The final stage at Catalunya... this is a hilly stage where the only slope that factors in is the one leading up to the finish line.
Kirchen is 52 seconds down. He's the favorite in the race. Let's see how big Kim's heart is.
At the base of the hill we sent three of our riders... Devine, Lovkvist and Kirchen. Devine got them away and then couldn't follow, so he drifted back to the pack.
Then Lovkvist powered up the slope. To be honest, we hadn't seen this kind of push from him this season... the gap grew... and grew... could it happen?
Then Kirchen sailed past Lovkvist and started sprinting toward the line. Kim was FLYING. The gap grew... and grew... it was over a minute...
Kim pedaled through the finish, waiting until after he crossed the line to pump his fist. But would it hold up?
10 seconds... 20 second... 30 seconds... 40 seconds... and here comes Lovkvist across the line... and he's alone! 50 seconds... WE DID IT! 60 seconds... and here comes the chase group... AND COBO isn't in it! Not until a minute and 45 seconds later does Cobo cross the line, just barely ahead of the pelaton.
We've won our first pro-tour stage race of the season! Kirchen was incredible, and Lovkvist nearly rode himself into second with his ride today. Not only was today a great victory for the team, it also earned High Road first place in the Pro Tour team rankings.
Points: 1 Kim Kirchen Team High Road 100
2 Juanjo Cobo Saunier Duval - Scott 59 3 Thomas Lövkvist Team High Road 52
4 Iñigo Landaluze Euskaltel - Euskadi 51
5 Fran Ventoso AndalucÃa - CajaSur 45
I have read the hole story!It's great.continue the good work
If you can please post Ulissi stats
good luck for the rest of the giro
Edited by Gabriel12PT on 02-06-2008 00:46
It's like we'll see quite a bit of action on the Marmolada climb at the end of today's race.
Pinotti went on the break again today and picked up some more mountain points, but the way these stages are going it's going to be very tight at the finish to see if he gets the green.
At the base of the last climb, just as Pinotti was being reeled in, Nibali places an attack that takes the leaders off guard. He gets a pretty large gap and appears to be riding very well.
Just before the peak the leaders attack. When the groups form in the descent, Ricco and Cunego get a lead.
A rather large group of chasers including Rogers, Possoni and Ulissi follow, eventually catching Ricco and Cunego before the Marmalada.
As the final climb begins, Cunego and Ricco power away from the group, joining Nibali up front. Rogers is really hurting today(-5), but Possoni and Ulissi are doing their best to get him up the torturous climb.
Ricco and Cunego are setting a furious pace. Nibali can't keep up and falls back to the chase group.
And Ricco pulls away from Cunego to take another stage win. Richie Rich is looking unbeatable right now.
Possoni bonks on the climb... and Rogers loses it as well. He gives Ulissi the green light to do what he can, and the talented youngster manages 5th place. Rogers loses over 3 minutes to Ricco and precious seconds to many of the other contenders.
A tough day for our team leader... but another revelation from Ulissi. Rogers is beginning to understand the difference between climbing in the Giro and the Tour de France.
At this point, we have to be realistic. At seven minutes back, winning the Giro just isn't possible anymore. Now the goal has to be defending the last podium spot while Cunego and Ricco duel it out for the race win. We also have to think about the points and mountains jerseys.
On the positive side, we have a legitimate shot at TWO top 5 finishers, with Ulissi racing like he is. We're also leading the team competition.
fabio12 wrote:
I have read the hole story!It's great.continue the good work
If you can please post Ulissi stats
good luck for the rest of the giro
After the Giro I'll post the entire team stats from January and at the beginning of June. You'll be shocked at some of the progress. High potential guys can really jump up when going from 3 to 4 experience... and again when the level 4 bar fills up.
Another hilly time-trial. Rogers made some gains in the last one, so we're hoping the same can happen today.
Alas... it was not meant to be. The slightly increased gradient really hurt Rogers and helped Ricco take home yet another stage. Rogers actually lost time to many of the favorites like Di Luca and Nibali.
