After almost six hours of riding in wet, miserable, weather a somewhat disorganized sprint into Indicatore was won Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEdge). Next for the podium in same time, 5:48:41, as Goss were were Manuel Belletti (AG2R La Mondiale ) and Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka). Arriving 5th, also in same time, was Mark Cavendish who retains the maglia azzurra.
“This is the first road stage I’ve done in Europe this year,” said Goss. “To come away with the win is great. It’s huge for my motivation and confidence, and it’s hopefully great for the team as well. With the win also in Paris-Nice today (Michael Albasini won the fourth stage) , we’re all on a bit of a high at the moment. It’s a great day for ORICA-GreenEDGE.”
“We had specific markers,” explained Goss. “We wanted to come to the front at 1.8 kilometres before we went over an overpass. After the overpass, there was a right hand turn. It was the last corner at one kilometre to go. We knew if we weren’t in the top ten around that corner, we’d have no chance to win the race. From there, it didn’t matter how fast you were or how many teammates you had to help. Everyone is sprinting at the point, and it is vital to be at the front. We were there, and it set me up for the win. Big thanks to the team, especially to Lancaster and Docker, for helping me out today. It was a complete team effort.”
Cavendish was not pleased with how his day ended saying, "I'm quite disappointed today with my leadout. I know they're so much better than that. I had to do a lot work in last kilometre. I was 30 riders back and had to come round. I was coming and coming and still thought I as in with a chance with 500 metres to go. I was moving up but then the peloton moved to the right and I had to slam on my brakes with 200 to go. That was the end of the chance of winning. I feel we could have got more out of today. We've got to have words tonight I'll talk about my feelings. We'll see what happens."
Top 10 GC:
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 6:08:02
2 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:00:02
3 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:00:03
4 Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
5 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
6 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team 0:00:14
7 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team
8 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Movistar Team
9 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team
10 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Movistar Team
Tomorrow: Indicatore - Narni Scalo 190km. Possibly a good day for the sprinters but 3 km from the finish is a short section of 700 meters at 5% that could be a launching pad for Sagan, Moser, or Pozzato.
As a note: Goss and Cavendish are both recent Milan-Sanremo winners, Goss in 2011 and Cavendish in 2009. MSR is March 17th.
Photos: LaPresse for RCS Sport
Follow on Twitter: ITALIANCYCJOURN or receive an email when new content is added using the "Follow by Email" button on the right side column.
Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, touring, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, racing, etc. are always welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are now more than 2,700 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog. There is also a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment