Pre Tour de Romandie Update
Good news. Bernhard Eisel has recovered completely from his injury, so can start training again and hopefully get his sprinting started for later this season.
We’ve had four races before this, and they are: Tour of Georgia: Floyd Landis looked strong in preparation for the Tour de Romandie by taking the overall quite easily, as well as impressing with a very good stage win and a solid performance throughout Giro del Trentino: With Jose Rujano wanting to ride this race (Why?), we sent along Benat Intxausti to lead the team as he was in top form. He didn’t disappoint, taking a pleasing second behind Liquigas rider Stefano Garzelli, but he did win the U25 competition, which he’s really happy with GP Villiers Cotterets: A sprint race designed to improve Bennati’s morale went wrong, as a break of 8 got away and won by 2 minutes, and Daniele was beaten in the sprint. He needs wins, so the Giro could be his best prospect Rund Um Koln: Our team was led by Aitor Gonzalez who finished 5th.
Tour de Romandie
The last race before the Giro, and I intend to win it. Floyd Landis is suited quite well to this race: it starts with a ITT, two hilly stages and ends with two mountain stages. If Floyd doesn’t lose too much time in the hills, he can hopefully take the win in the mountains, or at least go for the top 5 Stage 1 ITT
This time trial lasted for only 3.9 km, and the riders were separated by only 50”. The riders could go virtually flat out, and Floyd looked absolutely amazing, beating some great time trialists to win. In second was our very own Brad McGee, 4” behind, and somehow Joost Posthuma completed a historic treble for us by taking third, 6” down. We also had two more riders in the top 10. What a great start, lets hope we can build on this.
Stage 2
Today’s stage featured a 170 km route that featured eight laps with the climb of the Cote de Rochefort in each lap. We just wanted to keep Floyd near the front and hopefully keep his loss of time to the minimum. The early break went from the line, and feature 6 riders including sprinter Mark Renshaw. With 88 km to go, the lead was at 8 minutes, but just 5 km later, disaster struck as 10 riders crashed in a nasty accident, including Rabobank’s Ardila and Phonak’s Boom. Fortunately, none were injured, and some riders came back and helped them back into the peloton with 75 km to go.
With 65 km left, the lead was down to 6 minutes, but Mark Renshaw had been dropped. Then, at 45 km to go, five riders attacked, including Julich and Pellizotti, and they got a gap and worked to catch up the leaders. Up the final climb, the lead was at 3 minutes, and realising that this break would make it, there was a flurry of attacks, which only settled down by the descent. I was really happy to see Floyd hanging on to a group of 14 with McGee, who led the peloton by 50”, with Chavanel in front by 38”, and the rest of the riders over a minute ahead. Over the next 7 km, the group of 14 fell to 11, and Chavanel caught up with the front three (Pellizotti, Stangelj and Scheunemann), and they had a minute at the start of the sprint. The winner of the stage was Chavanel, who did well to just beat Pellizotti, whilst Scheunemann blew up and came in 4th, being caught at the line by the 11 man group, 37 seconds behind.
Chavanel now leads, whilst we’ve got good prospects with Landis in 4th and McGee in 5th having lost only 20” today. Pellizotti is 2nd overall, whilst Stangelj is third overall but leads the mountain competition
Stage 3
A two man break made it to the line, with Wilfired Cretskens the winner. No GC change
Stage 4
Today was the first mountain stage, with a tough climb at the end reaching up to 8% that would really sort out those who were in form. The intial breaks were caught right at the base of this climb, and the attcks came straight away, led by Garate of Quickstep, who took a slim lead over Schumacher and Garcia Quesada, with Evsna just trailing behind, then Landis advancing up the slope ahead of the 165 strong peloton. By 6 km to go, the chasing of the pack had broken it up and led to more attacks, and now Garate led four riders (Landis, Gil, Mazzoleni and Lovkvist) by 31”, who were half a minute ahead of the peloton containing Giro favourite Cunego and Jens Voigt. The gaps stayed over the next 2 km, except Jens Voigt showed his strength by joining the second group. With 1.5 km to go, the lead was extended by Juanma Garate to 50”, but the group of 5 were holding out against the peloton.
