2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 18

May 24, Stage 18: San Vito di Cadore - Vedelago 139km

Guardini has Cavendish's number in Vedelago

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-18/results)

He’d waited almost three weeks but in the sprinters’ final opportunity Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) finally delivered, winning stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia. It was a triumph worth waiting for, worth the jibes he’d received from the Italian press who questioned why he had failed to impress in any of the previous sprints, and certainly worth remaining in the race for after so many of his sprint rivals had packed up and gone home.

Finishing ahead of Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) and Roberto Ferrari (Androni) the Farnese rider has finally arrived on the big stage.

“I’m still very young and I’ve got to develop a lot as a rider. I’ve really suffered on the climbs in this Giro d’Italia but 198 riders started the Giro and now there’s only 168 left. That proves something," Guardini said.

“During the first week of the Giro d’Italia I didn’t believe in myself enough. I’d been struggling in the sprints and things hadn’t been going my way. I knew this sprint was the last chance I had. I knew it suited me because it was so flat. I knew my chance was today or that I’d have to wait until next year. I knew I could beat Cavendish but I knew I had to jump first and by doing that today, I’ve realised what I can do.”

“The difference between winning this sprint and winning one after 250km of racing all comes down to experience. A few years ago Cavendish struggled on the climbs and he’s amazing, as he proved by winning Milano-Sanremo at the first attempt and at my age. I think I’m a similar kind of sprinter as Cavendish but my idol was Robbie McEwen who retired a few days ago.”

Stage 18 from San Vito Cardore to Vedelago, less than 150km long and on flat and downhill roads, marked the sprinters last chance of taking a stage and everything pointed towards Cavendish’s fourth stage win of the race. Matthew Goss, Mark Renshaw and Theo Boss had long since left the race and Cavendish, who snapped up the maximum points on offer at the day’s intermediate sprint, looked as hungry as ever.

The world champion appeared crowded out though as the peloton raced towards the line. With Peter Kennaugh out of the race Sky was missing a key ingredient from its train and Bernhard Eisel and Geraint Thomas were forced to work overtime inside the final 10 kilometres. Omega Pharma-Quickstep and Saxo Bank decided to take charge but inside the final kilometre Eisel nudged his way through the chaos and towards the front. Thomas and Cavendish were glued to his wheel and the stage winning headlines were being prepared.

There was the inevitable and messy scramble for the world champion’s wheel, a position almost as difficult to achieve as a sprint win itself. Roberto Ferrari and Guardini were the principle contenders, with the Farnese rider eventually yielding as Thomas hit the front inside the final 500.

But while Cavendish’s glory looked almost inevitable, an Italian 22-year-old from Pregnago thought otherwise, launching his sprint just as Cavendish raised himself from the saddle. The Italian went on the right, first around Ferrari and then the tiring Thomas as Cavendish struggled on the left.

As Cavendish looked to his right the writing was on the wall, and Guardini was able to raise his hands and saviour the biggest day in his career. A new winner, a new headline, a new sprinter has arrived.

After yesterday’s mammoth stage through the Dolomites and the legendary climb up the Passo Giau, the riders at this year’s Giro d’Italia set off for their final flat stage of the race. In usual circumstances the prospect of just 139 kilometres would be walk in the park. However after nearly three-weeks of racing, and with a number of teams still without a stage win, stage 18 was always destined to be tougher than expected.

After just 20 kilometres the first break formed with Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank), Stef Clement (Rabobank), Pier Paolo De Negri (Farnese Vini) and Angelo Pagani (Colnago-CSF Inox) going clear. Their lead stretched to 3 minutes before Sky and Omega Quickstep began to muster their troops.

With an intermediate sprint at kilometre 84 and Cavendish keen to claim as many points as possible ahead of a mountain double header and time trial Sky stretched themselves to bring the break back.

And once the British sprinter achieved the first aim of the day Sky allowed another move to go clear.

Clement was present again, clearly hoping he could rescue Rabobank’s poor Giro single-handedly. On this occasion he was joined by Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team), Olivier Kaisen (Lotto Belisol Team) and Mickael Delage (FDJ-Big Mat).

Kaisen had more breakaway kilometres in his legs than any other rider in the race - 639 – with Keizer a close second at 612 and the foursome built up a lead approaching a minute with 46 kilometres remaining.

