Citigroup & Visconti miss out close on win at Strade Bianche

Strade Bianche has been titled as the favourite of many riders since its existence, and it’s also one of the best in the eyes of young, 23 year old Italian-austrian Raphael Visconti. The rider from Citigroup-Cannondale rode a clever race but missed out on the win against a very strong Maxim Iglinskiy. The Kazakh, riding for Team Astana, put in a great attack at 15 kilometers left and rode to a solo-victory in one of a kind.

While our riders Raphael Visconti and Alessandro De Marchi did a fantastic job at keeping themselves at the front of the race, the nominal team leader T.J. Van Garderen struggled throughout the race. Early on, it was clear that the gravel roads were not suited for T.J. The American new signing still later claimed: “It’s a wonderful race. I was impressed by Raphael and Alessandro, they rode really easy and quickly. For me, I love the weather and landscape here in Toscana, but the roads… not so much unfortunately.� Van Garderen still said thought that he’d love to race here again.

Another young gun was featured early on in the breakaway for Citigroup – Cannondale. Mateij Mohoric, former U23 World Champion, did a fair share of work, while also being chased by Team SKY, who wanted to see Geraint Thomas repeat his victory of last year. BMC and Astana have been very active in the chase too. Realizing that the road was growing thin, Citigroup provided assistance at 40 kilometers left in order to catch the breakaway after Mohoric punctured in the breakaway and the race was basically over for him as he got caught by the peloton.


There was a considerable amount of chaos and disorientation, and in that Maxim Iglinskiy escaped. Though being chased by a small group of around 7 top favourites, including Raphael Visconti, alongside Greg Van Avermaet, Geraint Thomas, Edvald Boasson Hagen and two riders from AG2R La Mondiale, the Kazakh kept them at distance throughout the finale kilometers. A bit similar to his performance at Liege a few years back. Iglinskiy’s gap at the walls of Siena was around 30 seconds, enough for the last climb up the stronghold-ish town. Visconti and De Marchi kept themselves in the back during the chasing effort, fully aware that the two Team SKY riders and GVA (BMC) were stronger than them. Thanks to this smart riding, Visconti outsprinted the others for a second place.


This second place is a considerable improvement to last year for Raphael Visconti, and for the team itself it means something too: The team had scored a 2nd place last year with Sagan here. The new found strength of the team after Sagan’s departure continues to show itself.

Strade Bianche, Results

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Maxim Iglinskiy	Astana Pro Team	4h23'44
2	Raphael Visconti	Citigroup - Cannondale	+ 17
3	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
4	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Team Sky	s.t.
5	Rinaldo Nocentini	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
6	Geraint Thomas	Team Sky	s.t.
7	Christophe Riblon	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
8	Alessandro De Marchi	Citigroup - Cannondale	s.t.
9	Matteo Rabottini	YellowFluo	+ 1'25
10	Dominik Nerz	BMC Racing Team	+ 1'37

Journalist X: “How did it feel to race here today?�
Raphael: “Well, it was a really hot race. I raced so much in Belgium and CX lately, and I was always freezing and today, it felt like a warm day in spring, and I wasn’t used to do that. It took a toll and took some time gettin’ used to. And I had to drink a lot, really a lot of water today. Because there was so much dust, and it’s… dangerous for the lungs. And otherwise I would have gone dehydrated so fast. But erm… yeah, I have to thank my team and especially Alessandro, who fetched me his last bottle at 10 kilometers left because I would have had no energy otherwise.�

Journalist X: “Are you satisfied with how the race panned out?�
Raphael: “So and so. I think if we would have done more work in the small group in the finale, we might had caught Iglinskiy. But I remember Edvald from last year at Eneco Tour, where he pissed me off and didn’t help me, and I didn’t feel like cooperating with him today, so yeah… I am okay with the second place. It’s probably more than I could ask for, and it’s definitely more than people would grant me after how we… rode, I mean… we basically wheelsucked in the last ten, fifteen kilometers in the group of 7 riders. But I don’t mind, it’s called racing. It’s not some friends club. Congratulations to Maxim in any case, he was a great rider today.�

Journalist X: “What’s up next for you?�
Raphael: “Well, I continue racing tomorrow at Paris-Nice. There’s no rest for the wicked, but I have a bit heavy legs from Cyclo-Cross season and the Italian Fall, so we’ll see how I feel afterwards.�

Journalist X: “Thank you Raphael. I’ll be sure to follow you in Paris-Nice too. Your every move.�

Van Garderen achieves 6th GC as Froome takes overall win

Things didn’t start off well for the team with Van Garderen weak in the opening prologue, as he already lost considerable amount of time on winner Tony Martin. It didn’t get better on the next two days, where we had hoped for Elia Viviani to continue his winning streak, however two 6th places were the best he could come up with against a strong sprinter competition (Cavendish, Greipel).


