Last stage in this years Tirreno - Adriatico and no less than 10 climbs wait for the riders. Definitely one of the hardest stages here and so the GC is not secured yet for any rider. Ponzi had problems from time to time on previous stages but always was able to fight back and keep the lead. One last time today and he will win the GC.
Behind him a huge fight though. Cunego Boasson Hagen Bakelants
all just maximum of 38s behind him. Surely they want to try something today and this actually also counts for more riders a bit further behind.
10 climbs obviously also means a lot of KoM points to get and so it`s not surprise to see Summerhill being part of the early group. Actually it`s not a surprise at all as we can call him king of the breakaway already being in nearly every group.
He is joined by 6 more riders: Ruijgh Wallays Vichot Vansummeren Kirsch Pineau
Not going to screen all KoM today as it would crash my photobucket account. But will try to give you a good overview of what happaned:
Attack Summerhill, other riders follow, Summerhill wins. This pretty much sums up all those early KoM`s except for the 2nd where he was blocked a bit. But any doubt that Summerhill will lose his jersey? Not sure if this is even possible math wise with his hilarious gap to the 2nd already.
1.
2.
3.
KoM 1:
Summerhill
Ruijgh
Kirsch
KoM 2:
Wallays
Summerhill
Vichot
Going up the 3rd climb the gap is already over 9min! A chance for the breakaway today? No real GC threat in there with Wallays more than 13min behind, so who knows.
Back to the KoM "fight". Summerhill domination would be the better name.
1.
2.
3.
KoM 3:
Summerhill
Ruijgh
Vichot
KoM 4:
Summerhill
Vansummeren
Ruijgh
KoM 5:
Summerhill
Ruijgh
Vichot
Climbing that 5th KoM, which is only Cat.3 rated actually despite having the steepest part so far, many riders struggle and we see a first selection.
Mainly sprinters and helpers behind though and no GC rider caught.
Surely one reason for Ponzi`s GC lead is his awesome team here. With Caruso and Rabottini he has two top25 riders at his side and also Pavarin inside the top40 with a solid performance.
Right now all 7 team mates in front of their leader closing the gap.
68km left and 7'30.
The hardest part is yet to come. Not only as the speed will go up here, but also because of that last climb, which by far is the hardest today! Just look at those slopes which are regularly going into double digits.
Also some more KoM`s to mention that we already have passed:
1.
2.
3.
KoM 6:
Summerhill
Vichot
Ruijgh
KoM 7:
Summerhill
Ruijgh
Vichot
KoM 8:
Summerhill
Pineau
Vichot
35km to go for the peloton. 2 less for the breakaway as the gap is still at a bit more than 5min.
We reach the second last climb of today and see the first favourite attacks trying to gap Ponzi. First to go is Bakelants followed by Van Garderen Boasson Hagen Ponzi Schleck Ginanni
and just a tiny bit later also by Ricco
and surprisingly one of Ponzi`s helpers in Caruso.
Obviously that list above did not show every top 10 rider and here we have one of the best as last years winner Cunego joins the attacks just a little bit later.
Behind him more riders realize that they should follow before the gap is too big: Gilbert with an attack and some riders at the front of the peloton with a high pace: Sinkewitz Ben Nasser Sagan Vanendert Valverde Roux Samoilev Juul-Jensen Kadri Rovny Boom Guldhammer Preidler
So who got no mention yet of those top riders? Pozzato being at the front of the peloton but not doing anything yet. Van der Hugenhaben also nothing but at least his team came to the front to chase. Levarlet also not seen yet while Krizek as 15th in the GC is not the biggest surprise as he climbed that high due to a breakaway success.
A group of 8 top favourites reach the top a bit mroe than 3min after the breakaway.
Those 8 are the first attackers but with Cunego instead of Caruso, who follows solo behind them with a good gap already.
Also Gilbert with another gap solo while Sagan, Valverde and Ben Nasser almost reach the Belgium.
Sinkewitz, Roux, Vanendert also not far behind those with Guldhammer and Van der Hugenhaben and Levarlet coming next within the peloton 29s behind the Sinkewitz group. Also in that big group a lot of those mentioned in the end such as Pozzato or Boom.
The descent almost as interesting as the uphill part as we see a lot of riders using their skills here.
