The 5th stage in Romandie means the queens stage of the race, even though the stage will not end in an uphill section the last climb ending 10 kilometers before the finish. The yellow jersey, Bradley Wiggins, is the main favorite to take the stage win but he will have to be very careful as Uran is only 20 seconds behind him in the general classification
Pieter Weening was the strongest rider from a larger breakaway group which also included Intxausti and the Kazah Champion, Fofonov. The Dutch rider took the race on his own right at the top of the first climb of the day and started the final climb with an advantage of almost 3 minutes over the pack
But as soon as the pack reached the final climb the big attacks started from there. Larsson, Wiggins, Pereiro and Pauwels made the first moves, quickly followed by the Caisse d'Epargne armada who was riding for Rigoberto Uran, as well as many others, including Xavier Tondo, who finished second in the third stage behind Wiggins, but after a poor performance of Cervelo in the TTT lost any chance to take the overall win
Even though he would have wanted to count on Pauwels' support, Wiggins was just too strong for the other attackers and no one was able to follow him on the steepest portions of the climb. He went away from the favorites group and soon started to catch and drop off all the other escapes, except of course, Pieter Weening, who was still in the lead
Weening was first at the summit and with the points KoM points won today he's most likely the King of the Mountains of this year's Tour de Romandie. Also with an advantage of over one minute at the top of the last climb over the chasers he also has a nice shot to take the stage win as well
Wiggins is the Dutch's main chaser but he looks stronger than the Rabobank rider after winning almost 2 minutes on the climb. Wiggins was followed at the summit by a group which included Zubeldia and Tondo, while his main rival, Uran was way back
After riding almost the entire stage all by himself, Weening was caught inside the last kilometer by Wiggins, who won one minute over him on the flat section, but the Brit didn't look to interested about the stage win, already having a stage win here in Romandie, during the third stage
And Weening hanged on to take an amazing win for him, being the only escape who was not caught by the favorites on the last climb of the day. Wiggins finished second and with Uran losing almost 2 minutes today he is now almost sure about his overall win in Tour de Romandie 2010.
The final stage in Romandie is made for sprinters. Arvesen won the previous flat stage stage but today he will ride only as a domestique for Vigano and Boasson Hagen
There were 5 riders in the main breakaway of the day: Samoilau, Bak, Sprick, Froome and Wyss. But the Sky rider had a bad crash on one of the downhills and couldn't continue in the front group, being caught by the pack and even dropped off from there on the main climb of the day
Pauwels, Cioni and Barry tried to bring the escapes back in the pack in time but they didn't receive any kind of help from the other teams and the leading group entered the last 20 kilometers of the stage with more than 2 minutes in front of the pack.
With just 7 kilometers left from the stage, Sprick made an acceleration and the only one able too keep it up with him was Samoilau, while Bak and Wyss were dropped off and lost the chance to fight for the stage win
Samoilau hanged on in the wheel of Sprick for an while but the French rider proved too be just too strong and inside the last two kilometers he took the race on his own
Behind them, Wyss and Bak were caught by a group which got away from the pack in the final kilometers due to the strong wind. The group was lead by the Sky train, with Arvesen, Vigano and Hagen
Sprick looked behind but Samoilau was too tired to do anything and Mathieu brings another great win for Bbox this season. Behind them, Vigano won the sprint for the third place, the second group winning more than 1 minute over the pack
Wiggins had no problems keeping the yellow jersey and winning Tour de Romandie 2010! Great result for the Brit right before the Giro d'Italia where he will aim for a top 5 or a top 10 at the very least. Still there were so significant changes in the general classification as two big names were in the group that got away from the pack. Tondo managed to grab the last spot on the podium thanks to the wind, while Arvesen took the 8th place in the end
Brilliant performance by Wiggins and it will be exciting to see if he can be a darkhorse for a podium spot in the Giro unless you will hold him a little bit back for Tour de France
It will be a interesting to follow the Giro with Wiggins in good form!
great ride there. icing on the cake was the fact that it was a brit just a point for improvement, it would be great if you put the sky riders who finished outside the top 20 or whatever at the bottom of the results
Thrige wrote:
The peloton is really weak the first year of the Giro, so you should do very well..
yep, I know... already checked the startlist
wackojackohighcliffe wrote:
just a point for improvement, it would be great if you put the sky riders who finished outside the top 20 or whatever at the bottom of the results
I'll try that but I need to find a way to make the results still look nice
[img-r]https://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz110/sky_story/juanantonioflecha-1.png[/img-r]With Tour de Romandie ended we had to choose from our riders who had the best performances in April, the month of classics. It all came down to a tight one between Bradley Wiggins and Juan Antonio Flecha. The Brit won Castilla y Leon and Romandie but the Spaniard brought home an even more important win in the second Cycling Monument of the year, Ronde van Vlaanderen. The win in the Belgian race is a very important one for us and with Romandie ending in May, the prize for April goes to Juan Antonio Flecha.
