Mresuperstar wrote:
I like keeping the reports in chronological order by date, but I also feel like keeping the stages together it is easier for the readers to follow the action. IMO
Seeking to defend his mountain jersey, Cameron Wurf joins the morning break. And luckily, no one challenges him and he can take the full 16 points. So far so good for Liquigas.
The last ascent is probably the reason why this stage is classified as hilly. And indeed the peloton splits on that climb. A seven men group around the overall leaders Pellizotti and Cunego gets loose from the peloton which later reuniteds with 8 others to a large leading group.
A sprint will decide today's winner. Mauro Finetto leads out his captain Cunego and that works fantastic! Finetto pulls away with two kilometers to go and Cunego overtakes him within the last 800m to take an easy win. Pellizotti on four misses valuable bonus seconds.
With his first win for Liquigas, Damiano Cunego is only 9 seconds behind Pellizotti now.
1
Damiano Cunego
Liquigas - Cannondale
3h25'06
2
Daniele Pietropolli
Lampre - ISD
s.t.
3
Gerald Ciolek
Team T-Mobile
s.t.
4
Franco Pellizotti
Katusha Team
s.t.
5
Mauro Finetto
Liquigas - Cannondale
s.t.
Today's the day. The traditional Willunga Hill shall decide the overall. But as usual, it's first time for the daily breakaway. A relatively strong group around Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel) and Coen Vermeltfoort (Skil) quickly gained 5 minutes but is well controled by Liquigas and back in the pack on top of the Willunga Hill.
One stage win last year, one now: Mauro Finetto really likes the Tour Down Under.
1
Mauro Finetto
Liquigas – Cannondale
3h43'06
2
Daniele Pietropolli
Lampre – ISD
+ 11
3
Jan Bakelandts
Omega Pharma – Lotto
s.t.
Liquigas obviously wants to try everything today. They hold everything together and Cunego attacked and took three bonus seconds on the intermediate sprint. Still he would have to collect some bonus seconds in the finish. Cunego also takes the bonus seconds on the second sprint which means that he would need to finish at least third.
But a last desperate attack didn't succeed so Cunego will have to make do with his second place. In the bunch sprint, GreenEdge and Lampre were again predominant but it was Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ) who jumped from Petacchi's wheel to the stage win. Mauro Finetto finished on a decent sixth spot.
Hutarovich grants FDJ a good start into World Tour.
What a comeback to cycling after one year of absence! Franco Pellizotti provides his new team Katusha with a promising season kick-off after his great win on stage two and holding off Cunego afterwards. Katusha and Liquigas really seem to continue to be the dominating teams.
Second and fourth overall, winning the points, mountain and teams classification plus two stage wins – I guess this Tour can just be considered as a nice success for us. Still we would of course have liked to win this whole thing but it's really a good start into 2012.
Thank you all. It is indeed quite bitter: Last year, I lost the TdU with Finetto by 2 seconds to Cavendish, now with 3 seconds to Pellizotti... Well it was good nevertheless imo
Hopefully I (or Dominik, if you will) can live up to the expectations in Malaysia. Here's the preview:
With 10 stages, the Tour de Langkawi is rather long, but it's only two stages that will decide the overall victory:
After three flat stages, stage four features a very long ascent to the Cameron Highlands. The climb begins already after a bit more than half of the stage and lasts about 60 km, although it's not steady and not that steep. Still it will be a tough challenge for the riders.
On stage 5, the peloton firstly has to ride 102 calm, flat kilometers until it hits the long final ascent. The climb up to the Genting Highlands has a total length of 22km with an average gradient of 7 % and a maximum of 15 %.
What follows are again five mostly flat stages with almost no possibility to create time gaps. So the sprinters who managed to survive both hard climbs will get a lot of chances for nice results.
Spoiler
Result in 2011
1
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
2
Haimar Zubeldia
Team RadioShack
3
John Gadret
Ag2r – La Mondiale
4
Carlos Sastre
Geox - TMC
5
Alberto Losada
Katusha Team
Favorites
David Arroyo (Movistar) , Przemyslav Niemiec (Lampre)
Stefano Garzelli (Katusha)
Juan Mauricio Soler (Movistar) , Maxim Bouet (Ag2r)
The field is unfortunatly stronger than expected (or hoped for). Both Movistar and Lampre are here with exceptionally strong squads and will be very hard to beat. But apart from the riders mentioned above, there are few riders who should be able to challenge me in the mountains which is why I aim for a Top 10 minimum. With my relatively good shape, I hope to overtake riders who usually might be better than me.
