Three weeks of hard racing in Italy will mostly be remembered for bad weather and modified stages, the early exit of two big champions, aggressive and entertaining racing and an Italian that was just that little bit better than everybody else. Do the 23 participating teams have a reason to be satisfied with their performance? Did they live up to expectations? Or did they end up as pack fill in a historically large Giro peloton? CyclingQuotes.com takes the role as judge and evaluates the performances of the teams that 3 weeks ago lined up in Naples with great optimism and plenty of ambitions.

 

The late inclusion of Katusha in the ProTeam ranks had as a consequence that the Giro organizers RCS were forced to ask for an exemption from the rules to add an extra team to the originally planned 22-teams peloton as the Russian team had been overlooked when the wildcards were granted. There were, however, still only 21 stages - 20 after the cancellation of the mountain drama to Val Martello - and 4 jerseys to fight for, thus creating a much fiercer competition for the spoils in the 3 week Italian grand tour.

 

In these moments the teams are busy performing positive spin which justifies their efforts on the Italian roads, and even though some of them admit some kind of disappointment, most teams are apparently very satisfied with their results. However, CyclingQuotes.com is not venal for cheap marketing, and instead we make our own judgment of the performances.

 

Below we give a short assessment of the first 12 teams and hand out marks on a scale from 1 to 10. The number should reflect whether the teams have lived up to their own and the general expectations. Hence, the marks are not a direct evaluation of the results and thus not comparable. Instead, they reflect a weighing out of the performance against the expectations. For instance, Team Sky will have to deliver much better results than Bardiani to get a positive evaluation.

 

The judgement of the final 11 teams can be found here.

 

Garmin-Sharp

Number of stage wins: 1 (Ramunas Navardauskas in stage 11)

Best placing on general classification:  49 (Tom Danielson)

Best placing in a stage: 1 (Ramunas Navardauskas in stage 11)

Number of top 10 finishes: 7 (team time trial, Hesjedal 3, Navardauskas 3)

Number of wins in secondary rankings: None

Mark: 4

 

The American team had marked a defence of Ryder Hesjedal's Giro win out as their main objective for the season and took to the start with a very strong team capable of supporting their Canadian captain. Having shown signs of great strength in the beginning of the race, Hesjedal showed the first signs of weakness in stage 7 to Pescara, and since then his performances level decreased from day to day until the Canadian finally threw in the towel before the start of stage 12.

 

There is little doubt that illness is the main explanation for the sudden drop in performance level from a man who appeared to be more than ready to live up to last year's fabulous performance. In that regard it is unjust to judge the team's performance only on the GC ambitions that came to nothing but it does not change the fact that the ambitious and strong team in the days after the captain's exit in no way delivered on the expectations that you could rightly have for a team of such a high calibre.

 

The team saved its Giro the day after Hesjedal's total collpase on the Passo Cason di Lanza when Ramunas Navardauskas took a formidable win in Vajont, and 2nd and 4th places in subsequent stages did only add to his incredible performance, thus underlining the talent that last year's stint in the maglia rosa and the recent stage win in the Tour de Romandy had brought to light. After Hesjedal's abandonment, it was, however, mostly a Lithuanian one-man army as the rest of the team was completely invisible. Robert Hunter never played any role in the sprints, and the in-form climbers Tom Danielson and Peter Stetina were never able to take over the reins when the captain faded. David Millar was unlucky to crash and be struck by illness but he has all season appeared to be a rider far from his best shape. And then Christian Vande Velde has hopefully done some good training for the Tour as the veteran was far from the rider who delivered a key performance to secure last year's win by Hesjedal.

 

Ag2r-La Mondiale

Number of stage wins: None

Best placing on general classification:  5 (Carlos Betancur)

Best placing in a stage: 2 (Carlos Betancur in stages 9, 10 and 15)

Number of top 10 finishes: 15 (Appollonio 1, Belletti 4, Betancur 7, Pozzovivo 3)

Number of wins in secondary rankings: White jersey (Betancur)

Mark: 9

 

In a sense it is a paradox that French Ag2r usually performs better in the Giro than in the Tour but nonetheless it has been the case in recent years. Early in the season the team's usual Giro captain made a decision to focus on the Tour but the presence of Domenico Pozzovivo and Carlos Betancur underlined that the team had no intentions to start the Giro with less ambitions.

