The season has started today! In the first stage in the Tour de Gabon, Willem Brouwer of Belkin defeated Francesco Gavazzi and race favourite Delfi Cervero in a sprint with a small group. Read the full report here:
We came to Gabon for the first race of the season. La Tropicale Amissa Bongo saw the introduction of two young riders, Willem Brouwer, a dutchman riding for Belkin and Delfi Cerveroa Costa Rican of FDJ. They were expected to fight out the GC.
Stage 1 has an uphill finish, where Willem Brouwer defeated Francesco Gavazzi and Delfi Cervero in the sprint of a small peloton.
Stage 4 had another Belgian breakaway win, as Laurens De Vreese is the strongest of his compagnions. Brouwer secures his jersey.
Stage 5 was a mass sprint again. Gerald Ciolek gives MTN - Qhubeka a well deserved win on African soil.
Another mass sprint on Stage 6, with a surprising win from Barry Markus. After this stage, only the mountain jersey can still change shoulders.
And stage 7, the final stage, does not disappoint. Jelle Wallays steals the mountain jersey on the last climb, while Maxime Daniel takes home the last stage win.
It was an interesting race with 7 different stage winners from 7 different teams. But in the end, Brouwer was the strongest with the support of a strong Belkin team.
The World Tour started with the Santos Tour Down Under in Australia. Pre race favourites were Daniel Moreno, Sergio Henao and Enrico Gasparotto, while John Degenkolb was favourite to get the most stage wins.
Stage 2 saw the first GC changes, with Bob Jungels doing an impressive solo to the line to take the lead! Igor Anton defeats Jelle Vanendert in the uphill sprint of a reduced peloton.
In a very exciting stage 3, all attempts to break away on the hilly final failed, and it was Gianni Meersman who won the stage, ahead of Adrien Hanzen and Fabian Wegmann. Meersman is Quick Step's only hope after Chavanel lost some time after a fall earlier on.
Stage 4 has another mass sprint, where Alexander Kristoff surprised Degenkolb who has to settle for second, while Riquelme claims third. A strong Sky train failed to deliver at the finish line
The 5th stage is the queen stage to Willunga Hill. Moreno, Meersman and Gasparotto were the first to attack on the final climb, With Vanendert and Henao joining them. The others, including leader Jungels, have to leave a gap. Moreno holds on just long enough for the win, ahead of Gasparotto and Henao. But it Meersman who takes the lead!
The final stage 6 was just for the sprint, as Gianni Meersman wins the GC. Once again, Degenkolb was defeated by Kristoff, with Hanzen getting the 3rd place.
General classification
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Gianni Meersman
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
17h09'17
2
Daniel Moreno
Katusha Team
s.t.
3
Bob Jungels
RadioShack - Leopard
+ 3
4
Enrico Gasparotto
Astana Pro Team
+ 4
5
Sergio Henao
Sky Procycling
+ 6
6
Jelle Vanendert
Lotto Belisol
+ 22
7
Alexander Kristoff
Katusha Team
s.t.
8
Jorge Cristobal Riquelme
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
+ 25
9
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 29
10
Fabian Wegmann
Garmin - Sharp
+ 42
Points: Alexander Kristoff
Mountain: Daniel Moreno
Youth: Bob Jungels
Team: Katusha
The first semi-classic of the year, the GP La Marseillaise, was won from a breakaway. Alexsandr Dyachenko of Astana defeated Matteo Montaguti in a sprint with 2. They were the two remaining riders of the breakaway.
Qatar usualy is 5 sprints and a small team time trial, and this year was no different. It became clear Quick Step wanted to win this one, as they sent an All Star team including Cavendish, Boonen, Petacchi, Steegmans and Martin. Cav took stage 1 and they dominated the time trial.
An impressive sprint train led by Tony Martin ripped the peloton apart in stage 3, but it was Marcel Kittel stealing the win on the line. Young sprinters like Fabian Brookes and Mario Guido couldn't get close to the podium with these specialists around.
Stage 4 and 5 resulted in more easy victories for Mark Cavendish. Only a crash can prevent the Manx Missile from winning the GC. Although the Orica-Greenedge and Argos-Shimano trains aren't bad, they are no match for the Quick Step madness.
Finaly some excitement in stage 6, as Quick Step failed and Cavendish was too far back. He's going to win the GC, but not the stage.
