Whilst we wait in the lull of PCM 10 release, World Cup 2010, exam beginning of the TdF. I thought I would pick out some moments to saviour from the Continental Tour so far.
HC top three
The higher points on offer has attracted top class teams to the Higher Category races. I pick out my top three performances.
1) Rein Taaramae stage 5 Tour de San Luis.
Champion from the year previous was lying 1 second behind Climber Jose Serpa going in to the stage. Attacks at the bottom of the last climb of the day, not a particularly steep one, Serpa tries to get across a number of times. Stage 2 winner Florencio Marquez makes it across but Taaramae accelerates again and keeps him off for GC clinching stage win in the toughest HC race of the early season.
2) Maxime Monfort conquers Mont Faron at the Tour of the Mediterranean.
The stage one split seemed to leave the destiny of Tour of the Med in two riders hands and after the TTT all Monfort seemed to have to do was hold Stefan Schumachers wheel. But the LEGO man confirmed his victory with a perfectly timed climb of the short but brutal Toulan climb to edge out Calzati to win the stage and clinch the overall victory.
3) Arashiro stuns the field at TDU.
After shocking the sprinters on stage 2 and edging to the overall lead the Japanese rider romped home on the Tour Down Unders queen Willunga hill stage. This followed lots of attacks that simply failed to stick and with 5km to go we looked like a bunch sprint was likely but the tired reduced peleton looked on in stun as the Red Bull man took the bull by the horns and went for broke.
C1 top five
Teams have been racking their brains thinking of appropriate races for the lesser categories. Due to a higher volume of these ones I have picked out my top five performances.
1) Mikhail Ignatiev blitzes the Algarve Time Trial. Several top Time Triallers were here and when Mikhail Ignatiev lost the best part of a minute to Jurgen Van Den Broeck on the previous hilly stage. That was not going to be a problem as the Russian beat the Sport Lisboa man by 62 seconds with Kiryenka at 77 seconds, Elijzen at 79 seconds and Craven at 89 seconds. A chilling precursor for TT dominated races to come.
2) Jose Alarcon dominates Mt Hood climbs. Ikea's mountain goat highlighted his stage race winning pedigree by taking to two toughest stages of Mt. Hood and also joining his team on winning the Team Time Trial too. Mt Hood boasted a strong field of climbers, so the win was far from assured, after a weak prologue Alarcon stormed away on the Mt Cooper stage to take the leaders jersey. This was confirmed with the TTT, and finally outlasted everyone on the last climbers stage.
3) Murgoitio solos to win stage 10 in Tachira
Tachira's weakish field led to the overall race being dominated by a pair of Venezualans. However Portuguese team Sport Lisboa left their mark, with an outstanding team effort. They proved the only team strong enough to hold the race together, so when one of their own attacked a tired field early on the 10th stage it would prove decisive. Still a wonderful effort 100km plus out on the road alone Egoitz Murgoitio solo'd in at 3 and half minutes ahead of everyone else on a mountain top finish.
4) Craven wins Tour of Wellington by one second!
Bimbo Nutella's African youngster looks set to followMikhail Ignatiev around the world placing in Time Trials this year. However Ignatiev had bigger fish to fry than a low profile event in New Zealand. Going into the crucial short Time Trial stage, Cillit Bang's Jonny Bellis held a flimsy lead over Romain Sicard (no slouch in the TT) department. But the real battle was going to be between Craven and Pokerstars Stef Clement. It was clear both were useful against the clock and as Craven came in it looked nip and tuck and after several checks it was revealed he just about had done enough.
5) Davis wins the Classic sprint
Let's not be deceived by the c1 billing, this flat as a pancake criterium reeled in several superstar sprinters with teams hoping for an early season boost. Cavendish, Mohs, Vaitkus, Ciolek, Crocket and Casper just to name a few it certainly promised to be a chaotic sprint. However Davis had other idea's settling himself behind LEGO's Ciolek train and behind the quick but low flat speed of Thorson. It may have bothered some that Van Heerden and Cavendish were also on his wheel. But whilst LEGO and Pokerstars battled in the early sprint, Davis timed his move behind Thorson brilliantly as Cav and Van Heerden struggled in his wake.
