Bravo relinquishes jersey

He put up a fight, but Garikoitz Bravo was forced to let go of the climber's jersey on Friday's third stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.

The new Euskaltel recruit grabbed the green jersey by forming part of the break of the day on day two, and was once again animating the race from up ahead on Friday in the hope of keeping hold of the mountain's lead. Joining him in the break was Cesare Benedetti of NetApp-Endura who'd so narrowly been beaten to the jersey yesterday by Bravo, and Vini Fantini-Selle Italia's Francesco Failli.

Only one categorized climb was included on the 198km ride from Indicatore to Narni Scalo, and Benedetti was to get his revenge by besting Euskaltel's 23-year-old rookie. Bravo was thus forced to hand over the green jersey after only a day wearing it.

Back in the peloton, Samuel Sánchez got through another day unscathed and without ceding any time, while the rest same can't be said of all of his team-mates (as the results show below).

Results (full results here):

• (1, Peter Sagan (Cannondale), 5:15:12)
• 20, Ioannis Tamouridis, s.t.
• 43, Samuel Sánchez, s.t.
• 46, Egoi Martínez, s.t.
• 64, Jorge Azanza, s.t.
• 98, Ricardo García, 1:22
• 118, Robert Vrecer, 1:53
• 125, Miguel Mínguez, 3:03
• 153, Garikoitz Bravo, 8:53

Photo: Eitb

Bravo: King of the mountains

Garikoitz Bravo showed he's feeling more and more at ease at the WorldTour level by getting hold of the climber's jersey in Thursday's second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.

The former Caja Rural rider has taken to the highest level of the sport like a duck to water and is already making a name for himself only a couple of months into his new surroundings.

On the second leg of the Italian stage race he successfully infiltrated the break of the day alongside NetApp-Endura's Cesare Benedetti and Belgian veteran Kevin Hulsmans of Vini Fantini-Selle Italia. While the trio were never close to going all the way, Bravo did enough to be able to don the green jersey in Friday's third stage. The 23-year-old of Lazkao, Gipuzkoa, took maximum points on the first categorized climb, the Massa Marittima, and second place on the following one, the Montebello.

That was only enough to tie him on points with Benedetti, but the Euskaltel rider got to step onto the podium post-race because of his higher placing on GC.

Once he had achieved his goal and it became clear the break was never going to go anywhere, he eased off and let himself be caught by the peloton while the two others, in vane, pushed on ahead.

The anticipated bunch sprint materialized in Indicatore, with Australian Matt Goss taking the spoils. None of the Euskaltel riders got in on the fight, but the vast majority came in with the pack. That included team captain Samuel Sánchez, who's making his first WorldTour appearance of the year.

The affable 34-year-old - as expected - had no trouble staying with the pack, but his choice of equipment during the stage was somewhat more surprising. The 2008 Olympic champion was seen aboard a non-team issue standard white and blue Orbea Orca with what looked to be O'Symetrics's classic oval chainrings. Not that the choice of gear seems to have any effect on his performances - he's started off the 2013 season just as solidly as he tends to do.

Speaking of 'Samu', if you feel like watching some top class descending from a few years back, take a look at this new video:



 Results (full results here):

• (1, Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEdge), 5:48:41)
• 40, Ioannis Tamouridis, s.t.
• 68, Samuel Sánchez, s.t.
• 81, Egoi Martínez, s.t.
• 83, Jorge Azanza, s.t.
• 131, Robert Vrecer, s.t.
• 156, Miguel Mínguez, s.t.
• 172, Ricardo García, 0:39
• 173, Garikoitz Bravo, s.t.

Photo: www.roadcycling.com

Gorka Izagirre stays in the hunt

Gorka Izagirre is on course for a top general classification result in Paris-Nice after retaining his fifth place in Thursday's demanding fourth leg of the race.

Izagirre finished inside the first group of 37 riders to cross the line at the end of 199,5km in Saint-Vallier, taking 21st on the day after figuring in the late-race action prior to the run-in. The 25-year-old was seen close to the front on numerous occasions in the closing clicks, but dropped back inside the last two and didn't contest the field sprint won by Orica-GreenEdge's Michael Albasini.

Prior to that, the orange jersey had been visible on numerous occasions.