It's Matthew Goss who takes it, narrowly defeating Nizzolo and Kittel.
General Classifications
1
Mark Cavendish
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step
-
2
Matthew Goss
Orica - GreenEdge
27"
3
Marcel Kittel
Team Argos - Shimano
43"
4
Giacomo Nizzolo
RadioShack - Leopard
56"
5
Tom Boonen
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step
1'11"
6
Gert Steegmans
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step
1'38"
7
Tony Martin
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step
1'38"
8
Kristof Vandewalle
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step
1'38"
9
Julien Vermote
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step
1'38"
10
Alessandro Petacchi
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step
1'40"
Points: Mark Cavendish
Mountain: Not awarded
Youth: Marcel Kittel
Team: Omega Pharma - Quick·Step
As usual, the Volta ao Algarve had a strong starting field for a low category race. Many riders want to get their first kilometres of the season here. Pre race favourites included local rider Rui Costa, who had a strong Movistar team behind him, Simon Spilak of Katusha, Sergio Henao of Sky and Europecar's young rider Kim Po-ding.
The expected mass sprint in Stage 1 was almost prevented by Gabriel Rasch, who survived a long breakaway. Unfortunately for him, he was caught in the last few metres as Francesco Gavazzi of Astana stole his win.
Stage 2 saw a proper mass sprint, with the breakaway being pulled in long before the finishline. Caja Rural tries to launch young rider Pieter Furan to their sponsor goal, but Danilo Napolitano comes out of his wheel to give Accent Jobs their first win of the season.
Stage 3 has the mountain finish. Henao and Spilak know they need to take time on Costa and Kim here, with a long time trial tomorrow. Yet it remains very quiet on the final climb, until Pellizotti opens
Spilak immediatly counters, Henao, Chaves and Ulissi are a bit behind. Costa and Kim are even further away. Henao goes again and bridges the gap with the two leaders as we go into the final kilometre.
The three will sprint for the win, and it's Spilak who beats Pellizotti and Henao on the line. But what's this? Costa and Kim have bridged the gap in the end and are given the same time as the leaders. Spilak only has his 20 boni seconds as buffer now.
Stage 4 is the time trial. Out of the 5, Pellizotti is definitely the weakest time trialist, his chances are very low. Spilak and Henao only have boni seconds over Costa and Kim. The latter two has the best chances in the final time trial. Amador is the first to set a good time, but Costa easily beats that.
But it's not going to happen for Costa, as Kim Po-ding is far better today and takes the stage win. Spilak loses even more time and the GC goes to the young North Korean as well.
Final GC
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Po-ding Kim
Team Europcar
15h45'08
2
Rui Costa
Movistar Team
+ 24
3
Simon Spilak
Katusha Team
+ 37
4
Sergio Henao
Sky Procycling
+ 1'19
5
Andrey Amador
Movistar Team
+ 1'26
6
Diego Ulissi
Lampre - Merida
+ 1'43
7
Franco Pellizotti
Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela
+ 1'49
8
Sergey Firsanov
RusVelo
s.t.
9
Beñat Intxausti
Movistar Team
+ 2'38
10
Emanuele Sella
Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela
+ 2'58
Points: Danilo Napolitano
Mountain: Jacek Morajko
Youth: Kim Po-ding
Team: Movistar
Edited by Ollfardh on 25-11-2013 13:43
With the preparation races ending, EPIC will soon start the classics Omloop, Kuurne, Lugano and Almeria. A bit later we'll have what most consider the highlight of the first season part with Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo.
As EPIC is approaching the most important races Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo, this will be the last chance for managers to sign up. Anyone who still wants to join this game will have to do so this week!
We start with the Belgian opening weekend. On saturday we had the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the first test for the cobblers. Twenty riders would sprint it out for victory, and none could best Tom Boonen. We did see two young talents emerge. Erik McDermott of Saxo and Lue Khamse Khamphan of Europcar are two names we'll have to remember for the rest of the cobbled season.
A few minutes later, the results from Clasica Almeria came in. In a traditional mass sprint, no one could stop pre race favourite Willem Brouwer. Kris Boeckmans had to settle for 2nd place, while Gerald Ciolek got 3rd.
From there we go to Switzerland, with another win for the breakaway in the GP di Lugano. Vladimir Karpets won suprisingly, ahead of Christophe Riblon and Jean-Marc Bideau.
