Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite 2012

Vanmarcke wins Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/omloop-het-nieuwsblad-elite-2012/results)

Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin-Barracuda) staged his break-out performance at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, taking the race by the reins by forcing the final three-man breakaway and then stunning favourite Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) in the sprint to take the victory.

Sky's Juan Antonio Flecha was third.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes. I beat Tom Boonen, my big hero,” an emotional Vanmarcke said during the post-race interview with Sporza. He knew that in a sprint against Boonen, his chances were slim and tried to shake him off with a few attacks, but said, "I know if I have a really great day, I can sprint pretty well."

Boonen came in with generous and genuine congratulations for his young compatriot, and admitted to the press that he misjudged the approach to the line. "I saw the finish this morning and still I get caught. I thought I went at the right moment, but ... the race was 50 meters too long."

Flecha, standing on the podium for the fifth time in six years, was happy to return to the stage, but said that while this is clearly his kind of course, only the win matters.

However, the Spaniard was impressed by Vanmarcke. "You can see that the guy has tremendous talent in these races. He is impressive. That he beat Boonen in the sprint surprised me. It just goes to show, the race goes to the finish line."

Vanmarcke, 23, previously showed his Classics promise by taking second in the 2010 Gent-Wevelgem while riding with Topsport Vlaanderen, and before as a podium finisher in the U23 version of the Tour of Flanders, but today's victory showed a never-before seen brilliance, both in fitness and in tactical prowess.

The decisive breakaway was formed on the Taaienberg, 59km from the finish in sunny Ghent. Behind a break of three, Boonen tested his legs on the climb, and Vanmarcke swiftly followed. Matthew Hayman (Sky), Matti Breschel (Rabobank), Thor Hushovd (BMC), Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) and Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) were able to catch on. Behind them double winner Philippe Gilbert flatted and lost a lot of time.

With 39km to go the Boonen group caught the two remaining leaders, Sven Vandousselaere and Lieuwe Westra. It was on the Molenberg with 37km to go that Vanmarcke gave the first indication of his intentions - he attacked at the base of this final climb, and Boonen fought to catch on. Hushovd, Breschel, Hayman, Flecha and Devenyns eventually re-joined, but the early leaders were dropped for good.

On the cobbles of the Paddestraat with 31km to go Vanmarcke unleashed his devils once again, the acceleration ridding him of Breschel and Hushovd. With a seemingly dire tactical disadvantage, in a group with two proven classics men: Boonen and Flecha, each with a teammate, Vanmarcke was not intimidated.

Vanmarcke put in another acceleration to dislodge Devenyns and Hayman, and still had enough energy to contribute to the work in the final 20km to keep the trio clear.

The young star-to-be put in one last dig with 1km to go, trying to get away, but when Boonen shut down the maneuver, the Garmin rider sat on the back while Flecha set the pace, the Spaniard keeping a careful eye on his companions with frequent looks over his shoulder.

Boonen opened up the sprint ahead of the 200m to go mark, but Vanmarcke was able to get in behind and then put in a stinging acceleration to jump past and grab his first Classic victory.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Garmin-Barracuda	4:52:34
2	Tom Boonen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
3	Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Sky Procycling
4	Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Garmin-Barracuda	0:00:25
5	Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
6	Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
7	Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
8	Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Fdj-Big Mat
9	Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Team Europcar
10	Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 20

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-20/results)

Leopard Trek’s Daniele Bennati has been a frustrated sprinter at this year’s Vuelta a España but victory beckoned in Vitoria on stage 20 on Saturday afternoon and he ensured he wouldn’t leave the race empty handed with an impressive win in the Basque city.

The Italian prevailed in a long sprint over Enrico Gasparotto (Astana) and Damiano Caruso (Liquigas-Cannondale), who finished second and third respectively, with Garmin-Cervélo rider Sep Vanmarcke fourth and Skil-Shimano’s Koen De Kort fifth.

Bennati recognised how hard today’s stage was for a sprinter aiming for victory and thanked his teammates for their efforts throughout the day, particularly in the final 50km. “Today is the penultimate stage; there’s been a lot of climbing in this stage for a sprinter… But for me it’s a win for the team,” Bennati said immediately after the stage.

The man who won two stages and the points classification at the 2007 edition of the Vuelta did it the hard way, spending much of the day in the 26-man break that formed before dropping back into the protective custody of his Leopard-Trek squad that controlled proceedings in the finale to ensure Bennati claimed a win in this year’s race.