 

The team started the race with 3 aims: stage win, white jersey for Betancur and a top 10 in the GC for Pozzovivo. The latter two were reached while the former failed but there is no doubt that the Frenchmen have been positively surprised by their huge success. After a solid 2012 season at Acqua e Sapone and a fabulous spring campaign, the expectations for Betancur were high but few would had predicted that he over the entire race would only be surpassed by Nibali in the mountains. Constantly aggressive and attacking, it was enjoyable to watch the Colombian and it was another testament to his level and mental strength that not even an untimely puncture could make him crack on the crucial stage to the top of the Tre Cime Di Lavaredo. Some had doubted his ability to keep up the pace during all three weeks but those doubts were put to rest by a really consistent performance.

 

While Betancur impressed, Pozzovivo had a harder time in Italy and he found it difficult to live up to last year's stage win and 8th place. He showed solid form early in the race on the Altopiano del Montasio and even though a crash on the descent from the Telegraph hampered him in the final week, he never really was at his peak level. Of course one has to remember his crash in the Giro del Trentino which left him with two broken ribs and a lack of preparation and overall his performance must be regarded as acceptable.

 

Besides the captains, a number of the teams other riders were aggressive and especially Ben Gastauer proved that he has taken another step up. Manuel Belletti was one of the most consistent sprinters and even though he was never really close to a victory, he used his formidable ability to position himself to capture 4 top 10 placings. The only lack in the results is of course the stage win and in the stage to the top of the Galibier the team should have had more confidence in Betancur and taken on the responsibility to bring back Visconti and thereby secure Betancur the victory in the only stage finishing in France.

 

Androni Giocattoli

Number of stage wins: 0

Best placing on general classification: Number 11 (Franco Pellizotti)

Best placing in a stage: 2 (Fabio Felline on stage 4)

Number of top ten finishes: 7 (Felline 2, Gavazzi 1, Rodriguez 1, Rubiano 1, Pellizotti 2)

Number of victories in secondary rankings: 0

Mark: 6

 

The Italian team turned up for the start with the ambition of once again bringing home a stage win and putting Franco Pellizotti into the overall top 10. Both aims failed but nonetheless the team has a reason to be reasonably satisfied with their performance. Fabio Felline came close to the stage win in a direct duel with another big Italian classics talent Battaglin in stage 4 and climbed strongly throughout the entire race to prove that there is any reason to believe in this young man in the future.

 

Pellizotti's 11th place was not enough to reach the target but the Italian champion improved as the time went by in what was his first grand tour after returning from suspension. In that regard he was one of the riders to be disadvantaged by the cancellation of stage 19 which could probably have elevated him into the top 10 in GC.

 

The team's major trademark was, however, its aggressiveness. No team was even close to showing the same kind of attacking spirit as Androni Giocattoli as the team was present in almost every breakaway in the entire race. What they lacked was for usually strong climbers like Rubiano, Sella and Rodrigue to reach their peak level and so they were unable to translate their attacks into results. Mattia Gavazzi gave indications of his sprinting talents in his only chance in Margherita di Savoia before he was disqualified for taking a tow. And finally neoprofessional Diego Rosa used a 23rd place to prove that it not without a reason that he has marked himself out as one of the most promising talents in the early part of the season.

 

Astana

Number of stage wins: 2 (Vincenzo Nibali on stage 18 and 20)

Best placing on general classification: Number 1 (Vincenzo Nibali)

Best placing in a stage: 1 (Vicenzo Nibali on stage 18 and 20)

Number of top ten finishes: 12 (TTT, Kangert 3, Nibali 7, Aru 1)

Number of victories in secondary rankings: 0

Mark: 10

 

Astana travelled to Naples with only one objective and a team solely dedicated to reach it: Vincenzo Nibali should ride into Brescia wearing the maglia rosa. Exactly that happened yesterday and when the Italian underlined his superiority by winning two of the key stages along the way, it is hard to not to give the team top marks.

