This race is always a strong test ahead of the Giro di Lombardia, and is a race we will look to win - Uran inparticular, after he took his first ever victory here last season.
A breakaway of 17 got clear, and they started to build a dangerous lead
With 80km to go for the peleton, they were still 11 minutes behind, and 5 of the 8 man DFL team are now working on the front of the peleton
The gap started to fall, but perhaps not by enough. Ag2r's Rovira attacked with 42km to go though, and Konovalovas follows
Also attacking were Palini and fellow Lithuanian Kairelis
Konovalovas took the front and set about pushing a high tempo. The other 3 attackers just sat in his wheel, offering no help, but Konovalovas' plan was working. The peleton remained at around a minute behind them as they did not wish to allow a huge gap, but the gap to the leaders was falling
From 6'20 with 38km to go, to 2'40 with 19km left.
The power of Konovalovas continued to push the group closer to the break - and their own lead over the peleton was extending. Uran clearly needed to make a move soon and so he attacks with 14km to go
Onto the penultimate steep climb (with the final one being the climb up to the finish line) and Konovalovas has caught the breakaway! 30km of effectively solo chasing, with pretty much no help from his 3 companions - one of whom, Kairelis, now tries to attack away. With 2 and a half red bars, Konovalovas now has a chance to sit in wheels and try to recuperate for the finish
Uran meanwhile is still pushing to close the gap the group has over him
Over the top and Uran is now accelerating down the descent, 45 seconds behind the 10 man lead group
It takes nearly 5km to do it but with 3km to go, Uran has caught up with the group
But he still had to get to the front of the group and was not there at the start of the sprint, Konovalovas is now back on the front and leading the uphill sprint
The Lithuanian is certainly the strongest there, apart from teammate Uran and the World Champion is quickly making his move
Konovalovas sticks to the right hand side as Uran charges up the left
Theres no team orders, the strongest person will win
Uran is certainly closing in on Konovalovas but is there enough space left?
Its close on the line
But its a win for Konovalovas!! Fully deserved after all his hard work today, Uran cannot take a repeat win, but this race is nevertheless a good sign for Lombardia
1 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 5h03'38
2 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Andrea Palini LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 14
4 Dainius Kairelis BARLOWORLD s.t.
5 Jaume Rovira AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 22
6 Johannes Fröhlinger GEROLSTEINER + 51
7 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD + 1'10
8 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
9 Marco Fabbri AURUM HOTELS - SAPORE DI MARE s.t.
10 Pasquale Muto RABOBANK s.t.
11 Kim Kirchen LIQUIGAS s.t.
12 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
14 Davide Rebellin TEAM CSC s.t.
15 Luca Solari TEAM LPR s.t.
16 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
17 Pierino Ausilio OTC DOORS - LAURETANA s.t.
18 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM LPR s.t.
19 Marco Corsini TEAM TENAX - MENIKINI s.t.
20 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
21 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
22 Dario Cataldo BARLOWORLD s.t.
23 Levi Leipheimer RABOBANK s.t.
24 Ben Hermans LIQUIGAS s.t. 25 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
26 Matthias Ruß GEROLSTEINER s.t.
27 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC s.t.
28 Eddy Serri MICHE s.t.
29 Santo Anzà AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
30 Paolo Savoldelli LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
31 Pietro Caucchioli BARLOWORLD s.t.
32 Mauricio Soler RABOBANK s.t.
33 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD s.t.
34 Andrea Masciarelli CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
35 Luca Pierfelici AURUM HOTELS - SAPORE DI MARE s.t.
36 Serafín Martínez RABOBANK s.t. 37 Saul Raisin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
38 Karsten Kroon LIQUIGAS s.t.
39 Nicki Sörensen TEAM CSC s.t.
40 Thomas Lövkvist TEAM MILRAM s.t.
41 Walter Pedraza TEAM LPR s.t.
42 Ludovic Turpin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
43 Sergio Marinangeli ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
44 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
45 Alexandr Kolobnev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
46 Claudio Corioni AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
47 Andreas Dietziker TEAM LPR s.t.
48 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC s.t.
49 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK s.t.
50 José Carlos Rodrigues TEAM LPR s.t. 59 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
99 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'46
104 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
128 Maxim Iglinskiy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 8'04
It included Hincapie, Plaza, Rosseler, Auge and Casar.