Finaly we had Peter Sagan dominating Strade Bianche, winning with a huge lead on Dan Martin and Michael Albasini.
The first major race of the year, so the big names were there to show their early season form. The favourites were Chris Froome, Alejandro Valverde, Roman Kreuziger and Chris Horner. For the new generation of cyclists, the hard startlist of the race gave them little chances.
The prologue was won by Sylvain Chavanel, defeating team mate Michal Kwiatkowski and surprise Jordan Birtles.
The 2nd stage ended in a mass sprint, and with Cavendish riding the Tirreno, no one got close to defeating Marcel Kittel.
Stage 3 saw another sprint, Bouhanni thought he had it, but on the line Kittel's jump made the difference. FDJ's manager has to be disappointed, as this early cheering costs them a season goal!
Stage 4 had the first hills in the race, and despite a few attacks, it would be a sprint, where it was Chavanel who defeated the surpisingly strong Kittel.
More action by the favourites on the final hills in Stage 5, But only Valverde and Gilbert managed to get away. Valverde not only takes the stage win, but also a minute on the other favourites.
In Stage 6, we had the only real mountain finishes in this year's Course au Soleil. Froome managed to get a gap on Valverde, but not nealy enough to recover from yesterday's damage.
Stage 7 went to the breakaway, Daniel Navarro defeated his compagnions in a sprint with 7. Willem Brouwer can curse as he won the peloton sprint half a minute too late.
Stage 8, the final time trial, needs Froome to take back the remaining 31 seconds on Valverde. Can he do it?
No he can't! He only takes back 21 seconds. The stage win is for Froome, but the GC goes to Alejandro Valverde!
Final GC
1
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
27h27'44
2
Chris Froome
Sky Procycling
+ 10
3
Chris Horner
RadioShack - Leopard
+ 1'53
4
Roman Kreuziger
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
+ 2'21
5
Bauke Mollema
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
+ 2'57
6
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Lotto Belisol
+ 3'01
7
Michał Kwiatkowski
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
+ 3'20
8
Tejay Van Garderen
BMC Racing Team
+ 3'21
9
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
+ 3'29
10
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - Merida
+ 3'35
Points: Chris Froome
Mountain: Ion Izagirre
Youth: Michał Kwiatkowski
Team: Sky
Edited by Ollfardh on 27-12-2013 09:33
I'm going to discontinue the roundups for now, as there seems to be little interest. I guess most people read the full reports anyway
In other news, EPIC will soon be opening up for more reporters and riders! Teams like Katusha, Astana and UHC will become available again, while teams like Columbia and Crelan are still there as well. Follow the link in my sig or send me a PM if interested
While half of the stage racers were busy in France, the other half went to Italy for Tirreno-Adriatico. The favourites were young Columbian Nairo Quintana, home rider Vincenzo Nibali, Richie Porte, Alberto Contador and Joaquim Rodriguez. In the sprints, it would most likely go between Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan and John Degenkolb.
Stage 1 saw the Quick Step machine impress again, narrowly beating Garmin and BMC. Good news for Hesjedal and Evans, who take a few seconds on the competition this way. But it's young rider Jaxton McNutt who takes the leader jersey!
In stage 2, we had our first mass sprint. Degenkolb takes advantage of the Quick Step train and gives Argos the win! Cav takes the the lead though.
Will Cavendish take revenge in stage 3? No, again bad timing from Quick Step and it's Gerald Ciolek who gives MTN-Qhubeka their first ever World Tour win. The wild card team does it!
Stage 4 is for the GC men. Samuel Sanchez has a good day and attacks his way to victory.
But the youth takes over, as Nairo Quintana takes the stage with an impressive last kilometre!
Stage 5 was the final chance for a climber, so Joaquim Rodriguez attacked early, knowing he has to take time on the better time trialers. But his all or nothing attempt failed, while Nibali takes the stage ahead of Quintana and a strong Zubeldia.
Stage 6 had Sagan written all over it, but you need to bring the breakaway back in for that. Instead, Simon Geschke gave Argos another win.
The final Time Trial, stage 7 saw Tony Martin win the stage. But what about GC? Porte comes out of nowhere after an invisible Tirreno-Adriatico to take Zubeldia's podium spot. Nibali takes a few seconds on Quintana, but not nearly enough to take the win. The young Columbian wins it for Movistar!
