Vrecer - I'm still on track for Giro d'Italia

It's hardly been the start to his Euskaltel career Robert Vrecer would have wanted. The Slovenian's bow in the orange jersey was cut painfully short by a collarbone fracture in February, and he failed to finish his comeback race - a brutally hard edition of Tirreno-Adriatico - when the gruppetto of which he was a part decided to pull out with some 50 kilometres to ride on the penultimate day.

Still, the 32-year-old is in high spirits. The national time trial champion's main goal this season is the year's first Grand Tour, the Giro d'Italia in May. And, according to the man himself, his Italian spring adventure is not in jeopardy despite getting 2013 off to a rocky start.

"I fell and broke my collarbone on Mallorca. Since then I've focused on my goal, the Giro d'Italia, and I've done everything in my power to stay fit", he told Velofutur. "Eventually I was able to ride Tirreno-Adriatico and thus stay on schedule. Obviously I wasn't in the shape I had wanted to be, but the racing days helped me improve in that regard.

"There's still plenty of time left before the Giro kick-off to train. I might not have gotten off to the best of starts, but I'll make it to the Giro", he concluded.

In order to stay on an upward trajectory form-wise, Vrecer will on Thursday line up in Italian one-day race GP Nobili Rubinetterie before taking on the mighty Milan-San Remo on Sunday. The Slovenian finished a noteworthy second to Danilo Di Luca at the GP Nobili last year, and will this time around line up as part of an eight-man Euskaltel team.

Euskaltel for GP Nobili Rubinetterie:
Egoi Martínez, Mikel Landa, Jorge Azanza, Garikoitz Bravo, Ricardo García, Miguel Mínguez, Ioannis Tamouridis and Robert Vrecer.

Izagirres show skill off the bike

Euskaltel brothers Gorka and Ion Izagirre took time off from riding today to show off their cooking skills. At a market in Ordizia, Gipuzkoa, the duo helped promote the market and even tried their hand at cooking artichokes, according to local photographer Iñaki Azanza who was kind enough to send over these exclusive images:

Izagirre brothers fall on WorldTour rankings

Gorka and Ion Izagirre have both taken a tumble on the UCI's WorldTour standings in the wake of Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico.

The brothers were top 10 early on in the year after finishing fourth and seventh overall at the Tour Down Under, but less successful appearances in France recently have seen to it that they've both dropped down the list.

Ion Izagirre now finds himself in 12th on 61 points, while his older brother is 20th with 32 after picking up a few points for third place on stage three in Paris-Nice.

Courtesy of his fifth place on stage six of Tirreno-Adriatico, Samuel Sánchez debuts on the ranking in 57th place with one solitary point.

As for the team rankings, Euskaltel are now ninth.

View the full rankings here.

Low-key time trial concludes Tirreno-Adriatico

Euskaltel and Samuel Sánchez closed out the Tirreno-Adriatico on Tuesday with a sub-par 9,3km individual time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto.

Sánchez, at his best a contender in this discipline, could only finish 90th on the day, a full 1:20 in arrears on winner Tony Martin. It was enough to maintain his 18th overall placing, though, and he therefore finished as the team's top rider on GC.

"The team did a good job in this race, and now we have to continue to work with an eye on the Giro", a satisfied team captain told the team's website. "I'm tranquilo. I've showed that I'm fit, and everyday I've been feeling a little bit better".

In order to get a clue of what the Giro d'Italia will be like, 'Samu' and sports director Gorka Gerrikagoitia will stay in Italy for a few days more to recce two key stages of the race: stage 19 that finishes atop the Val Martello, and stage 20 to the top of the mythical Tre Cime Lavaredo. 

While both top stage and overall placings eluded the team in 'The Race of the two seas', Gerrikagoitia
was relatively pleased with what his charges came up with throughout the race.

"We knew that winning a stage would be a tall order", he admitted. "Stage six was the one most suited to us, and the team duly did well on that stage. Egoi Martínez got into the day's break and Samu stayed with the strongest riders 'till the end. What's positive about this race for us is that we seem to be on track for the big goal: the Giro d'Italia. There's approximately two months to go before the big kick-off, and we have to keep progressing.

"The racing was of a very high level this year, and the race will be a good experience for the new riders on our team. They have to get used to working for one leader, and in that regard this was a good race for them."