Flecha had a great start of the month, winning as mentioned Ronde van Vlaanderen after an amazing attack, where no one could follow him. A few days later, while the rest of the team was riding in Vuelta al Pais Vasco, he also took the win in Scheldeprijs and he was set for Paris - Roubaix. But he didn't have a great day in France, crashing two times, one time even on the velodrome and he didn't even enter in the top 40 of the race.
Then the Ardennes Classics came where on paper he was just a domestique for Simon Gerrans. But the Spaniard was in a way better shape than the Australian and finished all the 3 races in front of him. The best performance was the one from 'La Doyenne', where Flecha finished 10th, bringing the only Sky rider to finish in the top 10 in one of the Ardennes Classics.
May Calendar
Except for the last 2 stages from Tour de Romandie, we are going to ride only 2 races in May. One of them is Tour de Picardie, while the other one is one of the most important races in cycling and the first Grand Tour of the year, the Giro d'Italia.
During the Giro, in France is going to be held the Tour de Picardie. Ben Swift will most likely ride there as our team - leader and continue his preparation in the French races for his main goal of the year, the Tour de France.
For this year's Giro the team lists was already finished a few months back. The 21 teams that will be present for the start of Giro d'Italia in Amsterdam are: Euskaltel, Liquigas, Caisse d'Epargne, Astana, Lampre, Rabobank, AG2R, Garmin, Columbia, Saxo Bank, Quick Step, RadioShack, Sky, Katusha, Acqua & Sapone, Cervelo, Miche, BMC, Androni Giocattolli, Vacansoleil and Colnago - CSF. A few big names such as Pozzato, Ballan, Basso, Cunego, Garzelli, Bruseghin, Wiggins, Cancellara, Boasson Hagen and Luis Leon Sanchez already announced that they will take part in the first Grand Tour of the year, while last year's winner, Denis Menchov, decided to skip this year's edition of Giro d'Italia.
As probably expected, Valverde is dominating the individual rankings this season after his amazing performances in Paris - Nice, Catalunya and Pais Vasco and the podiums from the 3 Ardennes Classics. The only rider that is less than 200 points behind him is Gilbert, who won Milano - Sanremo, Amstel Gold Race and Liege - Bastogne - Liege. The best Sky rider is Thomas Lovkvist on 8th, with 206 points, while Flecha and Wiggins are 9th and 18th, respectively.
In the teams competition, we took the lead after Tirreno - Adriatico but after some poor performances in the Ardennes Classics, we were only fifth. With Wiggins' performance in Romandie, we are back in top even though there are still 5 points between us and the current leaders, Caisse d'Epargne.
At the bottom of the rankings, Liquigas, Columbia, Euskaltel and Footon are the teams that achieved less than 100 points so far in the season and they are fighting to avoid relegation. There are 3 more teams that failed to achieve at least 200 points so far, but they are in a safety zone when it comes to the relegation line. Those teams are AG2R, Francaise des Jeux and The Shack.
Continental Tour Rankings
Sebastien Joly took only 4 victories so far, but his constant good performances, mainly in the French races, helped him lead the Continental Tour after April. In the top 10 of the individual rankings the Dutch, the French and the Belgian riders are dominating, only one other rider being there, the Portuguese, Candido Barbosa.
In the top 5 there are only French and Belgian riders, while the first Dutch is the Rabobank CT star, Coen Vermeltfroot. William Bonnet, the rider with most wins from the Continental Tour is only 19th, while the stars from BMC and Cervelo aren't even close to the top of the rankings.
In the teams rankings, Bbox Bouygues Telecom seem to have found their way back to the Pro Tour, while TopSport Vlaanderen and Landbowkrediet are fighting for the second spot, with Vacansoleil also keeping close.
Teams Stats
So far we saw some of our youngsters developing and getting their skills up. Froome, Kennaugh and Thomas were some of the riders that got better, while Arvesen saw his skills going down due to his age.
But the most important changes we saw at Vigano and, especially, Ben Swift. The 2 young sprinters increased their sprinting abilities quite a lot compared with the start of the season, as well as other skills. Swift has his future with Sky sure, while Vigano hasn't yet accepted our offer for a renewal to his contract, which ends after the 2010 season.
Stay tuned for a big Giro d'Italia presentation!
Edited by alexkr00 on 05-04-2010 21:05
Here it is the first Grand Tour of the season has arrived. There are 5 high mountain finishes in this year's Giro d'Italia, including one on Monte Zoncolan and no less than 4 time - trials. The race will start and end with an individual time - trial, while the fourth stage, after the pack will get back in Italy is a team time - trial. But the most important one is probably the mountain on Plan de Corones, during the 16th stage.
Now lets have a look at the 21 teams and 189 riders that will be present for the start of the 2010 Giro d'Italia, in Amsterdam.
