Posts: 1802 Joined: 01.10.11 Location: United Kingdom PCM$: 10.00
Stage 2
Day 2 has a hilly profile, which is a good opportunity for the breakaway, this was shown by how many teams tried to get a man up there, we tried with B.Colex, but that attack was brought back, eventually a 12man group did form, and despite the chasing efforts of HTC, with some help from us and Garmin, It was Grega Bole who outsprinted his breakaway companions, to take the victory on the day.
Day 2 saw a 13man breakaway allowed free early on, but today the only official "flat" stage, saw the pack keep a much closer eye on the break, bringing them back for a bunch finish in good time, Lance takes 20th on the day, but the best sprinter here in Romandy and current World Champion Thor Hushovd, was the man of the hour, outsprinting the competition to take a convincing victory.
Cyril Bessy was the best placed man from the breakaway in the initial prologue, which mean he still leads the GC into tomorrow, however he will have to wave goodbye to the yellow jersey after that day, as the race gets into the business end of the week.
Our best placed man, is Lance Armstrong in 20th, he has finished comfortably inside the pack on both days so far, and will now look to push on as the days become more difficult.
Posts: 4413 Joined: 27.07.11 Location: Connecticut, USA PCM$: 369.05
Why are you doing such short reports for Romandie? I mean, it's your choice, I just like having longer reports once we get into the mountains. Time contraints?
Winner of American Championship races which I can't remember since my sig was deleted :L
Posts: 1802 Joined: 01.10.11 Location: United Kingdom PCM$: 10.00
The reports will go back to full length for the important stages yeah, I was just experimenting with doing these shorter style reports for days when we won't be massively involved,
With the Giro D'Italia coming up, the first week will see very little of Exxon-Duke, so i was interested to see if you guys liked the briefer reports on less important days, I'll go back to the longer reports for all WT stages and races though i think, does make for a better read
Posts: 4413 Joined: 27.07.11 Location: Connecticut, USA PCM$: 369.05
You could do the shorter reports for the less important stages, I just wanted to make sure that the longer reports were back fo the most important stages.
Winner of American Championship races which I can't remember since my sig was deleted :L
Posts: 1802 Joined: 01.10.11 Location: United Kingdom PCM$: 10.00
Fair enough, well yeah then- All days with a potentially decisive effect on whatever our race target is, will recieve a full report, so at say the TdF every day will do, because we will have Farrar for sprints, and Lance for Yellow.
If you don't mind them though, then i might stick with these short reports for other days, it does make the story progress much quicker!
Posts: 1802 Joined: 01.10.11 Location: United Kingdom PCM$: 10.00
Stage 4
Day 4 is the first of the big days for the GC men, a 20km hilly TT before we head into the mountains on days 5 and 6.
The early lead was set at a very high pace, 52" beyond the earlybirds, by Andreas Kloden, he lost out at the beginning of the week but still look sin good shape and set a very competitive time 10th up.
From the early leavers, only Zabriskie was the only man able to come close, he finished 7" behind what was starting to look like a genuinely dangerous time.
When Lance set off, the time had just been beaten by 3consecutive Movistar riders, Plaza, Bruseghin and Benat Intxausti, however Lance showed poor form on the day, and his fitness is still far from where it needs to be, due to his targets for the season being later in the year. as such he came in in what would eventually be just over a minute down on the lead.
The Movistar guys were steadily matched, and it was Ritchie Porte who set the next best time, as one of the last of the favourites to set off.
Then came Vasil Kiryienka, yet another man from Movistar, who seem to be going all out to win this race, the TT route suited him, and he was able to break Richies time, by a further 11"
Wiggins and Martin were both unable to beat the Movistar mans time, showing just what good form the Belarusian climber is in, they take 2nd and 3rd on the day, at 6" and 7" back.
With all the favourites finished out enroute, it was time for the breakaway men to give it there all, Matthews of Rabobank did enough to reclaim the -25 jersey for another day, but the CT man, Cyril Bessy sadly had to relinquish his grasp upon the Yellow jersey today.
All in all, not a good day for us here at Exxon-Duke, we were made to pay for a lack of fitness over the 20km TT route, leaving us a lot to do on the final days in order to climb back up the rankings towards those higher placings, form 32nd spot.
Posts: 1802 Joined: 01.10.11 Location: United Kingdom PCM$: 10.00
Stage 5
The first of 2 mountain days, but another stage which sees a descent before the actual finish, will this limit the effectiveness of attacks?
The morning breakaway never really happened, 2 groups tried, including strangely Bradley Wiggins, but after these were stopped, no one else tried to breakaway.
The BotD as it were, occurred on the slopes of the first climb, when a moderately strong group, including names such as Tchsopp, and Hoogerland tried to go clear, an attack which finally succeeded to create a front group.
