@Kiserlovski01: thanks - was a great day taking time on what was not the hardest of stages.
@AbhishekLFC: Thanks, two very hard mountain stages left.
@Ripley: He is very strong if in prima shape – 11 grand tour stages is remarkable.
Location:
from Arrondissement Brugge, Provincie West-Vlaanderen
to Arrondissement Aalst, Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen
Description:
Very mixed stage, with some hills and some cobbled sections.
Flat enough to favor the sprinters that make it to the line in the first group.
It is partly clouded could be rain later, with winds between 36-45 km/h, at the last part of the stage mostly from behind.
Both Agnoli and Malacarne attempts to get away in different breakaway, but the pace in the peloton is awfully high, Tinkoff not letting anyone go.
Even though Daniil Fominykh was down yesterday riding with a slight injurie, he has fine legs and is at the right place at the right time. He end up in a breakaway, but behind them race leader Peter Sagan has also attacked getting closer.
The Sagan group are brought back. It turns out we got the break of the day: Mark McNally (Wanty), Jan Ghyselinck (Vérandas), Dries Van Gestel (Vlaanderen), Fumiyuki Beppu (Trek) and Daniil Fominykh
They build a lead of 5’36” up to the first sprint in Valkenberg, then the sprinter teams begin the chase, it is Quick Step, Tinkoff and LottoNL–Jumbo sharing the workload. 96 km to the line.
Passing over the hardest section with Parkenberg, Garaardsbergen/Denderoordstrat, and Oude Steenweg, the breakaway loses about a minute and also the peloton is split in two with 116 riders left in the peloton and 46 riders in the gruppetto. 74 km to the line.
When the peloton passes the 20 km banner, the distance is reduced to 1’13”, at this point there is 101 riders in the peloton but over the cobbled Bosberg a lot of rider have to fall back and only 29 riders manage to hang in.
Jan Ghyselinck, Dries Van Gestel and Daniil Fominykh gets rid of Mark McNally and Fumiyuki Beppu, but with about 10 km to go the breakaway is over.
From here it is full speed, no team has riders left to form trains and it is a 1v1 sprint between 25 riders. Moreno Hofland wins in Ninove in front of Maximiliano Richeze and Peter Sagan.
Evaluation:
Overall:
This was the 2nd win from 24 years old Dutch Moreno Hofland, after he also won a stage in Volta Ciclista a Catalunya back in March.
All the top teams got a rider in top 10. The stage played out as everyone would expect.
The positive surprise was Astana, Lars Boom getting 4th position not being a top 10 favorite.
Astana:
Very good stage from Boom, in a good position before the harder stages coming up.
A very nice and sunny day in the Alps with little wins, but what the rider is looking at is a beast. The first approx. 40 km are easy, but from there we got about 65 km of increasing difficulty with an averaging at 3.6%, the last 10 km 9.5% up to Colle dell’Agnello, 2,744 meters above sea level. That is just the beginning, we still got a hard summit finish at Risoul ski resort, right after the long downhill.
The breakaway contains some of the usual suspects, KoM holder Warren Barguil (Giant), double stage winner Jan Polanc (Lampre), Omar Fraile (Dimension Data) who has been in several other breakaways, Jérémy Roy (FDJ) who was in the break on the hard stage 14 to Corvara, Amets Txurruka (Orica) who was waving the Spanish flag on stage 13, Bob Jungels (Quick Step) and Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani).
BMC is leading the peloton, holding the break in line, at the 2nd intermediate sprint in Sampeyre the distance is only 2’05”, but the climb is getting harder and the pace in front increases, Barguil, Fraile, Jungels and Bongiorno is opening a gap to Polanc, Roy and Txurruka, the distance to the peloton is also growing now 3’41”, 19 km to the top of Colle dell’Agnello.
Astana sets Cataldo in front, trying to reduse the favorite group and close in on the breakaway. But the riders of front are very fast after 7 km, the breakaway has increased to 4’10”, never the less the favorite group are now down to 18 riders.
Cataldo up the pace some more, over the next 2 km the distance is reduced to 3’35”, group Polanc is just 18” after the riders in front. 1’04 behind the favorite group a peloton with Kelderman, Ten Dam and Trofimov a total of 123 riders, 10 km to the top.
2 km to the top Miguel López attacks opening a gap of 30”, but the effect is not what Astana wanted, Caruso with Porte on wheel close the gap, also drawing Urán, Landa and A. Yates, while Nibali seems to not have the legs today, sitting in the next group with Aru and Cataldo, just 1 km to the top.
Nibali just get contact before the downhill, the favorite group now just 10 riders. In front Barguil alone with 2’27” to Jungels and 3’08 to the favorites, all others from the breakaway has been caught.
