Saturday, February 26, 2011

One Day to Go

The final stage of Sardegna was not the typical parade stage with a sprint finish and no real shake up on GC. Instead, today started flat and fast and then returned to the mountains. My prediction going into the race was that the break might stick to the line. We got Popo in but unfortunately, I was completely wrong. Instead the break was reeled back and the final climb was super hard. I fought for it, but the pace set by Lampre was brutal. Then the attack of Scarponi was enough to string everything out creating a lot of gaps. It was game over for me, but I rode hard to the line. I haven't seen results but perhaps a top 20 on the stage and GC. That said, I feel good about the start to the season. For the team, too, we had a decent race with Ben 6th on GC. Really a bit disappointing to leave with no podiums/wins (GC or stages), but it was still a good week of racing and team bonding.

Unfortunately good things come to an end, the weather being no exception. Tomorrow is a one day race, although it really should just be stage 6 of this race, and I believe we are expecting rain. Hopefully it is minimal, and the temps stay relatively warm; otherwise, it will be a really long day in the saddle (200km). Thankfully, at the end of the day I get to go home and see my wife. I am real excited for her to pick me up at the airport. Ciao Ciao from Italy!

4 comments:

Big Cahunico said...

Nice start to the season. Good luck in the final event!!

Da said...

Bravo.

here is a link to the race
http://www.steephill.tv/players/youtube/?title=GdS-St5-Highlights&id=UGQWgxOJgYM&w=640&h=380

see you around.

Kyle J said...

Nice work at Classica Sarda! While we are waiting for a blog post dedicated to it, your readers could check out...
http://www.livestrong.com/teamradioshack/news_ben-king-top-rider-trs-classica-sarda/
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/34th-classica-sarda-sassari-cagliari-1-1/results
Keep it up!!

DaveR said...

Good Luck in Paris - Nice