The team's top rider on the day was one of those "new riders", Greek national champion Ioannis Tamouridis. The track specialist came through for 36th place, 43 seconds down, and closed out the race in 92nd overall.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), 10:25)
• 36, Ioannis Tamouridis, 0:43
• 72, Jorge Azanza, 1:06
• 74, Egoi Martínez, 1:07
• 75, Miguel Mínguez, 1:08
• 90, Samuel Sánchez, 1:20
• 101, Garikoitz Bravo, 1:40

Final general classification:

• (1, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), 28:08:17)
• 18, Samuel Sánchez, 6:49
• 30, Egoi Martínez, 19:00
• 42, Jorge Azanza, 25:01
• 69, Miguel Mínguez, 42:46
• 92, Ioannis Tamouridis, 59:01
• 103, Garikoitz Bravo, 1:09:36

Martínez to headline Italian push

Egoi Martínez will as usual spearhead Euskaltel's challenge at Milano-San Remo the coming weekend.

Martínez has been in the mix in 'La Classicissima' on numerous occasions, and lines up once again in the fashion capital on Sunday and in the GP Nobili Rubinetterie on Thursday.

Euskaltel for GP Nobili: Egoi Martínez, Jorge Azanza, Ricardo García, Ioannis Tamouridis, Robert Vrecer, Mikel Landa, Miguel Mínguez and Garikoitz Bravo.

Euskaltel for Milano-San Remo: Egoi Martínez, Gorka Izagirre, Jorge Azanza, Miguel Mínguez, Robert Vrecer, Garikoitz Bravo, Ioannis Tamouridis and Ricardo García.

Photo: Euskaltel Euskadi

Sánchez approaching form in Italy

Samuel Sánchez finished fifth at a brutally hard sixth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico on Monday - appearing to be bang on track towards the Giro d'Italia in May.

The 209km stage in Porto Sant'Elpidio had it all: innumerable climbs, disgusting weather and top quality racing. As a result of the first two factors, some 50 riders threw in the towel underway and headed home. But those who toughed it out made sure to put on a spectacle.

A group big on both numbers and names went away early on, including Egoi Martínez, Movistar duo Beñat Intxausti and Giovanni Visconti, Damiano Cunego, Fabian Cancellara and Rinaldo Nocentini to name but a few.

While it looked promising for the breakaway early on, the climbs took their toll and eventually put paid to their ambitions. The GC favourites duly came to the fore, and Vincenzo Nibali, Joaquim Rodríguez and Peter Sagan ended up disputing the stage after proving to be strongest on the many short, but steep, ascents.

The latter naturally ousted the other two in the sprint, holding off a select four-man group by 44 seconds. In that group was the on-fire Mauro Santambrogio, Chris Horner, Alberto Contador and a certain Samuel Sánchez. The Euskaltel leader came through for fifth and as a consequence rose to 18th overall. More importantly, though, he seems to be on schedule form-wise with the Giro now approximately only two months away.

"The work we're doing with an eye on the Giro is progressing, calmly", Sánchez stated post-stage. "The efforts are building up, we're already on day six, and so far the legs have responded well.

"Nibali and Sagan were really strong and impossible to follow, but I'm pleased. We did more than 200 kilometres, the rain was pouring down, we tackled many climbs, and I ended up fifth alongside people who are in top shape right now. On the menu tomorrow is the last stage - an individual time trial. But right now I'm just happy with how the work is going. That's very important to me", he concluded.

Miguel Mínguez also showed flickers of form by finishing 28th, while Ricardo García and Robert Vrecer both formed part of a gruppetto that decided to quit en masse some 50 clicks out.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Peter Sagan (Cannondale), 5:45:17)
• 5, Samuel Sánchez, 0:44
• 28, Miguel Mínguez, 2:16
• 48, Jorge Azanza, 6:12
• 49, Egoi Martínez, s.t.
• 86, Ioannis Tamouridis, 18:42
• 97, Garikoitz Bravo, s.t.

General classification:

• (1, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), 27:57:26)
• 18, Samuel Sánchez, 5:55
• 30, Egoi Martínez, 18:19
• 43, Jorge Azanza, 24:21
• 70, Miguel Mínguez, 42:04
• 93, Ioannis Tamouridis, 58:44
• 105, Garikoitz Bravo, 1:08:22

Euskaltel go off the radar in Tirreno

Samuel Sánchez and co. were forced to look down at their legs rather than ahead in Sunday's hilly fifth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.