Sky reacted by putting the dependable Ian Stannard on the front, and the lone Sky rider kept the gap in check before a number of teams rolled up their sleeves and joined the pursuit.

Delage was the last man standing, and was briefly joined by Lars Bak, but the pair were never given much leeway, a gap of 11 seconds their biggest buffer.

Caught inside the final 4 kilometres it all came back together.

Full Results

1	Andrea Guardini (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia	3:00:52
2	Mark Cavendish (GBr) Sky Procycling
3	Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
4	Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin - Barracuda
5	Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank
6	Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) RadioShack-Nissan
7	Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha Team
8	Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
9	Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
10	Dennis Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team

2011 Tour de France, Stage 15

Today's stage is a 187km ride from Limoux to Montpellier. This is only one category 4 climb today and the intermediate sprint fairly close to the finish.

Bonnet didn't start today, after missing the time cut yesterday.

The breakaway of the day started as soon as the race began. Delage was first to attack, and was joined by Terpstra, Dumoulin, Ignatiev, and Delaplace. The maximum gap was 4 minutes with 122km left.

At the top of the first climb, Igantiev gets the one lone KOM point.

Delage crossed the intermediate sprint first, taking the majority of the points and Cavendish led the peloton over.

With about 25km left, Ignatiev attacks the leaders and is followed by Terpstra. The duo had a maximum gap of 46 seconds with 14.6km to go. The remaining 3 were caught with a little more than 10km to go.

With only a 12 second gap left, Ignatiev gives up as Terpstra continues on his own for a few more minutes. Right before the peloton catches Terpstra, Gilbert and two other riders attack and pass the lone original attacker. This new trio is caught before the last kilometer.

With a nice leadout by Renshaw, Cavendish takes the win!

Stage 15 Results:
1 Cavendish
2 Farrar
3 Petacchi
4 Oss
5 Rojas
6 Swift
7 Ciolek
8 Gallopin
9 Ventoso
10 Hinault

2011 Tour de France, Stage 14

Stage 14 runs 168km, from Saint-Gaudens to Plateau de Beille. Today's stage has 6 categorized climbs, including a HC finish.

Interesting Fact of the Day: This is the 5th time a stage has finished at Plateau de Beille, and the stage winner has always gone on to win the tour. Will that be the case this year?
Almost instantly Chavanel attacks and soon Voigt and Millar are going clear as well. Then there were 19 riders trying to reach Chavanel as well as others back in the peloton trying to bridge the gap. They were able to catch Chavanel, as well as other chasers who had a chance to catch the lead group. So the breakaway became: El Fares, Millar, Casar, Voigt, L. Sanchez, Izagirre, Mollema, Koren, Chavanel, Di Gregorio, Riblon, Bouet, Vichot, Gerdemann, Charteau, Quinziato, Silin, Matcato, Delage, Malori, Perez, Pineau, Zandio, and Costa. Some big names, and a lot of familiar names. The best place attacker is Casar at 21, sitting 8'47" back from Yellow.

At the summit of the first climb, Delage took the most KOM points and Mollema took second. Delage also crossed the sprint line first taking points there as well. The second summit of the day also belonged to Delage. Cavendish is off the back of the peloton having difficulty making it up the second mountain, however on the descent he caught back up.

Millar, Casar, and El Fares have upped the pace in the breakaway and soon are the leading trio. With 87km to go, they lead the peloton by 7 minutes. With 75km remaining that lead jumped another two minutes as other breakaway members are either trying to reach the trio or are being dropped on the acsent. As Leopard-Trek takes over the control of the peloton, Roy is being dropped off the back. Hushovd is also being dropped.

At the third summit of the say, this time it is Casar who takes it. On the descent, Riblon catches the trio, however, soon Millar is dropped on the ascent of the 4th climb. Silin passes Millar on his way to the new trio in the lead. As Silin gets close, the rest of the chasers are making their way back up as well. There are now 10 riders up front: El Fares, Silin, Riblon, Casar, Di Gregorio, Millar, Voigt, Charteau, Zandio, and Izagirre.

The 4th climb of the day goes to Chavanel, who just eclipsed Charteau right before the line.