With some signs of frustration, the team headed into the hilly stages. Raphael Visconti has been particularly active. On the fourth day, he put in a late-attack, which was followed by Joaquim Rodriguez. Both of them know each other from countless duels in Italian Fall, and Visconti fought but didn’t stand a chance. Too bad for Purito later though, as he got caught on the last meters of the flat sprint by Mark Renshaw. With 3 stage wins at this point, it has been a true Omega Pharma domination.

On the fifth stage, Raphael Visconti was once more eager to turn the tide in our favor. He has been a breakaway early on, from which Landa and Voeckler eventually attacked first with two hills left. Visconti caugt up to Voeckler later on, but invested way too much energy for that. Both of them wanted to rescue themselves over the last hill, but the top favourites like Froome and Nibali rushed over to them. Because Visconti finished 9th on that stage, in the same group as winner Robert Gesink, Visconti was allowed to wear the best young rider jersey the next day and had temporarily the best positon of all Citigroup riders in the overall classification. T.J. unfortunately couldn’t follow Froome and Nibali’s attacks and lost about a minute.


Still, Van Garderen remained as the nominal leader and the next day saw a tough mountaintop-finish where T.J. performed spectacularly well and advanced to 6th overall, while Purito won the stage. Raphael Visconti helped his captain in crucial parts, but of course lost later on considerable amounts of time.



Without a stage win so far, the team was intended to work for it on stage 6. The stage saw a tough climb early on, and since Viviani was in the peloton afterwards, the team went to work. Guys like Krizek, Salerno, Craddock and Visconti were working to reduce the gap, however with only those 4 Citigroup-Cannondale riders working, the gap reduced too little. Eventually, Citigroup-Cannondale gave up on chasing with 10 kilometers left as the gap was far too big for them to close. Of course then, Elia Viviani ended up winning the bunch sprint against Greipel & Co after true power-leadout by Visconti.

The last stage was a Mountain Time Trial. Van Garderen didn’t improve on his overall position but delivered a decent performance. He’s form is building up well for le Tour, while the team surrounding Viviani and Visconti seems to have great legs for the upcoming classics.

Stage	Name	Team	Leader’s Jersey
1, PRL	Tony Martin	Omega Pharma	Tony Martin
2, FL	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma	Tony Martin
3, FL	André Greipel	Lotto-Belisol	Tony Martin
4, HL	Mark Renshaw	Omega Pharma	Tony Martin
5, HL	Robert Gesink	Belkin	Chris Froome
6, HL	Arnold Jeannesson	FDJ	Chris Froome
7, MT TT	Chris Froome	Team SKY	Chris Froome

Paris - Nice, Final Classification

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Chris Froome	Team Sky	27h20'53
2	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	+ 18
3	Chris Horner	Lampre - Merida	+ 1'31
4	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	+ 2'18
5	Robert Gesink	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 2'37
6	Tejay Van Garderen	Citigroup - Cannondale	+ 3'09
7	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 3'43
8	Daniel Moreno	Team Alonso - Ferrari	+ 4'04
9	Wilco Kelderman	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 4'14
10	Thomas Voeckler	Team Europcar	s.t.

Journalist X: “7 busy days, eh? Some words, Raphael?�
Raphael: “I think we did a good race overall, especially as a team. For me personally, it was nice to race to the sun for once. Of course a stage win for the team would have been great but we had some bad luck here and there. I think T.J. is a fantastic signing and the 6th place is a very, very good first result, something the team can build up on. Viviani could have won a stage on day 6, he really had great legs that day. And I could have maybe claimed stage 5, but who knows… I got to wear the best young rider jersey for like a day... Is that worth something? It’s a stage race and erm… they don’t suit me so much. Paris-Nice was mostly preparation for us.�

Journalist X: “How do you rank your performance in the mountains?�
Raphael: “What performance?! I suck at such mountains. I’m a good hill climber but I’m an average mountain climber. I can’t be satisfied with that.�

Journalist X: “Some big tension between Froome and Nibali. Did you notice it? Who’s your favourite for le Tour?�
Raphael: “I don’t know if they both ride le Tour. If they do, of course they belong to the top favourites. But well, both are really strong obviously. I wouldn’t say that Froome is better because he won here. I think Nibali held up pretty equally and gave lots of contra. He was aggressive like we’ve come to know Nibali and The Shark is a true champion. It should be good fight in July, which I will watch on TV [laughs].�

Citigroup: Moreno Moser puts in great ride


In absence of nominal Thomas De Gendt, who’s still injured, Moreno Moser was left to care for a good overall result. While our riders Gatto, Koren and Oss tried their luck on various stages in breakaways, Moser really managed to impress for a while by hanging on to the 2nd place for a long time, but on stage 5 it all turned into a nightmare of Citigroup – Cannondale: Without a sufficient team to support him on the tough, hilly stage, Moser was left to do chasing on his own when he missed the decisive attack from Alberto Contador, 50 kilometers from the finish. Contador exploded the peloton thereby and many little groups fought for survival. Moser turned into one of the victims.

Still, with some great podium places and the jersey for best young rider, Moreno can be proud of his performance this week.


