@francopell - Yes, it was. Let's see now, how we did in the Giro!
@TMM - The DS didn't want to comment on this rumour.
Giro d'Italia Stage 8
Another mountain stage, but this time there is 3km of flat after the summit. We will see how this effects the riders racing style, but let's hope for some attacks.
The daily break proved to be a quite big one today. Great mountain riders were included in the 14 riders, like Kessiakoff or Caruso. They felt like this could be the day for them.
The pace in the peloton was really slow, as no teams wanted to waste their energies with the pace. The break got a great lead, and they started the climb being 8 minutes infront of the pack.
The climb hurted lots of escapees badly, and Tjallingi, Moinard, Chiarini and Gutierrez managed to stay away from the others.
Back in the peloton, Mellberg was streching the peloton, and when he ran out of gas, Wiles decided to go with his own pace, and nobody could follow him. That attack caused several splits in the peloton.
Wiles was infront, followed by Scarponi, then a 3-men group came with Basso, Urán and Antón. After these groups a bigger favourite's formation with Nibali, De Gendt, Puskaric and some others.
Amael Moinard wins the stage, after a great break effort! Congratulations to him! He beated Tjallingi and Chiarini.
Back in the peloton the situation was the same, and at the end Wiles got a 21' lead on Scarponi and 44' on the big favourites gropup with Puskaric. He increased his lead, and he is sitting comfortably in the Maglia Rosa!
@TMM - Indeed it's looking good on Wiles. Jan is doing his best for the team and he is really glad to be there, that's for sure.
@fcancellara - Well his form is 2 points lower, and also daily form played a big role. Wiles (+5) Puskaric (-1)
Kristjan is still in a better position GC-wise (2 minutes are not enough for Wiles.), but in stages like the Assisi one, he might try something... But Wiles will also probably.
Edited by fernando97 on 01-11-2012 20:17
A hilly day in the region of San Francisco. Should be exciting.
Today, we managed to get another rider into the break, it was Nick Van der Valde. Despite that he was the strongest of the break, based purely on abilities, he got dropped pretty early, and never made it back.
The peleton was a bit nervous the whole day, lots of attacks, slowdowns, luckily there were no crashes. At the end of the day and a reduced group sprint came. The only ones surviving the stage in the pack from our team were Sutton, Jakab and Nagy.
This sprint was a pretty close one, at the first time it looked like Gilbert or Gerrans, then Gerrans vs. Ruijgh, but at the end it was a...
...Lagutin vs. Gerrans, which Lagutin won with an amazing sprint! Great victory for him, and Vacansoleil double on the podium, as Ruijgh managed to come in 3rd.
Today an easier day comes after the mountains, it's all flat as we head towards north from Italy's southern parts.
Today's breakaway wasn't a too strong one, but it was really special for us, as Alex DeLarge managed to get into. The other big name of the break was Egoi Martinez, that was his 3rd breakaway ride in this years edition.
The peloton chased down the break quite quickly, thanks to Garmin's and Saxo's hard work. Those 2 teams worked like maniacs, and that was the destiny of the break. The sprint preparations started, those 2 teams made their trains, Bahr tried to get onto Farrar's wheel.
Spoiler
V2 of the peloton picture:
At the back of the peloton Chris Froome crashed! The pre-race favourite collided with Siutsou and went down quite badly! Luckily he was in the last 3kms, so no time gaps were given.
When the pack heard about Froome's crash, Puskaric decided to attack, as he knew that Froome won't lose time, there is no point of waiting for him. Bahr followed him as well. However, the pack realised what Kristjan realised, and went after him in the sprint. Wiggins was the one first overtaking Puskaric, and he was just about to win, when...
Out of nowhere the german veteran Jens Voigt went around Wiggins, and won the stage! What an incedible win for the old fighter! Wiggo comes in 2nd, and Puskaric takes the 3rd after his tricky attack.
@Ian Butler - Indeed, he is eager to show himself.
Amgen Tour of California Stage 3
This stage is classified as flat, although there are quite a few hills on it, so it won't be easy for the sprinters.
Today's BotD was nor too big, neither too strong. The biggest profile rider in it was former P-R winner, Johan Vansummeren. They quickly built a gap over 4 minutes, but it was clear, that they need more if they'd want to stay away, and make it allway to the finish.
