Christina. Here in Lienz, a medieval town in Tyrol, Austria. The town was first mentioned in the 11 century, it received city rights in 1242, well placed on the important trade route between Salzburg and northern Italy. The Italian Giro del Trentino starts here in Austria, another important race for us in April, we need some acceptable results.
Lienz:
From Lienz, the route moves south-west to Oberdrauburg, west to Kleblach, north over a sprint in Gratschach, then west for the climb (cat.2) at Iselsberg and downhill for the finish back in Lienz.
Hotel Mölltaler, Iselsberg:
As we don’t know if we will have any chance in the GC, we want to try and get someone in the morning break, hopefully getting some points Iselsberg.
Profile:
Roster
Anders Bjerregård
Anton Grøn
Frederik Wilmann
Kenny Elissonde
Lasse Bøchman
Martin Pedersen
Simon Bigum
Sondre Holst Enger
Sondre Holst Enger misses out on the break and ends in between the front and the peloton, he catch up after a while, but with some wasted energy. But he is able to win the sprint.
The peloton sets a high pace, especially Cannondale pulls with many riders and it seems to leave little hope for the break-away.
But just as it seems the break is about to be over, half way up the climb to Iselsberg, Aleksejs Saramotins (IAM Cycling) set in a hard attack from the front group, leaving everyone else behind.
Saramotins fly down towards the finish, claiming a solo win, with 1'08 down to the peloton.
Kenny Elissonde, Martin Pedersen and Lasse Bøchman are all in in the front of the chase, they all finish in top 10.
Today a team time trial in Lienz, The route starts at Leinz Aguntum museum, from there over the Drava river to Lavant, form there to Amlach, and up to a finish in Tiroler Straße at the city center.
Walking street in Lienz:
Pre-race strategy: We know we are not strong in time trials, and with some youngsters in the squad, we may have a hard time today, just hope we won’t end up last.
Profile:
Christina: My worst fears came through, we ended up last losing 1'18, all we can do is hope we can make some of that up in the coming stages.
Christina: The Caravan has moved approx. 30 km vest to Sillian, we are still in Austria, now just 4 km from the border. Today is a true mountain stage 221 km on hard terrain, some of the youngsters just hope to make it within the time limit.
Passo Lavazé:
The race will take us over the border, 70 km west for a sprint in Bressanone, follow the river valley of “Rio Funes” (Greman: Villnößer Bach) south, then just outside Bolzano into the mountains, a 1500 meter climb up to Passo Lavazé. Then downhill along small roads in the direction of Trento, for the last climb op to the finish at Vetriolo Terme.
From the route to Vetriolo Terme
Profile:
The morning break was David Arroyo (Caja Rura), Rory Sutherland (Saxo – Tinkoff), Paolo Tiralongo (Nippo - De Rosa) and Gabriele Bosisio (Utensilnord), they got about 4 minutes, at the top of Passo Lavazé (cat.1). Arroyo takes the mountain sprint.
Another 6 rider attack at Passo Lavazé, and catch up with the front group. The group is now stronger with better riders.
The Peloton sets a much higher pace now, and is slowly cutting the distance down. It is “IAM Cycling” pulling hard.
The last rider from the break-away Paolo Tiralongo, was caught just before the last climb.
At the bottom of the climb, the favorite’s started to attack, Kenny Elissonde was falling behind.
But Elissonde keep a steady pace, he is back with the favorite group, getting close to the 5km mark. The group is Wiggins (Vodafone), Roche (Saxo), Niemiec (Astana), Atapuma (Katusha), Urán (Astana), Horner (RadioShack), Firsanov (RusVelo) and De Gendt (Vacansoleil).
Then Urán attacks Horner and De Gendt counters but they lost Urán’s wheel. The others are not able to react.
Rigoberto Urán takes the stage, the CG, the points and the KoM, winning with 1’31 to the next group.
Niemiec and Elissonde eliminate the others in their group, and slowly get up to De Gendt and Horner just before the finish. They all get in at the same time. Chris Horner 2nd. Przemyslaw Niemiec 3rd. Elissonde get in 5th.he takes the young rider classification.
Christina: A great stage today, and we are back in the race, not to mention that everyone got home within the time limit.
It looks like “IAM Cycling” did too much in the peloton today, their best was Janez Brajkovič, he lost 12'37.
Stage:
1
Rigoberto Urán
Astana Pro Team
5h43'57
2
Chris Horner
RadioShack - Leopard
+ 1'31
3
Przemyslaw Niemiec
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
4
Thomas De Gendt
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
5
Kenny Elissonde
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
6
Nicolas Roche
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
+ 2'29
7
Bradley Wiggins
Vodafone
s.t.
8
John Darwin Atapuma
Katusha Team
s.t.
9
Sergey Firsanov
RusVelo
s.t.
