The biggest moment of the season end along with the Giro di Lombardia is the World Championships. This year we travel to Copenhagen, where a very different route compared to previous championships awaits the riders. The route will be very long, as fits the race, but flat as a pancake. The chances are that a mass sprint will settle the result, as there are teams like the USA that have enough riders to control the race.
Favorites:
- Tyler Farrar (USA): The best sprinter has to be the favorite in this kind of route. The American hasn’t had a great season, with only some stage wins but no major results. He has a good team beside him, with riders as good as Taylor Phinney to set the pace in the flat roads of Denmark.
- Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan): Vinokourov is a more versatile rider than Farrar, so he would like a slightly hillier route to let Farrar drop back. His main disadvantage is the lack of teammates, as he will be the only Kazakh in the start line at Copenhagen.
- Matthew Goss (Australia): Goss is usually the leadout man for Tyler Farrar in the Saxo Bank team. However, he will take the leading role for the Australian team in the World Championship. He isn’t as fast as the American, but will be able to put a good fight if the race is settled in a sprint.
- Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark): The local favorite is Jakob Fuglsang. The Danish rider is not a pure sprinter, but more of a long route expert. He has had a great run of results heading to the World Championships, especially the win in the Clasica de San Sebastian. The lack of teammates will probably weigh on Fuglsang, who will probably have to rely on other teams to bring back the breaks.
The route of the World Championships in Copenhagen is really flat. It is a route that looks designed for the pure sprinters, as there is no place where they might lose track with the peloton. At 266 kilometers the winner will also need a good stamina.
The break of the day took a while to build up, but once it was formed it slowly opened the gap progressively. In the group of 10 riders, the most important names were: Xavi Tondo (Spain), Jelle Vanendert (Belgium), Denis Menchov (Russia), Andy Schleck (Luxembourg) and Chris Froome (Great Britain). They hay 6’ 15’’ on the bunch with 125 kilometers remaining.
Simon Gerrans, Jelle Vanendert and Andy Schleck jumped from the break when they hit the 30 kilometers to the finish mark. They soon opened a gap of 25’’ on the other riders of the break. The bunch was still 1’ 50’’ behind and, with only USA chasing, it is going to be difficult for them to bring them back. They would maybe find some help from Kazakhstan, but Vinokourov has no teammate to work for him.
Jelle Vanendert left everyone behind and will start the last lap (14 kilometers) on his own. The Belgian has 40’’ on the 9 fellows from the early break and 1’ 45’’ on the bunch. The peloton seems to be giving up, as the USA team is broken and no other team is willing to take responsibilities.
Vanendert reaches the 3 kilometers mark with all the odds on his side to be the new World Champion. He has 25 seconds on the chasers. Spain started helping in the bunch, but it was clearly too late and they won’t be catching any of the riders in front.
Jelle Vanendert wins in Copenhagen! The Belgian becomes the new World Champion after suffering a lot in the last kilometer. A great sprint by Denis Menchov made him come really close to beating Vanendert. Menchov will have to settle for the silver medal though and Chris Froome will take the bronze for Great Britain.
The lack of teams willing to help USA in the chase condemned the bunch to being just a spectator in the race. Probably teams like Spain and France should have helped in front once they saw that their riders in the break would have it hard to be in the fight for gold, but the shadows of Farrar, Vinokourov, Leukemans and Goss were too big.
baggieboys32 wrote:
Wow! Not the winner I was expecting, Curse of weaker stats i guess
Still, this year we may actually SEE! Yes! SEE!!! The World Champion!
Yeah, the weaker stats make the one day races completely unpredictable. Besides, as I don't have too many riders in the story, Kazakhstan had no one to chase the break.
However, the biggest curse we have is the curse of the World Champion. We didn't see Danielson in rainbow and we didn't see Van Leijen. Let's hope Vanendert does something nice next season.
What better name to talk about in the last "Featured Rider" article of the season than the recent World Champion. Jelle Vanendert surprised everyone by taking the World Champioship after a very long break and a solo effort in the last 20 kilometers. The Belgian team was very strong in Denmark, but all of their chances seemed to be in Lotto's Bjorn Leukemans, not in his teammate Vanendert. Vanendert has been renowned for his climbing and Grand Tour abilities more than his classics talent.
Vanendert had already used the same tactics early in the season to take his other major win of the season: the E3 Prijs. Leukemans was the favorite for the race, but Vanendert filtered into the break and after a final effort was able to grab the win with a marginal gap over the group of favorites. It is quite strange that the Belgian's great season has been built around wins in one day races, rather than in the mountains.
Vanendert's good results have somewhat hidden his rather disappointing Giro d'Italia. The Belgian was among the poker of favorites for the final win but could not deliver better than a 7th in the final GC, more than 11 minutes behind the winner. That is a much worse result than last years Vuelta, where he took 3 stages, the 4th place in the final GC and the Mountains and Points jerseys.
The Belgian contract runs out at the end of the season, so a lot of teams will probably want to jump on the talented rider. A lot of GT riders will be available in the market, like Weening, Mollema and Nieve, so the fight will be fierce.
