Crono no-show in Tour of the Med

Euskaltel continued their rather dismal start to the season by failing to place a rider inside the top 40 in today's demanding individual time trial in the Tour Méditerranéen.

The 24km race against the clock was, what with it's 2,5km beast of a climb at the end, suited to the orange featherweights on show - on paper. As it turned out, though, Mikel Nieve, Romain Sicard, Ion Izagirre et al. all failed to shine, with the latter being the best on the day in 47th place.

The youngest of the Izagirres ended up a full 2:19 in arrears on victor Lars Boom, with Sicard just behind and Nieve a full four minutes down.

Results:

• (1, Lars Boom (Blanco), 32:25)
• 47, Ion Izagirre, 2:19
• 53, Romain Sicard, 2:28
• 67, Pablo Urtasun, 2:42
• 70, Rubén Pérez, 2:46
• 82, Jorge Azanza, 2:59
• 103, Juan José Lobato, 3:34
• 121, Mikel Nieve, 4:03
• 141, Garikoitz Bravo, 4:58

Photo: Deia