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Gilbert the next step - Tour de France contender !
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| Rammus |
Posted on 12-08-2011 15:52
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Stage 8
Stage Plan
First cat 2 climb ! Something's bound to kick off on this stage so the team aims to get a rider in the break for later on. I think we will set up Phil for a move on the Col de la Croix Saint-Robert instead of waiting for Super-Besse and see what happens. If we wait for a sprint up Super-Besse you can only take seconds or even lose time, so we go early !
The Stage
Mario Aerts made it into the break quite easily as the peleton just rolled along all the way out of Aigurande. Among other riders the most dangerous was Luis Leon Sanchez. At the start of Saint-Robert the break have 1 minutes advantage.
Jelle Vanendert super domestique puts the hammer down on the steepest section of the climb. Gilbert gets a small gap and joins up with Mario who mananges to stick with him for a kilometer.
Flurry after flurry of attacks come as we near the top, here is Andy Schleck ...
Along the descent and the following flat/hilly section a group of 4 riders form behind Phil, Contador,Evans,Gesink&Chavanel. You can see Gilbert just ahead with about 12 km to go.
Under the 5km banner and they put in more attacks !
But it's not enough to touch the Superman
Stage results
Top Ten + other GC
Good stage for the team though the mountains are looming ! |
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| soulcrusher |
Posted on 12-08-2011 15:56
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Very good job to get like a minute out of the favourites  |
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| dandannieldanok |
Posted on 12-08-2011 17:24
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Great win, and nice time gap! Got a feeling this is going to replicate Voeckler in real life, think you'll manage to grimly cling on to yellow until deep into the Alps. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 20-05-2013 10:21
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| kwkke10 |
Posted on 12-08-2011 17:36
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I hope you will make it but its gonna be very very hard
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| chris11193 |
Posted on 12-08-2011 21:43
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Love this so far, really interesting to see if you succeed, you never know who can win the tour, just take a look at Voeckler in this years Tour ( even though he didnt win -.- )  |
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| Rammus |
Posted on 12-08-2011 22:59
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Cheers all, really nice comments 
One of the things about cycling - anything can happen as you say chris !
Also I have just finished playing stage 9 and I can say it was possibly one of the most exciting PCM stages I have ever played ! Look forward to lots of pictures when I make the report tommorow. |
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| Rammus |
Posted on 13-08-2011 15:50
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Stage 9
I think there is a difference between this and the PCM stage, after the col de cere there is a lot more flat before a small hill and a lot of flat after, I don't know why that is.
Stage Plan
Well with the 1st mountain stage only 3 days away now 1.5 minutes clearly won't be enough so we have a fantastic stage to shake some things up a bit !
As always on a stage like this I think getting a rider in the break is good.
The Stage
Vincente Reynes makes it into the break away of the day of 15, though they are mostly alll stronger than him it is not too important. On the bottom slopes of the Col du Pas de Payrol (120km to go) and in terrible weather conditions, they yellow jersey decides to test some legs.
Phil seems to be feeling good (+3) and opens up 2 minutes by the top despite leopard,bmc & saxo upping the pace. Descending the Col du Perthus Gilbert meets up with Reynes who has dropped back to help his team leader.
Halfway up the Col de Cere Phil catches and passes all of the breakway riders as none can be bothered to attempt to follow. By the top of the climb he has taken out 6 minutes over a rapidly diminishing peleton. The gap stays roughly even until the Bouc climb which is very steep at which point the race descended into chaos (still about 60km to go!).
A group of 5 riders attack Gesink,Jreuziger,Gadret,Menchov,Hesjedal quickly taking out 30 seconds advantage over another chase group containing wiggins,sanchez,rolland. A further minute behind was another group of 13 riders with Contador,Basso,Uran,Sastre. But huge disaster as 2 minutes down from group of Contador was Evans,Schlecks,Scarponi,Cunego,Anton,Leipheimer.
Evans and Schleck have to take matters into thier own hands as there are no teammates remaining and they attack to try to reach the Contador group ! The frantic action had now reduced gilberts gap to 5 minutes. With 40km to go Samuel Sanchez puts in a big dig ...
You can see how far behind Scarponi,FSchelck and many other favourites are. As Evans and Andy somehow manage to reach the Contador group ...
Contador makes his attack ! Riders all over the road now its too hard to keep track of. Sastre is looking very impressive helping his leader Menchov. Around 7 minutes down now Scarponi,FSchleck and the Radioshack boys are trying hard to limit thier losses. Just ahead you can see Vanendert and Peter Velits who have also been isolated.
Gilbert is fading fast now after his 120km herculean effort losing a further 2 minutes to Sanchez who is looking superb. But what an amazing ride !!
The peleton is still strewn over the last 50kms of roads as they come over the line in small groups.
Stage Results
Top 23
One of riders Sebastian Lang finished 43 mniutes down only just avoiding the timecut which many fell victim to today. A good stage for the team but Phils recovery has gone down quite a bit now ! I think time to rest before Luz Ardiden. |
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| Timmeh |
Posted on 13-08-2011 16:09
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What an awesome stage! |
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| chris11193 |
Posted on 13-08-2011 17:08
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Looks good before the mountains! |
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| Bosskardo |
Posted on 13-08-2011 18:55
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Crazy
there are still some stages to do it again left
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| snoep_de_hond |
Posted on 14-08-2011 01:22
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What a crazy idea for a story, but you've made it a very interesting one to follow. I like it! I can't wait to see how this will turn out and if Gilbert will be able to survive the mountain stages. I hope you'll finish this. Good luck! |
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 14-08-2011 13:14
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This is one of the best stories I ever seen. Great cycling style so far!
