I've enjoyed reading this and catching up to where you are currently.
Just out of curiousity, what are the team goals for this season? I missed it if it was mentioned on the first couple of pages. Just wondering if a Giro stage win got you one, or if you need a top 3 (or if the sponsors don't care).
KurtinSC wrote:
I've enjoyed reading this and catching up to where you are currently.
Just out of curiousity, what are the team goals for this season? I missed it if it was mentioned on the first couple of pages. Just wondering if a Giro stage win got you one, or if you need a top 3 (or if the sponsors don't care).
No my sponsors don't really care about the Giro. But I'm they wouldn't mind me winning it But I try not to put too much emphasis on my sponsor goals in this story, as you don't hear about that in real life either.
Update: Zoncolan has now been raced and written. I'll put it here at 6 O'clock CET, so you can still post some podium predictions if you like to. Could be fun to see how you think it'll go down.
May 30:Giro d’Italia - Stage 17 | Lienz > Monte Zoncolan - 146 km
Stage Profile
This could be the day. This could be the day where the Giro is decided as today’s stage features one of the most feared climb on the European Continent, namely the mythical Monte Zoncolan. With its 10,5 km and an average slope of a dizzying 11,5%, it’s going to inflict unbelievable pain – not only on the heavier riders – but also the most hardcore climbers. That’s the magic of the Zoncolan, which also features a one kilometre stretch with an average of 20%!
Following Nicki’s win on yesterdays’s stage none of our riders were even allowed to join in the breakaway as we wanted to focus 110% on protecting Andy, until he would have to take matters in his own hands on the Zoncolan.
Who can go the distance? The Zoncolan knows.
Inevitably a break would go clear of the pack today. There were loads of attacking right from the outset and it was almost impossible for Liquigas to control. But finally thing settled and a group with McLeod (FDJ), Van de Walle (QSI), Peña Iza (EUS), Moletta (GST), Ardila (RAB) and Van Goolen (DSC).
Some riders apparently weren’t terrified by the prospect of going to Monte Zoncolan. They would learn.
The break was kept on a leash by especially Liquigas and Saunier Duval, so with 70 km to go, the gap topped at 6’00”. As the pack hit the Sappada climb with about 60 km to go, Ruben Plaza attacked from the pack and he was countered by Gustav Larsson, John Gadret and José Ángel Gomez Marchante. The four of them worked good together but they never got more than a minute on the pack and at the Tualis just before Zoncolan, they were reeled back in. The only riders ahead of the pack now was the early breakaway, not counting McLeod anymore as he had been dropped.
An optimistic attempt saw Plaza, Larsson, Gadret and Marchante go clear only to be reeled in again before the final battle at the Zoncolan.
After descending Tualis we could see nothing but the Monte Zoncolan. Dig in Andy!
Distance: 10,5 km – Average Gradient: 11,5%.
Just before the climb commenced Andy had reported to us that he was feeling, well, unbelievable! We knew this was it. If Andy should stay within touching distance before the time trial he’d need to be at the front here. The attacks began instantly. José Rujano was the first to go clear. He had David Arroyo, Igor Anton and Domenico Pozzovivo countering him. But Rujano was strong and he soloed away from all these guys as Arroyo established his position riding solo behind Rujano, with Pozzovivo and Igor Anton chasing them. After a few kilometres the favourites attacked. Andy attacked Di Luca instantly.
Andy and Cunego powered away from Simoni and Di Luca so far. They joined up with Arroyo as Rujano led the stage.
David Arroyo couldn’t keep the pace of Cunego, so he was dropped, and was eventually reeled in by E3 (La Maglia Rosa Group). Di Luca was in crisis now as Andy was unbelievably running off with the leader’s jersey if he kept on losing time to him and Cunego.
Could José Rujano, who has shown nothing so far, keep Cunego and Schleck behind him and claim the victory of a life time?
Stage Standings with 5 kilometres to go.
Rujano was still holding on and he was stronger than ever apparently. But the previous weeks have convinced us that he can’t be at his peak and so with 3 km to go the gap began decreasing rapidly to Schleck and Cunego. At this point Di Luca was 50 seconds behind them, meaning Andy just needed an additional 5 seconds on Di Luca, would he win the stage of course, to win the leader’s jersey from Di Luca.
