Mountain
1 Serguei Klemov TEAM KATUSHA 21
2 Giuseppe Pilumbo ACQUA & SAPONE 18
3 Riccardo Mittò CERAMICA FLAMINIA 10
Finished our 6 days in Lombardia with a 2nd place in the GC, and 2 stage wins. We of course would have hoped for the victory, but Riccó was really strong in the last stage.
Next race up is the Semana a Castilla y León on the 14th of April.
We are in the north of Spain to do some Giro preparations. After a good week in Lombardia last week, we will continue April with this race.
This will be a very good opportunity for Pozzovivo and Masciarelli to a couple of hard Mountain stages and a TT in strong competition, with riders like Samuel Sanchez and Andreas Klöden participating.
There are also two mass sprint opportunities for Lorenzetto and Modolo to practice their sprint lead out.
Our goal for the week will be to do some good stages, both in the mountain, and in the sprints. Hopefully it will be good enough for a stage win.
Tough stage, with an uphill finish, we are curious how well we can do here in competition with a rider like Sanchez.
As expected Euskaltel and Radioshack took control over the race. CARMIOORO-NGC was also very active in the front.
In the last hill Sella from CARMIOORO-NGC got a gap in the last hill. He was later wheeled in, and after a short downhill, we were ready for a sprint between the favorites.
Sanchez opened the sprint, Masciarelli had a good position.
Very surprisingly Masciarelli passed Sanchez and won the stage!!
After a great stage yesterday, we are ready for stage 2 in the leaders jersey, a great surprise.
Downhill and flat last part of the race, we want to keep the jersey, and get a mass sprint here.
We worked hart to keep everything together today, and in the end it was ready for a mass sprint, and Masciarelli would ride another day in the leaders jersey.
Cardoso took the stage, Modolo disappointed with a poor sprint today.
Results
Stage
1 Manuel Cardoso FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI 4h28'26
2 Assan Bazayev ASTANA s.t.
3 Alexandre Pichot BBOX - BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
4 Luca Paolini ACQUA & SAPONE s.t.
5 Sacha Modolo SAECO CANNONDALE s.t.
6 Geoffroy Lequatre TEAM RADIOSHACK s.t.
7 Theo Bas CERVELO TEST TEAM s.t.
8 Jure Kocjan CARMIOORO - NGC s.t.
9 Francesco Ginanni ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI s.t.
10 Mirko Lorenzetto SAECO CANNONDALE s.t.
GC
1 Francesco Masciarelli SAECO CANNONDALE 9h41'04
2 Samuel Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 8
3 Arnold Jeannesson CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 12
4 Bauke Mollema RABOBANK + 20
5 Oscar Pojol Muñoz CERVELO TEST TEAM s.
Points
1 Francesco Masciarelli SAECO CANNONDALE 25
2 Manuel Cardoso FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI 25
3 Samuel Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 20
Mountain
1 Daniele Ratto CARMIOORO - NGC 12
2 Jackson Rodriguez ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI 12
3 Emanuele Sella CARMIOORO - NGC 10
Still in the leaders jersey, will we be able to keep it today?
A mountain top finish, I think its the first one this year, the moment of truth, will Masciarelli and Pozzovivo keep up with riders like Sastre, Sanchez, Gesink and Klöden in the mountains?
Radioshack and Euskaltel were in the front the whole stage, I guess they wanted to get a hand on our jersey.
Sanchez attacked multiple times. Pozzovivo did a great job and kept a steady pace.
With 5 k left it was all together, could Masciarelli stay with Sanchez and the others all the way to the top?
With 1 k left, Masciarelli was still together with the favorites.
The last 100 meters he struggled a little bit, and couldnt fight for the stage win.
In the end he got 7th, but with the same time as the winner Sastre. He now have the same time as Sanchez, but still keeps his jersey, solid ride!
