Actually it is. In the 2nd season he won the race. Not sure about the first season atm.
But with Haussler being just a little bit weaker sprinter I have a better leader for the cobbled races. And Boom just had a +5 and Vansummeren and Maaskant ahead of him in the train.
The Gran Premio di Lugano is a hilly one day classic around Lugano. It is held since 1981. Record champion is the Italian Marco Vitali, who won it 3 times.
Result in 2012
1
Luis León Sánchez Gil
Garmin - Cervelo
2
Joaquim Rodriguez
Team Katusha
3
Alexandre Moos
BMC Racing Team
4
Jussi Veikkanen
FDJ
5
Linus Gerdemann
Leopard - Trek
6
Alexandre Efimkin
Ag2r - Mondiale
7
Amael Moinard
Cofidis
8
Bauke Mollema
Colnago - CSF
9
Jelle Vanendert
Omega Pharma - Lotto
10
Stijn Devolder
Quickstep - Innergetic
Sanchez celebrated a nice solo win here after attacking on top of the last hill.
Garmin squad in 2013 Sanchez will try to repeat his win here and also make the Suisse double in late February. His form is pretty well and will be perfect for Paris-Nice. He will have the same support as yesterday. Roche and Martin are not really in form. Hesjedal and Fuglsang might be more options then.
Startlist and favourites are pretty much the same than yesterday. So Astana, Garmin, TT1, Liquigas and Farnese might be forced the most.
Lugano - Lugano
The profile is different to the last years. More small hills but the last big climb is far from the finish line. So the decision might fall later on one of the small climbs, when the peloton already splitted a lot before.
A small group was allowed to create a small gap this morning. Nose (Adria) is again one of the most active here as also Koren (Liquigas). These two are surely the best puncheurs in this group.
Katusha for Vorganov and Caja Rural for Galdos are doing the pace and hold the gap under 2min. No chance obviously for the break.
More than half race to go and some good puncheurs attack. It`s Caruso (Katusha), Mollema (Colnago) and Furdi (Adria). Especially the Dutch is a big danger as he already proved in the Giro d`Italia in the last seasons.
Time for Garmin to take the control. Mollema is already back in the pack as he noticed he wouldn`t be allowed to ride. The other two are still in front. The former break is also back in the peloton.
Barton, Souchon and Duggan are the 3 riders in front now.
Caruso was surely stronger than his companion, so he is leading solo now. But it`s still a long way to go. Will be very hard for the Italian now.
But he proves to have a great day and is creating a decent gap. So time for the bigger guns. Roche and also Fuglsang, who both don`t have their best day are doing a great pace now.
Obviously not fast enough. On the last long climb it`s Astana`s Vinokourov and Caruso`s teammate Vorganov with an attack.
But with also Martin and Hesjedal doing the pace now they were brought back quick and also Caruso is directly in front of them. The whole group of ~30 riders will take the descent together.
On the second last small hill of the day it`s again Vinokourov, who attacks. The old Kazakh obviously has a perfect day here. This time it`s Sanchez, who immediately follows as also the 2nd Astana big man Contador.
Was this already a first decision?
Sanchez has the perfect wheel and still a small gap to the rest, when the sprint starts.
And he wins again. He is just in a brilliant form at the moment. Great race by him. 2nd for Vorganov and 3rd to Kocjan, who was the fastest in the end but a bit blocked by Vinokourov.
Hesjedal`s 6th is also pretty well after working on the last hills.
Thanks all. The hattrick might be aimed next year, then he is also shared record winner in this race.
@MitchNL: He will have his first peak during Paris-Nice now before having a long race break. He is starting again in the Tour de Pologne, Vuelta Espana, Britain, Beijing and some late season classics including Lombardia.
It was a brilliant February for our team. Sanchez winning 4 races, Hesjedal in Oman and Haussler the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad plus many other great results. Other big point collectors were Gerald Ciolek with many stage wins and the overall in Besseges and Francesco Ginanni, who won 2 races.
