Few kms after the start Sergio De Lis and Krivtsov escaped from the group.Don't worry if you don't know anything about De Lis:he's a very young neo-pro and will turn 23 in December. Unfortunately for him and Krivstov,the group caught them with about 40 kms to go.
On the Waseberg climb Matti Breschel attacked,but nobody followed him and so the Dane rider let himself drop back.
After Matti's attack,Gilbert and Nick Nuyens escaped from the group.They were then joined by Fabian Cancellara,Bandiera,Roche,Bennati and Reda.Then other riders (about 20,I think) caught Cancellara's group.Between these riders there were also Sylvain Chavanel and Turgot,who tried to attack but didn't have a lot of success (they were caught by the whole group after about a minute).Talking about Turgot:while he was chasing Cancellara's little group,something of really funny happened;the Frenchman in fact kept on moving his elbow because he wanted somebody to start pulling and let him rest a while,but he didn't realise that he was actually alone and so nobody could help him.
Anyway,on the final Waseberg's ascent,Gilbert attacked again.This time he was followed by O'Grady (allez Saxo Bank!),Mori and Roche.They gained just few seconds on the peloton and were soon caught.
With some hundreds of meters to go,Napolitano,Maaskant and Langeveld fell in a curve and so they couldn't take part in the sprint.Maaskant and Langeveld aren't sprinters,but Napolitano could get a good result today,so I was a bit sorry for him.
The sprint saw Ciolek and Breschel riding head-to-head on the left side on the road,while Farrar was on the left.Me was really hoping for a Saxo Bank's victory,but Farrar eventually turned out to be the fastest today.
The 2 last riders to arrive were De Lis and Krivtsov.
Although Matti didn't win,I was happy for Farrar.This rider has arrived 2nd behind Cavendish many many many times and so he really deserved a victory in an important race!
As I said,Model Matti arrived 2nd,but was happy with his result anyway."Actually my legs felt a little heavy early in the race where two riders took off and created a gap and when Columbia went to the front of the peloton to control the pace my legs gradually felt better.Towards the end of the course I launched an attack but since no one wanted to follow I let myself drop back so I would be ready for the sprint.Frank Høj, Fabian and Stuart did an awful lot of hard work put me in a good position,but Farrar was really strong in the sprint and he has really deserved the victory after several podium places lately.The outcome was to me better than expected,so I am quite satisfied. I am now looking forward to Tour of Ireland which route in many ways looks promising to me and even later on I'm thrilled to be riding the Vuelta again",he said after the race.
Farrar instead said:"This season has gone very well for me,although the really big success didn't come until now.After the many second places in the Giro and the Tour, it is great to finally stand on top of the podium.The team rode together, at the front,all day.We had some bad luck with crashes,but the boys really came through today.It's nice to win a big one..."
Also Ciolek,who finally came in 3rd,was satisfied with his result."On one hand,of course,there were two riders faster than me.But on the other hand,it not really a loss.That was my only my second race since the Tour de France.At times it was very difficult for me to go with the high tempo in the finale."
Breschel's good race gives me the chance to talk a bit about the Worlds and especially about something I've found out today.As you probably already know,Italy,Spain,Germany,Usa,Russia, Luxembourg,Australia,Belgium,Britain and Norwegy will have 9 riders at the Worlds.
Netherlands,France,Slovenia,Columbia (the country,not the team),Switzerland,other countries I don't remember and Venezuela will have 6 riders.And already here,reading that France and Netherlands will have jus 6 riders,Logic went "WTF? France and Netherlands will have just 6 riders? That's absurd,Frenchmen rode very well at this year Tour and they will have just 6 riders!".But I was even more surprised by another news I read this morning.
Some days ago I wrote that,in my opinion,a Dane rider may win a medal in Mendrisio's Worlds. But today I've found out that Denmark will have just 3 riders at the Worlds.I write it again: Denmark will have just 3 riders at the Worlds.In my opinion,this is absurd.I mean,take los Sorensens and Denmark has 2 riders,add one rider between Fuglsang and Breschel and they already have 3 men in the team.And I've written the 4 names that came in my mind first.As well as these riders,there are also people like Bak,Vandborg,Klostergaard and Hoj that ride for Denmark.And,strangely enough,I can't think of any famous rider from Venezuela right now.And Venezuela will bring 6 riders to the Worlds.Is it just a lapsus of mine,or is it because Venezuela actually hasn't any very strong riders right now? I don't want to say bad things about Venezuela,but to me it seems evident that something inside the way people decide how many riders pro team will go the Worlds is wrong. Your opinions?
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento