Prologue Race of Form: 48 Pts – with 31 days until Lombardia
The year before my breakout season at Team GLS I remember watching the prologue of the Tour de France when it was held in London. I knew at that point I wanted to be part of that some day and here I am in some way part of it already. It’s not Le Tour, but it’s the same route in the 2007 Tour de France, so it felt somewhat special as I took off on today’s prologue through the streets of London. As expected I didn’t do very well on my time trial bike, but Wiggins and Grabsch were up there and Wiggins would have won if it hadn’t been for a certain Fabian Cancellara who took a crushing win today. Still a good start for us.
Stage 1 Race of Form: 51 Pts – with 30 days until Lombardia
A more or less flat stage today which should suit our sprinters Cavendish and Hagen nicely. I showed in Vattenfall CyClassics that my strength is returning and that I can stay with the peloton even after doing some work, and I wanted to reassure myself today that I’m on the right path.
A big group of 11 riders got away today and unfortuneately this spoiled our chances of a stage win as two from the original break managed to keep the pack at bay by a slim margin. The stage was won by Yoshinori Iino ahead of Adam Armstrong as Hagen in third just failed to to overtake the two. I managed to stay with the pack quite comfortably, but I didn’t have the strenght to work in the finale. Evenso I feel like I’m coming along.
1 Yoshinori Iino Skil - Shimano 3h21'52
2 Adam Armstrong Pezula Racing s.t. 3 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road s.t.
4 Matti Breschel Team CSC s.t. 5 Mark Cavendish Team High Road s.t. 48 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
GC
1 Fabian Cancellara Team CSC 3h31'35 2 Bradley Wiggins Team High Road + 22
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road + 28
4 Bert Grabsch Team High Road + 31
5 Kristof Goddaert Topsport Vlaanderen + 34
Stage 2 Race of Form: 55 Pts – with 29 days until Lombardia
Today was a bit smoother and we manage to reel in the break after doing some work at the front in alliance with CSC. Me and Lars were sent forth to do the majority for the team, and I’m starting to get into some kind of groove out there, because I felt rather strong and I had no problems sticking with the pack after my job for the day was over, so again that’s a positive signal for my preparations.
We came real close in the sprint today. Hagen led out Cavendish perfectly but the sprint was a bit too long for Cav, who surely is feeling some fatigue at this point of the season and he just couldn’t hold off a strong charging Matti Breschel who took the stage ahead of Cav.
So four stages left to race here and I’m eyeing stage 4 as a day where I will try something. It’s an uphill finish on a short but quite steep hill and it should suit me very well. But all depends on how I’m feeling at that point.
1 Matti Breschel Team CSC 4h29’37 2 Mark Cavendish Team High Road s.t.
3 Bernardo Riccio Pinarello Racing Team s.t.
4 Cyrille Heymans An Post - M. Donnelly - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly Team s.t.
5 Jimmy Casper Agritubel s.t. 51 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
GC
1 Fabian Cancellara Team CSC 8h01’12
2 Matti Breschel Team CSC + 16 3 Bradley Wiggins Team High Road + 22
4 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road + 28
5 Bert Grabsch Team High Road + 31 53 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 1’04
Stage 3 Race of Form: 58 Pts – with 28 days until Lombardia
Eventhough I’m starting to feel stronger today ended up being kind of a letdown for me personally. Me, Grabsch and Lars took part in the chase of the breakaway just like yesterday and with the help of some of the other teams we did bring everything back together. But with about 20 kilometres to go I just absolutely hit the wall and I couldn’t keep up anymore. I had to let go of the pack.
Dissapointing for me, but reviving for Hagen as he sprinted to victory after a perfect lead-out by Cavendish, who looked to have 2nd place all wrapped up before he faded horribly in the final metres. I talked to him afterwards at the hotel and he is very dissapointed that he can’t fight for the win in this race, as it’s obviously very important to him.
Me, Bert and Lars had to let go today – but it turned out alright for the team.