Pro Tour
No changes after the Tour Down Under. Heinrich Haussler still leading quite comfortable ahead of Boasson Hagen and Ventoso. Bobridge another Garmin rider in a good position, but for him it will be hard to defend this place.
This also brings Garmin on the 1st in the Pro Tour team rankings. Sky is coming pretty close before RadioShack as 3rd already has a decent gap.
Continental Tour
Gerald Ciolek is the dominating rider so far in the Continental Tour. He is also one of the big favourites for the overall title after this season. Ginanni and Langkawi winner Rabottini are coming next.
It`s an interesting battle for the lead in the team rankings. De Waele`s win in Kuurne Brussel Kuurne brought Landbouwkredit a close lead to Skil. Farnese and Cofidis are fighting for the last podium spot at the moment.
Cycling Quotient
Winning the biggest race so far Haussler also leads the CQ Rider Ranking followed by his team mate and dominator in February Sanchez. Ciolek is 3rd as Continental rider.
Garmin really distanced the other teams after 2 months. We`ll have to wait for the big races and especially the GT`s, where Garmin might struggle much more than in the preparation phase. Katusha as 2nd and Skil as CT team as 3rd show their PT ambitions next season. But many other CT teams also collected some big points so far.
Awards
Who else but Sanchez should win this trophy? 4 race wins and also 4 stages speak for itself. No other rider was more successful this month. Let`s hope for a nice Paris-Nice by him before having a race break. The course will surely suit him.
The Youth Award goes to Rabottini, who surprised many by winning the Tour de Langkawi. So surely deserved this award.
Also the wild cards for the first monument of this year are announced.
All 18 PT Teams will participate here.
Androni was the expected favourite with riders like Ginanni, Swift, Bertolini or Vicioso.
Farnese Vini was also expected with Visconti, Gatto, Guardini or Failli
Colnago as another Italian team around Modolo, Pozzovivo and Mollema is also no big surprise.
Last spot might have been much more difficult to give. It was a close fight between Acqua & Sapone with Napolitano and Sella against Geox with Cobo, Florencio and Kump. In the end the decision felt to Geox to the anger of Napolitano, who misses his first season goal now and also a good opportunity to get a very big win after his Vattenfall coup in the past, where he first showed his big potential.
The other 3 requests miss the big star in their team to had a realistic chance.
Also surprising that teams like Skil around Veelers and Ciolek or Europcar with Gautier and Voeckler haven`t requested for one of the biggest cycling events. Especially the Dutch team has 2 potential winners in their team and might need these big points for a PT spot next season.
But in general we can expect all big stars taking part here. Ciolek, JJ Haedo and Napolitano might be the only big sprinters missing this event.
tmobile wrote:
Wow ... I am a lover of Garmin Cervelo and I've seen a few stories as complete and fun like this ... congratulations mate!
I follow you
Thanks. Always nice to hear this.
And always nice to get new readers. If interested, the 2nd and 3rd season of this story are in the PCM10 story section.
tmobile wrote:
Wow ... I am a lover of Garmin Cervelo and I've seen a few stories as complete and fun like this ... congratulations mate!
I follow you
Thanks. Always nice to hear this.
And always nice to get new readers. If interested, the 2nd and 3rd season of this story are in the PCM10 story section.
ok, I'll remember
PD--> Look MP Edited by tmobile on 02-11-2011 12:59
To get the last check before the big PT races, we will take part in this cobbled 3 day race. It perfectly suits riders like Boom with a good combination of time trialing and cobble skills.
Garmin squad in 2013 Boom will lead our team here. He got great support in Vansummeren, Felline and Van Der Velde on the cobbles. Dao, Löw, Barton and Kessiakoff are here for a good form and might have to do some work for him.
Also nice to see that Felline made the next step forward. He improved his his skills and might be able to lead our team in future races.
