbridge went third when finishing his run. Fabio Aru was tied with Yates in the intermediate check he lost three seconds in the latter half, still good enough for second.
Richie Porte was one of the disappointments, losing 18 seconds to Adam Yates. Quintana continued his form from Romandie, taking 9th place in the end. But Adam's early time stayed fastest to the end, giving him the first maglia rosa.
1 Adam Yates MTS 12'55
2 Fabio Aru UAD + 3
3 Mikel Landa MOV + 4
4 Luke Durbridge MTS + 5
5 Domenico Pozzovivo TBM s.t.
6 Bauke Mollema TFS + 6
7 David De La Cruz SKY + 7
8 Dario Cataldo AST + 9
9 Nairo Quintana MOV s.t.
10 Ilnur Zakarin TKA + 10
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12 Lennard Kämna SUN s.t. (1st young rider)
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29 Mathias Frank + 20
54 Matteo Montaguti + 32
96 Alexis Vuillermoz + 49
108 François Bidard + 54
134 Rudy Barbier + 1'08
142 Clément Chevrier + 1'13
157 Hupert Dupont + 1'21
170 Clément Venturini + 1'30
The first road stage was mainly flat. A single 4th category climb was on offer, so first mountains' jersey would be given after the stage. No major changes were expected, unless bonus seconds do something.
The initial breakaway consisted of five riders: Ignatas Konovalovas (FDJ), Marco Tizza (NIP), Tom Stamsnijder (SUN), Luca Chirico (ANS) and Luca Wackermann (BRD). Nicholas Dlamini (DDD) tried to join them but didn't succeed.
However, not everyone was happy with the break. Wilier-Triestina did not have a rider up in the road so they chased the break back. Initially it seemed that it doesn't work but the high pace broke the front group on the unclassified hill.
Konovalovas and Tizza were able to stay clear and they were then joined by Jacopo Mosca (WIL), who went on to win the only mountain sprint of the day.
A crash which involved Fernando Gaviria (QST), Bauke Mollema (TSF) and Ion Izagirre (TBM) caused some trouble but those riders were able to come back to the peloton. However, the chase took too much energy from Ryan Mullen (TSF) and David Per (TBM) who would finish 8'44 behind the peloton.
The sprint for the stage win was tight even though top riders were on different sides of the road. It was Peter Sagan (BOH) who won ahead of Gaviria and Marcel Kittel (TKA), so kind of expected result. While the picture shows big gap between top and the pack, no gaps were involved between first 174 riders.
1 Peter Sagan BOH 3h53'21
2 Fernando Gaviria QST s.t.
3 Marcel Kittel TKA s.t.
4 Giacomo Nizzolo TFS s.t.
5 Sacha Modolo EFD s.t.
6 Phil Bauhaus SUN s.t.
7 Andrea Guardini BRD s.t.
8 Alexander Kristoff UAD s.t.
9 Dylan Groenewegen TLJ s.t.
10 Sam Bennett BOH s.t.
11 Rudy Barbier ALM s.t.
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14 Clément Venturini
127 Matteo Montaguti
139 Hupert Dupont
149 Clément Chevrier
157 François Bidard
161 Mathias Frank
164 Alexis Vuillermoz
The bonus seconds helped Sagan to take 2nd place.
1 Adam Yates MTS 4h06'16
2 Peter Sagan BOH + 3
3 Fabio Aru UAD s.t.
4 Mikel Landa MOV + 4
5 Luke Durbridge MTS + 5
6 Domenico Pozzovivo TBM s.t.
7 Bauke Mollema TFS + 6
8 David De La Cruz SKY + 7
9 Nairo Quintana MOV + 9
10 Dario Cataldo AST s.t.
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29 Mathias Frank + 20
57 Matteo Montaguti + 32
95 Alexis Vuillermoz + 49
107 François Bidard + 54
132 Rudy Barbier + 1'08
142 Clément Chevrier + 1'13
158 Hupert Dupont + 1'21
168 Clément Venturini +1'30
Third and final stage in Israel was also flat. As in previous stage, the initial break wasn't good enough. From the first six, only Marco Tizza was strong enough and he later went alone. the bunch participated for other positions in the intermediate sprint.
Jacopo Mosca managed to bridge wanting to defend his mountain jersey, but this time he didn't manage to get any points. In the end it was Luca Chirico who won the sprint. Apart from him, Mosca and Tizza the break had Nicolas Marini and Julian Cardona.