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road 3h34’57
2 Bernardo Riccio Pinarello Racing Team s.t.
3 Daryl Impey SouthAustralia.com – AIS s.t. 4 Mark Cavendish Team High Road s.t.
5 Matti Breschel Team CSC s.t.
Stage 4 Race of Form: 61 Pts – with 27 days until Lombardia
This is the stage I had picked out beforehand where I wanted to try and do something despite my lack of good form. I felt strong right from the outset and fortuneately only a small break got away today, so I didn’t have to do a whole lot of chasing, and even after chasing them down I still felt more or less up for the challenge. The stage ended with an almost 3-kilometres climb, the kind that suits me perfectly, so surely I wouldn’t let the chance pass. But with Hagen 2nd in the GC and only a few seconds back, I had to set him up on the climb.
So I did, I opened up from the base of the hill and then it was up to Hagen and everybody else to try and follow. I felt confident that I was going fast but I’m not exactly in the form of my life, and in the end I was passed by Hagen and Visconti. I took 3rd though which I’m very happy with. I know this race isn’t exactly as star-studded as Lombardia will be, but it’s still a nice result to take home. And Hagen took over the yellow jersey, so all in all a very good day for us.
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road 4h10’11
2 Giovanni Visconti Barloworld s.t. 3 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
4 Gianni Meersman Tinkoff Credit Systems s.t.
5 John Devine Palmeiras Resort – Tavira s.t.
Stage 5 Race of Form: 63 Pts – with 26 days until Lombardia
The penultimate stage was a flat stage and after Hagen had taken over the yellow jersey I had been demoted to domestique. Actually I have been that all along but today it was my, Lars and Bert’s job to sit at the front of the pack the whole time, as with the yellow jersey comes a responsibility and so we had to take the initiative in the pack. It’s okay, I have gotten what I came for here with yesterday’s result, and I guess it’s a good thing to sit here at the front and catch some wind. That way my form should increase faster I’d say.
Our hard work didn’t pay off though as Hagen and Cav completely failed in the sprint, while me, Lars and Bert had to drop off the pace once again. Same old, same old, but I’m not too worried. I can feel the legs are getting better by the day and I’m confident they will come around in October.
This picture pretty much sums up my days in Britain.
GC 1 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road 18h57'35
2 Fabian Cancellara Team CSC + 12
3 Matti Breschel Team CSC + 16 4 Bradley Wiggins Team High Road + 34
5 Daryl Impey SouthAustralia.com - AIS + 40 99 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 11'14
Stage 6 Race of Form: 65 Pts – with 25 days until Lombardia
The last day in Britain and today’s all about keeping the jersey for Hagen. Again it was me, Lars and Bert whose jobs were to reel in the breakaway if too many got away. But the attack just wouldn’t stop with groups of 13 to 15 riders going clear every time. So we took a decision to put me and Lars in the break and that way maybe disrupt the co-operation there a little to make it easier for Wiggins and Bert to reel everything back in.
At the front for once, I haven’t been here since May more or less.
The break gave the pack a run for their money though and they wouldn’t be caught completely, and me and Lars would be up there in the finale. The gap to the pack was small so Hagen’s lead was never endangered at any time. It came down to a sprint. I knew I would beat Lars, but I wasn’t too sure about the other 13. I should be capable of beating them all in a sprint, but my form isn’t good enough and in the end I only came away with 7th place, with Acquali taking the win today.
Hagen was beaten by Impey in the sprint of the pack, but it also cancelled out any time gaps, so Hagen ended up taking the overall win comfortably. So overall a great tour. 2 stage wins and the overall win for Hagen, and I took two Top 10s, which I didn’t though would happen. Now I’m off for one week and after that I’ll take part in GP d’Isbergues, which is my final race before the World Championships.
