The last 2 stages of the Paris-Nice 2010 were really thrilling,although they didn't see any big change in the GC.Both Saturday and Sunday stages were pretty hard,therefore lots of riders (especially on Saturday) tried to enter the right breakaway and get a victory,whereas the GC guys tried to attack Contador in the mountains (without succeeding).
On Saturday about 23 riders broke clear from the peloton and between them,to Fangirl's joy,there was also Chris Anker Sorensen.The other riders were Cunego,Moinard,Machado, Leipheimer,Toni Martin,Turgot,Sicard,Gautier,Tondo Volpini,Champion,Vorganov, Kolobnev, Perget, Fofonov, Monfort, Casar, Cherel,Dessel,Seeldrayers,Sylvain Chavanel,Van Den Broeck,Geschke and Cummings (hope I didn't forget anyone).With about 40 kms to go Tondo,Cunego and Gautier left the other breakaway riders behind.Soon Tondo showed he was the strongest and so he attacked and grabbed a great solo victory.Valverde was 2nd in the stage in front of,guess who?,Peter Sagan.
The last stage of the race was characterised by Voeckler and Moinard's breakaway.They managed to keep a gap of about 20" on the main group for a lot of kilometers and in the end the victory went to Amael Moinard.
The GC riders tried to attack Contador a lot of times,but they didn't succeed.In the end,the podium of the race was 1.Contador 2.Valverde 3.LL Sanchez.4th for just 1" was Roman Kreuziger.Best Saxo Banker was Jens Voigt (6th).As you can see,the podium totally belonged to the Spaniards.
A funny moment immediately after the end of yesterday stage was the hug between Taaramae and Moinard,who are teammates.In spite of this,Taaramae often tried to break clear from the main peloton in he last kms of yesterday's stage and with all his attacks he seriously risked to allow the poursuivants to catch his teammate.Considering that Moinard hugged him in a very happy way,I think he probably wasn't aware of his teammate's behaviour inside the peloton.
Talking about SB,I believe the team raced well.In fact,although Frank's race wasn't as good as last year,Jens Voigt managed to wear the yellow jersey,even if just for one day.Then Fuglsang and Larsson were ill during (that's why I never saw them at the head of the peloton!),whereas Frank and Chris Sorensen suffered the cold more than other riders did.
TIRRENO ADRIATICO:
The 4th stage of the Italian race was won by Michele Scarponi,who made an incredible effort on the very last climb of the stage and also managed to get the leader jersey.In the last kms me was supporting Kiryenka,a rider that I really appreciate and that was part of an early breakaway that lasted for about 220 kms (also Pozzato was part of that breakaway).Poor Vaugrenard,2nd in the stage,raised his arms to the sky as soon as he crossed the finish-line,since he thought he had won.Of course I don't envy the person who made him realise that,actually,he wasn't the stage winner.
Talking about the stage,here's a great sentence that the chronist said during it: "It looks as if Scarponi's going to take this victory! Anyway,we musn't take it for granted,because in cycling bonks are always behind the corner...Just like monkeys!".So,dear readers,be careful the next time you walk around in your town: a monkey could jump out from behind a corner and attack you.Still talking about the broadcast of the race: Paolo Savoldelli's bergamask accent is amazing.Really,his accent is far stronger than mine! So far stronger that,actually,everytime I hear him talk I start to laugh and/or speak dialect.I must be mad.
Yesterday stage was very hard as well.With about 17 kms to go Gasparotto joined Oroz Ugalde,who was alone at the head of the race in that moment.With about a km and a half to go there was a 850 meters long wall,that was incredibly steep.Gasparotto managed to get over it in a decent way,but he was joined by Garzelli,Iglinsky and Evans.Scarponi was few meters behind,probably because he was suffering for a crash that occurred to him previously during a descent (and in which also his teammate Serpa was involved).The sprint saw Gasparotto getting a great and well deserved victory,whereas Garzelli came 2nd.Leader in the race is still Scarponi. Andy Schleck was 70th and arrived about 6 minutes after the winner.
Talking about Andy: probably you've already read that Biver confirmed the fact that he's talking to some Luxembourgish sponsors in order to create a Team Schleck already next year (link: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/biver-confirms-possibility-of-team-schleck-in-2011 ).The little question that comes into my mind now is: why doesn't that Luxembourgian sponsor decide to sponsor Riis cycling and make everyone happy by doing so? No answers.Anyway,in the meanwhile Riis has said to Velonation that he's talked to the brothers and that they've said they don't know nothing about these rumours.Btw,me has the feeling that this telenovela will go on at least until August 2010...
