Lucky Stage 13, the longest race in the Giro, offered the sprinters their last chance at a victory until the Alps have been crossed. The road, from Busseto to Cherasco, at 254km (158mi) is also the longest stage in the race; it's no gift from the promoters. But when you're a sprinter in a stage race, you have to take what you can, and Cannondale Pro Cycling's Elia Viviani was running out of opportunities for a sprint victory.

The stage started as yesterday ended. In the rain. And with predictions of rain all day, the riders weren't in the mood to race from the first flag. It took almost 30km (19mi) for the day's break to make a hasty exit from the pack. And when they did, the seven escapees were given their freedom, and plenty of it. Almost fourteen minutes in 57km (35.5mi), a huge advantage. But it came with strings attached. Omega Pharma-Quickstep was bound to chase them down. The team of Mark Cavendish was keen on setting their man up for his 101st victory as a pro. Since everyone knew this was the goal, all other teams sat back and let the Omegas chase. And chase and chase and chase.

With 40km (26mi) remaining, the catch seemed imminent, then three of the seven, Lars Bak of Lotto, Nicola Boem of Bardiani, and Pablo Lastras of Movistar, attacked their group and went out for more. They went out and extended their lead. With 15km (9mi) remaining, Lastras attacked to go solo. After a few kilometers, he was joined by a chase group of seven. And as the field closed in on them, with six kilometers (4mi) remaining, Katusha's Giancarlo Caruso went out on his own.

Caruso was brought back with a little over a kilometer remaining. Omega Pharma was spent from chasing, so Orica-Greenedge went to the front for Brett Lancaster. Under the red flag for the final kilometer and Cannondale took over to shepherd Viviani towards his first win. Cavendish, without any help, was seven riders back. As Cannondale lead down the left side of the road into the final 250 meters for Viviani, Cavendish moved up on the right and launched a second before Viviani started. That moment  was all Cavendish needed. Viviani couldn't get on the Manxman's wheel. Nor could anybody else. Cavendish got his 101st victory as a pro. Viviani had to accept fifth place.

Fifth isn't first, but when it's all you have, it's hard to be disappointed.  Viviani said, "The team did really a great job and I can't ask more than what they did. It was a long and intense stage. Added the efforts of past days, I was not as competitive as I wanted. I would like to thank the team for their confidence in me and I really hope to be able to pay back their efforts with a win before this Giro is over."

Tomorrow, Stage Fourteen goes from Cervere to the Jafferau outside of Bardonecchia. 168km in total, the first 70km basically flat, leading to an intermediate sprint in Pinerolo. From there, the racers climb the second-category Sestriere, descend, take in a second intermediate sprint in Bardonecchia and climb 7.2km up a 9% grade up the Jafferau with a mountaintop finish. There's no doubt that the men fighting for the overall victory will come out to race this day. Cannondale Pro Cycling can play the outsider role, with Damiano Caruso looking to move up from nineteeth, and Cristiano Salerno and Cayetano Sarmiento ready to act as spoilers for the favorites.

Giro d'Italia 2013
Stage 13
Busseto to Cheracso 254km

Stage Results

1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step      in 6:09:55  
2. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) RadioShack Leopard         at same time 
3. Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Argos-Shimano       same time
4. Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge       same time
5. Elia Viviani (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling     same time

Stage Results Cannondale Pro Cycling

25. Fabio Sabatini (Ita)      same time
53. Damiano Caruso (Ita)      same time
76. Tiziano Dall'Antonia (Ita)      same time
99. Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita)      0:00:27 
105. Alan Marangoni (Ita)       0:00:53 
135. Cameron Wurf (Aus)        0:16:32
145. Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col)   same time 
148. Cristiano Salerno (Ita)      same time

General Classification

1. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team    52:38:09  
2. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team    0:00:41  
3. Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling   0:02:04  
4. Robert Gesink (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team   0:02:12  
5. Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre-Merida    0:02:13 

