4th day, and maybe last day to do something in the overall. Porte was number 37. 32 seconds behind Ventoso, and we were eager to see if he could do something about it.
He staid in the peloton over the mountains, but never managed to get the second he needed and came in on an ok 7. place.
with 1 day left, we are focusing everything on the stage win
Last day on the beautiful island Mallorca. Our goal is to get the stage win, which would not come easy.
The day started out with a breakaway who got 4"23 down to the peloton.
Nothing much happend durng today stage. Rovny (RadioShack) took alot KoM points and endend up with winning the jersey after today breakaway.
Moviestart was as alway controling the pace in the peloton, giving our team the opertunity to rest until the finish.
Into the last climb we sat Navarro infront of the peloton to try to wear out as many as possible in the peloton.
Some of the remaining riders where starting to lose grip on the tail of the peloton, invluding GC leader Ventoso. Then Horner (Shack) attacked. With Porte and Kreuziger (Astana) not far behind.
Unfortunate the remaining peloton caught the trio with 3km to go and once again we were checkmate.
With a little over 1,5km to go the fight was beatwin Kløden (RadioShack), Kessiakoff (Astana) and Rojas (Moviestar)
And it was Kessiakoff who ran off with the victory, infront of Kløden and Rojas. Porte took 5th and Navarro came 6th.
Meaning Ventoso took the overall vitory and point jersey.
Rovny took the KoM jersey after today breakaway.
Kreuziger was the best -25.
And BMC was the best team.
The team is a bit dicepointed that we didn't manage to get our goal, a stage win. And when our best rider in the summary, Navarro, were twelfth there wasn't much consolation. But as always we look forward. Next week the team heads out for Volta ao Algarve. If i'm going with, i don't know yet, but i promise to keep you posted.
The team has just finished Volta ao Algarve, i was supose to join them, but i became sick a few day before the first stage, so i stayed home. Anyway, the team used it as a opportunity to get Alberto into a little bit better shape before our first goal for the season, win Paris-Nice.
They didn't get any major results, and Alberto was "just" number 9 in the overall. But Alberto were happy to get his season rolling and is looking forward to going to France and go for his first overall victory for this season.
Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne is an annual single-day road bicycle race in Belgium. It is ridden on the last Sunday of February or on the first Sunday of March, one day after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. First held in 1945.
A breakaway got away pretty early, with Agnoli (Liquigas), Vorganov (Katusha), Pauriol (FDJ), Mollema (Rabobank), Habeaur (Veranda), Ulissi (Lampre) and Lopez (Movistar)
They got 6"37 down to the peloton. Where Leopard, Katsuha and Skil Shimano were controling the pace.
On the third last cobblestone section Nick, Vanmarcke (Garmin) and Wynants (Rabobank) accidentally got away. They never got more than "30 to the peloton, and was caught a few kilometers later.
With 71km left to go Rosseler (RadioShack) attacked, and he managed to get away, and later he caught the breakaway group.
Leopard and Garmin was speeding up the peloton. Trying to catch the breakaway for their captain's Fabian Cancellara and Thor Hushovd.
The peloton caught up with the breakaway with less then 15km to go. The biggest favorits (Hushovd, Boonen, Cancellara) where still in the peloton. In the peloton was also Nick.
Cancellara knew that he wouldn't stand a chance in a sprint, so with 5km left to go he started his well known timetrial motor, and got away from the peloton.
But with a little over 1 km left, the peloton was getting close, with Edvald Boasson Hagen (sky) in front position.
1 km from the finish line Edvald had almost caught Cancellara, with Boonen, Hushovd, Nuyens, Hoste and Haussler not far behinde.
With 500m left Edvald had passed Fabian and Thor was alsow about to pass the swiss.
Cancellara showed once again that he doesn't have what it takes in a sprint, and Edvald took the victory, in front of another norwegian, Thor Hushovd. Tom Boonen took the last podium place. While Nick managed to take the fourth.
The team was happy that Nick managed to reach our goal, a top 5 finish. We are looking forward to the next classics, and we hope he can get more top results in the upcoming races.
Paris–Nice, "the race to the sun", is a professional cycling stage race held each March.
The first Paris–Nice was in 1933, and was won by Alfons Schepers from Belgium. The most successful cyclist in Paris–Nice was Sean Kelly from Ireland, who won seven consecutive titles from 1982 to 1988.
Although the name is Paris–Nice, the race does not always start in Paris. It often starts in towns near or south of Paris. The last stage finishes every year on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. The last or penultimate stage often passes the Col d'Eze, a mountain pass close to Nice.
Paris - Nice is our first goal for the season, we are going for the overall win. With our team captain Alberto Contador. He is looking to defend his victory from last year.