1 Giampiero Acquali Pinarello Racing Team 2h51'34
2 Joe Eldridge Team Type 1 s.t.
3 Kevin Neirynck Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner s.t.
4 Arnoud Van Groen Skil - Shimano s.t.
5 Paidi O'Brien An Post - M. Donnelly - Grant Thornton - Sean Kelly Team s.t. 7 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
Points 1 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road 92
2 Matti Breschel Team CSC 80
3 Bernardo Riccio Pinarello Racing Team 72
4 Daryl Impey SouthAustralia.com - AIS 61 5 Mark Cavendish Team High Road 51 11 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road 25
KoM
1 Kenny Van Hummel Rapha - Condor - Recycling.co.uk 14
2 Shawn Milne Team Type 1 12
3 Philipp Walsleben Tinkoff Credit Systems 12
4 Dimitri De Fauw Pezula Racing 10
5 Alexander Efimkin Barloworld 10 11 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road 6
The lack of screenshots recently is because of my computer's sudden need of excessive crashing whenever having finished a race. Three times during Tour of Britain I had to write off the results from the results screen and it's quite a pain to do.
Of course it happened again with GP d'Isbergues, so that update will be without pictures aswell. This might stall the story a bit again as I simply can't live with that. I think I'll have to do some serious formatting to solve this, as my computer is, well, pretty rammed-up at this point. I guess it has something to do with the fact that is is about 6 years old.
GP d’Isbergues – Pas de Calais Race of Form: 67 Pts – with 18 days until Lombardia
Last season when racing this particular race I was in just about top form. I think I finished around 20th place, but I remember that a big group of breakaway riders were let go on that day and that I won the sprint of the pack. I really like this race and they sure haven’t seen the last of me here, but having said that, I don’t count on any big results coming in today. I mean I’m much stronger than when I took off on the prologue in Tour of Britain but still not strong enough to challenge the in-form riders in this race.
Again this year a big group of riders got away, but this time around it looked as though the pack had it all under control. With some 30 kilometres to go, still trailing the breakaway, Hagen took off alongside Demaret (CSC) and Kangert (GLS). They are all strong hilly riders which gave them a significant advantage against the peloton in the bumpy finale. There were just one problem, Jörg Lehmann and two Lanbouwkredit riders from the early break had hardly been working all day and with about 20 kilometres to go those three broke clear of the break, in which we had Cornu by the way.
Hagen’s group was going to stay clear but it didn’t look as though they would catch Lehmann who had gone solo as they hit the home stretch. But using his incredible finiseur skills, Hagen managed to pass Lehmann in the final couple of hundred metres to take victory ahead of Demaret in 2nd and Lehmann in 3rd, as he just managed to hold off Kangert.
I rolled in with the pack as I tried to tag along in the sprint. It didn’t really work, but I’m starting to get to a level where I can take part in mass sprints again.
Next on the agenda is the World Championships. Since the route in Slovenia was unveiled last year I said I wouldn’t target these World Championships and I stand by that. The route isn’t hard enough and of course I’m too far off my peak to battle with the best here. Instead I’ll be helping Matti Breschel after he helped me take a silver medal last year.
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road 4h58’55
2 Jean-Eudes Demaret Team CSC s.t.
3 Jörg Lehmann Cycle Collstrop s.t.
4 Tanel Kangert Team GLS s.t.
5 Ed Clancy Lanbouwkredit – Tönissteiner + 45
6 Jesús Herrada Lanbouwkredit – Tönissteiner s.t.
7 Marco Marcato Cycle Collstrop + 1’26
8 Maxime Bouet Mitsubishi – Jartazi – Protech s.t.
9 Jimmy Engoulvent Mitsubishi – Jartazi – Protech s.t.
10 Janek Tombak Mitsubishi – Jartazi – Protech s.t. 26 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
2010 World Championships in Koper Race of Form: 72 Pts – with 11 days until Lombardia
So we’re in Slovenia this year. A bit unconventional place to have the World Championships if you ask me, but if that’s the will of UCI, I will obey. Only interesting thing for me is of course the road race.
The time trial was this year won by Russia’s Mikhail Ignatiev ahead of Leif Hoste and Lars Boom. Very surprisingly Cancellara finished way down in 16th, more than three and half minutes back. Best High Road rider was Bert Grabsch in 15th.
