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Petronas - Monster Energy; The end of an era
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 10-04-2013 14:04
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It's a TTT, so no big woop. |
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| dienblad |
Posted on 10-04-2013 17:07
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@ all: I know it is "just" a TTT, but loosing almost a minute to Contador isnt the best way to start this Vuelta...
Edited by dienblad on 10-04-2013 17:08
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| dienblad |
Posted on 10-04-2013 17:43
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Stage 2
We stay in the region of Valencia in stage 2. 172 kilometres from La NucÃa to Playas de Orihuela. The route goes inland a bit, including 1 categorized climb, and returns to the Costa Blanca costal line for the finish in Playas de Orihuela.
147km to go
With the only KOTM-sprint of the day after only 25 kilometres, we have decided it's kinda funny to set an extremely high pace immediately after the start. This with the goal of our young Luxembourg Gregory Bernard being able to attack as soon as the ascend of the Alto de Relleu begins. And our plan succeeds, as Bernard crosses the line of the KOTM-sprint solo, meaning he'll wear the polka dot jersey tomorrow.
43km to go
Bernard takes it easy after the KOTM-sprint and gets caught again. 4 riders go in the attack and form the BOTD. Murilo Fischer (Sony Ericsson), Mickaël Delage (Europcar), Kasper Klostergaard (Saxo Bank) and Manuel Quinziato (BMC) get a maximum margin of 4'30, but with the finish approaching, that margin decreases quickly.
15km to go
The 4 get caught with 17km to go, and the next one to attack is Lars Boom. He was succesful with these attacks in the Tour, so why not try now? Only 1 rider counters him, and it's Rein Taaramäe. Does this mean that the Estonian has no GC-ambitions here??
5km to go
Bad luck for Boom and Taaramäe that the sprinter-teams are desperate to let the stage end in a mass sprint. The 2 have been caught, and with 5km to go, 2 sprint trains are formed: Petronas - Monster Energy and, as expected, Qantas.
2km to go
The Qantas train is the fastest, and with 2km to go their final lead out man Wesley Sulzberger is leading André Greipel. The gorilla has JJ Rojas and Cavendish in his wheel. At this moment, Peter Sagan decides to leave our own train, and hops on Cavendish his back wheel.
1km to go
Sulzberger his work is done, and Greipel is leading the sprint under the red banner, with Rojas, Cav and Sagan in his wheel. But on the left comes Edvald Boasson Hagen at very high speed!
Finish
And that high speed brings him the win. Edvald Boasson Hagen wins the mass sprint in Playas de Orihuela and makes it 2 out of 2 for Dexia! In the Norwegians slipstream, Heinrich Haussler sprints to the 2nd place, wit Romain Feillu even beating Cavendish for the 3rd place. Peter Sagan finishes in the 9th place, and no important riders loose time today.
The Results
| 1 |  Edvald Boasson Hagen | Dexia | 3h54'15 | | 2 |  Heinrich Haussler | Radio Shack - Nissan | s.t. | | 3 |  Romain Feillu | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | s.t. | | 4 |  Mark Cavendish | Sky ProCycling | s.t. | | 5 |  José JoaquÃn Rojas | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 6 |  André Greipel | Qantas Airways | s.t. | | 7 |  Jens Keukeleire | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 8 |  Giacomo Nizzolo | Lampre - Alitalia | s.t. | | 9 |  Peter Sagan | Petronas - Monster Energy | s.t. | | 10 |  Manuel Cardoso | Caja Rural | s.t. |
GC
| 1 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Dexia | 4h13'49 | | 2 | Juan José Cobo | Dexia | + 20 | | 3 | Philippe Gilbert | Dexia | s.t. | | 4 | Bradley Wiggins | Dexia | s.t. | | 5 | Alejandro Valverde | Dexia | s.t. | | 6 | Matthew Goss | Dexia | + 23 | | 7 | Simon Gerrans | Dexia | + 25 | | 8 | José Herrada | Dexia | + 27 | | 9 | Vicente Reynès | Dexia | + 29 | | 10 | Rui Costa | Movistar Team | + 30 |
Points
| 1 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Dexia | 25 | | 2 | Heinrich Haussler | Radio Shack - Nissan | 20 | | 3 | Romain Feillu | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | 16 | | 4 | Mark Cavendish | Sky ProCycling | 14 | | 5 | José JoaquÃn Rojas | Movistar Team | 12 |
KOTM
| 1 |  Gregory Bernard | Petronas - Monster Energy | 6 | | 2 | Rui Costa | Movistar Team | 4 | | 3 |  Christian Vande Velde | Radio Shack - Nissan | 2 | | 4 | Kristof Vandewalle | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | 1 |
Today's Winner
Word from the DS
A 9th place is an expected result for Sagan, considering his form and the amount of world class sprinters present. EBH showed that you don't need a sprint train to win.... Nice for Bernard he gets to wear the KOTM-jersey for probably 1 day.
