Only the second stage and it was the queen stage already, finishing at the Alto da Fóia. Not too steep but after a hilly finale this could be enough to create some gaps.
Trying to close in on Kittel in the points classification, Zurlo joined the breakaway. Unfortunately, he could only win the first intermediate sprint. After the last one, he dropped out of the breakaway.
Meanwhile, the gap had come down to less than 2 minutes. That's when Stuyven and Benoot, the latter being in the white jersey, tried a long-range attack. They joined the survivors of the breakaway but their move was realised. Not without the sacrifice of some domestiques already though.
Giant's Slagter was the first attacker, with Morton and Bardet trying to respond. But with only 2 kilometer to go, Guerreiro managed to catch up with Bardet and dropped him immediately. Could he still bridge to Morton and maybe to Slagter?
In the end he also left behind the Australian but Slagter was too far ahead. Still a great second place in both the stage and the provisional overall standings!
stage results
1
Tom Slagter
Team Giant-Alpecin
4h33'37"
2
Ruben Guerreiro
RuralvÃa - Seguros RGA
+ 48"
3
Lachlan Morton
Orica-GreenEDGE
+ 1'05"
4
Tiago Machado
Lampre-Merida
+ 1'20"
5
Jan Bakelants
BMC Racing Team
+ 1'31"
6
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 1'41"
7
Maciej Paterski
IAM Cycling
+ 1'54"
8
Esteban Chaves
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
s.t.
9
Winner Anacona
IAM Cycling
+ 2'23"
10
Robert Gesink
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
s.t.
overall standings
1
Tom Slagter
Team Giant-Alpecin
8h46'33"
2
Ruben Guerreiro
RuralvÃa - Seguros RGA
+ 52"
3
Lachlan Morton
Orica-GreenEDGE
+ 1'11"
4
Tiago Machado
Lampre-Merida
+ 1'30"
5
Jan Bakelants
BMC Racing Team
+ 1'41"
6
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 1'51"
7
Esteban Chaves
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
+ 2'04"
8
Maciej Paterski
IAM Cycling
s.t.
9
Winner Anacona
IAM Cycling
+ 2'33"
10
Robert Gesink
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
s.t.
Ruta del Sol (2.1)
stage 2
We didn't bring a sprinter as we're here for a good GC finish only, so our job was to keep our leaders in the pack, and we succeeded. In the end Modolo won the stage over Grosu and Swift.
A surprising winner in this time trial, while our riders put a disappointing ride on record. Guerreiro surprisingly lost some more time on Slagter, which once again proved he's got better chances as the time trial is longer. But with the gap at a tad over one minute and two summit finishes left, nothing has been decided as yet.
stage results
1
Michael Matthews
Orica-GreenEDGE
23'56"
2
Lars Boom
Team Sky
+ 25"
3
Robert Gesink
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
+ 27"
4
Eduardo Sepulveda
Team Sky
+ 32"
5
Marcel Wyss
IAM Cycling
+ 34"
6
Patrick Gretsch
Team Giant-Alpecin
+ 35"
7
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Lampre-Merida
+ 41"
8
Julien Vermote
Lotto Soudal
+ 51"
9
Chris Froome
Team Sky
+ 52"
10
Dylan van Baarle
Team Giant-Alpecin
+ 55"
…
…
…
…
…
18
Sam Vandenborre
RuralvÃa - Seguros RGA
+ 1'02"
…
…
…
…
…
20
Tom Slagter
Team Giant-Alpecin
+ 1'03"
…
…
…
…
…
32
Ruben Guerreiro
RuralvÃa - Seguros RGA
+ 1'13"
Ruta del Sol (2.1)
stage 3
With a lot of KoM point to gather today, a large breakaway was to be expected. Any rider making it over the top of the .HC climb with an advantage of 1-2 minutes could have a good shot for today's stage win.
The pack gave Eder Chávarri a hard time when he tried to accelerate, but eventually he did the trick and joined the four riders out front. He came second and first respectively at the first mountain sprints.
At that point, Marc de Maar had already been left behind, making this an almost entirely Basque breakaway group: Bizkarra, Edmondson, Insausti and Chávarri.
At the steepest ramps of the Cerro des las Lomas, at over 23%, Chávarri decided the time for his move had come. Staying in the saddle he forced all the others out of his wheel, looking to reach the top on his own.
Going into the descent, the gap between Chávarri and the others kept growing, to a maximum of over 4 minutes at a certain point. But the attacks of the favourites were yet to come.