Edited by Smowz on 03-07-2010 17:08
Looking at the season opening, squad by squad. The squads are in points by race day order, so I guess it gets more negative the further down the list you go!
Pendletons
Points: 781
Race days: 21
Points per race day: 37.19
Star Man: Jaan Van Heerden, he and his lead out riders kept off the floor down under.
The surprise of the season start, Pendleton's have the highest average of any of the teams. Superstar Phillipe Gilbert has not even made his debut yet! Well targeted races and a dose of fortune has gone a long way, certainly looking a promising year for the British based team.
Wiggle
Points: 975
Race days: 30
Points per race day: 32.50
Star Man: Mikhail Ignatiev, Individual CT winner?, gotta be attacked in a race with a TT.
Highly consistent team, underlining promotion credentials with competitive teams sent to every race so far. Ignatiev was sensational in his opening time trial and Simone Ponzi looks like a real star in his wild card race and 2nd in Sardinia GC. Races will get tougher, but it is looking good for a talented squad, who will generate points aplenty.
Ikea
Points: 892
Race days:31
Points per race day: 28.77
Star Man: Rein Taaramae, had to battle hard but winning one of CT's toughest races and gaining a huge amount of points in the process.
Ikea have underlined their promotion possibilities with two fantastic stage race performances from Taaramae and Alarcon. Stage wins here and there early on got some early points and with two sound cobbled riders ready for the cobbled season cannot see the Swedish star dropping any time soon. The odd poor race here and there are going to give others encouragement however.
Tinkoff:
Points: 553
Race days: 20
Points per race day: 27.65
Star Man: Alexander Kolobnev breaks away on stage 2 and delivers an excellent GC victory in Sardinia
Well organised Russian outfit, that have been picking up landmark results in races they have been involved in. Maintains momentum from Tour Med TTT victory to land a string GC victory in Sardinia, this team have outside top 10 team standings possibilities.
UBS
Points: 715
Race days: 27
Points per race day: 26.48
Star man: Max Richeze, two stage wins at home tour.
No less than six stage wins for parcel deliverers, Schumacher still disappoints but who cares as long as the points remain good. A weak race at Mt Hood may have toned down expectations somewhat but remain promotion contenders.
Mercedes
Points: 660
Race days: 25
Points per race day: 26.40
Star Man: Ben Jacques Maynes, showing there is more to this team than Pozzato with 2nd overall in Tour Med.
Great start from the beleaguered US team. Pozzato is a star and won his only race, however it was the performance of the rest of the team that has raised eyebrows. Haedo worked hard to get 3rd overall in Gabon and also got 4th in a top field in the Down Under Classic. Things beginning to slow down at end of February with fairly lightweight performances in the US and Italy.
Red Bull:
Points: 803
Race days: 32
Points per race day: 25.09
Star Man: Yukiya Arashiro, surprised everyone popping to take two stages and win the Tour Down Under.
Much like Pendleton's the team have maintained momentum from a great result early on, John Lee Augustyn riding consistently for high GC placings. Determined to be competitive in every race, sticking around in high company on the team standings. Not really racing in Europe however and surely lacking in star power.
Sport Lisboa
Points: 958
Race days: 41
Points per race day: 23.57
Star man: Jurgen Van Den Broeck, so close to beating odds on favourite Ignatiev in Algarve.
Brilliant at Tachira, Algarve and San Luis but also rans Down Under, at Tour Med and in Sardinia. Mountain climbers are some of the best, but the rest as usual are not picking up the points. At Algarve new signing rocked up the hilly stage and the VDB would have won the Algarve had it not been for a superhuman TT performance. Similar in San Luis with Marquez only beaten by the excellent Taaramae. Early leaders being pegged back.
Petronas
Points: 903
Race days: 40
Points per race day: 22.58
Star Man: Manual Lloret, once again squad is riding well in the early season without winning much. Lloret rides will in America.