On the positive side, Ulissi showed his metal yet again. He took second, just 5 seconds back from Ricco. Thinking ahead to next season... I wouldn't be suprised if this young man was leading the team.
They awarded both sprint and mountain points in the stage... resulting in Pinotti falling behind Ricco in the mountains competition and Edvalds lead in the points competition shrinking to a miniscule number. Ulissi moved up to 4th in the overall. We've got a lot to work for the last 5 days of the race.
Points: 1 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road 149
2 Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott 141
3 Damiano Cunego Lampre 98 4 Diego Ulissi Team High Road 82
5 Michael Rogers Team High Road 80
Taking place where it does, this race isn't a huge priority for our squad. Our sponsors suggested that we ride this race, and while it's not a priority it's never a good idea to tick off the sponsors.
We're giving Tony Martin a chance to lead in this race and Marcel Sieberg a chance to contest the sprints. We don't have high expectations, but we hope to be pleasantly suprised.
Leader: Tony Martin
Sprinter: Marcel Sieberg
Free: Andreas Klier
Teammate: Fabio Duarte, Adam Hansen, Craig Lewis, Bert Grabsch
The race ended with a short climb and descent followed by a longer climb. Martin was keeping his eye on three riders... Cheula, Gasparotto and Barbosa. We were thinking that if any of these three were in decent form, they'd be the ones to worry about.
When Barbosa went on the final climb Martin was quick to follow. And it turned out to be a wise decision. Martin rode Barbosa's wheel to a second place finish, gaining time on the rest of the riders in the race.
Mountains:
1 Bartosz Huzarski Mróz - Action - Uniqa
2 Giampaolo Cheula Barloworld
3 Kevyn Ista Agritubel
4 Cândido Barbosa Sport Lisboa e Benfica 5 Tony Martin Team High Road
Well, this is technically a mountain stage... but with almost 70km of downhill and flat after the last summitt it's debatable. Pinotti needs those mountain points so getting him in the break is a requirement. After that it's just a matter of trying to set Boassen Hagen up in the sprint. He's a good enough climber that he should be hurting too much unless the pace picks up more than expected.
Pinotti was successful getting away. He won both mountain sprints.
Pinotti was pretty much just sitting off the back of the group after the last hill though. The pelaton was pretty lax in their pursuit and since we knew Pinotti wasn't exerting himself we weren't going to pull them back either. At about 15km out the break still had a lead but they were faltering. Pinotti made his move.
And the break can't answer! Pinotti wins his second stage... if you count him coming home first in the team time trial.
The pelaton wasn't able to catch the break. There were attacks late which Rogers and Ulissi felt forced to cover, and the sprint never quite materialized for Boassen Hagen. We got a few points for his 12th place finish, but not as many as we would have liked. Pinotti did retake the mountain lead though.
Points: 1 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road 153
2 Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott 141
3 Damiano Cunego Lampre 98 4 Diego Ulissi Team High Road 91
5 Michael Rogers Team High Road 88
This was a very bumpy flat stage. No long hills, but not a lot of actual flat ground either. Sieberg handled the hills well and he did a great job picking the best wheel and holding on, just like Martin did yesterday.
Robbie Hunter wins the stage, and Sieberg takes second for High Road.
Points:
1 Cândido Barbosa Sport Lisboa e Benfica 37
2 Enrico Gasparotto Barloworld 26
3 Robert Hunter Barloworld 25 4 Tony Martin Team High Road 20
5 Marcel Sieberg Team High Road 20
Mountains:
1 Bartosz Huzarski Mróz - Action - Uniqa 26
2 Giampaolo Cheula Barloworld 20
3 Kevyn Ista Agritubel 18
4 Cândido Barbosa Sport Lisboa e Benfica 16 5 Tony Martin Team High Road 14
A hilly stage today. With no classified climbs we'll be staying out of the break and we'll try to react to whatever happens.
And what happened is Cunego and Voigt decided to give it a go. Di Luca tried to go with them but waited too long. The move really caught everyone off guard.
Seeing Ricco not really reacting to the attack like expected, Rogers and Boassen Hagen decided to give it a go on the following hill.