Stage
1 Carlos Sastre CERVELO TEST TEAM 5h18'32
2 Andreas Klöden TEAM RADIOSHACK s.t.
3 Samuel Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
4 Xavier Tando Volpini CERVELO TEST TEAM s.t.
5 Robert Gesink RABOBANK s.t.
6 Juan Manuel Gárate RABOBANK s.t.
7 Francesco Masciarelli SAECO CANNONDALE s.t.
8 Alberto Losada CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
9 Luis Pasamontes R. CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 36
10 Paolo Tiralongo ASTANA s.t.
GC
1 Francesco Masciarelli SAECO CANNONDALE 14h59'36
2 Samuel Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
3 Carlos Sastre CERVELO TEST TEAM s.t.
4 Andreas Klöden TEAM RADIOSHACK + 8
5 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 20
Points
1 Samuel Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 36
2 Francesco Masciarelli SAECO CANNONDALE 34
3 Carlos Sastre CERVELO TEST TEAM 34
Mountain
1 Carlos Sastre CERVELO TEST TEAM 38
2 Andriy Grivko ASTANA 34
3 Alessandro Bertolini ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI 24
Tomorrow there will be a time trial, very doubtful if we can keep the jersey, as we dont really have much time on the other riders.
A TT that will decide the GC, before tomorrows flat stage. We have the lead, but it seems impossible to keep it after this stage. Our goal is to do a solid TT with both Masciarelli and Pozzovivo today. One of our last chances to practice TT before the Giro.
20k, with a hill in the beginning, We like that it is not a completely flat TT.
Posthuma did the best time early in the race, with a strong performance.
Pozzovivo climbing up the hill, he went really fast to the top, and was just a few seconds behind Posthuma, suprising! He lost a lot of time, the last kilometers and finished 1 minute behind. Pretty nice ride actually, he got a nice 10th place on the stage.
Klöden was our big favorite for the overall, he finished 5 seconds behind Posthuma in second place, a little disappointing.
When Masciarelli crossed the finish line, he was 1.07 behind Posthuma in 11th position. How will the GC look after this stage?
Sanchez is now in first, after he was able to keep Klöden behind after a strong time trial. Masciarelli is now 4th.
We were very happy with the performance today. We did not give away to much time in the TT, and Masciarelli is in front of a guy like Sastre in the GC, promising for the giro
Results
Stage
1 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK 33'27
2 Andreas Klöden TEAM RADIOSHACK + 5
3 Samuel Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 8
4 Xavier Tando Volpini CERVELO TEST TEAM + 28
5 Vasil Kiryienka CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 30
6 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM RADIOSHACK + 31
7 Luis Pasamontes R. CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 52
8 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 1'00
9 Domenico Pozzovivo SAECO CANNONDALE s.t.
10 Alberto Losada CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'04
11 Francesco Masciarelli SAECO CANNONDALE + 1'07
GC
1 Samuel Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 15h33'11
2 Andreas Klöden TEAM RADIOSHACK + 5
3 Xavier Tando Volpini CERVELO TEST TEAM + 40
4 Francesco Masciarelli SAECO CANNONDALE + 59
5 Carlos Sastre CERVELO TEST TEAM + 1'09
Points
1 Samuel Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 52
2 Andreas Klöden TEAM RADIOSHACK 40
3 Francesco Masciarelli SAECO CANNONDALE 39
Mountain
1 Carlos Sastre CERVELO TEST TEAM 38
2 Andriy Grivko ASTANA 34
3 Alessandro Bertolini 24
Tomorrow is the last stage, with a probable mass sprint.
Today we hope for a new sprint chance for our guys.
Last stage into the city of Santiago de Compostela.Good chance for a mass sprint.
We caught the breakaway riders with 25 k to go.
Lorenzetto started the sprint with Modolo on his wheel, it looked very good.
But Modolo couldnt really accelerate in the end, and was passed by a few riders, very disappointing after the perfect lead out.
Bos took the stage win, with Modolo in 4th.