Couple of crashes in the bunch, the first having young rider leader Kämna in it. For a while it looked like they would have difficulties to catch but then another crash occurred and it had some bigger names in it, like Landa, Aru and Pozzovivo. This led team-mates of those riders to help and field was back with the peloton. However, the latter crashed caused first withdrawal of the race: Daan Olivier was out.
The breakaway was caught and another bunch sprint was awaiting. This time it was a clear win for Dylan Groenewegen. My rider Barbier was well in it and took second place, but had no chance to beat the winner.
Giro was back in Italy, now in Sicily. Classified as medium mountain stage, the day started with a breakaway of course. Very early on six riders escaped, chased by Tizza who has been very active throughout the early stager. But then a crash in the breakaway split up the attackers, as only four remained. Busato (WIL) abandoned as a result.
So it was Chirico (ANS), Thwaites (DDD), Koren (TBM) and Albanese (BRD) left from the original break, and they were later caught by Wyss (BMC), Ponzi (NIP), Koshevoy (WIL) and Armee (LTS). Wyss wanted everything, winning one mountain sprint and both intermediates before beaten by Koren in the second one. Anyway, it was enough to put him into blue jersey at the end of the day.
By the second mountain the peloton had been reduced to less than 100 riders, with Groenewegen in points jersey among those dropped. With seven kilometres to go, three riders from the original breakaway were still in the hunt for stage win: Koshevoy, Wyss and Armee, but the bunch was chasing hard, and had reeled them in with just a kilometre to go.
Vuillermoz sensed a chance to stage win and attacked on the uphill sprint but Zakarin had similar ideas and managed to win the stage. So for a second stage running my rider was second. Peter Sagan took 3rd place and four bonus seconds moved him to the lead in the GC.
1 Ilnur Zakarin TKA 5h00'23
2 Alexis Vuillermoz ALM s.t.
3 Peter Sagan BOH s.t.
4 Daniel Martin UAD s.t.
5 Adam Yates MTS s.t.
6 Simon Yates MTS s.t.
7 Nairo Quintana MOV s.t.
8 Bauke Mollema TFS s.t.
9 Ion Izagirre TBM s.t.
10 Sébastien Reichenbach FDJ s.t.
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18 Mathias Frank ALM s.t.
44 François Bidard ALM 2'23
69 Matteo Montaguti ALM 4'03
94 Clément Chevrier ALM s.t.
105 Hubert Dupont ALM 6'24
157 Clément Venturini ALM 10'58
163 Rudy Barbier ALM 12'26
The undulating stage had a strong breakaway of 14 riders. Some familiar names from the earlier days like Uchima and mountain jersey holder Wyss. Lotto-Soudal was strongly in control with three riders in it: Maes, Wouters and Frison.
A rainy day reduced the number of riders massively. A total of nine riders had to abandon. The most prominent one was Pello Bilbao. The similar fate was experienced by Armee, Bauer, wackermann, Carthy, Mullen, Martinez, Armirail and Padun. Bad news for EF Education and Groupama-FDJ who are already down to six riders.
Like yesterday, Wyss was much interested getting points. He won both intermediate sprints but Narvaez took two mountain sprints on the way to the finish. Third one was won by Simon Geschke.
I suffered a small setback since Montaguti punctured just at the base of second climb where peloton starting speeding up. Despite bringing two guys to help him no one could return.
Bigger loss was Mikel Landa who dropped from the peloton on the third climb. He would eventually lose several minutes to the leaders.
Martin, Zakarin and A.Yates tried to escape from the reduced front group but without success. This didn't take much of their energy since they were top three at the finish. This time it was Martin who won ahead of Yates and Zakarin. Bonus seconds did the job again and Yates once again leads the race. As you can see, the pack was very tight and there was not much chance if you were too far away from the front early, and this happened to Vuillermoz.
Frank lost 21 seconds and one of top names who had the same loss was Aru. Therefore top ten got two new names.
1 Daniel Martin UAE Team Emirates 3h45'04
2 Adam Yates Michelton - Scott s.t.
3 Ilnur Zakarin Team Katusha Alpecin s.t.
4 Giulio Ciccone Bardiani CSF s.t.
5 Bauke Mollema Trek - Segafredo s.t.
6 Simon Yates Michelton - Scott s.t.
7 Ion Izagirre Bahrain - Merida s.t.
8 Miguel Angel Lopez Astana Pro Team s.t.
9 Nairo Quintana Movistar Team s.t.
10 Pierre Rolland Team EF Education First - Drapac p/b Cannondale s.t.
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12 Alexis Vuillermoz s.t.