And Cunego takes the stage, with Voigt following. How much time would he get on Ricco is the big question.
Just over 50 seconds later, Boassen Hagen leads Rogers across the line, with Rujano (who had been on the break all day) taking 5th.
And Paulini led the rest of the pack across 1'47" after Cunego. This shrinks Ricco's lead in the overall to less than 3 minutes. Perhaps this could get interesting...
"We all know that wasn't the real footage of the Worlds anyway. That was just the staged footage to perpetuate the coverup that it was actually Vinokourov that won the race."
We decided to attack with Martin on the late hills and see if we could gain some time on Barbosa. Martin went on the attack on the second of the 3 hills to end the stage, taking climbing points in the process.
It looked good for a while, but then Barbosa came up from the pelaton and joined Martin at the front.
And Barbosa set such a hard pace that Martin had to let him go to avoid cracking completely. Barbosa solos away for another stage win. That guy is incredible.
Stage Results:
1 Cândido Barbosa Sport Lisboa e Benfica 5h21'31 2 Tony Martin Team High Road + 17
3 Danilo Hondo Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli + 46
4 Maarten Neyens Topsport Vlaanderen s.t.
5 Michael Schär Team Astana + 1'08
6 Giampaolo Cheula Barloworld s.t.
7 Dirk Müller Team Sparkasse + 1'58
8 Enrico Gasparotto Barloworld s.t.
9 Patrick Calcagni Barloworld s.t.
Two more climbing stages to go, then the flat time trial. This stage has a long climb to start things, then a series of climbs that's more like a sharp hilly route. If we can get Rogers over the first peak with the leaders he should be able to hold on to a good finish and maintain his 3rd place standing.
With the late mountains we knew a break wouldn't get any climber points, so Pinotti stayed home and helped Rogers. As the first ascent began, Cunego started things off.
Ricco and Gesink tried to go with him, but Cunego was powerful today and pulled away. Here he's coming up on Nikki Sorensen from the break.
Cunego was just dominating this climb. You can see Ricco well back in the center below, and Di Luca and Nibali behind that. Rogers was having a hard time, back even further.
And Cunego comes through with the win. Would he take the pink jersey off of Ricco's back?
Ricco comes across FIVE MINUTES back in second place. Cunego is now the leader in the Giro by over two minutes with just two stages to go. A dominant ride for the past champion.
Ulissi was our strongest yet again today, finishing nine and a half minutes behind Cunego, and three and a half minutes back of Di Luca. Rogers finished ten and a half minutes back of Cunego. Amazingly Rogers is still holding third place just 8 seconds ahead of Di Luca.
Ricco passed Boassen Hagen in the points competition and Pinotti in the mountains classification with his second place finish today.
Points:
1 Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott 161 2 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road 153
3 Damiano Cunego Lampre 123 4 Diego Ulissi Team High Road 99
5 Michael Rogers Team High Road 88
Martin thought he might be able to take the lead today, and with a solid 6th place effort he was able to do so, beating Barbosa by over a minute. Bert Grabsch took home a nice second place finish, behind Gasparotto.
Points:
1 Cândido Barbosa Sport Lisboa e Benfica 62
2 Enrico Gasparotto Barloworld 59 3 Tony Martin Team High Road 50
4 Robert Hunter Barloworld 37 5 Marcel Sieberg Team High Road 32Edited by KurtinSC on 02-06-2008 14:40
Okay, today is all about minimizing our losses. Rogers can lose his spot to Di Luca today and take it back in the Time Trial tomorrow... but we can't lose a big chunk of time like yesterday.
Pinotti had to go on the break today and win the first climb to have any chance of beating Ricco in the mountains competition. He was able to get to the top first... but it remained to be seen if it would be enough.
As the steep second climb began, Cunego went on the attack. Ricco, Rogers, Ulissi and Nibali all followed.
Ricco would attack to bridge the gap to Cunego, while Piepoli joined the other three chasing. Di Luca was in a group a short bit behind, with Gesink, Salvodelli and others.
Brusegin was able to bridge to the chase group and Nibali took off after Ricco and Cunego. Rogers was struggling a bit again, so Ulissi stayed back to help as much as he could, despite feeling strong.