There was a crash on the 4th descent. Ten Dam went down pretty hard, but he got back up and continued on.

Right away there is a category 3 ascent for the 5th climb and Izagirre takes it.

Voigt crashed on this descent, but he too was able to get back up. He crashed again a few minutes later when his wheel locked up. He is able to make his way back to his team who is leading the peloton down the mountain. Izagirre is leading with about a minute on the chasing group. L Sanchez attacked the chasing group but no one responds to help him. Then Millar tries. This is the issue with big groups; they can't work well together.

On the final climb of the day Leopard-Trek continues to keep it at a fast pace. Riders are dropping off the back, including Hincapie, Gesink, and Martin. With 13km left of the stage, most of the riders from the original breakaway had been caught with Casar still ahead. BMC is helping Leopard-Trek pace, and soon there are 20 or so riders left in the peloton.

A. Schelck attacks and Contador follows. Evans, Basso, Cunego, F. Schleck and Voeckler respond. Danielson has been gapped. A. Schelck attacks again and this time Vanenert is with him. S. Sanchez, Basso, Cunego, and Uran follow. He goes again and Evans bridges to him. This is a 12 rider group, and with 8km remaining, Casar has less than a minute lead.

With 6km left, Casar has 20 seconds but Vanenert attacks an surges past Casar. A. Schelck keep attacking his group, but he can't get anywhere. With 5km left, Vanenert has 18". Its Basso who is setting the pace, but Voeckler stays on his wheel. In the flatter section, S. Sanchez attacks and is in the middle of Vanenert and the chasers.

Basso creates a gap, and Evans, Voeckler, and Peraud bridge, but they are caught before the end. Vanenert wins the stage with S. Sanchez second.

Stage 14 Results:
1 Vanendert
2 S Sanchez
3 A Schleck
4 Evans
5 Uran
6 Contador
7 Voeckler
8 F Schleck
9 Peraud
10 Rolland

2011 Tour de France, Stage 11

Today's 168km stage winds through the French country side, with only one Category 3 and one Category 4 climb.

A nice rainy day has greeted the riders again.This is the 6th day in a row.

Gadret was the 1st abandon today. He pulled out due to fatigue .

The six-man breakaway of the day are Moreno, Boom, Grivko, Delage, Valentin, and Engoulvent. The maximum gap that they had was 4'20" with less than 130km to go.

Boom was the 1st rider over the category 3 climb, so he gets the 2 points. Delage took the 1 lone KOM point over the category 4 climb.

Delage was 1st over the intermediate sprint for the breakaway and Cavendish brought the rest of the peloton over the line.

With 5km left and only a 15" gap left, Boom attacks the breakaway. By 3km left, the rest of the breakaway was overtaken by the peloton. With 2 km left, Boom sat up and let the peloton catch him, preparing for a sprint finish.

Cavendish wins the sprint at the end. His team gave him an amazing leadout. Because of his win, Cavendish also gets the prize of the Green Jersey today.

Stage 11 Results:1 Mark Cavendish
2 André Greipel
3 Tyler Farrar
4 Denis Galimzyanov
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen
6 Romain Feillu
7 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil
8 Sébastien Turgot
9 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi
10 William Bonnet

Side Note:
Ever wonder what a barbed-wire fence can do to you? Here is what Hoogerland's leg look like three days after his crash:

2011 Tour de France, Stage 7

I'm back!!! Let's see how long it'll take me to catch up.

Friday's stage went from Le Mans to Châteauroux: a 215km ride. This was the last flat stage before the riders would enter the Pyrenees on Saturday. The day's intermediate sprint is only 25.5km from the finish, so it may be interesting to see who is willing to fight for it.

Within the first kilometer of the stage, three riders formed a breakaway: Talabardon, Meersman,  and Delage. Soon after, Urtasun bridges to them. Their maximum advantage was at 43km into the stage, with a 7’20” lead. Meersman was the best-placed rider, only 3:22 down from the Yellow Jersey, sitting in 56th place.

Although Gilbert is wearing the green jersey today, he says that team orders mean that he will lose his jersey because he is supposed to be helping the better sprinter of the team, Greipel.