The downhill is very fast, Caruso hammering down and group Nibali can’t hold wheel, until Nibali in the end, takes the lead himself, catching up near the bottom of the downhill.
Ahead is only Barguil, he got 1’24”.
11 riders start the final climb to Risoul in the favorite group: Aru, López, Nibali (Astana), Caruso, Porte (BMC), Urán (Cannondale) Jungels (Quick Step) A. Yates (Orica), Fraile (Dimension Data), Landa (Sky), Kreuziger (Tinkoff)
Behind them 2 riders at 2’56, Geniez (FDJ) and Betancur (Movistar).
Behind them the larger peloton 35 riders at 3’59” with S. Yates, Intxausti, Nordhaug, Kelderman.
Even further back at 5’10 Amador (Movistar) with teammate José Rojas
Right from the start López attack with Nibali clued, 12 km to the top.
But Porte have great legs today, he swiftly close the gap and counterattack. He is now close to Barguil
When Porte get contact with Barguil he slows down a bit and Nibali close up, also Landa is coming closer from behind. 5 km to the top.
Porte attacks again and again every time Nibali close up, in the end Nibali can’t no longer keep up and also Landa passes him.
Porte wins at Risoul, with 24” down to Landa and Nibali, A. Yates get 4th taking more the 3 minutes on López in the fight for the white jersey.
Evaluation:
Overall:
This was 31 years old Australian Richie Porte’s 2nd season win and also his 2nd stage win in the Giro, after he also won stage 6. at Rifugio Aremogna.
The positive surprise today was Sky’s Mikel Landa, considered a top 7-10 rider but taking 2nd with a very strong last climb. Advancing to 4th in the GC.
Also Adam Yates did great making it 4th, advancing from 10th to 7th in GC.
Top GC riders losing substantial time was, Gianluca Brambilla (7’25”) and Riccardo Zoidl (9’14”) but they are both still inside top 10.
Astana
A bad stage seen with Astana eyes, Nibali lost time to Porte, not much but this late a crucial blow to any dream of winning the Giro, and to make things worse López lost his white jersey.
Starting as 3rd rider today we got Markel Irizar (Trek) a decent time trialist especially on the shorter distance. He get a 20’27 time, that could easily provide him some time in the hot-seat.
Astana’s first rider starts as no.32/167, it is Andriy Grivko making it 2nd best, losing 22”, could turn out to be a good time from him.
103/167 riders have started without beating Irizar, but with Yoann Offredo (FDJ) it is over, he knock 8” of with the time, with new best 20’18”.
Starting as 117/167 is the first stage favorite Taylor Phinney (BMC), as expected he takes the hot-seat with a great 19’46”, 31” faster than Offredo
We got some good time from the other favorites, but they don’t beat Taylor Phinney:
Starting as 143/167 Niki Terpstra (Quick Step) 19” behind Phinney
Starting as 145/167 Michael Rogers (Tinkoff) 24” behind Phinney
Starting as 146/167 Tony Martin (Quick Step) 3” behind Phinney
Starting as 147/167 Jan Barta (Bora) 14” behind Phinney
Then starting as 153/167 it is Tom Dumoulin (Giant) setting new best 19'36”, 10” faster than Phinney.
After Dumoulin we got three interesting riders left.
Starting as 154/167 Geraint Thomas (Sky) 26” behind Dumoulin
Starting as 162/167 Lars Boom (Astana) 29” behind Dumoulin
Starting as 166/167 Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) 45” behind Dumoulin
The last rider is race leader Moreno Hofland (LottoNL) he loses 1’30” and Dumoulin thereby wins the ITT in Beveren, also becomming new race leader.
