2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 21

May 27, Stage 21: Milan (ITT) 31.5km

Ryder Hesjedal wins the Giro d'Italia

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-21/results)

Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) became the first Canadian rider to win a grand tour when he finished 47 seconds ahead of overnight leader Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) in the final time trial in Milan to claim the Giro d’Italia title by a mere 16 seconds. Hesjedal finished sixth in the 28.2km Milan test, which was won by Marco Pinotti (BMC Racing), ahead of Sky’s Geraint Thomas and RadioShack’s Jesse Sergent.
Hesjedal cleared all but two seconds of his 31-second deficit on Rodríguez by the first time check and continued to gain time on the Spaniard, who had admitted beforehand that he would need a miracle to hold on to the pink jersey. Apart from a couple of dicey moments when his bike slipped as he went through two tight corners, Hesjedal was always on course to achieve his goal, although Rodríguez finished strongly and did not lose as much team as many had expected.

Third place on the podium went to Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM), who built on his stunning Stelvio victory yesterday. The Belgian finished fifth on the day and relegated defending champion Michele Scarponi to fourth place. De Gendt’s elevation to third meant that there was no Italian on the final podium for the first time since 1995.

Having hugged his wife after crossing the line, Hesjedal quickly received confirmation that he regained the maglia rosa from Rodríguez.

“This is incredible, I can’t quite believe it,” said the Garmin rider. “I have to thank my team for their efforts over the past three weeks, I couldn’t have done it without them. I’ve had to dig deeper and deeper as the race has gone on. I also like to thank all the Canadian fans back home for their incredible support.

“It’s been a fantastic experience. I started to believe in it more and more when I realized that I was riding better in the mountains than I ever have in any other race. My legs felt good, I was strong in my head, and I reached the last day in good condition and managed to write an important page in history.”

Conditions were perfect for the final test of this fascinating race. There was good news initially for Rodríguez and the other non-specialists, when it was announced that the course through Milan had to be shortened by 2km, due to roadworks, leaving the riders facing a test of 28.2km.

RadioShack’s Sergent was the fastest of the early starters, until his time was bettered by Sky’s Geraint Thomas. However, just as was the case for Bradley Wiggins in 2009, the Briton would have to settle for second on the day.

The course was always likely to suit a specialist like Marco Pinotti, and he went about demonstrating that, overtaking the two riders who went off before him. He finished 39 seconds ahead of Thomas, with Sergent the only other rider within a minute of him. In the process, he bookended the Giro for his BMC team, his victory on the final day following Taylor Phinney’s prologue success.

“This was a big goal for me,”Pinotti said. “I won the last time trial here at the Giro in 2008 and I was second in 2010 and last year it was a big goal. But I crashed two days before and had to go to the hospital. So I’ve been working for this for a year. For me, it’s been a difficult Giro. I was trying to save all my energy for this in the last week.” 

Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Marco Pinotti (Ita) BMC Racing Team	0:33:06
2	Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:39
3	Jesse Sergent (NZl) RadioShack-Nissan	0:00:53
4	Alex Rasmussen (Den) Garmin - Barracuda	0:01:00
5	Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team	0:01:01
6	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Barracuda	0:01:09
7	Gustav Larsson (Swe) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team	0:01:14
8	Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:01:15
9	Svein Tuft (Can) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team	0:01:22
10	Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep	0:01:23

 

 

Final general classification

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Barracuda	91:39:02
2	Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team	0:00:16
3	Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team	0:01:39
4	Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre - ISD	0:02:05
5	Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:03:44
6	Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD	0:04:40
7	Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling	0:05:57
8	Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox	0:06:28
9	Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling	0:07:50
10	Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi	0:08:08

2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 20

May 26, Stage 20: Caldes/Val di Sole - Passo dello Stelvio 218km

De Gendt wins Giro d'Italia penultimate stage atop the Stelvio

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-20/results)

Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM) took the biggest victory of his career, winning atop the Stelvio on the queen stage of the Giro d'Italia with a superb display. Damiano Cunego of Lampre took second place and third went to Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

The maglia rosa stayed with Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) who crossed the finish line over three minutes later, and he managed to make good the thirteen seconds he had lost to Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) the previous day.

