Giro 19 : Velasco 38th

It was the last 'real' stage in the Giro d'Italia edition 2008 and once again we got to see some spectacle. On the highest mountain in this Giro, the Gavia, only three riders from the early break remained. This were Baliani, Colom and Perez Guapio. On the Mortirolo Colom let the two guys from CSF alone but unlike other stages, this time the favourites wanted to win themselves. In the group of favourites it was Sella that attacked for his third victory and once again the others let him go. Simoni and Rodriguez tried to get him back but then finished on more than a minute. In the group of favourites it was Di Luca who couldn't follow and this costed him a lot of time, he fell back to th place in the general rank.

On Euskaltel's side it was quite quiet but Ivan Velasco rode a good 38th place. Tomorrow we get the last race, a time-trial and probably Contador will take the Maglia Rosa home to Spain.

Results
1 Emanuele Sella (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 6.52.45 (33.725 km/h)
2 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Serramenti PVC Giocattoli 1.04
3 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 1.22
...
38. Ivan Velasco +15:17
70. Markel Irizar +35:20
98. Josu Agirre +37:19
100. Alan Perez +37:19

Dauphine Libere Line-up

The same day as the Euskaltel Bizikleta ends, the Dauphine Libere will start and Euskaltel sends a great time with lots of potential. The leaders will probably be Haimar Zubeldia, Mikel Astarloza and Samuel Sanchez, so definitely a chance of a victory ! Ruben & Alan Perez, Beñat Albizuri, Juan Jose Oroz ad Iñaki Isasi can try something in an attack or in a sprint, although the competition will be tough there.

Euskal Bizikleta line-up

The 6th of June one of the most important races in the Basque Country will be held, the Euskaltel Bizikleta. Euskaltel will send a good team with potential stage winners like Koldo Fernandez, Igor Anton and Amets Txurruka. The rest of the team will consist of Antton Luengo, Jorge Azanza, Aitor Hernandez, Andoni Lafuente and Egoi Martinez and of course I wish them all the best too ! Aupa (and win something please !!!)

Giro 18 : Dioni out :(

It was another bad day for Euskaltel. Today Dioni Galparsoro had to abondon the race because he had an intense pain in the sinews. He was very sad about leaving the Giro two days before the end but he had no other choice. There was a small ray of sun today, with the 35th place of Ivan. With this place he left good climbers like Leipheimer, Rodriguez, Petrov and Bosisio behind.

In the race there were seven riders that coloured the race from the beginning, among them Siutsou, Efimkin and Sorensen. But it was Kyrienka who was the strongest and left them all behind. He stayed away from the group of favourites and won with 4 minutes of advantage. Between the favourites it was Di Luca that took a lot of time back with a good attack of his team and is now closing the gap with Contador. Only 21 seconds are left between them. Also Riccardo Ricco took some time back and has only 4 seconds left to close. This will surely give an exciting last mountains stage saturday and time trial sunday.

Results
1 Vasili Kiryienka (Blr) Tinkoff Credit Systems 6.37.32 (35.92 km/h)
2 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes 4.36
3 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Quick Step 4.43
...
35. Ivan Velasco +25:05
85. Alan Perez +36:53
93. Markel Irizar +36:53
133. Josu Agirre +36:53
DNF Dionisio Galparsoro

General Rank
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 82.29.10
2 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 0.04
3 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes 0.21
...
60. Ivan Velasco +1:30:49
70. Alan Perez +1:49:19
74. Markel Irizar +1:55:44
138. Josu Agirre +3:29:11

Giro 18 : Alan in break & 8th

It was the last stage for the attackers in the Giro d'Italia 2008 and you could clearly see this today. After 8 kilometres a group of 13 left with among them Bettini, Bennati, Visconti, Rodriguez, Voigt and our Alan Perez. Together they got a free pass to the finish from the peloton and Jens Voigt took advantage of this by attacking with 36 kilometres to go. Nocentini, Bosisio and Visconti tried to close the gap but in the last kilometres he only got a bigger advantage. Jens Voigt of course won the stage, 1 minute before Visconti and Nocentini. Alan Perez finished in the third group on a good 8th place.

