Castroviejo speeds to 8th in TT

Jonathan Castroviejo once again showed his time trial pedigree by storming to eighth place in today's final stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico, a 9,3km individual race against the clock in and around San Benedetto del Tronto. The youngster finished just 25 seconds down on Cancellara, and went faster than noted 'crono-men' like Evans, Larsson, Nibali, Machado, Zabriskie, Lövkvist and Hincapie, to name but a few. When it comes to most Euskaltel riders, I'd easily term this kind of ride 'sensational' or something . The fact that I don't, speaks volumes of his qualities and what I've already come to expect from the guy. Watching Castroviejo time trial is a pleasure: it looks so smooth and elegant. His great ride propelled him into the top 20 on GC, 19th to be precise. He'll be one to watch for an early breakaway-attempt come San Remo this Saturday. Jon Izagirre had a decent day in the saddle and finished 56th, 57 seconds back, and thus finished a remarkable 24th overall. That is worthy of the 'sensational' tag. Make no mistake, this one is a big rider for the future. Egoi Martínez and JJ Oroz both had slightly disappointing rides: the former finished 82nd at 1:12, the latter finished 85th at 1:13. Txurruka ended up 1:25 down in 102nd place, Sesma 1:26 down in 103rd place, Aramendía 1:41 down in 122nd place, while Velasco finished a lowly 130th at 1:53. The final GC looks like this:

• 19th, Jonathan Castroviejo
• 24th, Jon Izagirre
• 26th, Juan José Oroz
• 39th, Egoi Martínez
• 43rd, Iván Velasco
• 44th, Amets Txurruka
• 109th, Javier Aramendía
• 133rd, Daniel Sesma

Euskaltel finished a solid third in the team rankings - much higher up than I think anyone would have expected to begin with.