2014 Tirreno-Adriatico: Notes from stage five

Magnificent Contador

Yesterday’s stage was good but also left me feeling a little underwhelmed, it was a little too formulaic as Movistar used all the preceding climbs to set up the real racing on the final climb of the day, effectively racing 230km just to reach the one climb that mattered. I was worried today was going to be the same with a reduced and drained front group reaching the Muro di Guardiagrele, which would be the site of the fireworks, but that wasn’t even close to the truth. Instead Tinkoff-Saxo used the Passo Lanciano to wreak havoc, first through an unrelenting pace then though a strong attack from Alberto Contador, along with Nairo Quintana (Movistar). That attack was brought back but it wore down the other teams and riders, as did the subsequent digs at the front before Contador launched another huge attack. This time he wouldn’t be brought back, Quintana tried to follow but was unable to bridge across, instead Contador crested the climb alone and stretched his lead on the descent, catching the remnants of the breakaway in the process.

As the front group of Contador, Simon Geschke (Giant-Shimano), Ben King (Garmin-Sharp) and Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) approached the Muro di Guardiagrele, Ben King launched a strong attack, trying to reach that wall with some breathing room in the hope he could hang on in front. It was a forlorn hope though as that wall reduced King’s speed to a slow crawl, in truth there were only two speeds that riders could go up that wall, crawling and slow crawling. Contador was clearly the strongest rider in the race yet he was reduced to weaving from one side of the road to the other, at times looking to cover four times as much distance on a perpendicular axis than he could going forwards. Even so Contador and Geschke slowly crawled past King, but once Contador reached a more normal gradient he was able to explode away for a magnificent victory. The result gives Contador the race leaders Blue Jersey and a 2:08 lead over Nairo Quintana in second place, only falling off his bike or being blown off course by the wind can stop him now.

Looking ahead to stage six

Stage six: Bucchianico – Porto Sant’Elpidio 187km
Image from http://www.gazzetta.it/Speciali/TirrenoAdriatico/en/

The race has reached the Adriatic Sea and stage six runs north along the coast to Porto Sant’Elpidio, potentially exposing the peloton to crosswinds. The stage finishes with two laps of a 13.8km circuit in Porto Sant’Elpidio which will bring the sprinters to the fore again. Although there are a few corners to navigate in the run in the final stretch should be relatively straightforward and gives the sprint trains a great opportunity to go head to head. The route has some bumps towards the end and could suit a breakaway but too many teams have legitimate sprinters in this race to let the opportunity for another sprint slip away, provided the winds haven’t caused carnage beforehand. Contador’s only concern is avoiding crashes and being watchful for the formation of echelons, otherwise this isn’t a stage for the GC riders.

2014 the season so far: Race update #2

Santos Tour Down Under (World Tour)

The 3rd stage was all about Corkscrew Hill and Cadel Evans, as the former World Champion took charge of the race with a fierce attack on the hill, dropping all of his rivals and soloing away to win the stage and take the Ochre Jersey. A four man break went clear at the start of the stage but they weren’t given much leeway and the final two, Jens Voigt (Trek) and Andrei Grivko (Astana), were swept up by the peloton at the bottom of the climb. BMC then hit the front hard, driving the pace, shedding riders and providing the platform for Cadel Evans and Richie Porte to kick clear. That pair opened up a sizable gap but Porte was unable to stay on the wheel of Evans, who crested the climb alone and began the very fast descent to the finish. Porte was joined by Gerrans behind and they gave chase to no avail, being joined by eleven other riders on the flatter final sections and even missing out on the time bonification for the podium places as Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) impressed finishing 2nd and Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) took 3rd. As a result the race would appear to be between Evans, Gerrans (0:12) and Ulissi (0:15), and at this stage I found it hard to see a way back for either rider unless they could drop Evans on Old Willunga Hill.

However Orica GreenEDGE and Matt White weren’t so short sighted. Identifying the first intermediate sprint point on stage four as a possible target and shutting down the breakaway attempts en route, giving Gerrans the opportunity to take the three bonus seconds on offer and crucially bringing the deficit back under ten seconds. Although a five man break succeeded in escaping after that, the pace behind remained relatively high and picked up again in the cross winds as they approached the Myponga reservoir, splitting the peloton in two and dropping the majority of the sprinters, including Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano). None of the realistic GC contenders missed the move, though it did cost Kenny Elissonde (FDJ.fr) the lead in young rider’s classification. With Orica and Lotto Belisol driving the pace the break was swept up allowing Nathan Haas, Simon Gerrans and Diego Ulissi to take the time bonuses. Lotto Belisol led the peloton into the final kilometre, driving home at high pace to give Andre Greipel a straightforward sprint victory, while Gerrans and Orica finished the day satisfied to have taken back those five seconds on Cadel Evans, really setting up the next day’s showdown on Willunga Hill.

