Yesterday's two strongest, Visconti and Tiernan-Locke, are the most active ones towards the end of the race. However, after a few halfassed attacks from both of them, Pierre-Luc sets off just as the final lap begins.
Unfortunately, he is unable to really put any distance between himself and the very fast peloton. Therefore Evaldas makes the junction at three kilometres to go, to profit from a well positioned leadout man.
Inside the final k, Evaldas bursts clear... for a few seconds until Tiernan-Locke rockets up alongside on the difficult slope up to the line. Nobody else seems to have the legs, so it's a battle between the two...
Success! Tiernan-Locke can't accelerate anymore after closing the gap, and punches in the handlebars as he cuts the line - a wheel behind Evaldas!
Former #1 talent in the world, Timofey Kritskiy, shocks a little with an impressive third place after some tough years. Pierre-Luc times his effort perfectly to just about hang on to a Top 5 today.
Great way to end a strong period! Now we're off on a break during June and July, and the racing will resume at the beginning of August.
Next up is a summary from the Giro, which was an incredibly dramatic race! After that, the monthly news - before the two month break. Expect a Tour wrap-up and June-July news as well before the next race.
Larsson takes the first maglia rosa in Denmark. Pinot and Hesjedal both start in an insanely strong way, whilst one of the pre-race favourites, Michele Scarponi, has a terrible day and loses almost a minute.
Stage 2: Herning - Herning
1
Theo Bos
Rabobank Cycling Team
4h15'21
2
Matthew Goss
Orica - GreenEDGE
s.t.
3
Aidis Kruopis
Orica - GreenEDGE
s.t.
4
Arnaud Demare
FDJ - BigMat
s.t.
5
Elia Viviani
Liquigas - Cannondale
s.t.
Bunch sprint - surprisingly won by Theo Bos.
Stage 3: Horsens - Horsens:
1
Alessandro De Marchi
Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela
3h49'32
2
Rick Flens
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
3
Matthew Goss
Orica - GreenEDGE
+ 1'02
4
Elia Viviani
Liquigas - Cannondale
s.t.
5
Theo Bos
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
A two-man breakaway somehow tricks the sprinters and stays clear to the finish. De Marchi takes both the stage and the pink jersey, leaving nothing for his companion Flens. Goss meanwhile dons the points jersey.
Stage 4: Verona (TTT)
1
Garmin - Sharp
36'43
2
BMC Racing Team
+ 7
3
Radioshack - Nissan
+ 8
4
Movistar Team
+ 23
5
Vacansoleil - DCM
+ 29
Garmin wins and throws Hesjedal into pink already here. All the other favourites lose quite a bit of time to the Canadian.
Stage 5: Modena - Fano
1
Matthew Goss
Orica - GreenEDGE
4h06'47
2
Arnaud Demare
FDJ - BigMat
s.t.
3
Andrea Guardini
Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
s.t.
4
Danilo Napolitano
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
5
Mark Renshaw
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
Goss strengthens his grip around the points jersey.
Stage 6: Urbino - Porto Sant'Elpidio
1
Rigoberto Uran
Sky Procycling
4h50'14
2
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - ISD
+ 25
3
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ - BigMat
s.t.
4
Ryder Hesjedal
Garmin - Sharp
s.t.
5
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
s.t.
Uran solos to the stage win while Hesjedal gains time on all his rivals but those seen above plus Basso. Scarponi, Pozzovivo and Henao all lose around a minute, but Cadel Evans collapses and finishes 12 minutes down.
Stage 7: Recanati - Rocca di Cambio
1
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ - BigMat
6h30'52
2
Ryder Hesjedal
Garmin - Sharp
s.t.
3
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Cannondale
s.t.
4
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 47
5
Domenico Pozzovivo
Colnago - CSF Inox
s.t.
Pinot's amazing breakthrough continues as Hesjedal extends his lead.
Stage 8: Sulmona - Lago Laceno
1
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - ISD
7h02'38
2
Ryder Hesjedal
Garmin - Sharp
+ 49
3
Domenico Pozzovivo
Colnago - CSF Inox
+ 1'21
4
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
s.t.
5
Roman Kreuziger
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Scarponi strikes back after losing several minutes during the first week. Hesjedal still impresses though, and puts more time into the rest. Pinot suffers a bit and loses three minutes at the end of the day.
Stage 9: San Giorgio del Sannio - Frosinone
1
Matthew Goss
Orica - GreenEDGE
3h54'25
2
Elia Viviani
Liquigas - Cannondale
s.t.
3
Theo Bos
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
4
Jacopo Guarnieri
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
5
Andrea Guardini
Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
s.t.
Goss continues to dominate the sprints.
Stage 10: Civitavecchia - Assisi
1
Ryder Hesjedal
Garmin - Sharp
4h23'56
2
Elia Favilli
Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
+ 8
3
Matteo Montaguti
AG2R - La Mondiale
s.t.
4
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ - BigMat
s.t.
5
Javier Moreno
Movistar Team
+ 30
The Hesjedal domination continues with the Canadian increasing his overall lead to more than four minutes.
