The year where I finally set foot on a Ardennes Classic Podium, last year I felt like I lacked that final decisive strength to be up there with the best when hell broke loose on Keutenberg, on Le Muur du Huy and on Col de la Redoute. This year is going to be different. Eventhough I have some other dates crossed on my race calendar for 2010, the Ardennes is where I want to strike first. Unfortuneately with the reputation I have now built for myself, I will not be able to slip away unnoticed anymore, so I need to be in absolute peak condition here. But I will be just that.
Last year must have been my most successful so far if you look at what I won and not how many times. I “only” accumulated to wins last season, but both of those were stage wins in the Giro d’Italia, which is hardly a minor race by any means. Sure I took silver at the Worlds and won Tour of Lombardy the year before that, but the two wins in the Giro are just more special to me somehow. This year I might test my skills in the biggest of the bunch, the Tour de France, but it all depends on how I’m feeling after the spring. The World Championships route in Cagliari suits me very well this year, so it’s going to be a judgement call between Le Tour and Cagliari.
I was supposed to have started my season Down Under, but my form even after the training camp in Monaco was simply to poor for me to help the team in any way, so I will have to wait another year for me to make my debut there. Instead I will start my season on February 9 in GP Costa del Etruschi.
Our team has been strengthened a lot for this season. Especially three names come to mind. Thomas Dekker, Linus Gerdemann and Greg van Avermaet. All riders capable of winning big races in their respective terrains. If I am indeed riding Le Tour it will definitely be in support of Dekker and Gerdemann who will both be present there.
I like to start out in Italy as I don’t have to travel that far to get to the start of this race. Normally the profiles of the Italian one-day races suits me, but this is one isn’t perfect. It’s just too flat. I could do a reasonable result here if I was on-form, but I am not, so I’m not looking for individual glory today. Mark Cavendish is our captain today and I will be his lead-out man should it come down to a bunch sprint.
We managed to put Dominique Cornu in the break today just to keep the possibility of a breakaway win within our reach.
Meanwhile I was just having a laugh with my team-mates. It’s sometimes quite easy being a pro cyclist.
The break was reeled in with 30 kilometres left to race and the pack kept it all together until 5 kilometres from the finish, where Alex Pliuschin put in a powerful effort to break clear.
You can see our train right behind with Burgi, me and then Cav. Our sprint failed completely though as I would finish outside the Top 30 and Cav in something like 15th spot. Pliuschin somehow held the pack off and took an incredible win.
For the first time in my career I’m racing in Tour of California, which has grown into a pretty prestigious race attracting a lot of big names in the World of cycling, including me now also, if I should be a bit humble about my skills. This year’s race have a bit for everybody in the pack and eventhough my form is not top-notch I might be able to fight for the win on a few of the stages, but I’m not feeling confident about stage glory here.
Prologue
Starting out with a completely flat 3-kilometres time trial in Palo Alto I was never going to be looking good in the GC from the outset, and today I had to settle for 87th on the day, 18 seconds off the pace of the winner.
Getting ready for my first time trial of the 2010 Season.
It looked for a long time as home-favourite Jason Donald would claim the win after posting a superb of 5 minutes and 8 seconds to lighten up the home-crowd a bit.
My teammate Dominique Cornu was having none of it tough as he raced into a solid and ended up stage winner and first yellow jersey wearer of the Tour. Great start for the team, eventhough this means work tomorrow. Oh well.
Alberto Contador were also one of the big favourites today, but off form, the Spaniard could only manage 38th on the day.
1 Dominique Cornu Team High Road 5'04
2 Jason Donald Bissell Pro Cycling + 4
3 Christian Vandevelde Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
4 Frantisek Rabon Saunier Duval - Scott + 5
5 Taylor Phinney Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team + 6
6 Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner + 8
7 Vladimir Gusev Bouygues Télécom s.t.
8 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing s.t.
9 Hugo Sabido Bissell Pro Cycling s.t.
10 Andrea Collaviti Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light s.t. 11 Bradley Wiggins Team High Road s.t.
12 Michael Creed Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
13 Markel Irizar Team Astana + 9
14 Joost Posthuma Rabobank s.t.
15 Christopher Baldwin Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team s.t.
16 Nick Nuyens Team CSC s.t.
17 Yann Huguet Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
18 Oleg Chuzhda Tecos de la Universidad Autonóma de Guadalajara s.t.
19 Manuel Lloret Rock Racing s.t.
20 Edwin Orozco BMC Racing Team + 10
21 Rigoberto Urán Team Astana s.t.
22 Andy Schleck Team CSC s.t.
23 Alexander Khatuntsev Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team s.t.
24 Kristof Vandewalle Team CSC + 11
25 Iván Parra Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light s.t.
26 Thomas Frei Team Astana s.t. 27 Marcel Sieberg Team High Road s.t.
28 Sergei Koudentsov Kelly Benefit Strategies - Medifast s.t.
29 Andriy Grivko Quick•Step s.t.
30 Ugo Bonfà Saunier Duval - Scott s.t. 87 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 18
Stage 1
Today’s stage features a small punchy hill with some kilometers from the finish which could cause some problems for some. It will be welcomed by me though.
