Tour of California Wrapup

2008 Tour of California (California, USA)
February 17-24, 2.HC

Overall Winner: Levi Leipheimer (Astana)
Stage Winners:
Prologue - Fabian Cancellara (CSC)
Stage 1 - JJ Haedo (CSC)
Stage 2 - Tom Boonen (Quick.Step)
Stage 3 - Robert Gesink (Rabobank)
Stage 4 - Dominique Rollin (Toyota-United)
Stage 5 - Levi Leipheimer (Astana)
Stage 6 - Luciano Pagliarini (Saunier Duval-Scott)
Stage 7 - George Hincapie (High Road)
Notable Events/Controversies: Besides the Return of Cipo, Cavendish's DQ for holding on to the High Road team car for too long on Stage 6.
Good race for: Riders who like bad weather, especially torrential downpours for 7 hours straight.
Bad race for: Guys who came expecting to work on the tans they started in Qatar.
Pros: Only three field sprints and a very exciting last stage. More climbs and tougher conditions than most of the other early season races.
Cons: In a word: rain.
We'll Remember it for: The return of Super Mario Cipollini. Even though Cipo didn't win any stages, he was a factor in the sprints and seems to still have a good finishing kick despite being out of competition for more than two years. And we'll remember Rollin's win after 7 hours in pouring rain and wind.
What to change for 2009: More climbs, and a bona fide killer mountain stage. California has some huge mountains, USE THEM!
Overall rating: 8/10, even though the weather sucked big time for half the week, the racing was good and the last stage was some really good stuff. Rollin's long breakaway victory on stage 4 was class as well.

Tour Down Under Wrap-up

The 10th edition of the Tour Down Under finished up last week, and now I will inaugurate, if you will, a new feature of this blog: race wrap-ups. Here goes! :)

2008 Tour Down Under (South Australia)
January 20-27, ProTour

Winner: Andre Greipel (High Road)
Stage Winners: Greipel (2, 4, 5,6), Mark Renshaw (Credit Agricole; 1), Allan Davis (UniSA-Australia; 3)
Notable Events/Controversies: Elia Rigotto's (Milram) headbutt which took out Matt Hayman (Rabobank) on Stage 4.
Winners: Greipel, Team High Road.
Losers: Matt Hayman, Allan Davis, and Robbie McEwen, who was totally absent throughout.
Pros: Pretty fast racing, especially for January; good if you like sprinters.
Cons: Not once did a break win the day despite many valiant attacks, particularly by the French.
We'll Remember it for: The emergence of Andre Greipel, probably. And the Rigotto headbutt.
What to change for 2009: MORE HILLS! Even the Willunga Hill didn't stop the sprinters from takind out every stage of the TDU.
Overall rating: 7/10, despite the formulaic sprint finishes, it wasn't bad racing for January. The final stage had some tension in it as well, which was good for the race.


I'll do one for the Tour of Qatar and maybe the 'Cross Worlds as well.

2008 Teams Preview Part 7: Serramenti PVC through Tinkoff Credit Systems

In this final installment, I will discuss the last of the Pro Continental teams, starting with Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni and finishing up with Tinkoff Credit Systems.

Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli
Venezulan/Italian
Team Manager: Antonio Castano
Key Riders: Gilberto Simoni, twice winner of the Giro d'Italia, five times a podium finisher and eight times a stage winner; Alessandro Bertolini, winner of the 2006-7 UCI Europe Tour and six races last year.
Depth: 3/10, a decent squad but not really one strong enough to support Gibo' in the Giro. If he gets the maglia rosa, it will be tough for them to give him the level of protection he has had in the past at Saeco, Lampre, and Saunier Duval.
Expectations: A good Giro and wins in Italian Pro Continental races.

L.P.R. Brakes
Swiss
Team Manager: Davide Boifava
Key Riders: Danilo Di Luca, winner of last year's Giro, 2005 ProTour Champion, six times a Giro stage winner, winner of the Giro di Lombardia, Fleche Wallone, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and the Amstel Gold Race; Paolo Salvodelli, winner of the 2002 and 2005 Giros, four stage wins, 2nd in 1999 and 5th in 2006, nicknamed "Il Falco" for his descending ability.
Depth: 3/10, outside of Di Luca and Salvodelli, the don't have any riders of note. However, its important to remember that "Il Falco" won the '05 Giro with very little team support.
Expectations: High placings in the Giro and a strong showing by Di Luca in the Ardennes Classics.

Skil-Shimano
Dutch
Team Manager: Arend Scheppink
Key Riders: Nobody really.
Depth: 2/10, a squad of mediocre Dutch, Japanese and Chinese riders who can't cut it in the ProTour.
Expectations: Miscellaneous wins and maybe a wild card invite to the Tour de Suisse or Deutschland Tour.

Slipstream-Chipotle
American
Team Manager: Jonathan Vaughters
Key Riders: Magnus Backstedt, Paris-Roubaix winner and Tour stage winner; Tom Danielson, twice a top-10 finisher in the Vuelta with a stage in 2006, also winner of the 2005 Tour de Georgia; David Millar, who has won three stages in the Tour, two stages of the Vuelta, and is the current British Road and Time Trial Champion; David Zabriske, winner of stages in all three Grand Tours, US Time Trial Champion and second in the 2006 World Tim Trial Championships behind Fabian Cancellara.
Depth: 5/10, a good team with a lot of diversity in terms of nationality and talent.
Expectations: Strong showings in the Giro and Tour, as well as good performances in the Tours of California, Georgia, and Missouri.

Team Volksbank
Austrian
Team Manager: Thomas Kofler
Key Riders: None.
Depth: 0/10. Don't expect to see these guys much this year at all.
Expectations: Ride the Tour de Suisse or Tour of Austria.


Tinkoff Credit Systems
Italian
Team Manager: Omar Piscina
Key Riders: Mikhail Ignatiev, their second most prolific winner last year with five wins; Alberto Loddo, who won 8 races last year including 5 stages of the Tour de Langkawi.
Depth: 4/10, one of the better Pro Continental teams without question.
Expectations: Good performances in small stage races.





That's it for the Team Previews. A Review of the Tour Down Under and Tour of Qatar will be up soon.