Bravo Marcato

Marco Marcato.

After being beaten on the line last year by fellow escapee Greg van Avermaet, Marco Marcato finally got a big win when he outsprinted Laurens De Vreese & Niki Terpstra in the last classic of the season, Paris-Tours.

Last year second place may have seemed acceptable for the strong Italian but after learning how to prepare the sprint, Marcato only had his eyes on the win this time and he took it. “This is by far the greatest victory in my career”, he said afterwards.

As you know I normally don’t write these pre-race reports so let me just explain why I decided to write this - and no, it’s not just because I picked Marcato to win. It’s based on Marco Marcato’s courageous attack last week in Giro di Lombardia. After an incredible hard race in the pouring rain, Marcato was the first rider to attack on the final climb. Vacansoleil-DCM started the race in a special light blue jersey honoring Fausto Coppi, but until this point (due to late TV-coverage as well) you hadn’t really seen the Dutch team. 

Marco Marcato attacking on the final
climb in Giro di Lombardia last week.

“My light was almost out. I knew I didn’t have the legs to stay with the best in the final, so I decided to honor our sponsor and show off the new jersey”, Marcato explained. After a few kilometers the Italian was caught again, but I think it shows a lot of character  the way Marcato made the light blue jersey be seen in the final.

In Paris-Tours the Vacansoleil-DCM riders were once again wearing their normal colors but that didn’t stop Marco Marcato from putting in another strong performance and taking the biggest win of his career. Bravo! 

Rujano on his way to Vacansoleil-DCM

Update 03/10 - José Rujano has now confirmed he will in fact join Vacansoleil-DCM next year. 

José Rujano at the start of the Giro 2012.
Next year it will be for Vacansoleil-DCM.

José Rujano seems to get yet another chance at the highest level in cycling as four World Tour teams right now are battling to sign the Venezuelan climber for 2013.

Last year Rujano said he wanted to extend his contract with Androni Giocattoli, but after this year’s Giro d’Italia it was clear to everyone that that would never happen.

After a disappointing Giro, José Rujano left the race through the back door claiming mononucleosis was the reason for his abandonment, but according to the team boss Gianni Savio that wasn’t true. Given the nature of Rujano’s exit and the weak excuse, Savio publicly said that Rujano didn’t have a future on the team anymore and by the end of August Rujano’s contract with Androni Giocattoli ran out.

Since then it’s been very quiet around José Rujano but within the last couple of weeks his name has been mentioned again and again. Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank, Euskaltel-Euskadi & Vacansoleil-DCM are all being named among the four teams interested in signing José Rujano and according to my South American sources it will be Vacansoleil-DCM who end up with the Venezuelan rider.

The Dutch team have a good record of giving riders another chance when others didn’t believe in them, Johnny Hoogerland as the best example, and even though José Rujano hasn’t been able to perform without Gianni Savio at his side in the past, he seems to be given a new chance by Vacansoleil-DCM.

So far Vacansoleil-DCM have been focusing on rearming their Classic team with riders like Juan Antonio Flecha and Grega Bole but it would appear that they felt the need to sign another strong climber as Stefan Denifl and Matteo Carrera are leaving the team. 

What do you think? Will Rujano be able to shine again in the colors of the Dutch team? Leave your comment below.

Extra focus on the team time trial

The World Champions Team Time Trial is already this Sunday and therefore I decided to repost the article I wrote about the event earlier this year. Here you go:

---

Since the UCI revealed there would be a team time trial for sponsored teams on the menu for the World Champions in Limburg this year, every team with ambitions has been rearming their roster with strong time trialists.

Given the fact that the World Champions takes place in Holland, Dutch Vacansoleil-DCM is naturally one of the teams with an extra focus on the team time trial. With strong riders like Stijn Devolder and the two season-sensations Lieuwe Westra and Thomas De Gendt on the team, Vacansoleil-DCM were already set to clock in a decent time on home soil. Still, to increase their chances, they went out and signed Swedish time trial specialist Gustav Erik Larsson (who started out winning the opening time trial in Paris-Nice this year) and Danish Martin Mortensen who is always among the best time trialists of his country.

Swedish time trial specialist, Gustav Erik Larsson, is signed to
give Vacansoleil-DCM a better chance of succes in the TTT.

