Thursday, February 10, 2011

Tour of Qatar / Challenge Mallorca 2.10.11

Tour of Qatar

It's not everyday that you relish the fact that your star sprinter is not up to form, but for Mark Renshaw it is nice to have Cav out of shape right now.  My question is: is Cav out of shape or just banged up?  He has been on the tarmac one too many times.  My guess is that he is getting time on the bike and trying to heal, yes I know that he is super-human.  Even Superman has kryptonite.  With Cav in the backseat just out for a ride, Renshaw was given the green light.  Take it while you can get it, that is exactly what he did.  Leopard's fast man Bennati and Quickstep's Boonen were unable to contain Renshaw and finished with him across the line first.  Haussler settled for fourth today after taking two in a row, and will pass the leader's jersey over to Renshaw.

1 Mark Renshaw (Aus) HTC-Highroad 3:12:36
2 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek
3 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team
4 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Team Garmin-Cervelo
5 Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Katusha Team
6 Roger Kluge (Ger) Skil - Shimano
7 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Sky Procycling
8 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Pro Team Astana
9 Roger Hammond (GBr) Team Garmin-Cervelo
10 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team

Challenge Mallorca

Final race of the Challenge had five categorized climbs on the 158k route.  Brazil's national champ and Garm-elo rider Murilo Fischer bested Oscar Freire and Rojas who just won a race for his Movistar squad.  Philippe Gilbert once again put in a late attack that was brought in just before the mass sprint.  Who knew that Brazil had a national champ, and one that can win races on the international level.  Fischer's win brings Garm-elo's total to 9 already this season.  Looks like HTC has their work cut out for themselves if they want to retain the winningest team title.

1 Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra) Team Garmin-Cervelo 4:09:49
2 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team
3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team
4 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team
5 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Leopard Trek
6 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
7 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Quickstep Cycling Team
8 Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
9 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
10 John Degenkolb (Ger) HTC-Highroad

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