24 Mathias Frank +21
59 François Bidard +3'08
72 Clément Chevrier s.t.
102 Hubert Dupont +5'34
160 Clément Venturini +14'08
161 Rudy Barbier +15'02
164 Matteo Montaguti +16'47
1 Adam Yates Michelton - Scott 18h18'34
2 Ilnur Zakarin Team Katusha Alpecin + 2
3 Peter Sagan BORA - hansgrohe + 5
4 Domenico Pozzovivo Bahrain - Merida + 11
5 Bauke Mollema Trek - Segafredo + 12
6 Daniel Martin UAE Team Emirates + 13
7 Nairo Quintana Movistar Team + 15
8 Wout Poels Team Sky + 16
9 Ion Izagirre Bahrain - Merida + 17
10 Sébastien Reichenbach Groupama - FDJ s.t.
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17 Mathias Frank +47
18 Alexis Vuillermoz +49
52 François Bidard +6'31
94 Clément Chevrier +11'11
109 Hubert Dupont +13'25
144 Matteo Montaguti +21'28
156 Clément Venturini +26'42
159 Rudy Barbier +28'36
164 riders in the race
Stage 6 saw first real mountain of the Giro, Etna. Just a single climb for the day but the big gaps are possible.
A rather big break went early and for the first time I decided to have a rider up in the road. 16 riders in it with mountain jersey holder Wyss, Anton, De Plus and Caruso among the main men. My rider in it was Montaguti, after the troubles in previous stage it was a good chance to get him in.
The peloton started to get smaller and smaller towards the end. With 11 kilometres to go there was around 50 riders. Meanwhile at the front, de Plus went alone and managed to get over a minute. This would not last as favourites managed to catch him. Zakarin was first to attack but it didn't help him to win.
After all, Adam Yates was the strongest and he claimed 15 seconds to next group led by his brother. Third group which included my best rider Frank, was 40 seconds behind.
Not much to tell about seventh stage which was all flat. Six riders were in a breakaway but as expected, it was a bunch sprint that decided a victory. Groenewegen took his second stage win in a close battle.
1 Dylan Groenewegen TLJ 3h35'50
2 Marcel Kittel TKA s.t.
3 Peter Sagan BOH s.t.
4 Sacha Modolo EFD s.t.
5 Alexander Kristoff UAD s.t.
6 Phil Bauhaus SUN s.t.
7 Giacomo Nizzolo TFS s.t.
8 Andrea Guardini CSF s.t.
9 Fernando Gaviria QST s.t.
10 Rudy Barbier ALM s.t.
161 out of 164 riders finished with a bunch so no important changes to the overall so I won't write it here. One of the losers was Cattaneo (ANS) which bumped Chevrier and Dupont one place up.
A huge break of 33 riders went early on stage 8. Bidard was in the break from my team. Geschke who was 35th at the time, little over ten and half minutes behind the leader was the best placed rider so it was not a notable threat.
Anyway, it went to the situation where the peloton caught the escapees and decided the win themselves. At first, it was Sosa, Izagirre, Poels and S.Yates who tried to escape but they were caught, and the stage win was decided between Izagirre and A.Yates. And this time Izagirre emerged as the winner.
1 Adam Yates MTS 32h18'00
2 Ilnur Zakarin TKA + 29
3 Wout Poels SKY + 43
4 Daniel Martin UAD + 44
5 Nairo Quintana MOV + 1'11
6 Enric Mas QST + 1'24
7 Simon Yates MTS + 1'34
8 Ion Izagirre TBM + 1'44
9 Bauke Mollema TFS + 2'26
10 Sébastien Reichenbach FDJ + 2'39
Stage 9 was the toughest to date. A long final climb which even had mountain sprint in the middle of it was a huge challenge. As usual, the stage was dominated by the breakaway, this time Dupont was my rider in it.
This time it became clear early that the break would win the stage, therefore the rest of the stage is in two parts.
Seven riders escaped from the break. I though it was too early so I kept Dupont further back. He managed to come back late but didn't have much power in the sprint. Bahrain-Merida took its second successive stage, as this time Mohoric was first on the line.
With the top guys, Poels made a strong attack to escape. Zakarin, Mollema, Martin and S.Yates made effort to stay and while the chasing group changed slightly, Poels won it by 15 seconds. Adam Yates had a tough day and he lost 1'40 to Poels.