Sticking to last year's formula and its working for them again with consistent performances toward a top 10 finish. Not seen to main man Carrara yet, probably in Langkawi where his TT weakness will not be exposed. Have the uncanny knack of getting multiple riders quietly in high GC positions, it's a good habit to have!
Lego
Points: 575
Race days: 28
Points per race day: 20.54
Star Man: Maxime Monfort, LEGO's highest paid rider paying them back with some great performances in HC races.
Fancied by many to be nipping at the heels of the top 5 or so this year, LEGO are delivering so far. It will be interesting to see whether Monfort can remain consistent. Ciolek didn't quite fire down under, and squad couldn't capitalise on a weak field in Tachira. Plenty of hope for more good things to come with Rabon and Kolda Gil.
100% Me
Points: 551
Race days: 27
Points per race day: 20.41
Star man: Cavendish, looks in the mood with a stage win Down Under.
Been a frustrating start to the season for the British team. The punchaers have been active enough putting on showy digs everywhere they have been. They have been unfortunate with crashes, in particular Froome at Wellington. The sprinters Cav, Swift and Kennaugh all have made their debuts and only Cav won the other two bombed in weakish fields. First action in Europe proved no better in Sardinia, Dan Martin scrapping for a mountain jersey is below expectations.
Still points have been gained consistently, stage wins have occurred here and there to keep the engines purring. Now the Cobbled season starts and Blythe/Thomas begin to show their class.
Santander
Points: 378
Race days: 19
Points per race day: 19.89
Star Man: David Abal, might have disappointed in San Luis, but battled really hard for his current landlords in Mt Hood.
Early days and Santander are beginning to rise up the team standings, with better performances in the US and Italy. Most of their best climbers are yet to debut it remains to be seen how their season will go.
Pirelli
Points: 387
Race days: 20
Points per race day: 19.35
Star Man: Jose Serpa, almost upset the IKEA machine in San Luis.
Fairly lightly raced and made a good impact at San Luis and more impressively without Serpa in Sardinia. Loddo weighed in with two excellent stage wins there, giving Pirelli some useful momentum going into a big race in Langkawi.
Bimbo Nutella
Points: 321
Race days: 18
Points per race day: 17.83
Star Man: Craven one second was long enough to record a big win in New Zealand.
Sensational start to the season in Wellington, with two stage wins, the points jersey and Craven TTed his way to overall win. Began to get more of a realistic assessment in the tougher race at Algarve, still Craven up there in 4th overall. Rather limp team in their latest race at the Tour Med and the days slipped by without any impact. A little early to tell how season will go.
Cillit Bang
Points: 436
Race days: 25
Points per race day: 17.44
Star Man: Jonathan Bellis, winner in La Tropicale and would have won in Wellington too if the rotters hadn't scheduled a Time Trial
A start of the season with ups in the smaller races and muted in the bigger races. Ben Nasser has become a luxury domestique, which seems a waste. Some of the squad riders have finished embarrassingly far behind the peleton in some of the early races. The squad in Sardinia was way behind the pace.
Quiksilver:
Points: 517
Race days: 32
Points per race day: 16.16
Star man: Allan Davis, winning the highly competitive Down Under Classic
Yeison Delgado performed well enough in his home tour at Tachira, but had one bad day and it cost him. Nethertheless Damian Martinez took the points jersey there and Davis was going well Down Under. Couldn't make the decisive moment in the stage race and the team have been very quiet since. Race days slipped by in America, Yasmiri Martinez rode ok at San Luis but not a lot happened at Mt Hood.
Pokerstars
Points: 449
Race days: 28
Points per race day: 16.04
Star Man: Marco Guillen, TWO stage wins in Wellington where Pokerstars had the man to finish off their fine sprint train.
Easy to spot their green jerseys and the sprinters have been in good form with wins in the Criterium series and indeed showing well in races of this type in the C Tour. Beginning to show their worth in stage races with Clement in Wellington and on the TTT at the Tour Med. Will be looking forward to the cobbled races.
El Al
Points: 563
Race days: 40
Points per race day: 14.08
Star Man: Sylvian Calzati, French leader just misses out on Faron again.