Save for Garikoitz Bravo's breakaway antics early on in the race, the Italian WorldTour event has been short on joy for Euskaltel.

Sunday's 230km leg to Chieti, ending with a short, steep climb to the line, did not change much in that regard for the riders in orange.

As expected, the wily Joaquim Rodríguez darted to the win, besting Bauke Mollema and Alberto Contador with consummate ease. Euskaltel's top man was naturally team leader Samuel Sánchez, but the 34-year-old could only muster 22nd on the day as he builds steadily for the Giro d'Italia in May.

Going into the last pair of stages, Sánchez is also the team's best-placed on GC in 25th.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha), 6:06:43)
• 22, Samuel Sánchez, 1:20
• 34, Egoi Martínez, 4:01
• 57, Jorge Azanza, 10:10
• 81, Robert Vrecer, 14:05
• 82, Ricardo García, s.t.
• 102, Ioannis Tamouridis, 22:18
• 121, Miguel Mínguez, s.t.
• 150, Garikoitz Bravo, 22:25

General classification:

• (1, Chris Froome (Sky), 22:11:53)
• 25, Samuel Sánchez, 5:27
• 35, Egoi Martínez, 12:26
• 46, Jorge Azanza, 18:25
• 65, Robert Vrecer, 25:54
• 95, Ricardo García, 35:48
• 111, Miguel Mínguez, 40:04
• 114, Ioannis Tamouridis, 40:18
• 156, Garikoitz Bravo, 49:56

Photo: Orbea

Ion Izagirre shows form as Paris-Nice concludes

It was always going to be a tall order for Euskaltel to reach their pre-race goal of winning a stage once the they got to the final-day hill time trial to the top of the Col d'Èze, but Ion Izagirre gave it a good go to conclude the French WorldTour race on a high for his team.

The 23-year-old grabbed an impressive tenth at the end of the demanding 9,7km climb, crossing the line ahead of the likes of Klöden, Jeannesson, Coppel, Menchov and Westra. While the result did nothing to correct his lowly GC position, DS Álvaro González de Galdeano was happy with his young charge - and thinks the younger of the Izagirres could have done so much better but for bad luck throughout the week.

"Ion showed in the time trial that he's going really well", he told the team's website. "I'm convinced that he could have been in the fight for the stage win and help Gorka cede less time on the stage to the Montagne de Lure, but luck was not on our side. It's a shame him and most of the team got caught up in that big crash before that climb. The day before that he punctured at the worst time as well and lost two minutes. Incidents like that didn't help us. But he's still a young rider and will continue to develop in the future".

Ion's brother, Gorka, ended up as the team's highest-placed rider overall in 18th after placing 34th on the final day, almost two minutes down on stage and overall victor, Sky's Richie Porte.

While Gorka's final position was perhaps not what he had been looking for going into the race, his DS was full of praise.

"The level of racing here has been really high", Galdeano said, adding "Sky were really strong and dominated proceedings. We wanted to win a stage and Gorka came close on the third stage to do just that, but it wasn't to be. He performed well throughout the race, though, was very attentive and has completed a good race."

While only placing one rider inside the top 20 overall hardly lived up to expectations, Galdeano was relatively content with the week's work.

"The team was strong and we finished tenth in the team rankings", he concluded.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Richie Porte (Sky), 19:16)
• 10, Ion Izagirre, 1:06
• 34, Gorka Izagirre, 1:55
• 50, Romain Sicard, 2:14
• 52, Mikel Astarloza, 2:20
• 80, Mikel Nieve, 2:51
• 97, Rubén Pérez, 3:10

Final general classification:

• (1, Richie Porte (Sky), 29:59:47)
• 18, Gorka Izagirre, 3:29
• 49, Mikel Astarloza, 19:31
• 55, Ion Izagirre, 23:36
• 85, Mikel Nieve, 41:11
• 94, Rubén Pérez, 47:41
• 133, Romain Sicard, 1:09:44

Photo: Euskaltel Euskadi

Estévez best sub-23 in Copa de España

Naturgas Energía continued their barnstorming start to the 2013 season by taking the lead in the overall sub-23 Copa de España rankings on Sunday courtesy of tenacious sprinter Imanol Estévez.

Estévez made waves last year by taking out the overall Torneo Lehendakari trophy in his maiden year in the amateur category, and has gotten the new year off to a similarly impressive start. Having taken third in the first Copa de España race in Don Benito two weeks ago, the native of Vitoria-Gasteiz grabbed a more modest 14th in Aiztondo on Sunday, but it was still more than enough to grab hold of the sub-23 overall lead.