Stage five saw the peloton doing two long laps around McLaren Vale before finishing with a double ascent of Old Willunga Hill, a 3km climb at 7.4% and ramps over 10%, it is slightly gentler towards the top. After a brief flurry of action four strong riders went clear, they were Jens Voigt, Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha) and Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar). At first they were able to open up a significant gap but with relatively strong headwinds, tailwinds and crosswinds, depending upon which part of the lap the race was on, the peloton was often motoring along behind. All in all, the four leaders had to work hard to stay in front and it was significant that they did as they were able to sweep up all the bonus seconds on offer at the intermediate sprints, ensuring that the Ochre Jersey contest would come down to the finish atop Willunga. On the first ascent Lobato was dropped from the front group, while the peloton was led initially by Lotto Belisol, then by Garmin-Sharp who set a strong pace on the climb. Jens Voigt led the race over the climb, though more significant was Adam Hansen (Lotto) taking 5th which ensured he would win the King of the Mountains competition. Orica GreenEDGE took the lead as the peloton began the descent, setting a strong pace, driving the race down towards the second ascent while sweeping up the remaining breakaway riders. Jens Voigt had other ideas however and launched a final attack on the flat, though he would only stay away long enough to reach the base of the climb, where BMC assumed control. Evans team mates immediately set a high tempo, seeking to use the steep early section to dislodge Gerrans, it even worked at first as the small BMC unit broke free with only Porte, Ulissi and Wesley Sulzberger (Drapac) with them. Gerrans was able to bridge over before Porte and Evens launched attacks in a role reversal from the Corkscrew Hill, as this time it was Evans who was unable to follow the attack of Porte, no one could, allowing Porte to stay clear and take a fine victory. Inside the final kilometre Evans was caught by Gerrans and Ulissi, and they immediately went on the offensive with Ulissi finishing 2nd and Gerrans 3r. Evans was hurting, only managing to finish 6th on the day and losing the Ochre Jersey to Gerrans who takes a slender one second advantage into the final stage. I say a slender advantage but it is hard to see anyway that Evans could regain that second on the flat final stage.

Handily enough for Gerrans Evans couldn’t see a way to do that either, he just isn’t built to compete for the bonus seconds on a flat stage like this. Instead the race passed off without incident for the Jersey wearers, Simon Gerrans would win the Tour Down Under and the Points Jersey, making for a terrific Australia Day celebration for the Australian Champion. Adam Hansen won the King of the Mountains Jersey and Jack Haig (UniSA-Australia and Avanti Racing) took the Young Riders Classification, he will certainly have options if, as seems likely he chooses to go professional next year. The stage itself featured 18 laps of a 4.7km circuit, the break swept up the intermediate sprint points before being caught themselves. It ended in another one-sided sprint victory for Andre Greipel as the Lotto Belisol train was dominant, giving Greipel the perfect platform to improve his Santos Tour Down Under record to sixteen stage victories.

Tour de San Luis (2.1)

Stage three finished with a sprint on a slight uphill drag, Giacomo Nizzolo took a second successive victory for Trek Factory Racing with an impressive show of speed. Francisco Ventoso (Movistar) finished second while Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) showed he is coming into form with his 3rd place finish.

The following day saw the race return to the mountains with the most significant climb of the race, the Alto el Amago. The peloton reached the foot of the climb together but had no answer to a blistering attack from Nairo Quintana (Movistar). Quintana won the stage and took back 4:15 on the race leader Phillip Gaimon, leaving Quintana a mere 0:04 behind, despite Gaimon doing well enough to finish 18th on the stage.

Stage five featured a 19.km individual time trial and an anticipated dual between Taylor Phinney (BMC) and Adriano Malori (Movistar), from which the Italian Malori emerged triumphant. Gaimon had hoped to use it to increase his lead over Quintana. However the Colombian finished 16th on the stage and 30 seconds ahead of Gaimon, taking the race lead for the first time with a 26 second lead over the American, it has been a valiant effort from Gaimon in his first race as a professional; however Quintana has simply been too good for him to hold off.

