Paris-Nice 4 : Gorka 3rd in General

The riders got the first decisive stage in this years Paris-Nice and it sure made some big changes in the general rank. Early in the race there was a break with L'Hottelerie, McGee and Carlström but McGee wasn't able to stay with the two others on the last climb so the two battled it out for the victory, since the peloton let them go. Carlström beat L'Hottelerie in a sprint. In the peloton there were some breaks. First to finish was a groupe of 13, with among them Igor Anton and Gorka Verdugo. Anton showed some great things on the last climb, first letting go the pack and then coming back and attacking. But it was Gorka who stole the show because he finished 10th and with this good result he became 3rd in the general rank !

Results
1 Kjell Carlström (Fin) Liquigas 4.39.14 (35.56 km/h)
2 Clément L'Hottelerie (Fra) Skil-Shimano ST
3 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole +0.43
...
10. Gorka Verdugo +0:43
12. Igor Anton +0:43
60. Aitor Hernandez +17:06
61. Markel Irizar +17:06
66. Haimar Zubeldia +17:06
74. Dioni Galparsoro +17:06
100. Lander Aperribai +19:36

General Rank
1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 12.37.01
2 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne +0.03
3 Gorka Verdugo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi +0.08
...
15. Igor Anton +2:45
62. Haimar Zubeldia +20:28
71. Dioni Galparsoro +22:18
73. Markel Irizar +23:09
125. Lander Aperribai +33:48
148. Aitor Hernandez +49:28

Paris-Nice 3 : Beñat out

It was another stage with terrible weather conditions in Paris-Nice. Only this time the Euskaltel riders didn't get out of it without accident. In a big crash almost 50km before the end Beñat and Dioni fell. Dioni could get back up and finish the stage but Beñat had to quit with several stitches in his face. Luckily he's fine now. Once again the peleton split in two groups but only Anton and Verdugo managed to stay in the first one. Anton even escaped on the last climb, taking 3 points for the mountains classification, but he got reeled back in. In the descent a groupe of four was formed with Hushovd, Steegmans, Chavanel and Albasini but Steegmans was too strong for them in the sprint and this way he got his second victory in this Paris-Nice. First Euskaltel rider was Anton on a 34th place.

Results
1 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick Step 5.29.47 (36.57 km/h)
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole ST
3 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis ST
...
34. Igor Anton +0:03
45. Gorka Verdugo +0:03
53. Haimar Zubeldia +1:15
83. Dioni Galparsoro +2:56
94. Markel Irizar +4:25
109. Lander Aperribai +8:01
152. Aitor Hernandez +26:20

Tirreno & San Remo line-up

The sprinters will load their guns for the festivals the next week in the Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo. Of course Euskaltel will send a team too and with Aitor Galdos as the leader, they will certainly have a chance of winning something. The others are Javier Aramendia, Iñigo Landaluze, Antton Luengo, Juan Jose Oroz, Alan Perez, Ruben Perez and once again in the Orange Jersey : Egoi Martinez !

Paris-Nice 2 : Gorka 17th

The first stage of Paris-Nice was shortened to 93 kilometres due to the bad weather and rain. On the first and only climb of then day Dioni Galparsoro took the 4 mountain classification points and will ride in the polka dot jersey tomorrow. Three escapers escaped : Velits, Terpstra and Eisel but the peleton was split due to the heavy wind. The first peloton chased the three escapers down and with the 32 of them they sprinted for the victory. Gert Steegmans won impressively before Pineau and Hushovd. Only Gorka Verdugo managed to get in that groupe and became 17th. Haimar, Dioni, Igor, Markel and Beñat were all in the second groupe, 2:37 down and we could see that they did the chasing work in that groupe. In the general rank Gorka is 17th and Haimar 70th but of course everything will be decided on the Mont Ventoux.

Results
1 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick Step 2.21.29
2 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom +0.02
3 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole +0.02
...
17. Gorka Verdugo +0:02
40. Haimar Zubeldia +2:37
44. Dionisio Galparsoro +2:37
50. Igor Anton +2:37
55. Markel Irizar +2:37
77. Beñat Albizuri +2:48
99. Lander Aperribai +6:32
107. Aitor Hernandez +6:32

General Rank
1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 2.26.55
2 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick Step +0.06
3 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom +0.12
...
17. Gorka Verdugo +0:27
40. Markel Irizar +2:43
58. Igor Anton +3:04
70. Haimar Zubeldia +3:12
74. Dionisio Galparsoro +3:21
75. Beñat Albizuri +3:37
122. Aitor Hernandez +7:07
130. Lander Aperribai +7:16

Paris-Nice 1 : Markel Irizar 2nd in prologue !!

