Come on Monster!
Though it'd be very nice to see an attack leading to a top 3 place! (hmm, where have we seen that before, very recently, in a giro, by the by? )
The first of 2 relatively easy stages brings the riders to Switzerland to the town of Lugano. After the early ascend of the Aprica, the most difficult in the last part of the stage is the ascend of the Aldesago (4.0km at 6.2%), with the summit only 6km before the finish. Will that climb prevent a mass sprint?
129km to go
3 riders form the BOTD while arriving at the summit of the Aprica. Emanuele Vona (Farnese Vini), Baden Cooke (Qantas) and Luca Solari (Lampre) have a lead of 53 seconds to Markel Irizar (Radio Shack) and 2'50 to the peloton.
17km to go
Irizar closes the gap to the 3 leaders in the descend of the Aprica and makes it a quartet. Their margin to the peloton keeps increasing to a maximum of 8 minutes, and they'll prepare for the battle for the stage win.
But even before the last climb starts, Luca Solari attacks out of this group and none of the other 3 seems capable of counter this one.
6km to go
Solari arrives at the summit with a margin of 1'27 to Baden Cooke, so the stage win is in the pocket for him. The peloton follows at 4'21. Wilco Kelderman attacks 500 metres before the summit and quickly creates a gap of 20 seconds.
Finish
Already in Lugano, Luca Solari wins the 14th stage for his new Lampre-team. The last 2 seasons riding for Androni were without a win. Cooke finishes in 2nd, Vona in 3rd.
Kelderman finishes in 5th at 3'31 and has a gap of 300 metres to the peloton. But of course, no time gaps were given.....
Results
1
Luca Solari
Lampre - Generali
4h40'02
2
Baden Cooke
Qantas Airways
+ 1'14
3
Emanuele Vona
Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli
+ 2'20
4
Markel Irizar
Radio Shack - Nissan
+ 3'08
5
Wilco Kelderman
Monster Energy - Subway
+ 3'31
6
Francesco Ginanni
Androni Giocattoli
s.t.
7
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
8
Robert Gesink
Monster Energy - Subway
s.t.
9
Jens Voigt
Radio Shack - Nissan
s.t.
10
Giovanni Visconti
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
Rankings
No changes.
Today's winner
Word from the DS
We didn't even bother to protest at the jury-decision of not giving a time ga between Kelderman and the peloton, as we knew they wouldn't change it....
A very positive thing, is that Gesink could easily stay in the first places of the peloton.
The last stage before the 2nd rest day (and when the mountain stages start) brings the riders back into Italy to Varese. The longest stage in this Giro, 248km, is almost flat, except for the last 3 kilometres, that have an average gradient of 5.3%.
89km to go
And we have a rider in the BOTD! Romain Zingle was the last of the 8 riders to join this BOTD. Together with Martin Reimer (Sony Ericsson), Victor Reynès (Lotto), Wesley Sulzberger (Qantas), Francisco Ventoso (Movistar), Christophe Riblon (Garmin), Maarten Wynants (Rabobank) and Xavier Florencio (Nespresso), he will battle for the stage win, as with 98km to go, they have a margin of 8'17 and the peloton isn't interested in chasing them.
21km to go
The gap grows to 14 minutes, before some teams (Omega Pharma) decides to increase the pace in the peloton a bit. Then sooner than expected, we see the first attack out of the BOTD. Garmin's Christophe Riblon is not relying on his sprint and attacks with 21km to go. Nobody counters and he creates a gap of 30 seconds. At this point, Zingle takes control of the pace in the chasing group and the gap decreases to only 15 seconds. But none of the 6 wants or can help him, so he stops chasing,....
Finish
Riblon starts the final climb with a gap of only 25 seconds, but he has no problems in maintaining it. Behind him, Sulzberger and Wynants have dropped the others but can't close the gap. Thus Riblon wins the 15th stage of the Giro, his first win in over 2 years. Sulzberger sprints to the 2nd place at '25, followed by Wynants. Romain Zingle finishes in a good 4th place at '56.
Our sprint train doesn't work, as the climb is too long and steep for our 2 sprinters. Tyler Farrar wins the sprint for the 9th place at 8'43, beating Igor Antón and Mikel Nieve. But strangely, time gaps are given.... Farrar gains '8 to Antón and the maglia rosa even gains 11 seconds to the peloton.... Apparantly, the Giro direction wants to make it even less exciting.
Word from the DS
Zingle did a very good job in the BOTD today, but wasn't strong enough to be in the Top 3. The final climb was too tough for Kittel. Now the 2nd rest day and then the mountain TT.