1 Mikhail Ignatiev Russia 59'23
2 Leif Hoste Belgium + 9
3 Lars Boom Holland + 19
4 Dimitri Champion France + 36
5 Dmytro Grabovskyy Ukraine + 54
6 Beñat Intxausti Spain + 1'15
7 Taylor Phinney USA + 1'24
8 Stijn Devolder Belgium + 1'41
9 David Millar Great Britain + 2'02
10 Maxime Bouet France s.t.
Now to the important part, the World Championships Road Race is upon us again, and this is my third time riding it. I can never get enough of it and I simply do not understand those riders who decides to skip the Worlds because they have had a tough season. This is the race I get up early and practice for. Well I haven’t been training towards it this year, but when the race hopefully will be held in Valkenburg next year, I will be there to hopefully take the Gold Medal and Rainbow Colours.
7 laps with only a couple of very small hills on each lap.
Not this year though. We agreed in the team that this was Matti’s year. He showed in Tour of Britain that he is in great form and I think he can pull off a great result today.
Back in the Danish National outfit – I never get tired of this.
The break about to enter the penultimate lap with 74 kilometres to go and an advantage of 2’48 on the pack.
Matthew Goss and Mark Cavendish were among the top-favourites for the Gold Medal and so Australia and Great Britain were both instrumental in the chase all day. Shortly into the penultimate lap, Allesandro Ballan, Leif Hoste and George Hincapie attacked, but only Ballan got a gap. It wouldn’t come to anything though as Ballan and the early break was caught simultaneously with just over 50 kilometres left to race. Near the end of the penultimate lap 7 riders crashed, Kirchen and Goss were the biggest names to go down. But in a fantastic effort the Aussies managed to tow Goss back to the front eventhough the pack was travelling at a tremendous speed.
We were all looking for a mass sprint before Philippe Gilbert with about 30 kilometres left attacked. Matti tried to follow but the Belgian was too strong as he rode into a solo lead, trailed by Matti, Cancellara, Bouet, Ignatiev and Boom.
Unfortuneately Matti had to let go with 7 kilometres to go, but at that point the Gold Medal was more or less out of range as Gilbert was just pouring it on up front.
Philippe Gilbert is the new World Champion!
Maxime Bouet was the surprise package as he took silver ahead of Ignatiev who took the Bronze, meaning he comes away with medals from both the ITT and the RR. Matti rolled in in 6th, while Hagen lead the pack in. I kept myself close to the front and in the end I managed to come away with 12th place, which I’m actually quite happy with.
Unfortuneately no medal for Denmark this time around. I’m really looking forward to see next year’s route unveiled though. If it suits me, I know what my target for next year will be. I don’t have any races the next few days as I get a chance to take a quick breather from my tight schedule. In four days I have to be ready again though as I will line up for Circuit Franco-Belge for the first time in my career.
1 Philippe Gilbert Belgium 6h20'45
2 Maxime Bouet France + 1'21
3 Mikhail Ignatiev Russia s.t.
4 Fabian Cancellara Switzerland s.t.
5 Lars Boom Holland s.t. 6 Matti Breschel Denmark + 2'19
7 Edvald Boasson Hagen Norway + 3'30
8 Matthew Goss Australia s.t.
9 Mark Cavendish Great Britain s.t.
10 Tom Boonen Belgium s.t.
11 Tyler Farrar USA s.t. 12 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Denmark s.t.
13 Bernhard Eisel Austria s.t.
14 Daniele Bennati Italy s.t.
15 Maxim Rudenko Ukraine s.t.
16 Daryl Impey Australia s.t.
17 Borut Božic Slovenia s.t.
18 Blazej Janiaczyk Poland s.t.
19 Andrei Klyuev Ukraine s.t.
20 Kevyn Ista Belgium s.t.
Stage 1 Race of Form: 76 Pts – with 7 days until Lombardia
First of all this race is only about honing my form and not gaining results. I don’t want to risk too much and crash so close to Lombardy. I feel like I’m close to the form where I can be up there, so I don’t want to try too much to gain results here. All stages are flat and will most likely come down to mass sprints, so I might test my sprinting legs on one or two of the stages.