Apparently neither Simoni or Di Luca were particularily strong as they couldn’t do much work in the 5-man group in which they were riding. Andy was heading for something big. Di Luca was obviously having an off-day at the worst possible time, while Andy was still feeling great, considering he was in Cunego wheel at the toughest climb in Europe.
With 2 kilometres left Cunego closed the last bit of the gap to Rujano and Andy immediately countered away from the two riders approacing the last kilometres. He was digging deep and in the support car we became dumb in astonishment. Cunego couldn’t answer and Rujano was drop-dead exhausted. Di Luca was gone. But Andy Schleck was tearing up the road and heading for eternal greatness at the Monte Zoncolan. The massed crowds were staring in amazement as this 21-year old Luxembourgian, who'd left the hero of the whole Italy, in his wake. He was flying up the final metres of this terrifying slope and our dumbness had been replaced by complete ecstasy as we were yelling all kinds of encouraging things over the radio to him.
Andy is once and for all underlining his indesribeable talent. Can he bring it home now?
As Andy hit the final 100 metres we heard from Radio Tour, that Di Luca was now 1 minute behind meaning Andy would become the leader if he could keep the struggling Rujano and Cunego behind him. It seemed like forever these 100 metres, but Andy was glowing with determination as he grinded his bike up the final metres and threw his arms up and celebrated an emotional victory as he couldn’t seem to understand what kind of performance he had just pulled off.
Rujano took 2nd, 14 seconds behind Andy as he just beat Cunego to the line. Di Luca was the strongest in the sprint in his group as he took 4th. 1’26” behind Andy. It was confirmed. Andy Schleck had, in an amazing effort, won la maglia rosa and I really think his heart just skipped a beat as the big clock at the finish line expired the 55 seconds mark, which would claim Andy the lead. After he was awarded the leader’s jersey, we celebrated in the team bus for a few hours as this was just too big to just let go unnoticed. But after that it was all about focusing on tomorrow’s stage, where we will have to take charge again as we did on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th stage. It’s a very flat stage tomorrow, which will finish in San Marino, so we aren’t really worried that anything could happen to Andy tomorrow. The question now is if he can hold on, the finish on the 19th stage is quite hard too if the favourites want to fight it out some more, but time will tell. As of now I would reckon that Andy is a stronger time trialist than Di Luca, Cunego and Simoni, which is great as the 20th stage before the Parade into Milano, is a more or less flat time trial. So if Andy can stay in there on the 19 stage, I actually think he can win this. It’s amazing just to be able to say that. Andy Schleck can win the Giro d’Italia!
Giro d’Italia - Stage 17 | Result
1 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC 4h15'13
2 Jose Rujano UNIBET.COM + 14
3 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
4 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 1'26
5 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
6 Igor Anton H. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
7 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
8 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'21
9 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 5'20 10 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC s.t.
11 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 5'29
12 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 5'38
13 Mathieu Sprick BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
14 Matteo Carrara UNIBET.COM s.t.
15 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
16 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
17 Cyril Dessel AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t. 18 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
19 Dario Cioni PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
20 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t. 21 Volodimir Gustov TEAM CSC s.t.
40 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC + 6'41
47 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 7'09
60 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 10'03
77 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 13'15
Giro d’Italia - Stage 17 | GC
1 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC 73h22'34
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 31
3 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'41
4 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'02
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE + 26'15
6 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 26'46
7 Jose Rujano UNIBET.COM + 29'02
8 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 31'17
9 Igor Anton H. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 31'40
10 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 31'46
11 José G. Marchante SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 32'58
12 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 34'03
13 Cristian Moreni COFIDIS + 35'36
14 Andrea Noe LIQUIGAS + 36'01
15 Pietro Caucchioli CREDIT AGRICOLE + 36'22 16 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 36'48
17 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS + 39'49
18 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 39'58
19 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 40'23
20 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER + 40'54 25 Volodimir Gustov TEAM CSC + 47'16
27 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC + 47'31
49 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 1h06'31
62 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 1h18'54
97 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 2h27'08
105 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 2h46'20
Giro d’Italia – Stage 17 | Points Competition
1 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL 223
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 210 3 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC 151
4 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 137
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE 100
6 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS 94
7 Alessandro Petacchi TEAM MILRAM 85
8 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 79
9 Allan Davis DISCOVERY CHANNEL 61
10 Jose Rujano UNIBET.COM 57
May 31:Giro d’Italia - Stage 18 | Udine > Riese Pio X - 182 km
The flattest stage of the Giro and we will be in charge after Andy’s massive effort on yesterday’s struggle up Monte Zoncolan. Two scenarios are possible today. Either a group will stay clear and fight for victory as the sprinters team are fatigue, or the sprinters teams have just enough left in the bag to bring in the early break and dash it out on the home stretch.