A 12-man break formed today in which we put my new Danish colleague, Martin Mortensen.
They were being chased the whole time though and we kind of shot ourselves in the foot this way as this meant Cornu wouldn’t have an easy day in the pack.
The break was reeled in with 80 kilometres left though, but after that Ricco, Grivko and Colby went on the attack and it looked good for the three them eventhough the American was soon dropped. Grivko and Ricco though had a solid advantage of almost three minutes as they entered the hill.
This forced us forward and I put in a massive relay from the bottom to the top which cut the deficit down to just one minute as we crossed the top. From there on in I fell back and let the other teams close down the rest of the gap as I wanted to prepare for the sprint. The pack was down to 90 riders so my chances were slightly heightened.
I gave it a solid effort and ended up fourth on the day but no-one could match Tyler Farrar who took a convincing victory here.
1 Tyler Farrar Crédit Agricole 3h46'53
2 Yann Huguet Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
3 Jonathan Bellis Team CSC s.t. 4 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
5 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing s.t.
6 Mark Renshaw Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
7 Krzysztof Szczawinski Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team s.t.
8 Kenny De Ketele Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
9 Giuseppe Palumbo BMC Racing Team s.t.
10 Jesse Anthony Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
11 Mathieu Sprick Bouygues Télécom s.t.
12 Vladimir Gusev Bouygues Télécom s.t.
13 Fernando Torres Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
14 Kyle Gritters Health Net presented by Maxxis s.t.
15 Caleb Manion BMC Racing Team s.t.
16 Julian Dean Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team s.t.
17 Kristof Vandewalle Team CSC s.t.
18 Eros Capecchi Saunier Duval - Scott s.t. 19 Marcel Sieberg Team High Road s.t.
20 Taylor Tolleson Bouygues Télécom s.t.
GC
1 Tyler Farrar Crédit Agricole 3h51'46
2 Yann Huguet Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 8 3 Dominique Cornu Team High Road + 11
4 Jason Donald Bissell Pro Cycling + 15
5 Christian Vandevelde Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t. 6 Marcel Sieberg Team High Road + 16
7 Frantisek Rabon Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
8 Andriy Grivko Quick•Step s.t.
9 Taylor Phinney Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team + 17
10 Jonathan Bellis Team CSC + 18
11 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing + 19
12 Vladimir Gusev Bouygues Télécom s.t.
13 Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner s.t.
14 Michael Creed Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
15 Andrea Collaviti Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light s.t.
16 Oleg Chuzhda Tecos de la Universidad Autonóma de Guadalajara + 20
17 Joost Posthuma Rabobank s.t.
18 Manuel Lloret Rock Racing s.t.
19 Nick Nuyens Team CSC s.t.
20 Edwin Orozco BMC Racing Team + 21 62 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 29
Cornu is very strong and with another time trial coming up he could be THE favourite to take the win in this race. But it all depends on the mountain stage tomorrow. It’s not a tough mountain stage, but it could still decimate the peloton and shake up the Top 10 a bit. The thing is, we’re not confident that Cornu will get over the climbs tomorrow, so we don’t know if we want to invest too much interest into protecting his 3rd place in the GC, which means we might want to go on the attack tomorrow, and that would be either me or Løvkvist doing that.
Anyway that’s not until tomorrow, today’s just a plain flat stage which may come down to a mass sprint for either me or Alex, to contest. Eros Capecchi of Saunier Duval went on an epic solo ride today, but of course it wasn’t going to last.
Alex got himself into a great position for the sprint. Here he is tugged in in 3rd place behind two Slipstream riders, with the one ahead of him being Mark Renshaw.
Alex is not quite on-form just now so he couldn’t hold the wheel of Renshaw, who took a convincing win today. Alex did manage to hold on for 4th spot on the stage, while I just crammed myself into the Top 10 taking 9th on the day.
1 Mark Renshaw Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O 4h55'49
2 Kenny De Ketele Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
3 Taylor Tolleson Bouygues Télécom s.t.
4 Jonathan Bellis Team CSC s.t.
5 Alex Rasmussen Team High Road s.t.
6 Tyler Farrar Crédit Agricole s.t.
7 Kyle Gritters Health Net presented by Maxxis s.t.
8 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing s.t. 9 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
10 Davide Bonuccelli Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team s.t.
GC
1 Tyler Farrar Crédit Agricole 8h47'29
2 Mark Renshaw Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 11
3 Yann Huguet Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 14
4 Kenny De Ketele Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 17
5 Dominique Cornu Team High Road s.t.
6 Jonathan Bellis Team CSC + 20
7 Taylor Tolleson Bouygues Télécom s.t.
8 Jason Donald Bissell Pro Cycling + 21
9 Marcel Sieberg Team High Road + 22
10 Andriy Grivko Quick•Step s.t. 56 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 35
Stage 4
One of the most decisive stages is upon us, Cornu’s chance of overall glory will be decided today, but we will be playing on more cards. Either we will try and put me or Thomas in the break to try and win the race that way. I’m still far from my peak but to help the team I’d do anything of course and I wouldn’t let a potential chance of a victory go begging either, so off I went in the first break of the day.