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 10-04-2013 21:38
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Tour de France Champion
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Ambitious plans for this Vuelta. Not the greatest start but Petronas is just getting started! |
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| SSJ2Luigi |
Posted on 10-04-2013 23:14
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Dexia has many stars Spoiler Cobo (***), Wiggnes (**), Boassen Hagen (***), Goss (**)
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| dienblad |
Posted on 11-04-2013 18:09
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@ Ian: our strength will be in the second half of the Vuelta.
@ SSJ2Luigi: yep, strong team indeed!
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| dienblad |
Posted on 11-04-2013 18:53
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Stage 3
We're heading South and a bit inland to the city of Totana. 164 kilometres and 1700 height metres in 35 degrees celsius ain't that nice!!
36km to go
Ladies and gentlemen: Danny Pate is in the BOTD!!! He's riding that fast, that the windmills have stopped turning and both Manuel Belletti (BMC) and Laurent Beuret (Red Bull) are happy they can stay in his wheel.
12km to go
Pate drops the other 2 in the 12km ascend of the Alto de la Santa (average gradient 2.4%). He arrives ats first at the summit, but gets joined by Saxo's Lars Boom, who has attacked out of the peloton. That peloton follows at '40, with Gregory Bernard taking 2 KOTM-points, thus keeping the polka dot jersey.
Finish
Boom drops Pate in the descend, and with the sprint trains having a lot of problems in getting organized, Boom is cruising towards the stage win. It's his 2nd win this season, with the first being a stage in the Tour.
In the same time, Romain Feillu wins the peloton sprint, beating Manuel Cardoso and Mark Cavendish. Peter Sagan gets another 9th place.
The Results
| 1 |  Lars Boom | Saxo Bank SunGard | 3h48'32 | | 2 | Romain Feillu | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | s.t. | | 3 | Manuel Cardoso | Caja Rural | s.t. | | 4 | Mark Cavendish | Sky ProCycling | s.t. | | 5 | André Greipel | Qantas Airways | s.t. | | 6 | Giacomo Nizzolo | Lampre - Alitalia | s.t. | | 7 | Francesco Gavazzi | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 8 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Dexia | s.t. | | 9 | Peter Sagan | Petronas - Monster Energy | s.t. | | 10 | Gerald Ciolek | Red Bull - Cervélo | s.t. |
GC
| 1 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Dexia | 8h02'21 | | 2 | Juan José Cobo | Dexia | + 20 | | 3 | Philippe Gilbert | Dexia | s.t. | | 4 | Alejandro Valverde | Dexia | s.t. | | 5 | Bradley Wiggins | Dexia | s.t. | | 6 | Lars Boom | Saxo Bank SunGard | + 21 | | 7 | Matthew Goss | Dexia | + 23 | | 8 | Simon Gerrans | Dexia | + 25 | | 9 | José Herrada | Dexia | + 27 | | 10 | Vicente Reynès | Dexia | + 29 |
Points
| 1 | Romain Feillu | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | 36 | | 2 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Dexia | 33 | | 3 | Mark Cavendish | Sky ProCycling | 28 | | 4 | Lars Boom | Saxo Bank SunGard | 25 | | 5 | Manuel Cardoso | Caja Rural | 25 |
KOTM
| 1 | Gregory Bernard | Petronas - Monster Energy | 8 | | 2 | Danny Pate | Sony Ericsson | 6 | | 3 | Rui Costa | Movistar Team | 4 | | 4 | Lars Boom | Saxo Bank SunGard | 4 | | 5 | Christian Vande Velde | Radio Shack - Nissan | 2 |
Today's Winner
Word from the DS
Now that was an impressive performance by Boom. Think the sprinters are having a Tour de France déja-vu. Tomorrow is the first big test case for the GC-contenders, with the finish at an altitude of 2126m in Sierra Nevada.
