Sicard faces prolonged lay-off

Romain Sicard is still some way off making a return to competition, Igor González de Galdeano told Biciciclismo.com earlier today. The former Tour de l'Avenir winner has been struggling with a niggling knee injury for virtually the whole season, originally thought to be caused by a change of shoes in the lead-up to the 2011 campaign. As it turns out the shoes weren't causing the problem after all; a crash in training back in December has led to one of the Frenchman's legs being considerably weaker than the other as his body tried to compensate for the injury by slightly altering his pedal-stroke. He's struggling to rediscover his characteristic fluent way of turning those pedals, but, now that the cause of the troubles has been identified, Galdeano expects Sicard to be back in training in 10 to 15 days. It'll be a while before he'll resume competition, though, but I wouldn't be surprised if he pins on a start-number again sometime in early August. It's thought he might aim for a late-season flourish in the Vuelta later that same month.

Velasco set for Tour start

Iván Velasco will indeed take part in the Tour de France this year, Igor González de Galdeano has told el Diario Vasco. The 31-year-old made a noteworthy debut at the biggest race in the world last year with some impressive and consistent riding in the mountains, and will hope to offer team head Samu Sánchez even more support in the high mountains this time around. Fernández, Urtasun, A Pérez, Castroviejo and G Izagirre are, as reported a few days ago, candidates for the three remaining spots on the team, but the San Sebastián daily reckons the latter two are likely to make their GT bow in July.

Briefs: Trio honoured/Tour team latest/Gironde and Navarra conclude

• Igor González de Galdeano has ruled Giro duo Oroz and Isasi out of the running for a Tour start. Contrary to reports on velo-club.net a few days ago, Mikel Landa is not in with a chance of making the squad either, meaning the remaining spots on the nine-man team (Samu, Verdugo, Txurruka, Martínez and R Pérez are already dead-certs remember) will be rewarded to four of the following six: Urtasun, Fernández, A Pérez, Castroviejo, G Izagirre and Velasco.
• Igor Antón, Mikel Nieve and stand-out youngster Miguel Mínguez were all hosted by the Deputy of Bizkaia today after returning from Italy. Madariaga and the Galdeano brothers were also present at the celebration of a surprisingly successful Giro campaign.
• Orbea went close yet again in the Tour de Gironde's last stage yesterday, but the guys in blue were forced to return to Spain without a win to show for their efforts. Aberasturi sprinted to sixth on the final stage into Villenave d'Ornon. Adrián Sáez ended up an honourable fourth on GC, just 14 seconds down on winner Julien Foisnet, whilst Ricardo García is not likely to be too pleased with his 13th place. Zabalo was 23rd, Aberasturi 68th, Etxebarria 80th and Urain 95th. The team ended up second in the team rankings and Zabalo took the mountains prize, reason enough for DS Díaz to be pleased with his charges' performance. "Without a doubt we're very pleased", he told www.fundacioneuskadi.com. "The riders were strong and as a team we were strong. We adapted well to the French way of riding; more aggressive and less conservative."
• The Vuelta a Navarra came to an end yesterday with a testing stage to Pamplona. Naturgas' most likely men to make an impression towards the end, Martínez and Barbero, both suffered crashes that curtailed their hopes of stage success. The latter recovered reasonably well though to claim 27th at just 12 seconds, while the former ended up 44th nine seconds further adrift. Overall, Damien García was the team's best performer, finishing 31st. Ocampos took 64th, Barbero 70th and Martínez 84th. Alberto Guinea failed to complete the stage. Naturgas finished next to last in the team rankings, only finishing above local team R. Navarra - Telco- Conor Rete.
• The fourth of june is a day marked in red in Naturgas' calendar: it's the day of the Basque time trial championships. The team have already held training sessions on the course to be well prepared, and the red brigade were back at it again yesterday with a session in Orduna, la Fundación Euskadi's homepage reports. Igor Merino is likely to be the team's best hope of a win, and apparently they're leaving nothing to chance.