10
Dario Cataldo
Vodafone
+ 2'41
GC:
1
Rigoberto Urán
Astana Pro Team
8h59'35
2
Thomas De Gendt
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 1'33
3
Chris Horner
RadioShack - Leopard
+ 1'35
4
Przemyslaw Niemiec
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'43
5
Bradley Wiggins
Vodafone
+ 2'33
6
Dario Cataldo
Vodafone
+ 2'45
7
John Darwin Atapuma
Katusha Team
s.t.
8
Nicolas Roche
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
+ 2'53
9
Kenny Elissonde
Christina Watches - Onfone
+ 2'54
10
Sergey Firsanov
RusVelo
+ 2'59
Points:
1
Rigoberto Urán
Astana Pro Team
25
39
2
Aleksejs Saramotins
IAM Cycling
0
27
3
Kenny Elissonde
Christina Watches - Onfone
12
21
Mountain:
1
Rigoberto Urán
Astana Pro Team
16
2
David Arroyo
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
16
3
Chris Horner
RadioShack - Leopard
12
Team: Astana Pro Team
Young: Kenny Elissonde (Christina Watches - Onfone)
Edited by Tamijo on 26-10-2015 20:54
18/4 Stage 4. Pergine Valsugana - Condino (Valle del Chiese) 171.8 km
Christina: The Caravan has moved just about 10 km north to Pergine Valsugana, a town just 10 km east of Trento.
Castel Pergine, Constructed approx. 1000 AD
From Pergine Valsugana the route goes through Trento, north to Mezzolombardo, where the climb starts to Fai della Paganella (cat 2.), then south to a sprint in Comano Terme. from here south, down to Riva del Garda, then east for an uncategorized climb up to Lago di Ledro, before the last cat. 3 climb to Daone, and downhill towards the finish in Condino.
Chiesa di Condino (Church of Condino)
Pre-race strategy: We will try to get Bøchman in a break, the stage should not be too hard, we expect Elissonde to manage with help from the others riders.
Profile:
Bøchman tries to attack, but can’t get away, instead we get Holst Enger in the break-away with 3 other riders.
Near the top of “Fai della Paganella”, Robert Kiserlovski (Orica – GreenEdge) and Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli) attacks, followed by Paolo Tiralongo (Nippo - De Rosa) and Wilco Kelderman (Belkin).
At this point the peloton is down to 121 riders; more than 60 riders are left behind, including Simon Bigum and Anders Bjerregård.
The weather is tough; it is raining heavily, the clouds are very low at the mountains.
While the other attackers are reeled in by the peloton, Robert Kiserlovski gets up to the front group.
But Kiserlovski’s effort was wasted energy, the peloton is very fast, and gets close to the break-away when the last climb starts.
Everyone starts attacking at the last climb, at the top of Daone (cat 3), it is Nicolas Roche (Saxo – Tinkoff) in front of Diego Ulissi (Lampre – Merida) and Rigoberto Urán (Astana)
Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil) has a perfect descend, he catch up to Uran and Ulissi, and they get very close to Roche, but Roche wins the stage over Ulissi. Kenny Elissonde gets in with the next group, 1'07 after Roche.
Christina: Nothing special, but an ok day for us, the big loser today, was Niemiec Przemyslaw (Astana), working hard for Urán, he lost 7’54 today, losing his CG 3rd. Resulting in Elissonde moving from 9 to 8 in the GC.
Stage:
1
Nicolas Roche
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
4h19'36
2
Diego Ulissi
Lampre - Merida
+0
3
Thomas De Gendt
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+1
4
Rigoberto Urán
Astana Pro Team
+2
5
André Cardoso
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
+ 1'07
6
Lars Petter Nordhaug
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
+ 1'07
7
Ivan Santaromita
BMC Racing Team
+ 1'07
8
Lieuwe Westra
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 1'07
9
Tony Gallopin
RadioShack - Leopard
+ 1'07
10
Dario Cataldo
Vodafone
+ 1'07
GC:
1
Rigoberto Urán
Astana Pro Team
13h19'11
2
Thomas De Gendt
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 1'25
3
Nicolas Roche
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
+ 2'33
4
Chris Horner
RadioShack - Leopard
+ 2'42
5
Bradley Wiggins
Vodafone
+ 3'40
6
Dario Cataldo
Vodafone
+ 3'52
7
John Darwin Atapuma
Katusha Team
s.t.
8
Kenny Elissonde
Christina Watches - Onfone
+ 4'01
9
Sergey Firsanov
RusVelo
+ 4'06
10
Peter Velits
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
+ 4'27
Points:
Rigoberto Urán
Astana Pro Team
14
53
Diego Ulissi
Lampre - Merida
20
36
Nicolas Roche
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
25
35
Mountain:
1
Rigoberto Urán
Astana Pro Team
20
2
David Arroyo
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
16
3
Chris Horner
RadioShack - Leopard
12
Team: RadioShack - Leopard
Young: Kenny Elissonde (Christina Watches - Onfone)
Edited by Tamijo on 29-10-2015 05:42
Christina: The Caravan has moved about 50 km back west to Arco, a small town by the Sarca river, just 6 km north of Riva Del Garda.