“I did not expect that,” De Gendt, 25, said. “I attacked on the Mortirolo, because the descents is very dangerous. All the pieces came together. Carrara was was still in the lead. He helped me a lot."

“And I know the Stelvio very well. I have trained there for six years. I've climbed it 20 or 30 times. It's very nice to win on my mountain."

The five brutal climbs did their job in separating the wheat from the chaff, but there were no decisive moves by the favourites until the final climb. They stuck together virtually the whole way, with Ivan Basso (Liquigas) losing contact only in the final kilometres.

De Gendt didn't make the podium, but moved up from eighth to fourth, pushing Basso down to fifth place. Hesjedal defended his second place, and good chances of taking the overall title in Sunday's time trial. He owed much of today's accomplishments to the good work of Christian Vande Velde, who was ordered back out of the lead group and subsequently pulled Hesjedal – and the rest of the favourites – up much of Stelvio. Michele Scarponi again showed he was stronger than Basso, who fell back on the final climb.

Things got off to an early start for the race's queen stage, over five climbs. The peloton was still together as it started up the first of the day's climbs, the category 3 Passo del Tonale. It may have been only category 3 but it was still enough for tired non-climbers to start dropping off the back.

The break of the day finally got away on the climb: Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Barracuda), Roman Kreuziger (Astana), Damiano Caruso (Liquigas), Jose Serpa (Androni Giocattoli), Branislaw Samoilau (Movistar), Oliver Zaugg (RadioShack), Marco Carrara (Vacansoleil-DCM), Mathias Frank (BMC), Matteo Bono (Lampre), Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), Tom Slagter (Rabobank), and Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini).

The Passo del Tonale was also the end of the race for four riders. Robert Hunter (Garmin-Barracuda), Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), Dominique Rollin (FDJ-Big Mat) and Ivan Velasco (Euskaltel-Euskadi) were all disqualified by the race jury for hanging on to team cars, and removed from the race.

The gap jumped to six minutes after the second climb, but dropped to about three and half minutes as the lead group started up the Mortirolo.

The grueling grind up the Mortirolo with an average gradient of 10.4% and a maximum of 21%, took its toll, blasting apart the lead group. Oliver Zaugg (RadioShack-Nissan) and Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil) were the last men standing only 4km up the brutal climb. Behind them, the peloton also fell apart, with Lampre leading the way, perhaps in hope of helping Michele Scarponi move up in the overall standings.

Caruso moved up to the front, as Carrara weakened. Vande Velde and Serpa joined forces with Carrara on the chase. Even the climbers suffered. King of the Mountains Rabottini fell out of the lead group on the climb and was soon absorbed back in the peloton.

Vande Velde and Serpa dropped Carrara and were able to join Caruso and Zaugg in the lead up the climb. Amador was also able to move up to the leaders, making it a quintet in the lead. Zaugg took off from his companions as they neared the top. He really took off as he hit a flat-to-descending section near the top.

Even the 22% gradient near the top didn't significantly slow down Zaugg, and he made his way through the screaming throngs to the top.

Vande Velde fell back on the descent, and the favourites' group got larger again. Thomas De Gendt had jumped earlier, and more and more riders jumped to join him, with Carrara leading the way for him, Nieve Cunego and Losada.

With about 40km to go – and the Stelvio looming nearer – the favourites' group seemed to call a cease fire, slowing down for a break, as riders further behind them on GC taking their chances and jumping out. Zaugg's gap skyrocketed to nearly six minutes.

Eventually a six-man group formed to chase Zaugg, with riders from the former lead group and those who had managed to move up. All the gaps slowly came down again.

With 30.4km to go, the six caught and swallowed up Zaugg. Vande Velde had evidently been called back and was now supporting captain Hesjedal. The field, by now fairly large again, took advantage of the short flat section between the final two climbs to cut the gap.

