Tour de France 2013: The Teams 3 - Blanco (soon to be Belkin)

The new livery

As much as waiting for the names of the team for Blanco with their new title sponsor coming in for the Tour there is still anticipation about the jersey that these nine will race in when they get to Corsica. For now though here are the names of the nine that will start Belkin's first race.

Bauke Mollema the Dutch 26 year old will be riding in his third Tour, though he failed to finish last year. He is however a promising Grand Tour rider, his debut in the 2010 Giro saw him come 12th, in 2011 he was 4th in the Vuelta picking up the points classification for good measure with a day in the leaders jersey and others in the white combination classification jersey on the way. He heads into this year's Tour off a 2nd place finish in the Tour du Suisse and 4th in the Critérium International. His team are cagey about their expectations for him, but seem to be expecting a top ten finish of some form or other.

Robert Gesink will be charged with marshalling his Dutch compatriot through the mountains. With four top ten Grand Tour finishes himself (Tour 2010, Vuelta 2008, 2009, 2012) he is more that capable of doing such a role or stepping up should something happen to Mollema. He was one of those affected by the cold weather on this year's Giro and withdrew along with other top names after seeming to underperform, though he was suffering from a chest infection.

Lars Boom as well as being the Dutch senior mens cyclo cross champion for the last six years he is also accomplished on the roads*. Indeed he won both the national time trial and road race championships in 2008, he was second in both last year. This year he has already been first in the Ster ZLM Toer earlier this month, with a stage win on day 4. In 2012 he was 6th in Paris-Roubaix using those cyclo-cross skills to good use over the pavé of the 'Hell of the North'. He will be taking part in his fifth Grand Tour having completed the Vuelta in 2009 and 2012, the Tour in 2010. But he crashed out on stage 13 to Lourdes the last time he lined up in Le Tour in 2011.

Laurens ten Dam is a hard man as his continuation in the 2011 Tour after going wide on a bend on stage 15 unto the grass verge and then flipping over his handlebars for a face plant showed. His 2012 Tour, his fourth was less eventful, though his highlight of the year would have been his 8th place finish in the Vuelta.  He is another Dutchman who can climb ably assisting his team leader, but as with Gesink should something unfortunate befall Mollema, it will be a matter of this of the two of them is better placed to take over the leadership of the team.

Tom Leezer will be experiencing the Tour for the first time, though he did complete the 2009 Vuelta but pulled out of the 2012 Giro in his only other Grand Tour appearances. In that Vuelta appearance he did lead the King of Mountrains for two days at the start of the race but he is here as a domestique to take on the role as a supporter to his more fancied team mates.

Lars Petter Nordhaug the Norwegian joined the team this year from Sky and this will be his first appearance in the Tour having appeared in both the other Grand Tours, completing the 2011 Giro, but only managing 7 stages of the 2010 Vuelta. He's another rider who has come from another discipline in this case mountain biking. His biggest win to date was in last year's Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal.

Bram Tankink will act as the road captain for this team. The 34 year old Dutch rider has made a career out of being a team rider with only the odd success such the opening stage of the 2005 Deutschland Tour or smaller one day criterium races. This will however be his 9th Grand Tour, his best result being 35th in the 2011 Giro. This will be his sixth time on the roads around France and he has only failed to arrive in Paris once.

Sep Vanmarcke was second in this year's Paris-Roubaix the only person able to keep up with Fabian Cancellera only to lose out in the velodrome to a 'sprint' finish. This was an amazing performance considering how soon after a crash injured the Belgian's knee in Tirreno-Adriatico. Last year he won the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad when he went on the attack not once but twice. He is a classics man but will be used to support the team, though may be given freedom on a day that suits his style to go on the attack.

Finally Maarten Wynarts the second Belgian on this squad. He has shown that he likes to go on the attack. In 2010 he was awarded the compative prize for doing just that on the first stage, going in the first km and not being captured until the last 10. This will be his fifth Grand Tour start and the third in the Tour.

Blanco Belkin will be looking to make an impact in this first Tour under their new sponsor. They may well send Wynarts or Vanmarcke off up the road on the second or third stage while the race is still in Corsica in the hope of catching the peleton napping. But there is no room for Mark Renshaw to they will be not have a man in the mix contesting the bunch sprints.

