© Bettini

GEOX-TMC team members prepare for the first stage of the 5-stage Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali. From left to right, David Blanco, Fabio Felline, Noe Gianetti, and Arkaitz Duran.

© Bettini

GEOX-TMC takes off in the team time trail with Fabio Felline leading the pack.

© Bettini

Daniele Ratto follows closely at 2nd.

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And Juan Jose Cobo settles into third.

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Cobo cruises toward the start line of Stage 2.

© Bettini

Fabio Felline shows off his Fuji Altamira before the start of 194-km 2nd stage in which Italian teammate Matteo Pelucchi finished 4th.

© Bettini

Ratto and Sport Director Stefano Zanini chat before the start of Stage 3.

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Ratto in the peloton.

© Bettini

David Blanco careens around a corner.  Blanco finished 17th in the 155.5-km 3rd Stage.

© Bettini

Juan Jose Cobo works his way up a tough climb.

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Ratto takes the corner with ease.

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Arkaitz Duran launches into a sprint. Duran finished 12th in the 4th-stage, 14.3-km individual time trail.

© Bettini

Daniele Ratto digs deep and powers through the start.

© Bettini

Ratto nearing the finish line.

© Bettini

Fabio Felline finished 14th in the time trial, 4 seconds behind teammate Duran.

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Check out Noe Gianetti’s focus! Gianetti finished 16th in the overall Best Young Rider classification.

© Bettini

Felline and Cobo amidst the peloton in Stage 5. Felline was GEOX-TMC’s highest finisher, coming in 35th in the race’s overall classification and 7th in the Best Young Rider classification.

Rafael Valls laughs with teammate Mauricio Ardila, perhaps the team’s leading jokester, before the start of Stage 1 of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. Valls finished 29th in the 166.9-km first stage.

Valls looking relaxed, Menchov looking focused on the team bus.

Marco Corti gives ASI Marketing Coordinator Milay Galvez a grin.

Sport Director Matxin and David de la Fuente  share a laugh.

Mauricio Ardilo places his race number on his team jersey.

De la Fuente has Sastre smirking. Sastre is also a contender for top jokester.

Before the start of Stage 1, Menchov chats with team mechanic Rober.

Sastre checks out his Selle Italia Monolink seat post system with team mechanic Fermin and ASI Team Liasion David Anker.

Denis Menchov makes his way up the day’s first climb.

Followed closely by Sastre.

De la Fuente pulls up beside the team car.

De la Fuente chats with Matxin.

Mauricio Ardila, who finished 22nd in Catalunya’s 1st Stage,  suffered a fall very early in the race on a roundabout.

After the crash, Ardila hopped right back on his Altamira and was on his way – bloody elbow, torn bib, and all.

De la Fuente stops to adjust the position of his Selle Italia saddle.

Carlos Sastre pulls back to chat with Matxin and gets him laughing.

Dimitry Konzontchuk settles into the middle of peloton in Catalunya’s 169.3-km Stage 2.

Menchov powers through the Catalan countryside.

Ardila approaches the team car. The Colombian finished 19th in Catalunya’s 2nd Stage.

Ardila grabs a bottle of water, as well as gels for his teammates.

Ardila looks ahead and prepares to rejoin his teammates.

De la Fuente pulls up to the team car to chat with Matxin.

Strategizing.

Marcel Wyss against the awesome backdrop of the Catalan countryside.

GEOX-TMC ready to race at Milano-Sanremo.

Sport Director Stefano Zanini gives an emphatic thumbs up before the start of the race.

Daniele Ratto chasing after a crash. © Bettini

– MILANO-SAN REMO –

It was a difficult outing for GEOX-TMC Saturday at the Milano-Sanremo, the first big classic of 2011. Rain-slicked roads triggered a slew of crashes, particularly along the slippery descent of the Le Mànie climb.

Saturday’s crashes claimed five GEOX-TMC victims: David Blanco, Fabio Felline, Matthias Brandle, Marko Kump, and Matteo Pelucchi, as well as some of the sport’s top sprinters like HTC Highroad’s Mark

Cavendish, Thor Hushovd of Garmin-Cervelo, and defending champion Oscar Freire of Rabobank.

More than 40 riders didn’t finish the race as a result of crashes, and due to injuries sustained Saturday, Brandle will now sit out the Settimana Coppi & Bartali, and

Kump will not start the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.

In the race won by HTC-Highroad’s Matthew Goss, David Gutierrez was GEOX-TMC’s top finisher, coming in 68^th among some of the best competition this season.

– UPCOMING RACES –

Next up for GEOX-TMC is the 7-stage Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, which will run from Monday, March 21st to Sunday, March 27^th.

It is GEOX-TMC’s first participation in a UCI World Tour stage race, the premier league of cycling. Co-captains Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre will be returning to action after great performances in the Vuelta a Murcia, where Menchov finished third overall.