The leading group took a four-minute gap as they started up the Stelvio. Zaugg paid for his earlier efforts and was no longer able to stay with the others.

With some 16.5km of climbing left, De Gendt jumped, followed by Nieve. Cunego struggled to remain in sight of the duo, while Amador and Kangert disappeared from view.

Vande Velde ground things away at the head of the maglia rosa group, holding the pace high enough to bring the group down to15 riders or so. Cunego clawed his way back to the two leaders, catching them with about 13km to go.

But almost immediately De Gendt attacked again, and the other two couldn't go with him. With jis jersey wide open and flapping, he seemed to have an easy time going up the climb, and in fact the gap to the maglia rosa group grew again, to over four minutes. And with every meter, he moved his way up in the rankings. In fact, he was getting dangerously close to knocking Hesjedal out of second place, and the gap was 5:05 as the favourites crossed under the 10km banner.

Vande Velde finally fell back, after having done countless kilometres of lead work. Meanwhile the riders passed the first snow fields along the way. With about 5km to go, the maglia rosa group took a look around to sum up the situation. Hesjedal moved to the front of the group, looking for, but not getting, help from the others.

De Gendt was obviously suffering as he hit the 3km marker, but over five minutes behind him, the maglia rosa group wasn't doing much better. Basso dropped off, and soon only Hesjedal, Rodriguez and Scarponi were together.

The Belgian crossed the finish line after a day's ride of nearly six hours, but barely able to celebrate his win. Cunego crossed the finish line 55 seconds later, and Nivel came in for third at 2:50

Scarponi, Rodriguez and Hesjedal gave gas at the end, and were able to cut the gap to reasonable poportsion. Rodriguez came in at 3:22 and Hesjedal at 3:35.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team	6:54:41
2	Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD	0:00:56
3	Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi	0:02:50
4	Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team	0:03:22
5	Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre - ISD	0:03:34
6	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Barracuda	0:03:36
7	John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale	0:04:29
8	Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling	0:04:53
9	Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling	0:04:55
10	Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale

2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 17

My fantasy team did quite well today, considering I had 5 of the top 7 finishers on my team. :)

May 23, Stage 17: Falzes/Pfalzen - Cortina d'Ampezzo 187km

Rodriguez wins stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-17/results)

Spain’s Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) won a dramatic stage 17 at the 2012 Giro d’Italia, overcoming some of his closest rivals in the general classification as the race headed into the Dolomites for the first time.

A leading group of about 25 riders was dismantled in brutal fashion as it started the final big climb of the stage. Liquigas-Cannondale’s injection of pace resulted in a breakaway group of six riders for the final 25km, with all of them handily placed in the GC.

In the end it was Rodriguez who marginally handled the descent and small uphill finish best. He crossed the line in Cortina d'Ampezzo ahead of Ivan Basso (Liquigas Cannondale), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda), Rigoberto Uran (Sky), Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF), consolidating his lead in the overall standings and retaining the pink jersey after an epic mountain stage that captivated everyone who witnessed it.

With four uncompromising climbs ahead of them, each one woven into the folklore of the Giro, there was a palpable tension in the air amongst the riders as they waited at the start in Pfalzen, close to the Italian/Austrian border. Temperatures were in the mid teens and there was a generous covering of clouds, offering the riders protection in the early stages.

At the 50km point, a bunch of five broke away. Matteo Rabottini (Farnese-Vini), Branislau Samoilau (Movistar), Kevin Seeldraeyers (Astana), Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale), and Jose Serpa (Androni) pulled clear and steadily built up a lead of roughly five minutes as the riders got over the first big climb of the day, the Falzarego. Rabottini, who won stage 15 in dramatic fashion on Sunday, added more points here to extend his lead at the top of the mountains classification.

By the time they reached the top of the Passo Duran with 55km to race, the gap had come down to 1:30. Back in the main group, which by this point had shrunk to around 40 riders, Liquigas was in control and keeping Basso’s powder dry for the business end of the race and protecting him most effectively. But all of the main GC contenders were there, including both of Astana’s leaders, Roman Kreuziger and Paolo Tiralongo.