As promised during the first rest day, the team has an important message to announce.
2 and a hal year ago, Monster Energy started a professional cycling team, with the goal of making the sport of cycling more entertaining, introducing the sponsor girls, stickers and hats for the kids, etcetera. The first season, Ford was the co-sponsor, the last 2 seasons Subway.
The previous 2.5 years have been very succesful, with winning 3 cycling monuments (Ronde van Vlaanderen with Breschel, Liège - Bastogne - Liège with Andy Schleck and Il Lombardia with Robert Gesink) and 3 Grand Tours (Gesink won the Giro and Vuelta in 2011, and Schleck the Vuelta in 2012). But after 3 years of cycling, the management f Monster Energy has decided to look for another adventure, and they've found it in chess!
But not after both Monster Energy, and the cycling team have succesfuly found a successor to become a main sponsor, so the team can continue. So dear followers of Monster Energy - Subway cycling team, we're proud to announce you the new main sponsor for 2014 and 2015:
Spoiler
The Malaysian oil company Petroliam Nasional Berhad, also called Petronas, will sponsor the team for 2 seasons at least, and introduce a higher budget of over € 6mln a year. We're very happy that we can continue the team, with a great sponsor. Of course, Petronas wants us to win Le Tour, but sees the development of young riders as an important goal.
During the Giro, the Amgen Tour of California is raced. In these reports, I'll give you a summary of this 2.HC stage race.
Last year, Alberto Contador destroyed the competition.
The route
8 stages, including 3 flat ones, 3 hilly ones, 1 ITT and 1 mountain stage.
The favourites *** Damiano Cunego (Radio Shack), Jurgen Van den Broeck (BMC), Robert Kiserlovski (Garmin). ** Cayetano Sarmiento (Acqua et Sapone), Michael Rogers (Sky), Levi Leipheimer (Radio Shack). *Thomas Dekker, Bradley Wiggins (Radio Shack), David Zabriskie (Qantas).
Our goal
Our man for the GC Thomas Dekker starts with a fitness of 76, so a top 10 in the GC will be very nice. And of course, we'll try to get a stage win, but the team isn't strong.
The first stage is already a tough one, with the summit of the Brockway (4.8km at 5.7%) only 5km before the finish.
40km to go
A group of 11 riders, with Taylor Phinney, Kevin Hulsmans and Johan Vansummeren as the 3 most famous ones, takes a maximum lead of 8'30. But even before the last climb to Brockway summit starts, they get caught.
6km to go
We decide to set a high pace in this climb, as the fitness levels of our 2 best climbers, Thomas Dekker & Rob Ruijgh, isn't good enough to attack. It goes pretty will, untill 1km before the summit. Cyril Gautier (Eusropcar) attacks, and gets followed by Simon Gerrans (Qantas), Cayetano Sarmiento (Acqua et Sapone), Robert Kiserlovski (Garmin) and Simone Stortoni (Colnago).
Finish
Sarmiento and Gautier are able to create a small gap and surprisinlgy, the Colombian takes the win. A group with Kiserlovski, Gerrans, Van den Broeck and Gerrans finishes at '34. A 2nd group with most of our riders in it finishes at '59, with Niki Terpstra in a great 8th place.
Results
1
Cayetano Sarmiento
Acqua & Sapone
4h46'48
2
Cyril Gautier
Team Europcar
s.t.
3
Robert Kiserlovski
Garmin - Barracuda
+ 34
4
Matteo Carrara
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
5
Jurgen Van den Broeck
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
6
Simon Gerrans
Qantas Airways
s.t.
7
Damiano Cunego
Radio Shack - Nissan
+ 59
8
Niki Terpstra
Monster Energy - Subway
s.t.
9
David Zabriskie
Qantas Airways
s.t.
10
Jure Kocjan
Team Type 1
s.t.
Today's winner
Stage 2
The 2nd stage from North Lake Tahoe to Sacramento is mostly downhill. After a short climb to an altitude of almost 2000metres, the riders start a long descend and finsih at sea level in Sacramento after 214 kilometres.
Finish
We see a strange sprint here, as none of the big guns can take the win. That win goes to an outsider, Europcar's Adrien Petit, one of French sprinting hopes for the future. He beats Tony Gallopin, another young French star, and Jure Kocjan for the win.
The 3rd stage between Auburn and Modesto is one for the sprinters. The 191 kilomeres are almost completely flat.
The mass sprint is one of the most exciting ones this year. Mark Cavendish starts his sprint a long way before the finish, at 2km. In the last 200 metres, every metre, his opponents are coming closer. At the line, Cav takes the wins, but with only a very small margin to United Health Care's Michael Matthews and Team Type 1's Jure Kocjan. Pim Ligthart sprints to a nice 10th place.
