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Il Bimbo d'bronzo | Giro d'Italia 2015
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| OZrocker |
Posted on 20-08-2014 10:15
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Great page in "la gazzetta" and some promising signs early on here. Hopefully for Jungels there will be another time trial stage later on in il Giro.
Edited by OZrocker on 20-08-2014 10:16
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 20-08-2014 21:56
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@sutty68, @The Schleck Fan
Thanks!
@OZrocker
There will be two more time trials. We'll see if Jungels has the recuperation to shine in those. 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 03:06
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 20-08-2014 22:15
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Stage 3 | Gela › Taormina, 206 km
With my head almost kissing my Pinarrelo bike its framework I panted and coughed after the final 40km of today’s stage in which I went all out. Our DS Adrian calling me everything bad underneath the sun, the Italian warning me that my freewheeling antics were not appreciated.
Due to a strong crosswind and a high pace by the Androni let pack. The peloton found itself broken up in multiple pieces after a mere 30km. I found myself back in a third group, but thankfully joined by Richie Porte meaning I had the luck of being brought back to the front thanks to the work of Team Sky returning their leader.
Less fortunate where the leaders from Movistar (Herrada and Izagirre) and Joaquin Rodriguez. The Spanish armada and everyone else did manage to rejoin the peloton by the time we reached Catania at the foot of the Etna.
As I had expected nobody of the favorites was willing to attack on the Etna with the 40km after the volcanic giant killing any potential of a breakaway reaching the final. At least that’s what any regular mortal would think. It took me by surprise then when Horner attacked with 5km left on the climb. The American clearly not interested in Kastell his ambitions as with his accelerated my fellow Maltese had to let go of the group.
Aziz would proof why he was the number 1 at Lampre this Giro though as he rejoined the front of the group just ahead of the top. There had been a shifting of 16 men, but the rest of the pack was not far behind us. The lead was held by Horner, Kruijswijk, Landa, Voeckler and Arroyo.
It was with a good 20km left in the descent when I launched my attack. Throwing myself into the many hairpin corners down the Etna her flanks, the best line to follow automatically coming back to me from my ride earlier this year with Daphné.
It didn’t take long before I flew by the magenta-blue form of Horner. The American had fallen in the descent and worked his purpose as a good warning for anyone wanting to follow me.
Towards the end of the descent I finally had caught up to the early escapees as I flew by Kruijswijk (the little Dutchman descending like a schoolgirl) before passing Arroyo, Voeckler and Landa as well. My lead on the peloton just over 1 minute with 10km left.
My cadence never really failed me until the final 1500m into Taormina, where the effects of the Etna let themselves be noticed by an empty feeling in my legs. The lead which I had mostly managed to hold onto quickly diminishing as the Sky led peloton came closer.
Where the last corner towards the finish-line should have been a sweet relief, it became nothing, but misery as Richie Porte sprinted by me. The Australian beating my by a bike length as we both crossed the line 17 seconds ahead of the rest of the peloton.
Once again I had missed victory because I couldn’t handle that one extra kilometer! As I was catching my breath while bend over my steering wheel, Adrian was kind enough to aware me of the fact that Porte had also taken the maglia rosa. Grazi!
| 1 | Richie Porte | Sky Procycling | 5h26'25 | | 2 | Nicholas Arcier | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 3 | Wout Poels | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 13 | | 4 | Romain Bardet | Ag2r - La Mondiale | s.t. | | 5 | Domenico Pozzovivo | Ag2r - La Mondiale | s.t. | | 6 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 7 | Peter Kennaugh | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 8 | Wilco Kelderman | Celesio Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 9 | Fabio Aru | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 10 | Matthew Busche | Cannondale Pro Cycling | s.t. |
| 1 | Richie Porte | Sky Procycling | 10h20'20 | | 2 | Nicholas Arcier | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | + 14 | | 3 | Bob Jungels | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | + 31 | | 4 | Tanel Kangert | Astana Pro Team | + 33 | | 5 | José Herrada | Movistar Team | + 35 | | 6 | Wout Poels | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 36 | | 7 | Moreno Moser | Cannondale Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 8 | Thomas De Gendt | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 37 | | 9 | Gorka Izagirre | Movistar Team | + 39 | | 10 | Wilco Kelderman | Celesio Pro Cycling Team | + 46 |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 20-08-2014 23:01
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A Brave effort from Nicholas and oh so close to claiming a Great stage win  |
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| Wild Dog |
Posted on 21-08-2014 08:11
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Richie Porte 
Great riding by Nicholas. Too bad it didn't pay off. |
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 21-08-2014 14:52
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@sutty68, @Wild Dog
Thanks guys. Blame PCM for making sprint so OP. 