Throughout the race, Uran, Konovalovas and Pliuschin all followed other attacks made, but none were allowed to stay clear
Uran was just preparing for another go before Cancellara, Paolini and Del Nero went
He could not react in time, and as those 3 powered towards the breakaway, Uran joined up with Ivanov and Bettini in pursuit
It would stay as a pursuit though, as only Del Nero, Paolini and Cancellara were able to catch the break, with a high pace causing the number of survivng members to fall. Still, there were 11 riders in the front group as Grabovskyy led the sprint
Paolini and Cancellara sprinted past the Ukrainian
And Paolini wins Paris-Tours
Uran ended a frustrating 17th, while Geraint Thomas came 5th in the bunch sprint for 22nd
1 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL 5h55'04
2 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
3 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
4 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
5 Dmytro Grabovskyy GEROLSTEINER s.t.
6 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
7 Taylor Phinney DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Mirko Celestino RABOBANK s.t.
9 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 52
10 Ludovic Turpin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
11 Michiel Van Aelbroeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
12 Renaud Dion LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
14 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
15 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
16 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t. 17 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
18 Martin Pedersen UNIBET.COM s.t.
19 Stuart O'Grady DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
20 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
21 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM s.t. 22 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
23 Steve Schets CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
24 Eduard Vorganov EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
25 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC s.t.
26 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
27 Claudio Corioni AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
28 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
29 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
30 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
31 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
32 Saïd Haddou CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
33 Marc Lotz BARLOWORLD s.t.
34 Jeremy Hunt CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t. 35 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
36 Steven Tronet AGRITUBEL s.t.
37 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
38 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t. 39 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
40 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
41 Philippe Gilbert RABOBANK s.t.
42 Alessandro Proni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
43 Giovanni Visconti TEAM ASTANA s.t.
44 Olivier Pardini CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
45 Jaume Rovira AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
46 Zdenek Stybar AGRITUBEL s.t.
47 Nick Nuyens TEAM CSC s.t.
48 Wilfried Cretskens CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
49 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER s.t.
50 Andreas Klier GEROLSTEINER s.t. 67 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
136 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
158 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 5'54
175 Justo Tenorio DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 20'36
The final lombardia race is a hilly classic, but not one that suits are riders as the terrain is actually rather flat
A break goes clear early on, but the real interest comes with around 30km to go as the favourites attack. Uran, Valverde and Rovny are the strongest, ahead of a 6 man chase group which includes Konovalovas
Uran's group links up with the days breakaway
But then Rovny and Valverde manage to sneak away
Nothing Uran does can stop the pair dissappearing away into the distance
Alejandro Valverde wins the race, to install himself as favourite for Lombardia
Uran is 3rd, while Konovalovas sprints to 7th, his group having only managed to catch the breakaway in the closing stages. (With Konovalovas having not relayed due to Uran being ahead)
1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 4h29'40
2 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t. 3 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 24
4 Kim Kirchen LIQUIGAS + 37
5 Saturnino Ferrer CERAMICA FLAMINIA s.t.
6 Andreas Bernardino TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t. 7 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
8 Jaume Rovira AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
9 Jakob Fiedler T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Jacopo Guarnieri SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
11 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD s.t.
12 Andrea Pagoto CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
13 Eddy Serri MICHE s.t.
14 David Cañada SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
15 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
16 Matej Jurco TEAM MILRAM s.t.
17 Adriano Malori ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
18 Alberto Ongarato LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
19 Vicente Reynès CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'32
20 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'00
21 Efrem Salvi TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
22 Pieter Riis Andersen TEAM CSC s.t.
23 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
24 Ben Hermans LIQUIGAS s.t.
25 Dario Cataldo BARLOWORLD s.t.
26 Marko Ullmann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
27 Florian Morizot TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
28 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
29 Kasper Klostergaard TEAM CSC s.t.
30 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
31 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
32 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t. 33 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
34 Michael Barry TEAM CSC s.t.
35 Karsten Kroon LIQUIGAS s.t.
36 Luis Orán Castañeda LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
37 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD s.t.
38 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD s.t.
39 Gerhard Trampusch BARLOWORLD s.t.
40 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
41 Stefano Garzelli ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
42 Ricardo Mestre LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
43 Claudio Corioni AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
44 Marcel Kittel CERAMICA FLAMINIA s.t.
45 Joost Posthuma AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
46 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
47 Maarten Tjallingii T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
48 Sergio Marinangeli ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
49 Andrea Tonti AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
50 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC s.t. 61 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
63 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
97 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
134 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'24
2nd last year, World Champion Rigoberto Uran hopes to go one better - but dont rule out Ignas Konovalovas. Also here for DFL are Pliuschin, Anton, Thomas, Tenorio, Raisin and Efimkin - the Russian is looking for XP, despite having 0 form.
The favourite though will be ProTour leader Alejandro Valverde, who proved his form recently with 2nd in the Worlds and by winning the Giro del Piemonte.
The action is expected to start on the Madonna del Ghisallo with around 54km to go, but last years winner Damiano Cunego attacks 2km before that.