Markel Irizar rode the time trial of his life in the 4.6 kilometre long prologue of Paris-Nice. Ok he was a little bit helped by the rain that started after the first 40 riders, but let's just forget that :D. He was first for a very long time but at the end Thor Hushovd swept the time from Markel off the board. Haimar Zubeldia, the Euskaltel leader, disappointed with an 114th place, 0:33 down.

Results
1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 5.28
2 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi +0.04
3 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner +0.05
...
37. Gorka Verdugo +0:18
72. Igor Anton +0:27
110. Aitor Hernandez +0:33
114. Haimar Zubeldia +0:33
141. Lander Aperribay +0:42
142. Dionisio Galparsoro +0:42
147. Beñat Albizuri +0:47

Murcia 5 :Koldo WINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Words fail to say what a great performance Euskaltel and Koldo Fernandez did in the last stage of the Vuelta a Murcia. For the first time there was an actual Euskaltel-train (like the ones for Petacchi and Boonen) and Koldo managed to finish it in an impressive way ! So the first victory of the season is in, more to come I would say. With Samuel 7th, Iñaki 15th, Mikel 19th and Ivan 20th Euskaltel had five riders in the top 20 and won of course the team classification. Koldo also won the sprint classification, 4 points ahead of Brown.

Results
1 Koldo Fernández (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 3.05.50 (43.56 km/h)
2 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank ST
3 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team CSC ST
...
7. Samuel Sanchez ST
15. Iñaki Isasi ST
19. Mikel Astarloza ST
20. Ivan Velasco ST
70. Jon Bru +0:14
82. Jorge Azanza +6:15
85. Josu Agirre +6:15

General Rank
1 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 16.29.01
2 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua Sapone - Caffe Mokambo +0.02
3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana +0.06
...
18. Mikel Astarloza +2:47
25. Iñaki Isasi +6:02
27. Samuel Sanchez +6:50
53. Jorge Azanza +20:57
62. Ivan Velasco +24:25
69. Koldo Fernandez +25:33
70. Jon Bru +25:39
77. Josu Agirre +31:22

Murcia 4 : Samuel 11th

In the fourth race of the Vuelta a Murcia Samuel Sanchez has shown that he's in good shape and that his preparations for the Tour de France are going well. In todays hilly time trial of 23 kilometres he became 11th, 48 seconds down on Alejandro Valverde. Mikel Astarloza disappointed a bit because he came in 28th with 1:43 down. In general Euskaltel is improving in the time trials because there was no Euskaltel rider with the last ten :)

Results

1 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 33.32 (41.33 km/h)
2 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua Sapone - Caffe Mokambo +0.02
3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana +0.06
...
11. Samuel Sanchez +0:48
28. Mikel Astarloza +1:43
31. Iñaki Isasi +1:45
50. Jorge Azanza +2:33
51. Josu Agirre +2:44
58. Ivan Velasco +3:04
73. Jon Bru +4:04
80. Koldo Fernandez +4:12

Strong team in Paris-Nice

Euskaltel will (probably) send a really strong team to Paris-Nice 2008. The leader of the squad will be Haimar Zubeldia, who made this race one of his pre-tour goals. He will be helped by Igor Anton, Gorka Verdugo, Aitor Hernandez, Dioni Galparsoro, Markel Irizar, Lander Aperribay and Beñat Albizuri. The team is clearly built around Haimar so there's no real sprinter, but I think Beñay might suprise us seeing his form in the past weeks.

Murcia 3 : Koldo once again 2nd

Koldo Fernandez did a great job in the third stage of the Vuelta a Murcia. For the third time this season he became second in a sprint. This time he was beaten by Juan Jose Heado but he kept Graeme Brown behind him. The victory will hopefully his very soon. Jon Bru took some points for the mountains jersey. Iñaki Isasi became good 12th in the sprint. Tomorrow there will be the first time trial for Euskaltel this season, hopefully we will get to see some improvement !

Results
1 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team CSC 3.31.08 (41.49 km/h)
2 Koldo Fernández (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi ST
3 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank ST
...
12. Iñaki Isasi ST
34. Jorge Azanza ST
37. Jon Bru ST
46. Mikel Astarloza ST
52. Ivan Velasco ST
83. Samuel Sanchez ST
86. Josu Agirre +1:02

Murcia 2 : Euskaltel disappointing

After some protest from the riders, the judges decided that the second race of the Vuelta a Murcia should continue. It was terrible weather and on the last climb there was even snow. Clearly not something for Euskaltel as they weren't able to place themselves good in the stage results. Mikel was the first one on a 19th place, probably already out for the overall victory. Azanza, Bru and Astarloza tried to break away on the mountains though, but it didn't work out.

Tomorrow there will be another sprint stage, so hopefully Koldo can fully recover from this.

