Leading up to those two important preparation races for the biggest race of the season, Elia Viviani found some success in Estonia. Our top sprinter scored 3 out of 4 stages at the Tour of Estonia and of course also claimed the Overall Classification and the Points Classification! What a way to strike back from the Giro d’Italia.


The Criterium du Dauphine was a rather dull affair and could have been described as a Criterium du SKY as well. Though Peter Velits claimed the jersey in the prologue, Peter Sagan snatched it from his shoulders by the help of two stage wins. The next day, he already gave it to his teammate Chris Froome. The Briton carried it without problems to the end of the race, since his fiercest rival Alberto Contador crashed on the second stage. The form seems to be right for most of the contenders, yet Peter Velits claimed the last stage yet once again for BMC.

Stage	Name	Team	Leader’s Jersey
1, PRL	Peter Velits	BMC	Peter Velits
2, FL	Peter Sagan	Team SKY	Peter Velits
3, FL	Peter Sagan	Team SKY	Peter Sagan
4, HL TT	Chris Froome	Team SKY	Chris Froome
5, MT	David Millar	Garmin – Sharp	Chris Froome
6, HL	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff - Saxo	Chris Froome
7, MT	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	Chris Froome
8, HL	Peter Velits	BMC	Chris Froome

Criterium du Dauphine, Final Classification

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Chris Froome	Team Sky	28h26'22
2	Peter Velits	BMC Racing Team	+ 3'54
3	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 4'30
4	Rui Costa	Team Katusha	+ 4'40
5	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 6'17
6	Kanstantsin Siutsou	Team Sky	+ 7'59
7	Jérôme Coppel	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	+ 8'13
8	Thomas Voeckler	Team Europcar	+ 8'48
9	Damiano Caruso	Citigroup - Cannondale	+ 8'52
10	Przemyslaw Niemiec	Lampre - Merida	+ 9'20

Ahead of the Tour de Suisse sighs at the issue of the missing support: “When puncheurs like Moser or Visconti get criticized for not riding the Giro because their support would have been important, than we know that we have a serious lack of climbing potential in the team.� Van Garderen shrugged off speculation about a buy-out clause out of his contract though. “I signed with the team and I’m happy with it. I think Italian media would do well at limiting their ambitions for this team though. They are not as strong as they used to be with Nibali and such on the squad. We are a young squad, still developing and forming. We are contenders though, and we’ll fight for the best results any day of the week.�

The reaction onto the recent issues, came from Moreno Moser who claimed the stage win up to Flums against Mikel Nieve. With a second ahead of Van Garderen, Arredondo takes over the leader’s jersey though, since Moser had an awful first day. It was Moser’s first win since two years. “It’s amazing to have found winning ways again. I was very close a couple of times, but today it worked out. I tried to ride my race, and not get too nervous by Mikel Nieve’s constant attacks. It worked out for me�, stated a seemingly relieved Moser.


The race continued to come in great for Citigroup-Cannondale. With various riders leading most of the race, Van Garderen was in a good position, mostly holding on to his podium place, switching between 2nd and 3rd. With the Mountain Time Trial a bit of a surprise came around: Pierre Rolland, not particularly known for his TT skills, but certainly famous for his climbing abilities, took the win ahead of Van Garderen. As a result, the French got the jersey. On the next day, he even increased his lead with the help of Alejandro Valverde. Van Garderen finished the race on a fantastic 2nd place, snatching some valuable WT points and getting more confidence for the Tour de France. And with Moreno Moser, winning a stage and the King of the Mountain jersey, he will surely have some great support alongside him!