Giro finishes with Milano ITT

The Giro came to a slightly disappointing end today with man-of-the-moment Mikel Nieve failing to hang onto his top 10 overall after a rather poor, yet not surprising, performance in the concluding 26km ITT. The Leitza native has been struggling with a cold these last few days and was off-colour in his dreaded discipline and ended up 114th, 3:47 down on Millar, and thus dropped to 11th overall. But still, what a race by the climber! Prior to the Giro start I dreamt off a repeat performance of the Vuelta '10 from him. And what did we get? A carbon copy: a win in the queen-stage and 11th overall. That's sensational from a Giro debutant and a relative newbie to pro racing all together. If people didn't know his name prior to the race they most surely do now. Can't wait to see him in tandem with 'Mister Zoncolan' in the Vuelta in September! Speaking of 'Mister Zoncolan', Antón ended up 18th on GC after another time trial that leaves a lot to desired. He came in 97th, 3:25 off the pace, but he won't dwell on it I'm sure. He won on Zoncolan and should be more than pleased. That win will go down in history as one of the team's greatest ever triumphs, so thank you Igor Antón for an unforgettable experience. Speaking post-race, Antón said all the usual stuff about the stage-win and the Giro's brutal parcours, but saved some poetry for last: "The Giro was hell, but we found paradise along the way". Can hardly be put better, so I'm just going to leave it at that. Final GC:

• 11, Nieve
• 18, Antón
• 63, Isasi
• 68, Azanza
• 115, Aramendía
• 124, Cazaux
• 135, Mínguez
• 149, Sesma

Euskaltel ended up a respectable ninth in the team rankings.

Bayern Rundfahrt conclusion

A lacklustre Bayern Rundfahrt came to a close today with a sprinters' stage into Moosburg. Koldo Fernández, still finding his feet mind you, came in ninth in a field not too littered with top sprinters, whilst the rest of the guys in orange cruised home with the peloton. Those results lead to Alan Pérez being the top-ranked rider overall in 30th place. Koldo was 34th, Urtasun 38th, R Pérez 47th, Landa 49th, and Bilbao ended his first race with the team in 89th place. Not too good a performance from the team obviously, but at least Koldo grabbed a couple of top ten stage placings to show for the team's efforts. More importantly, young hopeful Bilbao completed the race and came through relatively unscathed. These five days of hard racing will set him up nicely for the rest of the season. DS Gorka Gerrikagoitia lamented the fact that none of his charges made it into the decisive 11-man break on stage three, but was relatively pleased with Koldo "getting back into the mix in the sprints". Still no word on why Txurruka abandoned the race, but hopefully whatever caused it won't put his Tour de France at risk.

Antón disappointed with Giro finish

While there's no denying the Giro has been a major success for Antón and Euskaltel alike, there's still this nagging feeling of what could have been after Igor Antón faded spectacularly from podium contention in the last week. Now sitting in 18th overall ahead of the concluding time trial in Milano, Antón was both happy and slightly disappointed when he talked to El Correo after his travails on the road to Sestriere yesterday. "I didn't expect to stay with the best today", he said bluntly. "Towards the end of this Giro I've been feeling more and more tired. The stage seemed to last forever and I didn't do too well. But I'm happy with my win at the Zoncolan. Very happy". Despite occupying third after his Zoncolan exploits, and being a single second from second, it seems the climber had more modest expectations than what might have been the case among his fans. "I was dreaming of a top 10 finish. After winning on the Zoncolan I thought that would be possible. But sometimes you just don't have the legs. On Friday's stage to Macugnaga I had to take my foot off the gas, and because of that I had the chance to help Mikel Nieve on the stage to Sestriere. I'll leave the Giro very tired but very happy. I think the team have every right to be pleased. We've taken two wins. It's historic. I've showed that I can beat the best, that being Contador. That gives me great confidence. But I also see that there are things to improve on. Perhaps I was too fit in Castilla y León and in the Belgian classics. I also got sick before the start of the Giro... Details like these always factor, but I've got no excuses. Yeah, I would have liked to finish the Giro better". The team has obviously done a good job in protecting leaders Antón and Nieve throughout, and Antón reserved special praise for yesterday's man in the break, Miguel Mínguez. "The good thing was that Miguel could help Mikel when I couldn't hold the pace anymore. He's a 22-year-old rider and he rode like a true champ".

