Velochimp

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(Photo from flickr user Darcy McCarty)

Defending Milan San Remo winner Fabian Cancellara and World Champion Alessandro Ballan will miss the start of Milan San Remo. Cancellara is battling poor form and sickness that has been reoccuring since his prologue win at the Tour of California. Cancellara dropped out of Tirreno Adriatico this week and is trying to establish a program that will allow him to return to top form for the Classics in the next few weeks. Cancellara will race in next weeks Settimana Coppi e Bartali.

I regret not being able to do Milano-Sanremo which for obvious reasons is a race that has a special place in my heart, but I need to be realistic. It’s the best decision based on the form I have right now and more importantly, for family reasons, I wasn’t able to do the race on Saturday either way. I want to stay focused and since I had to exit Tirreno-Adriatico, I need to get more stability and I can only get that from racing and continue my work. I look forward to be gaining more form in the Italian stage race and hopefully, that will help me get some progress and form.

Meanwhile World Champion Alessandro Ballan has been sick with Citomegalovirus which means that he will have to stop racing for 15 days to recuperate from the infection.

Interestingly one of the transmission methods of Cytomegalovirus is through blood transfusions. Hopefully this is not the way Ballan contracted the infection. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytomegalovirus

Ballan has been having a tough early season so far having to miss Kuurne Brussels Kuurne and Het Volk due to lack of form/sickness. Could this be the curse of the Rainbow Jersey taking hold again?

Michele Scarponi wins Tirreno Adriatico. Today’s final stage saw a sprint finish with Mark Cavendish beating Tyler Farrar. Farrar’s second place shows that his earlier stage win was no fluke as he mixed it up with the top sprinters.

Stage 6 provided for a big change with some big names making a move to topple Astana and race leader Kloden. Ivan Basso, Michele Scarponi and Stenfao Garzelli mounted a strong attack that resulted in a stage win for Scarponi and the new overall lead. Ivan Basso seemed to be testing his legs for the Giro with teammate Vincenzo Nibali helping with the work. Basso did not just use his teammate to gain time advantage, he was also seen pulling at the front to drive the pace.

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Live stream on RAI 3 and Gazzetta.it

Thanks to cyclingfans.com for the links to live coverage of Tirreno Adriatico

Alberto Contador tried to take back the overall after a disaterous day in the mountains where he lost his overall lead to former teammate Luis Leon Sanchez. In the final stage 8 Contador battles valiantly to reclaim the top spot. Follow the final few kms.

Caisse D’Epargne had a double success today as both Luis Leon Sanchez and Joaquim Rodríguez. Both took over the overall lead in Paris Nice and Tirreno Adriatico respectively.

Climb up Montelupone coverage.

More climbing with Rodriguez attacking.

Alberto Contador bonked in the final few kilometers of Stage 7 at Paris Nice as Louis Leon Sanchez launched a well timed attack. Sanchez took over the lead from Contador.