Season 14

[Vos]

stage 2 Giro ;
All Italian spectators came for just one thing ; to see the Italian climb legend Miorlin in action in his farewell tour.
And this now silver climber surprised everyone, including his manager :
1º  Miorlin ( in a free role ! ) --> perhaps his best victory ever !

Also teamcaptain Samsonov did great in this mountain stage, despite his very good helper unexpectedly dropped in dh s3 with using EP.
7º  Samsonov  on 0:41"
He finished as last of the 2nd group of 4, together with GC rivals WinklerPrins, Rosario and new GC leader Aeschliman.
What is exactly the same as the current GC after this stage 2, they are the nrs 4, 3, 2 and 1.
But I estimate that Samsonov is not so good in the upcoming time trial compared to these and many other GC rivals.

[Vos]

stage 3 Giro ;
12º  Bell
71º  Samsonov  on 2:49" 
Samsonov dropped from place 4 to place 10 in the GC, on 1:32" behind new GC leader Rosario ( KunTeam ).
Hopefully Rosario and nr 2 GC Aeschliman ( FrançaiseDesJeux ) will lose much time in the upcoming sprint stage.
If not, I suspect that they both will battle for Giro victory, and all other GC rivals will be too far behind.

With maybe an exception of a GC contender who is amazing in the hills and can win a lot of time there.
That for sure is not Samsonov. And already after 3 stages I can see that he will have big difficulties to achieve his Giro goal.
But he is still very hopefull, with just 0:24" behind the nr 3 GC at the moment.
The 7 rivals between Samsonov and his Giro goal are a bit worrying, including the many good rivals right behind Samsonov.
What is not worrying ; it will be an exciting and fun Giro battle ! 

[Vos]

stage 4 Giro ;
48º  Samsonov  on 1:12"

Grrrrrrrr, he won the sprint of the 4th group of 15.
Finishing as 1st in a big group is never good for a GC contender, with a little more luck he would have finished in the 3rd group of 24.
And a big difference of 0:32" between the 4th group and 3rd group. What is precious time for the final GC.

About this rainy and windy sprint race to Milan ;

s1 = an excellent start of Samsonov and helper Beck, both in the front peleton of just 56.
s2 = ups, unexpectedly helper Beck could not follow the high pace, Samsonov still in the front peleton of now just 35.
s3 = isolated and with his nose in the wind, the pace was too high for Samsonov, he joined the 2nd peleton and saw his helper again.
s4 = as expected helper Beck dropped, but maybe thanks to him, Samsonov could stay in the 2nd peleton on 0:25"
s5 = as already mentioned ; grrrrrrrr ! a very unexpected big drop in time with the enough energy Samsonov used, from 0:25" to 1:12"

The most positive about this sprint race was that Samsonov moved up from place 10 to place 4 in the GC.
Unfortunately the next stage is again a time trial.

[Vos]

 
stage winners :
stage 1 =  Neeme Põder  ( 32, ZBT )
stage 2 =  Nicola Miorlin ( 32, SPORTLIFE )
stage 3 =  Arthur Bezotosnyi  ( 30, KunTeam )
stage 4 =  Christian Bordeneuve  ( 29, Rekutxuteam )

GC TOP 20, after 4 stages :
1 Romeu Rosario   32   KunTeam   0: 00"   
2    Murat Aeschliman   27   FrançaiseDesJeux   0: 16"   
3    Sven WinklerPrins   31   azerite   1: 02"   
- - - - - - - - - -
4    Dinar Samsonov   32   SPORTLIFE   1: 06"   
5    Sandis Stabulnieks   29   FaltososDeChigre   1: 08"   
6    Dario Fernandez   32   Luka_Warriors   1: 14"   
7    Tom Cabanas   32   TeamRHB   1: 14"
8    Alessandro Figueras   31   RemcoEvenpoelckx   1: 18"   
9    John Footman   30   CC_Porco_Jones   1: 25"
10    Espen Valgren   27   SentinelChickens   1: 29"   
- - - - - - - - - -
11    Allan Frøyland   31   Periquitos   1: 35"   
12    Jaime Roman   30   QuintoYtapa   1: 41"   
13    Yvo VanStraalen   25   Combuijs   1: 46"   
14    Daniel Mulikov   28   IKIBASQUE   1: 54"   
15    Pedro Kranz   32   Oloteam   1: 57"   
16    Anthony Hilton   32   CaptainOrange   2: 01"   
17    Leandro Povoa   27   Moderdonia   2: 12"   
18    Sam Lee   32   $Tourmalet   2: 30"   
19    Afonso Rio   25   OphiukoCT   2: 30"   
20    Alexander Rusakov   32   Facha_Bartolo   2: 58"

[Sjiz]

So far its very very close. Cabanas had a decent race, he dropped his domestiques in s1 but then Verbeek turned om his engine and paced Cabanas to the finish.

