Sorry I forgot to save the race replay, so it'll just be a short recap of the race.
Finally a day for pure sprinters! The run in towards the finish is suited to a mass sprint.
We were missing one rider on the starting line today, unfortunately Christian Meier finished outside the time limit yesterday and was therefore disqualified.
After my big effort yesterday, I just sat in the peleton today, trying to recover. We did our best to set Tyler up for victory. But once again he was beaten to the line. Tom Boonen took the victory and with it regained the leaders jersey. Francesco Ginanni continued his great form, coming home second. Unfortunately Tyler could only manage 4th today, Julian took 6th.
Today we are confronted with one of the most feared climbs in cycling, the Montelupone climb. I must admit that i'm a bit wrried about even making it to the top of the climb. To make things worse we don't just climb Mntelupone once, but two times!
We were really confident today about placing Ryder high up the GC.
At the bottom of the first ascent of Montelupone, Fabian Cancellara attacked. He was obviously feeling very strong today to attack this far from the finish.
A group of 4 riders, with Cancellara being the biggest name, lead the race down the other side of the Montelupone climb.
Just before the bottom of the final climb, Gerald Ciolek suprised just about everybody by attacking out of the peleton. Noboday, except maybe his team, had expected him to have the strength to do this.
Cancellara broke free from his group at the bottom of the Montelupone climb and was joined by Coilek shortly after.
The road became steeper and steeper, and attacks coming thick and fast out of the peleton. Ryder (second from right, wearing his UCI Pro Tour leaders jersey) tried to follow Ginanni's wheel but he wasn't strong enough.
But Cancellara proved that he's one of the strongest cyclists in the world, he was too good today claiming victory in front of Ciolek and Ginanni to take over the race leadership.
We were a little dissapointed with what we managed today, Ryder and David could only take 26th and 39th respectively, both 1'14" back.
I somehow manged to make it to the finish, coming home 49th 2'11" behaind Fabian. But believe me, there were times over those painful last two kilometres where I just felt like throwing in the towel and abandoning. To say it was tough is an understatment.
Sorry, no exported results today. Here are some of the more important ones:
Stage Standings
1 F.Cancellara 4h14'21"
2 G. Ciolek + 5"
3. F. Ginanni + 5 26 R. Hesjedal + 1'14"
39 D. Millar + 1'14"
49 J. Bobridge + 2'11"
Ever since I was told that i'd be participating in this race i've been looking forward to this stage. This is my first opportunity to test out my legs in the race against the clock against the best in the world, Fabian Cancellara.
I set off looking to beat the best time of the day so far which had been set by ex Garmin rider Bradley Wiggins.
I felt really good today and thought I was in with a chance of clocking a good time.
I crossed the line with the 2nd best time so far, + 16" on Wiggins. A fantastic result, now I just hoped to hold onto a top 10 resut.
Ryder Hesjedal came home even quicker than Wiggins and took the lead by 4 seconds.
Then David Millar beat his time. I was still holding onto a top 5 result.
But nobody went close to beating Fabian Cancelarra today. He completely outclassed the rest of the field and took the victory.
I finished 9th, which I was rapt with. To make the top 10 in a field that contains Cancellara, Armstrong, Wiggins and Millar is a great acheivement.
Stage 6 is the longest and probably the most decisive of this years Tirreno - Adriatico race. We really hope Ryder can perform well today and cement his place in the top 10, maybe even grab a top 5 finish.
We come into today's stage with David Millar holding second position, but we don't expect him to hold onto that as even though he's a decent climber he's just not as good as some of the others in this race.
The long steep climb which summited 44km before the finish was too much for many riders, including myself and we slipped of the back of the race.
The days' breakaway was caught by the main field on the climb.
The peleton had been reduced to just 35 riders as it started the descent. We had two riders in there, Ryder and David.
The race would be decided on the rising slopes towards the finish.
Race leader Fabian Cancellara attacked...
...And was soon joined by Frank Schleck.
Just behind them was Ryder, who'd attacked along with a number of other riders.
Frank Schleck jumped away from Cancellara just before the 1km to go banner.
He built up a decent gap...
Frank Schleck takes the stage victory.
While Cancellara comes home second 21 seconds behind, virtually securing overall victory (tomorrow is very unlikely to throw up any major changes). He looks to be in ominous form ahead of the spring classics.
Ryder Hesjedal comes in third, +39". He secures a top 5 position, 4th infact, but unfortunately misses out on the podium by 1"(again, assuming nothing major happens tomorrow).
David Millar suprises everyone finishing 23rd on the day and grabbing 6th overall.
Stage 7
San Benedetto del Tronto - San Benedetto del Tronto
* No photos again, sorry. Still trying to get the hang of viewing the race replay instead of just viewing the podiums. I also forgot to export results.
The final stage of this years' Tirreno - Adriatico is here. The stage should come down to a mass sprint, so any change to the GC is unlikely. We'll be trying to finally get Tyler Farrar a stage win.
We had hoped that maybe Ryder could place in one of the intermediate sprints, therefor picking up a time bonus and moving into 3rd overall. But unfortunately that wasn't to be.
Despite us working exceptionally hard to get to deliver Tyler to the line first, he couldn't beat Francesco Ginanni who took seems to be career-best form. Ginanni took his second victory of the race and sealed the Points Classification.
No time gaps, meant that Fabian Cancellara sealed victory in the 2010 Tirreno - Adriatico.
A very short stage today, we'll see what Robbie Hunter can do in the expected sprint.
There were many early attacks, but none succeded in forming a breakaway so the stage would come down to a mass sprint.
Hunter grabs a good position behind Tonti of CarmioOro NGC.
But as he passed under the 5km to banner, the train lost speed and Robbie was forced to find another wheel.
He decided to take the wheel of a rider in the relay train in the hope of catching the other sprinters out. Trent Lowe moves up to the front as well, wearing his Australian National Champion jersey (I feel so jealous every time I look at it, I was so, so close...).
The sprint opens and Robbie is right amongst the action, so is Trent Lowe too, suprisingly. He just has one rider left too pass, could he hold on?
No, his lack of fitness shows as he is swamped by other sprinters. Daniele Callegarin takes a very narrow victory in front of Eros Cappechi.
OK, just letting you know this story is not dead. But i'm having some serious issues with my laptop so until those are sorted out (which, hopefully is soon) this story is on hold.
I really hope to continue this story once the issues are solved.
