February 18, 2013 - Volta ao Algarve Stage 4

The breakaway today was an all Italian-Portuguese affair, with five of them chancing their arms. Modolo (Bardiani Valvole) wasn't interested in waiting for the sprint and he was joined by Proni (Vini Fantini), Graziato (Lampre), Carvalho (LA Aluminios) and Oliveira of OFM-Quinta de Lixa. None of them were threats on the GC.


Despite this, the peloton were never going to let the group stay away with so many sprinters interested in the win. It was Caja Rural and BMC doing most of the work for Cardoso and Hushovd. The gap quickly came down and the escapees were caught with ten kilometres to go.


With just five kilometres to go, there was no team willing to make a leadout train, oddly, as Ted King was sat on the front with Sagan and Goss cruising along on his wheel. NetApp were trying to get their riders to the front as the short climb near the end had caused them to fall back in the peloton.


With Bibby and Dempster struggling to get back to the front, and the pace almost non-existent, Barta decided to use his power again and put a small gap between him and the rest. With Voss trying to slow the peloton down, Barta entered the last two kilometres with a gap of thirty seconds.


Unfortunately for Jan, Sagan took it into his own hands and launched an incredibly long sprint with nobody else following. It was up to Bibby and Dempster to drag the peloton back up to him, as Voss prepared to kick for home.

For some reason the final screenshot never actually happened.
Barta just hung on for another win, ahead of Sagan, with everyone given the same time. Goss was third, with Voss eighth and Bibby twentieth. Sagan now leads Barta by one second going into the final TT, with most of the rest 52 seconds down.

February 19, 2013 - Volta ao Algarve Stage 5

Today was all about the GC but there were some decent time triallists going off the ramp early on. Latvian champ Smukulis set the first competitive time, knocking early leader Bille off the top. Eventually, the Katusha man was beaten by Dekker and Pinotti but none of these riders were important.


The first contender for the overall was another national champion, Gruzdev of Kazakhstan. When he crossed the line, he knocked Dekker off the top by three seconds and became the virtual leader of the race. Behind him though, the race was hotting up.


The favourite for today was young American superstar Taylor Phinney and the BMC man was in great shape, smashing the best time at the intermediate checkpoint, before obliterating Gruzdev's time by 35 seconds at the finish. It was looking like the overall victory was going Phinney's way.


Ian Bibby was on the course not long after Phinney and even though he had done his job this week, he was still hoping for a good TT performance to take some confidence and form into future races. However, it wasn't Ian's day and he finished over 1'30 down on Phinney, just outside the top fifty.


Blanco's charge was led by Lars Boom and his great power against the clock can never be underestimated. He gave it a good go but could only manage second, losing eight seconds to Phinney. With Sanchez, Millar and Clement all failing to get near Phinney, it came down to a straight fight between the American, Barta and Sagan.


Jan Barta was, of course, the penultimate rider to set off, knowing he had to be within 51 seconds of Phinney and hope Sagan was at least two seconds slower to take the win. With teammate Voss starting just in front of him as a reference point, he was able to ride a strong time trial, finishing eighth, 47 seconds down! Had he done enough?


Sagan's only real weakness is his time trialling ability and he knew from the off that he had virtually no chance of beating Barta. With this in mind, it was no surprise to see him finishing just behind Bibby in 56th. What a super ride by Barta! Congratulations!

Final GC

February 26, 2013 - Clasica de Almeria

There were hundreds of attacks in a ferociously quick start as most teams tried to get someone away. Frustratingly, every time Team NetApp Endura tried to follow an attack, it was over before it started! Not our day today. The final, successful breakaway was five-strong, and consisted of Amador (Movistar), Belkov (Katusha), Nerz (BMC), Gomez (Caja Rural) and Paiani (Sojasun).


As the pace was cranked up by Cannondale, Orica and Radioshack, Klier of Garmin was the only rider wanting to try the long one. The breakaway was only two minutes ahead but he just didn't have the legs to bridge and his move backfired badly as he was soon dropped by the peloton.


Then, disaster struck in the middle of the peloton as Marangoni (Cannondale), Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma) and Hofland (Blanco) decided to take everyone out. Nearly 100(!) riders were caught up in the crash and Ponzi and Fouchard both ended the day in hospital. Lots of sprinters were caught out and would never make it back, including all of Greipel's leadout, Cardoso, Viviani, Boivin, Matthews, Gavazzi and Koldo Fernandez.


The remaining four escapees (Nerz had given up some time ago) were caught with eight kilometres to go as the much reduced peloton prepared for the finish. NetApp brought their leadout into action at this point (right of the picture), with almost the entire team still able to help Schorn. Jarc, Rowsell and Dempster did a great job in positioning the team as they hit the final five kilometres.


Coming on to the wide, open finishing straight, three riders were trying to escape but Bibby and Thwaites were keeping them in check, with Voss and Schorn ready to unleash their sprints. The rest of the sprinters were all in one big line behind Lotto's one man leadout fo Greipel. The German had to go way too far from the finish and Howard was the man benefitting most from it.


And the Australian had enough power to finish it off as he held off a challenge by Sabatini to take the win. Von Hoff made it two Aussies on the podium, with Greipel fading to fourth, just ahead of another German, Wagner. Schorn did a great job to take sixth, with Voss twelfth. A crazy race!

March 3, 2013 - Strade Bianche

After an early group of nine, including Thwaites, was brought back, a group of three was allowed to build up an advantage over the peloton. Benedetti was present for NetApp Endura on home soil, alongside Frank (BMC) and Valls (Vacansoleil). Unfortunately, Valls did no work all day as he was helping his team leader Marcato.


As the peloton went over one of the off-road sections, it was Cannondale, Lampre and Vacansoleil working on the front to bring the escapees back. They were working for Sabatini, Favilli and Marcato respectively. The gap soon came down from nearly eight minutes to three minutes before they started playing games and looking at each other.


As the peloton came within two minutes of the leaders, Frank went on the attack and Benedetti couldn't respond. The Swiss climber was now on his own with 25km to go. After a few heated exchanges with Valls, who still wouldn't contribute, Cesare admitted defeat and dropped back into the peloton. Job done by the Italian.


With the peloton strung out on the narrow roads, Cancellara decided it was time to go and when he goes, he really goes! He instantly rode past Frank, whose day was over, and quickly got a minute's advantage over the rest. Cannondale and Lampre knew they had blown it and hit the front as hard as they could. Meanwhile, for NetApp, Voss had terrible legs and was already out the back, while Bibby was feeling incredible and was easily able to follow this pace increase along with Barta.


Up ahead, Spartacus barely broke sweat as he cruised over the line to take the victory. His classics preparation seems to be going well. Some way behind, his teammate Voigt had attacked just before the final climb and had gained a small advantage. Everybody else was trying to get to the front for the sprint and Barta and Bibby were in the prime position at the front. Huzarski was further back and wouldn't be able to compete at the finish.


Voigt did hold on for second, with Bakelants completing a remarkable day for Radioshack by winning the sprint for third. A rather one-sided podium. The rest of the top five was all Team NetApp Endura, as a magnificent finish by Bibby saw him just dip ahead of his team leader Barta! Cannondale could only manage thirteenth after working all day, while Huzarski had nothing left and could only manage 26th but the day had already been a massive success for the team.

Konig and Kluge to the fore in Malaysia