"Gustav [Erik Larsson] is a great cyclist who can give us joy all year long, but of course we had that [the World Champions TTT] in mind when we signed him. Martin [Mortensen] is also on our 10-riders list [for the TTT]. Valkenburg is definitely a goal for us and we already went to inspect the course last January. We also had our team presentation in the south of Limburg, near to the track”, Press Officer of Vacansoleil-DCM Ard Bierens tells me.

It’s not only Vacansoleil-DCM who have been reinforcing their roster. For this season BCM Racing signed super time trialists like Marco Pinotti (winner of the individual time trial in Giro d’Italia this year) and Tejay van Garderen together with Philippe Gilbert (Currently national time trial champion of Belgium) and Thor Hushovd, while Astana signed Janez Brajkovic and Andrei Kashechkin. Team Sky got Richie Porte and Konstantin Sioutsou and Movistar signed Vladimir Karpets, Jonathan Castroviejo, Giovanni Visconti (and Alejandro Valverde).

One of the strongest teams in the first half of 2012, OmegaPharma-Quickstep, already had a strong lineup for the team time trial with riders like Sylvain Chavanel, Niki Terpstra, Dario Cataldo and Tom Boonen. Those riders probably wouldn't have been able to win the World Champion Team Time Trial, but with the new signings of Tony Martin, Bert Grabsch, Levi Leipheimer, Peter Velits and young-gun Mikael Kwiatkowski they will be among the top favorites together with Team Sky.

One could argue that the lack of training together and oiling the machine before the World Champions would be a problem. Lately we have seen more and more team time trials in the stage races but without a long one in the Tour de France this year and only two very flat ones in the Giro (32 km) and Vuelta (16,5 km) there won't be many chances for the teams to practice in races. According to Vacansoleil-DCM’s Ard Bierens that won’t have much influence on the team’s preparations though.

“It’s not a problem. Eneco Tour also has a team time trial now and together with the others during the season it’s enough. At the end it all comes down to the day itself and the performance then. It isn't easy to ride many races with the expected WC-selections, so that [not training together much]won’t be a problem”, he says.

Vacansoleil-DCM aim to end in the top10 in the World Champions Team Time Trial on home soil this year.

The World Champion Team Time Trial course in Limburg - 53,2 km.

One of the only teams that breaks the pattern of signing strong riders for the team time trial is Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank. Bjarne Riis has always been very fond of the discipline and even though he gets Alberto Contador back in time, he still let go of both Richie Porte and Gustav Erik Larsson. On paper Riis shouldn’t be very optimistic but after a good performance in the Giro d’Italia (Saxo Bank taking 4^th place) the Danish team owner is now confident he can put together a strong team.

Team Saxo Bank taking 4th place in
the TTT in Giro d'Italia this year.

“That's the plan - to have a good team there, come out of the Vuelta in good shape and then do well. We have proved that even with a team that is absolutely not favorites, we can go fast in the team time trials. We have a lot of experience in that. You saw we were fourth in the Giro team time trial recently and that was a surprise for many.  I’m confident we're going to be strong”, Bjarne Riis tells Eurosport.

The World Champions Team Time Trial 2012 takes place on Sunday the 16^th of September with the first team starting at 14:30. The distance is 53,2 km and the course features three climbs; Lange Raarberg (1300 meters with 4,5%), Bergseweg (2700 meters with 3,3%) and the legendary Cauberg (1200 meters with 5,8%).

Vuelta Interview - Thomas de Gendt

Thomas De Gendt winning Stage 7 of
Paris-Nice after an impressive solo effort.

Thomas De Gendt took the cycling world by surprise when he ended 3^rd overall in the Giro d'Italia earlier this year. Originally Vuelta España was the Belgian's target this season, but it seems like the Giro podium cost him too much energy in order to repeat the performance in Spain.

Thomas, first of all, congratulation on your marriage and your amazing performance in Giro d’Italia. Now when it’s been some months, have you realized what you actually did back in May?

I haven’t really thought about it. I got a lot of attention from the media and from the other riders and of course a lot of attention from the people in Belgium. I can see in the way that I’m not being allowed to attack much anymore. I tried to attack really hard in Eneco Tour, but even though I was way down in the general classification I was never allowed more than a 100 meters gap. I guess that is the impact of what I did in the Giro.