And today was one of the days I did test me legs. I did lead-out Hagen though and I was quite surprised that I had the strenght to pull him all the way to the front of the pack to set him up. And he would have won aswell if we hadn’t failed to reel two breakaway riders. Gert Steurs and Andy Capelle just managed to hold off Hagen, with Steurs beating Capelle to the line. I finished 5th on the stage.
1 Geert Steurs Silence - Lotto 5h31'37
2 Andy Cappelle Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner s.t. 3 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road s.t.
4 Borut Božic Cycle Collstrop s.t. 5 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
Stage 2 Race of Form: 78 Pts – with 6 days until Lombardia
After yesterday’s stage we agreed that Hagen should be team leader since he grabbed 8 boni seconds on the line and is now sitting 3rd in the GC. I had a good ride yesterday which proved to myself that I’m where I want to be at this point. I hope my legs will be even better by the time I get to Italy, but as of now I’m content with the situation.
It was a hard day today with me, Wiggins, Cornu, Burghardt and Padrnos doing a whole lot of work at the front of the pack to bring it all together for a mad dash at the line. Speaking of Padrnos, this is actually his penultimate race of his career. At 40 years, he is looking to conclude his pro cycling career at Paris-Tours in three days. Anyway we managed to bring it all back together for the sprint, but Hagen in the white young riders jersey wasn’t in a very good position. Again today I was up there in the sprint as I tried to lead out Gerald this time.
He did a good job finishing 2nd to Borut Bozic of Cycle Collstrop, meaning he will move to 2nd in the GC aswell.
Bozic claims victory ahead of Hagen – a tough day comes to and end, but I had no problems keeping up.
1 Borut Bozic Cycle Collstrop 3h36’01 2 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road s.t.
3 Gerald Ciolek Team High Road s.t.
4 Sebastian Forke CCC – Polsat – Polkowice s.t. 5 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
Stage 3 Race of Form: 78 Pts – with 5 days until Lombardia
Another day, another mass sprint with Hagen in position to take over the lead. I’m sitting in the Top 10 of the GC because of my good positions on the first two stages, but if I want to stay there I need to take some boni seconds, so almost from the outset today I attacked, as there were only 15 kilometres to the first Points Sprint. And I took it! This means I will probably stay inside the Top 10 for the rest of this race.
Luckily we didn’t have to do a whole lot of work to reel in the break today, as other teams seemed more willing to do so. This resulted in an very easy ride for me and the team, of course not for Hagen and Ciolek who would have to burn some energy in the finale.
Surprisingly Ciolek was the strongest today, but still we couldn’t quite pick of the win as Tomas Vaitkus of Astana turned out just a fraction stronger than Ciolek who took 2nd. Hagen finished 4th, meaning he just failed in taking over the lead, but now we have two riders, very capable of winning this.
1 Tomas Vaitkus Team Astana 4h03'32 2 Gerald Ciolek Team High Road s.t.
3 Davide Viganò Quick•Step s.t. 4 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road s.t.
5 Sebastian Forke CCC - Polsat - Polkowice s.t. 64 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
GC
1 Geert Steurs Silence - Lotto 13h10'44
2 Tomas Vaitkus Team Astana + 6 3 Gerald Ciolek Team High Road s.t.
4 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road s.t.
5 Borut Božic Cycle Collstrop s.t.
6 Andy Cappelle Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner + 14
7 Davide Viganò Quick•Step + 18 8 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 20
9 Peter Möhlmann Topsport Vlaanderen + 22
10 Maxime Vantomme Team CSC s.t.
Stage 4 Race of Form: 78 Pts – with 4 days until Lombardia
Hagen and Ciolek would have to be at their sharpest to come away with the overall win. The two of them are tied in the GC at 6 seconds alongside Borut Bozic and Tomas Vaitkus and it will most likely be one of the 4 who come away with the overall win.
I was told to reserve my strenght troughout the early phases of the day as it would be my job to lead out Ciolek today, while Burghardt would be riding for Hagen in the finale. But everything just failed miserably. Ciolek couldn’t even pass me and Hagen was led-out in a very good position by Burghardt, meaning he had to come from way back which was impossible for him to do. Instead Vaitkus took his second win, with Bellis in 2nd and Bozic in 3rd, resulting in Ciolek and Hagen both missing out on the podium completely. Actually I was the team’s best finisher of the day in 4th place.