* Boom has actually been national cyclo-cross champion in his age grouping every year since 2001.

Giro d'Italia stage 15 (your guess is as good as mine)

Yesterday the Giro returned to the high mountains, but the weather was so bad with snow falling at the finish, freezing fog and heavy rain that there was very little to see on the peaks. TV coverage was next to non-existent so to try and tell you who attacked when and where is a hard task. Altough the reason we didn't see them climb Sestriere was because that ascent was removed for safety reasons.

However, what is known is that Luca Paolini (KAT), Sonny Colbrelli (BAR) and Daniele Pietropolli (LAM) were up the road before the last climb. But at some point on the climb of the Jafferau Franco Pellizotti (AND) went after them being joined by Segio Henao (SKY) and Diego Rosa (AND). However, by the time the mists cleared and we could see what was going on again Mauro Santambrogio (VIN) was at the front of the race followed by Vincenzo Nibali (AST). The Vini Fantini rider took line honours from Nibali, next through the murk was Carlos Betancur (ALM) 9 seconds later, some 26 seconds after the leader was Sammy Sanchez (EUS) 4 seconds ahead of Rigoberto Uran (SKY) who in turn was three seconds of the group that contained Cadel Evans (BMC), Domenico Pozzovivo (ALM) and Robert Kiserlovski (RLT).

Michele Scarponi (LAM) was 1'28" down but Robert Gesink who had also been in the top five at the start of the day was paced over the line by three of his Blanco team mates some 4'16" down. At the start of the day Britian's Robert Miller has abandoned. Further down the race the red jersey of Mark Cavendish was escorted by six of his Omega Pharma - Quickstep team mates over the line 22'31" down inside the cut off point.

So Nibali extended his lead over his rivals:

1. Nibali 57:20:52"
2. Evans +1:26"
3. Uran +2:46"
4. Santambrogio +2:47"
5. Scarponi

Today's stage was meant to pay tribute to the 100th edition of the Tour de France with the iconic finish on the Col du Galibier. But it was announced last night that the weather has mean that will not be happening. The last 4.25km have been removed from the end of the stage fnishing at the monument to Marco Pantani rather than the summit.

There was also talk yesterday that the Col du Mont Cenis, the pass that some consider to be the way that Hannibal traversed and what would have been the entry into France would be circumnavigated, but at the time of writing after work overnight to clear it of snow it is still on the itinerary.

Giro d'Italia Stage 14 Cervere - Bardonnechia

I may have mentioned that yesterday's stage may not have been ideal for the sprinters. I may have said that Cavendish had a challenge if he was to claim his 4th stage of this Giro. But then after the stage the Manx Missile himself said:

"Today was a bit of a bonus but I'm so tired and I don't know how I'm going to get into the mountains. I had to go 350m out after that hard day and I'm on my knees. I didn't want to go for the sprint for today but the call came from the team so I had to go for it. Once again the team did brilliantly and I had to finish it for them."

So there you have it, Cavendish struggled over the hills and won the stage in the red jersey which he reclaimed yesterday. Considering only 87 finished on the same time and 57 of the 187 left finished 16'32" after Cavendish it really was a day that for Cav his Omega Pharma-Quickstep who sat around him to nurse him over the hills did a sterling job.

It was also the day that saw the departure of two Grand Tour Champions, both Tour de France Champion Bradley Wiggins and defending Giro Champion Ryder Hesjedal didn't take the start. Both have been under the weather (probably literally as it has been poor this Giro) and have withdrawn on medical advice. The French national champion who had finished second to Cavendish yesterday had announced that he was quitting last night, probably so he can give his best to the tour whose colours he has been wearing this year.

All those retirements don't affect the GC much as Wiggins had dropped to 13th yesterday and Hesjedal was a lot worse. But it means that for Sky Rigoberto Uran who is in third 2'04" will look for another chance to attack like he did on Tuesday.

Today might be just such a chance, though of course now he is the marked rider in Sky and there is no alternative.

But there isn't very much flat land in the stage. The first climb is a long haul, but only a category 2 up to Sestriere. It is 16.25km climbing a total of 617 metres of altitude. It has a sharp descent but Nabili and Evans will have a harder time shifting Uran off their wheel thah they had with Wiggins. However there will be a selection by the time they get to Sestriere, one thing I can predict is that Cavendish will not even by then be in with a chance of adding to his stage wins.