A nine minute gain catapults Nieve up on the overall podium. Hesjedal continues to show no signs of weakness, gaining time on everyone but Pozzovivo and Kreuziger. Scarponi and Pinot are struck the worst, over two minutes back.
Stage 13: Savona - Cervere
1
Mark Renshaw
Rabobank Cycling Team
2h30'43
2
Andrea Guardini
Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
s.t.
3
Matthew Goss
Orica - GreenEDGE
s.t.
4
Alessandro Petacchi
Lampre - ISD
s.t.
5
Danilo Napolitano
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
Renshaw and Guardini both trump Goss, but the Aussie pulls away further in the points classification.
Stage 14: Cherasco - Cervinia
1
Sylvain Georges
AG2R - La Mondiale
5h32'30
2
Mikel Nieve
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
3
Alessandro Proni
Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
+ 10'13
4
Domenico Pozzovivo
Colnago - CSF Inox
+ 12'22
5
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - ISD
+ 12'33
Nieve takes another huge chunk of time and moves up the GC once again. Hesjedal meanwhile shows small signs of weakness, getting dropped by Pozzovivo, Cunego and Pinot.
Stage 15: Busto Arsizio - Pian dei Resinelli
1
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Cannondale
5h17'45
2
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - ISD
s.t.
3
Ryder Hesjedal
Garmin - Sharp
s.t.
4
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - ISD
+ 27
5
Sergio Henao
Sky Procycling
s.t.
Hesjedal starts to look a size too much for the rest, and continues to gain time on basically everyone. Pinot is hit the worst, conceding a minute and a half.
Successful breakaway - yet again including Nieve. Scarponi shatters the field behind the group, shedding everyone but the impossible Hesjedal.
Stage 17: Falzes - Cortina d'Ampezzo
1
Sylvain Georges
AG2R - La Mondiale
5h14'55
2
Tiago Machado
Radioshack - Nissan
s.t.
3
Sergio Henao
Sky Procycling
+ 4'36
4
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - ISD
s.t.
5
Domenico Pozzovivo
Colnago - CSF Inox
+ 5'25
An impressive Georges doubles up, whereas Hesjedal has a bad day at last, having to limit his losses. Henao and Scarponi eats back almost three minutes from the Canadian's lead.
Stage 18: San Vito di Cadore - Vedelago
1
Matthew Goss
Orica - GreenEDGE
3h06'49
2
Yauheni Hutarovich
FDJ - BigMat
s.t.
3
Aidis Kruopis
Orica - GreenEDGE
s.t.
4
Roberto Ferrari
Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela
s.t.
5
Nacer Bouhanni
FDJ - BigMat
s.t.
Victory number four for Gossy, who more or less wraps up the red jersey.
Stage 19: Treviso - Alpe di Pampeago
1
Bart De Clercq
Lotto-Belisol Team
5h45'51
2
Carlos Betancur
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
3
Hubert Dupont
AG2R - La Mondiale
s.t.
4
Francesco Failli
Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
+ 11'58
5
Enrico Battaglin
Colnago - CSF Inox
+ 13'45
De Clercq wins a mountain stage for the second consecutive year. Further down the road, Hesjedal's problems continue. Pozzovivo and Scarponi gains over a minute, narrowing down Hesjedal's lead even more.
Stage 20: Caldes, Val di Sole - Passo dello Stelvio
1
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Cannondale
6h23'55
2
Domenico Pozzovivo
Colnago - CSF Inox
s.t.
3
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - ISD
+ 33
4
Thibaut Pinot
Thibaut Pinot
+ 45
5
Sergio Henao
Sky Procycling
+ 1'26
The Italians crack Hesjedal once again. The Canadian loses almost three minutes to stage winner Basso and Pozzovivo, enough for Scarponi to overtake the pink jersey - by the margin of a second! With Pozzovivo four seconds back!
So, ahead of the final time trial, this is the GC situation:
1
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - ISD
87h22'07
2
Ryder Hesjedal
Garmin - Sharp
+ 1
3
Domenico Pozzovivo
Colnago - CSF Inox
+ 4
How on earth will this end? You'll find out later today, or tomorrow!
Unbelievable! Scarponi finishes the time trial with a time aeons better than expected - and wins the Giro for the second year in a row! A devastated Ryder Hesjedal loses out by a poky five seconds, after leading by five minutes for most of the race. What an incredible ending!
Domenico Pozzovivo doesn't really come close in the end, but is still probably quite satisfied with a third place. Thibaut Pinot ends up in fourth after a stunning breakthrough race, and Damiano Cunego completes the Top 5.
Most disappointing is surely Liquigas. Although both Basso and Nibali finishes inside the Top 10 in the end, it's still in the wrong end. Especially Nibali failed to reach his usual level, and really blew up in the final days. Something that's easily seen by looking at his massive 6'25 loss in the TT.
Apart from the Italian duo, Cadel Evans must also be considered a huge failure. 23rd place way down the ranking is surely a down in the basement performance from the Australian. Perhaps his best days are in the past?