“The Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, besides being a very prestigious race, is also another step on the way to the Giro d’Italia,” explained Menchov.

“Unfortunately, last week, I wasn’t very lucky; first, I crashed while I was training: A car hit me on the streets of my hometown; then, I got the flu. But now, I’m much better, and I want to line up for Catalunya,” he said. “The first stages will be important for me to understand the shape I’m in and improve my condition.”

Similarly, Carlos Sastre will use Catalunya as a conditioning gauge.

“For me, Catalunya is an important race, not for results but for reaching the right level of form before the Giro,” said the 2008 Tour de France winner, who has only raced 3 days thus far this season.

“After Murcia, I have continued to build my training kilometres and will ride the Volta a Catalunya with the goal of accumulating racing kilometres and race rhythm.”

Colombian Mauricio Ardila, Spaniards David de la Fuente and Rafael Valls, Russian Dimitry Kozontchuk, Switzerland’s Marcel Wyss, and Italian Marco Corti will be joining Menchov and Sastre on the course. Corti will be riding in place of the injured Marko Kump.

GEOX-TMC will also be racing this week in the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali from Tuesday, March 22nd to Saturday, March 26th.

Coppi & Bartali will start on the Adriatic coast with two semi-stages: Stage 1 in the morning and Stage 2′s spectacular team time trial in the afternoon.

“Coppi & Bartali, with 4 in-line stages, plus a team time trial and individual time trial, will be very interesting for the team,” said GEOX-TMC Sport Director Stefano Zanini.

“Unfortunately, we won’t be able to line up Austrian TT champion Matthias Brandle because of the injuries he sustained on Saturday in Sanremo. Matthias is a specialist in races against the clock. He would have been very important to the team’s results, but Switzerland’s Noe Gianetti will be replacing him,” Zanini explained.

“The team is ready and motivated – even Blanco, who has two stitches on his right arm, and Pelucchi. Both riders have recovered well from their falls in the Sanremo,” he added.

Juan Jose Cobo, Arkaitz Duran, Fabio Felline, David Gutierrez, and Daniele Ratto will also be starting at Coppi & Bartali.

Next up for GEOX-TMC is the Milano-Sanremo on Saturday, March 19^th. One of cycling’s oldest, most legendary races, the Milano-Sanremo is the first major classic of the 2011 cycling season. The race begins in Milano in front of the Sforzesco Castle and finishes 300 kilometers later by the sea in Sanremo, the “City of Flowers.”

25 teams will race for a total of 200 riders. GEOX-TMC will be sending Italians Matteo Pelucchi, Fabio Felline and Daniele Ratto, Spaniards David Blanco, Arkaitz Duran and David Gutierrez, Austrian Matthias Brandle, and Slovenian Marko Kump. Team Sporting Director Stefano Zanini will direct the riders from the team car.

“It’s surely an honor and a privilege to be able to take part in an important classic like Milano-Sanremo,” said Zanini. “Sanremo is a race with unique charm that every rider dreams of winning.”

“We’re lining up at the starting gate with a very young, very motivated group of athletes,” he added. “A long and difficult race like the Sanremo will definitely be an excellent proving ground for the entire team and an important chance for our younger riders to gain experience.”

The Milano-Sanremo will be shown on Universal Sports this Saturday from 6-8 p.m. EST and then again from 9:30-11:30 p.m. For more info, check out:  http://www.universalsports.com/tv-listings/index.html.

Uruguay’s Rutas de America concluded Sunday with GEOX-TMC finishing 7^th as a team, thanks in large part to Italian neo-pro Matteo Pelucchi’s top-ten finishes in 4 of the 6 stages.

Coming off his first career win at the Clasica de Almeria, Pelucchi finished 2^nd in both the first and last stages of the race.

In the 140.1-km first stage that ran from Uruguay’s capital Montevideo to Minas, Pelucchi came in 2nd behind Dario Diaz of Villa Teresa, followed closely in the final sprint by teammates Tomas Alberio and Marko Kump, who finished 4th and 9^th respectively. Three GEOX-TMC members in the top-ten assured the team a 2^nd place finish in the team classification.

“The entire team did a great job,” said Pelucchi after day one. “It’s too bad because today we could have won, but we’re in good shape, and there will be room in the upcoming stages to try again.”

On day three, in the 154.2-km 3^rd stage, GEOX-TMC had yet another strong showing: Kump finished 5^th, Pelucchi 6^th, and the team took 3^rd.

GEOX-TMC’s Fabio Felline, returning from a collarbone injury sustained in February, finished 2^nd across the line in the 140.3-km 4^th stage after a brilliant performance on the day’s second Category 3-climb. Pelucchi finished 8^th, and the team again placed 2^nd in the team classification.

And in the race’s final stage, Pelucchi again claimed 2^nd. With three podium finishes and 5 top-ten’s, GEOX-TMC finished 7^th in the final team classification.