Evaluation:
This was the 1st. season win by the 25 years old Dutch Tom Dumoulin, his latest win was the ITT in last years Vuelta a Espana
The stage played out as most thought it would, all the favorites did more or less as expected, including Lars Boom
Stage
1
Tom Dumoulin
Team Giant - Alpecin
19'36
2
Taylor Phinney
BMC Racing Team
+ 10
3
Tony Martin
Etixx - Quick Step
+ 14
4
Jan Barta
Bora - Argon 18
+ 25
5
Geraint Thomas
Team Sky
+ 26
6
Lars Boom
Astana Pro Team
+ 29
7
Niki Terpstra
Etixx - Quick Step
+ 30
8
Michael Rogers
Tinkoff
+ 35
9
Gaëtan Bille
Wanty - Groupe Gobert
+ 37
10
Gianni Meersman
Etixx - Quick Step
+ 39
Spoiler
33
Andriy Grivko
Astana Pro Team
40
Dmitriy Gruzdev
Astana Pro Team
64
Daniil Fominykh
Astana Pro Team
88
Diego Rosa
Astana Pro Team
109
Valerio Agnoli
Astana Pro Team
131
Paolo Tiralongo
Astana Pro Team
147
Davide Malacarne
Astana Pro Team
GC
1
Tom Dumoulin
Team Giant - Alpecin
8h23'39
2
Tony Martin
Etixx - Quick Step
+ 14
3
Jan Barta
Bora - Argon 18
+ 25
4
Geraint Thomas
Team Sky
+ 26
5
Lars Boom
Astana Pro Team
+ 29
6
Niki Terpstra
Etixx - Quick Step
+ 30
7
Peter Sagan
Tinkoff
+ 31
8
Michael Rogers
Tinkoff
+ 35
9
Gaëtan Bille
Wanty - Groupe Gobert
+ 37
10
Gianni Meersman
Etixx - Quick Step
+ 39
Spoiler
46
Daniil Fominykh
Astana Pro Team
+03:45
64
Diego Rosa
Astana Pro Team
+05:11
85
Valerio Agnoli
Astana Pro Team
+06:23
102
Dmitriy Gruzdev
Astana Pro Team
+08:33
108
Davide Malacarne
Astana Pro Team
+09:25
132
Andriy Grivko
Astana Pro Team
+11:32
138
Paolo Tiralongo
Astana Pro Team
+12:19
Points
1
Ariel Maximiliano Richeze Araquuistain
Etixx - Quick Step
61
2
Moreno Hofland
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
55
3
Peter Sagan
Tinkoff
52
KoM
Team: Etixx - Quick Step
Young: Søren Kragh Andersen - Team Giant - Alpecin
27/5 Stage 20/21 Guillestre– Sant’Anna di Vinadio 131.2 km
A fine day in the French alps, sunny with no wind might even be a bit too hot.
The climb to Col de Vars starts out with the hardest part first, right from the start of the stage 13 riders, including some skilled climbers attack, they have already gained 3’52 after the first 8 km.
In the break we got amongst others stage favorite and KoM leader Warren Barguil (Giant), stage favorite Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL), Alexandre Geniez (FDJ), Mathias Frank (IAM), and Miguel López
But over the top the peloton have accelerated and the gap is down to 2’43
The pace is very high in the peloton on the climb to Col de la Bonette, thinning the pack dramatically.
With a little more than 6 km to the top, the breakaway is over. There is 56 riders left in what is now the first group.
Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL) and Miguel López attacks again, they make it to the top first but 6 riders are right behind them Porte, Caruso, Aru, Nibali , Adam and Simon Yates.
They got 31 seconds to the next group Urán, Landa, Pozzovivo, Kreuziger, Amador, Frank and Ten Dam
The first two group melt together, after that Nibali attacks on the downhill, realizing he has to force BMC to work harder, he build a lead of 50” on the downhill.
At the first kilometer of Colle della Lombarda Pozzovivo attacks closing up to Nibali, behind them the favorite group explode. With 12 km to the top the situation is:
At 25” A. Yates
At 35” Urán
At 44” Porte, S. Yates and Landa
At 1’26 López
At 1’39 Kelderman, Kreuziger, Amador, Frank and Ten Dam
At 2’44 Aru
10 km to the top: Nibali seems to be in difficulties now distances by Pozzovivo and also A. Yates, at the same time caught from behind by Urán and Landa.
Further back also Porte in trouble, 37” behind Nibali and a total of 1’04 behind Pozzovivo.
5 km to the top:
Pozzovivo and A. Yates now together in front.
At 1’34” now Urán and Landa
At 2’06” Nibali and Kreuziger
At 2’27” Ten Dam
At 2’46” Porte, Amador, Kelderman, López and Frank.
When Nibali passes over the top the first 4 groups are:
Pozzovivo, A. Yates still in front they have 7.5 km to the line.
At 1’54” Landa and Urán
At 2’39” Nibali, Amador, Kelderman, Ten Dam and Kreuziger
At 4’01” Porte, S Yates, López.
Leading most of the time, the final 100 meter are too much for Pozzovivo, Adam Yates wins the stage to Sant’Anna di Vinadio.
Vincenzo Nibali loses 2’32” and even though Richie Porte loses 5’25” he still leads the Giro.
Evaluation:
Overall:
This was the 1st season win by 23 years old English Adam Yates, his latest victory was Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian in August last season.
Today positive surprise was Domenico Pozzovivo, not even considered a top 10 favorite, he was very close to winning the stage.
The most negative result was Richie Porte and BMC in general, it seemed clear that the constant rivalry between Porte and Nibali has taken its toll on both riders.
Astana:
A very hard stage, Nibali did what he could to distance Porte, but it was not enough.
25/5-29/5 2016 Baloise Belgium Tour 2. HC
6/5-28/5 2016 Giro d'Italia
France