Stage six ended with the third and final summit finish of the race, the Mirador del Sol, the scene of the third win of the week for Trek Factory Racing and the second for Julian Arredondo. Arredondo burst away from Nairo Quintana and Sergio Godoy (San Luis Somos Todos) atop the climb, to seal victory. Gaimon finished 8th on the stage, 14 seconds down but defending his second place in the General Classification, and crediting the support of Tom Danielson with helping him remain so competitive in the race.

The final finish would be another sprint on an uphill drag, and just as they had done on stage three, Lampre-Merida came to the fore. They did so with more success this time though, leaving their charge late, as Maximiliano Richeze’s strong lead out gave Sacha Modolo the perfect platform to take victory, with Richeze finishing in 3rd place. The peloton had been brought to the finish by the Cannondale team who were trying to set up Peter Sagan for his first victory of the season, Sagan feel short and finished 2nd, but he had shown he was finding form with a solid time trial in stage five. Nairo Quintana won the overall race and the King of the Mountains classification, he was simply too strong on the climbs. There was also an early reward for Adam Yates (Orica GreenEDGE) who finished 11th overall and won the Young Riders classification, climbing well throughout.

2014 rider watch focus

TDU

Matt Goss: Strong work on the front for Simon Gerrans, leading him out for an intermediate sprint on stage four, helping to close the gap to Evans. This wasn’t a race where Goss would be able to chase his own ambitions but he was a strong support rider throughout.

Jens Voigt: A strong rider as always, in the break on stage three and repeated the feat in more impressive fashion on stage five, entertaining the crowds in the process.

Diego Ulissi: Remained firmly in the contest to win the Santos Tour Down Under, finishing 3rd on stage three and 2nd on stage five and ultimately finishing 3rd overall, five seconds behind Simon Gerrans. His star continues to rise.

Tour de San Luis

Taylor Phinney: fell just short on stage five, with the ITT being an early season target of his. Losing by two seconds to fellow time trial specialist Adriano Malori of Movistar, Phinney reckoned he got the gearing options wrong prior to the race which meant he couldn’t use his maximum power output on the fast downhill sections. However Malori is a fantastic time triallist in his own right, their next dual against the clock should take place in the opening stage of the Tour of Dubai, where Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin will join them. Finishing 10th in the sprint on the final stage does show he has good early season form and he can build on that as the spring classics approach.

Jurgen Van den Broeck: Glad to be back racing, the Belgian was never going to win here (24th overall) but coming 13th in the ITT was a positive sign.

Moreno Moser: Evidently using the Tour de San Luis as training with his most notable performance being his 19th place finish in the ITT

2014 Team Preview – Lotto Belisol

Lotto Belisol have habitually been one of the smaller teams on the World Tour, preferring to use their squad to give young Belgian riders a chance, while leaning on a few star names to keep the results coming in.They know that success in the Classics and sprints of Northern Europe and a strong showing in the Tour de France, ensure the teams survival. 2013 was no different, but injury and illness ruined the season for two of those stars, Jurgen Van den Broeck and Jelle Vanendert, robbing the team of its strongest GC performers in the process. While the coterie of fast men ensured there were plenty of wins, the management realised that they needed to inject a little more top end quality into their roster as insurance against further misfortune. Doing so would also improve the teams visibility throughout the season, though it has been more of a tweak to their normal procedures, than a major upheaval. Thankfully for Lotto Belisol, no misfortune befell their star sprinter, Andre Greipel. Greipel is one of the few truly elite sprinters in cycling, the others being Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel. In terms of top end speed, the super strong Greipel may be the fastest of the three when everything goes exactly to plan, as it did when he beat both Kittel and Cavendish on stage six of last year’s Tour de France. However Greipel is also the least able to adjust on the fly when the build up goes awry. Greipel won thirteen times in 2013, with that stage win in the Tour de France, three stage wins in the Tour Down Under, a stage win in the Eneco Tour, the German National Championships and the Brussels Cycling Classic, being the most notable. In order to ensure that the sprints proceed as smoothly as they can for Greipel, Lotto Belisol have assembled a strong group of domestiques who form a superb sprint train. Amongst others this includes, fast finisher and expert lead out man, Greg Henderson, Marcel Sieberg who is also a solid classics rider, and Grand Tour iron man Adam Hansen, aiming to ride his eighth straight Grand Tour at the Giro this year, having won from a break in last year’s edition. Lotto Belisol also have a few experienced alternative sprinters in Kenny Dehaes, Jonas Vangenechten, Kris Boeckmans and Pim Ligthart, the latter two join from Vacansoleil, all are capable of being competitive in smaller races, or supporting Greipel in the bigger ones. The team have two less experienced but more promising options for the future. Jens Debusschere is an improving strongman sprinter; he finished 2013 strong, picking up his first three professional victories, all in the final month of the season. Debusschere is likely to continue to feature as a sprinter for now, but his long term future is could be on the Cobbles, where his size and power will be an asset. Tosh Van der Sande is a much lighter rider than Debusschere. He was able to get involved in a handful of sprints this year and didn’t look out of place, but he is a good climber and a more natural opportunistic finisher, rather than a rider to win from a bunch sprint. A former winner of the u23 Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Van der Sande is one to watch.