I’m off to France now as I will take part in my final race, Paris-Tours, before I head off to Italy for the last two races of the season.
1 Tomas Vaitkus Team Astana 3h23'53
2 Jonathan Bellis Team CSC s.t.
3 Borut Božic Cycle Collstrop s.t. 4 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
5 Jonathan Godfroid Willems Veranda's Continental Team s.t.
Points
1 Borut Božic Cycle Collstrop 65 2 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road 60
3 Tomas Vaitkus Team Astana 50 4 Gerald Ciolek Team High Road 45 5 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road 44
I’m writing from Italy right now, I’m in Lombardy right now as this is where Milano-Torino is going to take off from tomorrow.
Two days ago I was in France for Paris-Tours. It was my seconds time racing it and it’s a special race. This year was 104th edition of the race which really puts the race up there with the biggest classics on the whole Pro Calendar without a doubt. It was the last race of 40-year-old Pavel Padrnos, so he had a small reception for him afterwards, which was quite nice. I had to leave early though as I had a plane to catch for Italy along with Burghardt and Ulissi who also raced here. Speaking of Pavel he is really a guy I admire a great deal. He has more or less devoted his entire career to helping other people win and he was an integral part of the team helping Lance Armstrong win the Tour de France seven times. He has a few wins himself but not anything spectacular. His last individual win was 15 years ago when he won Course de la Paix. He is a great guy and he will be dearly missed here at High Road.
About the race the team worked incredibly hard to set up Hagen. Padrnos worked in the early part of the race but in the finale only me and Burghardt was left to keep the pace high in the pack. Me and Burghardt managed to bring everything back together for a mass sprint in which Lucas Haedo surprisingly prevailed ahead of Ventoso and Hagen. So at least we got a man on the podium.
Tomorrow I will line up in Novate Milanese, just outside of Milano, to try and defend my win from last season in Milano-Torino.
It’s been a long time since I was team captain last time, in fact I simply can’t remember the last time I was team leader at a race. Actually I don’t think I have been that all season long, not even in the Ardennes, where Kirchen was skipper.
Not this time. I’m wearing number one today. Not only because I’m Team Captain, but because I won here last season, which I remember very clearly. It is one of the biggest win of my short career no doubt.
Like last year we tried to put Ulissi in the break, but I guess he is proven too strong to let go after he won GP Plouay earlier this season, so he was chased down again. In the second wave of attacks we didn’t we had no riders, so we didn’t get anyone in the early break. It’s no disaster though as we won’t do a whole lot to win today. It’s all about tomorrow and today for me is mostly about proving to myself that I can be up there.
So a break of 10 riders got away and as we hit the decisive hill of the race with just under 30 kilometres to they still had in the vicinity of three minutes on the pack. Carrara (Quickstep) and Bosisio (Acuqa Sapone) jumped a bit earlier than everyone else from the pack, so when I made my move on the climb alongside Belloti and Longo Borghini, we had to play catch up for a few kilometres. But we made the junction.
The problem was that as we hit the descent with 20 kilometres left they still had a 1’44 advantage, which seemed difficult to bridge. Bosisio and Longo Borghini tried to attack as we hit a flat section in the descend but they didn’t get a gap. They tried again as we hit the final flat part of the race though and their attacks helped us bridge up with the riders in the front so we now had 15-man lead group. Longo Borghini kept on going though and with 3 kilometres to go he had 20 seconds on me and the 13 other chasers.
It seemed the chance was gone and that Longo Borghini was definitely going to win, but I gave it a go eventhough as I tried an attack. I didn’t get away but it got me in a good position for the sprint, which I started from way out. Carrara was in my wheel and since he is a good finisher aswell I thought he would pass me. As we raced through the final 90 degree-bend we could see Borghini right in front of us. I gave it everything trying to close him down.
