Tirreno -Adriatico

[Anonymous]

Closing Stages Video

 

[ingsve]

Apperently, the breakaway was a counterattack to an attack by Flecha? Why would he attack, while Sky was doing a leadout for EBH? Highly confusing stuff.

Something must have happened, a puncture or something perhaps.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Just caught up. Yup, extremely odd.
Afraid it was a Sky man who lost the wheel, having caught the break.
Then, the Cervelo guy also ran out of gas and the gap opened.
Liquigas worked so hard, then disappeared.

Cavendish.......the clock is ticking.

 

[goggalor]

Something must have happened, a puncture or something perhaps.

Nah, I'm sure I saw EBH in the sprint, right behind Hushovd. He didn't have any punch left, though.

To me it looked like a Sky rider closed down the gap to the escapees to within five meters, then Hushovd--who was on the front--didn't want to open the sprint/was completely spent, and the break pulled away again ... and then Gerdemann beat Breschel in the sprint.

 

[maltiv]

Just caught up. Yup, extremely odd.
Afraid it was a Sky man who lost the wheel, having caught the break.
Then, the Cervelo guy also ran out of gas and the gap opened.
Liquigas worked so hard, then disappeared.

Cavendish.......the clock is ticking.

As I see it, someone from Sky closed the cap, not sure if it was Edvald or perhaps Flecha, then when the Sky rider pulled over after having done his job, Hushovd (who was in second position) completely faded, and consequently he blocked for everyone and slowed down the pace so it was impossible for anyone else to close the gap again.

 

[goggalor]

Also, I'm amazed the British Eurosport commentator, whoever he is, correctly predicted the break would stay away when they had a 5 second gap with over 1 km to go. 99 times out of 100 he'd be wrong.

 

[William H]

Also, I'm amazed the British Eurosport commentator, whoever he is, correctly predicted the break would stay away when they had a 5 second gap with over 1 km to go. 99 times out of 100 he'd be wrong.

Carlton Kirby benefited from his total lack of understanding of cycling, for once.

 

[maltiv]

Freire lost 5 minutes, for some reason. One of the few who actually were behind Cavendish

 

[Delicato]

.

Cavendish.......the clock is ticking.

I am almost happy that he is in bad form. Haussler's chances of winning M-SR increased considerably.

And I also hope that Sky won't win this race.

 

[tgsgirl]

Freire lost 5 minutes, for some reason. One of the few who actually were behind Cavendish

The Rabo site mentions something about him having been a bit under the weather the past week.

 

[luckyboy]

I actually laughed out loud at the end of that. Weird stuff

Also, Breschel outsprinted by Lastras & Gerdemann? Must've had no energy whatsoever..

 

[ingsve]

Looking at the finish again and the results list my guess would be that it was Michael Barry that closed the gap and then left a new gap when the front 4 started sprinting. It could alos have been Sutton but I have a feeling that Sutton would have just opened a sprint instead of sitting up and rolling over the line far back.

 

[TRDean]

I am almost happy that he is in bad form. Haussler's chances of winning M-SR increased considerably.

And I also hope that Sky won't win this race.

It looks like Ferrar is on as well...MSR??? May be possible.

 

[maltiv]

Looking at the finish again and the results list my guess would be that it was Michael Barry that closed the gap and then left a new gap when the front 4 started sprinting. It could alos have been Sutton but I have a feeling that Sutton would have just opened a sprint instead of sitting up and rolling over the line far back.

Chris [Sutton] closed up the gap with one kilometre to go," said sports director Scott Sunderland. "The other guys [teams] behind did not come through to work. http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...o-gerdemann-is-back-and-with-good-timing.html

It was a pretty big gap to close, he was basically sprinting for 500 meters to close it. Then he completely stopped pedaling, which is probably why he ended up so far behind.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

I am almost happy that he is in bad form. Haussler's chances of winning M-SR increased considerably.

And I also hope that Sky won't win this race.

I haven't even seen the stage (the joy of work), so just thinking out loud here, but didn't Cav make a big song and dance after MSR last year about deliberately getting dropped very publically to play down expectations?

 

[DAOTEC]

Novelty

'Paolo Savoldelli finished the line first today'

Making his debut on Wednesday at the first stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico as commentator for Rai by motor replacing Paolo Bettini.
PS "it will continue with the Milan-Sanremo on Saturday 20 March and in May, with the big show of the Tour of Italy. Yes, it is now fully defined, even in the details - confirmation of the sample Rovetta -. In recent days, I proceeded to buy clothing for motorcyclists, which for me was a novelty. I had to go to seek information from those who already had experience of such things, because I had very clear ideas."

That implicates that Bettini will become the new Italian team coach taking over Ballerini's spot. More...ecodibergamo.it

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Andy Schleck lost 53 secs

Andy Schleck lost 53 secs on stage 1 -
anyone know what went wrong?

 

[Jamsque]

Andy Schleck lost 53 secs on stage 1 -
anyone know what went wrong?

He's not on great form coming off his knee problem, and you can bet the cold weather isn't helping it any.

 

[zapata]

I haven't even seen the stage (the joy of work), so just thinking out loud here, but didn't Cav make a big song and dance after MSR last year about deliberately getting dropped very publically to play down expectations?

But that was in eroica, which he would never have won anyway. This stage today, on paper, he should have a good shot at winning, so would be stupid to forfeit. Besides, tricks like that work once, you don't do it twice. Think he's just really out of shape.

 

[Frosty]

Surprised to see Hincapie finishing with Cav and his train. Freire was in there too,

 

[auscyclefan94]

Just watched stage... weird! Peleton where on the breaks wheels and a sky and cervelo rider didn't have it and let the wheel go!

 

[Ferminal]

Finally got to watch it, my recording ******ed up last night

The sprint was hilarious, this horrific weather is making for some unique results. The lead group was bigger than I thought it was, all favourites still together.

(Apart from Schlecky - but I wouldn't call him a favourite)

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Now that we have a specific thread for stage two, I am going to unstick this one.

Susan

 

[craig1985]

Good to see Grabovskyy give up the drink and actually have a strong ride. I hope he makes the most of this second chance.

 

[Christian]

Sastre? The same Sastre who recently race 5 Grand Tours in a row?

Since it's impossible to ride 5 Grand Tours in a year, of course.

It's actually only 4 I think, I don't recall him being at the 2008 Giro.

But he didn't do too badly.

1st at the '08 Tour (+1x stage win, +KOM)
3rd at the '08 Vuelta
3rd at the '09 Giro (after di Luca is removed)(+2x stage win)
17th at the '09 Tour.

Sure, the Tour performance is a disappointment in '09, but the parcours was about as un-Sastre-conducive as it could be, with much TTing, very few multiple-mountain stages and only 3 MTFs. I'd say three GT podiums including a win, and 3 GT stage wins, are enough to say that there was little wrong with his race calendar except maybe, the man perceived as not racing very often, could have taken a break.

I know it's been a while but just for the heck of it:

Sastre returns to racing after 8 months (that's 2/3 of a year) off:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sastre-returns-to-racing-after-eight-months-off

“[Catalunya] (March 22-28) is the only race I'm going to ride before the Giro d'Italia (May 8-30)"