In the sprint, I told Floyd to get up front and go for broke, and only Eddy Mazzoleni could follow, as he came second, just 36 seconds down. In the GC, Floyd trails Juanma by just 9”, with Voigt 38” down in 3rd. Bradley McGee finished in the bunch and is doing well in 9th: I don’t think he’ll hold onto that though.
Stage 5
There were 5 big climbs today in probably my first true mountain stage: like a Grand Tour stage. Today, Floyd said he felt great, and that he was going to maintain or shorten the gap so he could easily take yellow tomorrow in the time trial. He could easily beat Garate in the TT, so needed to just stay within touching distance to take the tour win.
Up the first climb, the Col de Mosses, 6 riders attacked, with Laiseka riding solo with 140 km to go, 1’23 ahead of a group of 4 including Stangelj, the mountain leader. Finally, the peloton was just overtaking Schroder, 40 seconds down. By the top, Laiseka’s lead was extended to 2’25 over Schroder and Stangelj who had formed a group 1’09 in front of 3 more riders, with the peloton another minute behind but taking it easy. With 100 km to, the lead had been extended by a minute on the flat, but with two climbs coming up, it wouldn’t last long. Up the Col del la Croix, Laiseka now lead Schroder by 2 mionutes, who had dropped Stangelj, whilst an attack from the peloton had formed a dangerous escape, with three riders (Eltink, Zubeldia and Gomis) allowed to get away. Ardila attacked near the top, and now the pack started to move. On the decsent, with 60 km to go, Laiseka still led, but was being caught up by a group of 3 (Eltink, Schroder and Zubeldia), who were 1’45 behind. Ardila followed 1’52 later, with the pack over 2 minutes behind, picking up the early escapees.
At the final sprint, and with just over 40 km left, Laiseka was caught by the Eltink group, and Ardila had companions of Gomis and Stangelj 2’16 down as they led the chase, whilst being chased by the pack, 3 minutes down.
Up the penultimate climb, the Cote des Giettes, Eltink ditched his group and smashed it to pieces, riding solo up front whilst Zubeldia chased 2 minutes behind by the top with 30 km left. The Ardila group had lost Stangelj but gained Beltran, and was 2’03 behind, with the peloton now 7’28 behind the leader but riding very hard indeed.
22 km to go, and I was starting to get worried. Eltink was not really in GC contention, being over 7 minutes behind, but he led Zubeldia by 2 minutes, who was only 2’26 off the yellow. Beltran was 2’07 behind Zubeldia, having decided to go for it, whilst Gomis and Ardila worked together to try and keep him in sight. Then came a group of 4 from the early break, but then surpisingly, Floyd had broke on the descent and now rode solo, 24” in front of the riders he had followed (Pellizotti, Gil and Chavanel), whilst the peloton containing the yellow was a further 37” back.
With 16.2 km to go, and up the punishing final climb, the Cote des Crosets, four riders attacked as the Chavanel group got a minute: Evans, Garate, Voigt, Dekker and Mazzoleni. Garate went straight past them and Floyd, and was looking really strong. 5 km up the rode, and the situation was roughly the same: Eltink was on for the stage win, with Zubeldia losing more time but also gaining on the Ardila group, whilst Pellizotti had broken and was joined with Landis as they began to try and claw back some time from Garate. The Voigt group were working hard, and beginning to overtake those who had broken earlier.
9 km left, and Floyd was looking good but starting to hurt. Zubeldia was now 3 minutes behind Eltink, and was being chased by a now solo Ardila 1’28 behind. Then came Beltran, another minute down, with Garate now working with Gomis 46” down, but Floyd was nearly with him now, having ditched Liquigas’s Pellizotti. The peloton was now totally broken up, and the first group was only 30” behind Pellizotti. But they didn’t matter anymore, it was just if Floyd could hang on to Juanma Garate. He could!
Eltink rode in in 4 hours 42 minutes for a great solo effort, then Ardila followed in 3 and a half minutes down. Floyd outsprinted Juanma Garate and overtook Zubeldia for the final podium spot, with Garate on the same time. With floyd just 5” behind, this stage race was his, and Ardila looked comfortable in third, a minute down on Floyd, but a minute ahead of fourth too.