I know you had been working hard to peak in the Giro this year, but since you never really had been going for the GC in a Grand Tour before it was more like a trial-run for the Vuelta. Do you think you can make another podium in Spain?

I don’t really aim for the GC now. It’s true that I went to the Giro to use it as a trial-run for the Vuelta, but since I was up there in the GC I had to dig deep in the last week. So even though I had the Vuelta as my goal I’ve actually already got my podium spot this year and that cost me a lot of energy. Therefore I don’t know if I will be able to go hard in another Grand Tour this year already. And to be honest, I don’t feel as good right now as I did just before the Giro.

Like Contador you used Eneco Tour as warm-up for the Vuelta. Are you satisfied with the answers you got?

Not at all. The first days were very difficult for me and even though I got stronger during the race I never really felt good. I decided not to finish the race in order to save some energy for the Belgian National Time Trial, but that didn’t went the way I wanted it either. I didn’t feel I had any power in my legs and I’m really disappointed with my performance.

Looking at the route for the Vuelta, what do you think about it? Does it suit you?

I haven’t really checked out any stages, but I know there are some uphill finishes already in the first week. Personally I’m happy that the stages are shorter than in the other Grand Tours. Short but hard, just like I want it. Still, I will just take it day by day and make a status after the first week. As I said the GC isn’t really a goal for me from the beginning so I won’t cry if I’ve already lost a couple of minutes after the first stages.

Alberto Contador is the big favorite for the overall win. Do you think anyone can beat him without any bad luck?

I think we can already name the winner. Contador will win this Vuelta, but I think Froome will be up there too. He might be tired after the Tour, but I expect him to be in the mix. The last guy I see for the podium is Rodriguez. I don’t really think there will be any other riders able to follow these three.

What do you think about the Vacansoleil-DCM team for the race. Anyone specific we should keep an extra eye on?

I think Pim Ligthart. He has a very good sprint after a hard stage and there should be a lot of stages that suits him well in this Vuelta.

Last one. What is most important for you in this Vuelta;  a stage win or Top10 in the GC?

I would say a stage win, but then again it depends on place in the Top10. There is a big difference in being number 4 or being number 9 for example. If a Top10 spot means being 2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th I would pick that over winning a stage, but compared to ending 10^th overall I would take the stage win right away.

Giro Interview - Gustav Erik Larsson

Gustav Erik Larsson at his best on the
time trial bike on his way to glory.

Giro Interview – Gustav Erik Larsson (Rider, Vacansoleil-DCM) For four years Gustav Erik Larsson was a part of the Danish Team Saxo Bank but when one of the biggest races in the world, Giro d’Italia, actually starts out in Denmark, Larsson finds himself in the colors of the Dutch Vacansoleil-DCM team.

I made the following interview with the strong Swede on Thursday evening before the team rushed off to dinner.

Gustav, how is it not being a part of the Danish team when the Giro starts in Denmark?
To be honest I haven’t actually thought about it before now, but it is kind of strange thinking about it. I used to ride with Bjarne Riis’ team, now we are in his city and I’m not a part of the team anymore.

But you are happy with your change of teams?
Yes it’s been a great start for me with the win in Paris-Nice. Last year was a very bad year for me. I had a pretty awful winter and that’s why I didn’t do better in the first part of the season. But before that I think I have had three really good years with Saxo Bank and now I hope I can come back and show what I’m worth.

So what are your ambitions for the Giro this time?
I’m going for the overall classification actually. I will try to hang on for as long as possible on the climbs and the two time trials are very good for me. I aim for a spot in the Top10 but we will have to see how the legs respond first. I don’t think it’s possible to gain back very much time [in the time trials] so it’s important not to get dropped in the mountains.

How do you feel compared to 2008 when you ended 14th in the GC?
It was my first season with Riis and I was in very, very good shape. I think I can do it again.

First we have the prologue on Saturday. What do you think you can do there?
It’s always difficult to say. There are a lot of riders who are not time trial specialists but still able do to a very good prologue. I mean it’s only 8,7 km. Of course I would like to win it like I did in Paris-Nice but it won’t be easy. It would have been good for me if there had been a little hill or something to make it more tough, but I think it’s an okay route. The only thing is that it’s actually rather late on the day so it will be a little bit chilly outside.