Arco:
From Arco the route goes north to Padergnone, then back south to Riva del Grada, west to Mori, north to Mattarello, Back to Mori, for a climb up to Brentonico ski resort (cat. 2), then down to Mori again, south to Ala, and the final climb (HC) up to Sega de Ala, by Lessinia natural park.
View fron the Road to Sega de Ala:
Profile:
A strong break gets away this morning, with famous names like Andreas Klöden, Tom Slagter and other strong riders. The best placed rider in the GC is Matteo Montaguti (Androni Giocattoli) 12’32 behind, they doesn’t pose any threat to the GC, but they may well pose a threat to the stage win.
At the climb to Brentonico ski resort, Fabio Taborre and Tom Slagter loses contact with the front, they are about to get swallowed by the peloton soon. The front is down to 8.
At the beginning of the final climb to Sega de Ala (HC), Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma - Quick·Step) attacks, the favorite group is now down to only 14 riders.
The situation with 8 km to the top:
Rigoberto Urán is leading the favorite group, getting closer and closer to the break-away.
When the favorites catch the front group, Elissonde sets himself up front, pushing to try and thin out the group.
When they get to the 1km mark, Urán sets in the final attack, Nicolas Roche react immidiatly, Elissonde counters but can’t keep up. He ends up in the 2 group with Niemiec and Horner.
Urán takes a solo win with 13 sec. to Roche, Elissonde get in fifth losing a few sec. to Horner and Niemiec.
Christina :A brilliant race in Italy, Elissonde is the next generation climber ! There will be a party in camp Christina Watches tonight. Celebrating the Top5 and the White Jersey, but not for too long, some of the riders have an important race in Herning tomorrow.
Final result
Stage:
1
Rigoberto Urán
Astana Pro Team
4h23'51
2
Nicolas Roche
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
+ 13
3
Przemyslaw Niemiec
Astana Pro Team
+ 36
4
Chris Horner
RadioShack - Leopard
+ 44
5
Kenny Elissonde
Christina Watches - Onfone
+ 53
6
Tanel Kangert
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
7
John Darwin Atapuma
Katusha Team
+ 1'22
8
Sergey Firsanov
RusVelo
s.t.
9
Bradley Wiggins
Vodafone
s.t.
10
Thomas De Gendt
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
GC:
1
Rigoberto Urán
Astana Pro Team
17h42'42
2
Nicolas Roche
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
+ 2'54
3
Thomas De Gendt
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 3'07
4
Chris Horner
RadioShack - Leopard
+ 3'46
5
Kenny Elissonde
Christina Watches - Onfone
+ 5'14
6
Bradley Wiggins
Vodafone
+ 5'22
7
John Darwin Atapuma
Katusha Team
+ 5'34
8
Sergey Firsanov
RusVelo
+ 5'48
9
Peter Velits
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
+ 7'10
10
Fränk Schleck
RadioShack - Leopard
+ 7'32
11
Robert Kiserlovski
Orica - GreenEdge
+ 7'49
Points:
1
Rigoberto Urán
Astana Pro Team
25
78
2
Nicolas Roche
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
20
55
3
Thomas De Gendt
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
6
38
Mountain:
1
Rigoberto Urán
Astana Pro Team
20
40
2
Nicolas Roche
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
14
24
3
Chris Horner
RadioShack - Leopard
10
22
Team: Astana Pro Team
Young: Kenny Elissonde (Christina Watches - Onfone)
Edited by Tamijo on 29-10-2015 18:07
Christina: Today it is Grand Prix Herning, the first race of the season at home soil. The race is known for is gravel roads, about 30 km combined. Our best last year was Francisco José 9th, we should be able to do better this year.
The race starts in the center of Herning, then west to Vildbjerg, southwest to Videbæk, southeast to Troldhede, northeast to Kibæk, southeast to Brande, north to Lind, northwest to Hammerum, and then east back to Herning, ending with 4 laps of 4,2 km, on a closed circuit.
Walking street in Herning:
Pre-race strategy: We will try to control the race from the peloton. And set up a sprint train for Sondre Holst Enger
Profile:
Roster:
Marc Hester
Martin Pedersen
Morten Høberg
Philip Nielsen
Sebastian Balck
Sondre Holst Enger
Stefan Schumacher
Yves Lampaert
A break of nine easily get away, no one attempts to bring them back, it’s a long stage and the peloton takes it easy.
Not long after the start, Sondre Holst Enger crashes, Philip Nielsen fall back to help him. It is not a problem to get them back in the bunch.
With Sondre back, we move a group to the front, starting to set a higher pace, not to let the front get to much time. It is a hard ride all day on the gravel, our riders begin to wear out. But the break is reeled back in.
At about 10 km left, Marcel Sieberg (De Rijke – Shanks) attacks, he gets a nice gap quickly and the peloton are not able to bring him back. He wins the race over Steven Tronet (BigMat).
We get a good train up, but Sondre Holst Enger is very drained after the crash, Peter Nielsen is marked by the hills and hard pace, our best is our lead-out Yves Lampaert, finishing 20th.
Christina: Don’t ask!...... I am not in the mood for Interviews.
