The start today was along the ocean which resulted in a strong tailwind. It was extremly fast and no one could control the race.

It went on like this until we turned into land; then a group went and they stayed out there all day. It was very hot and up and down all day so it took its toll on the riders.

We had Tommy D, VDV and Tom Peterson up in the front of the chase group with the favorites and they all came in together.

This has been the first part of the race with a rest day tomorrow. We have been through nine stages of hard racing and extremly hot weather. But we still have all our options intact for the GC and a stage win — we just haven’t been too lucky except for Tyler.

Luckily we have several of our riders recovered and stronger than when we started, so we are ready to confront the high mountains that await us in this second week of racing!

The stage was only 17km in when a huge crash brought down the race leader, Tyler and several others. It was just before the intermediate sprint for the points jersey, so the sprint was cancelled.

Shortly after the decisive break away of the day was created consisting of five riders. Today was the first really mountainous day in this year’s Vuelta, with a 20 precent average climb in the end!

One of the riders stayed away to the finish from the breakaway and the rest was made up of the favorites’ group.

At the bottom of the climb we had Dave Z, Tom Peterson and Tommy D in the front group.

Tommy D did a really good finish and was around top ten on the day and moved up to 12th on GC! So a good first contact with the mountains .

Today the stage was all over known as a sprinter’s stage, so right from the start a group of four broke away and gained up to 10 minutes.

Then it was up to us and two other sprinters teams to take control.

DZ and VDV did a huge job to control the race the whole day.

In the end the sprint was a bit uncontrolled and Tyler never got the ideal position to really open up his sprint.

He finished fifth but is now second in the points jersey competition!

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!”

BOULDER, COLORADO (September 1, 2010) — Slipstream Sports today announced six additions to the 2011 roster, marking the remaining Cervélo TestTeam riders to join the newly formed Team Garmin-Cervélo.

Roger Hammond (UK), Heinrich Haussler (Aus), Andreas Klier (Ger), Brett Lancaster (Aus), Daniel Lloyd (UK) and Gabriel Rasch (Nor) will join teammate Thor Hushovd (Nor) in 2011. These seven will be joining Garmin riders including Tyler Farrar, Ryder Hesjedal, Christian Vande Velde, David Zabriskie and Dan Martin.

“Team Garmin-Cervélo’s roster will be strong and versatile,” said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO, Slipstream Sports. “All of these riders bring a lot of experience to what’s already a great team. I’m proud of what we’ve done since 2008, and I’m excited for what we’ll do in 2011.”

The creation of Team Garmin-Cervélo is still under development. More information, including an official team roster, will be released as it becomes available.

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.