Konovalovas follows, as does Wegmann and Mazzanti - a last throw of the dice perhaps for Euskaltel, who need to outscore Predictor-Lotto by 11 points here in order to avoid relegation
Cunego isnt strong today though, as Konovalovas and Wegmann move ahead
Not long though before Konovalovas is into a solo lead
He continues to press onwards, catching and passing the days breakaway
It will be hard to stay away for 50km, but it is certainly worth the effort
Here we go though, Ricco attacks with 30km to go, Uran reacts along with the other big riders
Di Luca, Uran, Rovny and Valverde form a group - but they have not yet caught Konovalovas!
Uran therefore has an excuse to sit at the back of the group
The Lithuanian isnt ready to give in, leading down the descent of the Civiglio
But Valverde attacks on the following flats to end a 40km solo by the Lithuanian champ
Now on the San Fermo dello Battaglia, the tactics must begin, can anybody outsmart the rest of the group before the finish?
Uran tries to but the rest under pressure
Ricco and Schleck are completely out of it now, leaving 5 to contest the win. Konovalovas hits the front again, but he does not have much left
Uran now takes over
Konovalovas is dropped now as Uran tries to delay the sprint for as long as is possible
The inevitable comes with 1km to go, and we just have to hope Valverede forgets how to sprint
But here comes the Spaniard now
A win for Valverde, Uran has no choice but to settle for 3rd
Konovalovas takes 5th, a great effort from him that perhaps deserved more
Igor Anton battles to a 12th place in the sprint in the peleton, with Tenorio 20th and Pliuschin 24th
Rafaa Chtioui was 2nd here last year and hoped to take his first Pro victory today, while Pliuschin is also riding along with Geraint Thomas.
But on the day Ruben Plaza was too good, Chtioui had to settle for 3rd - beating Pliuschin though - as Thomas was unfortunate to miss out on the Top 10, being let down by a bad daily form.
1 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 1h07'07
2 Ben Hermans LIQUIGAS + 24 3 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 35
4 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 39
5 Steven Cummings DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 57
6 Dimitri Champion SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'16
7 Kasper Klostergaard TEAM CSC + 1'44
8 Taylor Phinney DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'08
9 Julien Mazet PERUTNINA PTUJ + 2'10
10 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC + 2'31 11 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'38
12 Mikaël Chérel TEAM CSC + 2'43
13 Kilian Patour TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 2'50
14 Marlon Pérez TEAM UNIVERSAL CAFFÉ - ECOPETROL + 2'51
15 Michael Friedman TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 2'56
16 Andrej Omulec PERUTNINA PTUJ + 3'13
17 Jean-Marc Bideau TEAM MILRAM + 3'19
18 Kevin Neirynck LIQUIGAS + 3'22
19 Jean Zen ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE + 3'36
20 Joakim Gunnerud BRETAGNE - ARMOR LUX + 3'37
21 Yoann Bagot BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 3'39
22 Jonas Ljungblad ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE + 3'41
23 Kevin Maene ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
24 Steven Cozza TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 3'47
25 Andy Flickinger BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 3'59
26 Nicolas Jalabert AGRITUBEL + 4'00
27 Matthew Hayman RABOBANK + 4'04
28 Arnaud Lesvenan AUBER 93 + 4'08
29 Maurice Baha AUBER 93 + 4'14
30 Alain Van Katwijk PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 4'20
31 Grégory Sagnol ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
32 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM + 4'27
33 Antoine Potillon AGRITUBEL + 4'30
34 Ludovic Turpin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
35 Alexandr Bazhenov AUBER 93 + 4'31
36 Maciej Ulanowski TEAM UNIVERSAL CAFFÉ - ECOPETROL + 4'32
37 Bram De Groot RABOBANK + 4'34
38 Aldo Ino Ilesic PERUTNINA PTUJ + 4'35
39 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL + 4'36
40 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 4'37
41 Sergio Marinangeli ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO + 4'42
42 Allan Davis TEAM MILRAM + 4'53
43 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 4'56
44 Lino Candotti ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO + 4'58
45 Alexandre Usov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 5'06
46 Carlos Zárate SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 5'12
47 Claudio Corioni AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 5'15
48 Graeme Brown RABOBANK + 5'27
49 Rony Martias BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 5'39
50 Renaud Dion LIQUIGAS + 5'50
51 Noan Lelarge BRETAGNE - ARMOR LUX + 6'04
52 Piotr Zielinski BRETAGNE - ARMOR LUX + 6'05
53 Hans Dekkers PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 6'11
54 Giosuè Bonomi TEAM UNIVERSAL CAFFÉ - ECOPETROL + 6'42
Good luck in Lombardia!
