- Mar 31, 2010
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Always thought Leigh Howard would arrive in good form as he has been racing really well in the Australian racing build up to Nationals and the start of the season. Watch out for him this year as he does a proper road pre season now that he is free of track committments. Here is his view of what happened in Stage 2, it will also explain what Pieter Weening is up too.
Leigh Howard finished in fourth place on the opening stage of the Tour de San Luis. When he checked in with us following the stage, he said he hoped to go better on stage two. Mission accomplished. Howard rounded out the podium after finishing third on the uphill run into Terrazas del Portezuelo. Following the podium presentation, Howard shared the details of his day.
Basically, today was a similar day to yesterday. The breakaway once again went from the start. There were only five guys up the road today. We brought back one of the riders who had been dropped about 50 kilometres into the stage, so only four were left in the move.
Pieter Weening represented the team at the front of the bunch alongside one rider from Cannondale and a guy from Omega Pharma QuickStep. Our presence at the front showed that we meant business for the stage victory. We’re not always able to use Pieter in this way – sometimes at races like this, he’s riding for the overall, but he came here to get early season racing in his legs. Without any other objectives, he was more than happy to do lots of work on the front.
We didn’t bring the break back until the final four kilometres, and it made for a hectic finale. It might not have been quite as hectic as yesterday because the stage was a little bit harder today, which meant people weren’t quite as fresh. The stage ended in an uphill sprint. Normally, a drag uphill isn’t my cup of tea. I have never been able to be competitive in any sort of uphill sprint until today, so I have to be happy with that.
Sacha Modolo (Bardiani CSF Inox) won ahead of Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma QuickStep). I finished just behind Cav to take third. Today, I went maybe 30 or 40 metres too early. It’s a minor detail, but it’s this type of detail that makes the difference between winning and losing. Regardless, I’m happy with third today. To be up there on a stage that normally doesn’t suit me is definitely a good sign of things to come this season.
The whole team did an incredible job today. Everyone had their bit to do, and they all did it well. Without each of my teammates, I wouldn’t have been up there contesting for the win. Svein Tuft helped me out quite a bit in the last ten kilometres with Michael Albasini taking over from him four kilometres from the finish line. He did a huge turn before leaving me with Mitch Docker.
Working with Mitch these last two days has been great. We’re only one race in, and I can already tell that we’re going to mix it up well in the sprints together. We should have another chance to test out our partnership here on the last day of racing.
Leigh Howard finished in fourth place on the opening stage of the Tour de San Luis. When he checked in with us following the stage, he said he hoped to go better on stage two. Mission accomplished. Howard rounded out the podium after finishing third on the uphill run into Terrazas del Portezuelo. Following the podium presentation, Howard shared the details of his day.
Basically, today was a similar day to yesterday. The breakaway once again went from the start. There were only five guys up the road today. We brought back one of the riders who had been dropped about 50 kilometres into the stage, so only four were left in the move.
Pieter Weening represented the team at the front of the bunch alongside one rider from Cannondale and a guy from Omega Pharma QuickStep. Our presence at the front showed that we meant business for the stage victory. We’re not always able to use Pieter in this way – sometimes at races like this, he’s riding for the overall, but he came here to get early season racing in his legs. Without any other objectives, he was more than happy to do lots of work on the front.
We didn’t bring the break back until the final four kilometres, and it made for a hectic finale. It might not have been quite as hectic as yesterday because the stage was a little bit harder today, which meant people weren’t quite as fresh. The stage ended in an uphill sprint. Normally, a drag uphill isn’t my cup of tea. I have never been able to be competitive in any sort of uphill sprint until today, so I have to be happy with that.
Sacha Modolo (Bardiani CSF Inox) won ahead of Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma QuickStep). I finished just behind Cav to take third. Today, I went maybe 30 or 40 metres too early. It’s a minor detail, but it’s this type of detail that makes the difference between winning and losing. Regardless, I’m happy with third today. To be up there on a stage that normally doesn’t suit me is definitely a good sign of things to come this season.
The whole team did an incredible job today. Everyone had their bit to do, and they all did it well. Without each of my teammates, I wouldn’t have been up there contesting for the win. Svein Tuft helped me out quite a bit in the last ten kilometres with Michael Albasini taking over from him four kilometres from the finish line. He did a huge turn before leaving me with Mitch Docker.
Working with Mitch these last two days has been great. We’re only one race in, and I can already tell that we’re going to mix it up well in the sprints together. We should have another chance to test out our partnership here on the last day of racing.
Cav bigging up his competition on twitter
https://twitter.com/MarkCavendish/status/293866361283817472
https://twitter.com/MarkCavendish/status/293866361283817472
Ryo Hazuki said:
i would go with Moyano and Pereyra, i doubt Messineo is a man for Cerro El Amago, Godoy you know
- Mar 31, 2010
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little-ear said:
moyano isn't in great shape and pereyra indeed. forgot him. messineo is an animal. he won on mirador potrero before. he isn't a climber, but neither are giacinti and diaz, they did very well too
- Mar 31, 2010
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it's ashame there's so few latin american teams in the race this year for the sake of having **** like bmc, lotto, dukla praha and god knows what
- Mar 20, 2009
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I believe that short stage races like this one should be made to showcase the local and regional talents even if that meant having more teams but less riders per teams. Of course the bigger teams might not see it that way: do they really want to send a delegation to far away places just to get trashed by the local? However, for us the fans, it would be a pleasure to discover new names and to be able to cheer for them.Ryo Hazuki said:
- Mar 31, 2010
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rosa? lol. he's no big talent. no chance. also rubiano sucks itt. whoever wins san luis wins it because he's a great itt rider.
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- Sep 8, 2009
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everybody ready for the show??
en fuga, Messineo (SLS), Aronel (ARG), De Luna (MEX), Giacinti (SLS), Chavanel (OPQ), Teruel (MOV) y Gastauer (AG2R)
around 100 km to go
en fuga, Messineo (SLS), Aronel (ARG), De Luna (MEX), Giacinti (SLS), Chavanel (OPQ), Teruel (MOV) y Gastauer (AG2R)
around 100 km to go
- Mar 31, 2010
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