As a Belgian team, Lotto Belisol will always have a focus on the Spring Classics. Jurgen Roelandts recorded his best ever result when he finished 3rd in the 2013 Ronde van Vlaanderen, after being dropped by Fabian Cancellara on the Paterburg. Roelandts is a very good strongman sprinter, a natural choice for the classics, but who is a key part of Greipels sprint train for the rest of the season. Joining Roeldants as the likely joint leader during the Classics will be Tony Gallopin, the team’s biggest signing. Gallopin, 25, is a highly gifted all-rounder who really can do well in any racing situation. Much has been expected from Gallopin since he first turned pro, but it wasn’t until he won the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian in 2013, that he finally landed a result to match that potential. Gallopin’s rounded skill set makes him a contender for almost the full spectrum of prestigious one-day races, and he looks set to race a large number of them in 2014. The move to Lotto Belisol really suits both parties. Gallopin gains responsibility and the freedom to ride for himself in most races, the team gain another leader, a versatile rider who can contend in a host of races throughout the season. The experienced Lars Bak gives the team a third option for the Cobbles, having finished 5th in Paris-Roubaix in 2011.

An improved GC presence

Jurgen Van den Broeck will once again be the principle GC rider and leader for the Tour de France, as he seeks to better his 4th place finishes from 2010 and 2012. A strong climber, Van den Broeck needs, and receives, little dedicated help, generally making do with one or two support riders, with so much of the team selected to work for the sprints. Veteran Belgian GC rider, Maxime Monfort was the second big signing. After his best ever performance at the Tour de France (14th), Monfort is slated to ride the Giro and Vuelta, and will be tasked with ensuring the team has a strong showing in both races. Monfort has been spent the last few years as a strong domestique for the Schlecks, but he will be riding as a leader for Lotto Belisol. Having finished 6th in the 2011 Vuelta, the team have hopes of a top 10 performance in either the Giro or Vuelta, which would represent quite an improvement over their previous seasons. Jelle Vanendert had an awful time in 2013, as illness and parasitic infection thwarted his ambitions. A good climber, Vanendert is at his best on the shorter punchy slopes which makes him ideal for the Ardennes Classics. Having been the key support rider for Phillipe Gilbert in the Ardennes in 2011, Vanendert took over that lead role in the Ardennes when Gilbert left the team. It went well in 2012, with Vanendert finishing 2nd in the Amstel Gold Race, 4th in Fleche Wallonne and 10th in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Vanendert will be given an important role in those races again this season, alongside Gallopin. Bart De Clercq is a good climber and Lotto Belisol’s best climbing domestique, while also serving as the backup plan as a GC rider should any problems occur. De Clercq looked very strong when finishing 6th on the Alto de Penas Blancas, prior to being forced to withdraw from the Vuelta last season. 22 year old Tim Wellens enters his second season with the team and is a promising climber. He will likely be limited to a support role in the bigger races for now but with so few GC riders in the team he will certainly get opportunities to ride for himself.  As always Lotto Belisol is light on climbing domestiques, though they hope the experienced Sander Armee can offer something in his first season with them.

2014 outlook

The star performer should once again be Andre Greipel, he has to compete against some excellent opposition, but with the sprint infrastructure around him the wins will come. The retro-look Lotto Belisol shirts should be prominent throughout the classics and in Gallopin, Roelandts and Vanendert they have riders who should contend. Van den Broeck will hope to challenge for the Podium at the Tour de France, while Monfort should prove a capable GC rider for the other Grand Tours.

