Today was a pretty short stage, but with a very steep short climb in the end to make things interesting.

A small group got away and gained up to nine minutes before several teams started a hard chase and got it back almost at the bottom of the climb.

We were planning for Tyler again in the sprint, knowing he could get over it with the sprinters. He did just that but a flat tire destroyed his chances as the team cars were far back due to the gaps created on the climb.

There was no possibility for him to regain first group in such a short distance.

But Tom Peterson was up there for us and Tommy D is keeping his top 20 on GC safe for the mountains.

“I don’t know, it’s a surprise for me today!” Farrar said about his feelings on the win.

“I was ill yesterday, I was sick the whole race and all night last night. Finally this morning it was better. I guess it was all the adrenaline in the finish.”

Farrar was asked about what motivates him in the sprints, whether it is a personal

“My motivation is to try to win, that’s the most important thing is to get victories for the team!”

Director sportif Johnny Weltz summed up the performance in two words: “World class!”

“Tyler showed his class as the world’s best sprinter today, waiting for the right moment to make his move. With reports of headwind in the finish he waited to open his sprint at the last moment and won easily, even though he was very sick yesterday.”

It couldn’t have been a better moment as our kick off here in the vuelta has been a bit mixed. So back on track now!”

Today was a hard start right at the bottom of second category climb which made the bunch explode!

A lot of groups were created and many kilometers of attacking, but it didn’t bring anybody anywhere.

There was a crash on some twisty and slick roads where VDV was involved; but he is ok with only a few small brushes.

A group of seven riders finally got off the front and managed to gain up to nine minutes before the chase got organized. The last breakaway rider was caught in the last km of the uphill finish.

We had Tommy D and Tom P in the front group and they finished well in the end.

August 30, 2010 – Thor Hushovd, Norwegian Road Race Champion, nine-time Tour de France stage winner and 2009 green jersey holder, will ride for Team Garmin-Cervélo in 2011.

Team Garmin-Transitions and Cervélo SA announced last week they will join forces for the 2011 season to create a new team that will be known as Garmin-Cervélo.

“I’m proud to join Team Garmin-Cervélo in 2011. Cervélo has been a great supporter for the past two years and its partnership with Garmin feels like a good fit,” said Hushovd.

“I chose Garmin-Cervélo because I have a lot of respect for what Jonathan Vaughters has done for cycling, because I think we’ll have a very strong, competitive team, and because I’ll be able to continue to work with Cervélo. I look forward to seeing what we can all do together next year.”

Hushovd started racing at age 9 and went on to win the under-23 time trial world championship and the under-23 versions of Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Tours. He turned professional in 2000 and is considered one of the best sprinters, time trialists, and Classics riders in the world.

An extreme heatwave was the enemy today!

Riders were on the edge of collapse with temperature more than 45 degrees C.

Julian had a very hard day after yesterday’s hard crash, and just made it.

It all came down to a bunch sprint in the end where our riders did a solid job bringing Tyler up there. As he was without his usual lead out man he jumped on the other teams’ trains.

He finished a nice third but was strongly affected by the strong heat.

Sevilla at night was the perfect kick of for the Vuelta a España!

The whole town was out in the streets watching and cheering; and as something new it all happened in the night. We had a perfect run into the TTT with all the riders very motivated, but during the last preparation warm-up on the circuit Julian crashed very hard and was not able even to follow after 1km into the stage.

Team Garmin-Transitions 2010 Vuelta roster:

Tom Danielson
Julian Dean
Tyler Farrar
Michel Kreder
David Millar
Tom Peterson
Christian Vande Velde
Matt Wilson
David Zabriskie

Stage 5 of the Eneco Tour had the race heading back into the bumpy territory that did so much damage on Stage 3, this time on similar roads to those used in the Amstel Gold spring classic.

Svein was still in contention for a podium position on the over all, and the main role for the boys was to make sure he didn’t lose time on any of his close rivals. That job unfortunately became more difficult on the start line as Robbie Hunter was too unwell to ride his bike, despite signing on for the start.

I was lucky to again be riding in the second car with team physiologist Marc Quod (Quody) and Andrezj our mechanic. We were hopeful of some breakaway action that would mean we’d be up the road supporting our man in the break, but obviously that is never guaranteed. Before we started that though, we had to take Robbie back to the hotel so he could begin recuperating.

Thus there was a mad dash for those of us in the second car to drop Robbie off, work out approximately how long it would take us to get to various points on the course, and work out at what time the race would be heading through there, then decide if we could make it on time or not.

We had an option of going a long way ahead of the race on a motorway to guarantee things, but we’d be out of the action for over an hour. And it would be a whole lot less fun than driving back roads and side streets hunting for the race at full gas.

We did get back to the race fairly quickly (the joy of having a top-end Garmin in the car), and literally pulled into line on the convoy when we heard that Jack Bobridge had made it into the break. Perfect timing!

After some last minute instructions from director sportif Matt White (Whitey), and then some last last minute instructions phoned to us, we got in behind Jack and settled down for the day, keeping him updated on where people were in the race, how he was looking, and also keeping him fed and watered.

The break was never allowed to go away by more than 4minutes or so, so we all held only a faint hope that things would stay away for the whole day. Jack was of the same mind, but figured that since he was there, he might as well stick around and have a crack.

It was funny watching some riders, knowing Jack is a neo-pro (first year Pro) try and con him into doing more than his share of work so they could take it easier. If there is one thing Jacky Bobby isn’t short of, it’s self-confidence. He was having none of that, and they stopped trying to put it over him in short order.

As the day progressed and time gaps remained stable, the main job for us in the car (having since received Whitey’s last, last, LAST minute instructions, then I-swear-this-time-is-seriously-the-last-time last minute instructions) was to keep Jack from getting too excited too soon. He would drop back to the car, grab some food and a drink, then ask if he should “hit ‘em” at 50km to go. Quody and I would both yell out “NO… WAIT!” and Jack would just smile at us and roll back up to the bunch for another turn. Cheeky bugger.

The past couple of days have been pretty hard for myself on these roads. I’m a neo-pro so these roads are pretty technical and you have to have a lot of experience to ride on these roads.

Today I was pretty keen to make the break and I know that once I am in a break with that many riders and it comes close to the finish normally I can go pretty well.

There were a lot of guys trying to attack each other and I just waited for the other guys to do a bit of work. I waited for the one minute when they weren’t looking at 2km to go and went to the left side of the road.

All you need is for them to hesitate for a couple of seconds. Just get that gap and they watch each other; with 2km to go you have to be pretty responsive, pretty quickly. I come off the track and I can time trial and pursuit, so 2km is perfect for me. I’m so happy to have gotten the win.

Every day has been so hard and when you are in a break all day it is never easy.

I wasn’t sure what the peloton was doing today — didn’t let us get more than four minutes. I thought it would have come back towards the end.

That was another goal for us today was to have me up the road because we have Svein Tuft high up on GC. If it came down to a selective group I could come back and help him, and if it came down to a sprint I can back myself with that many riders. Luckily for me it paid off and I got a win!