Unfortuneately it was reeled back in, but instead Thomas took off and found himself in a strong 14-man group.
It looked good as they had a lead of about 4 minutes as they hit the final climb. Meanwhile a trio with Grivko, Lloret and Ricco had also gone clear and was chasing the leading group.
At the top of the climb three riders had gone clear of the leaders – Thomas, Nocentini and Rodriquez.
I was just keeping my self near the front back in the pack to be able to do something if there was going to be a sprint, but the trio in front had a very solid gap at this point.
Cornu was also still in there and should it all come back together he will be the no. 1 favourite for the overall win now. But should Løvkvist’s group stay clear he would be the no. 1 favourite. A genuine win/win situation this one.
They would stay clear and surely Nocentini would claim the win today – now it’s just about for Thomas to maintain the gap. But the pack was closing at this point.
Victory for CSC and Nocentini and it seems like there’s a clear gap aswell!
But no, somehow the organizers didn’t see any gaps at all and the pack registered the same time as Nocentini. Of course this just plays the overall win into the hands of Cornu, but we do feel a bit robbed here. I rolled in with pack, no big sweat today for me. Tomorrow I might try and do something in the finish which suits me quite well.
1 Rinaldo Nocentini Team CSC 3h34'56
2 Jackson Rodríguez Jelly Belly Cycling Team s.t.
3 Thomas Lövkvist Team High Road s.t.
4 Dominique Rollin Health Net presented by Maxxis s.t.
5 Jürgen Van de Walle Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light s.t.
6 Leonardo Bertagnolli Bouygues Télécom s.t.
7 Taylor Tolleson Bouygues Télécom s.t.
8 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing s.t.
9 Juan Antonio Flecha Rabobank s.t.
10 Jonathan Bellis Team CSC s.t.
11 Silvère Ackermann Bissell Pro Cycling s.t.
12 Kenny De Ketele Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
13 William Bonnet Crédit Agricole s.t.
14 Graham Howard Bissell Pro Cycling s.t.
15 Tyler Farrar Crédit Agricole s.t.
16 Julen Zubero Kelly Benefit Strategies - Medifast s.t.
17 Karl Menzies Bouygues Télécom s.t.
18 Niki Østergaard Team Astana s.t.
19 Alejandro Valverde Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
20 Tom Criel Rock Racing s.t. 95 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
GC
1 Tyler Farrar Crédit Agricole 12h22'25
2 Mark Renshaw Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 11
3 Yann Huguet Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 14
4 Rinaldo Nocentini Team CSC + 16
5 Kenny De Ketele Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 17
6 Dominique Cornu Team High Road s.t.
7 Taylor Tolleson Bouygues Télécom + 20
8 Jonathan Bellis Team CSC s.t.
9 Jason Donald Bissell Pro Cycling + 21
10 Thomas Lövkvist Team High Road + 22
11 Andriy Grivko Quick•Step s.t.
12 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing + 23
13 Taylor Phinney Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team s.t.
14 Vladimir Gusev Bouygues Télécom + 25
15 Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner s.t.
16 Andrea Collaviti Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light s.t.
17 Oleg Chuzhda Tecos de la Universidad Autonóma de Guadalajara + 26
18 Nick Nuyens Team CSC s.t.
19 Joost Posthuma Rabobank s.t.
20 Manuel Lloret Rock Racing s.t. 52 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 35
I must say I really love racing here in California, it really has been perfect preparation for what’s coming up in March. Perfect weather, great racing and the organization has been super aswell, nothing to complain about really. I don’t know why I haven’t raced here earlier it really is a perfect tune-up race especially for a rider like and I think I will be in great form for Paris-Nice next month, where I will be hoping to take a stage win. I might try and do the same thing here today as the profile fits me quite well, but let’s see how it plays out.
Today we were interested in keeping the race easy so Cornu will be fit for tomorrow’s time trial, so we didn’t contribute to the breakaway today, instead we focused on bringing things together to set it up for me for the finale, if I had anything left in my legs at that point of course. Bram Tankink who’s on the same time as me in the GC, was one of the breakaway riders today and with 50 kilometres to he took off in a solo attempt.
The Dutchman kept the pace high and he still had 1’30 with less than 10 kilometres to go. Prior to this I had to do some serious relaying in the pack to close down the gap, so I was riding on a empty tank coming into the finale. Instead Cornu launched an attack with 5 kilometres to go.
He would never really get clear of the pack eventhough he managed to gain a nice 4th place from his effort. No-one could catch Tankink however who took victory by 30 seconds and therefor he is the new rider in yellow.
It doesn’t really make Cornu’s chances of overall victory smaller though as Tankink isn’t exactly a time trial specialist. I have been training a lot with Dominique prior to this race and I know he is really strong and I’m confident he can win this race. Tomorrow we will find out.
