pro cycling

Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) took his 5th stage victory on the final stage of the Amgen Tour of California, outsprinting Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) and Boonen’s teammate, Gerald Ciolek (Omega Pharma-Quickstep).

Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell), Nathan Haas (Garmin-Barracuda), Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthCare), Thomas Damuseau (Argos-Shimano), Scott Zwizanski (Optum Pro Cycling), Morgan Schmitt (Exergy), and Jasper Stuyven (Bontrager-Livestrong) formed the break of the day, 10km into the 72km long stage.  10km remaining into the race, Sutherland attacked with Zwizanski – they were countered by Haas, but all reeled in with 5km remaining.  Robert Gesink (Rabobank) took the final GC win, 46 seconds ahead of David Zabriskie (Garmin – Barracuda) and 54 seconds ahead of Zabriskie’s teammate, Thomas Danielson.

Photos from SteepHill.

Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) took the summit finishing in Lecco on stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia.  Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) took 2nd place, while his teammate, Alberto Losada Alguacil took 3rd, 23 seconds down.

Rabottini rode off the front of the peloton early with Guillaume Bonnafond (AG2R-La Mondiale) and quickly built up a lead of 9 minutes in the opening 50km.  92km into the race, Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli) and Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi) formed a breakaway of their own.  Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD), Alberto Losada (Katusha), Marzio Bruseghin (Movistar) with teammate Andrey Amador, and Marco Pinotti (BMC) bridged to the newly formed breakaway.  Rabottini dropped Bonnafond up ahead, in the originally break.  At the top of the 3rd categorized climb of the day, Rabottini had a 3 minute lead ahead of the chase group, now being lead by Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago-CSF Inox) – the peloton was another 3 minutes back from the chase.  Rabottini took a spill on the wet pavement but recovered – he held a 2 minute lead over the chase group in the closing 7km.  Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) attacked from the lead group, but was reeled back in.  Rodriguez was the next to place an attack, and was able to bridge up the Rabottini.  Rodriguez now holds the GC lead, 30 seconds ahead of Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin – Barracuda) and 1:22 ahead of Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale).

Photos from SteepHill.

Robert Gesink (Rabobank) took the summit win at Mt. Baldy on stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California.  Darwin Atapuma Hurtado (Colombia – Coldeportes) took 2nd place behind Gesink, and his teammate, Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo, took 3rd, 14 seconds down.

Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan), Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Michael Matthews (Rabobank) and Nathan Brown (Bontrager-Livestrong) formed the day’s break – Devenyns was soon dropped from the group, leaving 3.  Chris Horner (RadioShack-Nissan) with teammates Grégory Rast and George Bennett rode up ahead to Voigt – Marc De Maar (UnitedHealthcare) with his teammate Bradley White rode with the select group.  Timmy Duggan (Liquigas-Cannondale), Chris Baldwin (Bissell), Darwin Atapuma (Colombia Coldeportes), Lucas Euser (Spidertech) and Alexandre Geniez (Argos Shimano) marked the group.  Garmin-Barracuda and Rabobank kept their lead at 2 minutes.  Horner pressed onwards on Glendora Mountain, dropping everyone except Atapuma – the duo opened up a 3:50 lead over the peloton.  Gesink attacked from a chase, 1 minute down from the leading duo – he now holds the GC lead, 46 seconds ahead of David Zabriskie (Garmin – Barracuda), and 54 seconds ahead of Thomas Danielson (Garmin – Barracuda).  Horner sits 8th in the GC, 2:49 down.

Top photo from Velonews, profile from SteepHill.

Andrey Amador (Movistar) took the summit win in Cervinia on stage 14 of the Giro d’Italia.  Jan Barta (Team NetApp) and Alessandro De Marchi (Androni Giocattoli) took 2nd and 3rd behind Amador.

Mark Renshaw (Rabobank), Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge), Brett Lancaster (Orica-GreenEdge) and Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) elected to not race the rest of the Giro, and did not line up as the peloton gathered in Cherasco.  60km into the stage, Olivier Kaisen (Lotto Belisol), Jan Barta (NetApp), Andrey Amador (Movistar), Nelson Oliveira (RadioShack-Nissan), Matteo Montaguti (AG2R-La Mondiale), Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Alessandro De Marchi (Androni Giocattoli) and Pierpaolo De Negri (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) rode off the front of the peloton.  As the break reached the first category 1 climb of the day, they already had a 13 minute lead.  Barta pressed on alone near the top of the climb, gaining 40 seconds over the break.  Jose Rujano (Androni Giacattoli) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre) attacked from the peloton, but Rujano was absorbed back into the peloton.  Amador caught Barta on the descent – Amador had 30 seconds over Barta, Montaguti, De Negri and De Marchi on the descent.  Cunego gained a minute over the peloton, and was joined by Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel) and Marzio Bruseghin (Movistar).  Txurruka pulled away and the other 2 riders were absorbed.

Amador had a 1:25 lead over Barta and De Marchi with 15km left to race, with the peloton 7:30 down.  De Marchi bridged up the Amador with 11km remaining.  Back in the peloton, a select group of 40 riders lead the chase 6 minutes down.  7km left to the line, Barta caught up to the leading duo and the trio pushed a 3:26 lead.  Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) placed attacks from the lead group, but Nieve was caught while Hesjedal pressed on alone.  Hesjedal finished 4th, 20 seconds down from Amador and moved back into 1st place in the GC, 9 seconds ahead of Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), and 41 seconds ahead of Paolo Tiralongo (Astana).

Photos from SteepHill.

Sylvain Georges (AG2R-La Mondiale) took a stunning solo win at Big Bear Lake, finishing 28 seconds ahead of the peloton – Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) took 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Sebastian Salas (Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) with teammate Andrew Bajadali, David Boily (Spidertech-C10), Yukihiro Doi (Argos-Shimano), Sylvain Georges (AG2R La Mondiale), Gregory Rast (RadioShack-Nissan), and Jeremy Vennell (Bissell) made up the day’s break.  The riders built up a maximum lead of 8 minutes after the day’s first categorized climb.  Garmin-Barracuda cut the lead down to 4 minutes by the 3rd categorized climb of the day - Bajadali, Doi, Vennell, Boily and Rast were all dropped off from the break by the time the break made it to the top of the climb.  Salas and Georges continued on alone.  After the CA 18 climb, Salas dropped back, and Georges pressed on alone, 5 minutes ahead of the peloton.  Rast and Vennell were the last riders from the day’s break to be absorbed by the peloton.  Wilco Kelderman (Rabobank) attacked with 23km remaining – Pieter Weening (Orica GreenEdge) and Vennell chased after Georges, but the duo was caught 4km from the line.  David Zabriskie (Garmin – Barracuda) continues to lead in the GC, 34 seconds ahead of Tejay Van Garderen (BMC), and 39 seconds ahead of Robert Gesink (Rabobank).

Photos from SteepHill.