Tirreno-Adriatico (SPOILER)

Kléber
Kléber Posts: 6,842
edited March 2009 in Pro race
No sprint finish today, instead Julian El Fares of Cofidis wins in a two-up sprint, with the bunch closing in behind. Bennati third in the bunch sprint ahead of Pettachi.
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Comments

  • 1flahute
    1flahute Posts: 32
    Are they using radios as breaks seem to be staying away both here and paris-nice :D great racing :D
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Really no idea how the sprinters' teams managed to mess that up. Liquigas had guys like Basso and Nibali stringing out the peloton in single file, yet at the end they weren't even close to making the catch. The two escapees were almost doing trackstands in the final 500m!
  • moray_gub
    moray_gub Posts: 3,328
    Did Cavendish make the chase group after the hill ? was hard to tell but given THR not working on the front id presume he didnt. Did look a bit steep for him. Good 1st Pro win for the young Cofodis rider.


    MG
    Gasping - but somehow still alive !
  • jimycooper
    jimycooper Posts: 740
    cyclingweekly said he had a mechanical on the hill and had to swap bikes. bis suprise that the sprinters teams messed it up so badly though
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Stage 2 result...

    1. Petacchi
    2. Bennati
    3. Koldo Fernandez
    4. Dominique Rollin <- nice result
    5. Paolini

    Cavendish was dropped on the hill. He ain't got a chance in hell of getting a result in MSR.
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    afx237vi wrote:

    Cavendish was dropped on the hill. He ain't got a chance in hell of getting a result in MSR.

    I wouldn't be so sure.

    It is rumoured that a goateed American millionaire has been lurking between the Cipressa and the Poggio with a large quantity of earthmoving equipment and a tunnel boring machine.
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    Brajkovic out injured. Balls. That's twice my GC pick has retired hurt this year.
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Looks the same as last season at the moment - throw in a climb of 150 metres or so in the last 30km and Cavendish will get dropped and not make it back. Hushovd didnt make it back today either which is maybe a bit more surprising. Bennati had the advantage that he is on the same team as Basso and Nibali who were able to really drive the pace on the climb. Petacchi had di Luca and it looks like some of the other GC guys were lending a hand

    http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2009/ma ... tirreno092
  • millar time
    millar time Posts: 392
    Didn't Boonen get dropped as well? I think Cav is better on the hills than he was last year, he may spring a surprise in MSR and be around at the end. I suspect there will be a concerted effort to drop him by a few teams working together though.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Boonen apparently went down in the same crash as Brajkovic and Lovkvist. Dunno if he was hurt or not.

    Anyone know who was 6th? I wanna update the PTP and Gazzeta is sloooooow. I swear the letour.fr site has the Paris-Nice results up before some of the riders even finish.
  • millar time
    millar time Posts: 392
    Farrar gets it over Cav. I never expected that!

    1 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Slipstream
    2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Columbia-Highroad
    3 Enrico Rossi (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce
    4 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Katusha
    5 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step
  • teagar
    teagar Posts: 2,100
    Any idea on what happened to Bennati?
    Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.
  • CumbrianMan
    CumbrianMan Posts: 240
    Cav 2nd !

    Blimey, it's almost a disappointment, with what we expect Cav to do nowadays.

    There's plenty more to come from him !
    "There are no hills, there is no wind, I feel no pain !"

    "A bad day on the bike is always better than a good day in the office !"
  • campagchris
    campagchris Posts: 773
    Bennati nor Petacchi in top 10

    1. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Slipstream 166km in 3hrs 53mins 48secs
    2. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Columbia
    3. Enrico Rossi (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia
    4. Robbie McEwen (Aus) Katusha
    5. Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step
    6. Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Saxo Bank
    7. Robert Hunter (Rsa) Barloworld
    8. Luca Paolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone
    9. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo
    10. Borut Bozic (Slo) Vacansoleil

    overall

    1. Julien El Fares (Fra) Cofidis 8hrs 6mins 32secs
    2. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR at 15sec
    3. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas at s.t
    4. Enrico Rossi (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia at 20secs
    5. Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis at 25secs
    6. Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana
    7. Matti Breschel (Den) Saxo Bank
    8. Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Lampre
    9. G. Hincapie (Usa) Columbia
    10. Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) LPR all same time
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Even Lance was impressed

    Also, congrats to Tyler Farrar for his stage win in Tirreno-Adriatico. Beats Cavendish. Pretty amazing.

    :roll:
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    The headline on l'equipe.fr is "Cavendish beaten". Poor Farrar, he wins but the story is that Cav comes second :twisted:
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,721
    It was Ali Jet who undid Cavendish. He had Petacchi's wheel and the Italian, knowing this, went very early.
    Cav overtook him with ease, but got caught 10 metres from the line, when the afterburner ran out of fuel.
    The result shows that the Italian was burnt...
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    LPR going full out for Di Luca, even Pettacchi http://www.gazzetta.it/grandeciclismo/t ... etta1.html
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    Montelupone climb, Joaquin Rodriguez going at exactly the same moment as last year :shock:
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,721
    Yep....a real case of deja vu.
    Lovkvist looks solid.
    Gibo was amazing, I thought.
    An old dog domestique.....for an old dog.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • Bronzie
    Bronzie Posts: 4,927
    Biggest surprise for me on stage 4 was that Julien El Farès was able to hang in there and is still 2nd on GC just 6 secs off the lead he took in that 1st day break. Would like to find out a bit more about him as it's a new name to me.

    No doubt he'll get burned in the TT today, but a name for the future or just riding his heart out in the leader's jersey?
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Yep....a real case of deja vu.
    Lovkvist looks solid.
    Gibo was amazing, I thought.
    An old dog domestique.....for an old dog.

    Who is Gibo going to ride for now though? Rebellin or Di Luca?
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Um, i am going to blame a long weekend with bad nights' sleep for the typo in that one. When i wrote di Luca it should of course have said Scarponi :oops:

    Looks like a good stage today though. There is a big climb followed by a lumpy 43kms to the finish where there is a sharp climb up to the line. Tomorrow looks like one for the sprinters so anyone wanting to take the GC out of Kloden's hands will have to do it today. Will this Astana team be a bit more robust than the Paris-Nice bunch?
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Kloden miles back. Looks like Scarponi is the man.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    You can watch it live here: http://www.utahcafe.com/VIDEO/RAI3a.htm

    Basso, Nibali, Scarponi, Carrara and Garzelli have well over a minute on Kloden and the rest right now. I think there's about 25km to go.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Come on Basso! Iain needs the points!
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Nice... Scarponi and Basso riding side by side. Wonder what they'll be talking about?
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    afx237vi wrote:
    Nice... Scarponi and Basso riding side by side. Wonder what they'll be talking about?

    Enough of your lip!

    C'mon Basso!
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    I'm just annoyed because I was gonna pick Basso, but then changed my mind and went for JI Gutierrez, who is apparently only good in rubbish one-week races in Belgium in August.

    PS, watching the RAI feed, Operacion Puerto is the same in Italian as it is in English (and Spanish, funnily enough)!
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Basso's attempting to win the stage.