I'm not surprised about Pettachi, he's pretty old at this point, but Bennati (because of the cobbles), and Ventoso (because he must be 29 or so) surprise me.

Grand Tour Plans

Giro d'Italia

Cadel Evans looks set to ride here and will do his best to helps us win this race for the 2nd year running, although aiming for the Top 5 would seem like a more realistic target. Franco Pellizotti will obviously ride here, while there is a chance that Uran and Konovalovas might too. Edvald Boasson Hagen will hopefully ride here as our sprinter.

Tour de France

Aleksandr Pliuschin will lead the team here at the Tour. It wont be his tour debut, for he did ride a couple of stages in 2008, but it will definately be his first finish and hopefully, a podium placing. Support can be expected from Rogers, Deignan, Pellizotti and Tenorio, while Mikhail Ignatiev should again be in top form. Also returning is E.B. Hagen, the Norwegian will want to repeat his Green Jersey victory. Mark Cavendish may also ride here, although it is not going to be his main aim for this season.

Vuelta a Espana

The Grand Tour I am looking forward to the most - and why is that? Because it will be the first time DFL enter a Grand Tour with an all-British team! A sponsor goal is to win the sprinters jersey, so Cavendish will be here along with support from Swift and Thomas. Wiggins and Millar will go for the time trials, while Chris Froome is expected to lead the GC challenge with support from Charly Wegelius and Adam Blythe. The 9th spot is likely to be taken by Ian Stannard. This race will not only be exciting for the team, but also great preparation for the World Championships which are in Liverpool this year.

Amazingly, you've somehow made the Vuelta exciting!

Somehow....

Yes, already looking forward to the Vuelta

vuelta

im still checking this thread daily, patiently waiting for a comeback .

Save yourself some time and dont check back until June

June it is .

To keep you up to date, Im having issues with getting PCM07 to work now - but a new computer is on its way (hopefully coming on Friday) so after that it should be good to go again - perhaps with better graphics settings too.

Aussie Champs coming up later today

Time Trial

Both Michael Rogers and Cadel Evans are hoping to pull something off here.

Cameron Meyer turned up determined to perform and rode a very strong ride


At the first check, Meyer and Milram's Higgerson held a joint lead - with Rogers 2 seconds back.


By the 2nd check, Higgerson was 2 seconds behind Meyer and Rogers 6, they were up to 3 and 11 down respectively by the finish, so Rogers would not win today.

Cadel Evans meanwhile was unable to make an impact, finishing 6th

awesome, its back, what season is this, 4?

Yep. 4th season now. Hoping to turn a 33% success rate at the Aussie RR champs into a 50% success rate.

Road Race

Here is the route, same as ever


The breakaway would seem like a good place to start. There's 8 of them, and included is new DFL signing Wes Sulzberger

It was his job to cover the moves while Rogers and Evans waited in the pack. So far so good.

90km to go, the break holds a 7 minute advantage


Thats up to 9 minutes with 60km to go, and realising it's now or never, Rogers attacks


4 others follow, they quickly get a minute - no response from the peleton - so Evans recognises that he must attack too


He is on a +5 day so stands the best chance of a DFL rider to win, but he must now chase alone after Rogers, McGee, Bates, Manion and O'Grady


It takes him nearly 30km of hard chasing, but at last he is able to link up - but how much has it cost him?


Up front the break still holds 4 minutes with 30km left and that gap is not reducing as fast as Evans and Rogers would like.

Sulzberger is still there as the group reduces to 4, but his prospects dont look good. Starting to run low on energy, with a -5 daily form. Theres now 15km to go.


Across the line to start the final lap, Sulzberger trying to preserve as much as possible. His companions are Chadwick (Ubbink Syntec) - who is actually from New Zealand, Davis (T-Mobile), Frankhauser (ElkHaus) - who is actually from Austria


Evans and Rogers cross as they are about to catch the 2nd half of the breakaway. The gap to Sulzberger's group is just over 2 minutes, and theres 10km left


Its clear now that the front 4 will make it and Suzlberger manages to bring himself up to 2nd in line. His only hope is that the others are just as tired as he is.


The sprint is mostly downhill, giving a big advantage to the man in front, and that is Glenn Chadwick.


The sprint is only 1km rather than 3km, which is not ideal for Sulzberger, but he is not giving up


He is closing in on Chadwick...


But the line is coming ever closer...


It looks like Chadwick might have this


But Sulzberger really hauled himself over the line, it is very very close


Chadwick thinks he is got it, he is celebrating - however small


As the jury decides, the battle for 5th is on. Stuart O'Grady, now a Lampre rider, takes it with Rogers and Evans 7th and 8th respectively.


But now it's all about whether Chadwick or Sulzberger got it.

We won't know until the podium presentations.

Here it is now ...

SULZBERGERS GOT IT!


And now full confirmation of the results:


Wow! Wes Sulzberger opens up the season with a bang, taking the Aussie Championships on Extreme with a -5 daily form by the tighest of margins. Brilliant.

fantastic win

amazing

it was probably the back wheel bug

Wow what a win!

Should bring you some good prospects for the season

btw whhy are some foreigner riders racing the aussie champs? kinda hilarious

Way to go, show that damn kiwi

yes, the longevity of this story seems to be giving the game some issues

I think it was just a mistake in the database from the start.

I have now reached the issue with PCM Spain of it crashing in the Tour Down Under 2010, so if someone remembers what to do then that would be useful - otherwise Ill go and have a trawl through the forum at some point.