 

Nibali has admitted to suffer after his second crash in the stage to Pescara and it was evident that he dug deep during the two time trials and inside the final kilometers of the stage to Tre Cime Di Lavaredo. On no other occasion the Italian appeared to be close to his limit, and the victory is one of the most convincing in the recent grand tour history.

 

At the same time the team supported him perfectly and only Fabio Aru's and Paolo Tiralongo's bouts of illness in the second week indicated some kind of weakness in the Kazakh formation. However, Tanel Kangert and Valerio Agnoli got onto a new level and did an enormous effort in some of the crucial moments of the race. Especially the former finally made his real breakthrough performance at the highest level, overcoming the efforts of supporting Nibali to finish 3rd in the long time trial, 2nd in Ivrea and 14th in GC. Finally, neoprofessional Aru showed that he has what it takes to mix it up with the best and the 5th place on Tre Cime Di Lavaredo is further confirmation of the fact that Astana also has one of the future grand tour stars in their ranks.

 

Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox

Number of stage wins: 1 (Enrico Battaglin on stage 4)

Best placing on general classification: Number 44 (Stefano Pirazzi)

Best placing in a stage: 1 (Enrico Battaglin on stage 4)

Number of top ten finishes: 8 (Battaglin 2, Pirazzi 2, Modolo 3, Colbrelli 1)

Number of victories in secondary rankings: Blue jersey (Stefano Pirazzi)

Mark: 9

 

The youngest team in the Giro is a squad built up of young Italian talents, and if one keeps that in mind, their results are really impressive. Stefano Pirazzi was one of the race's most visible characters and firmly lived up to the role as favourite in the mountains competition that he was assigned beforehand. Whenever KOM points of a certain number were up for grabs, he was on the offensive, and even though his way of riding at some points appeared to be destructive and counter-productive in regards to reaching his secondary goal of winning a stage, it was a very efficient way to take home the win in the mountains classification.

 

After a difficult 2012 season, Enrico Battaglin finally showed that he still has the kind of talent that saw him win the Coppa Sabatini as a stagiaire in 2012. No one has ever doubted his strong sprint but many were surprised to see him follow the best on the climbs in some rather tough stages. The victory in Serra San Bruno was convincing, and if his team had been stronger, he would undoubtedly have bagged win number two some days later in Pescara when he sprinted home to grab 2nd place behind Adam Hansen.

 

The team's sprinter, Sacha Modolo, crashed when he had his best opportunity in Matera and had a bad day in the stage to Cherasco. However, he bounced back strongly from the disappointments and once again proved that he is a rather good climber. He finished off the race in the most formidable manner by finishing 2nd in yesterday's sprint in Brescia even though the flat stage was not perfectly suited to the versatile Italian.

 

The only regret in the team will certainly be the difficulties of the team's other talents. Expectations were high for the climbing duo of Francesco Bongiorno and Stefano Locatelly but despite encouraging signs from the former at some points in the race, they still need to take another step before they can compete in a grand tour. Sonny Colbrelli was strong during the entire race but except his heroic performance on the Jafferau, he profited too little from his efforts.

 

Blanco

Number of stage wins: 0

Best placing on general classification: Number 17 (Wilco Kelderman)

Best placing in a stage: 3 (Paul Martens on stage 5)

Number of top ten finishes: 6 (TTT, Gesink 1, Martens 2, Clement 2)

Number of victories in secondary rankings: 0

Mark: 2

 

When you turn up with Robert Gesink, Steven Kruijswijk and Wilco Kelderman and even declare that the Giro is the race that should convince any potential sponsor of putting in the money, the results for the Blanco team are hugely disappointing. For once Gesink avoided any significant crash in the first week, and when the peloton hit the mountains, his 4th place was a really good position to be in. The Dutchman did, however, once again disappointed when the going got tough, and even though he left the race due to illness, health problems were not the reason for his collapse on the Jafferau.

 

At the same time the race was another indication of the fact that Kruijswijk has faded enormously. Since his fabulous 2011 season the Dutch talent has been almost invisible, and not even after Gesink's breakdown he managed to make any notice of himself. The team's encouragement was the performance of young Kelderman who handled the distance well and delivered a solid 17th place despite his initial support role and a very aggressive approach in the final week.

