2010 January
Program
*30.01.2010 ITA 2.1 Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria-Challenge Calabria
*31.01.2010 FRA 1.1 Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise
Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria
Stage 1
Simulated, the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria (this year the official start of the European road season) started with a flat stage from Palmi to Cosenza, 183.1 km. There was a tough hill at the end of the stage (the Passo del Potame) but the stage ended up in a mass sprint thanks to ISD - Neri, who were in control all day.
ISD - Neri's sprinter
Oscar Gatto was able to win the stage, just centimetres ahead of our sprinter Denis Galimzyanov and Marko Klumb of Adria Mobil.
Nikolai Trussov (who finished 10th) did a good job in setting-up Galimzyanov for the final sprint, Ignatas Konovalovas managed to slip into the morning's breakaway and was able to take 3 points for the mountain jersey.
Stage 2
Simulated, Stage 2 (a flat stage from Cosenza to Crotone, 178.7 km) didn't end up in a mass sprint, like yesterday. Instead, a group of 6 riders managed to stay ahead of the chasing peloton. After making sure the peloton wasn't going to catch them, the breakaway riders fought out a long struggle. In the end 6 of them managed to lose their fellow accomplices and the strongest of them,
Thomas Oredsson of
Team Concordia Forsikring - Himmerland, came in first. In the peloton a few favorites tried to break away towards the end, but the pack never yielded more than a few meters, so in the general rankings nothing of any significance happened.
Both Mikhail Ignatiev and Ignatas Konovalovas tried to get into the early breakaway, but both were under close surveillance and therefore it was impossible for them to get away. ISD - Neri controlled the peloton sprint, Dimitri Kryvtsov and Oscar Gatto came in 7th and 8th, just before our sprinter Denis Galimzyanov, who finished 9th.
Stage 3
With Acqua & Sapone leading the pack, the third Stage of the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria, started slowly. And because Denis Galimzyanov was only a few points behind Oscar Gatto of ISD - Neri in the sprinter's ranking he was able to takeover the jersey from Gatto by winning the first Intermediate Sprint (
see screen, upper left - 106km).
Then during the first hill of the race there were a lot of attacks, also Ignatas Konovalovas attacked and got to the top first, earning him 5 mountain points. Konovalovas already had collected 3 mountain points during the first stage and was sure to win the King of the Mountain jersey now (
see screen, upper right - 92km).
Acqua & Sapone reeled the breakaway group back in during the descent and controlled the pack up until 20km to the finishline. On the second last climb Daniele Gallegarin of Centri Della Calzatura attacked, Francesco Failli of Acqua & Sapone and Andrea Noè of Ceramica Flaminia reacted quickly. Also Vasil Kiryienka and Pavel Brutt were able to get in Gallegarin's wheel just before the descent started (
see screen, bottom left - 13km).
The five riders were able to stay ahead of the chasing peloton, and in a 4 man group sprint (Daniele Gallegarin had a flat tyre during the last 10km) they fought for victory. Pavel Brutt started the sprint early, making it possible for Kiryienka to concentrate on Failli and Noè. And with a final push Kiryienka managed to beat both of them (
see screen, bottom right - 0km), great teamplay by Tinkoff!
Stage 4
Simulated, Stage 4 of the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria was a flat stage from Soverato to Reggio Calabria, 165.7 km. The stage ended up in a mass sprint, which was won by
Nicola D'Andrea of
Team Meridiana - Kamen.
In the rankings nothing of any significance happened, Vasil Kiryienka won the general ranking, Francesco Failli of Acqua & Sapone won the mountain jersey, Denis Galimzyanov won the sprinter's jersey and also was best overall young rider.
To conclude the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria 2010 was a great race for Tinkoff - Rosneft, winning 3 jerseys and the overall team ranking!
Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise
Le Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise, in 2010 the first one-day race on European soil, was right from the start an excited race. There were numerous break aways during the first hour of the race, finally after 40km a group of 6 riders got away including Alexandre Pliuschin of Tinkoff (
see screen, upper left - 88km).
Meanwhile back at the peloton CarmioOro NGC and Saur - SojaSun made sure the gap between the breakaway and the pack always was less then 3 minutes. With still 30km left to go, the breakaway group was reeled in. Topsport Vlaanderen kept the pace high, so nobody could escape. The high pace and side wind forced the peloton into echelons and with only 13km to go a small group of 21 riders suddenly formed the leading group (
see screen, upper right - 13km).