1 Bram Tankink Rabobank 4h36'49
2 Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott + 30
3 Rob Ruijgh Team Astana s.t.
4 Kenny De Ketele Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
5 Dominique Cornu Team High Road s.t.
6 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing s.t.
7 Jacopo Guarnieri Kelly Benefit Strategies - Medifast s.t.
8 Juan Pablo Magallanes Tecos de la Universidad Autonóma de Guadalajara s.t.
9 Alejandro Valverde Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
10 Alexander Khatuntsev Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team s.t. 52 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
GC
1 Bram Tankink Rabobank 16h59'23
2 Tyler Farrar Crédit Agricole + 21
3 Mark Renshaw Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 32
4 Yann Huguet Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 35
5 Rinaldo Nocentini Team CSC + 37
6 Kenny De Ketele Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 38
7 Dominique Cornu Team High Road s.t.
8 Jonathan Bellis Team CSC + 41
9 Taylor Tolleson Bouygues Télécom s.t.
10 Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott + 42
11 Jason Donald Bissell Pro Cycling s.t.
12 Rob Ruijgh Team Astana + 43
13 Andriy Grivko Quick•Step s.t.
14 Thomas Lövkvist Team High Road s.t.
15 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing + 44
16 Taylor Phinney Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team s.t.
17 Vladimir Gusev Bouygues Télécom + 46
18 Andrea Collaviti Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light s.t.
19 Nick Nuyens Team CSC + 47
20 Manuel Lloret Rock Racing s.t. 47 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 56
Tour of California – Stage 6
It’s the day of the traditional Solvang ITT. 25 kilometres of flat terrain fits Cornu perfectly and he has a great chance of taking over the race lead. The riders ahead of him in the GC shouldn’t present any big threat, but some of the riders behind him like Phinney and Donald could mess up our plans. For me this is all about just rolling through, maybe gain some strength for tomorrow where there are also some hills in the finale for me to try something. It’s still early in the season but I am already hungry after a victory.
Brad put in a good ride today and he was in the lead for some time.
Markus Fothen beat him significantly on the first check but as he crossed the finish line he had lost out by 1 second.
Contador clearly hasn’t hit his Tour form just yet as he would finish 23rd today.
78th for me today. I beat almost half of the pack!
Cornu’s first GC opponent Phinney put in a strong ride as he took the lead and beat Brad by 10 seconds, the pressure is on Cornu and Donald now.
Jason Donald couldn’t match the time of his young countryman though as he went 8 seconds slower. Now it’s down to a fight between Phinney and Cornu.
But when Dominique hit the road there was never any doubt, he took his second stage win as he beat Phinney by 6 seconds and reclaimed the leaders’ jersey with just two stage to go now.
Tankink only had one day in the yellow jersey as he would drop to 29th place in the GC after today.
I was of course thrilled with Cornu regaining the lead of the race, but this may cancel out my chances of being allowed to go for the win tomorrow, but first of all I’m glad we have the leaders’ jersey in the team again. Also somehow I managed to move up three places in the GC as I’m now sitting in 44th place, how that has happened I will never know.
1 Dominique Cornu Team High Road 33'55
2 Taylor Phinney Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team + 6
3 Jason Donald Bissell Pro Cycling + 14
4 Joost Posthuma Rabobank + 15
5 Bradley Wiggins Team High Road + 16
6 Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner + 17
7 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing s.t.
8 Kristof Vandewalle Team CSC + 33
9 Alexander Khatuntsev Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team s.t.
10 Christian Vandevelde Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 35
11 Markel Irizar Team Astana + 36
12 Vladimir Gusev Bouygues Télécom + 39
13 Rob Ruijgh Team Astana + 40
14 Marcel Sieberg Team High Road + 43
15 Andriy Grivko Quick•Step s.t.
16 Frantisek Rabon Saunier Duval - Scott + 46
17 Edwin Orozco BMC Racing Team + 48
18 Iván Parra Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light s.t.
19 Manuel Lloret Rock Racing s.t.
20 Chris Froome Rock Racing + 50 78 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 1'44
GC
1 Dominique Cornu Team High Road 17h33'56
2 Taylor Phinney Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team + 12
3 Jason Donald Bissell Pro Cycling + 18
4 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing + 23
5 Joost Posthuma Rabobank + 24
6 Alexander Khatuntsev Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team + 43
7 Kristof Vandewalle Team CSC + 44
8 Rob Ruijgh Team Astana + 45
9 Vladimir Gusev Bouygues Télécom + 47
10 Andriy Grivko Quick•Step + 48
11 Tyler Farrar Crédit Agricole + 52
12 Manuel Lloret Rock Racing + 57
13 Iván Parra Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light + 59
14 Mark Renshaw Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 1'01
15 Thomas Lövkvist Team High Road + 1'02
16 Chris Froome Rock Racing s.t.
17 Rigoberto Urán Team Astana + 1'06
18 Kenny De Ketele Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 1'07
19 Silvère Ackermann Bissell Pro Cycling + 1'10
20 John Devine Quick•Step s.t. 44 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 2'02
It’s the penultimate day here in California and we’re edging ever so close to the overall win now, but these last two stages both have their difficulties to deal with before Cornu can be crowned winner of this race. I have been told that I will most likely not receive the opportunity of riding my own chance these last two days, simply because it’s so important to get this overall win. It depends on how the stage today shapes up.
