We expected a big peloton and that’s just what we got. The first 174 riders all crossed together and the Americans were a part of it on Saturday. Only Larry Warbasse was in the top 100, 86th, but Chad Haga moved up a spot to 11th and didn’t drop time and Joey Rosskopf rose five spots to 73rd.
Another 118 mile flat stage awaits on Sunday and likely another massive peloton at the front.
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Giro d’Italia Preview
Day 1 Update
Things began well at the Giro d’Italia for Chad Haga. Coming off a season best finish in the Tour de Romandie Haga posted his best stage finish of the season when he was 12th in the opening time trial. Haga dropped just 16 seconds behind the leader and was the only American in the top 75. Joey Rosskopf, 78th place and 42 seconds back, and Larry Warbasse 47 seconds back in 100th, were the next two Americans to finish.
Things continue in the Netherlands Saturday with a 118 mile flat stage. In what you’d expect to be a stage with a big peloton it’s important for the riders to stay in the pack.
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Giro d’Italia Preview
One of the three grand tours of the UCI season starts Friday, the Giro d’Italia. Featuring 21 stages and over 2,000 miles of riding this is a big one. Only six Americans are entered in the field and while none of them have a top 25 finish this year Nathan Brown has come the closest with his 29th place finish in the recently completed Tour de Romandie. Joe Dombrowski and Larry Warbasse both have top 40 finishes from when the finished 37th and 38th in the Volta a Cataluyna earlier this season. The other three in the field are Chad Haga, a season high 69th in the Tour de Romandie, and Ian Boswell and Joey Rosskopf. Boswell has not raced on the tour since he did not finish the Volta a Cataluyna. Things start off in the Netherlands (where else did you expect it to start?) on Friday with a 6 mile time trial.
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Tour de Romandie Recap
It seemed likely that the final day of the Tour de Romandie wouldn’t provide much separation on Sunday and that was certainly the case. There were 78 riders who finished in the peloton and the top 11 for the overall standings were all part of that. That meant Tejay Van Garderen stayed in tenth place for the tour despite being 55th across the line. It was the second top ten finish of the year for Van Garderen who ended up 1:27 behind winner Nairo Quintana of Colombia.
Nathan Brown (64th), Chad Haga (68th), Peter Stetina (69th), and Joe Dombrowski (70th) also finished in the peloton. Brown finished a solid 29th overall while Dombrowski (44th) and Stetina (46th) both jumped into the top 50 on the final day. Despite dropping 2:47 in time for finishing next after the 78-man peloton Brent Bookwalter still finished 35th overall. Both Brown and Bookwalter’s overall finish was their highest of the year.
Also posting season best finishes were Alexey Vermeulen in 65th, Chad Haga in 69th, and Andrew Talansky in 105th (a DNF in his only previous event). The UCI World Tour will continue with the Tour of Italy from May 6th through the 29th.
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Tour de Romandie Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update
Day 3 Update
Day 4 Update
Day 5 Update
Tejay Van Garderen continued his strong Tour de Romandie showing on Saturday in the final mountain stage. Van Garderen finish ninth and only was nine seconds back of the winner, Christopher Froome of Great Britain. In the overall standings Van Garderen slipped ever so slightly to tenth and should have a good chance to finish in the top ten for the second time this year with a good finish on Sunday.
Three other Americans finished in the top 50, Nathan Brown rebounded from being 79th in the time trial on Friday to finishing 38th on Saturday, 12:11 back. Brent Bookwalter was 46th and Peter Stetina was 47th, both about 13 minutes back. Both Bookwalter (34th) and Brown (38th) are still in the top 50 for the full event.
The Tour de Romandie wraps up on Sunday with a 110.2 mile flat stage.
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Tour de Romandie Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update
Day 3 Update
Day 4 Update
In the third stage of the Tour de Romandie, a quick 9.4 mile time trial, Tejay Van Garderen posted the 11th best time, 25 seconds back, and was able to move into the top ten for the overall standings where he now is ninth, 1:22 behind leader Nairo Quintana of Colombia. Three other Americans finished in the top 50 on Friday, Brent Bookwalter in 26th, 46 seconds back, Chad Haga just inside a minute back at 59 seconds in 35th, and Andrew Talansky in 40th 1:01 back. Bookwalter moved up to 24th in the overall standings while Nathan Brown stayed in the top 50 at 36th despite finishing 79th on Friday.
The Tour de Romandie has its final mountain stage on Saturday, a 107.3 mile stretch that will probably determine the winner.
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Tour de Romandie Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update
Day 3 Update
The US competitors as a group were all strong on Thursday at the Tour de Romandie as all eight finished in the top 100 including three in the top 50. Tejay Van Garderen stayed the top American after a 20th place finish 1:01 back that dropped him to 16th overall. Brent Bookwalter was the second American in the top 50 with a 32nd place finish 2:29 back and is now in 31st overall. The third American to finish in the top 50 was Nathan Brown in 33rd. Brown made a big move in the overall standings when jumped from 98th to 37th.
The Tour de Romandie has just a 9.4 mile time trial on Friday.
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Tour de Romandie Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update
The first stage of the Tour de Romandie on Wednesday had to be reduced in length and ended up a bit easier for the peloton to stick together. Stick together they did as 109 riders finished with the top time including six Americans. Brent Bookwalter was the first one in 47th with Tejay Van Garderen finishing 55th. Those two both moved up slightly in the overall standings with Van Garderen now eighth and Bookwalter 23rd. Also still in the top 50 is Joe Dombrowski who moved up to 39th after finishing 93rd (how weird does that sound?).
The Tour de Romandie continues with a 108.1 mile mountain stage on Thursday.
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Tour de Romandie Preview
Day 1 Update
The Tour de Romandie kicked off on Tuesday with a simple 2.5 mile time trial and eight Americans in the field. Originally that was to include Alex Howes, top American in two of the last three UCI World Tour events, but he did not start the race while Nathan Brown did.
The top American on Tuesday was Tejay Van Garderen, racing on the tour in the first time in almost a month, who finished ninth. Two other Americans were in the top 50: Brent Bookwalter in 26th and Joe Dombrowski in 42nd. The three are 11 seconds, 18 seconds, and 23 seconds behind the leader.
The Tour de Romandie continues with a 103.7 mile flat stage on Wednesday.
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Tour de Romandie Preview
For the second time in three races on the UCI World Tour Alex Howes finished as the top American. After finishing 32nd in the Amstel Gold Race last Sunday Howes finished 21st in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege a week later in a group just 12 seconds behind the winner. Howes’ finish was the third highest by an American on the tour this season.
Lawson Craddock was the next American to finish in 37th and 1:41 behind winner Wout Poels. The only other American in the top 100 was Peter Stetina who finished 85th, 5:27 back. Kiel Reijnen ended a streak of three straight races he had not finished and was 151st.
The next UCI World Tour event is the Tour de Romandie starting Tuesday and running until May 1st. Howes is scheduled to be in the field as will Tejay Van Garderen who has not raced since the Volta a Cataluyna a month ago where he finished fifth. Joe Dombrowski also hasn’t raced since then and finished 37th in that, his only event so far this year. Stetina, fresh off the 85th place finish Sunday is in the field and Andrew Talansky who did not finish his only event so far this year, the Paris-Nice race.
The Tour de Romandie starts with a 3.95km time trial on Tuesday.
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Liege-Bastogne-Liege Preview