Despite the hard attempts by the break, Rabobank, Vacansoleil and TT1 are working hard to bring them back, and on the last climb their efforts finally met success, and the pack caught the break. After the catch, because of the strange narrow roads, the leading domestiques made a "wall", and nobody get through, and that resulted in a quite odd sprint won by...
....Maxime Monfort! Andy Schleck's lieutant timed his sprint perfectly, and got past De Maar and Paterski in the last moments! What a sprint this was!
Results
1
Maxime Monfort
RadioShack - Nissan
4h41'26
2
Marc De Maar
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
3
Maciej Paterski
Liquigas - Cannondale
s.t.
4
Hayden Roulston
RadioShack - Nissan
s.t.
5
Sergey Lagutin
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
6
Simon Gerrans
Orica - GreenEdge
s.t.
7
Romain Feillu
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
8
Michael Albasini
Orica - GreenEdge
s.t.
9
Davide Frattini
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
10
Maxim Iglinskiy
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
General Classification
1
Simon Gerrans
Orica - GreenEdge
13h52'35
2
Sergey Lagutin
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
3
Maxime Monfort
RadioShack - Nissan
s.t.
4
Jure Kocjan
Team Type 1 - Sanofi
+ 8
5
Marc De Maar
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
6
Maciej Paterski
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 10
7
Rob Ruijgh
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 12
8
Davide Frattini
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
+ 14
9
Michael Albasini
Orica - GreenEdge
+ 16
10
Maxim Iglinskiy
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Spiders of the day
-
Note: Sorry for the bit rushed Amgen reports, it's just the Giro being incredibly exciting...
fernando97 wrote:
Note: Sorry for the bit rushed Amgen reports, it's just the Giro being incredibly exciting...
Same here, to be honest I don't care about the ToC now
The sprint stages are pretty ruined in the ToC. No really strong sprinters, except for Goss. Anyways, I'll play the Assisi stage in a minute...
Edited by fernando97 on 01-11-2012 22:39
A really flat day, until the last 5 kilometers, where the really steep hill of Assisi comes. It'll be interesting, that's for sure.
The BotD of the 10th stage was a pretty strange one. There were not 1, not 2, but 3 Spiders in it! Groen, DeLarge and Bahr all made their ways into it, and the peloton wasn't interested in the chase, so it seemed like a good one.
The peloton was taking it easy, because the pursuivants's gaps in the GC were too big. Only FDJ took them serious, but they didn't have the power to do it alone, so they decided to leave it...
This brought us to the climb of the day, where the break still had plenty of a lead and that was the point where it became sure, that they'll make it to the finish line.
Back in the peloton, some favourites, namely Cunego, Urán and Antón made an early attack, and started the climb 20 seconds before the pack. Despite their efforts, they got caught pretty quickly on the climb by Sky. Our 2 leaders were feeling bad, and both of them struggled a lot throughout the hill.
But take a look at the break now, where Gavazzi wins the stage infront of Bahr and Mazzanti! Great sprint by the italian, conquering a nice win on his homesoil!
Back onto the favourites, Antón gets a gap halfway through the climb, after him a group of 3 comes, with Scarponi, Cunego and Urán. Unfortunately our riders couldn't keep up with them, but they tried to rider their on pace and minimize the losses. Anton crossed the line 5'08 down the winner, while the Scarponi group came in at 5'22. The group Maglia Rosa finished another 17 seconds down on the Scarponi group.
Results
1
Francesco Gavazzi
Astana Pro Team
4h36'10
2
Christian Bahr
SpiderTech - Cervélo
s.t.
3
Luca Mazzanti
Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
s.t.
4
Nicki Sørensen
Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank
s.t.
5
Andrey Amador
Movistar Team
s.t.
6
Gorka Izagirre
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
7
Ángel Vicioso
Katusha Team
s.t.
8
Hubert Dupont
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
9
Maarten Wynants
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
10
Alex DeLarge
SpiderTech - Cervélo
+ 36
Spoiler
11
Frederik Veuchelen
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
12
José Serpa
Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela
s.t.