And it turned out quite tough actually with loads of riders going on the break today and a lot of them quite dangerous to the GC aswell, so we had to do a lot of towing the pack today, including myself.
By the end of the day we did manage to pull everybody back in, but I didn’t have any strength left for the sprint, so I could sit back and “enjoy” the finale.
Montaguti was set up more or less perfectly for the sprint, it looked as though Valverde was the only one who could challenge the Italian.
But out of nowhere from way back in the pack, Jonathan Bellis shot forward and took an amazing win!
So with just one stage remaining we still have Cornu in the driver’s seat and I’m quite confident we will take this one, as we have showed that we have one of the strongest team in this tour, we should be able to keep it all together.
1 Jonathan Bellis Team CSC 4h14'48
2 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing s.t.
3 Alejandro Valverde Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
4 Taylor Tolleson Bouygues Télécom s.t.
5 Tyler Farrar Crédit Agricole s.t.
6 Dominique Cornu Team High Road s.t.
7 Kenny De Ketele Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
8 Giuseppe Palumbo BMC Racing Team s.t.
9 Claudio Corioni Crédit Agricole s.t.
10 Mark Renshaw Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
63 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
GC
1 Dominique Cornu Team High Road 21h48'44
2 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing + 11
3 Taylor Phinney Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team + 12
4 Jason Donald Bissell Pro Cycling + 18
5 Joost Posthuma Rabobank + 24
6 Alexander Khatuntsev Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team + 43
7 Kristof Vandewalle Team CSC + 44
8 Rob Ruijgh Team Astana + 45
9 Vladimir Gusev Bouygues Télécom + 47
10 Andriy Grivko Quick•Step + 48
40 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 2'02
Stage 7
Only a few hundred kilometers stand between Cornu and the overall triumph in this race. There’s a quite big climb on the programme today, but with the form Cornu has displayed so far combined with the fact that the climb is located quite far from the finish in Pasadena, I think it will be no problem at all.
A lot of strong riders went in the break today, including my good friend from the GLS days, Niki Østergaard who ended up going solo up the last bit of the climb. Niki wasn’t that far back in the GC and knowing just how strong he is, I took the front in the peloton to minimize the deficit.
My former GLS teammate, Niki Østergaard, going for the stage win.
Upping the pace to reel everyone back in.
Disaster struck in the descent however as the pack split up with Cornu being trapped in the wrong end of it! He had a lot of teammates with him though, and as I was the only High Road rider remaining in the front group I was told to stay put.
Even with almost 50 kilometres to the finish and with a hard fighting High Road team, there was no way Cornu was coming back in this one. It was quite clear he had lost Tour of California because of his bad positioning. Surprisingly I wasn’t called back to help him out, but I was told to go all-in in the sprint to at least gain a stage win as a consolation. I was in a quite good position as it kicked off on the home stretch.
Szczawinski of Toyota took the lead before I made my move and passed CSC’s Langeveld and BMC’s Manion, and raced my way into the lead!
But my big rival Valverde was still in my wheel and he was edging closer and closer and closer, in the last 50 metres of could sense he was right next to me, but I just kept pedaling. My power was running out though, and I was going to be difficult to hold him behind me.
And I did have to settle for 2nd place, so frustrating! It must have been more frustrating for Cornu though who came in more than 2 minutes back. Not a good day for us. I lost the stage win on the line and Cornu lost the overall victory.
1 Alejandro Valverde Saunier Duval - Scott 3h43'28 2 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
3 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing s.t.