With 39km remaining, the is a crash toward the front of the peloton. Donzens of riders went down, big names included. Although he was able to get back on his feet, Wiggins was clutching his left elbow and had to be taken away by ambulance. Horner was also injured in this crash. He did get up and finish, but he was very disoriented as he crossed the finish line, not understanding why he was 12 minutes down.

Intermediate Sprint Results: Delage, Meersman, Talabardon, Urtasun, Cavendish, Rojas, Renshaw, Gilbert, Montfort, Gerdemann, Martin, F. Schleck, Burghardt, Gutierrez, and Cancellara.

Right before the peloton catches up to the breakaway, at about 13km out, the leading men start to attack each other: Meersman goes, but Urtasun follows. Then Meerman tries one more time, but after 206km in the lead, the breakaway is over.

Cavendish won the final sprint, just as he had won his first sprint in his first Tour de France three years ago. Even in the same town.

Stage 7 Results:
1 Cavendish
2 Petacchi
3 Greipel
4 Feillu
5 Galimzyanov
6 Bonnet
7 Hushovd
8 Turgot
9 Rojas

10 Hinault

Favorite Pictures of the Day:

Cavendish riding in the peloton

Hushovd and Voeckler talking in the peloton

El Diablo cheering on the riders. This man is here every year in multiple stages.

2011 Tour de France, Stage 6

Today, the bunch will leave Brittany and travel 226km to Normandy. This is the longest stage in this year's Tour de France. Today includes two category 3 climbs and one category 4 climbs before a final climb 1.5kms from the finish line. Three kilometers from the finish, there is a 1.3km long climb at 6.3 percent, a perfect place for a late attack. Then there are 1.4 km of a false uphill flat and the 400m finishing straight which is flat.

An update on the two abondons from yesterday: Brajkovic broke his collarbone due to his crash yesterday and Kern hs been dealing with ongoing knee pain and pulled out of the race.

There was another abandon today: Velasco. He has a fractured collarbone due to his crash yesterday.

Westra was the first rider today to attack. He was followed by Roux. Hoogerland, Duque, and Malori soon caught up with the breakaway. Roux is the best place man, only 2.25 minutes back on the Yellow. The maximum lead of the attack was at almost 12 minutes. However, the first hour of the race was very fast: at about 50 km/h for the first 30 km even though the weather was much less than stellar:

Hoogerland takes the first KOM points of the day: Hoogerland - 2, Roux - 1. The intermediate sprint has the following results: Roux- 20, Duque - 17, Westra - 15, Malori - 13, Hoogerland - 11, Cavendish - 10, Rojas - 9, Farrar - 8, Renshaw - 7, Gilbert - 6, Petacchi - 5, Delage - 4, Ventoso - 3, Eisel - 2, Moinard - 1. The second climb gave the following KOM points: Roux - 2, Hoogerland - 1

With 56km remaining,  Westra attacked the rest of the breakawy. Malori followed. Sixteen kilometers late the three remaining are caught by the peloton. The next set of KOM points went to Westra (2) and Malori (1).

As soon as the gap hit 30 seconds, Malori took off on his own with 17km left. With a six seconds, Malori started the last climb, but was caught soon after that.

Then Vandendert opened a gap, followed by Voeckler. But that didn't amount to anything as they were both caught before the end with Hagen taking the win!

Stage 6 Results:
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen
2 Matthew Harley Goss
3 Thor Hushovd
4 Romain Feillu
5 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil
6 Arthur Vichot
7 Philippe Gilbert
8 Gerald Ciolek
9 Marco Marcato
10 Arnold Jeannesson

Favorite Picture of the Day:

Frank Schleck before the stage began

Note: I will not be able to post tomorrow or Saturday because I am going on vacation this weekend. I'll hopefully have time to catch back up on Sunday night with recaps of all missed stages. If not, Monday is a rest day so instead of posting another blog, I'll do recaps.

2011 Tour de France, Stage 3

Stage 3 is classified as a flat stage, although it does have one category 4 climb in it. It starts in Olonne-sur-Mer and ends 198km later in Redon.