There was no beating former Andorra-Grandvalira pro Vicente García de Mateos in the 143km race, the GSport-Valencia Terra i mar rider soloing in ahead of Alberto Gallego of Bicicletas Rodríguez and Basque Júlen Mitxelena of Gipuzkoa-Eki Sport (the team formerly known as Bidelan-Kirolgi).

The Naturgas Energía youngsters failed to animate the racing in any meaningful way, but still grabbed fourth in the team rankings through placing three riders in the top 30.

Results (full results here):

• 1, Vicente García de Mateos (GSport-Valencia Terra i mar), 3:36:46
• 2, Alberto Gallego (Bicicletas Rodríguez), 0:04
• 3, Júlen Mitxelena (Gipuzkoa-Eki Sport), 1:06
• 4, Miguel Ángel Benito (Caja Rural), 1:07
• 5, Diego Rubio Hernández (Caja Rural), s.t.
• 14, Imanol Estévez (Naturgas Energía), 2:10
• 21, Loïc Chetout (Naturgas Energía), s.t.
• 27, Víctor Etxeberría (Naturgas Energia), 2:17

Photo: Pascal Baudron

And Chetout does it again

Loïc Chetout showed he'll be a hard man to beat this season after taking win number two out of two possible in Lizarta on Saturday.

The speedy Frenchman got his campaign off to the best of starts last weekend by winning the Torneo Lehendakari opener in Ereño, and followed that up with another triumph in the same race series this weekend.

The Naturgas Energía rider, racing in the white jersey of overall series leader, bested Antonio Angulo of Baqué-Campos and Caja Rural's Jesús Albert Rubio at the end of 107 clicks in which the red and whites assumed control of the race for much of the day. According to the Basque Cycling Federation, a group of eight riders got away early on and opened up a decent gap, but Naturgas, with a little from Seguros Bilbao, reeled in the escapees in time to set Chetout up for the sprint. And, as can be seen from the picture above, he nailed that with relative ease.

Results (full results here):

• 1, Loïc Chetout (Naturgas Energía), 2:28:30
• 2, Antonio Angulo (Baqué-Campos), s.t.
• 3, Jesús Albert Rubio (Caja Rural), s.t.
• 4, Ion Iriarte (Gipuzkoa-Eki Sport), s.t.
• 5, Hector Sáez (Seguros Bilbao), s.t.
• 10, Víctor Etxeberría (Naturgas Energía), 0:15
• 12, Álvaro Trueba (Naturgas Energía), 1:50
• 20, Francisco Javier Martín (Naturgas Energía), s.t.
• 25, Alain Santamaría (Naturgas Energía), s.t.
• 37, Noel Gil (Naturgas Energía), 4:20
• 38, Alain González (Naturgas Energía), s.t.
• 41, Pablo Comins (Naturgas Energía), 4:45
• 68, Oier Sánchez (Naturgas Energía), 11:55

Photo: Karlis Medrano

Here's Samu's new mystery bike

Basque Cycling News were surprised to see Euskaltel team leader Samuel Sánchez aboard a blue and white Orbea Orca (instead of the team issue black and orange one) earlier this week at Tirreno-Adriatico, but a reason for the seemingly odd choice of equipment has now been given by the bike brand itself.

According to Orbea, the bike, titled "Million Name Orbea", is a tribute to the 2008 Olympic champion. When it became clear 'Samu''s participation in the 2012 Games in London was in jeopardy due to the many falls that ruined the latter half of his 2012 season, the Basque bike brand encouraged people to send in their messages of support for Sánchez.

More than 10 000 people sent in their best wishes and, though he was forced to watch the Olympics from his couch, Orbea decided to decorate an Orca with all the names of the best-wishers on it. If you look closely, you can see all kinds of different names in the paint job. If you have a lot of time on your hands this weekend, go ahead and see if you can spot all 10 000 of them.

Take a look at this small photo album on Orbea's Facebook page to get a glimpse of the bike.

Photo: Orbea

Guerrero - We'll remember this day forever

For reasons not even remotely linked to the results of the team, Saturday's Dutch one-day race Ronde van Drenthe will live long in the memory of the Euskaltel riders and their sports director.