The final climb though is where the GC could still be shaken up today. In only 7.25km they climb 646 metres in altitude. There is a severe 14% section near the foot of the climb, but there isn't really much forgiving territory as they head up to the arrivo of today. The last km if nobody has been successful in making a move those far ramps up even more. Uran is going to be going after time, Nibali will probably also want a bigger cushion over Evans. As for the Australian he hasn't really launched an attack on his own yet in the Giro, at some point he may have to, but will it be today.

Outside the top three you can't rule out Robert Gesink or Michele Scarponi who are 8 and 9 seconds further back than Uran. Any of the top five could still win this tour and it all depends on where and when they attack and who, if anyone can match them. With so many tough mountains still to come this race is not over and  today and tomorrow are two tough days back to back. What happens today may well affect somebody in tomorrow's stage.

Giro d'Italia Stage 9 San Sepolcro - Firenze

Yesterday the individual time trial stage was hillier than most and had a monster of a climb to the finish. This may well have been why it was those who are climbers didn't suffer so much and some of the time trial specialists didn't make as big an impression as they may have hoped on a 58.4km stage.

Dowsett during yesterday's stage

That being said there was a British winner, but not the one many were talking about, even though he was wearing the national champion's jersey Alex Dowsett was so far down the GC that he had completed the course before the TV coverage kicked in.but as rider after rider came after him his time was looking more and more secure.

His compatriot Bradley Wiggins was starting 23 from the end and therefore instead of the usual 3 minute intervals he was only 1 minute down on the person in front, so he was capturing people on a regular basis during his run. He even disgarded his new Pinarello Bolide bike for his trusted Graal, on which he won Olympic gold. He was well down at the first intermediate time, but at the end he was only 10 seconds down on Dowsett. However, behind him some of the GC contenders had gone through the split faster than Wiggins, but worryingly Vincenzo Nibali who is not a traditional time trialist.

But as each of the main challengers reached the line time was being clawed back by Wiggins. Franco Pellizotti (AND) who had 30 seconds advantage lost over 4 minutes. Michele Scarponi (LAM) with 35 seconds, lost 43 to still be in touch if behind. Samuel Sanchez (EUS) a further 5 seconds ahead was 3 minutes 7 seconds slower than Wiggins.

Robert Gesink of Blanco had been 1'19" ahead of Wiggins, he lost all but one second of that, to take the virtual Maglia Rosa on the line off Wiggins, with just 8 more men to finish. But next up was Cadel Evans (BMC) who had been ahead of Wiggins at the intermediate and is a decent time trialist and climber. He crossed the line only 29 seconds down on Wiggins on the day but enough to remain 47 seconds in front of the man who succeeded him as Tour de France Champion. Ryder Hesjedal (GRS) was third from the end but he lost 2'13" on Wiggins. Vincenzo Nibali (AST) was next up and rode and very impressive time, for him, losing only 11 seconds to Wiggins, but enough to climb into the Maglia Rosa as Movistar's Beñat Intxausti who was the surprise leader after the carnage on stage 7 was just over 4 minutes slower than his team mate Dowsett who was winning his first Grand Tour stage.

The GC now after the first major shake up looks like this:

1 Nibali 29:46:57
2. Evans +29
3. Gesink +1:15
4. Wiggins +1:16
5. Scarponi +1:24
6. Hesjedal +2:04
7. Sergio Henao (SKY) +2:11
8. Santambrogio (VIN) +2:43
9. Niemiec (LAM) +2:44
10. Uran (SKY) + 2:49

Today's stage is the first in which the riders will not see the sea at any point of their route. It also contains the first first category climb of the tour the Vallombrosa, coming about the middle of the stage immediately at the ascent and descent of the category 2 Passa Dello Consuma. There remains a category 3 and 4 climb on the run into Firenze, but this is the harderst medium mountain stage so far this Giro.

After the shake up yesterday today may be too early for some to try and make time back, tomorrow is a rest day with the first high mountains coming on Tuesday. So expect control of the race not to let anyone who may have slipped a few minutes back to make up too much time, but not too much attacking, especially as there are still 54km from the summit of Vallombrosa to the end of the stage. It is just possible that another break away might prove successful today as the big guys are waiting and planning for Tuesday.