4 Caleb Manion BMC Racing Team s.t.
5 Krzysztof Szczawinski Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team s.t.
6 Sebastian Langeveld Team CSC s.t.
7 Jelle Vanendert Quick•Step s.t.
8 Dominique Rollin Health Net presented by Maxxis s.t.
9 Jarno Van Guyse Health Net presented by Maxxis s.t.
10 Tom Criel Rock Racing s.t.
GC
1 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing 25h32'15
2 Jason Donald Bissell Pro Cycling + 15
3 Joost Posthuma Rabobank + 21
4 Kristof Vandewalle Team CSC + 41
5 Rob Ruijgh Team Astana + 42
6 Vladimir Gusev Bouygues Télécom + 44
7 Andriy Grivko Quick•Step + 45
8 Tyler Farrar Crédit Agricole + 49
9 Manuel Lloret Rock Racing + 54
10 Iván Parra Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light + 56
11 Mark Renshaw Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 58
12 Chris Froome Rock Racing + 59
13 Kenny De Ketele Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 1'00
14 Rigoberto Urán Team Astana + 1'03
15 Taylor Tolleson Bouygues Télécom + 1'06
16 Silvère Ackermann Bissell Pro Cycling + 1'07
17 John Devine Quick•Step s.t.
18 Nick Nuyens Team CSC + 1'10
19 Damien Gaudin Rabobank + 1'18
20 Yann Huguet Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 1'23 30 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 1'47
37 Dominique Cornu Team High Road + 2'20
Points
1 Matteo Montaguti Rock Racing 93
2 Dominique Cornu Team High Road 72
3 Jonathan Bellis Team CSC 70
4 Kenny De Ketele Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O 59
5 Tyler Farrar Crédit Agricole 59
6 Alejandro Valverde Saunier Duval - Scott 48 7 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road 41
8 Taylor Tolleson Bouygues Télécom 41
9 Mark Renshaw Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O 41
10 Jason Donald Bissell Pro Cycling 36
KoM
1 Oleg Chuzhda Tecos de la Universidad Autonóma de Guadalajara 62
2 Gabriele Tassinari Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team 60
3 Roman Kilun Gerolsteiner 48
4 Anthony Colby Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light 48
5 Ruslan Pidgornyy Jelly Belly Cycling Team 40
6 Niki Østergaard Team Astana 40
7 Frantisek Rabon Saunier Duval - Scott 28
8 Daniele Righi Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light 28
9 Rinaldo Nocentini Team CSC 18
10 Craig Lewis Team High Road 18
It was possible to come across a bit of disappointment following the last stage of this year’s Tour of California. Historically a race we have had difficulties in, and this year we came so close to finally claiming a good result and then we lose it all again on the last stage. I know this feeling though, it happened a few times for me in 2008 when I was racing for GLS, but that’s part of cycling, so you have to deal with it I guess.
So far this season it hasn’t been a lot about me, but that’s about to change from now on. In a few days I will race GP di Lugano, which is a one-day race almost tailor made for me, and I simply want to win it, and with my form I should be able to do so. There will be some stiff competition though, but that should just make it more interesting, and I have proved on several occasions that I can beat the best in business, so I’m not worried about the competition.
After Lugano my next race will be Paris-Nice, where my goal is to finish in the Top 10. Løvkvist, who is the defending champion, will of course also be here, but I’m a bit unsure about his current form, as he didn’t perform to his standard in California. But he is a strong guy, so he might surprise everybody again this year. Let’s see. If he can’t perform then I’ll be right in his wake to take over and I’m actually feeling quite confident as the route suits me very well this year.
I want to be one of the best 10 riders when we pass Negresco.
The goal is clear today, I want to take my first win of the 2011 Season and this should be a race for me to do just that. I have raced here before with Top 10 results, but back then I wasn’t the captain like I am today, so today I have total freedom to go for it whenever I feel like. The action will no doubt kick-off at the last hill on the day which is located close enough to the finish to settle who the win is going to be fought out against.
Long story short, breaks went, break got caught. A few favourites attack a bit before the climb, only to be reeled in again quite quickly having completely shattered their chances of the win today. One of these was Cunego. A few strong riders were already in the lead before I made my move right from the bottom of the last climb.
Attacking away from the pack!
Matteo Carrara was in a solo lead before I caught up with him. He then attacked again and got rid of me and I thought for a minute that he was gone. But then Jelle Vanendert came from behind and helped me close the gap. Two more riders then caught up in the descent, Alex Pliuschin and Peter Velits. We had a lead of about one and half minute as we closed in on the finish.
I was confident I was going to be these guys in the sprint so I just waited until the home stretch.
Pliuschin had the front as the sprint started, in his wheel was Carrara, who I was locked in on. I felt really strong and had no problems keeping Carrara’s wheel.
When I made my move it was clear that I was the fastest today, but!
…I was boxed-in between Pliuschin and Carrara and I wasn’t going to get through. Carrara faded in the last metres as Pliuschin took the win and I had to settle for 3rd. It was nice to be on the podium though, but I felt like I should have been two steps higher today.
1 Alexandre Pliuschin LPR Brakes 3h55'43
2 Matteo Carrara Liquigas s.t. 3 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
4 Peter Velits Team Milram s.t.
5 Jelle Vanendert Quick•Step s.t.
6 Leonardo Duque Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone + 1'26
7 Ángel Vicioso Team Milram s.t.
8 Pierrick Fédrigo Crédit Agricole s.t.
9 Roberto Traficante Crédit Agricole s.t.
10 Luca Mazzanti Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone s.t.
11 Danilo Di Luca LPR Brakes s.t.
12 Thor Hushovd Gerolsteiner s.t.
13 Maciej Bodnar Liquigas s.t.
14 Heinrich Haussler Gerolsteiner s.t.
15 Damiano Cunego Barloworld s.t.
16 Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
17 Eros Capecchi Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
18 Manuele Mori Barloworld s.t.
19 Mikhail Ignatiev LPR Brakes s.t.
20 Damien Monier Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone s.t.
My second appearance in the ”Race to the Sun” is here and it’s kind of cool be one of the more seasoned guys starting in Evry today, you are actually allowed to pull rookie jokes on the neo-pros and I had a good time doing that. Also I’m not too stressed about today’s stage, as it’s a time trial and eventhough I’m going for a Top 10 GC finish I’m not too worried about the time I will unevitably loose here. As said earlier Thomas Løvkvist is our captain for this race, but again I’m unsure where he is form-wise and I honestly don’t believe he is in the same physical condition as he was a year ago. He’s determination back then was unmistakable, but this year he doesn’t seem as confident. I still hope he can take back-to-backs here though. After all he was a surprise winner last season aswell, so why not?