For a moment I though I had him, but he was well-aware of where I was and he cooly celebrated a marginal win as I blasted right past just few metres after crossing the line.
It’s still a great result though and it’s an amazing feeling to be back on the podium in this race. I have confirmed now I’m ready for tomorrow.
246 kilometres and then my season will be wrapped up. But it’s not just any kilometres. It’s the kilometres of Giro di Lombardia. I have fought for quite some time now to be ready for this race, which according to me, is without comparison the most beautiful race in Pro Cycling. When I was at the hospital after my crash in Sachsen Tour I didn’t believed that I would line up in Varese for the 104th edition of my favourite race. Yesterday gave me confirmation that I can fight for wins again, but the field here is substantially stronger here. Valverde, Cunego, Vanendert, Schleck, Nocentini, Sammy Sanchez, Ricco, Di Luca and Ginanni. They are all here and I think that Valverde in particular wants to beat me after he couldn’t get past me in the sprint last year.
The race was still all together at the first climb on the programme, San Fedele d’Intelvi.
On the Premana climb a small group had gone clear, but other than nothing had happened.
Me at the Premana – still 130 kilometres left to race.
After the Premana something interesting happened as Franco Pellizotti and Frank Schleck attacked from the pack and quickly caught up with the break leaving everybody except one Bouygues rider. Maybe it’s Schleck’s strategy to go early or it just goes to show that Nocentini is CSC’s captain today.
The three leaders nearing Madonna del Ghisallo.
Before we hit Ghisallo Cunego, Ginanni, Ricco and Rodriquez attacked but only Cunego got a gap which he kept on the Ghisallo, where the all other break were reeled in, meaning the situation now was that we had Cunego out in front with the entire pack with all the favourites chasing. I figured that the decisive attacks would come at the Civiglio, so I didn’t bother to try and bridge up to Cunego. Which would be difficult to do alone aswell, as he had about one minute on the pack.
Me former teammate at Team GLS, Niki Østergaard, who I have earlier said is another great talent in races like this, was also racing here and after the Ghisallo he came up to be, to ask what the plans were. He told that his team captain Ivan Rovny, wasn’t looking good so he he had gotten a green light from the support car to do something, but he didn’t want to go himself.
Me and Niki at the front of the pack descending the Ghisallo.
As we hit the Civiglio, Cunego’s gap had increased to 1’32, so me and Niki decided to go.
Unfortuneately he couldn’t keep up for long, so I found myself going solo to try and catch Cunego. Behind me Valverde and Ginanni had a gap on the pack. They were about 40 seconds down the road, while Cunego was about 50 seconds up the road.
The last climb of the day, San Fermo, coming up.
I digged deep at the San Fermo, but Cunego was just so strong today and I didn’t gain on him. In fact he kept taking seconds eventhough how hard I was pedalling. Valverde and Ginanni couldn’t catch me and they lost time on me, which went to show how strong Cunego was. He still had a significant advantage over the top and no-one was going to catch Cunego today.
No-one was going to catch me either. I finished 2nd!
Crossing the line to conclude what has been a good season for me.
Valverde took 3rd, as he had to see me beat him here yet again. He and Ginnani got caught by a group of riders who managed to seperate themselves from the pack on the San Fermo. In that group Niki Østergaard was sitting and he ended up passing Ginanni in the closing metres to take 4th. A great result for him.
Just like yesterday I really enjoyed being on the podium here. Obviously not as much as last year, but close to as I have had to come a long way to get this 2nd place this time around. So I ended up with two wins this season, both of them from Giro d’Italia. Surely that’s not as good as last season, but the races I took part in this season have been substantially tougher and more prestigous, meaning the competition has been a whole lot stiffer. Still I feel like I have progressed a lot this season having completed my first Grand Tour, and I feel confident that I can take at least one podium in the Ardennes next season. I think it’s going to be a great year.
Now I’m heading home to relax. I had a very tough spring this season and because of my crash my autumn was incredibly tough aswell. In a few days the 2011 World Championships host will be announced aswell as the route for the RR, and I still have my fingers crossed for Valkenburg.