General Classification Cannondale Pro Cycling

19. Damiano Caruso (Ita)       0:08:43 
60. Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita)      0:59:18 
75. Cristiano Salerno (Ita)       1:14:03  
76. Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col)    1:14:32 
106. Elia Viviani (Ita)        1:32:27 
108. Fabio Sabatini (Ita)       1:34:04 
114. Tiziano Dall'Antonia (Ita)      1:39:03 
128. Alan Marangoni (Ita)       1:46:48 
145. Cameron Wurf (Aus)       1:57:38 

Stage Twelve of this year's Giro d'Italia was one of the last chances for the sprinters to shine. The short 134km (83mi) jaunt from Longarone to Treviso was going to be flat and fast and favor a bunch sprint. Mother Nature wanted to give them a little extra work. The day dawned wet and cold, 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 Celsius) at the start.

Cannondale Pro Cycling had only two objectives today. Protect Damiano Caruso's twentieth place on general classification and do everything they could to bring the race to a sprint finish so sprinter Elia Viviani could turn on the afterburners and score his first win of the Giro.

The weather dampened the spirits in the peloton and a break of four got away fairly easily after only nine kilometers (5.5mi). Katusha's Maxim Belkov, Argos-Shimano's Bert De Backer, Androni Giocattoli's Fabio Felline, and Vaconsoleil's Maurits Lammertink rolled off without much of a fight. Lammertink's teammate, Marco Marcato waited several kilometers to strike out and chase them down.

In the cold rain, the peloton rode on, suffering under intermittent heavy rain. On one slippery turn, four of the five riders in the break slid out and hit the ground, with the fifth riding off the road.

The five pretended the intermediate sprints and KoM climbs didn't exist because cooperation would be the only way to ride into Treviso without being caught. The field, with Omega Pharma-Quickstep, Orica-Greenedge, and Cannondale taking turns to make sure the break never got more than a three-and-a-half minute gap.

The gap was never big, but the field had a hard time closing it down. As the kilometers ticked off, the lead gradually shrunk, with neither the field zooming in for the kill nor the breakaway throwing in the towel or attacking each other.

On the descent of the Montello-S.M.d.Vittoria, Sky's Brad Wiggins, the man seen as the biggest favorite for the overall, continued his demonstration of how not to race the Giro. He lost time going down, and gathered most of his team to chase back the field, which contained race leader Vincenzo Nibali of Astana.

As the Wiggins group was losing ground to the Pink Jersey group, the latter was inching their way back to the breakaway. Thirty seconds at eight kilometers (5mi). Fifteen seconds at four kilometers (2.5mi). Nine seconds at two kilometers (1.2mi). Two seconds at one kilometer (.62mi). And finally the break started attacking each other.

But it was no use. Omega Pharma lead the chase, initiated the catch at 500 meters and a few seconds later, their man Mark Cavendish launched his sprint and won easily. Viviani, who had fought to be in that group and fought to be with Cav' for the final burst, was boxed out and finished ???.

Losing position in the finale had a second consequence. Viviani was unable to overtake Cadel Evans on points, and Cav' leapfrogged over both to take the lead in the points competition, with Evans remaining in second. The Cannondale rider drops to third.

This was a frustrating turn of events for the young Italian. "It's a big pity because I've lost a chance. I wasn't able to sprint as I expected, due to chaos in the finale. I didn't find the space to pass and follow the right wheels. Steegmans maintained high speed for Cavendish and it was impossible to recover once I lost position. I'm disappointed in my result but I don't want to give up my goal of a stage win."

The sprinters who missed out today will have another chance tomorrow, when Stage Thirteen rides 254km (158mi) though Piedmont from Busseto to Cheracso. The first 175km (108mi) is completely flat, with the next 79km (49mi) rolling. The two intermediate sprints and the only categorized climb come in the rolling section. Depending how they climb, the sprinters are either licking their lips or dreading the finale, as this is probably their last chance at a stage win until the final stage. Cannondale Pro Cycling's Viviani has been stalking the best sprinters. This could be his stage.