There was also good news as Floyd took the points needed to guarantee himself the points jersey.
Stage 6 ITT
Today was all about Floyd, and just making sure he took the yellow. He rode amazingly, not only winning the overall, but winning the stage and OVERTAKING GARATE IN THE PROCESS!!!
He was so focused, he was unstoppable, beating Brad McGee in second by 45 seconds, and Garate by over two minutes. He wins the overall classification, and he was grinning for the rest of that day, and the day after that. Professionals like to win, especially when the media reckons they’re too old.
Colliers Classic – GP Aarhus
Daniele Bennati was sent to Denmark to lead the sprinters for an easy win, and he didn’t fail to deliver, taking the win, with Alfredo 5th, Kirk 6th and David Hill 9th.
CYCLING24 – 2012 MONTHLY ROUNDUP Posted online at Cycling UK Online and the Team Cycling24 – 2012 website direct from Allan Smile
What a great month for racing. We saw Tom Boonen win a thrilling Paris-Roubaix, and all the classics (apart from AGR) have been really exciting to watch. We also got our first ProTour win with Vincenzo Nibali in the AGR, and Floyd Landis also made us proud with a great win in the Tour de Romandie. Nibali still leads the individual rankings, which is good, whilst we are 3rd in the team competition behind the powerhouse that is Team CSC. At the bottom, Comunidad Valenciana have failed to notch up a point, which they might struggle to do given there squad, whilst Milram and Astana are struggling but should do well later in the season. Results:
--Hel van Het Mergelland: Victor Sassier 1st, Kirk O’Bee 5th
--Ronde van Vlaanderen: Philippe Gilbert 6th
--Vuelta al Pais Vasco: Vincenzo Nibali 2nd plus two stage wins, U25 jersey and points jersey, Emmaunele Sella 16th
--Paris-Roubaix: Philippe Gilbert 23rd
-- GP de Denain Pont du Hainaut: Daniele Bennati 1st, Alfredo Balloni 3rd
--Amstel Gold Race: Vincenzo Nibali 1st
--La Fleche Wallone: Vincenzo Nibali 4th, Philippe Gilbert 12th
--Liege Bastogne Liege: Vincenzo Nibali 9th
--Tour of Georgia: Floyd Landis 1st plus stage win
--Giro del Trentino: Benat Intxausti 2nd plus U25 jersey
--Rund Um Koln: Aitor Gonzalez 5th
--Tour de Romandie: Floyd Landis 1st plus two stage wins and points jersey, Brad McGee two podium spots Rankings:
ProTour Individual Rankings (points earned this month in brackets):
1. Vincenzo Nibali TEAM CYCLING24 – 2012 – 180 (112)
2. Samuel Sanchez EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI – 142
3. Frank Schleck TEAM CSC – 121
4. Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP-INNERGETIC – 111
5. Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP-INNERGETIC – 107
12. Floyd Landis TEAM CYCLING24 – 2012 – 70 (59)
39. Philippe Gilbert – 20 (20)
50. Bradley McGee – 4 (4)
53. Brad Viera – 3 (0)
56. Michael Rogers – 3 (0)
74. Joost Posthuma – 1 (1) ProTour Team Rankings:
1. Team CSC – 324
2. Quickstep-Innergetic – 310
3. Team Cycling24 – 2012 – 281
4. Rabobank – 244
5. Davitamon-Lotto – 191 Doctor’s Report: Angelo Lecchi has given the go ahead for Bernhard Eisel to start training again, and Tynyanov will commence later this month, so they’ll be training hard to catch up on their fitness Wiggle.co.uk Rider of the Month: Floyd Landis
Thought he was past it? Think again! He brought home a stunning overall win in the Tour de Romandie, and showed all his experience and strength to also take two stage wins and the points jersey in a splendid result. His win was very convincing, and has silenced his critics Best Under 25 Rider of the Month: Victor Sassier
Victor had the bet month of his career and the best ride of his career by winning his first race against some good riders.Hopefully he can build on this for the rest of the season and develop his career into that of a world class cyclist Next Month:
The first of the Grand Tours is on us: the Giro d’Italia sees 20 stages plus a prologue in a tough 3 weeks of racing. This year includes 6 mountain stages plus two time trials, and the rider who can last the distance will come out on top in Milan. Our leader will be Dario Cataldo, who hopes to top 3 in the most important race of his career. We will concentrate solely on this and the Vuelta a Cataluna, where Floyd Landis will hope to continue his impressive form.
