Kristy Scrymgeour,  from Columbia-HTC, took care of me and Rob today, we both got in different team cars to watch the time trial in Annecy.  I followed Maxime Monfort (Bel)  and Rob was in the car behind George Hincapie (USA).  I was totally floored when we hit the climb- it was a lot steeper and longer than the profile showed.

When we were about 4 km from the finish, I asked Valereo (driver) to honk the horn when we were 3k to the finish because the guys we were with were watching the race there.  He must have misunderstood me because he pulled the car over right at the 3 km sign because he though I was getting out.  Probably not the best thing to do at the biggest race in the world.  Anyway, I apologized profusely and we were off to the finish.  They estimated 750,000- 1,000,000 spectators would be at the race today.  I wouldn’t be surprised if those numbers end up being low.

Thanks for reading.

Video of George Hincapie from the Columbia Car.

The First Endurance sponsored Astana Cycling team shredded the field on the mountain top finish at  Andorre Arcalis today.  After his team mates set a blistering pace up the final climb, Alberto Contador took off on his own in pursuit of the remnants of the early breakaway.  When the dust settled, Contador had moved up to second place on General Classification with team mates Lance Armstrong in third, Levi Leipheimer in fourth, and super-domestic Andres Klöden in sixth.  Another First Endurance sponsored rider, Tony Martin (Columbia-HTC) kept his lead in the young rider competition and is now in seventy place on General Classification.

Race Recap:

A group of nine riders formed the break of the day.  The group included Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel Euskadi), José Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne), Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Nocentini, Aleksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas), Christophe Kern (Cofidis), Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step), Feillu and Johannes Fröhlinger (Milram) who built a sizable lead of more than 12 minutes over the first four climbs on the day.  Seen riding at the front were Team Astana work horses Gregy Rast, Dmitiriy Muavyev, Sergio Paulinho, Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia controlling the pace and keeping the team safe from mid-pack accidents. Armstrong appreciated the efforts of the team, saying, “The team is good.  You saw early on that the team was good, then there at the end Levi and Klöden were strong and obviously Alberto is strong.”  Laughing he finished with, “The team won’t be the problem!”

Once the leaders hit the climb the gap came tumbling down and splits occurred in the break as well as the peloton; most notable was race leader Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) slipping off the back to say goodbye to the yellow jersey.  Team Astana continued to drive the pace at the front, using up rider after rider as the finish line approached.   Feillu attacked his former companions with 6km to go and rode uphill at a steady pace, making a big statement about his abilities as a climber and taking a huge win in his young career.

Cadel Evans attacked at 2km to go with Contador immediately responding, as did Armstrong, Leipheimer, Andy Schleck and others, with the group reforming once again.  Then Contador attacked with a ferocious turn of the pedals that sent him soaring up the hill with no reponse from the other riders.  As teammates Armstrong, Leipheimer and Klöden sat on wheels while the rivals thought about following…..but never did.  Contador didn’t gain enough time to take yellow, but with two more days to ride in the Pyrenees and the top of the GC still dominated by Team Astana riders,  a strategic taking of the maillot jaune is probably on the drawing board at this very moment.

Contador’s fan base in Spain is huge and they appeared on the roadside in full force along the route on the first day in the mountains.  The fans chant a loud “Con-ta-dor” each time they see Alberto come out of the bus, take to the start line or fly up the mountain. He’s much appreciated in his home country.

GC After Stage 7

1 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 6″
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 8″
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 39″
5 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin-Slipstream 46″
6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 54″
7 Tony Martin (Ger) Columbia-HTC

First Endurance sponsored rider Andreas Klöden (Team Astana) took over the lead in the Italian stage race Tirreno-Adriatrico (March 11th-17th) after winning the 5th stage, an individual time trial from Loreto to Macerata. Klöden finished the 30 kilometer course in 41:32 and was more than 20 seconds faster than Stijn Devolder. Swedish rider Thomas Lökvist  finished third at 21 seconds behind. Michele Scarponi and Mikhail Ignatiev finished fourth and fifth,  21 and 32 seconds respectively. In the General Classification Klöden leads now by six seconds to Thomas Lökvist.

Klöden was exhausted but happy after his strong performance. “I liked the course,” said the overall  winner of the 2007 Tirreno-Adriatico. “On purpose I started very fast. I had the best time at the first time split which was good for my confidence. At the second time split I was second, but had a better time than my competitors for the general classification. It gave me a boost and extra forces to tackle the difficult climb at 4 kilometers from the finish. I am very happy. I was a bit uncertain because of three crashes in the last two days, but my condition is so good that it didn’t  prevent me from performing very well. I really worked hard to be good in this race. I succeeded.”

Tirreno-Adriatico finishes on Tuesday. Tomorrow is a tough and long stage, 235 kilometer between Civitanove Marche and Camerino.  “A few days ago we lost  Jani Brajkovic after a crash, but I have big confidence in my other teammates. It will be hard but we will defend this leader’s jersey”, concluded Andreas Klöden.

Result Stage 5: Loreto-Macerata, ITT 30 K

1 Andreas Klöden (Astana) 41:32; 2 Stijn Devolder 0:20; 3 Thomas Lökvist 0:21; 4 Michele Scarponi; 5 Mikhail Ignatiev 0:32; 6 Robert Gesink 0:40; 7 Stefano Garzelli 0:41; 8 Edvald Boasson Hagen 0:52; 9 Linus Gerdemann 0:58; 10 Jérôme Coppel 1:00

General Classificationafter Stage 5:

1. Andreas Klöden (Astana); 2 Thomas Lökvist 0:06; 3 Michele Scarponi 0:21; 4 Stefano Garzelli 0:41; 5 Davide Rebellin 1:02; 6 Vincenzo Nibali 1:07; 7 Linus Gerdemann 1:22; 8 Ivan Basso 1:25; 9 Ryder Hesjedal 1:26; 10 Johan Vansummeren 1:34

1st Endurance is heading to  the Team Astana training camp in Santa Rosa, California from February 1st thru the 5th to work (and ride) with the team and management.  We’ll be posting frequent updates, photos, daily riding details, interviews, etc… here.  If you have questions for any of the riders or directors on the team, post them on the blog and we’ll do our best to get them answered for you.

About Team Astana:

The new Astana Cycling Team is in its second year under the leadership of Johan Bruyneel, the eight- time winning Sports Director of the Tour de France.  In Bruyneel’s first year, Team Astana accumulated  35 victories, including the prestigious Grand Tours of Italy and Spain.  Sponsored by a consortium of companies hailing from Astana, the capital of cycling enthused Kazakhstan, the Team was created to foster national pride and develop the next generation of professional Kazakh cyclists.  The 2009 squad consists of 27 riders representing 9 countries and includes Grand Tour leaders, Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador, Andreas Klöden and Levi Leipheimer. Team Astana is a member of cycling’s elite UCI ProTour and competes in a clean and ethical environment under the guidance of Dr. Rasmus Damsgaard’s anti-doping program.