What about the team time trial?
Well, if you look at the individual riders we have some very strong time trialists, but the problem is that we haven’t trained together. Still I think it can be fine for us if we just get the tactic straight and everybody moves around like they are supposed to when it counts on the roads.

Do you fear any of the stages in this year’s Giro?
On the first stage in Denmark we are going to ride alongside the sea so I hope it won’t be chaos. Anything can really happen on that stage, especially if it’s windy as well. We have to pay attention and be prepared. 

Let’s end with talking about the GC favorites. Who is your pick?
Hmm. Ivan Basso is always a strong contender, but I don’t know if he is ready yet. If he is though, then I think he will win it. I doubt it will be one of the pure climbers, but then again there are some very tough climbs on the menu, so you never know. We will see what happens.

How to show faith in your designated sprinter

Mark Cavendish made it look easy with his text-book/video game sprint finish in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, but it was especially thanks to Vacansoleil-DCM that it actually ended up in a mass sprint.

Vacansoleil-DCM working hard in front
of the peloton in order to catch the break.

When the big group with Boonen, Ballan, Farrar etc. got away they quickly gained one minute on the peloton. Team Sky had a couple of a guys up front as well, so it was up to Lotto to do the work in order to catch them. Greipel used up all his team mates and when it seemed like there were no one left to pull, Vacansoleil-DCM suddenly took the front with 6 guys. At the time it didn't really make any sense, since the Dutch team already had two riders in the group with Boonen, one of them being the fast Kris Boeckmans. Boeckmans had showed his sprinting legs less than a week ago in Volta ao Algarve [taking 2nd on stage2 almost beating Edvald Boasson Hagen] and would have been a good pick for a podium spot in the front group if they had made it to the finish. But that wasn't the plan for Vacansoleil-DCM.

Kenny Van Hummel may not be among the best sprinters in world, but he has been showing great condition so far this year, stating he feels stronger than ever before at this time of year. So despite having Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel next to him, Van Hummel moved to the front with 5 team mates in front of him, railing the breakaway back in.

Boeckmans places Van Hummel up front
ready to jump when Cavendish kicks.

When the break was caught, Team Sky took over and with 45 km to go they never let anyone else take the front. On the last kilometer, Vacansoleil-DCM moved near the front with Kris Boeckmans and Kenny Van Hummel. Boeckmans placed Van Hummel in a perfect position with 300 meters to go and when Cavendish kicked, Van Hummel was right behind him. Yauheni Hutarovich then passed him, but Kenny Van Hummel still managed to hold on to 3rd place.

I must say I'm really impressed by the faith Vacansoleil-DCM showed Kenny Van Hummel. Knowing that it very well would mean Mark Cavendish taking the win, they put 5-6 guys to the front of the peloton just to give Van Hummel a shot at beating the World Champion. I take my hat off for Vacansoleil-DCM for showing that kind of confidence in their sprinter and to Kenny Van Hummel as well for almost pulling it off and still getting on the podium.

Since Mark Cavendish took over as the best sprinter in the world, almost no other teams have been helping catching the breakaways, simply because they know they didn't have a chance of beating him. Therefore I think it's very refreshing to see a team like Vacansoleil-DCM helping out, even though no one would have expected them to do so. Thumbs up!

Rumor killer - Vacansoleil-DCM denies ties with Cobo

Vuelta España winner Juanjo Cobo

After former Team GEOX boss Mauro Gianetti gave Juanjo Cobo ‘carte blanche’ to leave the team and a find a new one for 2012 different rumors have been going on about the future of the recent Vuelta España winner. One rumor sends Cobo to Vacansoleil-DCM since it seems like the Dutch WorldTour team will have some extra money left in case Ezequiel Mosquera gets the expected 2 years ban.

But after getting burned by first Mosquera and later thrown into the fire by Riccardo Riccò, Vacansoleil-DCM now wants stay clear of any suspicious riders. Juanjo Cobo was a part of the Saunier Duval team who had to withdraw from the Tour de France in 2008 due to doping violations by its riders Leonardo Piepoli and Riccardo Riccò and Vacansoleil-DCM can’t afford to have that happening again.