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 21-08-2014 14:55
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Stage 4 | Reggio Calabria › Amantea, 183 km
With Richie Porte in la maglia rosa, Team Sky did what they do best, ride on the head of the peloton all day and setting the pace. Making our first day on the Italian mainland a boring one. Which was fine with us as we would be riding for Danny van Poppel today.
Sky, Cannondale and Omega Pharma were all up for it today as the three teams lead the peloton during the entire stage, no group of breakaways ever getting the chance to really breakaway. The pace was so high actually that many riders were dropped off at the back of the peloton.
In our case it were Bongiorno, Boy van Poppel, Alafaci, Roussey, Montandon and Dekker who had to let the pack go in the final 20km as the peloton hit speeds in the high 50s. Leaving me and Jungels to provide the lead-out for Danny, a tiny train which seemed doomed to be crushed by the locomotives ahead of Viviani and Cavendish as we flew towards the finale.
It happened when we passed the bow of the final 5km and I looked over my shoulder to see where Danny was placed. Both the Cannondale and Omega Pharma trains had blown themselves up after hours of hammering in the wind, the pace in the entire peloton taking a nose dive. Allowing me with Jungels and Danny in my wheel to break off the pack, only one tiny man following in the wheel of our sprinter; Joaquim Rodriguez.
With the final 2km inclining up we managed to gain a significant gap on the peloton with me pushing out everything I had to lead-out Jungels. With 1km left I looked back under my arm to see when Jungels would take over, but he shook his head! He nor Danny were able to keep up with the pace. Only one man would profit from my work and it was Purito Rodriguez, the Spanish puncheur launching himself out of our wheels and dashing to the finish-line. I tried countering the Spaniard best I could and even gained some meters back on him, but the Katusha man would beat me out by a wheel length. The frustration at being the strongest today, but missing out on the win being expressed with a hard slam on my steering wheel.
After the finish Adrian came running towards me and I could already imagine what the hot-headed Italian was going to say this time.
The bigger my surprise when the short man embraced me. “Coglione! Hai la maglia rosa!” It seems that our gap on the peloton in combination with the bonus seconds I picked up at the finish had moved me up to first place in the classification. I was the new leader in the Giro d'Italia!
| 1 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | 4h38'28 | | 2 | Nicholas Arcier | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 3 | Danny Van Poppel | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 4 | Bob Jungels | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 5 | Elia Viviani | Cannondale Pro Cycling | + 19 | | 6 | Wout Poels | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | s.t. | | 7 | Gianni Meersman | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | s.t. | | 8 | Richie Porte | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 9 | Rafal Majka | Team Tinkoff - Saxo | s.t. | | 10 | Matteo Rabottini | BMC Racing Team | s.t. |
| 1 | Nicholas Arcier | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | 14h58'50 | | 2 | Richie Porte | Sky Procycling | + 17 | | 3 | Bob Jungels | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | + 29 | | 4 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | + 35 | | 5 | Tanel Kangert | Astana Pro Team | + 50 | | 6 | José Herrada | Movistar Team | + 52 | | 7 | Wout Poels | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 53 | | 8 | Moreno Moser | Cannondale Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 9 | Thomas De Gendt | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 54 | | 10 | Wilco Kelderman | Celesio Pro Cycling Team | + 1'03 |
Edited by Re Leone on 21-08-2014 14:55
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| Wild Dog |
Posted on 21-08-2014 15:04
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Ohhh sweat! Congratz Nicholas, deserved wearer of la maglia rosa. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 21-08-2014 22:14
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What a Brilliant day out for the team and Nicholas should be proud wearing the pink jersey tomorrow  |
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 22-08-2014 10:18
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Great to see Nicolas in Pink!
.: Manager of :.
.: My Awards :.
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 22-08-2014 17:07
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@all
Thanks for the comments. Let's see how long Nicholas can carry the pink jersey across Italy.
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 22-08-2014 17:14
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Stage 5 | Cosenza › Palinuro, 187 km
Loud knocking on my hotel room door woke me from my pink dream, it was Adrian our DS who looked as if he had just seen a ghost. “How are you feeling?” He asked or rather demanded.
Rather annoyed I told the man I was perfectly fine, the same could not be said for Eugenio Alafaci, Gilles Montandon, and Boy and Danny van Poppel. Food poisoning had struck down on our half of our team! Even on the Sky team who were staying in the same hotel one rider had been gotten by the bug.
No matter how much the team doctors tried we would start the 5th stage with only five riders far from enough to defend the pink jersey. The darkly packed rainy clouds not doing much good for our already down morale.