Final Results
Stage
1 Theo Bos CERVELO TEST TEAM 4h04'50
2 Assan Bazayev ASTANA s.t.
3 Manuel Cardoso FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI s.t. 4 Sacha Modolo SAECO CANNONDALE s.t.
5 Geoffroy Lequatre TEAM RADIOSHACK s.t.
6 Juan Pablo Furero Carreño CALOR DE COLOMBIA - KILOMBO Y PASTON s.t. 7 Mirko Lorenzetto SAECO CANNONDALE s.t.
8 Oscar Alvurez CALOR DE COLOMBIA - KILOMBO Y PASTON s.t.
9 Francesco Ginanni s.t.
10 Jure Kocjan CARMIOORO - NGC s.t.
GC
1 Samuel Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 19h38'01
2 Andreas Klöden TEAM RADIOSHACK + 5
3 Xavier Tando Volpini CERVELO TEST TEAM + 40 4 Francesco Masciarelli SAECO CANNONDALE + 59
5 Carlos Sastre CERVELO TEST TEAM + 1'09
6 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 1'12
7 Alberto Losada CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'16
8 Juan Manuel Gárate RABOBANK + 1'32
9 Luis Pasamontes R. CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'40
10 Vasil Kiryienka CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'51
Points
1 Samuel Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 52
2 Manuel Cardoso FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI 41
3 Andreas Klöden TEAM RADIOSHACK 40
4 Assan Bazayev ASTANA 40
5 Francesco Masciarelli SAECO CANNONDALE 39
Mountain
1 Carlos Sastre CERVELO TEST TEAM 38
2 Andriy Grivko ASTANA 34
3 Alessandro Bertolini ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI 24
4 Samuel Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 18
5 Andreas Klöden TEAM RADIOSHACK 18
Next up is the Circuito del Trentino where we will fight for the sprint jersey (one of the sponsor goals).
We did not receive a Wild Card for GP de Romandie, a little disappointed, because that would have been the perfect preparation for the Giro. We might go to the Vuelta a Asturias instead, but we have not decided yet.
So Trentino might be our final Stage race before the Giro.
We are in the Trentino region in the north east of Italy. The Giro del Trentino is a traditional race, and usually many of the favorites for the Giro use this race as a warm up.
We are in here to continue our Giro preparations, and to win The sprint/points classification in this race (one of our season goals)
To win the points classification might sound like a task for sprinter Modolo, but this years edition of the race contain; 2 mountain top finishes, 1 time-trail and 1 fairly flat stage. This makes winning the points competition a little complicated, and probably a task only a climber like Pozzovivo can solve.
Our goal will be to target the overall points classification, but to be successful we probably need a stage win or two.
We also want to target a good GC performance with Pozzovivo
It´s also an important race, to decide our 3 last spots for the Giro lineup.
Strong lineup in this years edition:
BMC
1. C.Evans
LIQUIGAS
11. V.Nibali
ANDRONI
21. M.Scarponi
QUICKSTEP
31. D.Cataldo
FLAMINIA
41. R.Riccò
ISD NERI
61. J.Rujano
MICHE
71. M.Rasmussen
LAMPRE
81. M.Marzano
CATYOUCHA
91. E.Petrov
FOOTON
101. E.Capecchi
Stage 1
12 k Time-trial. We have low expectations, hopefully the best climbers wont get to many points in this stage.
Pozzovivo ready for 15 minutes of pain. He finished in 107th place, 1.07 behind Ignatiev who won the stage. A bit disappointing after his solid TT in Spain last week.
Nibali ready; One of the riders we fear the most in the fight for the overall points victory, and also in the GC, as he is a solid time trialist and climber. Finished 4th place, 24 seconds behind Ignatiev
Mr. Evans rode into 5th place with the same time as Nibali.
Results
Stage
1 Mikhail Ignatiev TEAM KATUSHA 16'16
2 Dmytro Grabovskyy ISD - NERI - GIAMBENINI + 9
3 Dario Cataldo QUICKSTEP + 20
4 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS – DOIMO + 21
5 Cadel Evans BMC RACING TEAM s.t.
6 Timofey Krotskiy TEAM KATUSHA + 23
7 Steve Morabito BMC RACING TEAM + 24
8 Evgueni Petrov TEAM KATUSHA + 25
9 Nikolas Maes QUICKSTEP + 31
10 Marco Velo QUICKSTEP + 33
... 74 SAECO Domenico Pozzovivo CANNONDALE + 1.09
GC
1 Mikhail Ignatiev TEAM KATUSHA 16'16
2 Dmytro Grabovskyy ISD - NERI - GIAMBENINI + 9
3 Dario Cataldo QUICKSTEP + 20
4 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS – DOIMO + 21
5 Cadel Evans BMC RACING TEAM s.t.
Mountain top finish. Pozzovivo hope to pull of a good last climb, and measure his strength against riders like Nibali and Evans, hopefully he can also get some points and time back on them to, but it´s gonna be difficult.
