Movistar Team tried by all ways to take their fifth victory of the season on Sunday, but success is still hiding to the telephone squad in the month of March.
The Spanish team fought for the stage victory in the ending ride of Paris-Nice and, above all, in the Queen stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, where they really contested the triumph after the very end with a colossal performance by Andrey Amador. The 24-year-old Costa Rican youngster did not get daunted by the terrific 244km parcourse of the day and jumped right after the start along with Malacarne (QST), Wegmann (LEO), Mouris (VAC) and Hayman (SKY), the quintet having up to eleven minutes over the bunch. 30km from the finish, Amador launched another attack when the group only had a couple of minutes over the GC group, and was left along with Malacarne in an epic duel between the the escapees and the selected bunch, where only Gilbert (OLO), Poels (VAC), Cunego (LAM) and Di Luca (KAT) managed to overtake Amador with just ten meters remaining.
Despite not being able to cope with the high expectations during the stage, the exhibition by Amador confirms the high hopes on him in his third season as pro, after having shown great attitude as one of the best amateurs growing in the Spanish calendar in the last decade. “It’s been a pity, but I’m content because I gave 100%, commented resignated Amador after the stage. “We knew it was a day suited for breakaways, and we had to try it. In the finale, we didn’t get really on with Malacarne, and that’s why the gap was reduced so quickly. We went through the last climb with just twenty seconds and I tried it in the descent, but in the final 2k he didn’t take relays and I couldn’t take him into the finish either. I had hopes until the end, but that’s how cycling works. A breakthrough point in my career? Maybe. These two past years have been a good training for me to learn from errors. I had preparated really well for this third season, taking care of every detail, but the incident in Costa Rica –he was into hospital for three weeks after being attacked by thugs- got everything delayed, and it’s just a month and a half since I have gone training. This will give me big confidence and shows to myself that results come if you do things well. I will keep trying.”
At the final stage of the 46th Paris-Nice, hellish weather took once again Movistar Team on front of the race. Basque rider David López made it into the 9-rider break from which the winner of the stage, Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (EUC), jumped in the finale, with López not managing to follow him in the ascent to the Col d’Eze to end up in 5th place, after a day of epic racing. Behind, JJ Rojas claimed the 8th place by leading the selected pursuit group and showed again that, shouldn’t he be stroke by misfortune -a puncture in the opening stage and a crash on Saturday-, he would have taken a stage win. The bad news for Movistar Team came from Xavi Tondo’s side, the Catalan rider having a bad day and losing his top-ten overall place despite help by his teammates. Germany’s Tony Martin (HTC) took the overall honours.
The overview by Yvon Ledanois, Movistar Team’s sports director in Paris-Nice, was “negative, if you look at the general classification, because we didn’t get any riders on top. It’s obvious that our gamble was Tondo, and he had a bad day today. The group got split after the descent of the big Cat. 2 climb and he wasn’t into the twenty riders that made it. We tried to approach him, but it was impossible, and it’s a pity because he performed really well all week long. But we have to keep it positive, after the great stage by David López and the good overall performance by the team, because we got third in the teams’ overall within such good squads. We’re disappointed because of the bad luck by Rojas. I think he had legs enough to win not only one, but two stages, and he showed it again today, but you can’t do anything to battle misfortune. The team is doing really well, and I’m sure victories will come in the next races.”