Despite Chris Froome’s calls for an attacking day to chase the general classification lead, the red jersey remained on the shoulders of Juan José Cobo (Geox-TMC) at day’s end, the Vuelta champion elect well protected by his teammates to ensure the Spanish squad would go into tomorrow’s stage with little with which to concern themselves except a celebration.

There had been a 13-second margin between the two heading into the penultimate day, which prompted the Team Sky rider’s claim that he could make something of the day’s offerings but in reality it was going to prove a mountain too high against a Cobo in top condition and extremely motivated to take the biggest victory of his career on home turf.

Last chance hotel

It may have boasted a flat finish but the penultimate stage of this year’s Vuelta still had its fair share of climbing – a brace of first category ascents in addition to a category two and three climb, which offered something for the men desperate to take their shot at a stage win late in the event.

This was reflected in the number of noted climbers getting themselves into the day’s break, which detached itself from the peloton early in the stage, as the overall heavyweights looked to conserve ahead of what promised to be an interesting finale.

With Froome and Cobo separated by the aforementioned 13 seconds, there was the possibility of fireworks near the finish, although 26 men were keen to try their luck the hard way – in the break – before that point.

Those men were: Damiano Caruso (Liquigas-Cannondale), AG2R La Mondiale pair Nicolas Roche and Lloyd Mondory, Jose Vicente Toribio Alcolea (Andalucia Caja Granada), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) and Euskaltel-Euskadi riders Inaki Isasi Flores and Amets Txurruka.

Leigh Howard (HTC-Highroad) was trying his luck in the move again, along with Katusha trio Vladimir Karpets, Eduard Vorganov and Luca Paolini; Lampre - ISD was represented by Marco Marzano, Daniele Righi and Manuele Mori while Leopard Trek’s Daniele Bennati was in the mix, as was Pablo Lastras Garcia (Movistar), Jan Bakelants and Kristof Vandewalle (Omega Pharma-Lotto).

Also present were Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil-DCM), Robert Kiserlovski (Astana), Rabobank’s Carlos Barredo and Steven Kruijswijk, Saxo Bank-Sungard had Jaroslaw Marycz and Nick Nuyens while Koen de Kort was representing Skil – Shimano and Christophe Le Mevel flew Garmin-Cervélo’s flag.

After 99km of racing the 20-man move had itself a lead of 4:10 but unsurprisingly with 70km until the finish that had dropped to 1:27. That mark dipped below a minute with 55km remaining as it became obvious the peloton was preparing to stretch its legs on the final climb of the day, the category one Puerto de Urkiola.

That was down to 36 seconds, with 52km remaining, and as expected the break was on its knees on the opening slopes of the Urkiola. It was Barredo’s cue to go solo from the leading group, hitting out ahead of his fellow escapees, who were being swamped by the peloton.

The Spaniard had 53 seconds on the peloton with 48km to go to the finish, battling slopes that touched 15 percent in sections and putting in a brave showing on the final categorised climb of this year’s Vuelta. He added 22 seconds to his lead over the peloton during the following kilometres in a sign that he was motivated to throw everything at the stage win.

Carlos runs into flat finale fun

Having crested the Urkiola, Barredo set about consolidating his lead on the descent and subsequent flat run to Vitoria with a slender lead of 36 seconds over the remnants of the break, with the peloton a further minute behind. Trailing him by 43 seconds with 40km remaining was a seven-man group of chasers that included teammate Kruijswijk, plus Kiserlovski, Le Mevel, Roche, Caruso and Txurruka.

Undeterred, Barredo continued his run to the line and with 35km until the finish he still had 27 seconds on the chasing group – not a heavy buffer but a lead he would fight gallantly to protect as Vitoria – and victory – beckoned. That advantage sat at 33 seconds with 31 clicks remaining but the peloton, led by Leopard Trek, had moved to within 20 seconds of the chasers.

The proximity of the peloton to the chasers caused some consternation in the group and before long the septet was caught, the dream over with exactly 30km before the finish. It wasn’t a good sign for Barredo’s chances of staying away but with about half a minute separating him from the main field, the likes of Leopard Trek and Team Sky called a temporary halt in hostilities to prepare for the hectic finale.

It was a case of marking time for the sprinters’ teams leading into the final 20km of the stage as Barredo continued his doomed run to Vitoria, which would come to an end with 15km remaining when he was caught by a solo Carlos Sastre (Geox-TMC), but not before Froome and Cobo had shaped up to battle the final intermediate sprint in pursuit of precious bonus seconds, which ended in a no-contest.

