Slipstream got Schumacher

Wiesenhof look favorites to go down

Vuelta wont start with a TT

and it's Mollema with just one m

but you should certainly have a chance in the PT if you use the right riders at the right races. and with contador pt individual victory should be possible if you win the tour

Good luck this year SN, hope my jersey brings you Glory! and maybe a few national champions. Maybe in the Australian RR or TT

Look at Astana
Cunego, S.Sanchez, Popovych, Visconti, Kohl

If Rabo is strong, how do you describe this??

Dont worry, SN will sort them out

Bernard Sulzberger and Rhys Pollock

Time Trial
Last Years Winner: Bradley McGee



The new jersey in action but there is not much to show for it, they at least take a better result than last year though. Rogers wins it.

1 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM 57'27
2 Miles Olman SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS + 13
3 Shaun Higgerson SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS + 17
4 Cadel Evans RABOBANK + 23
5 Ben Day NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
6 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 38
7 Brett Lancaster TEAM MILRAM + 41
8 Russell Van Hout AUBER 93 + 46
9 Zak Dempster SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS + 49
10 Bruce Budgen USA + 55
44 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'26
49 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'44
56 Graeme Brown RABOBANK + 3'27

Road Race
Last Years Winner: Cadel Evans

Last year both Sulzberger and Pollock finished well out of it - Sulzberger had been in the break but it hadnt worked, we hope to do better this time round.

At first, we were reluctant to go with the break but when over 10 riders got away and it looked as if only Predictor would want to chase then we knew the break would make it so Sulzberger attacked.


He made it into the breakaway which contained 17 riders.


Sulzberger chose to not bother relaying. There was no worry of being caught so no need to waste energy, he wasnt the only one doing this and noone asked him to work. Also in the breakaway was former DFL rider David Harrigan, now riding for Thuringer Energie.


As we closed in on the finish, Sulzberger did put in some effort as he looked to lead off the sprint.


The downward slope delayed the start of the sprint and Sulzberger really went for it.


And noone could peg back the gap, its a victory and a national jersey!!


1 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 4h44'39
2 Rory Sutherland HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
3 Matthew Hayman RABOBANK s.t.
4 Graeme Brown RABOBANK s.t.
5 Robbie Williams DRAPAC PORSCHE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM s.t.
6 Duncan Rowe HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
7 Dean Windsor DRAPAC PORSCHE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM s.t.
8 Brett Lancaster TEAM MILRAM s.t.
9 David Harrigan THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
10 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 3'18
11 Matthew Goss TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Sean Sullivan TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
13 Nicolas Sanderson SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS + 4'06
14 Henk Vogels GEROLSTEINER s.t.
15 Scott Davis T-MOBILE TEAM + 4'25
16 Cameron Meyer DRAPAC PORSCHE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM + 5'09
17 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC + 5'41
18 Michael Ford SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS + 7'07
19 Cadel Evans RABOBANK + 7'59
20 Simon Gerrans TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT + 11'07
21 Daniel McConnell TEAM CSC s.t.
22 Allan Davis TEAM MILRAM s.t.
23 Gene Bates UNIBET.COM CONTINENTAL s.t.
24 Matthew Lloyd PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
25 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

WOOO! The first RR my jersey is in and it gets a win. Way to go SN nice one!

Great win!

that was a huge break

Nice start to the season

[sarcasm]

Only 50% win rate? Pssshhhhh

[/sarcasm]

Seriously, nothing like starting a season with a win though!

Last Years Winner: Andy Flickinger

Team: Sulzberger, Hammond, Haynes, McCann, Smith, Oliphant
Ive never raced this race before so it should be interesting.

Stage 1

David McCann will be our team leader and he takes a solid 3rd place today.


Carlos Castano is 2nd.


While Francois Pervis takes 1st - he is a rider who could dominate time trials in a couple of years.


1 François Pervis THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM 10'21
2 Carlos Castaño TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA + 1
3 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3
4 Marcel Kittel THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
5 Stef Clement BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 5
6 Jeff Sherstobitoff SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM + 7
7 Piotr Przydzial TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 8
8 Ryder Hesjedal CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 10
9 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
10 Dirk Bellemakers TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 11
11 Juan José Oroz TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA + 12
12 Søren Nissen CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
13 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 13
14 Tony Martin THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
15 Fredrik Johansson TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
16 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
18 Mickey Smith DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 15
31 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 25
47 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 32
55 Hamish Haynes DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 35

Stage 2

This should be the toughest stage of the race, and McCann will look to follow the attacks, which he does with 17km to go as Martin, Sherstobitoff and Castano attack near the KoM.


McCann is able to keep with Castano, and also Sebastien Joly - who has developed nicely as a rider and could be a threat in the Ardennes with 79 hill.


Its tough for McCann to keep with these two but despite gaining 2 red bars, he is able to do it and is happy to settle for 3rd in the sprint as Joly takes the stage.