Stage	Name	Team	Leader’s Jersey
1, HL	Bryan Coquard	Astana	Bryan Coquard
2, MT	Moreno Moser	Citigroup – Cannondale	Julian Arredondo
3, FL	Thor Hushovd	BMC	Julian Arredondo
4, FL	Marcel Kittel	Giant – Shimano	Julian Arredondo
5, HL	Cyril Gautier	Europcar	Joaquim Rodriguez
6, MT	Mikel Nieve	Movistar	Joaquim Rodriguez
7, FL	Marcel Kittel	Giant – Shimano	Joaquim Rodriguez
8, MTT	Pierre Rolland	Europcar	Pierre Rolland
9, HL	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar	Pierre Rolland

Tour de Suisse, Final Classification

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Pierre Rolland	Team Europcar	33h35'06
2	Tejay Van Garderen	Citigroup - Cannondale	+ 1'18
3	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	+ 1'23
4	Julian Arredondo	Team Alonso - Ferrari	+ 1'54
5	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	+ 2'12
6	Roman Kreuziger	Movistar Team	+ 2'31
7	Fränk Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 3'51
8	Romain Bardet	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 4'24
9	Michael Rogers	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 4'52
10	Daniel Martin	Garmin Sharp	+ 5'02

Raphael Visconti has announced days before the National Championships in Gabicce that he will not participate in the race. Following his feud with the leading Italian media, especially La Gazzetto dello Sport, Visconti stirs up yet again controsvery. The 23 year-old posted a picture on twitter, where he was spotted on the beach of Sardinia, titled “Taking a break from douchebags� . Italy’s best rider in the Spring Classics (based upon CQ Ranking) gave no explicit reason for his non-participation though, however, due to the picture, his fans understand that it shall serve as a pay-back and a clear signal towards his harshest critics. Those critics however see as yet another evidence for Visconti's lack of interest in Italy's highly valued cycling culture.


With his stay in Sardinia, Visconti missed out on a fantastic race won by his teammate Moreno Moser though. The recent winner of stage 2 at Tour de Suisse, Moser attacked on the last time climbing the local hill. He finished the city parcour ahead of Fabio Aru, and now deservedly will wear the Jersey of the Italian Champion for a year. This is certainly a better way to shut your critics up, right?

But that’s not the only National Jersey for Team Citigroup – Cannondale. Tejay Van Garderen, Guillaume Boivin and Maciej Bodnar have been successful too at their respective championships.

	Country	National Champion - RR	National Champion - TT
	Austria	Bernhard Eisel	Riccardo Zoidl
	Belgium	Jens Debusschere	Stijn Devolder
	Canada	Guillaume Boivin	Svein Tuft
	Czech Republic	Zdenek Stybar	Jan Barta
	Colombia	Rigoberto Uran	Rigoberto Uran
	Denmark	Matti Breschel	Lasse Hansen
	France	Arnaud Demare	Jeremy Roy
	Germany	Gerald Ciolek	Tony Martin
	Great Britain	David Millar	David Millar
	Italy	Moreno Moser	Dario Cataldo
	Netherlands	Barry Markus	Sebastian Langeveld
	Norway	Alexander Kristoff	Edvald Boasson Hagen
	Russia	Alexander Porsev	Anton Vorobreyv
	Poland	Michal Golas	Maciej Bodnar
	Portugal	Fabio Silvestre	Rui Costa
	Spain	Alberto Contador	Ion Izagirre
	Slovenia	Luca Mezgec	Klemen Stimunlak
	Switzerland	Fabian Cancellara	Fabian Cancellara
	Ukrainy	Makysm Averin	Yaroslav Popovych
	United States	Tejay Van Garderen	Tejay Van Garderen

Contador wins le Tour, Van Garderen second!

Looking back, the past three weeks have been a fantastic run for Citigroup – Cannondale. Early on, the team philosophy showed what it was worth when Italian Champion Moreno Moser scored a 3rd place on the first stage of le Tour. Greg Van Avermaet became the first leader, Contador already had a little advantage on all his GC rivals, and Citigroup’s ambitions were backed by the determination and active riding of Van Garderen in those early days.

On the fourth day, Van Garderen was the best man behind a whole bunch of Time Trial specialists, lead by Tony Martin. A bad ride from Froome showed that the Briton may not be the expected favourite. Valverde, previous winner of le Tour, had a horrible first week, already losing chunks of time. With the following strong performance of Alberto Contador on stage 6, many people already declared the Tour for over. But for Citigroup – Cannondale it was only getting started.