The next climb, the Forcella, came along fast, and by this time, Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi) had caught up with Seeldraeyers, who had been dropped by the leaders. Rodriguez’s position was starting to look precarious back in the main group, which had shrunk to 25 now and contained none of the pink jersey holder’s Katusha teammates. Moments later Kreuziger was the first of the big names to crack as he lost touch with his GC rivals and fell off their pace.

The excitement amongst the crowd was about to be turned up a notch as the main chase group swallowed up the breakaway riders as they started the final, gruelling climb, the Passo Giau. Before they had a chance to catch their breath, Liquigas made its devastating attack and within minutes the leaders were strung out like laundry on a line. When the dust had settled it was those leading six riders who were left to fight it out for the remainder of the climb and the fast descent that followed.

As they approached the top, Pozzovivo attacked. Scarponi cramped up and he and Uran were temporarily dropped. They managed to fight their way back to the wheels of the leading four with 2km left to go. As they wearily closed on the finish line, which was on a gentle final gradient that probably seemed much steeper after the sweat and toil they had left on the road, Basso and Scarponi took it in turns to attack. But Rodriguez was poised in behind and produced a devastating late burst to prevail, winning his second stage of the race and confirming his superiority over his closest pursuers for pink.

In the end, there wasn’t a great deal of change at the top of overall GC, with the exception of the Astana duo, who were the big losers on the day. To those simply looking at the bare result and the overall standings, the stage may look an uneventful one. But it was far from it, and we’ll know more tomorrow in terms of its impact on the well being of the men who pushed themselves to the limit in search of Giro glory.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team	5:24:42
2	Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
3	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Barracuda
4	Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
5	Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre - ISD
6	Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox	0:00:02
7	Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team	0:01:22
8	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team
9	Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
10	Johann Tschopp (Swi) BMC Racing Team

2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 14

Life has caught up with me, and I struggle to find time to update this blog. I can't promise that next week will be any better, but I can promise I will TRY. :)

May 19, Stage 14: Cherasco - Cervinia 205km

Amador climbs to Giro d'Italia stage 14 victory

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-14/results)

Andrey Amador (Movistar) took the biggest win of his career by winning the first high mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia on Saturday as once again an escape group made it through to the end. Jan Barta (NetApp) continued the strong work of his small German wildcard team to claim second, with Androni Giacattoli's Alessandro De Marchi third.

The pink jersey changed shoulders again, passing back to Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda), who had jumped from the chasing field of favourites with about four kilometers to go. The Candian will go into the stage 15on Sunday with a nine-second lead over Katusha's Joaquim Rodriguez.

"I felt good. It felt easy when the guys were setting the tempo," Hesjedal said to TV cameras after finishing. "When some guys started to accelerate a bit, I knew it eased off after 3km, and I figured I'd give it a go and test myself. I wasn't really thinking of anything except putting in an effort and seeing how the other guys did."

The top favourites had hung together up the two very lengthy climbs, with the group getting continually smaller but holding on to most of the top names to the end. Things only fell apart near the end, with Hesjedal's successful attack. Rodriguez and Ivan Basso (Liquigas) both tried but failed, to follow.

Amador, 25, had previously finished third on the Giro's 12th stage. The Costa Rican, who is now in his fourth year with Movistar, has ridden the Giro once before, and was second-to-last overall in last year's Tour de France.

He was the victim of a brutal attack whilst training in Costa Rica in January of 2011. His bike was stolen and he was severely beaten and left for dead in a river bed. However, he recovered quickly enough to ride in the Mallorca Challenge the next month.

Another successful break

The stage got off to a blazing fast start, covering 50.8km in the first hour. Four riders decided to spare themselves the mountains and were not at the start: Mark Renshaw (Rabobank), Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge), Brett Lancaster (Orica-GreenEdge) and Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank).