Finally Rogers told Ulissi to go as they got closer and closer to the finish. Brusegin and Piepoli were resting on the back while Ulissi and Rogers were doing the work, and the next group back was closing the gap.
Cunego takes the win over Ricco at the finish. He'll have two minutes and twenty-six seconds going into the final stage.
Ulissi took 4th and the Rogers group finished ahead of their chasers, giving Rogers a 24 second lead over Nibali, who passed Di Luca with his third place result on the stage. Pinotti takes the mountains classification... by 5 points. A great ride by the italian to win the Maglia Verde.
The hills at the end should make it come down to Barbosa and Martin again. Can we hold Barbosa off?
Barbosa went and Martin tried to follow.
But nobody was going to keep up with him today. He demolished the field by a minute and a half. Martin takes second on the stage, and in the race.
All in all, a pretty good result for Tony Martin in his first stab at leading a team.
Stage:
1 Cândido Barbosa Sport Lisboa e Benfica 4h00'30 2 Tony Martin Team High Road + 1'31
3 Andreas Schillinger Team Sparkasse s.t.
4 Giampaolo Cheula Barloworld s.t.
5 Markus Zberg Gerolsteiner s.t.
6 Roger Beuchat Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
7 Kevyn Ista Agritubel s.t.
8 Dirk Müller Team Sparkasse s.t.
9 Chris Froome Barloworld s.t.
10 Daniel Petrov Andonov Sport Lisboa e Benfica s.t.
Points:
1 Cândido Barbosa Sport Lisboa e Benfica 87 2 Tony Martin Team High Road 70
3 Enrico Gasparotto Barloworld 59
4 Robert Hunter Barloworld 37 5 Marcel Sieberg Team High Road 32
Mountains:
1 Benoit Salmon Agritubel 30
2 Bartosz Huzarski Mróz - Action - Uniqa 30
3 Cândido Barbosa Sport Lisboa e Benfica 26
4 Kevyn Ista Agritubel 24 5 Tony Martin Team High Road 24
Okay... the final stage. We've got a LOT still at stake. Rogers only has a 24 second lead over Nibali for the final podium spot. We REALLY want to take that home.
Pinotti set a fast time early on that held up for most of the day. It was finally beaten by Bruseghin when the top 20 riders started off.
It stayed unchallenged until Ulissi posted a time just four seconds off the pace.
Then Nibali came across the line... one second behind Ulissi.
And we waited for Rogers. There went Bruseghin's time. Then Ulissi's. Then Nibali's... and then Rogers comes across! He lost 3 seconds to Nibali, but we still took third by 21 seconds.
A podium for Rogers in the Giro!
Ricco came across 15 seconds ahead of Cunego, but that was nowhere near enough to unseat the Lampre rider. Cunego wins the Giro d'Italia!
Stage Results:
1 Marzio Bruseghin Lampre 27'25 2 Diego Ulissi Team High Road + 4
3 Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas + 5 4 Marco Pinotti Team High Road s.t.
5 Michael Rogers Team High Road + 8
6 Paolo Savoldelli LPR Brakes + 10
7 Danilo Di Luca LPR Brakes + 12 8 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road + 14
9 Mikel Astarloza Euskaltel - Euskadi + 15 10 Sergio Luis Henao Team High Road + 18
We are extremely pleased with the race. We controled the Maglia Rosa much of the first half of the race, with three different riders wearing the leader's jersey (Pinotti, Burghardt and Rogers). Pinotti won the Maglia Verde and wore it for nearly the entire race. Boassen Hagen wore the sprinters jersey for the majority of the race, only losing it in the final mountain stages. Ulissi spent some time in the young riders jersey (mostly wearing it for Ricco). And Rogers earned a Podium finish, while Ulissi finished in the top 10 and Henao finsihed 11th!
We won eight stages... Two for Pinotti (includint the TTT), one for Rogers, one for Ulissi, one for Burghardt and three for Boassen Hagen. An EXCELLENT race.
Edited by KurtinSC on 02-06-2008 15:26
