Garmin-Sharp had a bad start to this year’s Vuelta. Tipped as one of the teams in contention for the TTT stage win, they came in a disappointing 19th, 1:41 behind stage winners Astana. But the disappointment doesn’t stop there. Koldo Fernandez, who along with Michel Kreder crashed during the stage, came away with a broken rib and therefore has had to abandon the race, as he’s having difficulty breathing. Here’s hoping he has a speedy recovery.
Tag Archives: Koldo Fernandez
Rider updates: Philippe Gilbert, Tom Boonen and Koldo Fernandez
With the final racing of the season taking place last weekend, the VeloVoices team is taking a look back at the performances of our selected riders to watch in 2012. I’ve been following the progress of three Classics specialists: BMC’s Philippe Gilbert, the top-ranked rider in the world last year, Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s former world champion and Tour de France green jersey winner Tom Boonen, and Garmin-Sharp’s Koldo Fernandez. Here’s a quick summary of what they’ve achieved (or haven’t) in the past couple of months.
Philippe Gilbert (BMC)
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Results: Won stages 9 & 19 of the Vuelta a España. 2nd in World Championships team time trial. Won World Championships road race.
WorldTour ranking: 46th, 112 points.
After a notably un-notable beginning – and middle – of the season, Philippe Gilbert hit back over the latter races, with a thrilling end to his season. After disappointing in the Classics and the Olympics, it was clear that his next big target would be the World Championships – a title which has eluded him despite his best efforts over the last couple of seasons.
He rode himself into form perfectly, winning two stages at the Vuelta in a typically dominant PhilGil fashion, before arriving at the World Championships. He was evidently in good shape, demonstrating it by taking silver in the first TTT at the Worlds since 1994.
Finally, the big day arrived: the elite men’s road race. On the Dutch-Belgian border, Gilbert and the Belgian team rode an outstanding race, launching their man towards the finishing line where, in true style, he rode in alone. He attributed his team and prior experience of the roads for his victory:
The whole team did a really good job. I was well placed at the bottom of the Cauberg and while I knew I didn’t immediately have a huge gap, I had a good feeling because I’ve won the Amstel Gold Race here. Plus there was a tailwind, so that was good.
He also commented on how he had learnt from his narrow defeat in Geelong two years ago:
One changes every time one loses, because one has more experience. I was recalling that race during this one and it certainly played a role in my performance.
Already looking forward to next season, Gilbert says he doesn’t believe in the rainbow jersey’s curse, while revealing a little about his schedule for 2013:
I don’t know yet. For sure I go for the Ardennes, but I don’t know if I go for Flanders or another race. My goal is the Ardennes, that is the priority.
Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step)
Image courtesy of Omega Pharma-Quick Step
Results: World Ports Classic – 1st overall, won stage 1. Won Paris-Brussels. 1st in World Championships team time trial.
WorldTour ranking: 3rd, 410 points.
The suggestions that Tom Boonen is too old to race at the top level grew to look more and more ridiculous as the season passed. He ended his enormously successful season with three further wins: two of them individual and one with the Belgian team.
Boonen became the inaugural winner of the World Ports Classic from Rotterdam to Antwerp and back, winning stage one and holding on in the second of the two stages to take the overall victory. Likewise, he won the prestigious Paris-Brussels race (which incredibly was first run back in 1893) for the first time. He said:
After a week of hard training I didn’t know what I could expect from this race. But today we decided to try and go for a win.
Suffice to say, his efforts paid off. After the semi-Classic, the 32-year old turned his attention to team time trialling for the World Championships.
The work conducted with his Omega Pharma-Quick Step team paid dividends, where the outfit won gold. A couple of days later things got even better for Boonen, who rode for the victorious Philippe Gilbert in the road race. It was a perfect end to a spectacular season.
Koldo Fernandez (Garmin-Sharp)
Image courtesy of koldofernandezdelarrea.com
Results: 5th in stage 21 of the Vuelta a España.
WorldTour ranking: Not ranked.
Koldo Fernandez has had a relatively busy end to the season at Garmin-Sharp, being selected to ride his home Grand Tour along with a couple of other smaller Classics.
Fernandez rode the Vuelta in his usual role of a ‘luxury teammate’ – effectively a domestique who is also capable of competing for victories should the chance arise. Impressively, the Basque sprinter made it to the finish in Madrid, where he took fifth place on the final stage.