It took a good two hours into the stage before we had really gotten over the blow of losing our four teammates, but once we did Dekker, Bongiorno, Jungels, Roussey and I agreed we had to try to fight with what we had. And what we had today was a strong Francesco who wanted to try and go for the flowers.
On the first of the final two climbs of the day it were Roussey and Dekker who upped the pace and caught on to the early breakaway. The two hammering away in an attempt to tire the legs of the fast men who could strike today such as; Viviani, Goss and Meersman.
It was on the final climb of the day and with its name (Il Rocca Gloriosa) maybe the most beautifully named climb of the entire Giro that Bongiorno and I attacked out of the pack. The unusualness of the pink jersey attacking first causing quite the stir in the peloton.
As the rain passed the two of us relayed to the top. Francesco had to reluctantly give in that he wasn't feeling as great as he thought he did, and wanted me to be our ace in the finale. Francesco launched me into the final 7km thanks to his great descent with a 41 second lead.
With the added frustration of losing half the team and confidence of knowing I had probably been the strongest man so far this Giro there was no slowing me down in the final dash towards the finish-line. In the final kilometer I even had enough time to raise 4 fingers for the camera and point at the Tissot logo on my jersey. Pumping my fist as I crossed the white line; my second grand tour stage win, but this was one especially for the team!
| 1 | Nicholas Arcier | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | 4h25'16 | | 2 | Elia Viviani | Cannondale Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 3 | Gianni Meersman | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | s.t. | | 4 | Matthew Goss | Orica - GreenEDGE | s.t. | | 5 | Manuel Belletti | Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela | s.t. |
| 1 | Nicholas Arcier | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | 19h23'46 | | 2 | Richie Porte | Sky Procycling | + 37 | | 3 | Bob Jungels | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | + 49 | | 4 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | + 55 | | 5 | Tanel Kangert | Astana Pro Team | + 1'10 | | 6 | José Herrada | Movistar Team | + 1'12 | | 7 | Wout Poels | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 1'13 | | 8 | Moreno Moser | Cannondale Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 9 | Thomas De Gendt | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 1'14 | | 10 | Wilco Kelderman | Celesio Pro Cycling Team | + 1'23 |
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| senegalese |
Posted on 22-08-2014 17:18
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great victory |
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| dark_x2012 |
Posted on 22-08-2014 19:51
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Good job on stage 3 
Stage 5 win
Maglia rosa |
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| Wild Dog |
Posted on 22-08-2014 19:52
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Too bad that gap doesn't add seconds to your lead. Great victory though. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 22-08-2014 23:02
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The Maglia Rosa is certainly working its magic on Nicholas |
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| OZrocker |
Posted on 23-08-2014 09:16
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Wow, a great couple of stages here! Horrible luck to lose almost half the team so early on, hopefully the others can provide some support in the latter stages.
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 24-08-2014 19:03
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@senegalese, @dark_x2012
Thanks!
@sutty68
Indeed!
@Wild Dog
That's PCM for you.
@OZrocker
Lets hope so!
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| Re Leone |
Posted on 24-08-2014 19:12
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Stage 6 | Amalfi › Lago del Matese, 227 km
The news of a new Spanish cycling team didn’t get the main section of la Gazzetta, but nonetheless it become the major conversation topic of the day. Especially the Katusha team bus and Rodriguez were pulling crowds of media. We didn’t mind though as with one climb of the 3rd category and three climbs of the 2nd category today would be hard enough without spending our energy on the media.
Our plan was simple, Roussey and Bongiorno would be assisting Jungels and I throughout the day and Dekker would relay at the front of the peloton just because that seemed the thing to do with the pink jersey in our team.
It didn’t take long though before even this plan could be thrown out of the window. During the descent of the second climb of the day I was calmly following in the peloton until I noticed a rider on the asphalt wearing our very own Tissot jersey. Thomas Dekker had fallen and worse, broken his hand. Another rider out, our team reduced to just four riders before the end of the first week!
I couldn’t help, but think that danger was now lurking around every corner for our team and ended up using up valuable energy to work my way to the front of the peloton. Preferring to ride on my own to reduce my risk as much of possible.
A move which would proof stupid on the third climb as I had a very hard time to follow the pace generated by Team Sky. I wasn’t the only one having a hard time as Rodriguez also had to let the front of the peloton go. The both of us ended up having to thank Bongiorno who paced us all the way towards the top just a handful of seconds behind the front of the peloton. Able to catch up relatively easy and riding towards the final climb with a group of 60 riders.
Aziz quickly did what he does best on the first steep meters of the final climb. The Lampre rider accelerating away with Poels in his wheel. Robots as they where everyone in the peloton looked at Jungels and I expecting us to respond, wishful thinking on both their part and ours. It was Aru who opened up the chase with Porte, Kelderman and Pozzovivo responding. The quartet quickly catching up to the front and taking a 50 second lead by the time we passed the halfway point of the climb with a strongly reduced peloton.
