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Photo: Sirotti
18.03.2014 @ 18:22 Posted by Emil Axelgaard
With Jurgen Van Den Broeck and André Greipel both on the roster, Lotto Belisol had line up their A team for the Tirreno-Adriatico. As the former crashed out of the race on stage two and the latter failed to win a stage - partly due to crashes - the team left the race disappointed, with Adam Hansen's fourth place on Sunday and the good team time trial performance being the bright spots.
The last prizes in Tirreno-Adriatico were handed out this afternoon. The last stage was an individual time trial of 9.1 kilometers with start and finish in San Benedetto del Tronto.
Adriano Malori covered the flat course the fastest and left Fabian Cancellara and Bradley Wiggins behind him, who became second and third respectively. World champion time trial Tony Martin got fourth.
The overall victory of Alberto Contador wasn't endangered anymore and he could triumph on the podium with a trident in his hand. El Pistolero wins this 49th edition with a lead of 2'05" on Nairo Quintana and 2'14" on his teammate Roman Kreuziger.
Lotto Belisol started strongly in this Tirreno-Adriatico with the seventh place in the team time trial on day one.
In the second stage bad luck was our part again, because in the final Bart De Clercq and Jurgen Van den Broeck crashed. VDB was forced to leave the race due to a deep, horizontal cut on the inside of his right knee. A new examination today showed that the injuries are evolving well and since today he's riding on the rollers.
De Clercq didn't have any injuries after the crash and Saturday he became eleventh in the stage to ski station Selva Rotonda.
André Greipel sprinted to the third place in stage two. In the stage to Arezzo Lotto Belisol played again the card of the German champion, but the finish was more cut out for punchers like Peter Sagan.
Adam Hansen showed himself with a strong performance in the stage over the Muro di Guardiagrele, in which he was fourth.
Yesterday Lotto Belisol wasn't spared again. Marcel Sieberg crashed in full preparation of the bunch sprint and so the rest of the train had to brake and stood at the side of the road. André Greipel stayed on the bike and could continue, but he had to make up some loss and it was over after all.
"We can't say Tirreno-Adriatico was successful for us this year, because we came here to win a stage," sports director Herman Frison said. "We knew there were two to three stages in which we could try to win in the sprint. That didn't work out, also because of certain circumstances and a crash.
"The crash of Bart De Clercq and Jurgen Van den Broeck in stage two put a damper on the party after the team time trial of day one. They were our guys for GC. We could immediately forget to strive for a good overall classification.
"Adam Hansen set a great result on Sunday. When we look at the team as a whole we can certainly be satisfied about the team time trial, where the boys have set a great performance. It confirmed that our riders are in a good shape. We were only four seconds behind place four, while all top teams were represented.
"Also yesterday the guys were in a good position, but then there was that crash. When we saw the images on TV we feared for injuries. When we noticed after the finish that there wasn't too much damage that was a relief of course. Luckily we can go to Milan-Sanremo with a good and complete team."
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