Girod’Italia
My first Grand Tour and I’m really nervous. We’ve got a very good team out here, but we’re up against some tough competition, and the papers are all saying we’ve got an outside chance at the overall, which makes me even more nervous. Here’s the team: Dario Cataldo: Team Leader, he’s fresh from recent training camps to give him that edge, and is a serious top 3 contender Jose Rujano: Co-Leader, he’ll be helping out Dario but will still be looking to make serious GC in roads, especially in the mountains Emanuelle Sella: Co-Leader, he’s our final leader, but will concentrate mainly on helping out Dario. He’ll be looking for stage wins in the hills, and a top 15 performance overall Benat Intxausti: Super Helper/U25 jersey, our young climber is still developing, so will be helping out most of the time although going solo when Dario makes his move
David Belda: Support
Gonzalo Bayarri: Helper
Dominique Cornu: Helper/Time trialist
Joost Posthuma: Helper/Time trialist
Mark Cavendish: Team sprinter/points jersey
This year see’s a total of 6 mountain stages and 3 time trials, but no team time trial. Dario is in top form, but he’s nervous considering he’s touted as one of the favourites. And speaking of favourites, here they are: Damiano Cunego (Lampre): The Italian came second last year in a closely fought battle with Denis Menchov, but looks to go one better this year, and is hot favourite to do so. He is the best climber, but his time trial skills could let him down again. Yaroslav Popovych (Discovery Channel): Sixth last year, the Disco rider has got great support from his team, including Botero and Brajkovic. Whilst not as strong a mountain rider as Cunego, his superior time trial skills make him a serious contender for the overall crown. Sergio Ghisalberti (Milram): He didn’t ride last year, but in front of his home ground, the Milram rider could do very well, although challenging for the overall GC may be beyond him Dario Cataldo (Cycling24-2012): The new boys on the block have a very strong leader in Dario Cataldo, but his youth and inexperience might just be too great for a top podium position Theo Eltink (Davitamon): With a new team, Theo has been impressive in training leading up to the Giro. Still too young to seriously challenge Damiano, what he can do is be right behind him
The real big talking point in the press thoughy is the exclusion by Rabobank of Denis Menchov, last year’s winner in the team. He’s really unhappy with that, but they have two good replacements in Reus and Ardilla. Here are the rest of the riders who actually have some sort of top 10 chance:
Fothen (Gerolsteiner), Kloden (T-Mobile), Redondo (Astana), Pellizotti (Liquigas), Rodriguez (Caisse-IB), Savoldelli (Barloworld)
Stage 1 Genova-Pisa
This year begins with a 200 km long flat stage, and T-Mobile controlled the pace so there points jersey hopeful, Alessandro Petacchi could get out in front for the sprint. He did this, and didn’t disappoint, taking home the first win of the Giro and he’ll be wearing the pink jersey tomorrow. Elia Rigotto of Milram came second, with Mark Renshaw third for Credit Agricole. Mark Cavendish struggled into 14th for us
Stage 2 Pisa-Follonica
A second flat stage, and another sprint finish. Elia Rigotto though used the T-Mobile chain to propel himself to the front, and overtake Petacchi on the line, with Vicente Reynes of Phonak doing well for third. Mark Cavendish did one place worse today, coming 15th, and he’s complaining of a niggle. I don’t want to risk him, so if it gets worse tomorrow, he might have to drop out
Stage 3 Grosseto-Roma
Another sprint, and a second win for sprint king Petacchi. He was the favourite for the points jersey, and he already has a commanding lead of 70 points. Mak Renshaw performed admirable again for second, with Sebastian Chavanel third. Mark Cavendish improved today with his first top 10 ride for 10th, and he is 15th overall
Stage 4 Roma-Sora
Today saw an uphill sprint for the finish, and Paolo Bettini took full advantage of this to take the stage win from Alessandro Petacchi, who wasn’t fazed by the uphill incline. Bram De Groot was a surprise in third for Rabobank, and Damiano Cunego began to show his form with a good fourth. Mark Cavendish managed sixteenth, but has been largely disappointing so far, and is our best rider overall in nineteenth, a full minute behind leader Petacchi, who also has a healthy lead in the points competition, with 90 points, 19 ahead of Elia Rigotto
Stage 5 Sora-Montevergine
Today saw the first uphill slopes, with a few early climbs and an uphill finish. This hilly stage however, suited Damiano Cunego more than most riders, so full team support was given to Dario Cataldo today, and I just told him to lose as little time as possible.