Their die cast, it was time for Sastre and Barredo to work together and with 10km remaining they had 31 seconds over the peloton. That was reduced by just one second a kilometre later and had hit 23 seconds with eight clicks until the finish. At that point Barredo put up the white flag and left Sastre to his own devices out front, with a feisty field bearing down on the lone Spaniard.

His bolt shot, Sastre’s resistance ended with just under three kilometres remaining, which was time for Leopard Trek to go back to work for Bennati; coming into the final kilometer, the plan seemed to be working to perfection and with the Italian’s overwhelming strength in the finale he was able to open a long sprint and hold on to take a sought-after stage win.

Result
1	Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek	4:39:20
2	Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Pro Team Astana
3	Damiano Caruso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
4	Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Team Garmin-Cervelo
5	Koen De Kort (Ned) Skil - Shimano
6	Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre - ISD
7	Davide Malacarne (Ita) Quickstep Cycling Team
8	Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team
9	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
10	Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale

CG Overall

Result
1	Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC	82:38:32
2	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:13
3	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:01:39
4	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:02:03
5	Denis Menchov (Rus) Geox-TMC	0:03:48
6	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek	0:04:13
7	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:04:31
8	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:04:45
9	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team	0:05:20
10	Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi	0:05:33

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 14

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-14/results)

Rein Taaramae’s (Cofidis) mantra may well be, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again’, which paid dividends for the talented Estonian on Saturday afternoon as he won the Vuelta’s 14th stage on another summit finish in La Farrapona Lagos de Somiedo.

The 24-year-old Cofidis rider has been very active in this year’s Vuelta and finally took the reward for his efforts after what was an intense 173km in the saddle. He took his place in the breakaway early in the stage and managed to hold on to take his first Grand Tour stage win, something many pundits have been predicting for several years.

Showing dogged determination throughout the entire stage, he beat Geox-TMC duo Juan Jose Cobo and David De La Fuente, who finished second and third respectively.

It was a good day for overall leader Bradley Wiggins, the Brit finishing 45 seconds behind Taaramae and most importantly putting time into his rivals on general classification – he now leads Sky teammate Chris Froome by seven seconds, with Rabobank’s Bauke Mollema in third at 36 seconds.

Froome pointed to Wiggins as he crossed the line one place behind in sixth, an indication of the unity amongst Team Sky’s two best climbers and a sign of the pair’s confidence heading into the Vuelta’s final week – could today and tomorrow define who will be this year’s champion?

One man losing his grip on a chance at the title is defending champion Vincenzo Nibali, who now sits 1:25 behind Wiggins on the general classification and slipped from second to seventh overall on today's stage. The Liquigas-Cannondale leader finished more than a minute behind his main rival and suffered the consequences, giving himself plenty of work to do in the final week of racing if he’s to take another crown.

A weighty half needs a solid breakaway

The second half of today’s stage featured plenty of climbing, with the category two Puerto de la Ventana, the first category Puerto de San Lorenzo and a mountaintop finish at La Farrapona, Lagos de Somiedo in store for riders.

With limited opportunities in the sprints at this year’s Vuelta, HTC-Highroad youngster Leigh Howard decided to make the day’s move, taking off about a half a km into the stage. He was soon joined by the others, and after giving chase for nearly 30 km, the peloton finally decided to let them go.

He was joined by De La Fuente and Taaramae, Guilluame Bonnafond and Lloyd Mondory (AG2R-La Mondiale), Rabobank’s Luis Leon Sanchez, Jonas Aaen Jörgensen of Saxo Bank-Sungard, Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin-Cervélo), Alberto Benitez (Andalucia-Caja Granada), BMC Racing’s Karsten Kroon, Cofidis man Yohan Bagot, Jorge Azanza and Inaki Isasi of Euskaltel-Euskadi, Katusha couple Aliaksandr Kuschynski and Eduard Vorganov, Francesco Bellotti (Liquigas-Cannondale), and Daniele Righi (Lampre-ISD).

Nearing the top of the day’s first climb and with 77km remaining, the big break had 7:38, which would prove to be its maximum advantage as 27km later that mark had been cut to 4:55.

On the descent of the Ventana, Vanmarcke and Kroon found themselves being hoisted out of the forest, the pair crashing and forcing the Dutch veteran to abandon the race. Soon after the man who started the day’s break exited it, dropped on the way up the San Lorenzo; the Australian shut up shop and made his way back to the pack.

