September 12/10 11:30 am - Montreal ProTour - UPDATES

Posted by Editoress on 09/12/10
 

It is a cool overcast day in Montral as we await the start of the 16 lap, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on the Mont Royal circuit.

 

Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Doimo) did not start today due to illness

 

Michael Barry arrived last night.  He was originally scheduled to ride but had to withdraw as he is still recovering from the 2 crashes late in the season.  He will be riding in the team car today - "For the first time in my career" he said

 

The Mayor of Montreal was the official starter and .... the race is on

 

Lap 2

At the end of lap 1 there were 2 riders : Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) and Miguel Minguez Ayala (Euskaltel-Euskadi) away with a small gap

 

As they headed up the climb they were joined by:  Miguel Minguez Ayala (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Alfredo Balloni (Lampre - Farnese Vini), Adam Hansen (Team HTC  - Columbia)

The peloton was at 32 sec

 

Lap 3

Starting the 3rd la the peloton was closing in.  The gap from the leaders to yhe peloton was just 15 sec

 

Up the climb 4 of the 5 managed to widen the gap but Balloni was dropped and caught

 

Lap 4   1:10 pm

The leaders have opened the gap to 1:42.  Peloton with Team Sky and RadioShack at the front are riding tempo

 

1:25 pm

There is now a group one rider Adam Hansen (Team HTC  - Columbia) attempting to bridge to the leaders and he is at 55 sec.  The peloton is at 1:47

 

1:40 pm  gap is 1:57

 

So far the rain has held off.  The wind has picked up quite a bit and the "weather guessers" are calling for rain later in the afternoon.

 

Lap 6

2:20 pm

The sun has come out!!!!

The lead group has dropped  Minguez Ayala (Euskaltel-Euskadi) as they crest the climb

 

Up the climb and Team Sky is at the front of the peloton doing the bulk of the chasing

 

Lap 7

The gap is now 2:56

 

Lap 9

3:15 pm

 

The leaders are now on lap 9 and there is no change.  The gap is 3:25 to the peloton

Lap times have slowed

 

Lap 1 was 17:06

Lap 2 - 18:12

Lap 3 - 17:52

 

Lap 9 - 19:25

By the end of the 9 lap the gap had dropped:  26 sec to the chase group and 45 sec to the peloton

 

Break caught before the end of the 10th Lap

 

Lap 11

 

An attack was luanched by Chris Horner (Team Radioshack) on the climb who was quickly joined by a group: Tiago Machado (Team Radioshack), Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre - Farnese Vini), Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Doimo), André Steensen (Team Saxo Bank)  Chris Anker Sorensen (Team Saxo Bank)

 

4:20 pm Lap 12 end and the gap is 55 sec

 

Garmin has gone to the front to increase the speed of the chasers

 

4:26 pm on the climb:  the gap was down to 40 sec.  Liquigas was chasing - not  too sure why, they have a rider in the break.

 

Lap 14

4:40 pm - 2 to go

 

Hesjedal is at the front of the peloton driving the pace.  Gap to the leaders is 12 sec

 

On the climb Horner, Sorenson and Gavazzi drop the other 2 but Cyril Gautier (BBOX Bouygues Telecom) attacked the peloton and has joined them

 

Lots of attacks from the pelton trying to bridge up

 

Sorenson has been dropped from the lead bunch

 

Over the top of the climb and Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Euskaltel-Euskadi) has jumped away and is chasing hard on the descent

 

Peloton is now down to ~ 40 riders

 

4:50 pm

Leaders -- Castroviejo at 14 sec, peloton at 22 sec

 

4:52 pm

Castroviejo has been caught by the peloton.

 

Garmin working hard at the front of the peloton

 

Wesley Sulzberger (FDJ) and André Steensen (Team Saxo Bank) are in between the leaders and the peloton

 

4:56 pm

Svein Tuft (Garmin) has taken over the workhorse role at the front of the pelton

 

1 to go

As they hit the line the peloton has the break in sight, less than 100 metres separates them

 

5pm  on the climb and they are caught

 

Levi Leipheimer (Team Radioshack) attacks and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) immediateley counters and goes clear.. Haimar Zubeldia  (Team Radioshack) is chasing

 

Over the top and Gesink is away and there is a group of ~ 6 or 8 chasing with Hesjedal, Boasan Hagan, Zubeldia, Peter Sagan , Monfort , Sanchez, and more with the pelton dropping back

 

The wind has come back up and hte clouds have moved back in.

 

5:08

They have Gesink in their sights.....

 

Sanchez at the front pulling with Sagan and Hesjedal on his wheel

 

The chase group is working well together, but are also busy wathcing each other.. it may be enough for Gesink

 

1 km to go and Gesink is still clear

 

Final

 

Unofficial

 

1  Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
2  Peter Sagan (Skv) Liquigas-Doimo
3  Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Transitions

 

 

 

 

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