@The Rider: It was a good, intense race. Top 4 all within 4 seconds, but if it had to be a sprinter on top I'd have preferred more a rider type like Sagan or Degenkolb. To see Kittel take overall classification is just rather odd.
@admirschleck: Greipel is in scary good form.
World Tour News Paris – Nice
There are a few talents out there and some of them are truly promising. One who even is ranked higher than the most promising ones has reached yet another great heights as he won Paris-Nice: Michal Kwiatkowski won the race to the sun ahead of Alejandro Valverde and Chris Froome.
The polish champion took reign of the leader’s jersey on stage 5 and didn’t let it go then. Due to great time trial skills he put some serious time into his opposition; however Kwiatkowski never looked as safe and comfortable as the overall lead of over a minute may suggest.
Kwiatkowski profited from the favourites tactical games on stage 4 and could get a lead of about 40 seconds on his competition like Froome. Guys like Valverde or Costa lost even more. Kwiatkowski himself finished 50 seconds behind Ludvigsson and Nerz that day.
While he achieved the leader’s jersey on stage 5, it was actually the day of Rodríguez who won the stage in impressive solo manner. Kwiatkowski held onto the lead for just a few seconds. He kept the jersey easily enough though since Purito lost considerable time onto Kwiatkowski in the time trial. Neither Valverde nor Froome were able to reel him back in at that point. To put it more precisely: Froome was second in the GC, already 3 minutes behind Kwiatkowski.
Stage 7 saw a stage win by Rein Taaramee. Davide Villela was also in the break that day but couldn’t hold up in the finale. Valverde climbed into second, while being the only rider who was able to drop Kwiatkowski.
Valverde has confirmed his strong performance on the previous day by putting massive time into Kwiatkowski on the last stage. Basically, he put time into (nearly) everybody. Together with Jelle Vanendert, he finished two minutes ahead of Kwiatkowski, who couldn’t follow various rider groups in the finale. It was still not enough for General Classification as Michal Kwiatkowski took his probably biggest win of the career yet. But there’s sure more to come for one of the biggest talents in cycling.
Cannondale’s race was… okay. Though the team hasn’t achieved the sponsor goal of obtaining the mountain jersey, Ivan Basso did some good racing and achieved a 9th place overall. Good enough for us and Basso seems to be riding strong this year.
Peter Sagan snatched another classic triumph. Consider it our payback onto the whole peloton for messing with us way too much at Tirreno – Adriatico. A brilliant performance by him on the finale meters concluded the thrilling chase of the whole Cannondale squad performed on the way to Nokere. While you have to feel almost sorry for the breakaway guys who were caught by Sagan only on the finale meters, I am glad that the relay work I did finally paid off once again.
Me leading the peloton.
The race was typical for Belgium. Lots of changes in the weather here in March and lots of it either rain or heavy rain. My face was muddy, the jersey dirty. I was feeling here more at home than I did throughout Tirreno-Adriatico.
The race of Ronse to Nokere consists of many laps half-way through, each one of them roughly 13 kilometers this time around. We were eager to not let the breakaway too far away, which can easily happen in such semi-classics. Since Sagan was one of the clear-cut out favourites, it was of course our obligation to keep them at bay. The race took up quite some heat with attacks by Phinney and Maes, quite a few kilometers from the finish. The ensuing hectic in the peloton was merely slightly controlled by the high pace of Garmin-Sharp. Still quite a few riders tried to break out of their grip here and there. Cannondale put up a solid effort as well.
In the last laps, Garmin-Sharp must have wasted all of their resources at that point, and so it was really most up to us to most of the work. We were cutting through those cobblestones and roads and just came closer without remorse. But despite our effort, the original breakaway looked like they managed to win. That was until Sagan once more started his turbo-enginge and accelerated in the finale like no one else. He didn’t take those riders up front one by one. He took them all on at once. Just flying by then. Utterly destroying them.
It was only at the finish line though that he caught the last one. But too late for a wheelie? Not quite. Sagan showed his happiness by performing one of his many trademark-moves in the open space after the finish line.