Great win for Siskevicius ending a fantastic first half of the season for the team
And that Giro was for sure thrilling. Unbelievable how Hesjedal could loose those minutes in the last 2 mountain stages....
Indeed an amazing Giro. Hesjedal will really bad luck in the end.
Monthly news - May
Notable results:
04/05 - 08/05
4 Jours de Dunkerque
Simon Geschke
05/05 - 27/05
Giro d'Italia
Michele Scarponi
13/05 - 20/05
AMGEN Tour of California
Tom Jelte Slagter
You already know two of these races, so I'm jumping straight to Cali, which turned out to be a real breakthrough for the young, talented Dutchman Slagter. Total domination from him, being the strongest of the favourites in Santa Cruz County, Big Bear Lake and atop the mighty Mount Baldy.
Fabulous riding from Slagter.
WorldTour rankings:
1
Jelle Vanendert
Lotto-Belisol Team
459
2
Tom Boonen
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
404
3
Fabian Cancellara
Radioshack - Nissan
382
4
Simon Gerrans
Orica - GreenEDGE
294
5
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
270
6
Daniel Moreno
Katusha Team
269
7
Luis León Sánchez
Rabobank Cycling Team
252
8
Ryder Hesjedal
Garmin - Sharp
214
9
Michael Albasini
Orica - GreenEDGE
200
10
Damiano Cunego
Lampre - ISD
200
The Giro didn't really affect the ranking at all, surprisingly. The only difference is that Hesjedal and Cunego enters the Top 10. The year's first GT winner, Scarponi, doesn't even make it!
1
Orica - GreenEDGE
755
2
Lotto-Belisol Team
648
3
Radioshack - Nissan
591
4
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
530
5
Rabobank Cycling Team
508
If you thought the individual ranking was similar to last month, then there's no words for the teams. Not even the points have changed for the last three!
Well, would you just look at that! Evaldas is up into the lead after an amazing month, and Pierre-Luc also makes a jump up to seventh place. Veelers and Van Rensburg are also still going strong, creating a large gap behind the top trio.
1
Team Argos - Shimano
1248
2
La Pomme Marseille
1030
3
Team Type 1 - Sanofi
963
4
Team Europcar
864
5
MTN - Qhubeka
821
Looks amazing for us here as well. Argos are obviously in an own dimension, but just to be one of the three strongest teams halfway into the season is incredible. Looks more and more like it's PCT for us next year!
Just like in the WT ranking, no big changes. Goss and Hesjedal both scored big in the Giro, and thus moves up quite a bit. Greipel has meanwhile entered the Top 10 as well.
1
Orica - GreenEDGE
4414
2
Lotto-Belisol Team
4300
3
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
4105
4
Radioshack - Nissan
3624
5
Rabobank Cycling Team
3478
GreenEDGE's magical first season as a team continues in the same way it has been going all year - positively. Together with Lotto and OPQS, they've really started to break clear of the other teams. This will be interesting to follow.
Valverde still holds on to the lead here, even though he didn't add any new win to his account during May. Van Rensburg continues to astound in the CT, and now shares the lead. Biggest advancemens since last time are Goss and Greipel, who are now almost at the top too.
1
Orica - GreenEDGE
27
2
Lotto-Belisol Team
27
3
OmegaPharma - Quickstep
26
4
Movistar Team
22
5
Sky Procycling
20
As expected, GreenEDGE have gone past OPQS, together with Lotto. The sprinter teams are really starting to take over from the classics squads now, so we're just waiting for Argos to join as well. We've meanwhile gone up to a total of seven wins this year - already more than I thought we would get.
After negotiations, we've decided that Yohan Cauquil and Gregoire Tarride wont be renewed for next year. They've been valuable helpers this year, but we feel that they wont be able to reach any higher level while riding for us. Both fully understood the reasoning and will leave on good terms at the end of the year.
However, thanks to a new sponsor joining the team for 2013, we've managed to find some good replacements. The new funder prefers to stay secret for another little while, but will present themselves soon enough.
Anyway, the new names!
To strengthen the team's Latvian connection, Andzs Flaksis joins us from Garmin's youth team, Chipotle. At 21 years, he has still to really show what his speciality is. At the moment it looks like he's going to be a classics rider.
Hopefully he'll be able to learn from his compatriot Skujins next year, and develop as much as possible. Perhaps the Latvians will dominate the Ronde and Paris-Roubaix a few years into the future?
The second new addition, Jean-Lou Paiani, joins from the French Saur team. Just like with Flaksis, his main strength is in the classics. He's a bit more experienced, and will probably lead our squad on the cobbles in 2013. A good mentor for the two Latvian talents, even though he's just 23!
As you can see, we're building up a quite decent classics squad. The long-term plan is to make sure that we have strong helpers when Skujins really breaks through. We should be able to snatch good points in the cobbled races already next year with these new additions though!
1.1: Boucles de l'Aulne
UWT: Giro d'Italia