Wins:
2009
- 1st Stage 3 Paris - Nice
2010
- 1st Stages 3, 5 and 8 Vuelta a España
- 1st Mountain Jersey Vuelta a España
- 1st Points Jersey Vuelta a España
2011
- 1st Stage 6 Paris - Nice
- 1st E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
- 1st Road World Championship
Other notable results:
- 6th 2009 Paris - Nice
- 9th 2009 Amstel Gold Race
- 7th 2009 Tour de France
- 2nd 2009 Road World Championship
- 4th 2010 Vuelta a España
- 7th 2011 Giro di Italia
- 7th 2011 Criterium du Dauphine
The teams head to Asia for the last stage race of the season, the Tour of Beijing. The UCI promoted race fits strangely in the World Tour, as most of the teams have no interest on racing in China. The route doesn’t help either, because only two stages out of five seem relevant for the GC: the time trial first stage and the medium mountain third. The favorites for the race are, however, the sprinters. There is much time to be gained in bonus seconds in the mass sprints, so they have to be taken into account.
Favorites:
- Tyler Farrar (Saxo Bank): Farrar has not had a very good season so far, although he is still the benchmark sprinter. The American has collected 5 stage wins so far this year, in Catalunya, Paris – Nice, Dauphine and Eneco Tour. This will be the first time he will be able to fight for the GC of a race, as he will have plenty of bonus seconds to regain the time lost in the time trial.
- Alexandre Vinokourov (Garmin): Vinokourov’s season has been more successful than Farrar’s, although he has only 2 stage wins. The Kazakh has won 2 points jerseys and had a quality 2nd place in the E3 Prijs. Vinokourov will be looking to leave Farrar behind in the small mountains of stage 3.
- Rigoberto Uran (Sky): Uran is a good time trialist, so he should take enough time on the first stage and hang on to the leader’s jersey. He will not have much trouble in the mountains, as the stage is not hard enough for him to lose track. Uran has already won twice this season, but he is also looking to improve that record.
- John Degenkolb (Lampre): The German sprinter has stated that his main target for the end of the season is the Tour of Beijing. He arrives in China in good shape and targeting at least a stage win. Though he hasn’t won this season so far he has been very close, especially in the Giro.
The Tour of Beijing starts with a time trial around the venues that hosted the 2008 Olympics. It is not a very long stage, but considering the few places where time might be gained it could well be the most important stage of the race.
Samuel Sanchez (Saxo Bank) has won quite a few time trials this year and he was aiming to add another one. The Spaniard departed early to take the first time in the sheets: 16' 32''. That was 17 seconds better than the best time so far, held by Pieter Weening.
David Millar (Sky) never felt too comfortable in his bike this morning. Nevertheless, he recorded the provisional second best, 9 seconds behind Sanchez. The British rider commented afterwards that he wasn't feeling ok for this time trial.
Cameron Meyer (HTC) came right behind Millar and beat the British time to get the second provisional. He ended 6 seconds behind Sanchez after a solid stage by the Australian.
Oscar Freire (Rabobank) did a good start to the Tour of Beijing, after recording the third provisional time. The Spaniard was also 6 seconds slower than Samuel Sanchez.
Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) was the biggest surprise of the day, as he was able to beat Sanchez’s time by 1 second. The American could be on the verge of his first win of the season.
Marco Pinotti (Radioshack) took advantage of a better wind conditions to take a great 3rd spot for him, only 3 seconds slower than Leipheimer.
Taylor Phinney, as the whole Euskaltel team, doesn’t have much hopes put in the Tour of Beijing. Nevertheless, the American put a solid performance to take the fourth provisional spot, 5 seconds behind Leipheimer.
Rigoberto Uran (Sky) smashed everyone else, as he set the best time. He improved Leipheimer’s time in 2 seconds and secured the stage win, as none of the riders coming behind is a decent time trialist. This is the third win of the season for the Colombian, who won twice in the Pais Vasco.
The second day in Beijing is a short and flat stage ideal for sprinters. The route goes west of Beijing to do a circuit north of the town of Mentougou with a categorized climb. The climb isn’t hard enough to make the sprinters lose ground, so it will probably end in a mass sprint to the line.
Only 3 riders formed the break of the day: Ben Hermans (Discovery), Anthony Roux (Liquigas) and Daniel Moreno (Movistar). As they sprinted in the second intermediate sprint of the day in Dan Li they had 3’ 45’’ on the bunch. With 70 kilometers remaining and the sprinters teams chasing they had little chance of making it to the end.
Another group of dangerous riders, like Frank Schleck and Janez Brajkovic, tried to break away but hey were soon reeled back in by the peloton. On the last categorized climb (13 km to go) Jakob Fuglsang jumped to get the points, as the peloton had just caught everyone in front. Brajkovic suffered a fall in the climb and would probably lose time in the finish.
The sprint set up was very chaotic, with a fall that was going to make Dries Devenyns lose time too. With 3 km to go, the only train that emerged was that of Van Hummel towing Peter Sagan.