Giro recap

The third week hasn't been kind to Euskaltel; it's all pretty much gone downhill after those unforgettable wins last weekend. Antón has mysteriously lost his form just like that, while for all of Nieve's heroic and impressive riding he's likely to finish just outside the top 10 on GC. But I can hardly complain. No matter what happens in tomorrow's concluding ITT it's been a major success across the board. Nieve has been outstanding. His climbing has been a joy to behold, let's just hope he gets his just reward with a top 10 overall tomorrow. He holds a 32-second lead over Sivtsov in 11th, but I'm afraid that's not enough. But then again Nieve has sprung a couple of surprises in his budding career already. Antón purposefully lost time on the road to Macugnaga to save some forces for today's leg-breaker to Sestriere just as I thought he would, but that clever idea backfired dramatically when Antón was dropped unceremoniously once the road started to go uphill. The win atop the Zoncolan makes the Giro an unqualified success for Antón, make no mistake, but he's looking ready for a break to be honest. He looks exhausted and heavy-legged. Miguel Mínguez showed his potential with some excellent climbing today. Climbing like that in your maiden GT in the last week of this ridiculously hard Giro is a good sign. He's the real deal. Oroz was forced to abandon after crashing a few days ago, injuring is already banged-up body. But other than that the team's got a relatively clean bill of health and look set to finish the race with eight riders. Chapeau!

Provisional Tour squad leaked

www.velo-club.net have gotten hold of Euskaltel's long-list for the Tour de France. It's not very exciting reading though. The usual suspects are purportedly already assured of a berth (Samu, Txurruka, Martínez, R Pérez and Verdugo that is), while four from the following nine will complete the roster: Velasco, Oroz, A Pérez, Landa, G Izagirre, Isasi, Castroviejo, Koldo and Urtasun. I'd love to see Castroviejo and G Izagirre being given their Tour bow; they're both in their second year with the team and ready for the challenge I reckon. Landa, being a neo-pro and all, will likely come up short, while Oroz's chances of making the squad is hanging by a thread after his crash-enforced DNF in the Giro here the other day. If he recovers fairly quickly, though, I expect him to get a ride. Velasco, having matured into one of the team's mainstays over the last couple of years, is also likely to be given the nod. Veteran Isasi will likely take his place alongside Samu if he recovers well after this year's arduous Giro. I can't really see either Urtasun or Koldo making the squad unless they start producing some results. My bet? Isasi, Velasco, Oroz and Castroviejo.

Bayern Rundfahrt recap

Peio Bilbao, Koldo Fernández, Mikel Landa, Rubén Pérez, Alan Pérez, Amets Txurruka and Pablo Urtasun are at the moment taking part in the five-day Bayern Rundfahrt concurrently with Antón, Nieve and co. performing heroics in Italy. There's plenty of fire-power in that seven-man team, but it's been everything but a successful race so far. Koldo, looking to get back into the sway of things after his first half of the season was cut short by crashes and injuries, looked to get into the mix on day one but lost his way and freewheeled across the line in 21st place. Debutant Bilbao found the pace a shock to the system and finished 2:39 down. Day two was better courtesy of Koldo's encouraging eighth and A Pérez's tenth, while the team went missing when the decisive splits formed over the hilly parcours of stage 3 between Bad Gögging and Aicbach. Not a single orange-clad rider (including the CCC Polsat-Polkowice guys by the way) made it into the break, meaning Urtasun, Koldo, A and R Pérez and Landa all finished inside the bunch at a full 5:18. Txurruka decided to abandon, unknown for what reason, while the chilly conditions hampered young Bilbao on his way to a 91st place finish at 12:53. Today's stage four 26km ITT wasn't particularly suited to the riders, and the results prove that. A Pérez was top Euskaltel rider in 35th at 2:29, whilst Koldo ended up 45th at 2:46. Bilbao impressed with 55th at just 2:58, Urtasun was 60th at 3:06, R Pérez 91st at 4:08 and Landa 100th at 4:29. Going into the last stage, A Pérez is top ranked overall at 31st, a disappointing 6:49 in arrears.