Team Liquigas
For the first time, I will lead a squad for Liquigas in a stage race where I have realistic chances for a good overall placement. With last year's eigth Valerio Agnoli, Damiano Caruso and Alessandro Vanotti, I have some strong mountain helpers with me and although they're in a bad shape, we hope for good sprint results with Davide Cimolai, Tiziano Dall'Antonia or Maciej Paterski, who has the best shape of the three sprinters.
The citerium in Kuah, the capital of the Langkawi District, is pretty flat, the short ascent shouldn't trouble the riders too much. It's most probably going to be a sprinter's decision.
Dominik's Pre-Race Comment
Well, it should be a calm season kick-off for us. The stage is pretty short and not very difficult, so the only task for us is to stay out of trouble and prepare Tiziano and Davide for the sprint. Anyway, I'm very, very happy that I'm back on the bike again! Let's go for a great season!
Live Ticker
Km 1:
And here we go, the race is opened: Scott Stewart (Type 1) sets the first attack of this race.
Km 7:
A group around Stewart has now about a minute of advance but the attacks from the pack keep coming.
Km 16:
After the first round of the criterium, 8 riders are about one and a half minute in front. Bert de Waele is the most known among them.
Km 22:
There's movement in the front group: After a couple of riders bridged the gap from the peloton, the group splits!
Km 31:
The race doesn't come to rest – 16 riders are in front now but the pack isn't willing to let such a big group go.
Km 35:
Giuseppe Muraglia (D'Angelo) wins the first intermediate sprint in front of Adam Sznitko (Farnese) and Bert De Waele (Landbouwkrediet). The advance fell below a minute.
Km 42:
Shortly before the first mountain sprint, everything's back together – only De Waele is still a bit ahead.
It's mostly the German Team NetApp who does the pace for their sprinter Daryl Impey. Due to their work, the escapees are back in the peloton. 19 km to go.
Km 83:
The hill is passed the last time and the sprint preparations are in full play. NetApp for Impey, Saur for Casper and Liquigas for Cimolai are the predominant trains.
Km 88:
With a late attack, Bram Schmitz (Dirk Grepdon) tries to surprise the sprinters and creates a gap!
Km 90:
But he's caught again and the sprint can begin. Dominik Nerz does a good job and places Dall'Antonia, Paterski and Cimolai close to the front.
Km 91,5:
As Paterski overtakes the lead out, they already fell back a bit. Jimmy Casper is in the front with Bernardo Riccio (D'Angelo) at his wheel!
Km 92,5:
Within the last 500m, four riders fight for the win. Impey (NetApp) and Mondory (Ag2r) are closing up with Casper and Riccio. On the left side of the street, Cimolai fights for a Top 5!
Km 93:
And it's the Frenchman Mondory who has the fastest end speed and takes the win! Riccio and Casper hold on to the podium, Cimolai finishes seventh.
Alright, first race day of the season is over. It was a strange stage, as often on such a short stage the peloton was unsettled, lots of attacks without a real break of the day, but we managed to get through it well. The sprint could have been better, but we knew that our sprinters, especially Tiziano and Davide, aren't in a decent shape yet. Plus, I'm not a perfect lead out, although I think our train worked quite okay. Maybe Maciej, who has the best shape of our sprinters, might go for himself tomorrow.
Anyway, it felt great to ride again and I'm eager to see what I can do this year. I hope you enjoyed the first live ticker of this year.
Stay tuned, Edited by cunego59 on 20-09-2011 09:20
@ kitface: Thanks. I thought that signature would be a nice idea Well, a Top 10 isn't too bad for Cimolai in his current shape... Maybe in the later stages, the results will be better.
@ FreitasPCM: Yep, it could have been worse. I try to keep Dominik close to the front in the sprints as well so he should make it well till the mountains.