 
Giro d'Italia 2013
Stage 12
Longarone to Treviso 134km

Stage Results

1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step      in 3:01:47  
2. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ               at same time
3. Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Argos-Shimano       same time
4. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) RadioShack Leopard     same time
5. Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge       same time
    

Stage Results Cannondale Pro Cycling

16. Elia Viviani (Ita)      same time
47. Damiano Caruso (Ita)     same time
67. Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita)    same time
75. Tiziano Dall'Antonia (Ita)     same time
92. Alan Marangoni (Ita)     0:00::55
101. Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col)  0:01:07
108. Cameron Wurf (Aus)     same time
141. Fabio Sabatini (Ita)     0:03:17
159. Cristiano Salerno (Ita)     same time

General Classification

1. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team    46:28:14  
2. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team    0:00:41  
3. Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling   0:02:04  
4. Robert Gesink (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team   0:02:12  
5. Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre-Merida    0:02:13 

General Classification Cannondale Pro Cycling

20. Damiano Caruso (Ita)     0:08:43
62. Cristiano Salerno (Ita)     0:57:41
64. Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col)  0:58:10
66. Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita)    0:58:51
113. Elia Viviani (Ita)      1:32:27
114. Fabio Sabatini (Ita)     1:34:14
122. Tiziano Dall'Antonia (Ita)    1:39:03
130. Cameron Wurf (Aus)     1:41:16
142. Alan Marangoni (Ita)     1:46:05

With the weather and mountains in check, for a little while at least, the peloton rolled out of Santa Clarita for a 134.6km (83.6mi) stage to Santa Barbara, the fourth of the race. Nominally, this is the reverse of earlier stages that started in Santa Barbara and finished in Santa Clarita, but that was when the race ran north to south. That route threw in some hard hills to test the peloton. This iteration gave the pace an easier ride.

The course profile, with gentle ascents, fast descents, and a downhill run into Santa Barbara heavily favored Cannondale Pro Cycling presented by Sho-Air's Peter Sagan. The speedy Slovak won yesterday by using great speed and lightning reflexes to get out of the box he was stuck in. Fewer hiccups and the victory will be easy.

The race sped out of Santa Clarita, riding at 48kph (30mph) until Bissell's Frank Pipp decided it wasn't tough enough for him. Just 16km (10mi) into the race he threw down. He was joined by Champion-System's Chad Beyer, Bontrager's Nathan Brown, Optum's Marsh Cooper, 5 Hour Energy's James Stemper, and Pipp's teammate Chris Baldwin.

The US-based sextet was out there hoping against hope they could keep the field at bay for the next 118km. Baldwin and Pipp had a second goal; take the KoM points on offer so that Stemper couldn't overtake their teammate Carter Jones, currently styling the KoM jersey.

The escape rode smoothly through the first intermediate sprint, fought out the first KoM, which Baldwin took, rode smoothly through the second sprint. Then things got interesting at the second KoM. The youngest rider in the escape, Brown, attacked the KoM early. He won the points and hoped to break up the escape. With 32km (20mi) remaining and only a one-minute lead on the peloton, it seemed a little ambitious. He was caught by his companions and they picked up their pace.

The gap wasn't coming down as fast any more. The field, led by a consortium of riders from Cannondale, Garmin-Sharp, Omega Pharma-Quickstep, and Orica-Greenedge, had to work harder.

With 19km (11.5mi) remaining, the gap was down to only fifteen seconds. Then Brown went again. First with Cooper for company. Then he dumped him. And the young rider's lead went up to 50 seconds at 14km (9mi) to go, when the oldest man in the race, RadioShack's Jens Voigt attacked the chase. And on him was Sagan—no need to wait for the sprint if the moment is right and the horses are raring to go. This sent alarm bells through the pack. Several kilometers of furious attacking and countering began, eating up and dispatching the young Bontrager rider.

Order resumed, Garmin took over driving the race into Santa Barbara for Tyler Farrar, with the entire Cannondale squad lined up behind the Garmin train. And going into a roundabout with 2.5km (1.5mi) remaining, Champion-System's Irish champion Matt Brammeier went the long way around a roundabout to burst into the lead on his own.

