Tour Mediterraneen

[ak-zaaf]

Hutarovich takes the first stage.

 

[Angliru]

I'm personally looking forward to the final stage, Mt. Faron. I wonder will Vino give it a go?

 

[bianchigirl]

Brice Feillu is riding so it would be good to see him have a dig.

 

[ak-zaaf]

A group of 21 riders will battle for the win this year. Among them Vino, Valverde, Nocentini and Hoogerland.

Can't find full results anywhere yet.

 

[Angliru]

I was surprised to see Clement Lhotellerie on the start list for Roubaix Lille Metropole. I thought he was on a 2 year suspension.

Also Cofidis's riders had a decent showing last year with I believe Remi Pauriol and Damien Monier having good performances. They seemed to excell in these early season stage races.

 

[ak-zaaf]

I surprised to see Clement Lhotellerie on the start list for Roubaix Lille Metropole. I thought he was on a 2 year suspension.

LOL.
On 2 July 2009 his team announced that he had tested positive for Methylhexanamine which Lhotellerie claimed was from contaminated geranium oil.[2]

from cq:

Clement LHOTELLERIE tested positive for Methylhexanamine in Liege-Bastogne-Liege on 26 April 2009. He was fired by his team Vacansoleil when the positive test was revealed, and suspended for 5 months by the French federation until 3 November 2009, and

 

[bianchigirl]

Stage 1 results:
http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/breves2010/20100210_155431_hutarovich-premier-leader.html

 

[ak-zaaf]

With temperatures anchored below zero throughout the stage...

Wow, look on the pic above what Hutarovich is wearing

 

[Angliru]

Wow, look on the pic above what Hutarovich is wearing

Yeah, I was contrasting that with what the Telecom rider was wearing.

 

[pueblo 2 wheels]

Garmin

The real question is 'how long will it be before tom danielson goes home with a tummy ache, again'. I can't believe they keep giving him a job.

 

[craig1985]

Wow, look on the pic above what Hutarovich is wearing

But Huta is from Belarus, I'm sure the temperature is the least of his worries.

 

[palmerq]

the guy behind Hutarovich in the photo is wearing the same(different team of course:S)... not sure who he is but hats off to them...

 

[Polish]

"Strong winds caused a number of splits to form in the run into the finish, with significant portions of the peloton losing massive chunks of time by days end."

Vino, riding heads up, made the selection!

Vino4Ever

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-mediterraneen-cycliste-professionnel-2-1/stage-1/results

 

[craig1985]

Turns out Vichot was just a reserve for this race. Gesink is also riding and Rasmussen lost a lot of time on this stage.

 

[ergmonkey]

Speaking of Michael Rasmussen, I expect he'll influence the outcome of the Mt. Faron stage. I don't think he'll be explosive enough to get the stage win, but he will definitely be motivated because he can't expect to ride too many prestigious mountain stages against the best pros this year.

So, I think he'll set a hard enough pace that only the best climbers will keep up and have a chance of winning the stage. Valverde, Gesink, or Hoogerland could do it, I think. Vino hasn't shown his old acceleration yet, and I really doubt that Tom Danielson developed a winning instinct over the off-season.

 

[Greg B]

I think i just saw the Miche van being pulled over on the way to stage 2 by customs.

 

[ak-zaaf]

Again temperatures below zero. An escape group was caught in the last km's, after that a large group was sent the wrong way by the police in the last 300m.

Veikkanen wins, the group get the same time as Jussi.

i corridori protestano dopo l'arrivo per l'errore ai trecento metri

 

[Angliru]

I recall Veikkanen having alot of early season success in 2009 also. I was looking for him to continue into 2009 but I believe he had some injuries midway that ruined the rest of his season.

 

[theyoungest]

Paul Martens on twitter:

shit, went on the last 350m in 4th position,riders in the front got send into the wrong road. A rider on 15th position won..:-\

 

[taiwan]

So remaining riders in the GC are only Valverde, Vinokourov, Hoogerland (Noncenti).

Actually, not sure if I should be making Hoogerland a GC candidate and not Noncenti, but Hoogerland seems to be highly rated at the moment. I'm not googling for previous results for the sake of this post.

Out of those three, I would expect it to go in that order, but Valverde must win in any case.

 

[bianchigirl]

The rider who got sent down the wrong road was Dan Martin who took the climbers jersey

 

[Polish]

Vino's team mate Maxim Iglinsky is a few seconds ahead of Valverde and Vino.
Max is a good climber....Vino/Maxim one-two Kazak Punch!
Maybe Vino will help Max now for loyalty points later in the season?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_Iglinsky
.
.
.

 

[taiwan]

Apart from the mountains classement in the Tour de Suisse, I don't see that much form in the hills. 8th at a GP Plouay? All I knew about him before was that he got third in the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen behind Boonen and Pozzato, so I've learnt something.

 

[craig1985]

Rasmussen DNF today.

 

[theyoungest]

I heard a radio interview with Johnny Hoogerland. He's more than a little disappointed about today's stage: he was being led out for the sprint, his teammates overtook Dan Martin on a roundabout 500 mtrs from the finish, and the rest is history. He seemed genuinely pi$$ed off, even if it's just the Tour Mediterranéen.