Results
1 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 3.22.46 (43.5 km/h)
2 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Quick Step 1.07
3 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
...
8. Alan Perez +2:04
82. Markel Irizar +7:51
115. Ivan Velasco +10:54
117. Dionisio Galparsoro +10:54
140. Josu Agirre +12:35

Giro 17 : It's oh so quiet

It was another quiet day for Euskaltel in todays giro stage. It was a typical sprint stage. There was an early break with Gavazzi, Huguet and Ignatiev. Ignatiev tried it on his own at 24 kilometres to go but with 4 kilometres to go he was reeled back in the peloton. It became a sprint where High Road was absolutely the strongest team. Andre Greipel lead in the sprint but the pace was so high that Cavendish gave him the victory in stead of taking it himself. Benatti became third, first Euskaltel was Alan Perez on place 30.

Results
1 André Greipel (Ger) Team High Road 3.27.05 (42.301 km/h)
2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road
3 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas
...
30. Alan Perez +0:04
63. Markel Irizar +0:04
94. Ivan Velasco +0:04
114. Dioni Galparsoro +0:04
131. Josu Agirre +0:04

ProTour updates

The UCI has launched the idea to reduce the 18 ProTour teams now, to 14 next year. This way the organisers of the Tour, Giro and Vuelta will be able to give out more wildcards to smaller teams. Only 9 teams are already sure of their place in next years ProTour. Among them not Euskaltel because they are still looking for a new sponsor for next year. Hopefully we will get some more information about the team next year !

Giro 16 : Lander out

The bad luck for Euskaltel doesn't stop. In the 16th stage of the Giro we got a climb time-trial. This was too much for Lander Aperribay and he finished together with 6 others out of time. The others didn't do much better because the first Euskaltel to finish was Alan Perez on a 75th place, 5:41 down on winner Franco Pellizotti. He won todays stage after he beat the once again surprising Emanuelle Sella with only 6 seconds. Simoni, Contador and Ricco were the favourites that did the best today and that results in a top three of those three riders. Contador is still in the Maglia Rosa.

Results
1 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 40.26 (19.142 km/h)
2 Emanuele Sella (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 0.06
3 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni 0.17
....
75. Alan Perez +5:41
82. Josu Agirre +5:56
97. Ivan Velasco +6:38
105. Dionisio Galparsoro +6:48
119. Markel Irizar +7:52

General Rank
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 68.47.31
2 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 0.41
3 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni 1.21
...
62. Ivan Velsco +1:09:02
72. Alan Perez +1:24:38
73. Markel Irizar +1:25:12
116. Dionisio Galparsoro +2:11:57
142. Josu Agirre +2:53:55

Catalunya 7 : Haimar ends 6th

Haimar wasn't able to maintain his podium spot in the Volta a Catalunya. In the ultimate stage 5 riders tried to get away but the peloton never let them go. Then 14 riders broke away from the peloton, among them Gorka Verdugo, but no Haimar. From that group Carrasco and Cesar attacked and they sprinted for the victory. Carrasco won and Cesar took the overall victory because the others were placed on 7 seconds and the peloton on 23. Gorka Verdugo became 13th and became 10th overall. Haimar Zubeldia fell back to a 6th place after he lost 23 seconds on Cesar.

Results

1 José Luis Carrasco (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 2.20.38 (45.309km/h)

2 Gustavo Cesar (Spa) Karpin Galicia

3 Francisco José Ventoso (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 0.07

...

13. Gorka Verdugo +0:07

38. Haimar Zubeldia +0:23

58. Ruben Perez +0:23

70. Egoi Martinez +0:23

72. Amets Txurruka +0:23

112. Aitor Hernandez +7:19

123. Igor Anton +7:19

General Rank

1 Gustavo Cesar (Spa) Karpin Galicia 24.29.22

2 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Caisse d'Epargne 0.16

3 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.21

...