First stage of Paris-Nice 2011. A relatively flat stage with a good chance for a mass sprint. Team goal of the day was to make sure the team stayed in front of the peloton so that the heavy side wind wouldn't split the peloton with Saxo riders in the second half.
The first breakaway attempt of the day was with over 28riders, and was caught after only 11km in front. The second attempt was successful, a group of 12 riders got at most 5"55 down to the peloton.
The group contained Kwiatkowski (RadioShack), Hondo (Lampre), Jeanneson (FDJ), Van de Walle (Omega), Ligthart (Vacansoleil), Corti (Geox), Stamsneijder (Leopard), Vandenbergh (Katusha), Garcia Acosta (Moviestar), Mangel (Sauer), Champion (AG2R) and Kristoff (BMC)
Back in the peloton SaxoBank where taking it easy, while Garmin and HTC were controling the pace.
When the peloton started to accelerate, the breakaway started to panic and they started to attack on each other.
With 20km to go Hondo, Corti, Mangel, Champion and Kristoff were caught, while the rest still were trying to go for a stage win.
With 12km left the rest of the group was caught, with the exception of the leopard rider who were caugth few km later.
The sprinters were lining up, with Baden on Breschel's wheel.
unfortunately Breschel wasn't "in it to win ti", so when at the start of the sprint, Baden was 30-50m behind.
Baden was getting higher and higher speed, but with 500 meters left, it looked like it was going to stand between Downing (SKy) and Geslin (FDJ).
Downing was to fast and took the victory, Geslin came second and Kristof Goddaert from AG2R cam third. Baden came ninth.
We had some small hopes that Baden could sneak into among the top 5, but we were satisfyed with the top 10 finish.
Stage 2 in france. The team is having a blast and is looking forward to moving into the mountains, but we still have a few flat stages to get thru first.
The first breakaway contained 13 riders, but they were never able to agree to keep away from the peloton. And the second attempt, including our own Michael Mørkøv, also failed.
Then, the third attempt successfully managed to get away. They quickly build up a 2 minute lead over the peloton.
Stamsnijder (Leopard), Borghini (Liquigas), Van de Walle (Omega), Erviti (Movistar), Jeandesboz (Saur), Murphy (BMC), Ignatiev (Katusha), Bodnar (Liquigas), Ligthart (Vacansoleil), Terpstra (Quick·Step), Hondo (Lampre), Kwiatkowski (Radioshack) and Delage (FDJ) managed to get at most 6"54 down to the peloton.
The peloton were controlled by HTC, Sky, Astana and Rabobank.
With 30km left, the distance between the breakaway and peloton was cut to 1"48.
And with 20km left the breakaway as good as caught.
But Ignatiev and Stamsnijder tryed to keep away, naturally they had no chance against the peloton.
With 3km left Baden was on Geslin's (FDJ) wheel, in great position.
With 2km Geslin left the wheel to the rider in front of him, with Baden stil on his wheel.
When passing the 1km sign, Baden went from Geslin's wheel, in a great fifth place.
500meters left to go, and Baden had passed Geslin and was now on third place.
Unfortunately Baden could'n catch Dumoulin (Cofidis) or Casper (Saur). But he got a great third place.
Third stage, third flat stage. Although the riders have to climb Cote de Becoup within the 30 last km. Baden had a fantastic 3 place yesterday and if he managed to get over Cote de Becoup in the peloton he had a great chance to get a good result also today.
The original breakaway consisted of 3 riders. Bellis (Saxo Bank), Vandenbergh (Katusha) and Willems (Omega).
But after 15km alone in front, the were joined by Balnco (Geox), Leukemans (Vacansoleil), Monfort (Leopard), Beyer (BMC), Mangel (Saur), Champion (AG2R).
And after another 10km, the last part of todays breakaway caught up with the rest. Erviti (Movistar), Sergent (RadioShack), Maes (Quick-Step) and Nerz (Liquigas) completed todays breakaway.
The peloton were controled by Rabobank, HTC, Lampre, Garmin and Cofidis. They gave at most 6"35 up to the escapees.
Nothing much happened before the breakaway reached the bottom of Cote de Becoup. Where Bellis quickly lost contact with the others.
And when he reached the top, the peloton were not far behind.
The rest of the breakaway were now split into three groups, The first group contained Maes, Monfort, Leukemans and Blanco.
The second group contained Willems, Beyer, Mangel and Erviti.
And the third group contained Vandenbergh, Champion, Nerz and Sergent. Who were caught with 19km left of the stage.
The two remaining groups were doing everything the could to keep the peloton on a good distance, but with 11km left, the second group had to give up.
Now the last group were fighting as hard as they could to manage to take it all the way. And with 10km left they still got over 1"10 down to the peloton.
But the peloton were moving fast, very fast, and the seconds were just flying away, so with 6km left the last part of the breakaway were caught.