*** Boom
** Veelers, Rosseler
* Burghardt, Ista, De Waele
Middelkerke Prologue
1
Lars Boom
Team Garmin - Cervélo
9'29
2
Tom Veelers
Skil - Shimano
+ 10
3
Kevyn Ista
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 12
4
Koen De Kort
Skil - Shimano
+ 14
5
Sébastien Rosseler
Team RadioShack
+ 16
6
Thomas Löfkvist
Sky ProCycling
+ 17
7
Jurgen Van Goolen
Veranda's Willems - Accent
+ 20
8
Michal Kwiatkowski
Team RadioShack
+ 21
9
Fabio Felline
Team Garmin - Cervélo
s.t.
10
Levi Leipheimer
BMC Racing Team
+ 22
Who else but Boom should win such a prologue? But especially Veelers, Ista and De Kort with surprising good results here beating experts like Rosseler, Löfvkist or Leipheimer.
Brugge – Bellegem
Not many cobbles but still enough to create some gaps. Also there are tiny hills all over the stage, so another difficulty.
Early shock, Garmin`s Löw crashes on the very wet streets but luckily he can continue and doesn`t seem to be that injured.
Even Vansummeren and Van Der Velde are doing a high pace here in the hope to distance some good riders on the cobbles. It doesn`T work as much as hoped, but still a bit.
In the uphill sprint Fabio Felline proves to be the strongest. He is a pure allrounder and perfect for these kind of finishes. On the bad side, Ista is quite a similar kind of rider and finished 2nd today ahead of Ciolek. So the Belgium is overtaking Boom in the overall now with his bonus seconds.
Result
1
Fabio Felline
Team Garmin - Cervélo
4h33'01
2
Kevyn Ista
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
s.t.
3
Gerald Ciolek
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
4
Tom Veelers
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
5
Bert Scheirlinckx
Landbouwkrediet
s.t.
6
Frédéric Amorison
Landbouwkrediet
s.t.
7
Bert De Backer
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
8
Marcus Burghardt
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
9
Bert De Waele
Landbouwkrediet
s.t.
10
Lars Boom
Team Garmin - Cervélo
s.t.
GC
1
Kevyn Ista
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
4h42'30
2
Lars Boom
Team Garmin - Cervélo
s.t.
3
Fabio Felline
Team Garmin - Cervélo
+ 1
4
Tom Veelers
Skil - Shimano
+ 10
5
Sébastien Rosseler
Team RadioShack
+ 16
6
Gerald Ciolek
Skil - Shimano
+ 17
7
Thomas Löfkvist
Sky ProCycling
s.t.
8
Jurgen Van Goolen
Veranda's Willems - Accent
+ 20
9
Michał Kwiatkowski
Team RadioShack
+ 21
10
Kurt-Asle Arvesen
Sky ProCycling
+ 22
Nieuwpoort – Ichtegem
Less cobbles, less rain, less wind and less hills. This stage should normally suit the sprinters the most. But as Boom and Felline are both having great chances to win the race, we will make this race as hard as possible to avoid a big group sprint finish.
So Garmin is doing everything to split the peloton. And although there aren`t many hard sections, they split it more than yesterday. Just ~40 riders are able to stay with the best men including Boom, Felline, Ciolek and Ista. But also 6-7 top 20 riders already felt back.
In the sprint Felline had Ista`s wheel. Behind them it was Ciolek and Boom with Vansummeren and Van De Velde pulling the group of just 23 riders left.
Ciolek started his own sprint with 1,8km and Boom followed him immediately. Ista and Felline were surprised by this early move and missed the jump.
So Ciolek celebrated another stage win this season ahead of Arvesen and luckily Boom, who got enough bonus seconds to avoid being overtaken by the German and also enough to beat Ista in the overall.
In the 2nd season he won the race. 
Fantastic performance of course, regardless of his arm 