6. Haimar Zubeldia +0:28

10. Gorka Verdugo +0:34

53. Amets Txurruka +11:51

71. Egoi Martinez +19:08

92. Ruben Perez +28:09

103. Igor Anton +32:59

129. Aitor Hernandez +47:41

Giro 15 : Iñigo out :(

Euskaltel didn't have much reasons to be happy with todays stage in the Giro d'Italia. Iñigo Landaluze had to abandon the race because he had problems with his stomache. The first Euskaltel rider that crossed the finish was once again Velasco on a 43th place. In the race Sella once again showed his great climb skills and won the stage on a impressive way for the second time in a row. Between the favourites Pozzovivo and Ricco were the most impressive ones. Also Contador stayed between the favourites and took the Maglia Rosa. Leipheimer, Savoldelli and Klöden are out for the victory. Once again a special mention for young belgian Jurgen Van Den Broeck who finished 8th and is 8th in the general rank.

Tomorrow we will get a climb time-trial on the Kronplatz, so excitement ensured !

Results
1 Emanuele Sella (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 4.53.24 (31.492 km/h)
2 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 2.05
3 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 2.11
...
43. Ivan Velasco +17:34
62. Markel Irizar +21:12
110. Alan Perez +25:17
114. Dionisio Galparsoro +35:17
139. Josu Agirre +35:17
140. Lander Aperribay +35:17

General Rank
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 68.06.43
2 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 0.33
3 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes 0.55
...
61. Ivan Velasco +1:02:46
72. Markel Irizar +1:17:42
73. Alan Perez +1:19:19
114. Dionisio Galparsoro +2:05:31
146. Josu Agirre +2:48:21
149. Lander Aperribay +2:55:00

Catalunya 6 : Haimar still 3rd in general

It was the last big chance for Haimar to take some seconds back on Pauriol and Jufre in the 6th stage of the Volta a Catalunya, but he didn't take them. There was an early break with Coppel, Vorganov, Quinziato, Velits and our Egoi Martinez but they never got more than five minutes from the peloton. There it was Credit Agricole for Pauriol and Hushovd that made the pace and the break was caught at 25 kilometres to go. In the sprint it was Chicchi who won in front of Duque and Zberg. First Euskaltel was Haimar on a 26th place.

Results
1 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas 3.44.17 (43.846km/h)
2 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis
3 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner
...
26. Haimar Zubeldia ST
36. Ruben Perez ST
41. Gorka Verdugo ST
70. Amets Txurruka ST
92. Egoi Martinez ST
122. Aitor Hernandez ST
133. Igor Anton ST

General Rank
1 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 22.08.42
2 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 0.02
3 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0.07
...
12. Gorka Verdugo +0:31
58. Amets Txurruka +11:30
82. Egoi Martinez +18:47
100. Igor Anton +25:42
104. Ruben Perez +27:48
143. Aitor Hernandez +40:24

Giro 14 : Velasco 44th

It was Sella's day in the 14th stage of the Giro d'Italia. He broke away with a group of 13 riders with among them Bettini and Nocentini. On the penultimate climb the Passo Manghen Sella broke loose and fled away from his companions. He stayed away and won the stage with an advantage of 4:38. Among the big guns there were some that disappointed on the last climb like Di Luca, Contador and Leipheimer. A special mention for Jurgen Van Den Broeck, he was in front of the big group the whole time, great for a young belgian ! Visconti couldn't defend his Maglia Rosa so Bosisio took it over.

On Euskaltel's side Ivan Velasco passed the Passo Manghen with the favourites but then he had to let them go, he finished 44th. Markel Irizar stayed together with the Maglia Rosa and became 61th. After the race the two could climb on the stage for the the price of the fastest team in yesterday's stage. Koldo didn't start in todays stage, probably because there aren't much other sprint opportunities.

Results
1 Emanuele Sella (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 5.37.14 (34.338 km/h)
2 Vasili Kiryienka (Blr) Tinkoff Credit Systems 4.38
3 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 5.08
...
44. Markel Irizar +15:17
61. Markel Irizar +18:20
72. Alan Perez +25:58
76. Dionisio Galparsoro +29:43
137. Josu Agirre +41:37
153. Iñigo Landaluze +41:37
157. Lander Aperribay +41:57
DNS Koldo Fernandez