The sprinters teams started to panic and gave everything to bring back the Irishman. He ran out of steam and was caught just inside of a kilometer to go, where the Optum team took advantage of the chaos to burst to the front for their man Ken Hanson. Farrar capitalized off their burst and went around Hanson. Sagan, washed back in the chaos got out of traffic and opened up his sprint on the left side of the road. But it was too late. Farrar won from Hanson, with Omega Pharma's Gianni Meersman in third.

While he didn't win the stage, the points earned for finishing fifth were enough to move Sagan into the green Points Jersey, an honor he could hold until the finish.

Ted King, who took up the lion's share of tempo duties along with teammate Kristijan Koren had a front row saddle for the finish. "The team worked very well together setting Peter up. The roundabout was a surprise and the confusion afterwards messed up a race's worth of teamwork. Tomorrow is another opportunity, Peter is in green, and we'll keep riding the way we do and bring Peter to the line as best we can."

Sagan and the Cannondale team have another chance at a stage victory tomorrow. Stage Five starts in Santa Barbara and rides 186km (116.25mi) to Avila Beach. The major difficulty of the stage will occur at the start. The 11.3km  (7mi)San Marco pass will open the stage. While it will offer attackers an opportunity to escape, the field will have plenty of time to catch them on the road to Avila. Every day has featured a long breakaway. If the field isn't vigilant, this could be the one that gets away. Cannondale will do everything to make sure it doesn't.

Amgen Tour of California
Stage 4
Santa Clarita to Santa Barbara 134.6km

Stage Results

1. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Sharp           in 3:14:09  
2. Ken Hanson (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies        at same time
3. Gianni Meersman (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step     same time
4. Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team  same time
5. Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling pb Sho-Air same time
    

Stage Results Cannondale Pro Cycling presented by Sho-Air

11. Guillaume Boivin (Can)        same time
38. Edward King (USA)        same time
48. Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg)       same time
53. Maciej Bodnar (Pol)       same time
54. Kristijan Koren (Slo)        same time
58. Brian Vandborg (Den)        same time

General classification

1. Janier Alexis Acevedo Colle (Col) Jamis-Hagens Berman   17:13:59  
2. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team    0:00:12  
3. Philip Deignan (Irl) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team   0:00:27  
4. Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing Team     0:00:45  
5. Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff    0:00:55 

General Classification Cannondale Pro Cycling presented by Sho-Air

20. Edward King (USA)         0:04:17 
22. Brian Vandborg (Den)         0:05:07 
54. Peter Sagan (Svk)         0:19:34 
82. Kristijan Koren (Slo)         0:28:53 
86. Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg)        0:30:00 
93. Maciej Bodnar (Pol)         0:32:28 
101. Guillaume Boivin (Can)         0:38:22 
 

The Amgen Tour of California's Third Stage, the 177.7km (110mi) ride from Palmdale to Santa Clarita promised a change.  First, the temperatures were much more seasonal, starting at a mere 89 degrees Fahrenheit and windy.  Second, the stage seemed almost designed for a victory by Cannondale Pro Cycling's Peter Sagan.

But with 119 starters all interested in a taste of glory, this race was going to be no simple parade.  As if to underscore this point, the oldest rider in the race, RadioShack's Jens Voigt, a headbanger of some repute, put in a hard attack the moment the race started.  The field, not interested in having the senior citizen of the pack, 41 years old, put 20-somethings to shame, chased him down.  And then a big escape of 23 riders bolted from the field. 

Sagan was in the move with teammate Guillaume Boivin, along with fellow sprinters Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Sharp and Alex Candelario of Optum.  Also in the split were overall contenders BMC's Tejay Van Garderen and 5 Hour Energy's Francisco Mancebo, along with King of the Mountain leader Carter Jones of Bissell.  This was a serious move, and it quickly amassed a 50-second lead heading up the first climb.