We decided to play another card in the chase for points today, and Lorenzetto went with a breakaway, and secured 6 points in the intermediate sprint.
In the last climb Pozzovivo decided to attack in the first kilometers of the mountain. He passed remnants from an early break on his way up the mountain, and gradually increased his lead to almost a minute to the other favorites.
Still going strong with 2 k left. The stage win is within reach.
Yes! A solo victory, good job
The other favorites finished 1 minute behind, Nice stage today. We needed this in our hunt for points...
This will be a key stage, possibility for a mass sprint.
After some quick math, we figured that it would be impossible for Lorenzetto to win the sprint competition. We therefore had to try to at least get some points for Pozzovivo today, so he will have a possibility to take the jersey from Nibali tomorrow.
We controlled the pack, and didn´t let any break get away.
In a short hill before the intermediate sprint, Pozzovivo got away.
He took the sprint, thats 6 points, only 3 behind Nibaly now!
The favorites started to chase down Pozzovivo, and so the peloton broke into many pieces. And with 30 k left we had a leader group with 8 riders, containing the favorites, and a little suprisingly Lorenzetto who had a great day
With 1 k left, the peloton caught the break, but Lorenzetto started the sprint, with Pozzovivo on his wheels.
Lorenzetto took the stage, with Pozzovivo in a awsome second place, what a brilliant ride by the team
Results
Stage 1 Mirko Lorenzetto SAECO CANNONDALE 4h24'53
2 Domenico Pozzovivo SAECO CANNONDALE s.t.
3 Dario Cataldo QUICKSTEP s.t.
4 Cadel Evans BMC RACING TEAM s.t.
5 Karsten Kroon BMC RACING TEAM s.t.
6 Francisco Ventoso CARMIOORO - NGC s.t.
7 Francesco Fuilli ACQUA & SAPONE s.t.
8 Matteo Tosatto QUICKSTEP s.t.
9 Mikhail Ignatiev TEAM KATUSHA s.t.
10 Emanuele Vona ISD - NERI - GIAMBENINI s.t.
Points 1 Domenico Pozzovivo SAECO CANNONDALE 51
2 Cadel Evans BMC RACING TEAM 42
3 Dario Cataldo QUICKSTEP 42
4 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS – DOIMO 34
5 Mikhail Ignatiev TEAM KATUSHA 32
Mountain 1 Domenico Pozzovivo SAECO CANNONDALE 26
2 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS – DOIMO 18
3 Pavel Brott TEAM KATUSHA 18
We now have the lead in the sprint competition with 9 points to Cadel Evans, the win now actually seems like a possibility.
Pozzovivo also lead the GC and the Mountain classification, are we getting to gready?
Mountain top finish again today in the last stage. Will we be able to keep all our jerseys?
BMC and Liquigas in front of the peloton all day, and it was up to the favorites to fight it out for the GC and stage victory.
Nibali attacked into the ascent, and got a pretty big gap. Pozzovivo was focused on keeping a steady pace.
With 1 k left, Nibali was a minute ahead, and would take the stage win, and most probably also the GC, Pozzovivo now had to focus on getting a few points on the top, to win the sprint competition overall.
Got a decent 4th on the stage, maybe he was to passive in on the climb.
Points 1 Domenico Pozzovivo SAECO CANNONDALE 65
2 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS – DOIMO 59
3 Cadel Evans BMC RACING TEAM 58
4 Dario Cataldo QUICKSTEP 51
5 Mikhail Ignatiev TEAM KATUSHA 32
Mountain 1 Domenico Pozzovivo SAECO CANNONDALE 34
2 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS – DOIMO 34
3 Cadel Evans BMC RACING TEAM 22
We did our job, and our sponsor are happy. It was a shame that we lost our GC lead in the last stage, but more important things await within a few weeks time
We decided to give Chiarini and Facci a green light for the Giro after solid rides in this race.
