Yesterday was an important stage [stage 13] and we expected some attacks. But the team and Ivan were strong enough to eliminate those, even to the point where Ivan was able to ride away with Piepoli on the climb. The descent was wet and cold and Ivan showed obvious prudence. Piepoli descended with high speed because he was going all out for the victory. For Piepoli the stage win was well worth taking risks on the wet and slippery descent. For Ivan there was just too much at stake.
We were surprised to see that Savoldelli, Cunego and Di Luca lost substantial time. For our team yesterday was more positive. Every time you can have a day like that it's welcome. Ivan is feeling good and the team is riding very well.
Today, the peloton chewed a lot of kilometres and a lot of them were uphill. It was on from the word go but our guys were able to keep it together. The peloton went over the top of the first climb with the whole CSC team in front. It enabled us to keep the tempo going all the way through the valley. We 'lost' two guys on the Simplon, but still went over the top with seven, and we were able to keep things rolling.
Both descents were fast today as there were hardly any corners. It was totally different to yesterday. I was following the peloton, and quite a few times we were flying down the mountain at over 100 km/h. I'd say that the riders would have had maximum speeds of between 100 and 110 km/h today.
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