Romain Sicard once again showed his fighting spirit by getting into the break of the day, but, yet again, his legs failed him when he needed them the most once fellow escape artist Thomas Voeckler upped the pace on the 2.cat Col de Talencieux. Sicard went out the back and was quickly caught by the pack from which Ion Izagirre made a brief sojourn off the front.

Izagirre junior's burst of speed didn't get him far, though, as the favourites were keen to keep things under control all the way to the line.

Coming off the last two climbs on the menu, the 37 strongest riders separated themselves from the pack and held off the next group by a whopping two minutes. Gorka Izagirre was his team's sole representative, as Ion suffered an ill-timed puncture at 15 to go and Mikel Nieve and Mikel Astarloza didn't have the legs to go the distance.

Equally unlucky was Sky's David López García. The former Euskaltel rider did like Ion and had to watch his GC aspirations go out the window.

Heading into Friday's fifth stage, Izagirre is still fifth overall.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge), 4:55:41)
• 21, Gorka Izagirre, s.t.
• 52, Mikel Astarloza, 2:00
• 56, Mikel Nieve, s.t.
• 61, Ion Izagirre, s.t.
• 95, Rubén Pérez, 8:26
• 106, Romain Sicard, s.t.
• 142, Gorka Verdugo, 12:36

General classification:

• (1, Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp), 19:35:17)
• 5, Gorka Izagirre, 0:05
• 45, Ion Izagirre, 3:19
• 50, Mikel Nieve, 3:44
• 60, Mikel Astarloza, 7:05
• 74, Rubén Pérez, 9:55
• 123, Gorka Verdugo, 18:18
• 133, Romain Sicard, 20:00

Galdeano - We're not up to standard

Team time trials have been a source of frustration for Euskaltel fans ever since the team's inception in 1994, and today's collective race against the clock in Tirreno-Adriatico was another case in point.

The riders in orange finished dead last over the 16,9km TTT and are once again on the back foot already after day one of a stage race.

General manager Igor González de Galdeano admits his team is having trouble with the discipline and believes a number of factors are contributing.

"We're having problems adapting to the demands of the discipline, a discipline that, for natural reasons, isn't best suited to us", he said. "Still, though, we're performing below our actual level.

"It requires us to work on it, improve and be innovative in order to keep up with other WorldTour teams.

"We have first class material thanks to Orbea, but we're still not getting better at a discipline that damages the ambitions of our leaders in big races. We have a four-year project in place now and we've got to find a solution to this. We've shown we can be up there in big races, take last year's Vuelta for example, but when we're in a phase of preparation we're not up to our usual standard".

Galdeano came up with a number of reasons for his charges' weak ride in Tirreno - saying "it was the first TTT of the year, Vrecer is recovering from a collarbone fracture, it's only Samuel Sánchez's third day of racing this year, Ioannis Tamouridis didn't have his best day" - but claims certain physical depositions are handicapping his riders in the cronos.

"On average, our riders don't weigh more than 65 kilos. They're climbers, fighters, aggressive and brave, but when a team time trial is coming up it's like the riders start to doubt themselves and get all insecure", he intimated. "All this leads to "discrete" performances. We're over-dependant on certain riders and, if they're not on their game or are having health issues, we're out of the running".

To turn the situation around, Galdeano is not only calling on the riders to up their game.

"In order to improve, the staff, not only the riders, have work to do to change what's increasingly looked upon as something normal. It's a challenge we have to take on. This team can do better".

Photo: Vavel

Izagirre - I'll fight for the overall

Gorka Izagirre's third place in Wednesday's Paris-Nice stage propelled him to a healthy fifth overall. With only four days to go, the oldest of the Izagirre brothers revealed he'll fight to hang on to his top ten on general classification.

"I felt good today on the first stage on the Massif Central", he told the team's website. "Tomorrow's stage and the last one are the hardest, so we'll see how the legs respond then. Right now I'm fifth overall - and I'm very happy with that!".

The 25-year-old finished an impressive seventh in the season's first WorldTour race, the Tour Down Under, and will look to score more points for his team for the rest of the week.

"It's a really high level of racing at every WorldTour event, so it's hard both to finish high up on GC and to win", he said. "But we'll fight to achieve a good overall result".

The Ormaiztegi-native was beaten to the line on Wednesday by promising American Andrew Talansky and Italian Davide Malacarne, and said post-race that the pace on the run-in left him a tad drained for the final sprint.