Been involved but been mainly minor placings for the Israeli based team. Calzati showed well on Mt Faron one of the stages of the early season and team also did well in Bloemfontain in the type of race that may suit them best this year. A lot of races, gives them a slightly bloated position on the team standings.
Bacardi Colt
Points: 346
Race days: 25
Points per race day: 13.84
Star Man: Nazon gave Bacardi some reason to hope for men outside their top 3 with a stage win at Algarve.
Matthew Goss and Kim Kirchen came good at Tour Med, isolated performances in their other races, including a stage win for Nazon at Algarve and a good performance by Bagdonis in Gabon. Lack of strength in depth seems to be hurting Bacardi, will be desperate for Ricco to perform well when he makes his long awaited debut. Vespa
Points: 160
Race days: 13
Points per race day: 12.31
Star Man: Simone Proni, battled hard Down Under and at Sardinia to get his team GC points.
Lightly raced top 10 contenders choosing to watch their rivals in the early stages. Steegmans and Ginanni disappoint in their season debuts, Steegmans was rather crowded out by a strong field. Ginanni mysteriously pulled out of the tour in Sardinia. Secondary riders stepped into the breach but could not deliver the desired results. Gotta improve soon.
BBox
Points: 252
Race days: 21
Points per race day: 12.00
Star Man: Andre Griepal, three times on the podium in a HC stage race. German is hungry!
Lightly raced. Asterloza underperformed at Tachira, but late signing Andre Griepal looked in the mood at San Luis. Season however has yet to truly begin.
Intesa
Points: 371
Race days: 31
Points per race day: 11.97
Star man: Johan Vansumerren, nice win on final stage at Algarve.
A little below par start from Intesa. Perhaps slightly outgunned in the three HC stage races and have been a bit unlucky with the kind of fields present at Algarve and Sardinia. Will be hoping to escape the stronger riders in races to come. Lots of little nuggetty performances here and there, Grabovski winning the TT at San Luis, Cappachi attacking Down Under and Mertens riding well up Mt Faron.
Youtube:
Points: 427
Race days: 36
Points per race day: 11.86
Star Man: Richard Ochoa Quintero, goal grabbing performance in Tachira, cleverly attacking on hilly stage to beat Mountain goat Delgado.
Were thrilled to win the Venezualan tour of Tachira, that was an important win for the team. Spent the rest of the opening two months making up the numbers, despite some high hopes. Crashes at San Luis and Algarve cost them and couldn't make the grade at Tour Med. Will be looking forward to the next long tour to which they seem well suited to pick up the results.
Yamaha:
Points: 338
Race days: 29
Points per race day: 11.66
Star Man: Daryl Impey, most likely to net consistent points. Sprinting well and climbing hills too.
Very attacking team, though plenty of time close to stage wins with breakaway rides from the likes of Landaluze and Karelis. The endless attacks should yield some results and my prediction that this team would finish bottom of the team standings seems premature. Yet to see Cadel Evans, should be interesting to see where he is raced.
Telenor
Points: 326
Race days: 32
Points per race day: 10.19
Star Man: Thomas Rohregger, unlucky in Wellington and picked himself up to perform well at Mt Hood.
After a fairly long wait beginning to make an impact in stage races in the Americas. Early on, riders disappointed with anonymous showings in Gabon and in Oceania. Excellent TTT squad at Mt Hood, but lacking real stars to win races.
Milka
Points: 126
Race days: 13
Points per race day: 9.69
Star Man: Jimmy Caspar, won a stage in a high class sprinting field in the TdU.
Not a lot of races in the CTour, but a couple of stage wins to cheer the reformed Kenda team. Better things to come this year and the next, young Nepomnyskiy impressed in his debut at Algarve
Highroad
Points: 148
Race days: 28
Points per race day: 5.29
Star Man: Maxime Vantomme, was up there with the best sprinters down under before the whole race went tits up.