“We can’t be the team to sign a rider like him after what happened to us with Mosquera and Riccò. We can’t afford to do that again to ourselves and therefore we have never been interested in signing him. I have great respect for the rider and I regret to talk about a rider who is never tested positive in this way, but unfortunately this is how cycling is at the moment”, press officer Ard Bierens explains to me.

As I wrote earlier on this site it is expected that Juanjo Cobo will continue his career at one of the WorldTour licensed teams, but it will for sure not be at Vacansoleil-DCM.

Follow the money

Who is going to win the race today? Maybe you need to update your manager team, maybe you are planning to put down a little money on the race or maybe you are just generally interesting in cycling. Whatever your reasons are to ask this question, the answer is very simple; follow the money - and then you will see.


Some people like to follow the expert’s picks – as you have been doing at this very site during the Tour and the Vuelta – while some prefers to follow their favorite tipster. You can get good picks this way, but if you want the great tips, you have to pay close attention to the bookmakers. Not on who the bookmakers think will win – let’s face it, they don’t really know more than you anyway – but pay attention to the riders whose odds suddenly start to drop heavily. It takes some time see it, but when you get the hang of it, it’s easy to see who the real favorites are.

Let me show you a couple of examples.

Giro d’Italia, stage 17 - May 25th.
On paper a typical breakaway stage. One of those stages where half of the peloton wants to give a shot and see what happens. As those of you who follow cycling closely know, this stage had names like Giovanni Visconti & Pablo Lastras written all over it and just like that both riders managed to get into the right breakaway. A coincident? No. These riders are experts in hitting the right breaks and therefore the odds on Visconti & Lastras aren’t very high at the start of the stage (around odds 10-20). The odds on a guy like Diego Ulissi are on the other hand much, much higher. Starting in around 200 or 300.

So, you might ask, how are you supposed to know that Ulissi is a good pick for this specific stage when the odds are so much higher on him than on ‘favorites’ like Visconti and Lastras? Well, this is where my thesis from before comes in handy – follow the money! It’s no secret that most bets on the cycling are placed in the final hours before the race starts. Therefore it’s a good idea to keep an open eye on the odds at this time. If you did back then, you would have had witness something very interesting. Suddenly the odds on Ulissi started to drop, from 300 to 200. From 200 to 100 and from 100 down to 40. It’s true that odds 40 still is a very high odds, but with the money placed on Ulissi it was easy to see that someone knew he was on fire that day.

6 hours later Diego Ulissi had won the stage. It’s true that he won because Visconti got disqualified in the sprint, but if you had bought Ulissi at odds 300 (or just 100) you would have been able to lay him on betting exchanges such as Betfair at odds 2 during the stage. In other words you would have been able to make a huge profit no matter what would have happen in the final sprint if you had followed the money and placed a bet on Ulissi when the odds on him started to drop.

Another example is from Paris-Tours last Sunday.
Usually the markets on cycling are very low at this point of the season. Meaning that the list of 20+ bookmakers with odds on the Tour de France is reduced to only a very few for Paris-Tours. One of these bookmakers is Betfair, but as always with these late season races, the liquidity is very low. That means that when the total amount of euro placed isn’t higher than a few thousands (many, many, many times lower than during the Tour) and then suddenly a rider at odds 100+ starting to get 20% of money it raises a few eyebrows. Or at least it should do!

The rider I’m talking about is Marco Marcato from Vacansoleil-DCM. Marcato sure seemed to be in the shape of his life, doing top10 in both of the Canadian races and winning Tour de Vendée just a week before, but to drop all the way down to odds 30 did seem a little off. Riders like Philippe Gilbert, Oscar Freire, Robbie McEwen, Sylvain Chavanel and the new World Champion Mark Cavendish were all to be considered as the big favorites for the race, and therefore it stands out when the few money on the race suddenly go to Marcato at such a high odds.

But just as the case with Diego Ulissi, Marco Marcato turned out to be the smart bet ending 2nd in the race behind Greg Van Avermaet. Starting at odds 100+ to win and odds 25 for a top3 spot, the Italian Vacansoleil-DCM rider sure made a few punters go to sleep happy that Sunday.

I could give a lot of examples like these two, but I think you got the basic idea now. So remember, if you want to get best picks for a race, always follow the money!