[Sjiz]

The Tts are done. Now we need to hunt down Rosario Cabanas still going well, but its still extremely close.

[Vos]

Indeed, the hunt is on ! 
Although Rosario has a nice lead on many GC contenders.
Aeschliman is a good nr 2 GC with a little gap towards the nrs 3 and 4, and they have a little gap towards the others.
But nr 5 is on 2:04" and for example nr 15 on 2:31" ; it is really close at the moment.

Samsonov told me that he does not like the gap of 0:05" behind WinklerPrins and ( especially ) Cabanas.
Hopefully this means he is extra motivated to close that tiny gap in the upcoming windy, brutal mountain stage to Scanuppia.
And for sure it will be brutal ; the final climb is 7½ km long with an average of 17,6%, with some steep sections of almost 45% !

stage 5 Giro ;
4º  Bell
72º  Samsonov  on 1:32"
Samsonov dropped from place 4 to place 9 GC.

[Vos]

stage 6 Giro ;
2º  Miorlin ( free role ! ) 
32º  Samsonov  on 1:46" 

Again Miorlin surprised me with an excellent result.
What was not excellent at all ; the teamcaptain-helper combo was a failure.
Helper Beck was too fast in s1 or Samsonov was too slow in s1.
Whatever it was, it caused an isolated Samsonov in the whole race because also in a further section he did not see his helper again.
A very bad race and a very bad result with a lot of unnecessary time loss ( at least 0:25" and probably more ).

Samsonov dropped from place 9 to place 12 GC on 2:34"
Did he kill his chances of a top GC result in this stage ? It could be.

[Sjiz]

Samsonov told me that he does not like the gap of 0:05" behind WinklerPrins and ( especially ) Cabanas.

 

Not a great race for my team. Domestique Nilsson was one group up from Canabas the entire race and Ablett one group down. Very useless. I think the result, with this in mind, is ok. He finished in the very large group and in the same time as the #13. From the GC riders only Wrinklerprins and VanStraalen took time on him. Unfortunately he didnt take time on many riders.... except Samsonov Now to keep it this way
There are a little bigger gaps, but its still very close. Now to see who is the best hiller and then to end up with a treacherous, windy, cobblehill stage.

[Vos]

 
stage winners :
stage 1 =  Neeme Põder  ( 32, ZBT )
stage 2 =  Nicola Miorlin ( 32, SPORTLIFE )
stage 3 =  Arthur Bezotosnyi  ( 30, KunTeam )
stage 4 =  Christian Bordeneuve  ( 29, Rekutxuteam )
stage 5 =  Seppo Merisalu  ( 30, Aspigarri )
stage 6 =  Gerhart Wächter  ( 31, galegospolabici )

GC TOP 20, after 6 stages :
1 Romeu Rosario   32   KunTeam   0: 00"
2    Murat Aeschliman   27   FrançaiseDesJeux   0: 43"   
3    Sven WinklerPrins   31   azerite   1: 23"
- - - - - - - - - -   
4    Dario Fernandez   32   Luka_Warriors   1: 25"   
5    Yvo VanStraalen   25   Combuijs   1: 50"   
6    Alessandro Figueras   31   RemcoEvenpoelckx   2: 02"   
7    Tom Cabanas   32   TeamRHB   2: 04"   
8    Allan Frøyland   31   Periquitos   2: 05"   
9    Jaime Roman   30   QuintoYtapa   2: 22"   
10    John Footman   30   CC_Porco_Jones   2: 28"   
- - - - - - - - - -
11    Daniel Mulikov   28   IKIBASQUE   2: 29"   
12    Dinar Samsonov   32   SPORTLIFE   2: 34"   
13    Sandis Stabulnieks   29   FaltososDeChigre   2: 40"   
14    Pedro Kranz   32   Oloteam   2: 42"   
15    Leandro Povoa   27   Moderdonia   2: 43"   
16    Espen Valgren   27   SentinelChickens   3: 02"   
17    Afonso Rio   25   OphiukoCT   3: 09"   
18    Emanuelle Carletti   32   Sonfuga   3: 20"   
19    Maurits VanDenEede   30   FaltososDeChigre   3: 39"   
20    Anthony Hilton   32   CaptainOrange   3: 44"