Armstrong was feeling better today, so we gave Movistar a hand at the front, Zabriskie and Phinney both took turns at the front, as we reeled in the escape between climbs one and two.
The break were caught on the second ascent, by a much reduced group, and the attacks started, first to go was Levi Leipheimer of Radioshack, but he was unable to stay away for too long.
Lance was part of a 3man attack just before the summit, he went with Porte, and Bruseghin, the attack looked good, but they were caught with 10km to go.
The pack was down to just 34men now, and it was going to come down to a sprint race for the line. Kreuziger was again the man for the job, destroying the competition, and picking up the stage win.
Today was satisfactory, the selective route means Armstrong moves up into 16th place with one more day to go, another mountainous day, and a top 5-10 placing is not an unreasonable aim for the American veteran.
The team had a second race today, a 1.1 race which we used as the final chance for Chris Horner to find some legs, and he was able to take 2nd place behind Cunego, after the duo made a break on the final climb.
Posts: 1802 Joined: 01.10.11 Location: United Kingdom PCM$: 10.00
Oh, and just one quick question, are many people actually reading this?
Spoiler:
Not that i'm even slightly considering ending it, it's great fun, just wandering how many people are interested/what i could do to improve as 1900 views for 124replies seems like a fairly low return
Basically to sum up: what can i do better with this story?
Do you guys like the team?
and who wants to see Lance take YELLOW!
Posts: 4413 Joined: 27.07.11 Location: Connecticut, USA PCM$: 369.05
You don't need to improve, your doing great!
I like the team a lot, although the lack of a real leadout man for Farrar makes me kinda sad. A young rider maybe?
I WANT TO SEE ARMSTRONG TAKE YELLOW!!!! Winner of American Championship races which I can't remember since my sig was deleted :L
Posts: 1802 Joined: 01.10.11 Location: United Kingdom PCM$: 10.00
Stage 6
The final day of the Tour De Romandie, a shorter day today, just 122km, however the 41km of climbing on the stage should still make for a tough day for the field, as we hope to move Lance up the rankings.
Despite the race starting with a 16km climb, we still had a morning break form on the climb, 5 men went away, including Kevin De Weert, and Bauke Mollema.
The break was doing well, and Saxobank wanted to get someone forward, the sent Gustav Larsson to bridge the gap, but once he attacked, the pack tailed him all the way, and the gap was reduced significantly to around 1'40" as we hit the final climb of the day.
We wanted to break up the pack as much as possible on this climb, so we placed Phinney, Colex and Zabriskie on the front, they set a pace which reduced the pack to less than 60riders by the time we had reached the halfway point.
With 3km of climbing left, Armstrong made his move he broke away quickly, taking Kreuziger and Leipheimer with him, the trio joined Mollema out in front, and reached the summit with a 52" advantage.
Seeing the peloton thundering along behind, after they quartered the gap on the descent, Armstrong went for a longer sprint, hoping to make it to the line, a serious improvement in final position looked unlikely now, but a stage would make a nice reward for the week.
Alas, again it was not to be, Kreuziger had been unwilling to work properly in the breakaway, and launched just as the pack caught up, to take yet another stage win, and with it, his 3rd WT stage race of the year!
Armstrong faded to 9th place in the end, again we are made to pay by a stage which finishes beyond the summit, had the race finished atop Mt Ovronnaz, Armstrong would have moved up to 6th place in the GC, instead having to settle for 14th...
Well, that's disappointing... Armstrong being caught within 20m of the line, pretty much sums up our week here, nothing quite went our way, still it was good to see Taylor (Phinney) doing well in the TT's and hopefully the team will have something more to shout about come the end of may, between Horner at the Giro, and Farrar along with Armstrong riding the Tour of California, both sponsor targets for the season.
Posts: 1802 Joined: 01.10.11 Location: United Kingdom PCM$: 10.00
It's here, the first of the Grand tours, the Supergiro D'Italia, and what a Giro it looks set to be! The test for the riders is the quest for the Maglia Rosa, and a mountainous course should prove very selective later on in the 3 weeks of racing.
Weeks One
Week 1, is the lightest of the trio, giving the riders a chance to warm up in preparation of those tiresome days in the saddle which are to come!
The race starts with a 21km TTT around Turin, we hope to place well as a squad today, and this prologue will place some immediate time gaps between the riders. This is an early opportunity for some men to lose valuable seconds right from the start.
The race then progresses down west coast of Italy, Day 2 looks well set up for a sprint finish, though a small climb just 25km from the finish may be enough to set up a late breakaway.
If there was a day in week 1 that should be given the name "unpredictable" this is it, 173km long, with the first 136km all being false flat, a breakaway will likely be given some slack today, but a fast descent at the finish could easily suit the sprinters wishes.