It all heats up…

With 40km to go and only 2:50 separating break from peloton, it was time for Katusha’s Alberto Losado to make a move of his own, dragging Sylvain Chavanel and several other riders with him; the bunch shut down the dangerous group that threatened to form but a kilometre later there was another attack that saw Movistar duo Beñat Intxausti and Marzio Bruseghin fly the safety of the peloton in pursuit of the leaders.

Just as this pair was gaining seconds on the field, the ever-aggressive Taaramae made what would be the race-winning move and was on his way off the front of the leading group, taking De La Fuente with him to form an attacking duo that quickly created a sizeable gap.

While these front groups continued to toil, Katusha’s Dani Moreno was another to flee the peloton with 35km remaining, followed by teammate Joaquin Rodriguez; meanwhile Leopard Trek strongman Fabian Cancellara continued to set tempo for Jakob Fuglsang and Maxime Monfort, who both sat in the top 10 of general classification and overall leader Wiggins maintained a comfortable rhythm next to them.

A kilometre after attacking, Moreno was soon within 25 seconds of Intxausti and Bruseghin, with the remnants of the break a further 2:20 up the road and rapidly splitting under the pressure of the mountain and the movement of Taaramae and De La Fuente ahead of it.

This latter duo crested the San Lorenzo together, 2:21 ahead of Moreno as the peloton topped the climb a further 13 seconds afterwards. On the descent the Spaniard caught the duo from Movistar to form a chasing trio that soon made contact with Moreno’s teammate Vorganov.

This new quartet set about building on the slender lead it enjoyed over the main field and slicing the two minutes that separated them from Taaramae, De La Fuente and what little was left of the break with the final 20km and the climb to Lagos de Somiedo approaching.

Heading to the finale

Soon Moreno and co had caught the remnants of the break – Righi, Mondory, and Bonnafond (sans Taaramae and De La Fuente) and set to work on the climb proper with the peloton still keeping the gap between itself and the Katusha rider to less than a minute. And with 15km left in the stage it continued to do that, as the leading duo still had over 60 seconds on the pursuers.

The peloton, led by Liquigas-Cannondale, Rabobank and Leopard Trek, tapped out its rapid rhythm while Movistar’s Italian stager Bruseghin carried out the workhorse duties – appropriate given that the 37-year-old famously owns a farm with donkeys.

As the leading duo crossed the 10km remaining banner, the gap stood at 57 seconds and a kilometre later that had only been cut by three seconds, with the peloton continuing its vigilance and keeping Moreno’s lead under a minute.

The Estonian-Iberian alliance at the front of affairs had 59 seconds, as Moreno’s men passed the banner indicating six kilometres remaining and were soon after caught by the peloton, providing the spark for Euskaltel-Euskadi’s Amets Txurruka to light the powder keg and explode from the main field.

The threat of Moreno negated, the peloton eased off the gas and with five kilometres remaining had allowed the leading duo a lead of 1:12, while Txurruka’s toil had only put him 10 seconds up on the main field. A kilometre later and it was time for Moreno to go again, taking Cobo with him and quickly overrunning the Euskaltel-Euskadi rider.

Behind them it was panic stations for Rodriguez and Nibali, the two overall contenders dropped from the group containing Wiggins and his faithful lieutenant Froome, plus Omega Pharma-Lotto’s Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Vacansoleil-DCM man Wout Poels and Denis Menchov (Geox-TMC).

And with Menchov’s teammate Cobo going alone it was time for Taaramae to do the same at the front of the race, dropping De La Fuente (who soon joined his pursuing companion) and heading for home with two kilometres left to ride.

Despite Cobo’s best efforts, he and De La Fuente remained 21 seconds off the Estonian with 1,000 metres remaining as Wiggins, Froome, Van Den Broeck and co continued their march away from the defending champion that could well have helped crown a new Vuelta king.

The man wearing the crown of the day was Taaramae however, kissing his jersey and raising his arm in the air to celebrate what was a well-deserved and popular win, crossing the line 25 seconds ahead of Cobo, with De La Fuente a further four seconds back on what was a good day for the Spanish squad.

1	Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne	4:39:01
2	Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC	0:00:25
3	David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Geox-TMC	0:00:29
4	Wout Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team	0:00:40
5	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:45
6	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling
7	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
8	Denis Menchov (Rus) Geox-TMC
9	Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi	0:00:55
10	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:01:00

GC Overall

1	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	55:54:45
2	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:07
3	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:00:36
4	Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC	0:00:55
5	Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek	0:00:58
6	Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Pro Team Astana	0:01:23
7	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:01:25
8	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek	0:01:37
9	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:02:16
10	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team	0:02:24