Prologue
Thomas didn’t live up to the expectations as I feared. He only managed to come away with 46th place here, 26 seconds slower than the winner today. Overall we had a pretty poor day with Cornu doing our best result as he finished 15th on the prologue. I only lost 9 seconds on Thomas today as I took a respectable 77th place. I’m quite surprised really that I finished inside the Top 100 this comfortably. My form is apparently really good, so I should stand a nice chance of a stage win in this race as most of the stages are pretty hard.
Kilian Patour was today’s surprise winner to the delight of the home-crowd of course. He might hold onto the jersey tomorrow, but beyond that is very questionable as Stage 2 features some rough terrain already. Can’t wait.
1 Kilian Patour AG2R - La Mondiale 7'50
2 José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne + 1
3 Benoit Vaugrenard Agritubel + 2
4 Lars Boom Française des Jeux + 5
5 Vladimir Gusev Bouygues Télécom + 6
6 Joost Posthuma Rabobank + 9
7 Andreas Klöden Quick•Step + 10
8 Christian Müller Silence - Lotto s.t.
9 Damien Monier Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone + 12
10 Peter Velits Team Milram s.t.
11 Stijn Devolder Quick•Step + 13
12 Stefan Schumacher Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
13 Maxime Monfort Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone + 14
14 Arkaitz Durán Française des Jeux s.t.
15 Dominique Cornu Team High Road + 15
16 Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner + 16
17 Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas s.t.
18 Marcel Sieberg Team High Road + 18
19 Paul Martens Team Milram + 19
20 Taylor Tolleson Bouygues Télécom s.t.
21 Tim Klinger Gerolsteiner s.t.
22 Jérôme Coppel Skil - Shimano + 20
23 Niki Terpstra Gerolsteiner s.t.
24 José Angel Gómez Marchante Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
25 Kasper Klostergaard Team CSC s.t.
26 Charles Wegelius Liquigas + 21
27 Tom Boonen Quick•Step + 22
28 Kristof Vandewalle Team CSC + 23
29 Lars Ytting Bak Team High Road s.t.
30 Julien Mazet Agritubel s.t. 77 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 35
Stage 1
Today’s stage is the only flat one during this tour, so the plan was for me to set up Boasson Hagen for the win if it would come down to a mass sprint. Thomas was pretty bummed after yesterday’s near fiasco, and he had some doubts this morning aswell whether he would be able to challenge for the GC. It doesn’t look good after the prologue, but there’s still some hope for him on tomorrow’s stage, if he makes his way through without problems that is.
Anyway as predicted it all came together today for a mass sprint and I managed to put Boasson in a not so good position. I was hoping he had something extra in his legs for today.
Boonen and Hushovd (GST) were also up there today, but they wouldn’t come away with maximum points in this sprint. Boasson Hagen showed that his form isn’t exactly peaking either as he failed to make his way past me.
So it all ended with another French stage win, this time for Milram’s Mathieu Drujon, while I took 5th on the line.
Kilian Patour is still the overall leader, but after tomorrow it’s very questionable if he will still be. My expectations for that stage are quite high, it’s perfect terrain for me, so hopefully I can get my first win of the season there.
1 Mathieu Drujon Team Milram 4h03'07
2 Bernhard Eisel Gerolsteiner s.t.
3 Romain Feillu Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
4 Tom Boonen Quick•Step s.t. 5 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
6 Thor Hushovd Gerolsteiner s.t.
7 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road s.t.
8 Coen Vermeltfoort Liquigas s.t.
9 Danilo Napolitano Lampre s.t.
10 Robin Chaigneau Rabobank s.t.
GC
1 Kilian Patour AG2R - La Mondiale 4h10'57
2 José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne + 1
3 Benoit Vaugrenard Agritubel + 2
4 Lars Boom Française des Jeux + 5
5 Vladimir Gusev Bouygues Télécom + 6
6 Joost Posthuma Rabobank + 9
7 Andreas Klöden Quick•Step + 10
8 Damien Monier Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone + 12
9 Peter Velits Team Milram s.t.
10 Stefan Schumacher Caisse d'Epargne + 13 73 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 35
Welcome to Jonas Aaen territory! This stage is pretty lumpy throughout the whole day and the defining point of the stage is an approximately 20 kilometres long climb topping some 30 kilometres from the finish. This is where I need to make my move unless Thomas has the strength to pull something off of course. But the startlist is packed to capacity with big stars, so we need for everything to click if we want to take this win today. But I have a feeling they will.