During the last hill, 9 riders (among others Kristof Vandewalle of Topsport Vlaanderen, Clément Lhotellerie of Roubaix Lille Métropole and Serguei Ivanov) managed to lose their fellow accomplices (
see screen, bottom left - 6km).
In a group sprint Ivanov just was a little bit smarter then rest, by staying out of the wind as long as possible. Ivanov was able to finish first, just ahead of Perben Van Hecke of Topsport Vlaanderen and Clément Lhotellerie of Roubaix Lille Métropole (
see screen, bottom right - 0km).
Serguei celebrated his victory with his teammates, who played an important role keeping him out of trouble the whole race. A great victory for Tinkoff - Rosneft to conclude this month!
Story
The races we didn't participate in:
Australian National Championships
Michael Rogers of Team HTC - Columbia won the road race and the individual time trial of the 2010 Australian National Championships, he outsprinted his fellow escapers Simon Gerrans of Sky Professional Cycling Team and Cadel Evans of BMC Racing Team during the road race (the peloton arrived one minute later). Rogers also dominated the individual time trial, he was 20 seconds faster then Cadel Evans and 45 seconds faster then his teammate Adam Hansen.
Tour de San Luis
Cândido Barbosa of Palmeiras Resort won the Tour de San Luis 2010, he didn't won any stage but he was able to ride a good time trial and was always in the front during the hilly stages and therefore became the overall winner.
Stage winners were; Kenny van Hummel of Skil - Shimano (Flat Stages 1, 6 and 7), David Blanco of Palmeiras Resort (Mountain Stage 2), Raivis Belohvosciks of Ceramica Flaminia (ITT Stage 3), Davy Commeyne of Landbouwkrediet (Hilly Stage 4) and Giovanni Visconti of ISD - Neri (Mountain Stage 5).
Tour Down Under
Grega Bole of Lampre-Farnese Vini won the Tour Down Under 2010, he won Stage 3 with 30 seconds ahead of the peloton and was able to hold that lead until the end of the Australian ProTour event.
The other Stage winners were; Mark Cavendish of Team HTC - Columbia (Flat Stages 1 and 6), Roger Hammond of Cervélo Test Team (Flat Stage 2) and Oscar Freire of Rabobank (Flat Stages 4 and 5).
Season Rankings
ProTour
Grega Bole is currently the leader of the UCI ProTour, he won the Tour Down Under and therefore will be wearing the ProTour leader's jersey atleast until March (Paris - Nice). Obviously Bole's team
Lampre-Farnese Vini is leading the ProTour Team Ranking.
Continental Tour
After a good start of the season,
Cândido Barbosa (he won the Tour de San Luis) is currently the leader of the UCI Continental Tour.
Tinkoff - Rosneft currently leads the Continental Tour Team Ranking with only 3 point ahead of Palmeiras Resort - Tavira.
Victories
Just like last year
Team HTC - Columbia (the most winning team in pro cycling in 2009 with 132 victories) is the strongest team until now.
Kenny van Hummel of Skil - Shimano (cycling hero since the Tour de France 2009) won the most races until now (he celebrated three victories during the Tour de San Luis).
Race program for February 2010
*06.02.2010 ITA 1.1 G.P. Costa degli Etruschi
*07.02.2010 QAT 2.1 Tour of Qatar
*12.02.2010 ITA 2.1 Giro della Provincia di Grosseto
*20.02.2010 ITA 1.1 Trofeo Laigueglia
*23.02.2010 ITA 2.1 Giro di Sardegna
*27.02.2010 BEL 1.HC Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite
*28.02.2010 BEL 1.1 Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne
*28.02.2010 SUI 1.1 GP di Lugano
Vasil Kiryienka (Fighter/Giro_03)
Mikhail Ignatiev (Fighter/Giro_03)
Gatis Smukulis (Northern Classics/Roubaix_05)
Alexandre Pliuschin (Northern Classics/Roubaix_05)
Sergey Lagutin (Puncheur/Giro_03)
Ignatas Konovalovas (Time Trial/Tour_de_France_05)
Rein Taaramäe (Stage Races/Vuelta_03)
Vitaliy Buts (Stage Races/Tour_de_France_05)
