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Charly Wegelius, Tom Danielson, and Peter Stetina are hoping for a strong finish to a mixed Giro d'Italia for Garmin-Sharp. Photo: Graham Watson | www.grahamwatson.com CARAVAGGIO, Italy (VN) — What a difference a year makes for Garmin-Sharp.
This time last May, the team’s fortunes were soaring into the decisive final stages where Ryder Hesjedal would deliver the team’s first grand tour with the pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia.
Flash forward to 2013, and Garmin is limping toward the finish line in Brescia. Hesjedal is gone, and much of the remaining team has been licking its collective wounds of crashes, illnesses, allergies, and just plain bad luck.
But a funny thing has happened. Rather than wallow in their collective self-pity, the riders have kept plugging away. Instead of throwing in the towel, they’ve recalibrated their compass, and have come out with a stage win with Ramunas Navardauskas.
“Last year, everything went perfectly; this year, everything is a bit of a struggle,” director Charly Wegelius told VeloNews. “They’re not machines. That’s also the beauty of it. No one expected [Bradley] Wiggins to go out, and no one expected [Mauro] Santambrogio to have that moment yesterday like he did in such a routine stage. That’s sport, that’s life. That’s why people love cycling, that it isn’t a script.”
Although the team is disappointed it’s not riding for pink in the final week of the Giro, the squad has taken a philosophical take on the events.
In cycling, even the best-laid plans can turn upside-down in an instant. Garmin brought a team to protect Hesjedal, but the American squad is not going to give up because things didn’t pan out as it had hoped.
Tom Danielson said the team is trying to go with the flow, and take the bad with the good.
“It happens. I remember in 2011, we had that perfect Tour. It was my first Tour, and we’re standing on the podium in Paris with team GC, and David Millar said, ‘hey guys, enjoy this, this isn’t going to happen again for awhile,’” Danielson said. “And last year, we’re all on the ground. We broke $120,000 worth of bikes, and then one month later we clean up in Colorado.
“But that’s cycling — it’s a bitch. Cycling is a bitch. That’s why we’re all addicted to it. That’s why we all love it. That’s why it’s so beautiful when it goes right.”
Riders and staff said they are keeping their heads in the race despite the setback involving Hesjedal’s early exit. Millar also pulled out with illness while grand tour rookie Nathan Haas crashed out Tuesday.
Peter Stetina, a key member of last year’s winning squad, is hanging in. The Coloradan has crashed three times and stepped gingerly out of the Garmin team bus Wednesday morning.
“The body’s a hurting unit at this point. The morale is pretty low, I’m not going to lie,” he told VeloNews. “My body’s at the breaking point, with sickness and crashes and muscular issues; I am just not the normal Pete. I don’t have the normal power. I am just staying in the race to get them some water bottles. It’s some of the worst luck I’ve ever had in a race.”
The Giro started on solid footing, with Hesjedal looking fit and confident. Things started to unwind when the Canadian lost nearly two minutes to his GC rivals in the long time trial in stage 8. Then he uncharacteristically lost the wheel the next day in a short, steep climb on the road to Florence, dropping another minute.
What the team was hoping was just a hiccup turned out to be something much more serious. Hesjedal simply could not go deep when he needed to follow the accelerations from the pink jersey contenders. He did not start stage 13.
Garmin didn’t throw in the towel and it’s been the unlikely character of Navardauskas who’s lifted the team’s spirits. The tall, lanky Lithuanian won stage 11, rode into the breakaway on Tuesday to finish fourth, and raised his hands to celebrate what he appeared to think was a second stage win when he was second on Wednesday.
“This year, it’s just been bad luck from beginning. Our silver lining is the ‘honey badger,’” Stetina said, referring to Navardauskas’ nickname. “It’s all about Ramunas; it’s pretty amazing. He’s suffering like the rest of us, but he still manages to get into the breaks.”
Navardauskas was all smiles Wednesday morning.
“I made it ok through the first week of the Giro. When Ryder was not feeling good, the team gave me the freedom to attack,” Navardauskas told VeloNews. “Everyone is still fighting. We want to win more stages.”
The closing stages of the Giro will offer a few more chances for Garmin. Danielson said he’s hoping to come around after sleeping 23 hours on the rest day to be able to challenge for the climbing time trial. Friday’s and Saturday’s stages are so hard, with the GC still on the line, that Wegelius said it’s extremely difficult for riders to win out of a breakaway.
“The riders are used to it. They get used to dealing with disappointment and adversity,” he said. “Even a rider who wins 20 races a year, that means they’ve lost 80. Since Ryder left, the team has shown really good fighting spirit. We have won a stage, and there are a lot of teams who have not.”
- Finally got the process started for the 14th edition of Rhett's Run! Online registration is here: https://www.usacycling.org/register/2013-2529
Please note that the awards categories are a little different than usual - we'll still split the age groups for the series awards though!