"We went up the last climb really fast and I crested the top at the head of the pack", he commented. "The descent was a bit dangerous, the roads were wet... The peloton split up and seven of us got a gap. The understanding among us was good enough to let us play it out for the stage win, and the general classification favourites didn't catch us. We went full gas, and when it came to the sprint I was a bit tired", he concluded.

Gorka Izagirre goes oh so close in Paris-Nice

Gorka Izagirre finished on the podium in Wednesday's third stage of Paris-Nice.

The ever-aggressive all-rounder was just pipped to the line by Garmin-Sharp's Andrew Talansky and edged out for second by Europcar's Davide Malacarne at the end of a lumpy 171 kilometres from Chatel-Guyon to Brioude to grab his top result of 2013.

Watch the last kilometres below:


A septet broke clear on the descent off of the last climb of the day, the cat.2 Cote de Mauvagnat, and just about held off the charging peloton to steal precious seconds in the battle for the general classification. Thanks to his third place, Izagirre is now a solid fifth overall - just five seconds down on the winner of the stage and new overall leader, American Talansky.

Coming round on outside on the the right, Izagirre looked to be in contention for the win up until 50 metres were left to ride. Unfortunately for him and his team, there was no beating the Garmin rider, and thus the search for that elusive first victory of 2013 continues.

A group containing most of the pre-race favourites came in seven seconds back, but none of the Euskaltel riders managed to stay with that group. Ion Izagirre ended up ceding a damaging 1:05, while Mikel Nieve and Rubén Pérez both came in 1:22 in arrears.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp), 4:06:15)
• 3, Gorka Izagirre, s.t.
• 41, Ion Izagirre, 1:05
• 58, Mikel Nieve, 1:22
• 60, Rubén Pérez, s.t.
• 75, Mikel Astarloza, 2:58
• 109, Gorka Verdugo, s.t.
• 111, Romain Sicard, s.t.

General classification:

• (1, Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp), 14:39:36)
• 5, Gorka Izagirre, 0:05
• 41, Ion Izagirre, 1:19
• 47, Rubén Pérez, 1:29
• 54, Mikel Nieve, 1:44
• 110, Mikel Astarloza, 5:05
• 121, Gorka Verdugo, 5:42
• 151, Romain Sicard, 11:36

Euskaltel lose Tirreno TTT

The Tirreno-Adriatico got off to the worst of starts for Euskaltel on Wednesday.

The 16,9km team time trial from San Vincenzo to Donoratico was never going to suit the riders in orange, and Galdeano's men duly delivered with the slowest ride of all 22 teams. Samuel Sánchez, Egoi Martínez and co. ended up 1:20 down on winners Omega Pharma-Quick Step, led over the line by Mark Cavendish.

Full results here.

Photo: Euskaltel Euskadi

Astarloza takes up the mantle in Paris-Nice

After seeing Romain Sicard try his luck from far out on Monday, it was Mikel Astarloza's turn to animate Tuesday's second stage of the Paris-Nice by forming part of the day's main break.

The veteran, building form for a number of big races coming up later this year, got into the day's move alongside three others, but never looked even remotely close to pulling off a coup.

The quartet were caught by a hasty peloton more than 40 clicks out, and from there on it was pretty much game over for the riders in orange as a sprint finish was looking increasingly likely to decide the outcome.

Rubén Pérez somewhat surprisingly went for the last bonus seconds on offer alongside Viviani and Chavanel in an intermediate sprint and ended up with third place, leaving Ion Izagirre to defend the team's colours in the dash for the line.

The youngster could only muster 18th, though, and is still 24 seconds down on GC.

Going into day three, Pérez is the team's top rider in 38th, 17 seconds back.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano), 5:42:18)
• 18, Ion Izagirre, s.t.
• 33, Rubén Pérez, s.t.
• 63, Mikel Nieve, s.t.
• 100, Gorka Izagirre, s.t.
• 104, Romain Sicard, s.t.
• 133, Mikel Astarloza, s.t.
• 154, Gorka Verdugo, 0:39

Photo: Euskaltel Euskadi

Sicard active as Kocjan abandons

Euskaltel's Paris-Nice continued its less than stellar start on Monday as Romain Sicard showed a lack of early-season form and Jure Kocjan was forced to pull out.