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 11-04-2013 19:02
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Wait, Manuel Cardoso didn't get stuck in guard rails? Run everyone. |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 11-04-2013 20:26
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How the hell did Pate get dropped? Was he riding so fast his molecules dissolved? |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 11-04-2013 20:27
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Ian Butler wrote:
How the hell did Pate get dropped? Was he riding so fast his molecules dissolved?
No. He saw a girl and he said to Boom: Go, I'll catch up. Let me take care of this business 1st.  |
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 11-04-2013 22:18
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Come on Petronas.
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| dienblad |
Posted on 11-04-2013 22:33
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Miguel98 wrote:
Ian Butler wrote:
How the hell did Pate get dropped? Was he riding so fast his molecules dissolved?
No. He saw a girl and he said to Boom: Go, I'll catch up. Let me take care of this business 1st.
Nah, he told the press that he was enjoying the landscape that much, that he really didnt know that he was riding the Vuelta. He thought the other riders were doing a training ride.
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| dienblad |
Posted on 11-04-2013 23:34
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Stage 4
It's stage 4 and we already have a decisive mountain stage. In the 172 kilometres from Baza to Sierra Nevada await 2 long climbs with a summit over 2000 metres above sea level: first the Sierra de Filabres (27.5km at 4.2%, alt. 2034m) and after almost 100km at an altitude of 1000 metres awaits the final climb to Sierra Nevada, 23.2km at 6.6%, alt. 2126m. This makes a total of 3954 height metres.
137km to go
With the polka dot jersey on his shoulders, gregory Bernard has given a free role today. And with it, he tries to collect as many KOTM-points as possible. He leads the BOTD almost the entire ascend of the Sierra de Filabres, but gets outsprinted on the line by AndalucÃa's Eloy Ruiz. The 2 are accompanied by Robert Vrecer (BMC), Leonardo Duque (Radio Shack), Maxime Méderel (Europcar) and Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil). The peloton follows at 8'15.
70km to go
In the valley between the 2 Sierra's, a 4-rider group tries to bridge the gap to the BOTD. Arkaitz Durán (Euskaltel), Mikel Nieve (Astan), Ezequeil Mosquera (Caja Rural) and Remy Di Gregorio (Europcar) are riding 5'01 behind the BOTD and 1'08 in front of the peloton. But these riders are too dangerous to let them get away this early in the Vuelta, so the Dexia-riders increase the pace of the peloton to chase them.
42km to go
In the ascend of the Puerto de Blancares, Bernard has decided to leave his fellow breakaways behind. He arrives at the summit with a 2'18-margin to them. The peloton follows at 3'43.
15km to go
The 23.2km long ascend to Sierra Nevada has started. With an average gradient of 6.6%, the climb isn't one of the steepest, but the length of it should cause some time gaps.
And with 15km to go, having 1/3 done, the adventure of Bernard is already over. Durán, Nieve, Di Gregorio and Rein Taaramäe are the first ones to catch him.
12km to go
Daniel Martin is the first to attack out of the leading peloton. After a disastrous TTT for his team Garmin, he needs to regain some time. Bad luck for him that he gets countered by one of the GC-favourites, namely Juan José Cobo. Cobo leaves Martin behind, but there are still 12km to go.
10km to go
Cobo and Martin get joined by Javier Moreno (Caja Rural), Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) and..... Alberto Contador! Yes, Contador thought it was time this early to counter this attack. This in contrary to Robert Gesink, who is trying to find a way to the front of the chasing group, that follows at '56.
6km to go
Gesink brings the chasing group back in his own pace to the 5 leaders. Then, with 6km to go, Amets Txurruka (AndalucÃa) attacks out of this group of 29 (!) riders.
4km to go
With 4km to go, Alberto Contador tries for the 2nd time this climb. This time, Gesink counters, just as Cobo and Kiserlovski.
2km to go '
But apparantly the attack wasn't the smartest thing that Contador could have done. Kiserlovski, Cobo and Gesink could follow him easily, and the moment that Contador had to sit down in the saddle again, the 3 increased their pace. So they lead Martin by '23 and Contador and Moreno by '36 with 2km to go.