@Ian Butler: First of he will need to win something and just copying the wheelie hm... He definitely needs a trademark winning move at some point though.
sutty68: Hehehe. Well he is a good excuse, working for Sagan and such.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
So Sagan merely got a 10th place at MSR today, how will his computer counterpart fare on the road to San Remo?
Milano – San Remo
As expected the race turned into a true feast for puncheurs and a rather nightmarish experience for sprinters and the traditionalists amongst cycling fans. The addition of Pompeiana has caused for a different kind of interest from cyclists. The likes of Gilbert, Rui Costa or Zdenek Stybar have openly admitted to making it a season highlight and that they’d want to use their biggest chance of winning MSR.
However you may stand on the point of MSR’s changing routes: The race this year was – as usual – exciting to watch, and that wasn’t thanks to the weather for once.
An incredible large breakaway of up to 22 riders got away. And guess who was in the break of the day? Mark Cavendish! Yes, the Mark Cavendish was in the breakaway to San Remo. Look what the addition of a new climb can make with the attitude of a rider.
That was reason enough for Cannondale to take the race into its own hand and work early on, keeping the gap low. We wanted to reel them in for good but they really just kept themselves upfront for good and so at some point we reduced our efforts. Because many teams had riders upfront, they mostly just relaxed while they saw us pedaling. Katusha were one of the only teams that have helped us. Appreciate it guys.
With a lead of up to 3 minutes, the break went into the finale of the Poggio, Cipressa and Pompeina. I’d be honest: we did expect attacks already at the first climb, but just not such daring efforts already so far from the finish. There were quite a lot of kilometers left to race but guys like Gilbert, Stybar, Van Avermaet & Co. must have been eager to get the racing going. Since Sagan missed the jump, Cannondale were hard at work.
We managed to reel back in most of those riders that broke away. In return, the race exploded, split up in thousand parts. I couldn’t hold on for the life mine. Sagan had to go eventually on his own if he wanted to win the first Monument of the season. Rui Costa was there too, and they just went all in. The World Champion wasn’t much help though, but when Sagan caught Spilak, he once more tried to drop his two rivals, while focusing to catch up with Stybar upfront. It didn’t work out. And there was one rider upfront, who was stronger than all others. Who instigated the attacks, who kept pushing forward when others were looking at their adversaries: Philippe Gilbert.
The Belgian can celebrate his first victory of MSR, taking his second Monument, and in such a form it’s likely that Gilbert, who has been criticized so much since joining BMC, is a hot candidate for the Spring Classics!
A great result in MSR mate, glad u got PCM 13, haha i just done a clean install of pcm11(my fav version) and download pcm freaks 07 db see i its not buggy this tim. How u inding 13, is your PCM 12 story finished?
@sutty68: Sagan sure demanded a high performance of his guys today though. Raphael was just done for the day. A win would have been much better but I can live with third, especially since it's the hilly variant.
@Ian: I won't complain either. Gilbert and Stybar both were way too strong today.
@YvesStevens: Why? He's still class and MSR has featured the ultimate hilly profile this season. Hopefully it will return to the original course next season though.
@atlanta: Hey there, I don't know about Gora Euskadi. Right now I don't feel motivated at all to do any for it and aCross the road is just too much fun. I like PCM 2013 quite well, although I found the GC AI rather confusing at times.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
After the previous hard services I did to my captains, I was allowed to go into the break of the day at Dwaars door Vlaanderen. With guys like Boonen and Cancellara missing, the race was cut out clear for Sagan, so I speculated with me helping Peter once more to another victory. Either that, or Oscar Gatto would be allowed a chance to repeat his victory of last year. I didn’t see many other options.
Initially I had a good feeling about the break I have joined. They were the right guys to put in some miles between me and the peloton, but weren’t such great northern specialists. So this turned into me mostly taking charge once we hit the cobblestones on the road to Waregem. They held up good, but later on I got a bit nervous.
There was no race radio allowed and thus I was a bit confused when suddenly guys like Ciolek, Elmiger and Jerome joined up with us. There were still 70 kilometers left, however their addition clearly made us stronger. We had a better pace and I had to do less work overall, which can be described as something nice.