On Saturday about 23 riders broke clear from the peloton and between them,to Fangirl's joy,there was also Chris Anker Sorensen.The other riders were Cunego,Moinard,Machado, Leipheimer,Toni Martin,Turgot,Sicard,Gautier,Tondo Volpini,Champion,Vorganov, Kolobnev, Perget, Fofonov, Monfort, Casar, Cherel,Dessel,Seeldrayers,Sylvain Chavanel,Van Den Broeck,Geschke and Cummings (hope I didn't forget anyone).With about 40 kms to go Tondo,Cunego and Gautier left the other breakaway riders behind.Soon Tondo showed he was the strongest and so he attacked and grabbed a great solo victory.Valverde was 2nd in the stage in front of,guess who?,Peter Sagan.
The last stage of the race was characterised by Voeckler and Moinard's breakaway.They managed to keep a gap of about 20" on the main group for a lot of kilometers and in the end the victory went to Amael Moinard.
The GC riders tried to attack Contador a lot of times,but they didn't succeed.In the end,the podium of the race was 1.Contador 2.Valverde 3.LL Sanchez.4th for just 1" was Roman Kreuziger.Best Saxo Banker was Jens Voigt (6th).As you can see,the podium totally belonged to the Spaniards.
A funny moment immediately after the end of yesterday stage was the hug between Taaramae and Moinard,who are teammates.In spite of this,Taaramae often tried to break clear from the main peloton in he last kms of yesterday's stage and with all his attacks he seriously risked to allow the poursuivants to catch his teammate.Considering that Moinard hugged him in a very happy way,I think he probably wasn't aware of his teammate's behaviour inside the peloton.
Talking about SB,I believe the team raced well.In fact,although Frank's race wasn't as good as last year,Jens Voigt managed to wear the yellow jersey,even if just for one day.Then Fuglsang and Larsson were ill during (that's why I never saw them at the head of the peloton!),whereas Frank and Chris Sorensen suffered the cold more than other riders did.
TIRRENO ADRIATICO:
The 4th stage of the Italian race was won by Michele Scarponi,who made an incredible effort on the very last climb of the stage and also managed to get the leader jersey.In the last kms me was supporting Kiryenka,a rider that I really appreciate and that was part of an early breakaway that lasted for about 220 kms (also Pozzato was part of that breakaway).Poor Vaugrenard,2nd in the stage,raised his arms to the sky as soon as he crossed the finish-line,since he thought he had won.Of course I don't envy the person who made him realise that,actually,he wasn't the stage winner.
Talking about the stage,here's a great sentence that the chronist said during it: "It looks as if Scarponi's going to take this victory! Anyway,we musn't take it for granted,because in cycling bonks are always behind the corner...Just like monkeys!".So,dear readers,be careful the next time you walk around in your town: a monkey could jump out from behind a corner and attack you.Still talking about the broadcast of the race: Paolo Savoldelli's bergamask accent is amazing.Really,his accent is far stronger than mine! So far stronger that,actually,everytime I hear him talk I start to laugh and/or speak dialect.I must be mad.
Yesterday stage was very hard as well.With about 17 kms to go Gasparotto joined Oroz Ugalde,who was alone at the head of the race in that moment.With about a km and a half to go there was a 850 meters long wall,that was incredibly steep.Gasparotto managed to get over it in a decent way,but he was joined by Garzelli,Iglinsky and Evans.Scarponi was few meters behind,probably because he was suffering for a crash that occurred to him previously during a descent (and in which also his teammate Serpa was involved).The sprint saw Gasparotto getting a great and well deserved victory,whereas Garzelli came 2nd.Leader in the race is still Scarponi. Andy Schleck was 70th and arrived about 6 minutes after the winner.
Talking about Andy: probably you've already read that Biver confirmed the fact that he's talking to some Luxembourgish sponsors in order to create a Team Schleck already next year (link: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/biver-confirms-possibility-of-team-schleck-in-2011 ).The little question that comes into my mind now is: why doesn't that Luxembourgian sponsor decide to sponsor Riis cycling and make everyone happy by doing so? No answers.Anyway,in the meanwhile Riis has said to Velonation that he's talked to the brothers and that they've said they don't know nothing about these rumours.Btw,me has the feeling that this telenovela will go on at least until August 2010...
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