A CSC rider back in pink. Christian Vandevelde and Fabian Cancellara are the two other wearers of la maglia rosa.
The break consisted of Hiekmann (GST), Mandri (A2R), Igor Anton (EUS), Verheyen (QSI), Bernucci (TMO), Fedrigo (BTL), Aerts (PRL), Tomei (PAN), Monnerais (FDJ), Moerenhout (RAB), Buffaz (COF) and Halgand (C.A). Pretty interesting to see Igor Anton participating here as he’s 9th in the GC.
With 80 km to go the gap was 8 minutes, but then Discovery and Milram decided to relieve us at the front to reel in the breakaway.
Are Milram and Discovery too fatigue after almost three weeks of touring through Italy or do they still have the strenght to do their job.
With 40 km to go it looked as though the break would make it as the gap had only been cut to 4’40”. But at the 20 km mark the cooperation in the break completely failed for some reason and they went from two minutes up to being reeled in, in just 5 kilometres. It was going to be a sprint today.
The breakaway collapsed as they were reeled in, in not time after they were looking as if they had the edge over the pack.
Lampre was working for Napolitano today as they assigned him with a star lead-out man in Daniele Bennati. These two led the train that would fight it out. Allan Davis was in third position, while Ventoso was in fourth with Duque on his wheel. In the middle Unibet had formed a small train with Matteo Carrara leading out his teammates Zanotti and Caisse D’Epargne’s Vicente Reynes. In the opposite side of the Lampre train, a bit down, was a train with Milram duo Elia Rigotto and Alessandro Petacchi, just ahead of Panaria’s Paride Grillo. Di Luca was also at the front in, in the wheel of Vicente Reynes.
Lampre were large in numbers at the front as they had an advantage over the other sprinting trains that had formed.
Bennati led out Napolitano too perfection and it was going to be settled between him and Allan Davis. Petacchi was gaining fast from behind, but he was simple too far away to matter. Also Ventoso was in there, but maybe Petacchi would just be able to catch him. Napolitano was still in the lead and he was the strongest. Davis made his move but the stage wasn’t long enough for him to beat Napolitano to it, as he had to settle for second. Petacchi claimed third ahead of Ventoso. Igor Anton got dropped from the pack meaning he dropped outside the top ten in the GC.
Napolitano was the strongest in the mass sprint as he held off Allan Davis and Alessandro Petacchi to win this stage.
Not much to report really. All our guys came through safely, so Andy still holds a 31 seconds lead over Di Luca in the GC. Speaking of Di Luca, then he gained two points in the sprint today, meaning he is within touching distance of the lead in the points competition, which would be a nice consolation, should he not win back the leader’s jersey.
Giro d’Italia - Stage 18 | Result
1 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL 4h31'33
2 Allan Davis DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
3 Alessandro Petacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
4 Francisco Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
5 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
6 Alberto Ongarato TEAM MILRAM s.t.
7 Marco Zanotti UNIBET.COM s.t.
8 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
9 Cristian Moreni COFIDIS s.t.
10 Vicente Reynès CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
11 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
12 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
13 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS s.t.
14 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS s.t.
15 Paride Grillo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
16 Antonio Bucciero CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
17 Matteo Carrara UNIBET.COM s.t.
18 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
19 Ruggero Marzoli TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
20 Angelo Furlan CREDIT AGRICOLE s.t. 67 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
69 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC s.t.
70 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
71 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC s.t.
72 Volodimir Gustov TEAM CSC s.t.
73 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC s.t.
76 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
115 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC s.t.