Stage 3

Bernard Sulzberger shows off his new jersey as he goes with the breakaway


They will be caught though and with 8km to go, Casar has put in a dangerous attack.


But it seems he was only after KoM points and it will all come down to a chaotic sprint.


Differdange's Hannes Blank looks set to win, but in the last few metres his new teammate Cucinotta (In the KoM jersey) sneaks past to grab it.


1 Claudio Cucinotta CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE 1h52'52
2 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
3 Dimitri Fofonov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
4 Malaya Van Ruitenbeek TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
5 Andrew Randell SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
6 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
8 Fredrik Johansson TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
9 Matthias Bertling TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
10 Sebastian Frey TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
11 Marcel Kittel THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
12 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
13 Philipp Klein THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
14 Kasper Jebjerg TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
15 Sebastian Forke TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.

GC
1 Carlos Castaño TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA 5h50'27
2 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6
3 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 7
4 François Pervis THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM + 1'43
5 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 1'44
6 Marcel Kittel THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM + 1'46
7 Stef Clement BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 1'48
8 Jeff Sherstobitoff SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM + 1'50
9 Piotr Przydzial TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 1'51
10 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'53

Stage 4

Despite there being no KoM sprints, Sulzberger joins Grabsch in attack on the shortest stage of the race.


This stage could be significant as it has a cobbled section near the end, meaning Hammond should be strong in the sprint.

Sulzberger cracks with 19km to go but Grabsch keeps it going, but his time is up as we reach the cobbles


Hammond is poised behind Pagliarini as the sprint begins


Its going to be a 3 horse race between Hammond, Pagliarini and Pinfold


And Hammond wins it!!!


1 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 3h01'50
2 Andrew Pinfold SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
3 Luciano Pagliarini TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
4 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
5 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
6 Sébastien Hinault CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
7 Claudio Cucinotta CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
8 Malaya Van Ruitenbeek TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
9 Kasper Jebjerg TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
10 Marcel Kittel THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.

GC
1 Carlos Castaño TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA 8h52'17
2 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6
3 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 7
4 François Pervis THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM + 1'43
5 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 1'44
6 Marcel Kittel THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM + 1'46
7 Stef Clement BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 1'48
8 Jeff Sherstobitoff SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM + 1'50
9 Piotr Przydzial TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 1'51
10 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'53
11 Ryder Hesjedal CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
12 Dirk Bellemakers TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 1'54
13 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'55
14 Juan José Oroz TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA s.t.
15 Søren Nissen CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
16 Fredrik Johansson TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 1'56
17 Tony Martin THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
18 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
19 Christophe Edaleine CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 1'57
20 Joe Kirch CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 1'58

Points
1 Carlos Castaño TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA 40
2 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE 39
3 Claudio Cucinotta CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE 38
4 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 35
5 Marcel Kittel THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM 33
6 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 32
7 Malaya Van Ruitenbeek TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES 32
8 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 32
9 Dimitri Fofonov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 30
10 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 25

Great ride by Hammond

Stage 5

For the 3rd day in a row, Sulzberger is in the breakaway. There is a maximum of 26 KoM points on offer but he is only able to take 2nd in both of them due to Nicolas Crosbie.


The break doesnt make it but there is drama 8.8km from the line as there is a crash involving race leader Carlos Castano


Theres no way back for Castano - McCann will be the new race leader!

Hammond is well placed in the sprint


But noone can stop Thuringer Energie and they take a 1-2 with Klein and Kittel


1 Philipp Klein THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM 2h44'06
2 Marcel Kittel THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
3 Andreas Schillinger TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
4 Fredrik Johansson TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
5 Florent Bonnet BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
6 Claudio Cucinotta CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
7 Sebastian Frey TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
8 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
9 Jonas Holmkvist TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA s.t.
10 Matthias Bertling TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.

GC
1 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 11h36'29
2 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1
3 Marcel Kittel THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM + 1'28
4 François Pervis THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM + 1'37
5 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 1'38
6 Stef Clement BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 1'42
7 Jeff Sherstobitoff SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM + 1'44
8 Piotr Przydzial TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 1'45
9 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'47
10 Ryder Hesjedal CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
11 Philipp Klein THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM + 1'49
12 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
13 Søren Nissen CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
14 Fredrik Johansson TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 1'50
15 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

KoM
1 Nicolas Crosbie BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM 30
2 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 23
3 David Polfer TEAM SPARKASSE 14
4 Sébastien Hinault CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 14
5 Travis Allen TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 14


Stage 6

Its the final stage and we will need to be careful about Joly, who lies just 1 second behind McCann. Guess who went with the breakaway?


And with no Crosbie, Sulzberger was able to take the jersey - a great reward for all his aggressive riding.

Francaise des Jeux have a horrible final day. Sebastien Joly punctures midway through with the peleton in chase mode, noone stops to help him so he will fall out of contention.