I spent so much time in the wind in the last couple of weeks I’m not even used just riding in the peloton anymore. There was no sitting back here today anyway.
We were at a point up to 19 riders when it started to rain down on us. No easy task of course, but I welcomed it as it made the race just that tiny bit tougher. Eventually some guys dropped and the cobblestones started to hurt more and more and more… and at some point, they didn’t do anymore. I just kept riding onwards, like I always do.
Don’t give me a break, I thought. No pause, no tactical games. Just let me ride, please, please… I had some talks with other riders, shared a conversation with my DS. We were talking about possible outcomes, I wanted to race. Screw all that, let’s go for glory.
At about 40 kilometers left (and over 150 kilometers in my legs), the peloton was still over 2 minutes behind. We were 21 riders up there, and all that happened back there, was Omega Pharma Quick Step chasing for their captain: Zdenek Stybar. Now you know about Stybar, he and I… we go back, had some moments together at CX. Mostly he got the better of me. I knew that if Stybar and Sagan would come up eventually, I’d have to work. I could have said to my companions: I’m waiting for Sagan now.
I didn’t do that. I wanted to try my own luck. I kept pedaling just like I did before. Even harder.
Later I learned that Stybar and Omega Pharma broke free from the peloton on one of the toughest hills. Only Sagan and Koren were with them. A bit earlier, I have set myself apart alongside 8 other riders from the rest of the break. They just couldn’t hold the pace anymore. No point in caring dead weight with you.
Stybar must have been incredible strong while I was fighting against my own odds. The Czech attacked with some punch and Sagan must have slept through it. So the way was free for the Czech and he kept coming closer and closer, and when he joined up, I was shortly afraid until I had to think. Should I help, should I wait, should I just… sit back and enjoy the show?
Stybar didn’t ask for much help but I did it anyway. No race radio was my excuse. I didn’t know where Sagan or Gatto were, so might as well tried it too. The other riders in the break couldn’t provide much to our lucky escape, but to be honest, I couldn’t provide much more either. Just a few turns, Stybar was just plugging through the road…
When we hit the finale section of cobblestone, I just knew I had to keep his wheel at all cost. Keep it, keep it, keep it… I was there behind him and when I looked behind me, the disaster was fulfilled. Everybody was gone, it was just Stybar and me. I wondered if he’d gift me the win but there was no way that would happen. And I wouldn’t accept such a gift anyway. Not today at least.
Keeping in his stream, I must have forgotten all the hurt and kilometers before. The hours in the breakaway, the struggling on the cobblestones, the mindful games in my head, the thinking and over-thinking… I was just there and we were coming out of the last turn, and there was the road and the last kilometer. Flemme Rouge. My Sign. Go!
I kept behind him until I was too fast. I was coming past him, he couldn’t get out of the saddle anymore. I was throwing it all out. This should be it, I thought.
This is it, I knew.
It’s a not a wheelie, but it’s the best I’ve come up with.
Impressions
Spoiler
Omega Pharma + Sagan getting away from the peloton.
Stybar and Me pushing for it.
There, there... the finale.
Coming from behind.
”I was lucky to have kept Stybar’s wheel when he was really going strong. We had tactical advantages but I didn’t think about that too much. I wanted to blend it out […] It’s a wonderful day, I can’t really believe it. I’m just really tired now. This my first year and I wouldn’t have imagined to win a Flanders’ classic. This has got to be my favourite race now, I love racing in Belgium.”
-Raphael Visconti
”I would have liked to win here today very much, but Raphael was just that tiny bit stronger in the sprint and maybe a bit more lucky. I had to ride to keep Sagan off my back. Raphael’s a good lad, I know him from Cyclocross and I think it won’t be the last time we will duel each other.
-Zdenek Stybar
”He’s a fantastic guy and I’m genuinely happy for him. He has provided some great help in the previous weeks, and he definitely deserved to have a chance here today, to try something on his own. He can be very proud of his performances. I would have liked to contest in the finale but when Stybar went, I thought I could still catch him. I could have won easily otherwise.”
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