The French stage race didn't get off to the best of beginnings for the orange-clad riders with a sub-par prologue on Sunday, and things didn't get much better on today's first stage proper.

True to his word pre-race, Sicard attacked from the off and quickly built up a decent lead ahead of the pack alongside Yannick Talabardon and Bertjan Lindeman. They never got a threatening gap, though, but Sicard was nevertheless forced to let his breakaway companions leave him in their wake in the closing stages.

The Frenchman was eventually reeled in some 33 clicks out, while the other two stayed out ahead for another 12.

In the sprint finale, Rubén Pérez was Euskaltel's go-to guy. For a while he looked to be in a decent position, but he never really got his sprint going and came home 19th.

On a worse note, the team is down to seven riders after Jure Kocjan was forced to post a DNF. According to the team's website, the Slovenian woke up with a severe headache and a fever. He took the start, though, intent on giving it a go, but got weaker as the kilometres passed by and eventually gave in to the pain.

The team's GC hopes, namely the Izagirre brothers and Mikel Nieve, all crossed the line safely tucked inside the peloton.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ), 4:47:24)
• 19, Rubén Pérez, s.t.
• 35, Gorka Izagirre, s.t.
• 46, Ion Izagirre, s.t.
• 83, Mikel Nieve, s.t.
• 151, Mikel Astarloza, 1:53
• 163, Gorka Verdugo, s.t.
• 176, Romain Sicard, 8:23

Photo: Orbea

Euskaltel go missing in Paris-Nice prologue

Euskaltel got their Paris-Nice off to a modest start by failing to place a rider inside the top 50 on Sunday.

While it was a surprise to see Europcar's Damien Gaudin come out tops, there were no similar surprises in the Euskaltel ranks. Noted time triallists Ion Izagirre, Gorka Verdugo and Mikel Astarloza all failed to crack the top 100, with Rubén Pérez's 54th being the best Galdeano's charges could muster.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Damien Gaudin (Europcar), 3:37)
• 54, Rubén Pérez, 0:10
• 60, Gorka Izagirre, 0:11
• 112, Gorka Verdugo, 0:14
• 132, Ion Izagirre, 0:16
• 135, Mikel Astarloza, s.t.
• 150, Romain Sicard, 0:19
• 164, Jure Kocjan, 0:21
• 177, Mikel Nieve, 0:24

Photo: Euskaltel Euskadi

Chetout and Estévez hammer the rest in Ereño

Loïc Chetout and Imanol Estévez continued Naturgas Energía's superb start to the year by taking a double-win in Sunday's Trofeo Lehendakari opener in Ereño.

The 105,3km race in the Vizcaya region saw a three-man break consisting of Lizarte's Catalonian Marc Sóler, Caja Rural's Miguel Ángel Benito and Seguros Bilbao's Héctor Sáez animate the day's racing, but the climb of Natxitua some five clicks from the line saw the strongest riders come to the fore.

Former Naturgas Energía prodigy Fernando Grijalba crested the summit first, but the aforementioned Naturgas duo always stayed close by and eventually reeled him in. In the slightly uphill sprint, Chetout and Estévez, in that order, had too much for Grijalba, the Caja Rural rider forced to settle for third.

The victory represents the Frenchman's first in a Naturgas jersey.

To top things off for the red and whites, they (logically) came away with the team prize as well.

Results:

• 1, Loïc Chetout (Naturgas Energía), 2:45:38
• 2, Imanol Estévez (Naturgas Energía), 0:01
• 3, Fernando Grijalba (Caja Rural), 0:03
• 4, Iñigo Ojeda (Baqué-Campos), s.t.
• 5, Antonio Pedrero (Lizarte), 0:06
• 6, Diego Rubio (Caja Rural), 0:14
• 7, Ibai Salas (Caja Rural), 0:31
• 8, Antonio Angulo (Baqué-Campos), s.t.
• 9, David Civera (Koplad), s.t.
• 10, Egoitz Fernández (Seguros Bilbao), s.t.

Another Basque, Antton Ibarguren of Telco'm Conor WRC-Unsain Rent, won Sunday's XXX Gran Premio Ayuntamiento de Camargo in Muriedas, Cántabria.