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2013 Vuelta a Espana: Notes From Stage Seventeen

Saxo-Tinkoff master the wind once again

On stage 13 of the Tour de France, the Saxo-Tinkoff team took advantage of the crosswinds to distance some of the other favorites, allowing Alberto Contador to gain 1:09 on his rivals. It was a brilliant attack and made for thrilling viewing. Fast forward two months, and Saxo-Tinkoff take advantage of the crosswinds to distance some of the other favorites, allowing Nicholas Roche to gain 1:31 on his nearest rivals. It was another excellent attack. Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) were the best placed riders who lost out and now find themselves lagging well behind Roche. The move came with a little more than 30km to the finish, when the race was on the high plateau leading to Burgos, teams knew it was coming and still some riders were caught out.

Lampre-Merida blow it

The days break consisted of only two riders, Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) and Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural) and knowing their chances of success were nonexistent they set an easy pace for the first half of the race. Astana had no interest in chasing them down so it fell to whatever teams were interested in bringing the race to the expected bunch sprint, today that was Lampre-Merida. They received some help from Orica GreenEDGE, but the bulk of the work throughout the stage was done by Lampre-Merida. I thought it might be them, they need a stage win  and in Maximiliano Richeze have one of the most in-form fast men in the race. Moreover many of the other teams with sprinters are down to 4 or 5 riders, and simply lack the manpower to commit to a long chase. When the peloton split Orica GreenEDGE lost out, with their sprinters dropped by the peloton, yet Lampre made the move with Richeze and several team mates, it looked good. They had a free ride into the final 10km, where there was a short and steep hill which was the launch pad for an attack by Lampre’s Diego Ulissi. He gained a handful of seconds and stayed ahead for a few kms, once caught other riders launched attacks and Lampre were a team that helped shut those attacks down, keeping Richeze to the front at the same time. In the final 2.5km no team wanted to take it up, Lampre, Garmin, Saxo-Tinkoff and Sky all found themselves on the front for brief spells, but they always wanted someone else to take over. It continued into the final 1km and Bauke Mollema (Belkin) used this indecisiveness to launch a solo attack, nobody followed or gave chase. The sprinters were too busy looking at each other, waiting for someone else to give chase so that they could follow them, that they forgot to catch Mollema, letting him roll over the line unopposed and leaving themselves red faced. It was an audacious victory for Mollema, he is a fast finisher for a climber but he was definitely outmatched in that company, they knew that as well and clearly dismissed his threat. It was great for the 4-man Belkin team, having lost their stage winner, Theo Bos, before the race began, and having seen their GC challenge fall apart, they badly need a stage win to save their Vuelta. I singled out Lampre-Merida for criticism, because they worked all day just to waste the opportunity at the end of the stage. It would be disappointing but understandable if Richeze had lost out to Farrar or Boasson Hagen in a sprint, but to waste the chance while waiting for someone else to make the first move, that just it wasn’t good enough. Of course the same is true for Sky and Garmin-Sharp, both teams need that stage win as well, and both had their fastest finishers well placed to go for the win. However neither of them spent the day sitting on the front of the peloton just to watch someone else ride away to victory.

Looking ahead to stage eighteen

Stage 18: Burgos – Pena Cabarga
Profile from http://www.lavuelta.com

The stage starts on the same high plateau that stage seventeen finished upon, winds might once again be strong but I can’t imagine any team will force the issue there, not with an entire stage to follow. The parcours gets progressively harder with each climb being harder than the last, before it climaxes with the Pena Cabarga. First is the Alto de Bocos, 3km and 6.6%, then the Alto Estacas de Trueba, 10.9km at 3.2%, then things start to get more serious with 65km to go when they reach the Puerto de la Braguia. It’s 6.1km at 6.3% and probably too far out for any attack to be launched, but it will certainly help thin out the peloton. Next is the Alto del Caracol, 10.6km at 5.6%, a climb that has caused real problems for riders in the past. The stage finishes with the Pena Cabarga, 5.9km at 9.2% and ramps much steeper than that, it’s a very tough climb and if any rider is struggling they could lose significant chunks of time. With 1km to go the slope reaches 20% before easing towards the finish line. It will be tough and it could be explosive, provided the GC riders go for it. The two most recent winners on the climb were Chris Froome and Joaquim Rodriguez, it’s a stage where the elite climbers can come to the fore.

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