We Are going to do 3 one day races in Italy before the Giro. We decided to focus on these races instead of competing at the Vuelta a Asturias in Spain, as our Giro lineup is in good shape. The First race is in the Appeninno mountains, and the profile of the race is pretty tough.
Competition don´t look to frightening so Pozzovivo should be among the strongest today.
Features a lot of climbing towards the end, and a short uphill finish
As expected the strongest riders got away on the long climb, Pozzovivo was one of them. Thomaz Nose from Adria Mobil was alone in the front, and had a 3 min gap with 25 k to go.
Hoogerland was very aggressive and attacked multiple times from the favorite group. With 10 k left we were still 1.30 behind, was it going to be a suprise victory from Adria Mobil?
Yes, Nose finished a few seconds ahead of the favorites, Pozzovivo number 4. An Average performance. Visconti and the rest of the team took it easy today
Results
1 Tomasz Nose ADRIA MOBIL 4h45'53
2 Johnny Hoogerland VACANSOLEIL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 17
3 Nicolas Vogondy BBOX - BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t. 4 Domenico Pozzovivo SAECO CANNONDALE s.t.
5 Johann Tschopp BBOX - BOUYGUES TELECOM + 36
6 Andreas Dietziker VORARLBERG - CORRATEC + 47
7 Alexandre Botcharov TEAM KATUSHA s.t.
8 Peter Sagan LIQUIGAS – DOIMO s.t.
9 Arkaitz Durán FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI + 55
10 Dalivier Ospena CALOR DE COLOMBIA - KILOMBO Y PASTON + 2'47
Another month has passed, and we will take a quick look at the Continental tour rankings, and the winners of the great classics in april.
It was definitely a good month for us, we scored quite a few victories and several riders are in good shape at the end of the month, and May moth with this seasons highlight the Giro.
Continental tour Individual Ranking;
Masciarelli is now our best ranked rider, after Visconti took a break from racing in april.
Continental Tour Team Ranking Still in a nice second place, how long can we keep it?
Victories 2010 Vinokourov now has 12 wins, Astana has 18 wins so far this season and is the most winning team. We have 9 victories so far.
2008 Winner Eddy Ratti from the NIPPO - EDENKA team
One day race the Pistoia region in Tuscany. We are here with the whole Giro lineup, Except Facci. Which means that Celli will be the rider who completes our squad. He got the spot because of his Time trial skills. There is a Team Time-Trial in the first Giro week, and we will need some power there to limit our losses.
Again a quite tough profile. Hopefully we will have several guys in the front at the end of the race.
Setting the pace together with Lampre.
A group of about 15 riders stayed together over the first Mountain, Unfortunatly Pozzovivo was the only one from our team who could follow, Cunego and Riccó seemed like the strongest ones in the uphill sections.
We later were down to 6 riders, with 10 k left. Pozzovivo was getting tired at this point.
When Cunego attacked in the penultimate climb, Pozzovivo could not follow.
Cunego took a comfortable win ahead of Riccó.
Pozzovivo took the sprint for 5th ahead of Caruso, around a minute behind Cunego
Competition was definitely better yesterday. So we should manage a top 5, anything else would be a big disappointment.
Again the profile favors strong climbers with the 3 climbs towards the end, and most probably a sprint between a few riders.
Chasing downhill after the first of 3 hills. Quick – Step very active today.
Lorenzetto, Visconti, Masciarelli and Pozzovivo were in the peloton who contained about 50 riders.
Dangerous breakaway, and most dangerous Rujano from the ISD team, as he is a strong climber. In the peloton Visconti and Lorenzetto had lost contact, and it was now a small group chasing Rujano and the others.
We caught the other riders of the break, but Rujano was solo with a minute lead with 5 k left. Masciarelli was now done, after chasing Rujano for many kilometers. So it seemed difficult to catch him, because we only had Pozzovivo left, and no one wanted to continue the chasing.
Caruso opened the sprint, Pozzovivo took his wheel, could he bring home the top 5 for our team?
Pozzovivo passed Caruso like in the sprint yesterday, but was passed by Devenyns from Quick – Step, so it´s a 3rd.