General Rank
1 Gabriele Bosisio (Ita) LPR Brakes 63.10.47
2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0.05
3 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre 0.28
...
65. Alan Perez +46:34
67. Ivan Velasco +47:44
81. Markel Irizar +59:02
111. Dioniso Galparsoro +1:32:46
116. Iñigo Landaluze +1:35:41
151. Josu Agirre +2:15:36
154. Lander Aperribay +2:22:15

Catalunya 5 : Haimar back to 3rd

It was Sylvain Chavanel from Cofidis who dominated the 5th stage of the Volta a Catalunya. He attacked after the first climb of the day and buitl an advantage of 8 minutes. The peloton let him go and he could reach the finish alone with an advantage of 2:32 on a split peloton. Josep Jufre Pou was in that first group, unlike Pauriol and Haimar, and with the three seconds he got in the intermediate sprint, he's now second in the general rank. Haimar finished 23rd and fell back to a 3rd place.
Tomorrow we will get another hilly stage so maybe something for Haimar to try something.

Results
1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 3.52.15 (42.293 km/h)
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 2.32
3 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Team High Road
...
23. Haimar Zubeldia +2:37
59. Gorka Verdugo +2:37
100. Ruben Perez +2:37
118. Egoi Martinez +2:37
119. Amets Txurruka +2:37
126. Aitor Hernandez +2:37
148. Igor Anton +3:04

General Rank
1 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 18.24.25
2 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 0.02
3 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0.07
...
12. Gorka Verdugo +0:31
60. Amets Txurruka +11:30
82. Egoi Martinez +18:48
102. Igor Anton +25:42
106. Ruben Perez +27:48
146. Aitor Hernandez +40:24

Giro 13 : Zorionak zuri Josu ! Koldo 3th

First of all I wanted to wish Josu Agirre a happy birthday, or zorionak zuri as they say in Basque. Josu definitely was in the mood for something and got in the break of the day together with Mickael Buffaz from Cofidis. At kilometre 110 they had their biggest advantage of 8 minutes and 30 seconds but then it went downhill. This stage was one of the last chances for the sprinters so the sprinter teams made the pace in the peloton. With a bit more than 10 kilometres to go the two got reeled back in and it became a sprint. In the sprint Koldo was placed good but in full sprint he got a little touch from another rider and had to use his brakes for a second. This caused that he lost speed and couldn't compete for the victory anymore. But Koldo still did great and improved his 4th place of yesterday with a great 3rd place. First was Cavendish in front of Bennati. Euskaltel won for the first time this Giro the price of the fastest team.

This was probably the last chance for the sprinters for some time. Tomorrow the big guns and climbers can try their luck.

Results
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road 4.11.07 (42.291 km/h)
2 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas
3 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
...
22. Alan Perez ST
26. Markel Irizar ST
74. Lander Aperribay +0:13
79. Dionisio Galparsoro +0:13
100. Ivan Velasco +0:13
122. Iñigo Landaluze +0:13
165. Josu Agirre +1:00

Catalunya 4 : Haimar 2nd in general

In the fourth stage of the Volta a Catalunya a group of 5 rode away on the only climb of the day. In that group were Botcharov, Cesar, Fedrigo, Vanendert and Navarro. With a small advantage of only 11 seconds they sprinted for the victory and it was Fedrigo who won. In the second group on 11 seconds Pauriol and Haimar were present, but Dessel was nowhere to be seen so Haimar raised a spot in the general rank. With the upcoming hilly stages of friday and saturday he certainly has a chance against the unexperienced Pauriol.

Results
1 Pierrick Fédrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 5.06.01 (42.586 km/h)
2 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole
3 Gustavo Cesar (Spa) Karpin Galicia
...
25. Amets Txurruka +0:11
32. Haimar Zubeldia +0:11
47. Gorka Verdugo +0:11
63. Igor Anton +0:23
100. Ruben Perez +10:25
121. Egoi Martinez +14:56
142. Aitor Hernandez +14:56

General Rank
1 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 14.29.33
2 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0.07
3 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana 0.08
...
12. Gorka Verdugo +0:31
60. Amets Txurruka +11:30
82. Egoi Martinez +18:48
100. Igor Anton +25:15
106. Ruben Perez +27:48
149. Aitor Hernandez +40:24