With 27.2 km left, the two man break was being caught up the pneultimate climb, and everyone relaxed on the short descent to the final climb to the finish. As soon as we hit the slope, 7 riders broke, with Theo Eltink gaining a small solo lead over 6 riders (Gomis, Ghisalberti, Cataldo, Sella, Colom, Intxausti). With three of our riders in the group, we set a fast pace, so Popovych broke free from the peloton and everybody scrambled for position, as the peloton just disintegrated. 3 km up the slope, and Eltink was now joined by Gomis, who had a group of 35 breathing down there neck, which included all the favourites, and was led by Lampre. Surpsingly, in a group of 4 1’30 down lay one of the favourites for today’s race, Paolo Bettini, and even further behind was Salovoldelli, both of whom were struggling.
At 6 km, Damiano Cunego made his move as the two riders up front were caught, and nobody could really follow, as he got a significant gap. Chasing him were three riders (Popo, Gomis, Eltink), who had found something in the tank to keep on going, whilst another four riders (Cataldo, Sella, Fothen and Colom) were working hard, just 11” behind the second group.
At 2.9 km, Sella led Cataldo away from the group, and they went straight past the Eltink group and began to work on Cunego’s lead. As Cunego went under the kite, he looked comfortable for the win, and he came in first all alone, taking the maglia rosa as well. Emanuele Sella chased hard for second, carrying Dario Cataldo behind in third, 37” down. Theo Eltink was fourth, outsprinting Yaroslav Popovych, 1’11 down, whilst 41” behind them came 13 riders who represented the rest of the favourites. Here are the new GC standings:
1. Damiano Cunego 23h30’32 2. Emaunele Sella + 45 3. Dario Cataldo + 49
4. Theo Eltink + 1’31
5. Yaroslav Popovych s.t. 18. Jose Rujano + 2’12
19. Benat Intxausti s.t.
32. Gonzalo Bayarri + 4’32
33. David Belda + 4’32Edited by Crommy on 03-06-2007 10:03
I don't mind, let your imagination run wild It won't appear for awhile though, as I've already finished playing this season, but it will be introduced in a dramatic twist... .
Please don't include anything to do with 2012 though, that's my one stipulation.
Edited by Crommy on 03-06-2007 12:25
Stage 6 Avellino-Foggia
Another day for T-Mobile to flex their muscles, as they brought about another great set up for Petacchi to take his third win out of six stages, with Chavanel of Bouyges coming second, and Danilo Napolitano coming in third. Mark Cavendish continued his poor form by coming in twelth.
Stage 7 Foggia-Chieti
The second hilly stage of the tour saw a number of clims at the finish, and everyone prepared for this, with a quiet day in the peloton up until 7.6 kilometres to go, where I sent Sella off the front to try and claim a stage win in his preferred territory. He couldn’t get a gap, and the attacks only began again with 3.6 km to go and only a short downhill to the line. In the sprint, Eltink led out Cunego and Cataldo, who led out the small peloton of 46, Cuengo went around Eltink for his second win, whilst Cataldo didn’t have the speed to go past Eltink. No GC change, but big pride points for Cunego, who’s looking mighty impressive already.