The high initial speed meant that it took a while for the day's break to establish itself. But finally, with 60km behind them, Olivier Kaisen (Lotto Belisol), Jan Barta (NetApp), Andrey Amador (Movistar), Nelson Oliveira (RadioShack-Nissan), Matteo Montaguti (AG2R-La Mondiale), Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Alessandro De Marchi (Androni Giocattoli) and Pierpaolo De Negri (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) took off.

The field let them go, and the gap was over 12km as they approached the first climb of the day. The category 1 Col de Joux has an average gradient of 7 percent, but the climb is over 22km long.

The group took a 13-minute lead into the start of the first climb. Barta jumped from the group on the ascent in the rain on the wet road. The weather deteriorated rapidly as everyone ground his way up the long climb. As Barta stretched his lead out to over 40 seconds, the group behind him fell apart.

As expected, Mark Cavendish fell back on the climb, but less expectedly, so did King of the Mountains Michel Golas (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).

Barta continued his lead, crossing the top of the climb alone. Behind them, Jose Rujano (Androni Giacattoli) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre) shot out of the group, with Cunego eventually going on alone as Rujano was swept back into the field.

Barta's efforts came to naught, as he was caught and passed on his cautious way down the mountain. Amador was the first to catch him and went on to build up a lead on his not-so-cautious descent.

The sun actually came out on the final ascent. Amador continued in the lead, about 30 seconds ahead of Barta, Montaguti, De Negri and De Marchi. Cunego also continued on his solo chase, slowly building up a one-minute lead over the field. But that fell to about 30 seconds, and he was joined by Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel) and Marzio Bruseghin (Movistar). Txurruka pulled away and soon Liquigas pulled the peloton past Cunego.

Amador took a 1:25 lead under the 15km banner, with De Marchi and behind him Barta giving chase. The peloton was over seven and a half minutes down.

De Marchi's efforts were successful, and he caught the Costa Rican with just over 11km to go. The field was about 40 riders strong at that point, with all the favourites still there and the gap dropping to the six-minute mark.

There seemed to be some disunity between the two leaders, as Amador didn't seem to want to co-operate with his rival. Five and a half minutes back, the peloton slowly shredded.

With less than seven kilometers to go, Barta caught up again with the two leaders. But the Czech was clearly paying for his efforts on the day, and left the lead work to the other two.

The field had shrunk again, and the gap kept coming down, as the fog and rain returned. The three leaders took a 3:26 lead into the final 5km.

Rujano attacked into the fog, but the field, now about 25 riders, caught him again quickly. Dozens of running fans accompanied the now much smaller field, led by Ivan Basso (Liquigas), as one Astana rider struck out at an interfering fan. Surprisingly, Rujano and Cunego dropped off the back.

That was the cue for attacks to start out of the field. Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) built up a small lead, and the Canadian then continued on alone.

That was too much for Rodriguez, who jumped in pursuit, quickly catching the Basque rider, with the rest of the field following as the gap to the leaders sunk to 45 seconds with 4km to go.

Hesjedal held on to his lead over a chasing group of eight, from which Astana's Roman Kreuziger had been dropped. Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago - CSF Inox) tried to get away, and was caught as the three leaders turned up the speed on a flatter section in an attempt to retain their lead.

The trio crossed the one kilometre to go marker with Hesjedal not far behind. Barta opened the sprint, but Amador came from behind him to take it.

Hesjedal sailed away from his rivals, crossing the finish line only 20 seconds behind the top three. Paolo Tiralongo of Astana led the small group of favourites, including Rodriguez, in to the finish 46 seconds down, more than enough time to give Hesjedal the overall lead.

Results:

1	Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (CRc) Movistar Team	5:33:36
2	Jan Barta (Cze) Team NetApp
3	Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli	0:00:02
4	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Barracuda	0:00:20
5	Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team	0:00:46
6	Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
7	Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
8	Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
9	Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre - ISD
10	John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale

2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 8 & Tour of California Stage 1

May 13, Stage 8: Sulmona - Lago Laceno 229km

Pozzovivo wins Giro d'Italia stage 8 in Lago Laceno

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-8/results)

Diminutive Domenico Pozzovivo finally delivered on his huge climbing ability as he claimed the biggest victory of his career at Lago Laceno in the Giro d'Italia. Having attacked from the lead group on the Colle Molella climb 7km from the finish, the Colnago-CSF team leader quickly gained a 30-second advantage and held on to most of it coming into the finish despite a determined chase by Movistar’s Beñat Intxausti.