Also, a shout-out to the last stage, #7, where the peloton had to endure crazy-wild crosswinds, which caused splits all around the place. Only roughly 25 riders entered the last kilometers as a peloton. Definitely a contender for stage of the year in a Non-GT race.
Moser eventually finished 6th overall, the same as T.J. in Tirreno’s sister race Paris-Nice. Winner was Tour de France champion Valverde, he obviously continues the new year in the same way he dominated the last one.

Stage	Name	Team	Leader’s Jersey
1, HL	Edvald Boasson Hagen	SKY	Edvald Boasson Hagen
2, HL	Alexander Kristoff	Lotto Belisol	Edvald Boasson Hagen
3, FL	Alexander Kristoff	Lotto Belisol	Edvald Boasson Hagen
4, HL	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar	Alejandro Valverde
5, HL	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff Saxo	Alejandro Valverde
6, HL	Stefano Pirazzi	Bardiani Valvole	Alejandro Valverde
7, FL	Marcel Kittel	Argos Shimano	Alejandro Valverde

Tirreno - Adriatico, Final Classification

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	30h43'18
2	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 1'55
3	Rigoberto Urán	Team Katusha	+ 2'00
4	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Team Sky	+ 2'28
5	Daniel Martin	Garmin Sharp	+ 2'39
6	Moreno Moser	Citigroup - Cannondale	+ 2'47
7	Bauke Mollema	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 4'07
8	Ryder Hesjedal	Garmin Sharp	+ 4'16
9	Philippe Gilbert	BMC Racing Team	+ 7'12
10	Dries Devenyns	Team Giant - Shimano	+ 9'59

Ahead of MSR, Citigroup – Cannondale almost had seen Elia Viviani taking the Handzame Classic, but a breakaway of two riders made it to the finish before the peloton. There was also news on Raphael Visconti, who got ill after Paris-Nice, but Raphael was tough enough to still race Mailand-San Remo.

After 2014, Mailand – San Remo saw the classic variant with the Cipressa and Poggio as last hills. So the route was more suited to sprinters again, last year’s winner Gilbert was still here to defend his title.


The race didn’t pan out great at first for the team. La Manie provoked a drop of several riders, including Citigroup’s main sprinter Viviani. Forced to hand, Citigroup now looked for a selection at the Poggio to increase the chances of the remaining sprinter Marcato. An attack by Sep Vanmarcke in the descent of the Cipressa, put the team into some difficulties though. Heading into the Poggio, Visconti enforced the pace further and on his wheel where Gatto and Marcato.

The race over the Poggio was already looking like a build-up for a sprint train. Both SKY and Omega Pharma had a high pace going for their sprinters, while Vanmarcke was still leading the race with about 20 to 30 seconds.


Visconti then opened up the downhill chase by heading first into San Remo and later opening up the sprint. Vanmarcke looked at this point like the certain winner. While Citigroup’s sprint eventually vanished under the wheels of the Top Tier sprinters, Lotto-Belisol’s Greipel rose to new heights as he launched past Mark Cavendish and beat Sep Vanmarcke by about 150 meters.

The German Gorilla takes his first Monument win and is now finally in the sprinters’ olymp. Not such a little shit race now, eh? Citigroup's best is Marco Marcato on 9th, followed by Gatto #14 and Visconti #24.

Milano - San Remo, Results

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	André Greipel	Lotto Belisol	7h19'17
2	Sep Vanmarcke	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
3	Peter Sagan	Team Sky	s.t.
4	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
5	Tom Boonen	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
6	Marcel Kittel	Team Giant - Shimano	s.t.
7	Alessandro Petacchi	Androni Giocattoli	s.t.
8	Sacha Modolo	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
9	Marco Marcato	Citigroup - Cannondale	s.t.
10	Fabian Cancellara	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.

Journalist X: “You raced the race with some illness. Are you still sick? Has it hindered your performance?�
Raphael: “You sound like my mother. I’m fine, I’m fine. Except that my nose is running, and I constantly have to sneeze… Aaah…aaaahh…tchoooo�
Journalist X: “Raphael, you guys lost Viviani today relatively early on. How did this change the strategy?�
Raphael: “We always aimed for a selection at the Cipressa and the Poggio, but the weather was great today and the 299 kilometers didn’t really feel so long. Maybe we should have pushed harder in order to drop even more riders at the Poggio, but alas, we had in mind that we still raced for Viviani I think. Elia missed the split though and there was no coming back from that unfortunately. Once you’re gone in MSR, odds are you won’t come back.�
Journalist X: “Some shocking sprint and you were the one spearheading the chase going into San Remo. How did it feel?�
Raphael: “It was a fast, fast race. If it hadn’t been me, someone else would have chased Vanmarcke going into San Remo. We always want to race for the win, and today the sprinters’ profited from that largely. I’m sorry for Vanmarcke.�
Journalist X: “Well, you certainly look horrible either way. You should get some good rest now.�
Raphael: “You look still worse, mate. But yeah… rest… a bed sounds good to me.�

Raphael: “You look still worse, mate.