 

The team gave signs of fighting spirit by putting in a number of attacks on the Galibier and in the next days both Gesink and Kelderman were part promising breaks. Being part of the decisive break in the stage to Ivrea, the former had bad luck when he lost his chain, but it would have been difficult for him to win anyway. The team had allowed Paul Martens to try his hand in the tougher sprints, and the German proved his worth by finishing third in Matera. Finally, Stef Clement performed strongly in the time trials. That is, however, not enough to remove the impression of a team that once again failed to deliver on the high expectations in a grand tour.

 

BMC

Number of stage wins: 0

Best placing on general classification: Number 3 (Cadel Evans)

Best placing in a stage: 2 (Cadel Evans on stage 3, Daniel Oss on stage 11)

Number of top ten finishes: 13 (Blythe 1, Evans 10, Oss 2)

Number of victories in secondary rankings: 0

Mark: 8

 

BMC is hard to assess as the expectations were rather ambiguous.  On the one hand, the team lined up a captain whose primary objective was to catch up on some lost racing, at the same time promising to do his best. On the other hand, the team was solely dedicated to support the GC ambitions. No matter what, a podium spot for the veteran Cadel Evans is undoubtedly a great success - especially because it provided the needed confirmation that the Australian still has what it takes to compete with the best in the grand tours.

 

Evans has himself admitted to start targeting the win as the race went on, but the BMC captain was never a real winner option. Instead, it was the usually very consistent Evans who performed below his usual level in the mountain time trial and on the Jafferau while the usually erratic Nibali kept a constant high level. The Australian still insists that a mechanical cost him 2nd place and it is not impossible that the Australian would have rejoined the Uran group on the Tre Cime Di Lavaredo, had it not been for his technical problems. However, the tiny 10 second difference was difficult to control - especially with bonus seconds on the line - and BMC has every reason to be happy celebrate their result.

 

On the other hand, the race once again revealed that the team lacks the ability to support their captains in the mountains. Ivan Santaromita showed promising signs in the first part of the race but faded when he was most needed, while Steve Morabito never reached his peak level. On several occasions a number of domestiques in some of the harder finals could have given Evans the opportunity to sprint to a stage win.

 

As a consequence of the dedicated focus on Evans, there were few other encouragements, but Daniel Oss took a formidable 2nd place in Vajont in one of the few stages where the team's other riders were allowed to chase their own success. On the other hand an ill Taylor Phinney never played any role and ended up leaving the race after a completely invisible performance.

 

Cannondale

Number of stage wins: 0

Best placing on general classification: Number 19 (Damiano Caruso)

Best placing in a stage: 2 (Elia Viviani on stage 1 and 6)

Number of top ten finishes: 8 (Viviani 4, Caruso 4)

Number of victories in secondary rankings: 0

Mark: 6

 

Cannondale's Giro ambitions were crushed just days prior to the start when the team's captain, Ivan Basso, had to forfeit his participation due to a painful cyst. Instead the team's GC rider for the Tour, Damiano Caruso, was called to Naples at short notice and without any noticeable preparation he was asked to chase a top 10 result in GC. The remaining part of the team mostly consisted of dedicated and solid domestiques who had plenty of experience in supporting a captain but not much routine in chasing their own success, and so most of the expectations for the big home race was placed on the shoulders of Caruso and the team's young sprinter, Elia Viviani.

 

If one keeps this in mind, the team performed solidly. Viviani was up against an invincible Cavendish but Tiziano Dall'Antonia and Fabio Sabatini made up the best lead-out train in the race and in the early part of the race, the Cannondale sprinter was the Manxman's closest challenger. However, the race wore the Italian down and even though his support remained formidable, he evidently lacked his top speed at the end of the three weeks.