As predicted it was up to a mass sprint. With 3km left to the finish line Haussler (Garmin) had gotten a smal lead over the peloton, while Baden was chasing the back wheel of Mondory (AG2R) bike.
1km later Haussler still had a smal lead, and Dumoulin were giving he's all on the left side of the road, Baden knew that he had to go from Mondory's wheel to stand a chance.
With 1km left, Baden was chasing Dumoulin, Haussler on the other side didn't seem interested in a stage win.
With 500m left, there were a sharp left turn, but all three rider got thru it without a problem. And Dumoulin seemed unbeatable.
And he was, Dumoulin took his second stage victory in two days. While Baden again improved and got a great second place.
The first mountain stage in france. With no less then 9 categorized climbs. We were eager to see if todays stage could make some difference in the GC.
The first original breakaway contained Karpets (Katusha), Devenyns (Quick-Step), Cheula (Geox) and Gutierrez (Movistar).
They got a little over 2 minutes down to the peloton before they got comapny from Gerdemann (Leopard).
Later on they also got company from Kuschynski (Katusha), Cobo (Geox), Bonnafond (AG2R), Veikannen (Omega), Pineau (Quick-Step) and Westra (Vacansoleil). While Szmyd (Liquigas) and Kwiatkowski (RadioShack) were chasing them.
The peloton had increased its speed, and with the strong side wind, it was starting to break up.
The high speed and heavy rain made the downhills a challenge, and Cazaux (Euskatel) had to feel the concretes hard side on the way down from Col du Fut d'Avenas.
With 27km left of the stage Baden, Gustav, Alberto and Richie still were infront of the peloton. So was also the GC leader Dumoulin. At this point the peloton also caught Szmyd, Kwiatkowski and Bonnafond.
A few km later they also caught up with Veikannen, Devenyns and Westra.
Now the pleoton had a stady pace higher than 49km/h, so with 18km to go also Gerdemann, Gutierrez, Cheula, Kuschynski and Karpets were caught by them.
While Cobo had given up, Pineau wasnt interested in giving away the victory so easy. So he went for it. But It was to long to the finish line, and the pleoton had no problem catching him.
With 3km left, Baden was in sixht place. But he's legs were tired after the last couple of days, and the many climbs on todays stage, so this victory would come hard.
With 2km left to go, Baden struggled to keep the back wheel of Liquigas rider Finetto.
When they passed the 1km sign, Baden was out of the battle for the stage win. It was now between Chavanel, Breschel and Hushovd.
500meters from the finish line, Breschel and Hushovd had both passed Chavanel, who now also were in danger of loosing his third place to Dumoulin.
In the front it was Matti Breschel who took the victory in front of the Norwegian. While Dumoulin took the third just infront of Chavanel.
We are ready for the fifth stage in france. We expected some change in the top 5, and hopefully Alberto could be one of them.
Early on the stage Dessel (AG2R), Pinotti (HTC) and Duran (Geox) got 3"42 down to the peloton.
But they were later caught by a massive breakaway attempt. Containing no less then 27 riders.
They were never able to organize themselves, so of the 27 riders only De Weert (Quick Step), Bono (Lampre), Bakelandts (Omega) and Chainel (FDJ) managed to keep away from the peloton.
They managed to build up a solid 7"37 lead down to the peloton were Cofidis were trying to keep everything under control.
To our supprise Gesink attacked at with ha little over 97km left to go. With him followed Voigt (Leopard), Ivanov (Katusha) and Lopez (Movistar)
We decided to take it calme and wait to attack at the last hill.
While the Gesink group caught up with the breakaway.
They had a stady lead at around 6"30 a few, before the peloton started to chase them.
In the bottom of the last hill, Bono, Chainel and Bakelandts quickly lost contact with the rest of the group.
But "group Gesink" still had a good lead.
When the peloton reached the bottom, it didn't take long before the attack came, it was Gadret (AG2R) who were trying his luck. Alberto tried to follow, with Brajkovic (RadioShack) a few meters behind. While the rest of the peloton were keeping cool.
Although Brajkovic had to give up, Alberto was able to recoup Gadret again. But they were not together long before Gadret attacked again, and this time Alberto didn't have anything to answer with. Should the mediocre form destroy the team goal of an overall victory?
Luckely Alberto did a great downhill, he increased the distance down to the peloton and passed Bono, Bakelandts and Chainel. And managed to get close enough to De Weer and Voigt to get the same time. But nobody could do anything about Robert Gesink, he had climbed from all the others and came alone to the finish.
A great result for Gesink, while Alberto came in at 7th, 3"45 behinde Gesink. Meaning Alberto only is 1"45 behind Gesink in the overall. And with the timetrial still left, nothing is decided.
Gesink surprising everyone with that early attack... But nothing's lost, with a time-trial and some hilly stages too, I think you can try and shorten the gap to Gesink.