They still have Casar in the top 10 but he crashes inside the last 10km and will also lose time

Marcel Kittel leads the sprint while Evan Oliphant, despite a sprint stat of 57, is also up there.


Kittel soon powers away and makes a gap


And the young german takes his team's 3rd stage of the tour!

Hammond takes 3rd, while Oliphant is 6th.

1 Marcel Kittel THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM 3h09'24
2 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
3 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Sebastian Forke TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
5 Jonas Owczarek TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
6 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Claudio Cucinotta CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
8 Carlos Castaño TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA s.t.
9 Andrew Randell SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
10 Philipp Klein THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.

GC
1 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 14h45'53
2 Marcel Kittel THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM + 1'08
3 François Pervis THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM + 1'37
4 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 1'38
5 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'41
6 Stef Clement BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 1'42
7 Jeff Sherstobitoff SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM + 1'44
8 Piotr Przydzial TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 1'45
9 Ryder Hesjedal CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 1'47
10 Philipp Klein THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM + 1'49
11 Søren Nissen CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
12 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'50
13 Fredrik Johansson TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
14 Christophe Edaleine CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 1'51
15 Mikaël Chérel FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'53
43 Hamish Haynes DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 5'29
69 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 20'32
70 Mickey Smith DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 27'51
71 Frederic Guesdon FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 33'48

Points
1 Marcel Kittel THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM 78
2 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 59
3 Claudio Cucinotta CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE 57
4 Carlos Castaño TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA 48
5 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE 40
6 Philipp Klein THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM 36
7 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 32
8 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 32
9 Malaya Van Ruitenbeek TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES 32
10 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 32

KoM
1 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 31
2 Nicolas Crosbie BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM 30
3 David Polfer TEAM SPARKASSE 20
4 Tony Martin THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM 17
5 Sébastien Hinault CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 14


January Round Up

Romain Feillu and Agritubel started the season with a bang as Feillu won 2 stages and the overall title in the Tour Down Under, his form has continued and he now leads the Tour of Qatar after Stage 4, having taken 2 individual stages after the teams TTT triiumph.

Barloworld and Ag2r have also started well. Robbie Hunter won the Down Under Classic in which Nazon was 2nd and Ag2r's Mondory took 2 stages in the Tour Down Under aswell.

World TT Champ Santiago Botero won the prologue of the Tour de San Luis and finished 5th overall. Rob Ruijigh of Kio-Ene won the race.

Great rides SN, I reckon its the new jersey giving them inspiration!

some good luck and riding for McCann

Very nice win by McCann, and I'm loving the GB jersey on Hammond

Im glad you like it

Thanks, I had great luck in Gabon, I hope it can pass over to Malaysia.



Last Years Winner: Sandy Casar
Team: Anuar Manan, David McCann, Fran Perez, Rigoberto Uran, Geraint Thomas, Ben Swift
Manan finally gets a chance to ride this race as we were unable to ride it last year, he will look to build form and target the last few stages - he should also move to XP level 3 during the race which will give a timely boost to his sprint stat. Another rider looking to move up to level 3 is Uran, who will abandon after the main stages of the race where he will look to help Fran Perez. This is David McCann's favourite race and he is already targeting the time trial later in this race. We also bring Brits Thomas and Swift who will look to maybe take a top 10 finish in the sprints while gaining experience points along the way.

Stage 1

Some riders attacked, but they got caught - today was always going to end in a sprint. The last 10km had many crashes though, the first of which saw Kolesnikov take down Geraint Thomas amongst others.


Perez Cuapio, Moreau and Dessel all lost time while the leaders of the FDJ and Selle Italia teams, Joly and Sella, were both forced to abandon - a 3rd abandonee was Malaysian Yong-Li Ng, who abandoned about 100m from the finish line.

The sprint was also fairly chaotic as a lot of sprinters fought for positioning. Slipstream looked to have the best train as Michael Creed looks to set up Malaysian Taha Yusri - a scouted rider with a useful sprint.


And it is Yusri who led into the final kilometre, with Jegou and Van Heerden closing on him.


And Jegou took the victory in a tight finish as Yusri took 3rd and Manan faded to 8th


1 Lilian Jégou FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 1h58'45
2 Juan Van Heerden VITÓRIA - ASC s.t.
3 Taha Yusri TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
4 Wes Sulzberger SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
5 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
6 Rony Martias BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
7 Nikolai Trussov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
8 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
9 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
10 Julian Dean CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
11 Nicolas Sanderson SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
12 Tiziano Dall'Antonia CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
13 Yukiya Arashiro NIPPO - MEITAN HONPO - ASADA s.t.
14 José Carlos Rodrigues VITÓRIA - ASC s.t.
15 Lars Croket SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
25 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
27 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
55 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
57 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
63 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 2'07
64 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'46
71 Christophe Moreau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
75 Julio Alberto Pérez Cuapio CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.