When Suaza, Pinot and Pantano accelerated, the gap began to shrink, because the pack didn't want to let them go.
At the end, his legs must have hurt, but Chávarri does it! That's a third stage win for him from a breakaway in his career. He also earned himself the white and the mountain jersey for now!
Behind, Izagirre and Intxausti also finished strongly. Porte failed to follow them inside the final kilometers and Ion is the new overall leader! What a day!
With two stages and just as much finishes in Malhao to go, there was still plenty of time to take back some time. However, one minute still was a big gap to close on two relatively short hilly finishes.
Knowing he would have a hard time trying to survive in the pack, Barbero joined the breakaway. It was not before the second KoM sprint that the group shattered.
Tired from a lack of assistence, Barbero tried to go on his own with nearly 30 kms to go. Even Edet, a born breakaway specialist, couldn't keep up with him. As he approached the Alto do Malhao, the gap had partially melted away.
Carlos' brave attack ended right under the red kite, where Matthews reeled him in along with the other favourites. At that point, Guerreiro was still marking GC leader Slagter.
As Matthews held on for the stage, Guerreiro couldn't answer when Slagter accelerated. With Gesink taking some time on him as well, his second place was in jeopardy.
final stage
One stage to go and it looked like we would have to settle for second. As that became the goal we fixed our minds on, we sent Vandenborre out front, but there was just no way the breakaway would have made it to the line today.
Still disappointed about yesterday, Edet tried one final move just before the final bump, but his move didn't lead anywhere.
Bad news at the final climb itself: Guerreiro got boxed in and couldn't react when the favourites played their cards. As Matthews outsprinted Anacona, Kiserlovski and Gesink to make it 3 wins out of 3 stages. Guerreiro fought his way to the top but didn't arrive soon enough to keep Gesink behind him. Still this 3rd place is one hell of an achievement in this experienced field.
Now that both early-season races have finished, it is time to announce the end of my story. Being entirely honest, I have been struggling for a quite a while now, especially because writing a story doesn't allow you to progress quickly within your career. At the moment I'm too busy with school and other stuff, and in the few spare time I have I'd like to play freely. As I have always preferred writing a 'full' story over a 'light' version, I have decided to finish it immediately, here and now.
As a story is always (partly) carried by its followers, I would really like to address these two small words to you. Thanks to you all for your comments and (mainly) positive feedback. Special thanks sutty68, Tamijo, the_hoyle, jandal7, cunego58, DiCyc and Croatia14 for having followed so closely. I'm glad I will have some more time to cheer for the real Kiserlovski, at least if one day he re-emerges somewhere.
Sad to see this great story go but definitely right choice for you, really enjoyed it even if I wasn't an active commenteri tried to follow as much as possible. Thanks for having me and wasn't ezoextinf that mentions
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
jandal7 wrote:
Sad to see this great story go but definitely right choice for you, really enjoyed it even if I wasn't an active commenteri tried to follow as much as possible. Thanks for having me and wasn't ezoextinf that mentions
sutty68 wrote:
Sorry to see this end because it was really enjoyable but hope to see you back sooner rather than later
Tamijo wrote:
Thanks for the story, and hope to see you come up with another one soon.
Thanks again! I'll have to think about coming back with another one but I know it won't be too soon
I don't have the time for full reports anymore, but I did find some time to lead the time to some solid results:
Rigth after our adventures in the Algarve and Andalucia, we set sail to France for the Clasic Sud Ardèche. Ion Izagirre secured his second win of the season with a late attack.
Next up was the GP di Lugano, a race we had managed to win last year. The slightly more flat profile compared to the one of last year suited Carlos Barbero perfectly, and he brought home the victory as he outsprinted Thomas De Gendt and Moreno Moser.
The Strade Bianche exceptionally didn't finish in Siena. The last long climb was where Ruben Guerreiro struck. He had to fight in the super steep final kilometer, but Valerio Conti and Enrico Battaglin came too late. That was 3 wins out of 3 consecutive races for us!
Tirreno - Adriatico turned out to be more than one step up, and we struggled, particularly in the flatter. But in the mountains we couldn't follow the world's best either. During the queen stage we saw an unleashed Fabio Aru, who eventually won the GC with an advantage of over 2 minutes. The team's co-leaders Ion Izagirre and Sam Vandenborre finished fraternally next to each other in the GC, in 10th and 11th respectively.