Maybe a little surprise but Bradley Wiggins is the main favorite to take the win in this year's Giro d'Italia! The Brit is probably the best climber to start the race and also one of the best time - trialists. Vigano and Boasson Hagen will look forward to the flat stages here in Italy, with Arvesen leading them out, while Pauwels, Cioni, Froome, Gerrans and Possoni will support Wiggins in the mountains.
The winner of the 2006 edition and also the rider with the highest position in 2009 that also competes in 2010, Ivan Basso, is Wiggins' main rival for the final win. But his only plus against the Brit is that we will rider home and has a better experience when it comes to fighting for the victory in Grand Tours. Szmyd and Koserlovski will be his main domestiques in the mountains, while Dall'Antonia will try something in the flat stages.
The King of the Mountains, of last years edition, Stefano Garzelli is also one of the riders that will be a real threat for Wiggins, especially in the mountains. Francesco Masciarelli will his main domestique for the mountains, while Paolini will lead the team in the sprints.
On paper Bruseghin is the leader but this is probably the best team in this year's Giro. Everyone can climb at a top level, especially Arroyo, Moreau, Soler, Sanchez and Kiryienka, while Sanchez can also lead the team to a very good result in the team time - trial.
With Armstrong and Leipheimer most likely going to California, Popovych and Brajkovic will lead the team for Giro. The Ukrainian had some nice results in the past in Italy, while riding for Landbowkrediet and will look to repeat some of those performances this year when the real big guns are missing.
None of the their top sprinters are here, but Martin will try to get a good result in the general classification, with a bit of luck even a top 10 could be reachable, while Albasini might try something in one of the hilly stages. Also with Bak, Roulston, Pinotti and Martin the team is one of the big favorites to take the win in the fourth stage, which is the team time - trial.
Tiralongo is quite a nice climber and he might be able to bring some quality results but he's definitely a rider made for the Grand Tours. The other notable name in Astana's roster for is Pereiro, the former winner of the Tour de France, but he will be lucky if he will get a place in the top 25.
Cunego will lead Lampre like always but the other big Italian names from the team, Simoni and Petacchi, won't be here. Marzano will be Cunego's main domestique in the important stages, while Furlan will look forward to the stages that will end in a mass sprint.
Even though this is a team that is definitely not interested in the Giro, they might be able to do something in the mountain stages. There we will look for some moves from their team - leader, Igor Anton, and from Egoi Martinez.
Carlos Barredo and the French superstar, Sylvain Chavanel, will lead the team in the important stages, while Weylandt might try something in the flat stages, if his team - mates will help him get in a good position.
Valjavec had some nice results in Giro d'Italia in the past, while he was riding for Lampre. He will lead AG2R this year, while Nocentini, who wore the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, last year will also look for some quality results in his home tour.
Niemiec will lead Miche for the general classification, but the more important news is that the Dane, Michael Rasmussen will return to the top competitions, after the Tour de France 2007.
Another rider with nice results in the past in Giro, Juanma Garate, will lead the Rabobank squad here. He will have the support of Ardila, Moerenhout and Weeining, while Van Winden will ride his first Grand Tour.
Zabriskie is Garmin's main gun this year, but Kessiakoff might also hope for some good results, especially in the mountains. With Farrar not riding, Fischer will lead the team in the sprints and might have the chance to get even a stage win.
Their star, Michele Scarponi, won't be riding here, so their big hopes are now on the punchi - sprinter, Francesco Ginanni, while Bertagnolli and Serpat will lead the team for the general classification.
Petrov will lead Katusha for the general classification but their main hopes for some quality result here in Giro, are on Fillippo Pozzato. The Italian Champion is Hagen and Vigano's main opponent on paper for the sprints and he can also bring some top results in the hilly stages.
Pozzovivo had some nice results during the 2008 edition of Giro d'Italia and after one year break he is back to try to get even some better results, with the new team Colnago - CSF.
On paper, Matteo Carrara is the team leader for Vacansoleil, but we expect some good performances from Jonny Hoogerland, while Bobbie Traksel might try something in the sprints.
The Schleck brothers aren't here but Cancellara might bring them some quality results, especially in the time - trials, while C.A. Sorensen is their main hope for a good result in the general classification.
The World Champion, Cadel Evans, isn't here, but the former Champion, Alessandro Ballan is. And he might bring some very good results in the sprints, as well as in some hilly stages or after winning breakaways.
Probably the weakest team for the first Grand Tour of the year is the one brought by Cervelo. Gustov might hope for a good place in the general classification but nothing more than that.
Many thanks to the sim - eraser and camerluca for making those great minishirts. Edited by alexkr00 on 06-04-2010 14:01
Alex your Giro presentation is depressing myself
From story writer to story writer :This was the best presentation I´ve ever seen on this forum!!World class,fantastic,amazing,perfect...just put your favorite adjective!
Congrats...