13
Dennis Groen
SpiderTech - Cervélo
+ 1'46
14
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 5'08
15
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - ISD
+ 5'22
16
Rigoberto Urán
Sky Procycling
s.t.
17
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - ISD
s.t.
18
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 5'39
19
Daniel Martin
Garmin - Sharp
s.t.
20
Vasil Kiryienka
Movistar Team
s.t.
21
Jakob Fuglsang
RadioShack - Nissan
s.t.
22
Thomas De Gendt
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
23
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
s.t.
24
Franco Pellizotti
Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela
s.t.
25
Chris Froome
Sky Procycling
s.t.
26
Jack Wiles
SpiderTech - Cervélo
s.t.
27
Kanstantsin Siutsou
Sky Procycling
s.t.
28
Tejay Van Garderen
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
29
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ - BigMat
s.t.
30
Kristjan Puskaric
SpiderTech - Cervélo
s.t.
General Classification
1
Jack Wiles
SpiderTech - Cervélo
39h58'10
2
Rigoberto Urán
Sky Procycling
+ 1'06
3
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 1'13
4
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - ISD
+ 1'18
5
Vasil Kiryienka
Movistar Team
+ 1'44
6
Kristjan Puskaric
SpiderTech - Cervélo
+ 2'03
7
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 2'35
8
Jakob Fuglsang
RadioShack - Nissan
+ 2'39
9
Thomas De Gendt
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 2'51
10
Tejay Van Garderen
BMC Racing Team
+ 2'52
11
Daniel Martin
Garmin - Sharp
+ 3'17
12
Jan Mellberg
SpiderTech - Cervélo
+ 3'18
13
Andrey Amador
Movistar Team
+ 3'31
14
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 4'28
15
Franco Pellizotti
Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela
+ 4'44
16
Kanstantsin Siutsou
Sky Procycling
+ 5'26
17
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ - BigMat
+ 5'34
18
Dario Cataldo
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
+ 5'49
19
Gorka Izagirre
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 5'51
20
Sylwester Szmyd
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 6'18
21
Chris Froome
Sky Procycling
+ 7'01
22
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - ISD
+ 7'22
23
Elia Favilli
Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
+ 7'26
24
José Serpa
Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela
+ 8'10
25
Paolo Tiralongo
Astana Pro Team
+ 8'25
Points Classification
1
Mark Renshaw
Rabobank Cycling Team
55
2
Kristjan Puskaric
SpiderTech - Cervélo
45
3
Rigoberto Urán
Sky Procycling
43
4
Elia Favilli
Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
42
5
Tyler Farrar
Garmin - Sharp
42
KOM Classification
1
Miguel Rubiano
Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela
9
2
Christian Vande Velde
Garmin - Sharp
9
3
Gorka Izagirre
Euskaltel - Euskadi
8
4
Sylvain Georges
AG2R La Mondiale
6
5
Ben Hermans
RadioShack - Nissan
6
Spiders of the day
The race so far...
The race is still pretty open, and it seems like our main opponents are going to be Scarponi, Urán and Basso. However, I believe that our riders will beat them in the mountains, where we should have the upper hand. Froome, Wiggins, Gesink and Hesjedal are out of contention, that a must to say. I'm unsure about Nibali, he had some early attacks, but he seems a bit weak imo. Currently, I'm really happy with Wiles, he only had one bad day (today) so far, which is quite good, and he seems to be the only that can go with Scarponi when the mountains come. Puskaric is a bit of a dissappointment so far, he seems a bit weak in climbing, I don't really know why. That brings us to the biggest dissapointment, Bahr. He is just terrible so far, I'm considering bringing him out of the race, and provide a little rest for him, as this must me something mental like problem. Edited by fernando97 on 01-11-2012 23:48
Just race!!! Look back going into the main climbs of the final week...
Wiles is doing well. He wont win GC, but lets see how long he can last in Rosa.
Puskaric is slowly coming good, now that the pressure is off.
Give Bahr a second week(ish), he might get there.
Puskaric is improving a lot, I think he will get a stage win and the red jersey (he's only 10pts behind) soon, and in the final week get the Maglia Rosa
Bahr is so close, yet so far, everytime. His time will come, though
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