Surrounded by Majka, Nieve, Bardet and Rodriguez who was wheelsucking me like a champ, we actually gained time on the front and were about to join them with 5km left to climb. It was here where that darned Purito decided to attack out of our group to make his way to the front, causing a chain reaction of attacks which ended up creating a shattered situation as we passed the top;
<Kastell, Aru, Porte, Poels> 35” <Rodriguez, Kelderman> 11” <Pozzovivo> 10” <Arcier, Majka, Nieve>
In the descent which was more terrain I quickly caught up to lightweights Rodriguez and Pozzovivo, not shy to share my annoyance with Purito his antics.
Even with our disagreements we managed to catch up to the front of the race, but just like on the climb Aru, Porte and Kastell dropped us on the flat, the rest of us just too empty to respond. The trio in front riding ridiculously fast as they would gain more than a minute on the rest of us by the time we crossed the finish-line.
Meaning Porte became the new maglia rosa while Aru won the stage, both things not coming as a surprise. I still was called to the podium to pick up the points jersey and young riders jersey. Defending the last mentioned would be hard, but over dinner I told Adrian and the team I would make the points jersey my new goal for the Giro. Now let’s just hope this spaghetti doesn’t come back to bite me tomorrow!
| 1 | Fabio Aru | Astana Pro Team | 6h15'11 | | 2 | Aziz Kastell | Lampre - Merida | s.t. | | 3 | Richie Porte | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 4 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | + 1'06 | | 5 | Wout Poels | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | s.t. | | 6 | Mikel Nieve | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 7 | Wilco Kelderman | Celesio Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 8 | Rafal Majka | Team Tinkoff - Saxo | s.t. | | 9 | Romain Bardet | Ag2r - La Mondiale | s.t. | | 10 | Nicholas Arcier | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | s.t. |
Spoiler | 11 | Domenico Pozzovivo | Ag2r - La Mondiale | s.t. | | 12 | Tim Wellens | BMC Racing Team | + 3'12 | | 13 | Matthew Busche | Cannondale Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 14 | Steven Kruijswijk | Celesio Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 15 | Moreno Moser | Cannondale Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 16 | Tanel Kangert | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 17 | Mikel Landa | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 18 | Bob Jungels | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 19 | Matteo Rabottini | BMC Racing Team | + 4'38 | | 20 | Warren Barguil | Giant - Shimano | s.t. |
| 1 | Richie Porte | Sky Procycling | 25h39'26 | | 2 | Nicholas Arcier | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | + 37 | | 3 | Fabio Aru | Astana Pro Team | + 44 | | 4 | Aziz Kastell | Lampre - Merida | + 50 | | 5 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | + 1'32 | | 6 | Wout Poels | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 1'50 | | 7 | Wilco Kelderman | Celesio Pro Cycling Team | + 2'00 | | 8 | Domenico Pozzovivo | Ag2r - La Mondiale | + 2'03 | | 9 | Rafal Majka | Team Tinkoff - Saxo | + 2'04 | | 10 | Romain Bardet | Ag2r - La Mondiale | + 2'07 |
Spoiler | 11 | Mikel Nieve | Sky Procycling | + 2'15 | | 12 | Bob Jungels | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | + 3'32 | | 13 | Tanel Kangert | Astana Pro Team | + 3'53 | | 14 | Moreno Moser | Cannondale Pro Cycling | + 3'56 | | 15 | Tim Wellens | BMC Racing Team | + 4'08 | | 16 | Matthew Busche | Cannondale Pro Cycling | + 4'12 | | 17 | Steven Kruijswijk | Celesio Pro Cycling Team | + 4'13 | | 18 | Mikel Landa | Astana Pro Team | + 4'31 | | 19 | Matteo Rabottini | BMC Racing Team | + 5'41 | | 20 | Ivan Santaromita | Orica - GreenEDGE | + 6'57 | | 21 | Warren Barguil | Giant - Shimano | + 7'01 | | 22 | Diego Rosa | Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela | + 8'31 | | 23 | Lachlan Morton | Garmin - Sharp | + 10'19 | | 24 | José Herrada | Movistar Team | + 10'29 | | 25 | Thomas De Gendt | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | + 10'31 |
| 1 | Nicholas Arcier | Tissot Pro Cycling Team | 91 | | 2 | Richie Porte | Sky Procycling | 79 | | 3 | Elia Viviani | Cannondale Pro Cycling | 73 |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 24-08-2014 21:13
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The race has just got ten times harder for Nicholas due to him losing his team mates  |
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