Stage 8 Chieti-L’Aquila
Moor mountainous terrain allowed me to give David Belda the go ahead to try and get a stage win, and he set off right at the start with 5 riders on the flat. I would rather he had waited until the slopes began, but he needed to get out with the break. They quickly built up a lead, but slowed down when the slopes rose up, so David left them and went solo. By the top of the first climb, David led the break by quite a way, but the pack was beginning to gather speed as the lead became too great. However, this was just a glitch, as the lead increased, with David 9’49 in front of the peloton at 100 km to go, and this figure was increasing.
At 82 km, David was caught by three of his escapees, so he sat in awhile to recover, but within the next 10 km, the lead was cut by 3 minutes to 6’40. Up the next climb at 46.1 km, five riders attacked as David’s lead was reduced to 3’31: Pellizotti, Botero, Rodriguez, Munoz and Jufre looked to create a gap, and they were followed on the next climb by Savoldelli, Kolobnev, Totsching and Nozal. By this time, Belda had dropped the other riders, and was riding solo as he picked up more mountain points, but I knew he wasn’t going to stay away, so I told him to relax and take it easy.
He was caught on the short desent by the Spaniard Rodriguez, and dropped 20 km later as Rodriguez set about trying to establish some sort of lead going into the final climb. A further 8 km later, with just 12 km to go, Belda was dropped by Pellizotti, who rode a minute off the front, and he was quickly caught by the peloton, and began to struggle, as Bettini launched an attack, hoping to make up for the dismal performance of stage 5. This lasted just 5 km, and only succeeded in bringing Pellizotti into the view of the pack.
Up the final climb, and I had our riders positioned at the front, so when Cunego attacked, we were right there behind him, as was Popo and many other riders in a scramble for the finish line.
Rodriguez crossed solo in 3h51’59, and surprise, surprise, Cunego was second, 30” behind, somehow being given an 8 second gap on Sella in third and Cataldo in fourth. The peloton came in 15 seconds later, led by Popovych.
Nothing has really changed in the general classification, apart from Cunego extending his lead to 1’17. Bad news though is that Mark Cavendish decided to pull out of the race. He was struggling already, and we both decided there was no point in him continuing.
Belda struggles on
Stage 9 L’Aquila-Giulianova
Back on the flat, and Petacchi has it too easy again, taking another win and a commanding lead in the points classification. Rigotto took another second, whilst Reynes managed third. Tomorrow we have a time trial, so hopefully Dario can make some serious in roads into Cuengo
Stage 10 Giulianova-Giulianova ITT
A very long time trial today, and the riders were feeling good for this 52 km race. All our riders are fairly strong at time trialling, so we were looking to bolster our GC positions, and hopefully get a strangle hold on the team competition.
Joost Posthuma and Dominique Cornu were our first riders up, and they were both really strong. With 100 riders having finished, Joost Posthuma was in the lead, until Dominique crossed the line to take a commanding spot up top. Bayarri and Belda then set up strong rides, whilst our two riders still led with roughly 30 riders to go.
With 10 riders left, our four remaining riders prepared, and all fourth were out at the same time, so it was a real juggle keeping them up to date. However, they all went great guns, but the most impressive was Dario Cataldo, he was on fire! He overtook two riders on his way to an amazing stage win, and as we watched Cunego come in, I realised he had taken the overall lead! What a great day, Damiano looks gutted, but Dario was beaming, with the press all around him whilst the rest of the team celebrated. I even got my picture in the paper, and it’s all really great at the moment.