Photo: Pascal Baudron

Elorriaga powers to win in Zumaia opener

Decorated track rider Unai Elorriaga sprinted to win the first Torneo Euskaldun race of the year in Zumaia on Saturday.

The 32-year-old, formerly of Cafés Baqué and now with Cespa-Euskadi, bested Hostal La Torre's Julián Balaguer and Julio Alberto Amores of Caja Rural in the anticipated sprint finish at the end of 112,5 clicks over the traditional course consisting of eight loops of a circuit in Zumaia, Gipzukoa.

The speedy veteran thus succeeds Equipo Euskadi pro Unai Iparragirre in the history books.

Meanwhile, fellow Basque Ion Pardo, riding for French outfit Entente Sud Gascogne, won today's Tour du Pays d'Aigre.

Results (full results here):

• 1, Unai Elorriaga (Cespa Euskadi/Eustrak), 2:40:22
• 2, Julián Balaguer (Hostal La Torre), s.t.
• 3, Julio Alberto Amores (Caja Rural), s.t.
• 4, Diego Rubio (Caja Rural), s.t.
• 5, Ángel Lorenz Sánchez (Ibaigane Opel), s.t.
• 75, Pablo Comins (Naturgas Energía), s.t.
• 76, Óscar González (Naturgas Energía), s.t.
• 80, Álvaro Trueba (Naturgas Energía), s.t.
• 85, Loïc Chetout (Naturgas Energía), s.t.
• 86, Francisco Javier Martín (Naturgas Energía), 0:37
• 89, Alain González (Naturgas Energía), 0:42
• 96, Noel Gil (Naturgas Energía), s.t.
• 105, Oier Sánchez (Naturgas Energía), 3:59
• 107, Alberto Barrón (Naturgas Energía), 4:35
• 108, Eder Sáez de Ócariz (Naturgas Energía), 5:18

Photo: Deia

Euskaltel set for the unknown

Next week will see Euskaltel enter completely unchartered territory: for the first time in their long history, the 'orange armada' will line up in a host of Belgian semi-classics with designs on more than just participating.

Igor González de Galdeano's boys, to be directed by new sports director Óscar Guerrero, will next weekend embark on a series of four one-day races in Belgium and feature a host of the foreigners that were signed in the off-season.

The team will compete at the Ronde van Drenthe (March 9), Dwars door Drenthe (March 10), Nokere-Koerse (March 13) and the Handzame Classic (March 15), the team's website reports.

Spearheading the team will be Russian speedster Alexandre Serebryakov (who'll make his Euskaltel bow), Andalucían recruit "JJ" Lobato and German veteran Steffen Radochla.

The races will also mark the 'comeback' of wonderkid Pello Bilbao, who's gotten his 2013 season delayed by a knee injury.

Full team:

• Jon Aberasturi
• Pello Bilbao
• Tarik Chaoufi
• Juan José Lobato
• Steffen Radochla
• Adrián Sáez
• Alexandre Serebryakov
• Pablo Urtasun

Photo: Euskaltel Euskadi

Zumaia and Ereño on the horizon

The Fundación Euskadi's sub-23 team Naturgas Energía will look to build on their encouraging start to the domestic season in Zumaia and Ereño this weekend.

Imanol Estévez and Loïc Chetout made sure Ion Lazkano's charges got their Copa de España campaign off to an impressive start in Don Benito last week with third and fifth place respectively, and will on on Saturday and Sunday line up for the first races in the Torneo Euskaldun and Trofeo Lehendakari race series, writes www.fundacioneuskadi.com.

For the Euskaldun-race in Zumaia, the following riders will take part:

Loïc Chetout, Alain González, Pablo Comins, Álvaro Trueba, Oier Sánchez, Francisco Javier Martín, Noel Gil, Alain Santamaría, Alberto Barrón, Óscar González, Aitor Morales and Eder Sáez de Ocariz.

For the Lehendakari-race in Zumaia (open only to riders below 23), the following riders will take part:

Loïc Chetout, Alain González, Álvaro Trueba, Víctor Etxeberría (pictured above), Pablo Comins, Imanol Estévez, Óscar González, Eder Sáez de Ocariz, Alain Santamaría, Francisco Javier Martín, Oier Sánchez and Noel Gil.

Photo: Pascal Baudron