Best descent probably by Caruso, who joined the Ponzi group after closing a 54s gap and we just have reached a bit more than the half.
Sagan joined Gilbert and they are only 37s behind.
Then several solo riders with Valverde +12, Ben Nasser +9, Sinkewitz +17 and the duo Vanendert/Roux +16.
Only +14 behind those two the former peloton, which is down to 27 riders with Bpost chasing.
Roux and Vanendert couldn`t join the front groups and so are catched by the peloton.
Probably better for those as Bpost and Volkswagen are doing a good pace here.
And now also Rothaus and Project 1t4i should be interested to chase.
The breakaway has still a ~3min gap but the hardest part is still ahead. Some riders become a bit nervous and attack in the hope to reduce the group in the possible stage win fight. Vansummeren Wallays Ruijgh Summerhill
Huge descent also by Gilbert and even more by Sagan.
Both are able to join the top favourites making it a group of 11.
+31: Valverde, Ben Nasser
+24: Sinkewitz
+17: Peloton (29)
Still a bit flat/downhill mix and the next two almost back with those.
Sinkewitz though was again caught by the peloton being only 34s behind.
The breakaway meanwhile refusioned but see the next attacks. This time by Vichot followed by Ruijgh.
Here we are again. Some riders did attack out of the favourite group and Ponzi not able to follow. Also the latest 2 come backers in Ben Nasser and Valverde are dropped again. But then again Ponzi was the only rider in front with a team mate which nicely supports him now. Strong performance by Caruso today.
After Caruso closed the gap as much as possible, Ponzi just has to jump to them again making it 10 riders in there with Ben Nasser following solo ahead of Caruso and Valverde, who surprisingly got dropped first of them by Caruso`s acceleration.
Gravel roads as highlight of the Tirreno Adriatico finale 2014. Cunego and Boasson Hagen with the first attack here and they almost gained 2min on those last 2km as Summerhill is the first to be dropped.
Vichot and Kirsch the first two reaching the top soon.
The fight between the two favourites is a very interesting one actually as they are the runner ups with only 23s back to Ponzi. So this is a huge attack in the hope to win the GC on the last day.
Ponzi though once again shows his fighting spirit. After being dropped and just came back he is the rider now trying to jump to the his biggest opponents. He even creates a gap to the Schleck/Bakelants group behind.
Let`s have a short look at the peloton. As you can see they don`t give up yet and why should they. The gap to the favourites is not too big and with Valverde and Caruso also back in there now we have quite a few teams with their leader in here:
Vueling, Bpost, Rothaus, Volkswagen, B&O, Project 1t4i...
Only 3 riders of the former breakaway made it on the descent ahead of the favourites:
Vichot
+15: Kirsch
+20: Pineau
And also the favourite group changed again and it`s almost hilarious how many up and downs you can have as Ponzi once again being dropped!
The first 6 chasers 21s behind Pineau are: Schleck Ricco Boasson Hagen Ruijgh Wallays Vansummeren
Yes. Indeed Cunego also got dropped! Big news!`
29s behind those 6 the duo Ponzi/ Ginanni.
+14: Cunego!, Bakelants, Van Garderen
+15: Gilbert, Sagan, Summerhill
+35: Ben Nasser
+53: Peloton (18)
So we will get quite a few gaps here with the riders left in the peloton being the biggest losers. That said most of them are only 15th-25th but Valverde as 8th probably the biggest loser today.
Boasson Hagen and Schleck both see a chance to improve on the GC. As long as first one though is still here, it`s maximum the 2nd for Schleck obviously.
Ricco can`t follow and is 11s but he is joined by race leader Ponzi! So the gap is small.
So after his recent down another up for Ponzi as he rejoins them. So it`s him, Schleck, Boasson Hagen and Ricco next to the former breakaway riders and still behind the leading trio.
32s already to the Cunego/Bakelants group.
No longer a peloton behind. A few riders did attack and try to reduce their time loss: Van der Hugenhaben Valverde Roux Pozzato Guldhammer
Still it`s not longer about seconds but more about 2-3 minutes for them.
The first rider reaching the Flamme Rouge is Vichot. He still has that gap to Kirsch behind him.
Pineau though is just caught by the first favourites.