 

Caruso paid dearly for his bad preparation in the early part of the race but along the way he rode himself into some solid form. When the peloton started the third week, the Italian was one of the 10 strongest climbers in the race, his 3rd place in the mountain time trial being very impressive. The cancelled stage to Val Martello was a good opportunity for a successful long-distance attack but instead his only change to exploit his form was fight directly with Nibali on the Tre Cime Di Lavaredo. He made a big mistake by taking a huge gamble by joining the big breakaway in the stage to Ivrea. Not only did his presence mean that the group was course, the effort also ended up costing him more than 17 minutes and all hopes of a top 10 result in GC.

 

As expected the team was mostly a two-man army, and usually offensive riders like Cristiano Salerno and Cayetano Sarmiento were almost invisible throughout the entire race.

 

Colombia

Number of stage wins: 0

Best placing on general classification: Number 18 (Darwin Atapuma)

Best placing in a stage: 2 (Fabio Duarte on stage 20)

Number of top ten finishes: 5 (Pantano 2, Duarte 2, Atapuma 1)

Number of victories in secondary rankings: 0

Mark: 7

 

Some had - mostly based on nostalgia - expected that the Colombian team would blow the peloton to pieces in the mountain stages, but based on the riders it was always evident that that was unlikely to happen. Instead the team delivered a performance above expectations and the captains Darwin Atapuma and Fabio Duarte came back from a bad start to surprisingly mix it up with the best climbers in a head-to-head duel.

 

There was not much cause for optimism for the two main riders in the early part of the race and especially Duarte was far from his best level. However, the team remained active through some attacking riding from Jarlinson Pantano and Robinson Chalapud in the first hilly stages. When the racing got tough in the mountains in the final week, Duarte had ridden himself into an amazing form and already on the Jafferau he indicated that something big could be in store. The next day he finished 5th on the Galibier, and the runner-up spot in the queen stage to Tre Cime Di Lavaredo was much more than you could expect from one of the race's least experienced teams. Duarte could have performed amazingly in the cancelled Val Martello stage and was one of the riders to lose golden opportunities due to the weather. Unfortunately, his GC ambitions were hampered by a puncture and subsequent time loss of more than 20 minutes in the Altopiano del Montasio stage. Had it not been for his back luck and the many modified stages, he could very well have ended in the top 10.

 

Atapuma did an almost invisible race but gave hints of his talent by performing aggressively on the Tre Cime Di Lavaredo before finishing 9th. And finally the team's young sprinter Edwin Avila impressed by finishing 11th in Margherita di Savoia and by finishing his first grand tour just a few months after his professional debut.

 

Euskaltel

Number of stage wins: 0

Best placing on general classification: Number 12 (Samuel Sanchez)

Best placing in a stage: 2 (Samuel Sanchez on stage 18)

Number of top ten finishes: 5 (Sanchez 3, Martinez 1, Tamouridis 1)

Number of victories in secondary rankings: 0

Mark: 3

 

Unlike previous years the Euskaltel came to this year’s Giro with a clear objective: Samuel Sanchez was to join the league of riders, who had taken a stage win in all three Grand Tours. As a consequence the Basque squad for the Tour of Italy included key members such as Egoi Martinez, Gorka Verdugo and Jorge Azanza. Given the strength in depth of the team, the outcome of the Giro ended up fitting nicely with the series of disappointments that have plagued the team throughout the early parts of the current season.

 

Prior to the start in Naples nobody could expect to pick up a fortune at the bookmaker’s by picking the ever consistent Sanchez for a place in the top ten on GC. That is where he has placed in all of his Grand Tours with the exceptions of his 2005 Giro debut and his accident-prone Tour de France last year when he was forced to abandon due to a crash. Thus 12th overall is just another indication of a Grand Tour gone completely awry for the Basque team.

 

The team time trial showed promising signs until it was disrupted by an unfortunate puncture, but as soon as the going got tough in the mountains it became all too evident that Sanchez was far from his peak condition. True to style, his form improved as the race progressed and 4th on the Jafferau stage and 2nd on the mountain time trial indicated that Sanchez was on the right track. The team assumed responsibility at the front of the peloton on the Tre Cime di Lavaredo stage but as the dice was cast, the captain faded as a symbol of the team’s unsuccessful Giro campaign.

