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28 April 2006

29 April News ...

Horner Hammers Euros in Romandie

Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto) jammed the frequencies of the Euro-boys yesterday in the stage 2 finish of the Tour de Romandie. L'Americano followed perfectly followed the textbook of team tactics, using his Aussie mate, Cadel Evans, in the finale to attack and counterattack the remaining riders. Horner rode free with under six kilometers to go and scored his first win of 2006.

The race was formed at the top of the final climb, Col de la Croix, leaving 13.5K to the finish. Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel) was in the group, and of course he went ballistic on the descent. He is after all, "Il Falco". "Savoldelli is incredible. A monster," said Horner, stage winner and new GC leader. "To see him go into a curve I thought for sure he would crash, but instead I he would pull off an impossible trajectory. I had to let him go at one point on the descent."

"I struggled to stay in the front on the final climb, but I decided to attack coming into the finish. Alejandro Valverde was in the move, and I knew I'd have no chance against him in a sprint," continued Horner. "It is one of the beautiful things about cycling, that the strongest rider doesn't always win. It was all about tactics, and we did it right and were rewarded."

Savoldelli out of Yellow

Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery Channel) lost his yellow jersey to Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto) in yesterday's stage 2 finish of the Tour de Romandie. Il Falco did his thing, going like a madman downhill, on the final descent to try to crack his rivals, but the others were able to work together to bring him back into the fold.

"I tried to attack," explained Savoldelli, who is probably the best descender in the peloton. "But the descent was too easy, there were too many straightaways, where the others could see me."

"It is better this way," said il Falco Bergamasco in regards to losing his GC lead to Horner. "The team does not have to do the extra work of protecting the jersey. I did not have to try to bring back Horner in the finale seeing as how there would have been no way for me to win the sprint."

Savoldelli indicated that Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears) should have worked harder to bring back l'Americano. The Italian will go into today's stage 7" adrift from Horner, in second overall, but he will not burn all of his matches in Switzerland, his mind on his home tour, il Giro d'Italia, which starts in eight days.

Shortened Corones Reconnaissance for Cunego

Damiano Cunego, accompanied by Lampre-Fondital teammates Paolo Tiralongo, Marzio Bruseghin and Morris Possoni, covered the parcours of the Giro's stage 17, from Termeno to Plan de Corones. The stage, scheduled for Wednesday 24 May, should be one of the toughest of the 89th Giro d'Italia, taking in the Passo dei Pinei (1442m), Passo delle Erbe (1987m) and the final scorcher, Plan de Corones (2273m), a 16.9K climb, 7K of which is "sterrato" (gravel road). (See stage profile)

The four started from Bolzano, skipping the Passo dei Pinei, and climbing the Passo delle Erbe. Rain and cold temperatures put a damper on the reconnaissance, forcing the boys in the car of Giuseppe Martinelli at the top of Erba. They used the team car for the descent and then the Passo dei Furcia, ending at the start of the sterrato of Plan de Corones. The snow (ski season officially ends Sunday) made it impossible for the Lampre-Fondital crew to pass. The last professional rider to pass here was 2X Giro Champion, Gilberto Simoni, last fall.

"It is an incredible climb and I hope that it does not rain, otherwise it will be impossible to pass without putting your feet on the ground," said Cunego of Plan de Corones. "It is a climb that I like a lot. I believe that this climb and the Mortirolo will be the two decisive stages in this year's Giro d'Italia."

"I thought I had seen it all in cycling. I was wrong," said Team Manager Martinelli in regards to switchback number 10, "Alfredo Binda". The fourth switchback of the 13 is similar in gradient to Belgium's Mur de Huy and should provide plenty of explosions. "Every rider will have to think of managing their power. You won't be able to think about where your rivals are, just about yourself."

Read:
Cunego on Corones, 26 April
Captain Cunego and Crew for la Corsa Rosa, 25 April
13 Plan de Corones Switchbacks Named, 19 April

Plan de Corones Ready 21 May

The climb of the Plan de Corones is coming at a serious cost: 500,000€ is being spent to make sure the road is ready for 24 May when the Giro d'Italia passes. The ongoing work is scheduled to be complete only three days before the Giro passes.

The first kilometer of the climb, at 11.6% gradient, will need to be covered with a special mix of 4% cement, which helps for keeping the road compact and drained. Before the work can begin workers have to wait for the ground, which is still covered with snow, to be dry. The same work needs to be completed for the terrible last two kilometers, of gradient 26%.

The work for the team mechanics will be difficult too, the night before the stage they will be up late installing special gearing on the rider's machines. There is talk of mounting triples on the bikes, but most pros wouldn't be caught dead with that third ring. Likely, teams will mount the popular compact double cranksets: Campagnolo has a 52-34 version that can be combined with a 12-29 rear cluster for a very "light" gearing.

Tires will need to be considered too. Any teams that normally race on clinchers will surely use tubulars for this stage, where the risk of a pinch flat is great. Wheels normally only seen in the Belgian Classics will be mounted for the Giro's special day on 24 May. Stay tuned!

Weekend in Toscana

Tomorrow is the GP Industria & Artigianato in Larciano di Pistoia (Toscana), with 128 riders and 18 teams. Damiano Cunego, winner in 2004, will be the big name on the startlist, as well as José Rujano, winner of the climber's jersey at the 2005 Giro d'Italia.

The race runs on the traditional parcours: the clime of San Baronto, covered five-times, with the last being 20K from the finish. There will be a total of 200K of riding for the peloton on Saturday, and then Sunday many will also race the 79th Giro di Toscana, starting in Terranuova Bracciolini and finishing in Arezzo.

Scarponi Leads Liberty for Giro

Marino Lejarreta will be the Direttore Sportivo of Liberty Seguros-Würth in the 89th Giro d'Italia, which will begin next 6 May in Belgium. The Spanish Squadra will be led by Italian Michele Scarponi, who will be aided by the following riders: Dariusz Baranowski, Giampaolo Caruso, Koen De Kort, Daniel Navarro, Unai Osa, Javier R. Abeja, Marcos Serrano and Serguei Yakovlev.

Ag2R Prévoyance for Corsa Rosa

Ag2R Prévoyance was bumped up to ProTour level over the winter, and that means doing every ProTour event, like the 2006 Giro d'Italia. The team will head to Italy with Chaurreau, Krivtsov and Vaitkus as protected riders. Here is the complete line-up: Sylvain Calzati, Iñigo Chaurreau, Philip Deignan, Renaud Dion, Hubert Dupont, John Gadret, Yuriy Krivtsov, Carl Naibo and Tomas Vaitkus.

27 April News ...