Results
1 José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Spa) Astana 4.18.14
2 Aitor Perez Arrieta (Spa) Extremadura ST
3Vasili Kiryienka (Blr) Tinkoff Credit Systems +0.02
...
19. Mikel Astarloza +1.10
29. Iñaki Isasi +4.23
34. Samuel Sanchez +6.08
51. Jorge Azanza +12.15
74. Jon Bru +21.27
76. Ivan Velasco +21.27
80. Josu Agirre +21.27
85. Koldo Fernandez +21.27

Murcia 1 : Koldo 2th !!

Euskaltel has had a great first day in the Vuelta a Murcia. It was a usual sprint stage with a break of two that got reeled in 3 kilometres before the finish line. It was Rabobank's Graeme Brown who took the victory, but Euskaltel's Koldo Fernandez just missed it with a second spot ! Of course a great performance from him and he shows that he's in good shape, so we might get our first victory this week. Also Iñaki Isasi got a top 20 spot, probably because he helped Koldo in the sprint, he became 16th.

Results
1 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 5.00.11 (39.44 km/h)
2 Koldo Fernández (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
3 Aitor Perez Arrieta (Spa) Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo
...
16. Iñaki Isasi ST
24. Mikel Astarloza ST
25. Jon Bru ST
38. Jorge Azanza ST
44. Ivan Velasco ST
73. Samuel Sanchez ST
74. Josu Agirre ST

Clasica de Almeria : Koldo 4th

Today the Clasica de Almeria was held and of course Euskaltel was present. It was a normal race with an early breakaway but none of the Euskaltel riders were in it. Orbea did the chase work, maybe for Euskaltel, and they got the escapers reeled back in. In the sprint it was Juan Jose Haedo who won before Oscar Freire and Graeme Brown. For Euskaltel Koldo Fernandez came greatly fourth. It seems like he's in shape for the next races !

Results
1 Juan Jose Haedo (Arg) Team CSC 4.22.46 (42.905 km/h)
2 Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank
3 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
...
4. Koldo Fernandez
50.Mikel Astarloza
51. Jorge Azanza
63. Samuel Sanchez
79. Jon Bru +0:14
85. Iñaki Isasi +0:14
98. Josu Agirre +1:38
101. Ivan Velasco +3:03

Valenciana 5 : Ruben 5th, Gorka 5th in General

The last stage of the Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana was one for the sprinters and it seems like Ruben Perez is now one of them because he placed himself 5th after the big names Petacchi, Zabel, Napolitano and Chicchi. Also Beñat Albizuri was active today. He got into the good break but with 4 kilometres to go the peloton chased them down. Gorka maintained his good position in the general rank, he became 5th.

I think we have got a good week from Euskaltel with a really good Gorka and some strong attacks. Maybe one small low point, I had expected a bit more from Haimar but he probably saves his good condition up for something bigger.

Results
1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Team Milram 3.12.54 (46,470 km/h)
2 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre ST
3 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas ST
...
5. Ruben Perez ST
30. Gorka Verdugo ST
39. Alan Perez ST
44. Markel Irizar ST
52. Haimar Zubeldia ST
53. Juan Jose Oroz ST
85. Andoni Lafuente ST
124. Beñat Albizuru +1:07

General Rank
1 Rubén Plaza (Spa) Benfica 19.54.49
2 Manuel Váquez (Spa) Contentpolis - Murcia +0.05
3 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Bouygues Telecom +0.21
...
5. Gorka Verdugo +0:31
28. Haimar Zubeldia +2:54
31. Ruben Perez +4:27
45. Markel Irizar +13:04
65. Ruben Perez +24:51
83. Alan Perez +30:51
120. Andoni Lafuente +48:12
125. Beñat Albizuri +50:40

Line-Up Almeria & Murcia

Euskaltel will send a strong teams to the next two races : Almeria and Murcia. The team will consist of Sanchez, Astarloza, Bru, Fernandez, Isasi, Agirre and Velasco. A strong team and with Astarloza's shape we can expect something.

Valenciana 4 : Gorka 11th, 5th in General

It was once again Gorka Verdugo who was the best Euskaltel rider in the 4th stage of the Tour of Valenciana. In the sprint, won by Mirco Lorenzetto, he placed himself good on an 11th place and now he's 5th in the general rank. Also Juan Jose Oroz has been active. He was in one of the first breaks but together with Contador and Cunego that break didn't have a chance.

Results
1 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Lampre 4.15.00 (41.318 km/h)
2 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Bouygues Telecom ST
3 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas ST
...
11. Gorka Verdugo ST
32. Ruben Perez +0:14
33. Markel Irizar +0:14
36. Haimar Zubeldia +0:14
79. Beñat Albizuri +1:00
88. Juan Jose Oroz +1:14
115. Alan Perez +2:34
116. Andoni Lafuente +2:54