All of our riders rode well, and we’re well set as we enter the mountains. Here are the stage results:
1. Dario Cataldo 1h12’09
2. Dominique Cornu + 1’05
3. Yaroslav Popovych + 1’41
5. Joost Posthuma + 2’48
6. Benat Intxausti + 2’56
8. Emanuele Sella + 3’02
21. Damiano Cunego + 3’56
23. Gonzalo Bayarri + 4’09
28. Jose Rujano + 4’30
29. David Belda + 4’44
As you can see, a truly awesome day for our team, and what a win by Dario! The GC has had a major shake up, and we’re the big winners of today, with three riders in the top 5:
1. Dario Cataldo 41h58’45
2. Damiano Cunego + 2’35
3. Yaroslav Popovych + 2’46
4. Emanuele Sella + 2’58
5. Benat Intxausti + 4’42
14. Jose Rujano + 6’16
Stage 11 Ancone-Faenza
A trio of sprint stages lie before us before we head to the mountains, so it’s a time for recovery and just sitting back and relaxing. In the sprint today, Alessandro Petacchi increased his points lead with a great win today, with Napolitano second and Reynes adding another podium spot in third
Stage 12 Faenza-Ferrare
A huge surprise today as Alessandro Petacchi struggled in the sprint, just going backwards at the end, finishing in a surpising 42nd! Reynes managed to perform the highlight of his Giro today, by taking the stage today in a close sprint from Napolitano and Alexei Markov. No major GC change. Dario was tired still today, but an early night should see him fit for stage 14.
Stage 13 Rovigo-Marostica
With no team willing to exert themselves before tommorow’s big stage, a 6 man break made it all the way today, taking a 3’37 win. At the front was yesterday’s third place rider, Alexei Markov, who was followed by Allan Johansen of CSC and Mickael Biancheri of Credit Agricole. The whole team has reported good recoveries for tomorrow
Stage 14 Marostica-Passo Duran
The first day of the back-to-back mountain stages, and it was a fairly gentle start. However, three tough climbs featured, and lots of tactics were needed over these climbs. Here is my race report:
138.1 km: I send David Belda off, after he told me he was feeling great and really wanted to go for a stage win today. Lots of flat for the first part of the race, and he’s only being followed by Bonnet and he’s not being chased, so I’m hoping he can build up a good lead and hold onto it for the whole race
118.3 km: Bonnet now holds a minute lead over David, after he went off at a ridiculous pace. I told David just to ride tempo, and he’s steadily gaining on the pack, with a lead now at 2’50
81 km: We’re now on the first climb, the Croce d’Aune, a 9.1 km climb that averages at 7.8%. As I foresore, Bonnet has struggled, and David is now passing him, 4’30 ahead of a new break, but I’m not sure who’s in it yet. Wait, it’s Garzelli of Liquigas, and he’s actually gaining time, its now just under 4 minutes, whilst the pack doesn’t seem interested, 1 minute down the road
80.5 km: 5.5 km from the top, and some riders are going for it! Savoldelli, Marzano and Lobato Elvira all chase Garzelli who’s clearly visible up the road. And now Van Huffel joins them, what a dangerous break, will Lampre chase down their own man. I’m just letting them go at the moment, as David is fine on his own
75 km: Over the top, and Belda picks up maximum points all alone. I tell him to relax as I hand him a bottle, but take it hard on the descent. 3’06 seconds later, race radio tells me that a group of 6 is behind, with Bonnet having been caught by the escapees. Another 3 minutes later, and the peloton starts the descent, whilst Bonnet is dropped
56.8 km: David has slowed up on my orders, because the group of 5 chasing were taking it really hard, so he could just sit back and recover with them, as their lead is at 5 minutes
Belda looking impressive early on
51.5 km: Some hard work has seen the lead increase by 30 seconds already, but Botero attacks on this hallow climb of 4.4%
Passo Cereda: With this climb being the hardest day, with 8.1 kms at an average of 9%, lots of moves were made. The big attack came though with 5 km to the summit, where 6 riders broke from the disintegrating pack, with Cataldo, Intxausti, Sella, Rujano, Ghisalberti and Colom the escapees. No Cunego! But no, he’s made his move from the peloton, and joined Popovych in the group. Damn!