Naturgas & Orbea recap

• Orbea are currently taking part in the French 2.2 three-day race Tour de Gironde. A bunch of strong all-rounders are taking part - Zabalo, Sáez, Etxebarria, Urain - and speedster Aberasturi and climber García, both highly impressive so far this year. The team came close to reach it's stated target of a stage-win when Sáez posted an encouraging sixth on the opening day into Salles, while García went even closer by taking fourth on today's hilly ride into Cenon. Heading into the last stage, Sáez is 8th overall and García 12th.
• Naturgas Energía are currently cutting their teeth at one of the more prestigious stage-races on their calendar: the six-day Vuelta a Navarra. Eduardo Ardaiz, Carlos Barbero, Álex Bilbao, Damien García, Aitor Ocampos and Rory Martínez are the riders charged with being active and getting into the breaks throughout the race. So far the race has been a big success. Barbero was second and Martínez seventh on the second stage, resulting in the team taking out the 'Best team'-award. The duo was at it again the next day, taking seventh and 11th respectively. Except for those two stages, though, it's been tough going for the youngsters. Heading into the last stage, the best-placed overall is García at a distant 33rd.
• The red brigade did not manage to emulate Peio Bilbao's win last year in today's Torneo Lehendakari-race in Merkina. Merino looked good on the last climb, joining five other riders at the head of the race, but eventually found the going too tough and finished in sixth, 27 seconds down on winner Ruiz of Debabarrena. Efrén Carazo took an encouraging seventh at 1:05. The team consisted of the aforementioned duo along with Karl Baudron, Loïc Chetout, Alain González and Fernando Grijalba.

Blogspot troubles

Due to well-documented troubles at the Google headquarters, I, along with thousands of other bloggers, haven't been able to update the blog for quite a while. Finally they seem to have sorted it out, so stay tuned for a recap of everything Euskaltel, Orbea and Naturgas Energía!

Ronde de l'Isard & Estella round-up

Orbea took part in the three-day Ronde de l'Isard over the weekend with a team consisting of Aberasturi, Bagües, Bizkarra, Cabedo and Martín. Bizkarra managed to crack the top 10 on the last stage, taking a fine 9th place, but other than that it was tough going for the men in blue. Thanks to his 14th place on Saturday's queen-stage couple with his ninth yesterday, Bizkarra finished a creditable 10th overall. Martín ended up in 24th (having spent the last day in the main break), Bagües in 38th and Aberasturi in 53rd. Asturias stage-winner Cabedo abandoned during the second stage.

Naturgas didn't have the best of luck over the weekend either. The red brigade got two men - Alain González and Loic Chetôut - into an early move in yesterday's race in Estella, but they were reeled in rather quickly and a new big group formed at the front with no Naturgas riders in it. Naturgas were left with the responsibility in the pack but ended up doing a lot of work for nothing. On the up-side, though, González took out the intermediate sprints jersey. In other Naturgas-related news, the Euskadi ITT championships is coming up. To prepare for the rendezvous, Grijalba, Merino, Chetôut, Carazo, Baudron and González held a training session together around the Orduna climb yesterday. Merino, an expert against the clock, will be aiming to take the crown for sure.

