Stage 5 padania

the final stage of padania went nice and smoothly and successfully for our team liquigas cannondale. By days end Elia finished another very close 2nd in the bunch sprint, Ivan wrapped up the overall victory for the tour and elia won the points classification so was a great 5 days of racing for our team and most significantly our two leaders Ivan Basso and Elia Viviani. The day went along pretty calmly. A breakaway of 2 got away early and built up a big lead of 7min untill we started to real them in with about 100km to go. I traded some work on the from with longo and vanotti so was also a bit easier day for me than the previous days were i spent alot of time alone on the front. With 30km to go the race was back together so then we really whipped up the pace to discourage and further attacks and with 10km my time in the sun on the front of the peleton came to an end for the tour and i retreated to the saftey of the back of the bunch for an enjoyably fast ride to the finish as our strong men, bodnar, oss, basso, sabatini and finally elia took over to set up the sprint. So all in all the days work went off without a hitch and we all had a nice end to a great 5 days racing. It was a particularly enjoyable race for me as it was first opportunity to race a small stage race with our team leaders in fine form and me also feeling good and being in the condition required to contribute so from this point of view i was really happy to be appart of the sort of race i had always hoped to be with liquigas and its big leaders like Ivan and Elia. To see ivan win was certainly a special moment for me as being so close to him throughout the year on and off the bike and training and racing i had seen him have a few tuff months but he never diverted from his work ethic and finally this week in padania it was rewarded. He truly showed his true class with this win in padania and i hope it gives him the confidence that he was missing at times this year to keep up with these great performances. For Elia well he is a young kid going places very very fast as per his charactoristic as a sprinter and the cycling world will be hearing alot about him in the years to come. It would come as no surprize then to know that it is very very enjoyable working for these guys and knowing that a long day on the front will usually result in a great performance by one of these guys makes the pain and fatique pretty much dissapear. It was certainly a great 5 days with a great bunch of guys.

SRM
Time 4hrs 10min
40kmph average
265watt average
140 heart rate average
3600kj burnt
1500m altitude gain

CJW
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