The maglia rosa group finished hard on Intxausti’s heels, Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) outsprinting Thomas De Gendt to take third place and a very handy eight-second bonus. That moved him into second place overall, just nine seconds down on Garmin-Barracuda’s Ryder Hesjedal, who finished in the same group despite some struggles on the final climb.

“This seems like a dream,” Pozzovivo told Rai TV. “It’s my first win in the Giro, which was a feat that seemed I was never likely to achieve! I couldn’t give any more in the final two kilometres. But I felt it was going to be my day and it was.”

Pozzovivo thanked the many fans who had come out to support him. “I knew that I would have a lot of fans on the climb and I attacked where a lot of them were gathered. This stage was very close to my heart, as it is not far from my home. Although it wasn’t the most suitable for me, given that the hard section of the climb was so short and also because there was a flatter section beyond the climb to the finish line.”

Hesjedal was also smiling at the finish despite his difficulties heading towards the line. “I made a really big effort on the final climb, but the team was perfect in the way it stayed close to me and together we have succeeded in our objective of keeping the jersey for another day. We did our best and this jersey is a reward for all of us,” said the Canadian.

Just like Saturday’s stage, this was another long day. Although there were only two categorised climbs, the course rolled up and down relentlessly. The break of the day formed with almost 200km remaining to the finish. Andrey Amador (Movistar), Julien Bérard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Tomasz Marczynski (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Miguel Mínguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) were in it. As the bunch eased along they opened up a lead of more than 11 minutes.

With 160km covered, a sudden acceleration by Marczynski resulted in the clearly unhappy Bérard being dropped. Mínguez’s hopes soon disappeared as well, leaving just two men at the front.

Their advantage began to drop rapidly inside final 35km, as Katusha started to push the pace on the front of the bunch. This wasn’t the ideal time for best young rider Peter Stetina (Garmin-Barracuda) to puncture. Although he quickly got a new wheel from teammate Robbie Hunter and was paced back to the bunch by Jack Bauer, the effort he made then surely cost him on the Colle Molella, where his hold on the white jersey was loosened.

Amador and Marczynski were caught 17km from home. Soon after, a long line of Astana riders took up the pace-making as the riders approached the steepest section of the Colle Molella. As the road ramped up, Liquigas-Cannondale took control on the front in the shape of Sylvester Szymd, who kept an even pace going for team leader Ivan Basso, sitting just behind him.

It was always likely that the winning attack would come on these ramps, and it was not a great surprise when Pozzovivo delivered it. One of the smallest riders in the bunch, the Italian’s confidence was boosted by his victory in last month’s Giro di Trentino, which marked him out as a contender for the Giro. His triumph today pushed him right into contention, although we will probably have to wait until next weekend’s stages to see if the Colnago-CSF Inox leader can build on this success. 

Full Results

1	Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox	6:06:05
2	Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team	0:00:23
3	Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team	0:00:27
4	Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
5	Dario Cataldo (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
6	Damiano Caruso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
7	Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox
8	Bartosz Huzarski (Pol) Team NetApp
9	José Rujano Guillen (Ven) Androni Giocattoli
10	John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale

 

May 13, Stage 1: Santa Rosa 186.5km

Tour of California: Peter Sagan wins in Santa Rosa

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-of-california/stage-1/results)

Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) pulled out a thrilling performance to win the opening stage of the Amgen Tour of California. The 22-year-old had to recover from a puncture inside the final 10 kilometres as well as avoid a crash with 3 kilometres to go, before beating Heinrich Haussler and Freddie Rodriguez into second and third.

"Daniel Oss did a really great lead-out and I'm really happy to win the stage," Sagan said.