Gardeccia reactions and results

He doesn't seem to believe it himself either, does he? After yesterday's historic day on the Zoncolan - a day I termed 'one of the greatest days in the team's history' (in the heat of the moment admittedly, but true all the same) - none would have expected this. I had secretely hoped Nieve would slip into today's break and do a repeat of his Vuelta win last year. The stage's route, and his form obviously, was perfect. But I didn't dear to say it. It would have been too good to be true. And it so nearly is. It seems both riders and fans are finding it hard to grasp that Euskaltel have secured back-to-back stage-wins on the Giro's most prestigious stages. Talking to the media after the podium ceremony, the sylf-like Navarran expressed similar views. "To win the queen-stage of the Giro is a dream I'd never thought would come true. I couldn't imagine achieving this when I turned pro (at the relatively late age of 23)", he said modestly as ever. Alberto Contador called today's marathon stage "my hardest day on a bike ever", and Nieve echoed his sentiments. "This is for sure the hardest day I've experienced in my career", he stated matter-of-factly after spending close to seven and a half hours in the saddle. "From the moment Garzelli went solo on the Giau it was mano a mano. I feel like I've done 100 kilometres on my own (which isn't far from the truth by the way). With all the climbs and the wind, the stage lasted for what seemed like an eternity. The final kilometre never ended. I couldn't even find the strength to raise my arms in jubilation." Despite now occupying a remarkable fifth overall, and with team-leader Antón down in 11th, Nieve played down the option of going for a high overall placing for himself. "There's no way I'm the captain of the team. Igor will pass me on GC after the mountain time trial on Tuesday. I remain at his service. If I finish inside the top 10 I'll be pleased. If not, I won't be too disappointed."

Speaking of team-leader Antón, I've never once seen him collapse just like that. He looked good, excellent in fact, on the first three climbs. And when he drifted towards the back-end of the lead group at the base of the penultimate, I thought he was just doing what he normally does: hanging out at the back, keeping a low profile and recover. I sensed an attack was in the offing until he suddenly wasn't there anymore. For quite a while I was sure it was a mechanical, but as it turns out he was just on a bad day. Make that a really bad day. He finished a quite staggering - by his standards anyway - 7:59 down in 18th place, conceding time to every single GC rival. His lacklustre showing leaves him in 11th place overall at a distant 9:37 heading into the second rest-day. I'm at a loss to explain why it happened, but I wouldn't be surprised if he just bonked. Anyway, he's now a full four and a half minutes off the podium. This is an extraordinary Giro where anything can happen, make no mistake, so rule Antón out of podium contention at your peril. But, admittedly, it looks like a long-shot with the toughest mountains behind us and with that annoying last-day ITT still to come. On the flip side it might give him some leeway to chase another win in the mountains, perhaps at Sestrieres, so it's not all bad. It is all bad for Juan José Oroz, though. The dependable all-rounder crashed out of the race approximately halfway through today. Still no word on what exactly happened, but check in tomorrow to find out.

Stage results:

• 1, Nieve
• 18, Antón, 7:59
• 72, Azanza, 27:35
• 73, Aramendía, s.t.
• 77, Isasi, 27:44
• 113, Minguez, 38:32
• 114, Cazaux, s.t.
• 124, Sesma, 38:46

GC:

• 5, Nieve, 7:03
• 11, Antón, 9:37
• 62, Isasi, 1:24:14
• 73, Azanza, 1:36:13
• 127, Aramendía, 2:22:29
• 150, Cazaux, 2:40:12
• 151, Sesma, 2:43:47
• 159, Minguez, 2:59:44

Nieve king in Giro queen-stage

Mikel Nieve has just bagged Euskaltel's second win in as many days in this Giro by blasting to an extraordinary win atop the Gardeccia at the end of the race's queen-stage. Nieve joined team-mate Aramendía in an early break of considerable size and eventually hung on to beat none other than Garzelli, the only other survivor of that 18-man break, by a huge 1:41. As a result he jumped up to a quite incredible sixth place overall, just half a minute down on team leader Antón who dropped to fifth after uncharacteristically blowing up on the penultimate climb and losing lots of time. Antón's demise can't take the sheen off another spectacular day for the team, though, as Euskaltel have now secured back-to-back mountain stage wins in Italy. And how's this for a statistic: Mikel Nieve has taken two wins in his career, and they're both queen-stages in GTs. Tune in later for results, pics and reactions.