When I found out I would get to ride the last 6 weeks of the season as a stagiere for the ProTour team I was ecstatic. I had been hoping and planning all year that I would have this opportunity, and it wasn’t until just a few days before USPRO that my contract was approved by the UCI!

I had been training the past month to make sure I was ‘fit’ and it would have been devastating for me to have ended my season early knowing I had such good form.

Coming over to Europe I had zero expectations, except to have fun, enjoy this experience, and to learn as much as I could. I had a few days in Girona before my first race, and Timmy Duggan was kind enough to let me stay with him.

That was awesome as he showed me the in and outs of Girona — like where to buy meat and which bakery had the best bread, along with a lot of the history of Girona.

So far this has been an excellent trip and I’ve already learned so much.

Getting third in Giro della Toscana was an unexpected result but very exciting!

I didn’t have a ton of confidence before the race, but had told myself that even though I didn’t ‘feel’ it I was still going to ride like I belonged at the front of that race.

It’s funny because I didn’t even know who I was sprinting against until I was standing on the podium and the announcer was speaking in Italian and introduced the winner as Daniele Bennati!

It was on of those WOW moments for me!

I’m in Ipswich, southeast England, and have finally found time to get finger to keyboard (what is the modern equivalent of “pen to paper”?) to scribble (again – what’s the digital version of scribbling? – such important questions on this blog!) down a little of what’s been going on.

This is a very cool race – it goes through beautiful countryside, and the number of fans out on the roads is incredible. There have been a lot of tough stages ranging from mini-Classics stages, through to out and out bunch sprints.

The only beef we as the team staff have with the show is the British traffic. It is so bad that the organisers have to get the whole stage finished well before peak hour, meaning the stages are starting some two hours earlier than we are used to.

There’s a lot of stuff that needs doing when at bike races in the mornings! And we live in Spain! Early morning hours are double figures where we live! There are eyeballs starting to hang out of heads with fatigue as we prepare for Day 7 of this early morning madness. It’s madness I tell you!

That aside, it’s been a good show thus far, despite us losing half of our team to various ailments. As the season comes to an end I am coming across more and more fatigue-related problems – be it physical fatigue leading to pain on the bike, or just a build-up of systemic stress affecting overall health and well-being.

This is normal, and is evident in many of the teams in the peloton. It’s a long season of racing, and we still have more to come!

At this race, Garmin-Transitions have been flying the flag with aplomb, but not as much success as we would like. We have been awarded the most aggressive rider for three of the last four stages, and arguably could have received it for the fourth of those stages too.

Unfortunately, each of these gutsy moves (two each by Cameron Meyer and Dan Martin) have been thwarted by the bunch, with our boys being caught in the final 5km too often for it to be funny any more.

On the Queen Stage in Wales Cam was in a group of seven or eight riders, and shot off the front of them for 30 of the final 35km of the stage, only to be caught by the GC contenders in the final 5km in the move that has defined the overall standings of the race.

With massive thanks to Natalie who was on the final cobbled 20% hill (yes, that is as ridiculously hard as it sounds) – here is a link to a cracker of a video of Cam in the hurt box and then Trav getting up the hill anyway he could!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Not to be outdone, Dan then got himself into the break for two consecutive days, the first day launching more attacks on the peloton, his fellow break contenders, and the lumpy roads of southwest England than can be adequately described. That he didn’t win was a huge disappointment as he had truly lit the stage up for virtually the whole show.

His second day up the road (he’s not afraid of a bit of punishment) saw him in a group of ten or so, and he made the decisive move of the race in the final 10km, splitting that group to pieces, but was probably carrying a little too much from the previous day to be able to close the deal.

Cameron’s second day up the road happened today. He was rolling along with one other rider, with quite a handy lead over the bunch when they passed us in the feed zone. We drove along listening to the race radio updates, oscillating between hope and deflation as the numbers first meant the break would stick, then seemed like it wouldn’t, then vice versa and repeat.

Cam spent the final 10km or so dangling off the front of the race, having done away with his break companion earlier. We were shouting at the radio (similar to when JackyBobby was up the road in Eneco) willing Cam to stay away, or for the peloton to lose organisation, or for him to suddenly find an extra 5km/hr, or SOMEthing, and were finally deflated to hear that he had been caught just before the 1km to go banner. We’ve been super proud of their efforts, and disappointed they haven’t been rewarded as well as we would like (and think they deserve) for them. But that is bike racing.

We also have Christian Meier sitting in 7th place overall, having been in the key break on the second stage of the race, and so are in there swinging. If just one thing goes our way, we’ll be sending them out of the park. It’s been a strong performance by a weakened team thus far, and we still have two more stages to get a little more action out there.

I have to wrap it up here though. Apparently there are TWO six o’clocks every day, and I have to be up for the one I didn’t know about. Ohhh the agony of this job. Hahahaha!!! Still living the dream.

“It’s amazing!” said Farrar.

“I’ve been feeling good this whole Veulta. But to win two stages is even more than I hoped for.”