We put Lars Bak in the break today and his group managed to stay ahead until we hit the final climb of the day.
Prior to the climb we got caught in a bad position in some crosswind. The team still believing in Thomas therefor guided me and the others to the front of the pack to reel everything back in. Not an optimal start for me.
Trying to bridge across to the front group.
We managed to bring everything back together just before the climb, where the attacks started. The whole team was pretty beat after the furious chase on the run-in to the climb, so none of us had the strength to follow up on the attacks that came on the climb. Instead I hit the front again and put in a serious pace to bring everything back together. I also managed to reel in several groups with riders like Valverde, Vanendert, Nibali and Schumacher, but one duo was remained in front. Devolder and Velits. I was pulling the favourites’ group closer and closer though.
Only Velits and Devolder remaining.
Unfortuneately I’m only a human being and since none of my teammates could take over once I finished my relay at the top of the climb, the chase became a bit disorganized as the other teams couldn’t put in a decent chase of the the two leaders. At the top of the climb they only 30 seconds, but with 10 kilometres left that gap had grown to about 1’20. Thomas was still hanging in there, but he wasn’t looking good and it looks as though I will be the team’s GC hope for the remainder of the race. There was a few crashes coming into the finish, the most prominent name to go down was Valverde, who was then unable to finish in the favourites’ Group today.
As we neared the finish the gap to the duo in front came down a bit again, but they would no doubt fight it out.
Devolder is no great finisher and Peter Velits took a convincing win and the yellow jersey as Kilian Patour was long gone.
Hagen won the sprint of the 25-man favourites group and I, completely beat, took 5th place on the stage. Imagine what I could’ve done if I didn’t have to do relays in the crosswind and to reel in Devolder and Velits. Oh well, at least I have taken a leap up in the GC.
1 Peter Velits Team Milram 5h21'54
2 Stijn Devolder Quick•Step s.t. 3 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road + 1'01
4 Pierrick Fédrigo Crédit Agricole s.t. 5 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
6 Samuel Sánchez Bouygues Télécom s.t.
7 Pierre Rolland Team CSC s.t.
8 Romain Feillu Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
9 Ángel Vicioso Team Milram s.t.
10 Lars Boom Française des Jeux s.t.
11 Maxime Monfort Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone s.t.
12 Kenny De Ketele Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
13 Yann Huguet Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
14 Tom Boonen Quick•Step s.t.
15 Jonathan Hivert Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
16 Julien Simon Rabobank s.t.
17 Leonardo Duque Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone s.t.
18 Jelle Vanendert Quick•Step s.t.
19 Tomislav Danculović Team Milram s.t.
20 Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas s.t.
21 Kevyn Ista Liquigas s.t.
22 Leonardo Bertagnolli Bouygues Télécom s.t.
23 Héctor Guerra Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone s.t. 24 Dominique Cornu Team High Road s.t.
25 Scott Nydam Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t. 26 Thomas Lövkvist Team High Road s.t.
27 Alejandro Valverde Saunier Duval - Scott + 3'15
28 Vladimir Gusev Bouygues Télécom s.t.
29 Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
30 Pierre Cazaux Team Milram s.t.
31 Jérôme Pineau Silence - Lotto s.t.
32 Stefan Schumacher Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
33 Jesús Del Nero Silence - Lotto s.t.
34 Taylor Tolleson Bouygues Télécom s.t.
35 Igor Antón Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
36 Eros Capecchi Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
37 Claudio Corioni Crédit Agricole s.t.
38 Fernando Torres Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
39 Manuel Vázquez Agritubel s.t.
40 Giairo Ermeti Silence - Lotto s.t.
41 Kristof Vandewalle Team CSC s.t.
42 Rinaldo Nocentini Team CSC s.t.
43 Carlos Barredo Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
44 Nick Nuyens Team CSC s.t.
45 Arkaitz Durán Française des Jeux s.t.
46 Jacob Rosenbarger Team CSC s.t.
47 Matthew Lloyd Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
48 Juanma Gárate Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
49 Héctor González Agritubel s.t.
50 Sérgio Paulinho Agritubel s.t.
GC
1 Peter Velits Team Milram 9h32'57
2 Stijn Devolder Quick•Step + 3
3 Lars Boom Française des Jeux + 1'00
4 Maxime Monfort Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone + 1'09 5 Dominique Cornu Team High Road + 1'10
6 Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas + 1'11
7 Tom Boonen Quick•Step + 1'17 8 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team High Road + 1'19
9 Ángel Vicioso Team Milram s.t.
10 Héctor Guerra Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone s.t.
11 Yann Huguet Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 1'20 12 Thomas Lövkvist Team High Road + 1'21
13 Julien Simon Rabobank + 1'27
14 Tomislav Danculović Team Milram s.t.
15 Scott Nydam Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 1'28
16 Leonardo Duque Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone + 1'29 17 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 1'30
18 Jonathan Hivert Euskaltel - Euskadi + 1'31
19 Romain Feillu Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 1'34
20 Kenny De Ketele Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