Giro d’Italia - Stage 18 | GC
1 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC 77h54'07
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 31
3 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'41
4 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'02
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE + 26'15
6 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 26'46
7 Jose Rujano UNIBET.COM + 29'02
8 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 31'17
9 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 31'46
10 José G. Marchante SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 32'58
11 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 34'03
12 Cristian Moreni COFIDIS + 35'36
13 Igor Anton H. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 35'53
14 Andrea Noe LIQUIGAS + 36'01
15 Pietro Caucchioli CREDIT AGRICOLE + 36'22 16 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 36'48
17 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS + 39'49
18 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 39'58
19 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 40'23
20 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER + 40'54 25 Volodimir Gustov TEAM CSC + 47'16
27 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC + 47'31
49 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 1h06'31
62 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 1h18'54
96 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 2h27'08
105 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 2h46'20
Giro d’Italia – Stage 18 | Points Competition
1 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL 223
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 212 3 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC 151
4 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 137
5 Alessandro Petacchi TEAM MILRAM 101
6 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE 100
7 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS 94
8 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 83
9 Allan Davis DISCOVERY CHANNEL 81
10 Francisco Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 71
Yeah I'm very surprised with Zabriskie. There's definitely going to happen something on the next stage, but if he can stay at the front then he might even be able to move into the top ten with a great time trial, because if you look at the riders ahead of him in the GC, there are no real good time trialists among them.
Yeah I'm very surprised with Zabriskie. There's definitely going to happen something on the next stage, but if he can stay at the front then he might even be able to move into the top ten with a great time trial, because if you look at the riders ahead of him in the GC, there are no real good time trialists among them.
you already have some info??
BTW lucky for you DiLuca didn't sprint along in that bunch sprint, in my first career with the pcmgeeks-db he did and won (to extend his lead in the GC through the bonus seconds...)
June 1:Giro d’Italia - Stage 19 | Treviso > Comano Terme - 178 km
Stage Profile
This is the last regular stage in this year’s Giro as tomorrow features the crucial time trial and after that it’s just the parade into Milan we have left to race. The finish today could provide some fireworks from some of the favourites, namely Di Luca who has to be feeling frustrated right now. And the climb just before the finish suits him well, so if he’s going to try something, then we hope Andy can stay with him. Di Luca is our main concern, no doubt.
Jakob Piil has been extremely active throughout the Giro. So far it has earned him a 3rd place on the 16th stage, today he formed the TV Break.
Jakob Pill formed a 12-man break together with Van de Walle (QSI), Lefevre (BTL), Azanza Soto (EUS), McLeod (FDJ), Cummings (DSC), Mizurov (AST), Baliani (PAN), Brandt (PRL), Arrieta (A2R), Zampieri (COF) and Ghisalberti (MRM).
They were only allowed 5 minutes by the pack however, as Liquigas and Lampre continued their incredible amount of work, to set up their respective leaders.
About halfway through the stage the riders hit a small climb, where Liquigas sustained the pressure on the pack. Maybe they were hoping Andy would have a bad day.
At the final climb, the Passo Baliano with its 16 km and average gradient of 4%, about 30 km from the finish, the break was caught and new guys countered up the slope. The first serious attack was from Rabobank’s Pieter Weening who got himself a decent gap to the pack. Predictor’s Dario Cioni got after him and joined a bit later up the climb.
With 6 km to the top, Di Luca made his move on the jersey as he took off in that characteristic accelerating style. Schleck countered instantly and the two of them joined up with Cioni who had dropped Weening. Cunego and Simoni didn’t have the same strenght today as they formed a duo, like they did on the Tre Cimo Di Lavaredo stage, and tried to chase down Andy and Di Luca, who quickly got rid of Cioni.
Weening started the spectacle as he was the first to attack on the Passo Baliano.
At the top with about 14 km to go the situation looked as following. Di Luca and Andy lead the Simoni-Cunego Duo by 30 seconds, and they led Weening and Cioni by another 40 seconds. Behind these two Zabriskie had taken off and he was riding solo just ahead of the pack.
Either Andy or Di Luca is going to win the Giro, but it looks as though it won’t be settled today, but on tomorrow’s time trial.
The finish was uphill for about a kilometre and it was kid’s stuff for Di Luca to outsprint Andy and claim his third win in this year’s Giro, meaning he would gain 8 seconds on Andy, so he’d cut the deficit ahead of the time trial to just 23 seconds. Cunego and Simoni finished the stage 31 seconds behind Di Luca and Schleck, so their chances of winning must now be gone for good. Cioni and Weening kept a good pace so they could finish the stage in 5th and 6th, 1’46” after Di Luca. Zabriskie managed to stay ahead of the pack as he finished in 7th, 16 seconds after Cioni and Weening, meaning he would move to 13th in the GC. Really good job by Dave.
Di Luca won ahead of Andy today, but he couldn’t shake off la maglia rosa, meaning his hard work could be waste today.