A chance to relax, this day may have some sharpish climbs early on, but the nature of the route will be likely to bring it all back together by the days end in Livorno.
And so it begins. todays climbing may not be horrendous in nature, but it signals the start of an unrelinquishing storm on the legs, with 3 KOM sprints today, as well as an uphill rush for the finish line.
A longer day than yesterday, and still with a lot of climbing, even if it is fairly gentle in gradient, the finish may see some selections however, and the GC contenders will need to stay on there toes.
The queen stage of the first week, despite being short, the 18km HC climb of the Montevergnine, will see the first major splits, with a genuine summit finish, the first of many to come!
The Team is strong when it comes to the Time Trials, and we will look to support Chris Horner by riding at the front when necessary, and reeling in dangerous attacks. We will rely upon Zwiz, Pate and Zabbo when it comes to the climbing though, we aren't the strongest all round team in the peloton, so we will look to make use of breaks to protect the guys.
Horner has shown some great shape so far this year, winning in the Basque, aswell as victory in the Fleche Wallonne, he hopes to improve on this great performance, by bringing us a high placing in the GC here in Italy!
Where to start, we may not see any of the absolute best, but there is very strong competition here none the less, and Chris will have his work cut out to get us a top5.
Top Favourites
Liquigas- Basso-Nibali (What a pairing) Nibali is there named leader, but the italians show they mean business with this spearhead attack, the duo will be very hard to match thats for sure!
Lampre - ISD Cunego-Scarponi If one Italian pairing wasn't enough, look out for this one! (If) Cunego will work for Scarponi, he could be very difficult to beat this year!
Outsiders
Exxon-Duke Chris Horner may not be the absolute best, but he isn't out of the fight, and with some plucky attacks, you never know what our man could achieve!
Movistar Bruseghin, his team have looked strong all year, but there is a potential relegation battle for them come the end of the season, with this squad, watch Movistar set the field alight in the mountains and TT's!
Vacansoleil They are weak in the TT department, but Matteo Carrara is a great climber, and will be one to mark over the coming 3 weeks.
Astana One word. Vinokourov. Despite his age (Who are we to talk about aging leaders!) Vino is one of the best, he was in good nick at Paris-Nice, second behing his own team mate, Kreuziger, who fortunately, we have the blessing of living without here!
Saxobank Richie Porte. Wow, has he had some responsibility placed on his shoulders, Contadors crash takes him away from the Giro, ans quite possibly Le Tour as well, so SBS are very keen to make good with Richie in his season target, scraping a points barrel which otherwise looks worryingly empty!
Thats all from me for now folks, I hope you enjoyed the race preview, we'll soon see how the race plays out over the next month, See you on the roads!
Posts: 1802 Joined: 01.10.11 Location: United Kingdom PCM$: 10.00
@Fernando Haha, not sure absolute ruling will occur
@Sutty As much as we can get really, I would say personally that a win was way too much to ask, but i'd like a couple of stage wins, maybe top10/5 overall?
Edited by baggieboys32 on 01-05-2012 20:35
Posts: 1802 Joined: 01.10.11 Location: United Kingdom PCM$: 10.00
Stage 1
The TTT is upon us, 5,4,3,2,1 And We're OFF! welcome to the 2011 Giro D'Italiaaaa!
The TTT was won by those specialist with the triple vertical stripe at HTC, oh wait, No?, Shock victory for the Blue and Green today, showing people how to TT, and picking up the leaders jersey today, is Marzio Brusgehin, Exxon had a strong day out on the road today, we take 4th place, a solid start to the race!
The first true stage of the race, and boy it's a long one! 238km... What a way to break in the riders, or perhaps- Just break some!
Todays breakaway was unsurprisingly hard fought, eventually a 5 man group got free from the Tether of Vacansoleil and Movistar.
There was however no chance of success today, and as the single KOM sprint of the day came into view, the pack were just 23" behind, Horner fancied a jersey from day 1, and so he attacked the pack, took the points, then dropped back neatly into the peloton as the break was enveloped.
The pace was stepped up, the sprinters wanted to open up there accounts, but they were frought by a more punchy rider, clearly the short climbs had done just enough to sap the legs slightly, and Vacansoleil get a reward for there efforts on the front, a stage win, for Matteo Cararra.
Sadly, the results didn't export because it crashed at the end of the stage, so here is a print screen of the top 14.
As intended, a fairly quiet day for the side today, though we got more than we bargained for early on. Horners attack earns us the KOM jersey for tomorrow, I wonder, how will Chris look in Green? personally, I think Pink would be more fetching!
Edited by baggieboys32 on 01-05-2012 21:25