This will also be the last XC race on the East UFD calendar so we'll have a series awards ceremony after the race awards. We'll have T-shirts for everyone thanks to the Rhett Walters Memorial Fund too.
Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) won stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia on Wednesday in Vicenza. Visconti escaped over the only categorized climb on the 214-kilometer route from Caravaggio to Vicenza and won his second stage of the race solo. It was Movistar’s third consecutive stage win and fourth of the race.
Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp) was second and Luka Mezgec (Argos-Shimano) was third.
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) retained the overall lead with four days of racing remaining. The Sicilian leads second overall Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) by 1:26 and Rigoberto Urán (Sky) by 2:46.
The 96th Giro d’Italia continues Thursday with the 20.6km stage 18 time trial from Mori to Polsa. The climbing time trial is the first of three consecutive stages that will decide the final general classification of the race.
An early breakaway and a long, flat road
The day’s long breakaway formed almost from the start, with a four-man group cutting loose: Miguel Angel Rubiano (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela), Gert Dockx (Lotto-Belisol), Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge), and Maxim Belkov (Katusha).
The escapees pushed out to a maximum advantage of 4:40, Astana taking up its position on the head of the peloton for Nibali.
With the Cat. 4 Crosara climb looming, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Argos-Shimano, and Cannondale traded pulls at the head of the peloton and the gap was under three minutes with 40km to go.
The leaders took 1:10 onto the short Mossano ramp, 29km from the finish.
Belkov dropped off the pace and Rubiano, Durbridge, and Dockx were soon alone at the front, pushing their advantage out to 1:20. Behind them, Omega Pharma and Vini Fantini-Selle Italia set the pace, the latter’s Danilo Di Luca looking hungry for an attack.
The winning move on the Crosara climb
The escapees kept pushing across the flat run-in to the Crosara climb, 22km from the finish. They carried a one-minute advantage onto the 5.3km, 6.7-percent ramp, Rubiano leading the way.
Dockx soon dropped off the pace in the breakaway. Durbridge was next and with 21km to go, Rubiano was alone.
Vini Fantini finally attacked with Alessandro Proni and Di Luca with 22km to go. Proni led “The Killer” away from the peloton and when he was empty, Di Luca continued on and soon rode past Dockx.
The peloton was 15 seconds behind with 20.7km to go. Rubiano was 25 seconds ahead of Di Luca. The Venezuelan pushed up the climb, his mouth hanging open.
Lampre-Merida led the peloton with three riders and they soon overtook Dockx and Durbridge. With 20.5km to go, Rubiano was the lone survivor of the breakaway.
Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) held tight in the peloton, 10 or so wheels from the front, but began to drop off the pace near the top of the climb. He had two teammates with him, though they appeared to be struggling more than the points classification leader.
Di Luca drew even with Rubiano with 19.7km to go. Stage 15 winner Visconti attacked from the bunch and quickly rode across to the pair, making three leaders with more than 2km left to climb..
Still, Lampre chased with Astana’s Tanel Kangert leading Nibali just behind the blue and pink jerseys.
Visconti upped the pace and dropped Di Luca. Rubiano struggled to stay on the Italian’s wheel on the false flat 1.8km from the summit and he came unhitched before the rode fell away for the 8km descent to the final approach to the finish.
Visconti pushed hard down the descent, dropping down into a low tuck on his top tube at every opportunity. The twisting, single-lane descent tested his bike-handling skills and he took every risk for his second stage win of this Giro.
Rubiano continued to chase, but Visconti was out of sight with 12km to go. The Vini Fantini-led peloton caught him soon after and Visconti was the lone escapee.
Visconti pushes the final approach to Vicenza
The former Italian champion jumped out of corners on the descent as though he were racing a criterium, catching and passing race motorcycles and support cars. He held 29 seconds when he reach the 8.2km flat leading to Vicenza.
Cavendish was over a minute behind the peloton and would not see the front of the race again.
Wilco Kelderman (Blanco) rolled off the front of the group with 8.5km to go, but Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli) countered.
Visconti was still 23 seconds clear with 6.7km to go. He leaned over his handlebars, his forearms pressed onto his bars, his hands wrapped around the fronts of his brake levers.
The peloton caught Felline and a Euskaltel-Euskadi rider countered. Franco Pelizotti (Androni Giocattoli) followed, with another rider on his wheel. The move split the bunch into at least three groups, but roughly 40 riders came back together with 2.5km to go.
Nibali stayed to the left in the first chase group, 10 wheels from the front, tucked in between two Astana teammates.
Visconti clung to his 23-second advantage with 4.5km to go. The pain showed on his face, but he continued to churn out a high cadence.
Michele Scarponi (Lampre), Nicola Boem (Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox), and an FDJ rider jumped, but the group soon drew them in. With 1.5km to go, Visconti led the chase group by 23 seconds.
Visconti kept pressing, pushing his speed to the maximum through the final corners. He rode onto the finish straight with enough room to celebrate and pumped his fist as he took his second stage of the 96th Giro and Movistar’s third in a row.
