Zanci93 wrote:
Especially Lienhard is a really talented rider here in Switzerland he won some big races in the U23 category and rides now with the Elite-Team and got a top 20 place in the swiss national championships. He is only 18 years old and probably has a big future

Trofeo Laiguelia



Well, welcome to Italy (once again) where we take part in the Trofeo Laiguelia. The Italians obviously hate us as the organisers have opened the race to strong teams such as Liquigas, Astana, Sky and Radioshack-Nissan. All of those teams have brought strong squads and the field includes riders such as, Sagan (suprise, Suprise), Vinokurow, Scarponi, Boonen and Cancellara. So as usual, there is no other option for us other than take the flight and try our best in a Breakaway group. But seriuosly, thees ridersrs are getting sick of the World Tour Teams:



And we jump into the race with 144km to go:



A breakaway group consisting of 3 formed after several attempts (many of which initiated by Angst and Brüggner) failed. In the B.O.D. in the early stages of the race were Valls (VDC), Vanotti (LIQ) and Saggiorato. Gorenc from Adria Mobil was only trailing a little bit behind and joined the group.



Several teams were controlling the pace in the pack with no inteest in chasing after the 4 up front. But why should they. Afterall there are only Vanotti and Valls in that group who have proven that they are good climbers in the past...



And Around 77km before the magical line, BMC picked up the pace (Adv. at max 5:30). They surely were convinced that Ballan or Hushovd could pull it off today. But what does thgis mean for us? Those basterds cant let us have a single moment of glory. It was pretty clear that the Break wouldnt get through at this stage already.



And as the gap shrank, it was Ulissi who actually rode away from the pack. At least this meant that Lampre wouldnt chase us anymore, would it?



And while Ulissis attack happened, Farneses Captain, Oscar Gatto hit the tarmac. Due to this incident he would loose every chances for the win today. But he wasnt the guy with the worst luck. That Price went to Laurent Didier, who had several off camera rendezvous with the black beatuy and in the end he had to abandon...



And 20k before the line, the break adventure was over, as Saggiorato found himself in the group of favourites... Ulissi is now in the lead with a mere 21 seconds...



And at the 11km mark, Saggiorato is distanced from the favourits and finds himself in one group with Gatto and Gorenc.

While we are still wondering what went wrong today, the favourites opened the sprint. Sagan was obviously the no.1 favourite. Boonen was nowhere to be seen, so Hushovd aso sensed his chances, while Cancellara gave himself up as his attempts to distance thew Slovak maniac failed...



And it is Sagan indeed who wins the Trofeo Laiguelia with a massive gap on Vinokurow (AST) and Thor Hushovd (BMC)!



And after a long day in the break, Saggiorato sprints to 28th. Will we ever see a field without World Tour Teams?

And again we've been screwed by World Tour Teams... Well, nothing else to do than look forward to the next race and hopfully scrape another top15 result in the coming 2 races... Maybe even more? We will definetly sit together tonight and talk our way through the tactics for the next days. Hint: It will probably have something to do with a Breakaway...

Avin Wargunnson wrote:
Brilliant story so far, these minor teams has always special flavour. I dont have much time to read and comment during summer, but your story certainly deserve that with great pictures, writing and dediccation.

Pity that you are forced to race against the supertars, will you race some 2.2 races soon?Because you will be slaughtered by Sagan in the bigger league

Beevercreek Classics



Its Pancake flat here in Holland. That means just one thing for EKZ: No BREAKAWAY! we set everything on Luca Conrad. But there is a big question mark behind his name. According to his training schedule he will be a serious contender for great results until early april. But we will see how it goes today. The favourites are Enduras Downing alongside BGZ's Jezowski and and Indelands Stauff.

Here is the EKZ Squad:



THE RACE



The break took a mere 20 km to develop and it consisted of Raboobank Continentals Huizenga, Jong Vlaanderens Durant and Aubers LeBlouch. The trio gained a maximum advantage of 6 minutes in the weakest field EKZ encountered up to now.



The guys were actually planning a stake out in the pack as no matter what plan we would decide on, it would end with the words "... and then Luca takes it from there!" So no risks today and a good ol' sprint.



Around the halfway stage of the race it was Roubaix, Landbouwkredit and Endura who were cutting into the advantage of the break.



But the only important matter for us was the question if this man was already strong enough to take a top result for us!



And then the shock. Our Captain Sur Route, Moser, fell off his bike. It didnt look to bad and he caught up with the pack again but would later abandon due to excrutiating pain in his right hand.



The Breakaway was caught with 11km left to go. Meanwhiole the Peloton split in half which caused some disrution in the group of favouries on the last lap as they had to lap the drop offs while battling out the sprint.



But just as we got to the lapping stage, Conrad was right behind Downing. And as we were about to lap the drop offs, he lost the backwheel of the favourites. Finally in the sprint he was only in a position to sprintinto the top 10 at max while the win went to...



...Roubaixs Flahaut! Sadly, Conrad didnt make the top10 and only managed a 13th place...

Well, It wasnt meant to be. Conrad lost contact with the favouritses because he wasnt fit enough yet and becuase the lapping of the dropped riders caused disruptions in the pack. But there were some good starting points that make us hopeful for the rest of the season!
On the negative side, we sadly have to inform you that Moser is out until the end of April with a fractured hand. Well, We wish him the best recovery...

sisse wrote:
Very nice story to follow, but doublecheck for some avoidable mistakes

Beevercreek Classics aren't run in Holland but in Belgium and is called Beverbeek Classic, Landbouwkredit should be Landbouwkrediet...