His first race back after the difficult Vuelta was the German classic Sparkassen Münsterland Giro, where he finished a respectable 14th, before coming 32nd in the French classic Paris-Tours.
Previous updates: August 11th, June 23rd, April 12th, February 23rd
Rider profiles: Philippe Gilbert, Tom Boonen, Koldo Fernandez
Websites: Philippe Gilbert, Tom Boonen, Koldo Fernandez
Twitter: @Phil_Gilbert1, @tomboonen1
Rider updates: Philippe Gilbert, Tom Boonen and Koldo Fernandez
With the Tour de France now a fading memory, the Olympic programme complete and the Vuelta a Espana fast approaching on the horizon, the VeloVoices team is again reviewing the performances of our selected riders to watch in 2012. I’m following the progress of three Classics specialists in 2012: BMC’s Philippe Gilbert, the top-ranked rider in the world last year, Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s former world champion and Tour de France green jersey winner Tom Boonen, and Garmin-Sharp’s Koldo Fernandez. Here’s a quick summary of what they’ve achieved (or haven’t) in the past couple of months.
Philippe Gilbert (BMC)
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Results: 18th in Olympic road race. 17th in Olympic time trial.
WorldTour ranking: 49th, 80 points.
Philippe Gilbert has continued his underwhelming season, despite the Tour de France and Olympic road race having sections to his liking. Compounding the disappointment is the fact he is no longer Belgian national champion, with Tom Boonen retaking the crown.
With the Tour de France starting in Belgium the first stage was tailor-made for a Gilbert win to delight the home crowds. But, as has been the case throughout the season, Gilbert didn’t have the firepower to accelerate away from the bunch, and he disappeared almost completely from view for the remainder of the race.
That was until stage 18, when he was taken out by a dog, the size of which was amusingly compared to a pony by other riders, with Gilbert himself saying it was “heavier than Scarponi”. Less amusing was the thought that he might miss out on the Olympics, and he made his thoughts known to its terrified owners in no uncertain terms.
Fortunately, Philippe recovered in time to make the Olympics, but despite it being a course which suited him (or at least would have last season) and getting into the large breakaway from which the eventual winner was drawn, he finished 18th, and 17th in the following time trial.
Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step)
Image courtesy of Omega Pharma-Quick Step
Results: 1st in Belgian national championship road race. 28th in Olympic road race.
WorldTour ranking: 4th, 368 points.
Boonen has had a reasonably quiet spell since our last update, the highlight of which being his second national title, in which he sprinted out of a five-man breakaway to take the tricolore.
Elsewhere he abandoned the Tour of Poland after a crash on the opening stage caused a broken rib, although this fortunately didn’t endanger his participation in the Olympic road race, which he had built the middle part of his season around.
Opting to skip the Tour de France, it was disappointment in London, as he finished in 28th place. Contesting the peloton’s sprint for the line, Boonen finished directly behind Andre Greipel, and just in front of Mark Cavendish.
As I write this Tom leads the Eneco Tour, having constantly lurked near the front at all of the bunch sprints so far. Even though he should be able to survive the final hilly stage, his time trialling probably isn’t enough for him to hold on to that lead until the end, with stage wins his main focus.
Koldo Fernandez (Garmin-Sharp)
Image courtesy of koldofernandezdelarrea.com
Results: 2nd in Spanish national championship road race. 9th in stage 4 and 4th in stage 5 of Tour de Wallonie. 6th in stage 1 of Tour de l’Ain.
WorldTour ranking: Not ranked.
After a quiet start to the season, Koldo Fernandez has recently begun to show his sprint credentials, finishing second in the Spanish national championship road race before two top tens in the Tour de Wallonie.
At the moment Koldo is riding the Tour de l’Ain as Garmin-Sharp team leader, with a sixth place on the opening stage. He seems to be gradually riding himself into shape, and hopefully it won’t be long before he takes his first win since September 2010 and his days riding for the Basque outfit Euskaltel-Euskadi.
Previous updates: June 23rd, April 12th, February 23rd
Rider profiles: Philippe Gilbert, Tom Boonen, Koldo Fernandez
Websites: Philippe Gilbert, Tom Boonen, Koldo Fernandez
Twitter: @Phil_Gilbert1, @tomboonen1