"It was a really confusing sprint because it was a small field. With 10km to go I flatted, but I knew there was time to get back in. Thanks to the work of my teammates I didn't panic, and we were able to get back on easiliy. With 3km to go one of my teammates Ted King crashed, and I hope he's okay, but thanks to Daniel Oss, he piloted me to the finish and I was able to win."

While seemingly in good form, today's stage winner admitted that it will be an uphill task to hold on to the overall lead.

"It is going to be very hard to hold onto the yellow jersey," Sagan admitted. "I'm okay on the smaller climbs, but it's only going to get harder and harder as the week goes on."

Results

1	Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale	4:42:35
2	Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Garmin - Barracuda
3	Fred Rodriguez (USA) Team Exergy
4	Leigh Howard (Aus) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team
5	Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
6	George Hincapie (USA) BMC Racing Team
7	Ryan Anderson (Can) Spidertech Powered By C10
8	Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
9	Lawson Craddock (USA) Bontrager Livestrong Team
10	Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team

Three Crashes in One Stage

Poor Levi...

Leipheimer's hopes for Paris-Nice victory dashed with one stage remaining

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/leipheimers-hopes-for-paris-nice-victory-dashed-with-one-stage-remaining)

Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) started stage 7 at Paris-Nice in third overall, just 10 seconds down on leader Bradley Wiggins (Sky), but by the finish a trio of crashes had eliminated any hope of overall victory with only tomorrow's Col d'Èze time trial remaining. The 38-year-old American, accompanied by three of his teammates, crossed the finish line 16:50 down on solo stage winner Thomas De Gendt and more than nine minutes in arrears of the peloton which contained all of Leipheimer's general classification rivals.

Leipheimer suffered bruises on his right knee, hip and arm while his teammate Dries Devenyns was forced to abandon following the third and most harrowing incident, involving a collision with a parked motorcycle on a blind turn.

"On the first crash, there was a corner with gravel and I dropped my vest into my front wheel because everybody reacted," Leipheimer said. "I was holding my vest but had to let go to brake and it went in the front wheel. By the time I crashed I was going slow so it was not such a big deal. I hit my wrist, which is swollen, but it was OK.

"I got on my spare bike, but I did the Col de Vence climb and wasn't feeling as good on my bike. I wanted to get back on my other bike, back on the first bike. On the downhill, I was right there at the front with Bradley Wiggins and Alejandro Valverde. I was fine, I was paying attention, but someone from behind wasn't and they hit me hard and broke my bike at the same time as Movistar attacked."

As Leipheimer was making his way back to the peloton once again, paced by four of his teammates, it would be the third and final crash which proved to be most serious.

"Stijn Vandenbergh, Kevin de Weert, Dries Devenyns and Tony Martin waited for me, but we were really close to the bunch," said Leipheimer. "We arrived close to the group, but in the right corner there was a motorbike protecting someone from Lampre who crashed. We couldn't avoid them. I think everyone passed except Dries and I couldn't avoid it, and I crashed into him. It's easy for me to say I could have done this or that tomorrow, but that's part of the race. It was just bad luck."

Omega Pharma-Quickstep directeur sportif Brian Holm was pragmatic in his assessment of the day's unfortunate series of crashes.

"First of all you have to look at the positives," said Holm. "The third crash downhill, that was not fun. Going into something standing still you can really hurt yourself. I saw them hurt themselves badly, but don't think anybody broke anything.

"My first thought was 'shoot, arms and legs were broken.' Levi, he is made of chocolate. You know, third time down, to get back on your bike, you have to be very strong. I am just glad no one broke their bones. The team waited for Levi. Everybody waited for the captain. he goes down, everyone goes down. That's what they have to do.

The Belgian ProTour squad's only remaining rider high on general classification is French champion Sylvain Chavanel who remained in the peloton while his teammates went back to assist Leipheimer.

"Sylvain [Chavanel] was in the top nine so he did what he had to do," said Holm. "Stuff happens."

