The Tirreno-Adriatico came to it’s conclusion today after the stage 7 individual time trial around San Benedetto del Tronto. Adriano Malori (Movistar) was the fastest around the 9km course, clocking a time of 10’13” to be 6 seconds faster than Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) and 11 seconds faster than Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky).
Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) had no problem holding onto his blue leaders race jersey to win the Tirreno-Adriatico overall. Despite a good effort during his time trial, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) would finish 2nd in the GC race while Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo) would take the final spot on the Tirreno-Adriatico podium.
All the Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung would get around the TT course unscathed to end off a luckless week of racing. Daniel Teklehaimanot was the fastest finisher today for the team, stopping the clock at 10’57”. This was a great performance by the Eritrean star as he averaged just under 50km/h while up against the world’s best time trailers. To be only 29 seconds behind the world champion, Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), is a ride to be pleased about.
Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung will leave the Tirreno-Adriatico with 2 top 10 stage placing’s, both of which were courtesy of our young Italian sprinter, Kristian Sbaragli. Sbaragli showed good awareness on stage 3 when he realised Gerald Ciolek wasn’t around to sprint for the finish
(Ciolek punctured with 2km to go) and fought his way to 10th place. On stage 6, when Ciolek got caught behind a crash in the final km’s, Sbaragli again took the initiative and this time managed to sprint into 7th place.
The teams focus will now turn to the Milano-Sanremo on Sunday, where last year the African team made history by taking the win after a most epic day of racing. While Gerald Ciolek might not have got a result at Tirreno-Adriatico this last week, it certainly wasn’t for a lack of trying or because of a lack in form. The German sprinter will head into the La classica di Primavera determined to defend his title.
Tirreno-Adriatico (Italy) – (March 12-18/WT)
Sergio Pardilla (ESP)
Gerald Ciolek (GER)
Andreas Stauff (GER)
Ignatas Konovalovas (LTU)
Jay Thomson (RSA)
Jaco Venter (RSA)
Daniel Teklehaimanot (ERI)
Kristian Sbaragli (ITA)
Staff: Jens Zemke (Sports Director), Manel Lacambra (Sports Director), Dr Jarrad van Zuydam (Doctor), Dr Rob Child (Doctor-Nutritionist), Bastian Buffel (Soigneur), Hagen Bernutz (Soigneur), Paolo Baldi (Soigneur) Jim Bryan (Mechanic), Daniele Nieri (Mechanic), Andreas Beck-Watt (Mechanic), Stevie Christaens (Mechanic)