Elizen did well enough in Algarve, but finding the competition in HC company too tough for the limited Belgian team. Its going to be a tough season for the new team, but plenty of riders in development and its hard not to like their Belgian / Netherlands roots. Worth watching their star man Vantomme closely could go well in slightly lesser company
Unicredit
Points: 68
Race days: 13
Points per race day: 5.23
Star Man: Daniel Napolitano, big stage win in a home tour
Barely noticed in opening two races in tough company at Bloemfontain and San Luis. Began to show themselves with their strong Italian pair Nappy and Gaspa and were rewarded with their opening stage win. Beginning to move through the gears, more to come.
Falcon
Points: 94
Race days: 20
Points per race day: 4.70
Star Man: Theo Eltink, poor TT ruined what was a promising race in Algarve.
A weak start to the year, from a squad with some good sprinters will hope for better in Europe where they should be more at home. Fairly lightly raced to be fair and will hope to go better in races in Northern Europe.
Edited by Smowz on 04-07-2010 11:00
With just 5 Pro Tour events CT exposure would be limited in this field as the Pro Tour slowly got under way. The Tour of Qatar largely came down to the opening TTT and getting into windy splits. This meant many teams including our own Milka squad struggling to make an impact. The Trio of stage races in February gave our boys a great chance of challenging the spread out squads. Wiggle made a great impact, Youtube were thereabouts on the toughest stages and Red Bull performed okay also in their respective tours. Wiggle also did really well at the Milan San Remo, where Vespa too performed respectively.
Tour of Qatar:
Team: Milka
Best Result: Thor Hushovd 11th stage 2
Overall: 42nd Tiziano Dall' Antonia, 43rd Thomas De Gendt, 44th Thor Hushovd [11th in Teams classification]
Spoiler
Milka sent some of their best sprinters, notably Thor Hushovd and Jimmy Casper to the Middle East in the hope of snatching some podiums. The opening stages showed some promise with an expected reasonable mid table TTT finish and Hushovd got 11th in first road stage and Forero got 13th in stage 3.
In the windier stages Milka were unable to get numbers into the splits. With Hushovd on his own on stage 4 he was unable to involve himself in the split. In stage 5 Hushovd himself sprinted in the front of the second group to ensure no splits, but then in the last stage Milka could not make the splits once again.
Tirreno Adriatico:
Team: Wiggle
Best Result: Simone Ponzi, winner stage 1 and stage 7
Overall: 5th Simone Ponzi, 7th Dario Cataldo, 13th Ricardo Nocentini, 24th Damiano Caruso, 27th Leonardo Bertagnolli, 29th Mikhail Ignatiev [Won the teams classification]
Spoiler
Promotion contenders Wiggle sent a top team here with Ponzi, Ignatiev, Caruso, Cataldo and Luke Rowe capable of scoring good results in a top class field.
Simone Ponzi showed great awareness riding away from the pack to surprise the hardy sprinters and win the opening stage of which Luke Rowe also got 5th. Six of the eight man team finished within the 48 man lead group. On leading rider duty on stage 2, Wiggle hold things together well with Rowe 8th, Ponzi 9th and ignatiev 10th. Drama in stage 3 as Ponzi crashes on finishing straight Luke Rowe continues his great sprinting form with a 2nd place just behind Grillo.
Montepolone on stage 4 and Wiggle in the action again with Ponzi the pick finishing with the leaders just edged out of the bonifications. Cataldo was 23 seconds back, but unfortunately Ignatiev has a bad day 4 minutes down despite looking active earlier. The Time Trial was always going to be difficult with Ignatiev riding into 6th place well behind three of the top TTers in the world Zabriske, Phinney and Rogers. Ponzi, Cataldo and Nocentini worked hard for half decent performances to hold onto GC positions of 7th, 9th and 16th respectively.
Paris Nice:
Team: Youtube Twitter
Best result: 3rd stage 6 with Richard Ochoa Quintero
Overall: 8th Franco Pellizotti, 21st Richard Ochoa Quintero, 26th Przemyslaw Niemiec, 27th Igor Anton, 28th Amets Txurruka, 34th Peter Velits [Won the Teams classification]
Spoiler
Youtube- Twitter represented the C Tour in this one. Had a quiet start with no real sprinters or particularly talented TTist's, bided time until the hillier stages. A good team present here, though the ProTour company was looking pretty strong and keyed up. Stage 4 saw Franco Pellizotti make the lead group of 17 in an attacking but not decisive moment. Quiet again in Stage 5, which really was the stage to get the KOM jersey.
