Tirreno-Adriatico: Stage 3, Terranuova Bracciolini - Perugia, 189km

[Francois the Postman]

JJ, great, at last!

Hushovd, wow. Cervelo had a beautiful line through that roundabout. They appeared to have picked a special gear that no-one else had mounted.

HTC a right mess today.

 

[Rocksteady]

Hushovd great great pull again.

Turbo-Haedo finished them.

Looked like Thor did too much. Farrar had to work to hard to keep with him and didn't have enough in the end.

Cheers to Haedo though... Excellent sprint.

 

[goggalor]

Hushovd rode Farrar off his wheel a few times there.

 

[woodie]

Another great job by Renshaw, helping Cav back to the bunch then setting him up almost perfectly but Cav lost his wheel again! Well deserved by Haedo

 

[Francois the Postman]

Another great job by Renshaw, helping Cav back to the bunch then setting him up almost perfectly but Cav lost his wheel again! Well deserved by Haedo

Cav looked out of sorts, so maybe "the great job" would have been to go it alone?

 

[Jamsque]

I am used to seeing Cav get dropped on the hills, I am not used to seeing him lose the wheel in the run up to a sprint. Unless he is playing some super mind-games and is going to destroy the field at M-SR I think we may not see much from him until the Giro.

 

[Tuarts]

Renshaw could have had a chance to win 2 stages now but he's been too busy playing babysitter.

Hushovd is an absolute tank, best lead out man there is considering at any other team (except for maybe HTC) he'd be #1 sprinter.

Well done to Saxo Bank though. On the front the whole time those last 3-4 kilometres until Thor came past, they set it up excellently.

 

[Jamsque]

Thor was awesome once again, he set up Farrar about as perfectly as could be hoped.

 

[Kvinto]

That Hushovd move, caused McEwen's lose of the contact with the group of favourites. I have not seen the replays yet, but what I saw is when Thor attacked Robbie was unlucky to find himself in a dead space, just behind the group of Garmin or Saxo riders, they were slowing down and closed Robbie the inside edge, so only 6th, what a pity

 

[ingsve]

That Hushovd move, caused McEwen's lose of the contact with the group of favourites. I have not seen the replays yet, but what I saw is when Thor attacked Robbie was unlucky to find himself in a dead space, just behind the group of Garmin or Saxo riders, they were slowing down and closed Robbie the inside edge, so only 6th, what a pity

Ya, EBH also got caught behind the gap that opened up when Hushovd accelerated out of the last turn. EBH finished 8th I think just behind McEwen and Mondory.

 

[BroDeal]

I am used to seeing Cav get dropped on the hills, I am not used to seeing him lose the wheel in the run up to a sprint. Unless he is playing some super mind-games and is going to destroy the field at M-SR I think we may not see much from him until the Giro.

"The thing about Cav is that he loses wheels." -- Andre Greipel.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Saxo did the work and JJ gave them the reward.
Agree that Thor went a bit too hard for poor Tyler and it cost him in the end.
Super aggressive riding for supposed "flat" stages.
A far cry from the very controlled riding (excluding the French) at Paris-Nice.

 

[Cobblestoned]

"The thing about Cav is that he loses wheels." -- Andre Greipel.

lol

When did he say that ?
New mind games started, or old games from last season ?

 

[Faserr]

I don't think Greipel says something like this in public.

 

[El Pistolero]

No fan of Thor, but they better make him leader at MSR... What form. Amazing.

Glad to see Saxobank racking up another win this season
I bet Bjarne Riis will be glad till july that he got rid of those useless Schlecks
Tommorow live at 14.50.

 

[BroDeal]

I don't think Greipel says something like this in public.

But that would not stop Cav from saying it about Greipel in public.

 

[luckyboy]

Nice for JJ. Cav isn't looking great for MSR.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Haedo
Farrar
Oss
AleJet
Renshaw

Great kick from Haedo, he really leapt out to come by Farrar. He's got speed but he only seems to show it one race out of every five.

Cav lost the wheel when the Thor Train blew by, which is all the more disappointing given how well positioned Renshaw was to lead him out.

the reason why he shows it only 1 race out of 5 is because he normally doesn't have a train

unbeknowned he confirmed what I said before on pure speed he is easily one of the fastest if not the fastest sprinter in europe. but without a train and not knowing how to place yourself you don't stand a chance

 

[dabaideschbi]

i was at the arrive today! nice sprint! i was so excited as i have seen many riders for the first time! standing next to riders like schleck,freire,ballan,hushovd,glibert was a big emotion for me!

 

[hektoren]

Agree that Thor went a bit too hard for poor Tyler and it cost him in the end.

Thor certainly looks impressive for this time of year (can't wait for MSR now), but Tyler shouldn't have any problems following him, or maybe they should switch jobs? Tyler took a lot of wind having sort-of lost Thor's wheel, having to catch up. Early days yet, but the Thor/Tyler(/Klier) combo looks promising to say the least.

 

[jens_attacks]

from 30 km to go-15 km to go it was absolutely awesome race,crazy attacks(chapeau madrazo,txuruka).the speed was fantastic,i think this period of race was above all what paris-nice offered us until now
i think tomorrow we'll have a crazy day,attacks all over the place.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Valerio Piva against Sporza: "Cavendish has the condition of 2009, just before he won MSR."

So... Cavendish is just acting? Or what? I do remember he got dropped on every possible hill in the Tirreno 2009 and DID win MSR. But still. Seems so unlikely.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Also, Rabobank DS Nico Verhoeven thinks tomorrows stage is rather for though sprinters like Freire, then for GC men...

Verhoeven's instincts are usually always right (the man responsable for all rabo espoir succes in the past, and now nearly all succes of the rabo pro team)

 

[palmerq]

Are there highlights on eurosport uk? I have to see a Haedo win..... Petacchis results don't seem too good right now, I was hoping he would have a good milan san remo, I want him or boonen to win it but it looks like illness has beaten both of them..

I was thinking cavendish might be pretending again, but I don't think it will help him that much, surely a lot of teams will still try and get rid of him towards of the msr.

 

[maltiv]

Valerio Piva against Sporza: "Cavendish has the condition of 2009, just before he won MSR."

So... Cavendish is just acting? Or what? I do remember he got dropped on every possible hill in the Tirreno 2009 and DID win MSR. But still. Seems so unlikely.

No way he is deliberately losing sprints. That would be completely silly, it's not like Cavendish will go unnoticed if he's there in the finale at M-SR anyway. In 2009 he was at least sprinting well even though he got dropped on hills.