Tomorrow it’ll be settled on the 42 km time trial. We know that Andy has done some great time trials in Tour de Romandie and he also beat Di Luca comfortably on the mountain time trial on the 13th stage, but tomorrow’s time trial is more or less flat, so it’ll completely different and we hope that Dave can win it as he’s in absolute peak condition.
Giro d’Italia - Stage 19 | Result
1 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 4h33'26
2 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
3 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 31
4 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
5 Dario Cioni PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'46
6 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t. 7 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 2'02
8 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 2'27
9 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
10 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
11 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t.
12 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
13 Cristian Moreni COFIDIS s.t.
14 David Moncoutié COFIDIS s.t.
15 Alberto Contador DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
16 Gustav Larsson UNIBET.COM s.t.
17 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
18 John Gadret AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t.
19 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
20 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t. 24 Volodimir Gustov TEAM CSC s.t.
30 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
33 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
42 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC s.t.
46 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 3'21
112 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 7'14
Giro d’Italia - Stage 19 | GC
1 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC 82h27'21
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 23
3 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 2'24
4 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'37
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE + 28'54
6 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 29'25
7 Jose Rujano UNIBET.COM + 31'41
8 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 33'56
9 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 34'25
10 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 36'42
11 Cristian Moreni COFIDIS + 38'15
12 Andrea Noe LIQUIGAS + 38'40 13 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 39'02
14 Igor Anton H. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 40'00
15 Pietro Caucchioli CREDIT AGRICOLE + 40'29
16 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS + 42'28
17 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 42'37
18 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 43'02
19 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER + 43'33
20 Matteo Carrara UNIBET.COM + 43'57 25 Volodimir Gustov TEAM CSC + 49'55
26 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC + 50'10
47 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 1h09'10
59 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 1h21'33
96 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 2h30'41
107 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 2h53'46
Giro d’Italia – Stage 19 | Points Competition
1 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 237
2 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL 237 3 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC 171
4 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 153
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE 105
6 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS 102
7 Alessandro Petacchi TEAM MILRAM 101
8 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 83
9 Allan Davis DISCOVERY CHANNEL 81
10 Francisco Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 71
Di Luca couldn’t shake Giro leader Andy Schleck, so does he still have any chances of winning?
Bayern Rundfahrt
While the Giro is winding down another small stage race has taken off in Germany with the participation of CSC. As I’m focusing on winning the Giro right now I don’t really know anything about the team plans, but I’ll update this stage-by-stage. The most interesting must be the fact Matti Breschel is racing here as I’ve learned that he’s returning well to fitness after he made his return in 4 Jours de Dunkurque, after he’d been out since March as a result of a crash in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
Bayern Rundfahrt – Stage 1 | Result
1 Olaf Pollack TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 4h41'17
2 Stefan Radochla TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
3 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
4 Jochen Summer ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
5 Sebastian Siedler TEAM MILRAM s.t.
6 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
7 Werner Riebenbauer TEAM VOLKSBANK s.t.
8 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
9 René Haselbacher ASTANA s.t.
10 Erik Zabel TEAM MILRAM s.t. 23 Martin Pedersen TEAM CSC s.t.
57 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM CSC s.t.
65 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
72 Matthew Goss TEAM CSC s.t.
84 Lars Ytting Bak TEAM CSC s.t.
123 Anders Lund TEAM CSC s.t.
124 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC s.t.
125 Kasper Klostergaard TEAM CSC s.t.
Bayern Rundfahrt – Stage 1 | GC
1 Olaf Pollack TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 4h40'57
2 Stefan Radochla TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 8
3 Thomas Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 10
4 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM + 12
5 Jan Almblad TEAM GLS s.t.
6 Björn Glasner TEAM REGIOSTROM-SENGES + 16
7 Lars Wackernagel TEAM SPARKASSE + 18
8 Jochen Summer ELK HAUS - SIMPLON + 20
9 Sebastian Siedler TEAM MILRAM s.t.
10 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t. 27 Martin Pedersen TEAM CSC s.t.
61 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM CSC s.t.
68 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
75 Matthew Goss TEAM CSC s.t.
86 Lars Ytting Bak TEAM CSC s.t.
123 Anders Lund TEAM CSC s.t.
124 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC s.t.
125 Kasper Klostergaard TEAM CSC s.t.
But I try not to put too much emphasis on my sponsor goals in this story, as you don't hear about that in real life either.
)