“I owe it all to Matt Wilson today. I think I rode every circuit on his wheel — he took care of me today.”

“My whole team worked for me. Christian and Tom P killed themselves on the front all day!”

Tom Danielson was ecstatic as well about his finish in the Grand Tour. “Vuelta done, yes!”

“Got my grand tour top ten thanks to my family, friends, and team. Thank you to everyone who always believed in me.”

“And the icing on the cake was Ty’s win today! Woohoo!”

Directors report from Johnny Weltz:

Today was the ending stage of the Vuelta, and one of the nicest Vueltas in years with really good bike racing for all three weeks — exciting all the way to the last kilometer.

It was expected to be a royal sprint between the two best sprinters in the world in the heart of Madrid, so that was the plan for our team today.

There was the traditional promenade before the circuits then the attacks started. We took control of the race from the beginning and our riders worked very hard on all the laps, especially VDV and Tom P.

They made the life hard for the riders on their wheels, while Matt Wilson stayed with Tyler all day.

Later our guys deliverd Tyler right to the finale, and he did a perfect sprint — waiting a bit later to open the sprint wich was slightly uphill and passed everyone for a beautiful victory and a super end for a nice Grand Tour.

All in all with two stage victories, ninth on GC and up there every day in the top of the classements it was a very nice Vuelta for the team!

The grand finale of the Vuelta this year happened on an exceptionally hard mountaintop finish outside Madrid.

In the end nobody was able to make a big difference on the GC as all the riders with whom they have fought for three weeks all stayed around each other.

So the podium stayed the same and the top ten was mixed up again but with only a few seconds in between them.

Tommy D confirmed his return to cycling on the high level. He ended the stage among the strongest and ended in the ninth spot, only six seconds from seventh.

But in the end a very solid performance after three weeks of very hard racing.

No one could imagine that the whole top ten on GC was a game of only a very few seconds!

Today was the longest stage in the race, though it was relatively easy as there was not much wind and people are tired after almost three weeks.

A few breaks went after the moutain sprint but only four riders got away. Once they had 10 minutes half way into the race some teams started to chase. We didn’t want to today because of the hard day yesterday and tomorrow’s stage is difficult. As well we could play our cards better in the finale with a full team.

We had the same arrival into the finish as the TT that David Millar won last year so we knew it was going to be tricky, and it would be just on the limit of Tyler’s abilities.

The team did a very good run in and Dave M did a super strong lead out. Tyler really deliverd a super performance but was just up against the best in the world for uphill sprints, the former winner of many of the Classics.

However, his second place brought him back again into play for the green jersey! Tomorrow we will have the grand finale in this year’s Vuelta.

As it was a totally flat day and on top of that a very short day, it was made for the sprinters.

Right from start eight riders took off and they got let go right away. As there were no doubts of our intentions with Tyler we started right away to control the front. So the gap never went over three minutes.

Our youngsters Tom Peterson and Michel Kreder did a strong ride all day and kept the group in sight all the way until 6km to go to the finish, where the break was caught.

In the sprint Tyler did get the right wheel but was swept off it, so he had to start the sprint too far back — but still finished fourth.

What at first looked as though the favorites in the discipline would fight for the stage win between them was twisted all around once the wind started to blow around.

So the whole thing ended with a surprising winnner and the GC opened up for almost ten riders still capable of winning the race.

I have never seen a GC so open after three weeks of racing! Now it will be a war all the way thru until the last km in Madrid.

Tommy D didn’t have his best TT day but still managed to keep his position on GC and bring himself to within only 10 seconds down on the fourth place on the overall.

Dave Z and Dave M both had a very good rides but the wind had a big influence on their performance.

So tomorrow everything can happen with a stage who is very exposed for cross wind .

“I love this race!” Vande Velde said.

“I am very happy that we have had the team that we have here.”

“It has given me the opportunity to progress quickly while also being able to help my teammates achieve some success. I am very happy to be here, get back on my game and have fun.”

Danielson finished 11th on the stage but close enough to the leaders that he moved up a spot on the GC heading into the rest day before the all-important time trial.

“Thanks [to the] guys for the awesome job today!” said Danielson. “The team was awesome. I had so much fun out there.”

“Finally the TT!”

Director’s report from Johnny Weltz:

The hardest stage of this year’s Vuelta and the start was extremly hard. There was one group after another who took off and the leader’s team had to work very hard.

After 65 km a group of 10 riders got away and we had Tom Peters in there. The group worked well together but as there was one GC rider in there they never gained more than 3.5 minutes.

So a hard chase was on and over one moutain top three riders bridged up to the front group and a selection in the front group left five riders up front.

We had Peterson in there still. In second group we had VDV and Tommy D as well as some 25 riders.

Once they hit the bottom of the last climb everybody was wasted. At the bottom the attacks started and VDV keept Tommy out of trouble killing himself on the front until he attacked himself to go with Schleck!

He lasted a long time up front until some 4km from the top. Then Tom P gave him a hand as he came down from the front group.

Tommy D did a very solid day which was extremly hard and he keeps improving on the gc. With the TT after the rest day things looks good!