Van Garderen took the 3rd place overall on stage 6, and he kept himself always on the podium. With the intention of finishing up there in Paris, he always tried to put time into his rivals. Sometimes it worked in the mountains or over hilly terrain, sometimes it didn’t. Citigroup – Cannondale had a sort of advantage though. Van Garderen knew that he could beat Rui Costa in the last 50 km long TT easily, and that he was supreme to everybody there. He also knew that riding against Contador, when the Spaniard is in such shape, was pointless. So instead, the team forced their opposition to do their work. While Contador was riding freely around and gaining time on his rivals, Van Garderen kept a tight control, all in order to get his desired podium place.

But that’s no reason to think that Citigroup – Cannondale wouldn’t have attacked. Van Garderen was creative in his attacks, oftentimes moving away when other favourites thought that it’d be quiet for a second. Van Garderen’s late solo run on the hilly stage 18 was much talked about. And with Moreno Moser’s stage win on the 16th stage, the team even got a victory out of the breakaway. The splendid help by Caruso, De Gendt and Moser helped massively too in order to achieve Van Garderen’s and Citigroup’s goal.


The sprint competition was won by Peter Sagan, although the Slovakian did not take a single stage win. Because of Contador’s reign in the mountains, the polka dots belong to him too. Best young rider was Nairo Quintana, who did not convince his new team, Astana, and arrived in Paris behind Nibali, who already rode the Giro d’Italia. Citigroup – Cannondale missed the win in the team classification by 3 minutes against Astana. Citigroup – Cannondale was actually long-time leading the competition, until one bad day from the team ruined it.


Alberto Contador, Tejay van Garderen on second, and Rui Costa on third, are the names and people on the podium in France. For Tejay, it was wonderful moment of bliss. For the team, a reassurance, that they did the right thing. No one was going to talk about the Giro now… or so, they thought.

Stage	Name	Team	Leader’s Jersey
1, HL	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC	Van Avermaet
2, FL	Andre Greipel	Lotto – Belisol	Van Avermaet
3. FL	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma	Van Avermaet
4, TT	Tony Martin	Omega Pharma	Tony Martin
5, FL	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma	Tony Martin
6, HL (MTF)	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff Saxo	Alberto Contador
7, HL	Nicolas Edet	Cofidis	Alberto Contador
8, FL	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma	Alberto Contador
9, MT	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff Saxo	Alberto Contador
10, MT (MTF)	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff Saxo	Alberto Contador
11, MT	Dries Devenys	Giant – Shimano	Alberto Contador
12, FL	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma	Alberto Contador
13, FL	Maarten Wynants	Belkin	Alberto Cotnador
14, FL	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma	Alberto Contador
15, MT (MTF)	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff Saxo	Alberto Contador
16, MT	Moreno Moser	Citigroup – CD	Alberto Contador
17, MT (MTF)	Robert Kiserlovski	Trek Factory Racing	Alberto Contador
18, HL	Janier Acevedo	Garmin-Sharp	Alberto Contador
19, FL	Sylvain Chavanel	IAM Cycling	Alberto Contador
20, TT	Taylor Phinney	BMC	Alberto Contador
21, Fl	Andre Greipel	Lotto – Belisol	Alberto Contador

Final Classification

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff - Saxo	84h09'07
2	Tejay Van Garderen	Citigroup - Cannondale	+ 6'48
3	Rui Costa	Team Katusha	+ 10'16
4	Chris Froome	Team Sky	+ 10'49
5	Andrew Talansky	Garmin Sharp	+ 11'18
6	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	+ 13'50
7	Daniel Moreno	Team Alonso - Ferrari	+ 14'02
8	Nairo Quintana	Astana Pro Team	+ 14'29
9	Fränk Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 14'38
10	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 15'50

Points

Rank	Name	Team	General
1	Peter Sagan	Team Sky	467
2	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma - Quick•Step	454
3	André Greipel	Lotto Belisol	424

KoM

Rank	Name	Team	General
1	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff - Saxo	101
2	Sylvain Chavanel	IAM Cycling	86
3	José Herrada	Movistar Team	74

Young Rider: Nairo Quintana
Team: Astana

Didn't expect Van Garderen on the podium though. His stats must have been increased a lot.

No one was going to talk about the Giro now… or so, they thought.

Shonak wrote:
@SSJ2Lugi: They most certainly don't... I think? But Citigroup just lacks top quality GC italian riders. Obviously Basso is way over his peak by now.