[Sjiz]

A decent stage for Cabanas yet again. Due to the efforts of Intellinet he got dropped in s1. Poldoja and Ablett joined him and stayed with him until the end. Verbeek got a free role and did what was expected of him and scored 100 points, his goal for this Giro is 400 points and with 2 hill stages remaining he is well underway.

[Vos]

stage 7 Giro ;
32º  Samsonov  on 0:35"
Finishing in the 2nd group is a very good result, and he moved up from place 12 to place 9 GC on 2:08"
Let's hope Samsonov does well in the hills, although maybe many rivals could be better.
But he needs to do well in stages 8 and 9, because he is bad in the final stage 10.

[kirin]

3 stages to go in this Giro and so far, Sven been doing good! (except maybe the flat sprint and maybe the TTs).
Currently second, 57'' behind former Tour winner Romeu Rosario, and with 28'' over Dario Fernandez, but Sven still has a chance as he should perform better than Romeu on the upcoming hills stages.
On the last stage, Kaspers unfortunately dropped on s1. Endrodi had to act as a helper until s3, but Sven managed to get in the second group. Still, i think he could had finish in the 0'' group if Kaspers didn't drop early. Hopefully, that won't happen today with Xavier in the hills.

[Sjiz]

Another decent stage. It seems that the name for Cabanas this Giro: decent. He stayed with Poldoja the entire stage and that must have helped. Unfortunately he did lose some places and is now 9th in the GC. Tomorrow will be a tough stage with bitter cold and icy winds. Luckily he is Swiss so he should be fine.

[Vos]

stage 8 Giro ;
7º  Daniljev ( free role )
27º  Samsonov  on 0:29"
A good race. Samsonov moved up one place in the GC. In stage 9 he has to do well again, with hopefully bigger time differences.

 
stage winners :
stage 1 =  Neeme Põder  ( 32, ZBT )
stage 2 =  Nicola Miorlin ( 32, SPORTLIFE )
stage 3 =  Arthur Bezotosnyi  ( 30, KunTeam )
stage 4 =  Christian Bordeneuve  ( 29, Rekutxuteam )
stage 5 =  Seppo Merisalu  ( 30, Aspigarri )
stage 6 =  Gerhart Wächter  ( 31, galegospolabici )
stage 7 =  Pascal Cruyff  ( 29, TilburgTerriërs )
stage 8 =  András Valter  ( 25, Quickstepbronx )

GC TOP 20, after 8 stages :
1 Romeu Rosario   32   KunTeam   0: 00"
2    Murat Aeschliman   27   FrançaiseDesJeux   1: 13"   
3    Sven WinklerPrins   31   azerite   1: 23"   
- - - - - - - - - -
4    John Footman   30   CC_Porco_Jones   1: 37"   
5    Alessandro Figueras   31   RemcoEvenpoelckx   1: 50"   
6    Sandis Stabulnieks   29   FaltososDeChigre   1: 50"   
7    Allan Frøyland   31   Periquitos   1: 52"   
8    Dinar Samsonov   32   SPORTLIFE   1: 56"   
9    Tom Cabanas   32   TeamRHB   2: 00"   
10    Dario Fernandez   32   Luka_Warriors   2: 02"   
- - - - - - - - - -
11    Daniel Mulikov   28   IKIBASQUE   2: 04"   
12    Espen Valgren   27   SentinelChickens   2: 24"   
13    Jaime Roman   30   QuintoYtapa   2: 48"   
14    Yvo VanStraalen   25   Combuijs   3: 02"   
15    Afonso Rio   25   OphiukoCT   3: 05"   
16    Sam Lee   32   $Tourmalet   3: 36"   
17    Oliver Bru   32   BorinotTeam   3: 47"   
18    Alexander Rusakov   32   Facha_Bartolo   3: 58"   
19    Pedro Kranz   32   Oloteam   4: 02"   
20    Leandro Povoa   27   Moderdonia   4: 03"