Schleck starts the sprint followed by Ricco, Ponzi and Hagen. So everything is looking perfect for Ponzi again.
Behind the desperate attempt by Cunego/Bakelants to come back! Surely todays biggest losers next to Valverde.
Ginanni though could become a winner of todays stage even though he surely had hoped to be further up in the front group.
Nice win for Vueling though who got a big GC down today. But at least they take the stage win to compensate this a bit.
After doing a lot of work for his leaders, Vichot rewards himself today.
Also a nice result for young Alex Kirsch. Not the win but a 2nd shows his talent in the years to come. Don`t forget that he is not even maxed yet and only at the young age of 21.
Ponzi being the strongest sprinter here goes in the lead and might even finish as 3rd today...
...and indeed he does. Here comes the 2014 winner of the Tirreno Adriatico: Simone Ponzi. A small surprise I think but the route was perfect for a rider like him, who can sprint for lots of bonus seconds and then fight on the less suited stages to reduce the loss there. In the end indeed those bonus seconds saved him the GC as Boasson Hagen will finish as 2nd in the GC only 31s behind.
Also in this group Schleck, Rico and 4 former breakaway riders hanging on during the descent. But how will this influence the GC?
Van Garderen, Cunego, Bakelants and Ginanni next. The clock says +1'10, which means +31 to the previous group.
GC wise Cunego will lose his 2nd on Boasson Hagen but will stay on the podium. Also Bakelants will keep his 4th as the gap to Schleck was big enough.
Ricco as 6th and Van Gardern as 7th also keep their GC positions. But what about Ginanni? He was 11th before todays stage but finished better today. So how far will he improve?
Sagan with a brilliant Tirreno Adriatico I think and he might be the biggest surprise actually. He comes in next together with Gilbert. They were 9th and 10th before todays stage but both will get passed by Ginanni. But what about Valverde? He is still on the road as former 8th.
Ben Nasser and Summerhill next. As Valverde hasn`t finished yet, he will be passed by Ginanni, who will improve from 11th to 8th on the final day, while Sagan and Gilbert both keep their positions inside the top10! Valverde will drop out!
Here he comes. Together with Van der Hugenhaben, Guldhammer and Roux and actually also Pozzato a bit behind. +3'05 and about 2'30 behind Ponzi.
GC wise this means that Valverde will be 11th, Von der Hugenhaben 12th, and Guldhammer 14th. Pozzato and Roux improve one spot as Krizek is far off today.
Then the first bigger group including the likes of Sinkewitz, Boom, Levarlet, Vanendert, Caruso, Siutsou etc.
Sinkewitz as 13th in the GC makes it at least two Vueling riders in the top13, which gives them a decent amount of points. Then again losing 8th is not ideal for them of course.
Ben Nasser finishes as 15th after his improvement today. Probably somewhere around where he was expected in that startlist and 1-2 a bit mountaineous stages.
Vanendert drops to 16th followed by Pozzato and Roux.
Krizek as new 19th ahead of Boom to complete the top20.
Then most co-leaders/team mates to complete the top 30 such as Levarlet, Caruso, Rabottini etc.
Having spoken of the GC only so far, I need to mention the other rankings as well.
The most obvious of course the KoM ranking. Hilarious gap here and the top3 are all of todays breakway which is no surprise with so many KoM`s.
Summerhill with 118 points almost having a 100 point gap to Ruijgh in 2nd having the amount of 29! points. Vichot with 25 points as 3rd.
With 3 stage wins GC winner Ponzi was the obvious chose for the points ranking. The fight for the podium a bit closer with Boasson Hagen taking 2nd ahead of Bakelants as most consistent scorers behind Ponzi.
The youth ranking goes to Peter Sagan with a well deserved win being 4'41 of the stronger expected Guldhammer. In the end you also could say Guldhammer is where he was expected but Sagan is far higher than expected.
Travis Meyer 3rd here and yes, it`s his first mention so far as it was a very anonymous race for the 24th in the GC.
With the double GC lead and todays stage win Vueling passes Good Energy for 1st in the team rankings. 3rd for Bpost ahead of Festina and Volkswagen, who passed Pendletons and RedBull on todays final stage. So some extra points.
And now finally the result with only one abandon with Guardini as today all riders made it inside the time limit!