Navardauskas took the group sprint for second, raising his arms to appear as though he thought he’d won his second stage of the race.
Mezgec was third, just ahead of Pozzato.
Nibali finished in the group, along with his top GC rivals, to protect the maglia rosa ahead of Thursday uphill time trial.
- Americaandrsquo;s top men and women professional cyclists will vie for Stars-and-Stripes jerseys at the 2013 Volkswagen USA Cycling Professional Road andamp; Time Trial National Championship, which for the first time in the eventand#39;s 28-year history will be held in Chattanooga, Tenn., on May 25 and 27. It will also feature the inaugural professional womenandrsquo;s national championships.
BRUSSELS (AFP) — André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) won stage 1 of the Baloise Belgium Tour on Wednesday in Knokke-Heist.
Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) was second and Ramon Sinkeldam (Argos-Shimano) was third.
Greipel took the four-day race’s first red leader’s jersey. Thanks to time bonuses, the German will start Thursday’s second stage four seconds ahead of Boonen and six ahead of Sinkeldam.
Greipel’s Lotto train took things in hand in the last two kilometers to launch his sprint perfectly for his eighth victory the season and third consecutive win in the Belgian tour’s opener.
“In Lotto, we are currently engaged in the development of our train for sprints at the Tour de France,” said Greipel. “There are things to improve, but it is automatic, with Jurgen Roelandts in particular. The Tour of Belgium is an excellent rehearsal.”
The Tour of Belgium continues Thursday with the 178km second stage, from Knokke-Heist to Ninove.
Garmin-Sharp sport director Charly Wegelius said Ryder Hesjedal, who pulled out of the Giro last week, will race once more before the Tour de France. Photo: Graham Watson | www.grahamwatson.com CARAVAGGIO, Italy (VN) — Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) will race again before the start of next month’s Tour de France.
Garmin sport director Charly Wegelius told VeloNews that the 2012 Giro d’Italia champ will likely race either the Critérium du Dauphiné or Tour de Suisse before starting the Tour on June 29 on the island of Corsica.
“He’s had some tests done, and we are going to see how he comes around. We are hopeful that he will be improving soon,” Wegelius said ahead of Wednesday’s start in Caravaggio. “He will race soon. We don’t have any definitive plan yet. From Monday, we will have time to move on to other things.”
Hesjedal, 32, pulled out of the Giro after falling ill in the opening week of the Italian tour. Despite coming into his Giro defense with high hopes, the Canadian succumbed to health problems and did not start stage 13.
Before exiting the race, Hesjedal told VeloNews, “something’s not right” when he could go not go deep to follow the accelerations of his rivals.
Wegelius said team doctors are still trying to determine what Hesjedal came down with, but suggested it was “some sort of viral infection.”
Wegelius also confirmed Hesjedal is expected to start the Tour, but his health issues have thrown a wrench into the team’s plans for the race.
First, Wegelius said Hesjedal needs to regain full health before they can make firm plans on how to approach the Tour.
The Canadian was going to be the team’s GC captain, with proven riders such as Christian Vande Velde and Tom Danielson, both former top-10 Tour finishers, also lining up. Andrew Talansky, second overall at Paris-Nice, is also expected to make his Tour debut this year.
Illnesses and crashes have wreaked havoc across the team’s roster, so management wants to wait to see how riders recover and perform over the coming weeks before deciding on who is heading to the Tour.
“Nothing’s fixed in stone yet for the Tour,” Wegelius said. “That’s still an open book. We’ll see how things shake out in a few weeks.”
Despite falling ill, Danielson said he expects Garmin to bring a strong squad to the French tour.
“I think we’ll have a good GC program for the Tour. We’ll show up in shape, with clear objectives, and hopefully we’ll accomplish them,” Danielson told VeloNews. “The Giro puts you in good position for July. You cannot do this in training. Yesterday, we did 10,000 vertical, 240km, and six hours on the bike. Today, it’s 214km, it’s like a rest day in this Giro.”
- I'm thinking about getting a set and wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts about them - good or bad. Are they better than Major Toms? The price makes me think so, but that could just be marketing.
Blames bad weather, loss of Hesjedal and own poor form
- $400
I have a 56cm Surly steamroller. The frame is red-brown in color has the following components:
-Campagnolo Record Headset
-FSA cranks with external BB
-Surly front rim
-105/tiagra brakes
-Thomson seatpost
-Dura ace real wheel set up as flip flop SS/fixie
-Selle Italia Saddle
-Wing style bars cut to bull horns by previous owner
-Currently equipped with aero brake levers, but have a set of recently purchased cane creek bar ends to include.
Pics will come later, I wouldn't sell this, but after riding it I haven' fallen in love with the SS/fixie, and I have projects that could be funded that I am more enthusiastic about.
I am not desperate to sell this, so reasonable offers only.