 

Meanwhile, the experienced riders on the team never seriously threatened to contend for a stage victory once the team had officially dropped all GC ambitions after stage 10. Verdugo was unable to reproduce the form that saw him finish 11th at the Vuelta last year, and Martinez couldn’t finish the job once he got into the right breakaway on the stage to Vajont. To add insult to injury, neither Mestre nor Vrecer showed any signs of the form that earned them a contract with the Basque outfit prior to the beginning of the season.

 

FDJ

Number of stage wins: 0

Best placing on general classification: Number 20 (Francis Mourey)

Best placing in a stage: 2 (Nacer Bouhanni on stage 12)

Number of top ten finishes: 6 (Bouhanni 3, Jeannesson 2, Roux 1)

Number of victories in secondary rankings: 0

Mark: 3

 

The FDJ team came to the Giro full of ambitions and with three different objectives: A sprint win for Nacer Bouhanni, a top ten finish overall for Arnold Jeannesson and successful breakaway attempts by Sandy Casar. A week into the race bad luck had rendered the last two objectives impossible as Jeannesson and Casar were compelled to abandon due to back problems and a crash respectively.

 

Thus, the team was left with only one option, but Bouhanni was just as powerless as every other sprinter against an invincible Mark Cavendish. Although he remained winless, the young Frenchman was in the running on several occasions and demonstrated why he is widely regarded as one of the biggest talents in the sprinters’ department. If he hadn’t been caught behind the bunch crash on the stage to Matera he might have taken his first Grand Tour stage win on that day.

 

On previous occasions Bouhanni had proved to be quite resilient on the climbs, but at the Giro he consistently failed to shine when the road shot upwards. A tactical blunder was made by the team as they sent their ace packing on the day before the Cherasco stage and thus deprived themselves of their best shot at a possible stage win.

 

Having lost their three captains, the team became invisible. Left with a squad of riders cut out for the Classics and sprint decisions and an in-form Francis Mourey, the team was doomed on the undulating stages. Another blunder was made when Mourey got involved in a battle against Francis De Greef over a top 25 on overall classification rather than go hunting for a stage victory that would have sealed a highly successful spring season for the cyclo cross rider. Though accident-stricken and despite Bouhanni’s determined fights against Cavendish the team scores no more than 3 due to its complete invisibility in the latter half of the Italian Grand Tour.

 

Katusha

Number of stage wins: 2 (Luca Paolini, stage 3 and Maxim Belkov, stage 9)

Best placing on general classification: Number 13 (Yury Trofimov)

Best placing in a stage: 1 (Luca Paolini, stage 3 and Maxim Belkov, stage 9)

Number of top ten finishes: 7 (TTT, Paolini 3, Caruso 1, Vicioso 1, Belkov 1)

Number of victories in secondary rankings: 0

Mark: 9

 

At first sight it may appear disrespectful for one of the world’s leading teams to take to the starting line at the Giro with a relatively weak squad. The team has another raison d’etre, however, and that is to provide promising young Russian riders with a chance to develop and prosper. In this regard, the absence of Rodriguez was an obvious reason to let the young talents of the team enter the big stage of international cycling.

 

Given the low key expectations prior to the beginning of the Giro, the team has exceeded itself. Few would have expected the team to boast two stage wins and four days in the pink jersey before the race took a break for the first rest day. In addition, Angel Vicioso took the runner-up spot on the stage to Matera and thus came within a whisker of making the first week of racing unforgettable for the team. In the latter parts of the race, the moments of triumph diminished but Yury Trofimov remained consistent throughout, had no off-day and came close to fulfilling the ambitious objective of a top ten finish overall. For Giampaolo Caruso, however, this Giro once and for all buried his aspirations of becoming a GC rider in the Grand Tours. Following a promising start, the Italian faded in the latter half of the race and was nowhere to be seen on the decisive stages despite a promising attack on the stage to Cherasco. Russian climber Petr Ignatenko is another rider who didn’t quite live up to the expectations.

 

In the big picture, though, Katusha proved the organizers right in inviting the team despite the skirmishes at the beginning of the season and one can only look forward to the team’s participation at the Tour de France when all the big names will be on the team roster.