Tirreno - Adriatico - Final GC
1
Fabio Aru
Tinkoff-Saxo
2
Alberto Contador
Movistar Team
+02:09
3
Tom Dumoulin
Movistar Team
+03:19
4
Steven Kruijswijk
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
+03:52
5
Merhawi Kudus
Team Dimension Data
+03:54
6
Vincenzo Nibali
Tinkoff-Saxo
+03:58
7
Lawson Craddock
Trek - Segafredo
+04:24
8
Gianluca Brambilla
Astana Pro Team
+04:29
9
Mathias Frank
Astana Pro Team
+05:07
10
Ion Izagirre
RuralvÃa - Seguros RGA
+05:22
11
Sam Vandenborre
RuralvÃa - Seguros RGA
+05:50
So I might go for a light-version of the story after all, I just enjoy this career so much
Dwars door Vlaanderen was one of the first cobbled classics we took part in in our history. After a hard race in rainy conditions, Aldo Lature tried to anticipate, but at that very moment the favourites played their card too. Aldo's attempt to follow them failed, and he may have spent a slightly too long time chasing trying to chase them back. In the end our Bolivian cobble captain justed missed out on a top 10 spot, as he finished in 11th, one hell of a result for a latino.
Then it was time for two of our annual wildcard WT races in Catalunya and the Basque Country. Sam Vandenborre and Beñat Intxausti led the team at both races. We took a very good start at the Volta a Catalunya, as Vandenborre took his first win since the Belgian Championships at the prologue. Beñat won the second stage after a superb leadout by Sam. Afterwards Vandenborre and Intxausti helped each other to secure a 8th and 9th respectively in the GC. Vandenborre finished second in both the points and the young classification and has taken steps but he'll have to take some more.
Before the Vuelta al PaÃs Vasco, our Basque breakaway specialist Eder Chávarri secured his first one-day race win in the Gran Premio Miguel Indurain. Beñat showed his good legs with two stage wins in the first two stages, and helped Vandenborre to finish in 6th, as he also took home the white jersey.
Last year we left the Ardennes with an 8th place and a win at La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège respectively, after having skipped the first classic, the Amstel Gold Race.
Back in Valkenburg, Beñat Intxausti found back his LBL legs of last year. Sadly enough, he missed a decisive move of the duo of Alaphilippe and Kwiatkowski. The quick Frenchman outsprinted his former teammate as Intxausti won the sprint against the Astana's Daniel Martin for the third podium spot on top of the Cauberg.
La Flèche Wallonne was the only race Ion Izagirre attended to as he was building up form towards the Giro d'Italia, which we received a wildcard for. On the Mur de Huy Izagirre started his sprint a tad too early and thus he had to be satisfied with a 4th place, behind winner Daniel Martin and the other podium finishers, former world champions Alejandro Valverde and Michał Kwiatkowski. Liège - Bastogne - Liège turned out in a real disappointment, as both leaders, Beñat Intxausti and Diego Ochoa, finished outside the top 10, far down on winner Tony Gallopin, who won the sprint of a 5 man group.
Tour de Romandie
Our last race before the Giro started with a short team time trial. Not something we encounter too much but we achieved a very solid 5thplace. Team leader Ion Izagirre managed to stay with the favourites at stages two and three, which allowed him to enter the top 10. At the end of stage 4 he led out Carlos Barbero perfectly, and Carlos secured his first World Tour win outside of the Spanish borders.
The queen stage turned out to be a little to tough for Izagirre in his current shape, as he finished just inside the top 10. He made up for that by riding a good concluding time trial, which put him only two seconds off the top 5. Julián Arredondo surprisingly won the GC.
Final overall standings
1
Julian Arredondo
BMC Racing Team
2
Simon Yates
Team Sky
+00:16
3
Wilco Kelderman
Team Giant-Alpecin
+00:20
4
Roman Kreuziger
Etixx - Quick-step
+01:07
5
Fabio Aru
Tinkoff-Saxo
+01:45
6
Ion Izagirre
RuralvÃa - Seguros RGA
+01:46
7
Alberto Contador
Movistar Team
+02:54
8
Robert Gesink
Team LottoNL - Jumbo
+03:02
9
Danilo Ghilardi
IAM Cycling
+03:08
10
Warren Barguil
Etixx - Quick-step
+04:17
Giro d'Italia
The following nine will soon travel to Herning, Denmark for the start and the first three stages of the 2018 Giro d'Italia:
Volta ao Algarve (2.1) 
Ruta del Sol (2.1) 
Volta a Catalunya 
Vuelta al PaÃs Vasco 