The Jamis-Hagens Berman team of race leader Janier Acevedo, even though they were not the equal of the ProTour teams in the race, knew they could not let this aggression stand.  They threw everything into the chase and caught the escapees shortly after Jones took KoM points atop the first climb.  The effort cost them, as two riders were dropped by the pack and had to quit the race.

The serious threat checked, a less dangerous move rolled off the front.  This time, former Tour de France winner Andy Schleck teased out points leader Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM), Gavin Mannion (Bontrager), and Chad Beyer (Champion System).  The foursome, while little threat to the overall leaders, were a threat to a sprint finish, and the Cannondale team patrolled the front with occasional help from Garmin-Sharp and Omega Pharma-Quickstep.  The three teams were interested in a sprint finish and refused to give the escapers a long leash. 

The gap, even with all four riders contributing equally, never went above five minutes.  And they were brought back with 13km (8mi) left to race.

With a sprint considered the most likely outcome, Cannondale, Garmin-Sharp, and Omega Pharma-Quickstep returned to the front and controlled the pace until the streets of Santa Clarita.  There, RadioShack's Markel Irizar struck out on his own.  But it was never a serious threat and he was pulled back with 4km (2.5mi) left to race. 

Cannondale got to the front en masse and ramped the pace up.  With three kilometers remaining, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff rushed by the green team for their man Jonathan Cantwell.  And under the Flamme Rouge signifying one kilometer remaining, Orica-Greenedge made their move, trying to set up Michael Matthews.

With everyone fighting desperately to get in Matthews' slipstream, Sagan swung right out of the crowd and blasted for the line.  No one had a chance.  He came by so quickly and so stealthily he flashed across the line before anyone realized it was he.  Matthews had to settle for second and Farrar third.

The victory was Sagan's ninth at the Tour of California, a record, his ninth of the season, and his 51st as a professional.  It's always good to win, but even for the winner, there were difficulties.  "My teammates did very good work taking the break back when they did.  I had luck with Boivin pulling me to the last 200 meters.  When everyone is sprinting it is difficult.  With the wind where it was, it was best to go at the last moment, so I went in the final 100 meters.   I'm very happy for the win."

With the sprint points available for the victory.  Sagan tied for first in the sprint classification, but with Westra contesting more sprints, he keeps the points jersey, at least for another day. Thanks to most of the pack finishing together, the general classification remained unchanged.  Acevedo still leads Van Garderen and UnitedHealthCare's Philip Deignan.

Tomorrow's stage from Santa Clarita to Santa Barbara is not only short at 134.6km, but relatively flat, and with long descents, so it too could fall to the Slovak Sensation.  As Sagan has shown great form thus far, the Cannondale Pro Cycling Team will once again have to take responsibility at the front early on and keep any breakaway near in order for Sagan to win at the end.

Amgen Tour of California 2013 - Stage 3
Palmdale - Santa Clarita 177.7km

Stage Results

1. Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling        in 4:20:31  
2. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge          at same time
3. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Sharp         same time
4. Gianni Meersman (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step     same time
5. Boy van Poppel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team  same time

Stage Results Cannondale Pro Cycling

17. Guillaume Boivin (Can)       same time
39. Edward King (USA)       same time 
42. Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg)      same time     
53. Brian Vandborg (Den)       same time
86. Kristijan Koren (Slo)       same time
111. Maciej Bodnar (Pol)        0:03:35 

General Classification

1. Janier Alexis Acevedo Colle (Col) Jamis - Hagens Berman  13:59:50  
2. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team    0:00:12  
3. Philip Deignan (Irl) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team   0:00:27  
4. Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff    0:00:55  
5. Francisco Mancebo Perez (Spa) 5 Hour Energy p/b Kenda  0:01:03 

General Classification Cannondale Pro Cycling

20. Edward King (USA)        0:04:17 
23. Brian Vandborg (Den)        0:05:07 
56. Peter Sagan (Svk)         0:19:34 
90. Kristijan Koren (Slo)        0:28:53 
91. Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg)       0:30:00 
98. Maciej Bodnar (Pol)        0:32:28 
104. Guillaume Boivin (Can)        0:38:22