A perfect day for a time trial.  Danny Iannazzo blitzed the field, almost a full minute ahead of Drew and Jamie, who tied for second place.  I wonder what time Drew would do if he was on a time trial bike (all of the first 6 places rode time trial bikes except for Drew)?  The results and splits are up on the results page.  Look at Danny’s splits – there’s only 7 secs between his slowest and fastest lap!

The winner on handicap was Jim Cook.  Jim’s been spending his money on new technology for his hips and its paying off.   Kel Smith is leading the handicaps points but his lead is slender.  Dave Thomas still has a tight grip on the outright points.

Thanks to Greg for going the timing and photography.  There’s a great picture of us in the gallery.

DH

Results are up here

DH

Dave Thomas is currently leading the time trial points but if Darren is racing there’ll be a fight for first place.  Last year Darren won with John Scerri 19 seconds behind and Andrew C 12 seconds back in 3rd place.   Drew has been doing secret training so he’s the dark horse contender.

Kel is currently the handicap points leader so if he lets the Cipollini sing he should keep the lead.

DH

43km

“Warmly wrapped up outside the RadioShack-Nissan team bus after La Flèche Wallonne, neither of the Schleck brothers was particularly happy. And they didn’t have much cause to be either. When the more in-form Fränk suffered a rear wheel puncture with 10km to go, the whole team realised that his race was as good as run.

His brother Andy seemed more upset than anything else and, almost inevitably, he was less than pleased with the way the rest of the teams rode. “Why does nobody attack?” said Andy Schleck. “Why does everyone ride for second place, eh? Because, if you don’t attack and [Joaquim] Rodriguez gets to the bottom of the Mur in the front group that’s what you will be racing for, second place.

“I don’t understand the attitude. If Frank hadn’t punctured then I’m sure he would have been in the top 10 and maybe even top five. Read more….

Simon Gerrans heads into Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race as one of the favourites, but the GreenEdge rider is unconcerned about being marked out of the 256.5 kilometre Dutch classic.

Gerrans has already won two WorldTour events in 2012, kicking off the season by taking victory in the Santos Tour Down Under for the second time, and then outkicking Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) at Milan-San Remo.

Having recorded a seventh (2009) and then third place last season, it’s no surprise that the 31-year-old has made his ambitions clear about Amstel Gold Race as he bids to become only the second Australian to win the event, following his mentor, Phil Anderson (1983). Gerrans will then sit out Flèche Wallone in order to be fresh for Liège-Bastogne-Liège where he’s finished 12th the last two years after finishing sixth in 2009. Read more…

Ivan Basso

Italian abandons Volta a Catalunya

Ivan Basso’s Giro d’Italia preparation suffered a further setback when he was forced to abandon the Volta a Catalunya on Wednesday. The Liquigas-Cannondale rider fell just 7km into the snow-shortened stage to Port del Canto, taking a heavy blow to the same right knee that he injured in a fall at Paris-Nice.

“The roads were wet, we were going at about 40kph and there was a bend,” Basso told Gazzetta dello Sport. “A rider hit a car at the side of the road, bounced off it and made six or seven fall, myself included.”

Although Basso did not suffer a particularly forceful blow, he fell awkwardly, and had the misfortune of taking a knock to the same knee that he injured in France. Julian Dean (GreenEdge) was a faller in the same crash and suffered a broken leg. Read more…