Only 32 riders completed the 195km event, of which two were from Euskaltel: Juan José Lobato, 30th, and Pablo Urtasun, 32nd and dead last. While those results are hardly something to brag about, DS Óscar Guerrero was all but disappointed with his team post-race.

"It was an epic day, a day we'll remember forever", he told the team's own website. "The thermometer didn't rise above zero and it never ceased raining. Here they ride in a manner totally unknown to us. The tempo was high right from the off - there was no time to attack. The fact that only 32 riders managed to finish the race goes to prove how hard it was.

"Pablo Urtasun and Juan José Lobato finished the race out of pride", he continued. "Juanjo was going really well but punctured at the worst time - just when the 32 riders at the front of the race split in two. It was the worst timing, and it turned out to be impossible to latch back onto the 19 riders that managed to get a gap on the rest. It's a shame as he was going well on the cobbles and the small climbs", he said.

Peio Bilbao made his return to competition after an injury-plagued start to 2013. Despite failing to cross the finish line, Guerrero was happy with his young charge.

"He was going well, but, with 70 clicks to go, when riding at the front, he got really cold", he explained. "His legs were good, but he wasn't able to pull on the breaks. Hot tea helped him for a while, but he eventually had to climb off".

Results (full results here):

• (1, Alexander Wetterhall (NetApp-Endura), 4:56:47)
• 30, Juan José Lobato, 4:02
• 32, Pablo Urtasun, s.t.

Euskaltel's Classics contingent will continue their Northern-Europe adventure tomorrow with the Dwars door Drenthe.

Euskaltel off the pace at Prati di Tivo

Samuel Sánchez and company was not able to play a meaningful part in Tirreno-Adriatico's queen-stage on Saturday.

The 173km fourth leg from Narni to the top of the Prati di Tivo was pre-race said to become the domain of the strongest climbers on show, and the stage did deliver on its hype. Froome, Nibali, Contador et al. all waged war on each other with the former eventually coming out on top, but none from the orange contingent were able to stay even remotely close to the best on the Italian climbs.

Team leader Samuel Sánchez, making his first competitive foray into the mountains this season, finished a respectable 30th on the day, but was well over three minutes in arrears.

The rest of the riders all crossed the line more than seven minutes down to round off a forgettable day for Igor González de Galdeano's men.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Chris Froome (Sky), 4:41:31)
• 30, Samuel Sánchez, 3:23 
• 51, Jorge Azanza, 7:31
• 53, Egoi Martínez, s.t.
• 55, Robert Vrecer, 9:12
• 72, Miguel Mínguez, 12:17
• 106, Ioannis Tamouridis, 17:16
• 109, Garikoitz Bravo, s.t.
• 112, Ricardo García, s.t.

General classification:

• (1, Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), 16:04:59)
• 31, Samuel Sánchez, 4:18
• 46, Egoi Martínez, 8:26
• 47, Jorge Azanza, s.t.
• 59, Robert Vrecer, 12:00
• 96, Miguel Mínguez, 17:57
• 101, Ioannis Tamouridis, 18:11
• 129, Ricardo García, 21:54
• 159, Garikoitz Bravo, 27:42

Photo: Orbea

Verdugo crashes out of Paris-Nice

The general classification contenders kept their powder dry for tomorrow's Paris-Nice decider, but there was ill fortune for one of Euskaltel's most trusted riders on the sixth and penultimate leg of the French stage race.

Super domestique Gorka Verdugo crashed on the way from Manosque to Nice and abandoned the race, but so far there's been no word on whether he sustained any serious injuries. The usually solid stage-racer has had a slow start to 2013 and was lying in a lowly 138th place almost 45 minutes down heading into the stage.

As for Euskaltel's only interesting rider as far as the battle for GC goes, Gorka Izagirre had a quiet day in the saddle as he came in 50th inside a 60-man strong peloton. In that first group was also team-mates Ion Izagirre and Mikel Astarloza. The rest of the riders, who'd done a lot of hard work at the head of the pack as Euskaltel missed out on the break, came in several minutes down.

Heading into the 9,6km hill time trial to the Col d'Èze, Gorka Izagirre is 15th overall.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), 5:14:23)
• 39, Ion Izagirre, s.t.
• 45, Mikel Astarloza, s.t.
• 50, Gorka Izagirre, s.t.
• 84, Rubén Pérez, 8:40
• 90, Mikel Nieve, s.t.
• 109, Romain Sicard, 21:34