33.3 km: We’ve now been over the Passo Cerada, and the six up front are still working hard, whilst Botero trails at 1’49. I’m now focusing on Dario and his group, with instructions to David to hang on in. Three riders have been dropped (Colom, Intxausti and Ghisalberti), as they set a blistering pace and cut Botero’s lead over them to 2’15. Ghisalberti is struggling 30 seconds behind the Cunego group, with a group of 26 featuring the rest of the favourites not bothering to chase as they struggle on 1’22 behind
25.5 km: After two short climbs, the descent towards the Passo Duran begins, but Savoldelli and Garzelli have been dropped from the front group. David is hanging on, but he won’t last. Botero is beginning to catch the two dropped riders, whilst the pink group now features Ghisalberti again, but has lost 30 seconds to Botero after I told the lads to sit in for a while. The peloton follows 2 minutes later, so sitting in shouldn’t be too disastrous
19.3 km: Savoldelli has rehjoined the front group, but has paid for his hard slog as he descends at 68 km/h! Botero is now working with Garzelli, and have gained time to reduce the lead to 1’12. Rujanp has been dropped from the leaders group, but has fallen in with Theo Eltink just 1 minute behind, and they’re working well together.
12.9 km: Here we go, we’re entering the Passo Duran, the 13.3 km climb to the finish, averaging at 7.9%. David Belda has immediately been dropped, as his other escapees drive away, whilst Botero has dropped Garzelli. Popo rides solo in front of the leaders group of four, after a daring attack on the descent, but his lead of 30” won’t last.
8.3 km: The crowds are really thick now, and two riders lead, Van Huffel and Marzano. Lobato Elvira and Savoldelli struggle just behind them, whilst Botero has passed David and is still looking storng solo, with the leaders now under a minute away. But what’s this! Cunego attacks, and Eltink just catches up with the group and follows. I tell Dario not to go yet, but Jose Rujano and Sella begin to work hard and up the tempo to get Dario close for his attack. Ghisalberti and Popovych are also slightly ahead, but there lack of strength shows, as they only have a short gap ahead of Dario, who’s now focused as he leaves behind his workers, who I tell just to conserve there place, but Emanuele decides to follow Dario
6.7 km: Damiano and Theo Eltink have caught up with Savoldelli and Botero, and Dario makes it as well, and he’s feeling fresh whilst the rest are struggling. They are 2 minutes behind the leaders up front. Popo and Ghisalberti ride just nehind, with Sella catching them quickly.
6.1 km: And Dario attacks! Off he goes, and no one can follow. The crowd are really excited, cheering him on, and he’s lapping it up. He’s passing those from the early break, but Cunego is coming up behind, and now, with 3.4 km left, it’s him, Dario, and Van Huffel chasing Marzano. Come on Dario, one last effort! And yes, he’s off!
Dario rides away in pink
Finish: With a truly awesome effort, Dario gets his first stage win, as he powers past unlucky Marzano with 500m to go! Theo Eltink outsprints Cunego for third, whilst Emanuele Sella does me proud in fifth, 1’11 behind. Ghisalberti and Popovych fight it out 1’45 later in seventh and eigth, whilst Jose Rujano misses out on the top 10 for us by comin in eleventh. So Dario improves his lead, and the press marvel again after his great strength shone through again, although his modesty is in impressive, after he said he felt it was his great team that made it possible.
The fans loved Dario’s escape General Classification: 1. Dario Cataldo 58h39’58
2. Damiano Cunego + 3’38 3. Emaunele Sella + 4’29
4. Yaroslav Popovych + 4’51
5. Theo Eltink + 6’37 7. Benat Intxausti + 9’26
8. Jose Rujano + 9’44
31. David Belda + 19’20
Maglia Ciclamino (Points):
1. Alessandro Petacchi 179 Maglia Verde (King of the Mountains)
1. Dario Cataldo 26
Movers and Losers:
There were several big winners today, the most prominent of which is Theo Eltink and Sella. Eltink moves from ninth to fifth, whilst Sella is bumped up to third, whilst Popo suffers by going fourth. Other big winner include Ghisalberti, who is moving closer to where he belongs, after an eleven place increase from 20th to ninth. Rujano and Botero also move from the teens to the top 10, whilst Van Huffel’s top 10 performance earns him the biggest increase of the day, as he moves from 232nd to fifteenth. However, there were some big losses today, including Astana rider Luis Leon Sanchez, who moves from sixth to twentieth, as well as Gusev losing his top 10 position for CSC, and moving down to 24th.