The big stage 6 arrived and Youtube's Tachira champion Ochoa went with the break after the previous day's break win. This proved decisive though Vesuvio's Medvedev won the day, Ochoa managed a credible 3rd ahead of the GC chasing Sella. Pellizotti was in the next group of main contenders to move up to 6th overall, whilst Ochoa's day moved him up to 11th. An excellent day for Youtube.
Stage 7 saw Peter Velits on the breakaway taking a lot of mountain primes and would have been a stage victory candidate but this time the pack would chase this down. Despite several riders in the lead group Youtube's GC candidates lost time on some of the other GC men. Pellizotti moved down to 8th and Ochoa to 12th. Further down other Youtube riders move into the top 30 due to consistency.
After two good days, Youtube were looking to protect their GC positions. Pellizotti did hold on to 8th overall and went with the attacks as a lot of the riders looked for the last hurrah here. Unfortunately Ochoa could not protect his 12th and moved down to 21st.
Volta a Catalunya:
Team: Red Bull Cycling
Best Stage: 4th stage 7, Fumiyaki Beppu
Overall: 7th Konstantin Siutsou, 27th Edwin Parra, 34th Victor Hugo Orozco, 37th Jianhua Ji, 38th Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez [5th in Teams classification]
Spoiler
It was Red Bull's turn in the wild card position as they sent arguably their strongest rider Konstantin Siutsou in against Valverde and co in North West Spain. The big stages came early in this one, and the newly formed team would have been encourages to have had 6 of their riders in the 65 man front group at the end of stage 2 (notably on loan Sam Bewley winning).
Stage 3 saw far more major splits, with the 3 man group of Valverde, Uran and Plaza romping away. However in their wake was Kolesnikov and Siutsou and Red Bull could rightly celebrate their main man moving into 4th overall.
As Valverde showed his strength on the queen stage, Siutsou struggled hard to maintain a top 10 GC position finishing just ahead of a large peleton group in 9th. This left him 8th on GC and a combintation of good tactical riding and good luck enable the Belerussian to overtake Menchov via countback on the last three flat stages. Breakaways proved the name of the game in these stages, with the active Fumi Beppu waving the Japanese, Red Bull and CT flag with a fine fourth on the last stage.
Milan San Remo:
Teams: Wiggle and Vespa
Wiggle overall: 4th Simone Ponzi, 6th Mikhail Ignatiev, 20th Damiano Caruso, 26th Leonardo Bertagnolli, 27th Ben Hermans, 35th Luke Rowe
Vespa overall: 5th Francesco Ginanni, 14th Gert Steegmans, 25th Manual Quinzato
Spoiler
With two of CT's finest and most experienced teams in Vespa and Wiggle here, hopes were high for an upset. Wiggle sowed their intention to show their jersey off with the useful Luke Rown out in the BOTD. It was clear though with Festina (riding for Bewley) and La Gazzeta (riding for Benetti) some more tactical moves were going to be needed with the early break well marshalled.
A second moved was formed as Wiggle's Bertagnolli looked to join his teammate up front, also in this move was Vespa's Proni. Clearly attack was on the two CT teams minds. Le Manie proved a test to far for Proni and Rowe, but Rowe's teammate Bertagnolli showed his power by moving with a strong group including Frank Schleck. Unfortunately this came to nought, but a softened up peloton hesitated whilst a determined Ballan of CT alumni Sony Ericsson went clear.
This would prove the decisive move, as the rest of the pack would battle over the Poggio climbs but fail to catch the Italian. Sam Bewley was good enough to come in second with Wiggle's Ponzi and Ignatiev 4th and 6th sandwiching Vespa's Ginanni. A credible performance by the wild cards here with a moral victory for the C Tour with a Sony Ericsson win!
Great review there. Unfortunately, it was Matt Rowe in the break of the day (at Milan San Remo: he's loaned out to some Pro Tour team).
Edited by rjc_43 on 04-07-2010 13:32