 Manager of FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
1, 2. The Man with the hammer's coming for you!
3, 4. The road is going hardcore!
5, 6. You are crossing the Styx!
7, 8. Your legs are deadweight!
9, 10. Start riding AGAIN! |
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| Balaverde |
Posted on 14-08-2011 13:40
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Nice stuff! How is Philippe recovering, btw? Those 68 or 69 in REC might itch a little in the last week of the Tour! |
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| Rammus |
Posted on 14-08-2011 22:59
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Thanks all comment ^_^
@snoep Yes I am commited to finishing this so don't worry !
@Balaverde His recovery is 'very good', it would be 'excellent' still if he had not made the solo tho. Also you can see the stats of my riders on the first post and the notes.
I am tired long day, so sorry no stage today but tommorow I will hopefully cover the next 2 since they are flatish, then that brings us onto Luz Ardiden  |
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| Rammus |
Posted on 15-08-2011 15:13
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Stage 10
Stage Plan
Transition stage so we except some attacks here, the plan today though is just to follow the favourites and try to get as much rest as possible.
The Stage
A strong group of riders make it away early on including riders like Danielson, Lofkvist, Gasparotto, Goss, Hoogerland and many more. They have a good avantage as the peleton rolls along until the final climb the Cote de Mirandol. Here some top climbers attacked ...
Gesink looking cool in the white jersey. Unfortunately for him and others the peleton was going very fast now and none of the attacks succeeded. Comming off the descent though riders were going too fast and a mass crash takes out 3/4 of the peleton !
Mollema is the rabobank rider about to faceplant. The team did not realise at the team but Andy Schelck, Samuel Sanchez and Michele Scarponi had been caught out ! There were only about 35 riders in the front group left. The race didn't stop though as our team had to shut down attacks from Evans & Kiryenka.
The break are still leading with 2 minutes lead and they sprint it out for the win !
Enrico Gasparotto takes a great victory in front of Hoogerland and Goss !
The peleton comes across 1"21 down.
The second peleton comes over at 3"17 ! It's a big loss for Leopard and Euskatel.
Top 23 GC
Edited by Rammus on 15-08-2011 15:15 |
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| kwkke10 |
Posted on 15-08-2011 15:27
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A little bit of luck can help you win this Tour!
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| ggDonovan |
Posted on 15-08-2011 18:00
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WOW!
The podium might be possible now.
Manager of FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
1, 2. The Man with the hammer's coming for you!
3, 4. The road is going hardcore!
5, 6. You are crossing the Styx!
7, 8. Your legs are deadweight!
9, 10. Start riding AGAIN! |
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| Rammus |
Posted on 15-08-2011 19:32
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As promised the 2nd stage for today.
Stage 11
Stage Plan
Do nothing ! Rest, recover, etc you get the idea ...
The Stage
A break of about 12 riders escaped away on the route to Lavaur. It was a cold and cloudy day, the sun barely able to break through to warm up the cyclists.
No drama or crashes as the pace is controlled by Lampre, Garmin & Sky who are cutting is close bringing the break back ! The peleton catches the break just on the line ...
... yet didn't manage to win as Lorenzetto makes it the double for Astana. Biel Kadri also from the break was second while Cavendish came 3rd. If only his team had worked slightly harder ...
Top 23 is the same as previous stage, no changes ahead of the first Mountain Top Finish at Luz Ardiden ! Gilbert will be put under enormous pressure here, can he hold on ? |
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| Rammus |
Posted on 16-08-2011 15:59
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Stage 12
Stage Plan
It's here ! First real challenge. We have to make sure Gilbert goes over the top of the Tourmalet in the lead group, if that happens then he can go up Luz Ardiden at his own pace and we shouldn't lose too much.
The Stage
The days break didn't contain anyone dangerous, the best climber was Taarame but he's way down on GC so we were content to let the break go. BMC and saxobank were not though. On the Ancizan the peleton was whittled down to 87 riders and a further 14 dropped off on the Tourmalet.
Quite mundane so far as everyone is waiting for the final col which is where we join the race ...
The first attack came from Gadret who was joined by Sanchez 1 km later and they quickly opened a gap as Contador and Schelck play the watching game. Contador bites though ...
The increased pace was really causing Phil to struggle now with about 7km remaining to the summit.
Vanendert had not seen his leader being dropped and was called back on the radio to assist the yellow jersey !
Up ahead Contador had joined up with Sanchez and Gadret, here you can see all the groups on road and the distance Gilbert is behind with 3km to go.
Alberto Contador outsrpints his compatriots to take a fabulous win !
The top ten all finished with in 10 seconds of each other as is traditional for the first MTF of any GT it is one big standoff !
2"35 down Gilbert leads home a group of 4 riders, a result I think we can be pleased with.
It appears Scarponi is suffering from the crash yesterday and finished at 2"44, the GC is over for him.
Stage Results
Top 10 GC
As a final note, while the result looks promising it was very windy (30-40 the whole day) and without the wind I think I would've lost maybe another minute at least ... worried for the Galibier stage ^_^ |
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| soulcrusher |
Posted on 16-08-2011 16:57
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Great start for you ! Two minutes isn't that bad  |
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