Within the first kilometers a 5-man breakaway formed. Niki Terpstra (Quick Step), José Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar), Maxime Bouet (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Mickael Delage (FDJ) and Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskatel-Euskadi) already had 45 seconds at the 3km mark. The breakaway had a maximum advantage of 8 minutes at 84km. The best-placed rider in the attack was Jose Ivan Gutierrez; as of this morning he was in 59th place with only 1:09 down on the Yellow Jersey.

During the race, Charteau was allowed to leave the peloton and greet his family at the roadside



The intermediate sprint had the following results: Delage (20 points), Gutierrez (17), Terpstra (15), Moreno (13), and Bouet (11). When the peloton crossed it minutes later, more points were handed out: Cavendish (10), Galimzyanov (9), Rojas (8), Boonen (7), Gilbert (6), Duque (5), Hushovd (4), Steegmans (3), Bozic (2), Feillu (1).  Note: Cavendish and Hushovd ended up being disqualified from the points in the intermediate sprint. Hushovd lost his line and Cavendish used his head to push Hushovd.

The 1 KOM point today was taken by Delage without a contest by the rest of the breakway.

Three of the 5-man breakaway, Terpstra, Moreno and Bouet, were caught about 13km from the finish when HTC-Highroad really chasing them down. Delage and Gutierrez held on for 4 more kilometers before finally being caught. At 7.5km out, the pace of the peloton was reaching 70kph (43.5mph!!!).

However on America's Day of Independence, it is in fact an American who won. Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Cervelo pulled off a win by millimeters. As he crossed the finish line, he made a 'W' with his fingers to honor his friend and teammate Woulter Weylandt, the cyclist who died in the Giro d'Italia this year. This is the 2nd day in a row that Garmin-Cervelo won a stage.

Results of Stage 3:

1 Tyler Farrar 4:40:21
2 Romain Feillu
3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil
4 Sébastien Hinault
5 Mark Cavendish
6 Thor Hushovd
7 Julian Dean
8 Borut Bozic
9 André Greipel
10 Jimmy Engoulvent

Fun Fact of the Day: Tyler Farrar is the only American to have won a stage in the Tour de France on the Fourth of July.

Favorite Pictures of the Day:

Thomas Voeckler signing in with his son

Ivan Basso after signing in

Brothers Andy (L) and Frank (R) Schleck riding in the Peloton

2011 Tour de France Stage 1

Today's stage went from Passage du Gois La Barre-de-Monts to Mont des Alouettes Les Herbiers for a total of 191 km (118.68 miles). A pretty flat stage, which would sound like a sprinter finish, however, the category 4 climb at the end could prove to be better for classics riders.

The first part of the stage, Passage du Gois, is a part of France that is only uncovered during low tide. The cyclists have to ride over mud-covered ground.

The first breakaway of the day involved Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar), Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) and Jeremy Roy (FdJ). Quemeneur, who is racing in his first Tour, initiated the escape right after the race started. Their max time was 6'40", and at 20 km to go the peloton caught up and the trio ended their escape with handshakes all around.



Here is a cool picture of the pack riding together:



The intermediate sprint of the day came around kilometer 87. Roy crossed first earning himself 20 points for the green jersey, followed by Westra (17) and Quemeneur (15). The peloton crossed about 3 minutes after the breakaway, in real sprint fashion: Farrar (13), Greipel (11), Ventoso (10), Galimzyanov (9), Bozic (8), Boonen (7), Engoulvent (6), Cavendish (5), Petacchi (4), Delage (3), Dumoulin (2) and Sabatini (1).

There were a lot of crashes today, although probably no more than usual. However, the two big ones came at the end. At 8km out, the peloton was split into two groups; Contador was in the 2nd group, initally about 32 seconds behind. At 2 km out another crash happened (although since this one was under 3km, all riders involved were given the same time as the first finishers). Philippe Gilbert won the stage; his first Tour victory. He has the Yellow Jersey, KOM Jersey, and Green Jersey. Geraint Thomas earns the White Jersey. Contador finshed 1'21" behind.

Stage 1, Results:

1. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 4:41:31 

2. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:03 
3. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:00:06 
4. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team  
5. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto  
6. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky ProCycling  
7. Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team RadioShack  
8. Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne 
9. Christopher Horner (USA) Team RadioShack  
10. Tony Martin (Ger) HTC Highroad

(Note: All pictures courtesy of Yahoo Sports)