Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

The Team Time Trial produced some surprising and unsurprising results. Lampre and Saunier Duval lost some time, but not as much as originally thought. The TTT was shortened by 3 km, maybe to limit the time losses to the teams of Simoni and Cunego. Cunego’s team of mostly climbers actually beat the Saunier Duval team that looked very good and contains two national TT champs in their stable. Lampre did not look very polished in the TTT as their lack of practice showed. But, they did a good job and limited their losses well.

CSC finally caught a break in a TTT. After some very bad luck last year in the Tour, Bjarne Riis’ boys were able to take the win despite a major blunder by T-Mobile. T-Mobile provided a mild surprise today as they almost won the TTT stage. The team that is supporting Serhiy Honchar (or Sergei Gonchar or Whatever way you want to spell his name today) seemed to be using the Giro more for Jan Ullrich’s training benefit than to actually get results. They captured the Maglia Rosa and will get some extra work defending the jersey.

It is simply amazing that in this day of radio communication that the team was not alerted of Mattaius Kesslers lagging behind in the final meters. At least someone could have held back or taken responsibility for making sure that five riders crossed the line together. It is probably not a surprise seeing riders perform well after leaving T-Mobile, latest example is Stefan Schumacher who is starting to make a name for himself. Little details like making sure five riders cross the line in a TTT so the fastest time counts make a big difference as T-Mobile lost out on a stage win. They can take solice in the fact that they have the Maglia Rosa and several T-Mobilers in the top 10.

Jan Ullrich looked good in the TTT. There were no hills, just a dead flat course, but each day Der Kaiser is getting fitter and fitter. The Giro may prove to be a good options for Tour prep for Ullric since he only had his best form after a three week stage race.

Ivan Basso and the CSC squad are sitting in a very good spot at the moment. They won the TTT and have a few riders in striking distance of the Maglia Rosa. Ivan Basso is the best placed overall GC contender and he leap frogged Paolo Savoldelli.
This is a very good spot to be in since the team does not have the pressure to defend the lead, and can have another team to help with the pacing.

Discovery Channel had a dissapointing TTT. Paolo Savoldelli said that he was happy with the effort, but behind the scenes the team must be dissappointed. They dominated this discipline in the past and have some very good TTers in the team. They only beat out Liquigas by three seconds on the stage.

This year, the Giro is long and the time differences here won’t matter much later on. So while CSC can celebrate their success most of the contenders are still where they expected to be at this point in the race. At least CSC took a TTT stage win after last year’s dramtic loss in the Tour.