The win is the 2nd one this year for the Manx Missile, besides 1 stage in the Tirreno Adriatico.
5km to go
The BOTD, consisting of 4 riders, start the final climb with a gap of 3'16 to the peloton. Jonathan Castroviejo (Saur), Stijn Devolder (Vacansoleil), Tyler Wren (Garmin) and David Veilleux (Spidertech) have a great shot to win this stage.
Finish
Devolder is the first to attack, immediately after the road starts to arise. Castroviejo climbs in his own pace and closes the gap to the Belgian. He drops the former De Ronde-winner and wins the stage at the Sierra Road, '27 in front of Devolder.
The first riders of the peloton finish at '40, with Kiserlovski taking the 3rd place and Cunego the 4th. Cayetano Sarmiento finishes in 5th at 1'11, and stays in yellow by only 7 seconds. Thomas Dekker is having problems at this steep climb, finishing in 15th at 2'45.
The 5th stage form Seaside to Paso Robles is another hilly stage. The first part features many climbs, but the last part is undulating so only a strong puncheur can win here.
And the stage crashed 2 times during loading. Didn't felt like trying it again, so simulated it, with some weird results.
Cunego wins the stage, whereas Kiserlovski, the strongest of the GC-contenders at Sierra Road somehow looses 8 minutes....
Results
1
Damiano Cunego
Radio Shack - Nissan
5h44'14
2
Simon Gerrans
Qantas Airways
+ 21
3
Cayetano Sarmiento
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
4
Bradley Wiggins
Radio Shack - Nissan
+ 36
5
Jurgen Van den Broeck
BMC Racing Team
+ 1'06
6
Aitor Galdos
Caja Rural
+ 1'34
7
Marco Marcato
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 1'59
8
Andrew Talansky
Radio Shack - Nissan
s.t.
9
Cyril Gautier
Team Europcar
s.t.
10
Jure Kocjan
Team Type 1
+ 2'40
...
20
Rob Ruijgh
Monster Energy - Subway
+ 3'19
21
Thomas Dekker
Monster Energy - Subway
s.t.
Stage 6
Stage 6, the Individual Time Trial of 23 kilometres with start and finish in Solvang.
The win in the ITT goes to Captain America. Qantas Airways rider David Zabriskie is the strongest, beating Michael Rogers with 2 seconds. Thomas Dekker scores a great 6th place at '13 and jumps to 11th overall. Damiano Cunego finishes in 24th at '40 and overtakes Sarmiento (80th at 1'57) in the GC. Results
The queens stage of this Tour of California brings the riders to Mount Baldy. It's only 121km long, but features a lot of climbing.
5km to go
A group of 25 riders is about to ride under the bow of the last 5 kilometres. At this point GC-leader Damiano Cunego attacks, thinking that attacking is the best way to defend. Only Cayetano Sarmiento and BMC's Jurgen Van den Broeck can follow him. Both Dekker and Ruijgh can't follow this one.
Finish
The 3 can drop the others and in the sprint,. Van den Broeck is the best, taking the first win of the season. Cunego beats Sarmiento for 2nd. Dekker finishes in 16th at 1'54, thereby jumping to the 7th stage in the GC.
Results
1
Jurgen Van den Broeck
BMC Racing Team
3h43'05
2
Damiano Cunego
Radio Shack - Nissan
+ 5
3
Cayetano Sarmiento
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
4
Robert Kiserlovski
Garmin - Barracuda
+ 25
5
Bruno Pires
Saxo Bank SunGard
+ 30
6
Ezequiel Mosquera
Caja Rural
+ 1'00
7
Christophe Kern
Team Europcar
+ 1'18
8
Matteo Carrara
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
9
Cyril Gautier
Team Europcar
s.t.
10
Simone Stortoni
Colnago - CSF Inox
+ 1'27
...
16
Thomas Dekker
Monster Energy - Subway
+ 1'54
Stage 8
The last stage, 129 km from Santa Clarita to Thousand Oaks, is pretty flat again.
The stage ends in the 3rd mass sprint this Tour of California. This time, Mark Cavendish wins it by a bigger margin, taking his 2nd stage win. Michael Matthews (UHC) takes another 2nd, with Kevin Lacombe (Spider Tech) in 3rd. Pim Ligthart finishes in 9th place.
Word from the DS
Not a bad Tour of California, with Top 10-places in stages for Ligthart, Dekker and Terpstra, and the 7th for Dekker in the GC. Back to the Giro!
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