1km to go
The tactic of waiting as long as possible is the right one, as Gesink sneaks away from Kiserlovski and Cobo, as the 2 have cracked before the red banner. Contador follows at '28, so nothing is lost for him.
Finish
And to my and his own surprise, Robert Gesink is the strongest at Sierra Nevada. We really haven't expected to win him this early in the Vuelta, but it has been the long and gradually ascend that has suited him.
Kiserlovski finishes in 2nd at '15, with Cobo in 3rd in the same time. Contador finishes in 4th at '35 and Jelle Vanendert finishes in a surprising 8th at 1'10, after having climb all the way in his own pace!
The Results
| 1 | Robert Gesink | Petronas - Monster Energy | 4h45'25 | | 2 |  Robert Kiserlovski | Pro Team Astana | + 15 | | 3 | Juan José Cobo | Dexia | s.t. | | 4 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | + 35 | | 5 |  Daniel Martin | Garmin - Barracuda | s.t. | | 6 | Javier Moreno | Caja Rural | + 54 | | 7 |  Juan Mauricio Soler | Colombia es Pasión - Café de Colombia | + 1'10 | | 8 | Jelle Vanendert | Petronas - Monster Energy | s.t. | | 9 |  Kanstantsin Siutsou | Movistar Team | + 1'36 | | 10 | Amets Txurruka | AndalucÃa - Catalunya | + 1'46 |
GC
| 1 | Juan José Cobo | Dexia | 12h48'13 | | 2 | Robert Gesink | Petronas - Monster Energy | + 36 | | 3 | Robert Kiserlovski | Pro Team Astana | + 40 | | 4 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 5 | Javier Moreno | Caja Rural | + 1'05 | | 6 | Bradley Wiggins | Dexia | + 1'39 | | 7 | Kanstantsin Siutsou | Movistar Team | + 1'43 | | 8 | Juan Mauricio Soler | Colombia es Pasión - Café de Colombia | + 1'49 | | 9 | Mikel Astarloza | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 10 | Rubén Plaza | Movistar Team | s.t. |
Points
| 1 | Romain Feillu | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step | 36 | | 2 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Dexia | 33 | | 3 | Mark Cavendish | Sky ProCycling | 28 | | 4 | Robert Gesink | Petronas - Monster Energy | 28 | | 5 | Lars Boom | Saxo Bank SunGard | 25 |
KOTM
| 1 | Gregory Bernard | Petronas - Monster Energy | 26 | | 2 | Eloy Ruiz | AndalucÃa - Catalunya | 18 | | 3 | Robert Gesink | Petronas - Monster Energy | 16 | | 4 | Leonardo Duque | Radio Shack - Nissan | 12 | | 5 | Robert Kiserlovski | Pro Team Astana | 12 |
Today's Winner
Word from the DS
Wow, the team didn't expected this. Gesink dropping his opponents so early in the Vuelta... But we don't mind at all that Cobo is in the leaders jersey. Tomorrow's stage with the finish in Valdepeñas de Jaen will be very, very difficult.
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| dienblad |
Posted on 11-04-2013 23:36
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Well, that's it for a few days. I'll be visiting family for the weekend, including watching the Amstel Gold Race. More to come next week.
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 11-04-2013 23:52
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Nice stage, and have fun 
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 11-04-2013 23:57
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Have fun on your holiday. And great win for Gesink and the team
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| Neillster |
Posted on 12-04-2013 00:22
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Fantastic stage for the team. Just if at all possible don't let Contador get the Yellow jersey. With a climbing team that strong there's no way he'll release it. They already have 4 in the top 10. All the same Great win for Gesink and good to see Bernard making a good show for the Mountain classification. Keep it up. |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 12-04-2013 09:38
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Well, that was unexpected but a nice surprise 
Already that stage win, things are looking good!
Enjoy your couple days off  |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 12-04-2013 09:54
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That was a strong performance from Mr Gesink |
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| PCM rulezz |
Posted on 15-04-2013 11:54
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Nice win for Gesink. Hopefully he can win his 2nd GT this year
Winners never quit, quitters never win.
It's difficult not to be happy when you're surrounded by Belgians. - Mark Cavendish
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