Robbie Mcwen led the sprint ahead of Peter Sagan, Yoann Offredo and Marco Marcato. Looks like the Garmin guys left Vinokourov behind, as the Kazakh is trying to gain positions but is closed in the right of the road.
Peter Sagan wins in Mentougou! The Slovak was able to hold off Mondory and Greipel, who were at his wheel but couldn’t threaten his lead in the sprint. The Vacansoleil hadn’t won since taking 1 stage and the overall in Paris – Nice, but he is completing a great season.
Uran’s lead in the GC has not been threatened, as Sagan has only moved to 19th overall, 16 seconds behind. Tomorrow is the only “mountainous” stage in the Tour of Beijing, so movements by some important men are expected. It will be difficult that they drop as many riders as they would like though.
I make the young jersey for the most recent riders in the story, so I set everyone who is "old" to 27 and everyone who is "young" to 19. Nothing to do with their real age.
The third stage of the Tour of Beijing takes us to the mountains in the northwest of Beijing. It is the most difficult stage of the race, so some riders would do well in trying to gain an advantage. There are four categorized climbs that, while not being colossus, can be used to break the bunch. Especially relevant will be the last two, as they are concatenated.
The stage started really quick and the first climb was really hard on the riders. A big group of 14 riders took shape in the second climb, including Bart de Clerq (Lotto), Alessandro Ballan (Liquigas), Beñat Intxausti (Katusha), Yauheni Hutarovich (Lampre) and Rein Taaramae (Radioshack). They had built a gap of 5’ 05’’ at the second intermediate point, at Liucun.
The break kept a good lead of 2’ 30’’ through the penultimate climb of the day, Xiezishi. The climb was really quiet in both groups, with no attacks. The top of the climb is 31 km away from the finish, so the pace has to increase in the bunch to catch the break. Saxo Bank, Vacansoleil and Sky are the teams setting the pace, but it is not very high.
Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) was the only rider to attack in the last climb to Erpuliang. He dragged Uran behind him, but it looks much too late, as the break crossed the mountain sprint 1’ 50’’ before. The guys in the peloton seem to have handed the stage and the GC to the break.
The break arrives at the streets of Yongning with a decent gap of 1’ 55’’ on the peloton. Surprisingly, no attacks broke the group in smaller parts. They are going to have plenty of time to fight for the stage win, where there is not a clear favorite.
Alessandro Ballan wins in Yongning! As amazing as it seems, this is the first win of the season for the Italian team. Ballan outsprinted Roelandts and Hutarovich in the last straight to take the stage and the yellow jersey.
Sylvain Chavanel leads the bunch 1’ 56’’ behind the break. The favorites showed very little ambition today, as no one tried a serious attack in the last couple of climbs. This leaves the GC in the hands of the riders of the break, and there are too many of them for all to fail in the two relatively easy stages remaining.
Ballan now leads with 12 seonds on Hutarovich and 14 seconds on Ruijgh. This means that if the Italian doesn’t fail it will be very difficult to take him out on bonus seconds alone. Tomorrow’s stage is a long one, with a few climbs but mostly easy. Ballan should have no trouble retaining the yellow.
The Tour of Beijing’s fourth stage is rather easy. The riders will face three small climbs, but nothing that will break the bunch. The result of the stage will therefore be probably a mass sprint. The GC seems to be settled by now, considering the stages remaining so don’t expect a showoff by the favorites.
Only two riders formed the break of the day: Ivan Basso (Radioshack) and Daniele Benatti (Quickstep). They had a good understanding, but as they crossed the first mountain sprint (Ansi) their gap was already reducing. They had 6’ 45’’ at the top with 86 kilometers remaining.
Rob Ruijgh (Rabobank), the third in the GC, crashes 40 kilometers from home as the peloton is at full speed to catch the break. 7 teammates waited for him, but they are going to have to work hard to put the Dutch back in the peloton.
Lotto has the best train as the bunch approaches the mass sprint. Jose Joaquín Rojas is leading Andre Greipel, while Peter Kennaugh and Janez Brajkovic have taken the German wheel. Meanwhile, Rob Ruijgh is losing 4 minutes, so his GC ambitions are over.
The leader, Alessandro Ballan, was in the front of the group to avoid falls. He was the first to start the final sprint. The pure sprinters were behind: Alexandre Vinokourov, Andre Greipel and Peter Kennaugh. Meanwhile, the Sky leader, Rigoberto Uran, crashed while preparing the sprint.
Janez Brajkovic wins in Shunyi! The Slovenian is having an awesome season and now he even wins in sprints. There weren’t a lot of climbs that may have tired the sprinters, so this is a demonstration of power by the Discovery rider. Behind him crossed the line Vinokourov and Kennaugh.
Tyler Farrar was again positioned badly ahead of the sprint and that meant that even as he sprinted well he could only go up to sixth in the finish line. In the GC the only change was the disappearance of Rob Ruijgh, his podium spot has now been taken by Sacha Modolo ahead of the last stage tomorrow.