1 Matej Mohoric TBM 6h45'16
2 Brent Bookwalter BMC s.t.
3 Hubert Dupont ALM + 37
4 Tomasz Marczyński LTS + 50
5 Laurens Ten Dam SUN + 1'06
6 Simon Geschke SUN + 1'25
7 Dario Cataldo AST + 2'19
8 Mattia Cattaneo ANS s.t.
9 Wout Poels SKY + 4'50
10 Simon Yates MTS + 5'05
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15 Alexis Vuillermoz + 5'32
21 Mathias Frank + 6'05
49 François Bidard + 11'17
53 Matteo Montaguti s.t.
100 Clément Venturini + 19'44
124 Rudy Barbier + 25'09
135 Clément Chevrier s.t.
Going to the second rest day, Poels took the lead.
1 Wout Poels SKY 39h08'49
2 Ilnur Zakarin TKA + 1
3 Daniel Martin UAD + 43
4 Adam Yates MTS + 57
5 Simon Yates MTS + 1'06
6 Nairo Quintana MOV + 1'10
7 Ion Izagirre TBM + 1'43
8 Enric Mas QST + 2'07
9 Bauke Mollema TFS + 2'25
10 Sébastien Reichenbach FDJ + 2'38
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13 Mathias Frank + 3'41
14 Alexis Vuillermoz + 5'04
30 Hupert Dupont + 19'37
44 François Bidard + 25'31
66 Matteo Montaguti + 40'42
73 Clément Chevrier + 44'17
106 Clément Venturini + 1h06'11
139 Rudy Barbier + 1h25'51
163 riders remain in the race as Mitchell Docker abandoned on stage 8.
Elsewhere, 4 Jours de Dunkerque was a success for me. Dumoulin won the first stage in the bunch sprint and kept the lead until stage 3 which put Julien Simon to the lead on tie-breakers.
Stage 4 was the decisive with lots of cobbled climb and that suited Dillier nicely. He won the stage even though other guy was celebrating and got the lead. Then it was just job to not let any dangerous guys to escape and it worked.
1 Silvan Dillier ALM 25h16'28
2 Damien Gaudin TDE + 14
3 Frederik Backaert WGG + 16
4 Mike Teunissen SUN + 18
5 Marco Marcato UAD + 22
6 Dion Smith WGG + 27
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Denz 12th, Dumoulin 16th, Bagdonas 18th, Gautier 40th, Paret-Peintre 102th. Chérel dropped out due to illness.
Tour of California started but I tell the entire story at its conclusion. I have to say it didn't start well.
I think there's not much to say about next two stages. Both were decided in the breakaways where I had rider(s). No change in the top of the GC and with some easier stages coming up before Monte Zoncolan, not much is expected either.
Tom-Jelte Slagter won eight-man sprint on stage 10 after being active most of the stage. Montaguti ended last in that sprint.
1 Tom-Jelte Slagter DDD 6h22'19
2 Vincenzo Albanese BRD s.t.
3 Tomasz Marczyński LTS s.t.
4 Lars Boom TLJ s.t.
5 Alex Turrin WIL s.t.
6 Simon Geschke SUN s.t.
7 Pieter Serry QST s.t.
8 Matteo Montaguti ALM s.t.
9 Marco Frapporti AND + 3'27
10 Sacha Modolo EFD + 7'57
Stage 11 had a bigger break staying clear to the end. A short uphill sprint ended in 1-2 for Nippo who had not managed top 20 in a stage before!
1 Marco Canola NIP 3h53'11
2 Marco Tizza NIP s.t.
3 François Bidard ALM s.t.
4 Alex Turrin WIL s.t.
5 Tom-Jelte Slagter DDD s.t.
6 Lennard Kämna SUN s.t.
7 Mirco Maestri BRD s.t.
8 Laurens Ten Dam SUN s.t.
9 Paul Martens TLJ s.t.
10 Aleksejs Saramotins BOH s.t.
Well, Zakarin has mysteriously gained one second somewhere but the rest is all the same:
1 Wout Poels SKY 49h33'52
2 Ilnur Zakarin TKA s.t.
3 Daniel Martin UAD + 43
4 Adam Yates MTS + 57
5 Simon Yates MTS + 1'06
6 Nairo Quintana MOV + 1'10
7 Ion Izagirre TBM + 1'43
8 Enric Mas QST + 2'07
9 Bauke Mollema TFS + 2'25
10 Sébastien Reichenbach FDJ + 2'38
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12 Mathias Frank ALM + 3'41
13 Alexis Vuillermoz ALM + 5'04
32 Hubert Dupont ALM + 22'32
36 François Bidard ALM + 23'51
48 Matteo Montaguti ALM + 32'42
74 Clément Chevrier ALM + 51'10
96 Clément Venturini ALM + 1h08'35
A lot of crashes in the stages, which caused a total of ten withdrawals. Sadly there was first casualty for me as Barbier failed to finish stage 11. 153 riders in the race with Roy Curvers being last, 2h26'18 down. Rolland, Cataldo and Preidler were among the other casualties, and EF Education is now down to three riders.
Stage 12 to Imola was quite a typical sprint stage. A breakaway early, which was caught and then ended in a bunch sprint at the motor racing circuit. Sagan took his second stage while almost everyone finished in a pack.
1 Peter Sagan BOH 5h03'21
2 Sacha Modolo EFD s.t.
3 Fernando Gaviria QST s.t.
4 Alexander Kristoff UAD s.t.
5 Andrea Guardini BRD s.t.
6 Dylan Groenewegen TLJ s.t.
7 Phil Bauhaus SUN s.t.
8 Giacomo Nizzolo TFS s.t.
9 Marcel Kittel TKA s.t.
10 Danny Van Poppel TLJ s.t.
Stage 13 started in a same way but then a crash made an impact towards the end. All my riders ended behind it and lost about one and half minutes. However it was worse for Dan Martin who had to abandon from 3rd place.
1 Marcel Kittel TKA 4h00'34
2 Dylan Groenewegen TLJ s.t.
3 Peter Sagan BOH s.t.
4 Alexander Kristoff UAD s.t.
5 Fernando Gaviria QST s.t.
6 Wout Poels SKY s.t.
7 Sacha Modolo EFD s.t.
8 Phil Bauhaus SUN s.t.
9 Andrea Guardini BRD s.t.
10 Caleb Ewan MTS s.t.
2nd peloton at 1'27"
Stage 14 gave riders a traditional tough mountain to overcome - Monte Zoncolan. As susual a big break went on, but there was a real danger man - Ivan Sosa was even for virtual maglia rosa for a while. Montaguti and Bidard represented AG2R in it.
It was obvious that peloton wanted the break back and battle for the stage win themselves. Frantic pace on earlier climbs meant that there were less than 40 riders remaining as theycame to the base of the penultimate climb.
With about 10 kilometres to go it was Siutsou and Sosa in the lead, but they were caught by Bidard who then went alone. It wasn't enough for stage win and the main contenders caught him with about two and half kilometres to go.
S.Yates and Quintana tried a move but Poels came through and took the stage, increasing his lead.
1 Wout Poels SKY 5h45'54
2 Simon Yates MTS s.t.
3 Nairo Quintana MOV + 10
4 Ilnur Zakarin TKA + 25
5 Bauke Mollema TFS + 33
6 Ion Izagirre TBM + 1'18
7 Mathias Frank ALM s.t.
8 Domenico Pozzovivo TBM + 1'42
9 Sébastien Reichenbach FDJ + 1'58
10 Alexis Vuillermoz ALM s.t.
11 François Bidard + 2'58
41 Matteo Montaguti + 13'20
73 Clément Chevrier + 19'32
93 Hubert Dupont + 25'06 (was ill on the day)
109 Clément Venturini + 27'06
Two Danish riders out of the race: Kragh Andersen crashed and Bak failed to finish with time limit.
In Tour of California Gallopin crashed on the first stage and lost huge amount of time. He was uninjured though and was strong through the following stage where he was 2nd behind Geraint Thomas. Geniez was 3rd in the same stage and improved to 2nd on the following stage, won by Julian Alaphilippe.
Time trial had a strong showing by Tony Martin, with Thomas taking the second place and increasing his lead. While Geniez isn't so strong in that discipline, he kept his 2nd place. Sixth stage was won by break while stages 5 and 7 were bunch sprints.
Tour de L'Ain had three stages. First, a sprint stage was won by Carlos Barbero. Second stage was much more selective but still ended in a sprint and won by Luis Leon Sanchez. Silvan Dillier tried the escape in the final kilometres but it wasn't to be. He got revenge on stage 3 but Barbero took the second place and bonus seconds decided the victory for his favour.