Paris-Nice, Stage 1

March 4, Stage 1: Dampierre-en-Yvelines - Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse 9.4km

Paris-Nice: Gustav Erik Larsson takes opening stage

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/paris-nice-2012/stage-1/results)

Gustav Erik Larsson (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling) won the opening stage of the 2012 Paris-Nice with a time of 11:19 in the 9.4km time trial from Dampierre-en-Yvelines to Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse.

The Swedish national time trial champion beat Sky’s Bradley Wiggins by one second with Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) finishing four seconds back. World time trial champion and last year’s winner of Paris-Nice, Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), lacked his usual cutting edge and finished in 28th place, 25 seconds down on Larsson.

"Of course I am very happy with the win," said Larrson. "It was a great course and the season started well for me. A great bonus when winning a prologue are all the jerseys and the lead in the general classification. I will work hard to defend that lead."

Vacansoleil-DCM directeur sportif Hilaire Van Der Schueren was pleased with Larrson's performance, noting that for the second straight year his team has won the opening stage at Paris-Nice. "I am really happy with this win after a lot of second places in the early season. Due to the weather we divided our time trial specialists over the schedule and that worked out fine. Last year it was De Gendt with his first win for his new team and now Larsson rewards the confidence of the team with a great win."

Alexandre Geniez (Project 1t4i) was the first rider out of the start house, kicking off the 70th edition of Paris-Nice. But the first significant time was posted by Thomas De Gendt, who rocketed up the 3rd category climb of the Côte des Dix-sept Tournants. The Belgian’s time was so impressive on the climb that he will wear the king of the mountains jersey on stage 2.

The likes of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Ivan Basso (Liquigas Cannondale) all came through the finish line without disturbing the leading names but it was Larrson who eventually dislodged De Gendt from the leaderboard, wit the Belgian falling to fifth by the end of the stage.

Wiggins, Martin and the evergreen Andreas Kloden were yet to start but just as all three began their march to the start house the heavens began to open. It was far from torrential but Richie Porte (Team Sky) and Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) were the last significant challengers to make it home before the road conditions were effected.

Wiggins started his effort conservatively, reaching the climb five seconds down on De Gendt but one second ahead of Larsson, and five ahead of Tony Martin.

The Brit pulled even further ahead of Martin in the second half of the undulating course, as the German faded on the slick roads.

But Larrson, the silver medal in the Worlds TT in 2009, had done enough. A combination of dry roads and fine riding, enough to secure his first win for his new team.

Full Results

1	Gustav Larsson (Swe) Vacansoleil-DCM	0:11:19
2	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:01
3	Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma-Quick Step	0:00:04
4	Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team	0:00:09
5	Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM	0:00:12
6	Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
7	Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne	0:00:13
8	Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) RadioShack-Nissan
9	Rémi Pauriol (Fra) FDJ-Bigmat	0:00:15
10	Jerome Coppel (Fra) Saur-Sojasun



2011 Tour de France, Stage 20

Today's stage is a 42.5km individual time trial at Grenoble. After 3 weeks of having  teammates with  to help; to help drag up mountains, and to talk through pain, the riders are now on thier own. Your teammates brought you this far, now you have to show everyone how strong you are!

Riders start 2 minutes apart, except for the top 20, who start 3 minutes apart. Before the top 20 started, Tony Martin had the best time with 55'33", and he was able to keep the best time for the stage win!

This stage brought the question, would Evans be able to take back the time from the Schlecks? From the way Evans started compared to A. Schleck, the answer was clear:

There's just something more aerodynamic from Evans's ride, which was why he was able to pull into 1st place overall, thus earning him the Yellow Jersey on the ride into Paris tomorrow. A. Schleck would be in 2nd place for the 3rd year in a row.

Stage 20 Results:
1.Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) 55:33
2.Cadel Evans (BMC) 55:40
3.Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard 56:39
4.Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DC) 57:02
5.Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 57:03
6.Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R) 57:06
7.Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 57:10
8.Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) 57:15
9.Peter Velits (HTC-Highroad) 57:36
10.Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) 57:36

17. Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) 58:11
19. Fränk Schleck (Leopard Trek) 58:14