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Fabio Melani | Road to Le Tour | End of Season
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 25-01-2015 17:56
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Tour de France Champion
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Post when you have time to do so 
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 26-01-2015 00:37
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Thanks guys that's great to hear 
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 00:32
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 26-01-2015 06:20
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Well, a lot has happened since I announced this concept to you guys. The website and TV commercial launched, and we're already up to 120 entries. Phenomenal. Meanwhile, the race has received good press from some current pros. Several riders have made public their admiration for my concept, the most notable of which have been Bradley Wiggins and Jan Bakelants.
Personally, I've managed to fill my team. We will have five riders, with 2 more being added since last time. One of them is my brother, Riccardo. He's pretty good on the mountains himself, so hopefully he'll be of use. Secondly, we have added Gonzalo Perez to our group. Remember him? Yeah, he's young Carlo's brother, now age 20. He's hoping to make the jump to pro cycling, and this will be a good sort of "trial race" for him, with Sean Kelly personally watching.
Finally, licenses. As I said before, we've received a lot of support from the world's riders. The same goes for teams. We've already received licenses to use the jerseys of every World Tour team, that is, apart from Sky. Although, that's not really much of a problem, as I don't think anybody would want to be them anyway. They're not popular at all in Argentina, maybe because of that whole Puccio thing, or maybe just because of the general consensus about doping. I can't really comment. In terms of Continental teams, we've received permission to use the jerseys of Cofidis, Bardiani, Androni, and of course Colombia.
I'm heading to Italy now for a couple of late-season classics, so I'll talk to you from there. See you!
 
Edited by Cycleman123 on 26-01-2015 10:43
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 26-01-2015 06:36
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 GP de Quebec 
Nice and hilly, just what I like. I've fully recovered from my over-exhaustion, so hopefully I can get a good result. 
Fouchard and Lavieu went in the break.
With 27km to go, Peter Sagan attacked and, being one of the main favourites, John and I decided to follow the Astana man.
My friend had done his job, and with 15km left we were both in the main group of 8 which looked like it would contest the win.
About 10km out, I decided to test myself and attack. Unfortunately though, it was quite draining.
With 6.5km to go I was up with Sagan, Zoidl and Kelderman. Obviously I was hoping for a podium, but I could almost guarentee myself that I was the most tired rider in there.
Despite stopping my effort and following for a while, I was still too tired to contest when the sprint started. Darwin had actually caught up by then, but there wasn't much he could do.
In the end Kelderman took the win, and I had to settle for 4th.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 26-01-2015 06:51
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World Champion
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A decent Quebec.
Also looks good for the charity ride, I was going to mention Carlos' bro last time but though he was only about 16 now .
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 26-01-2015 07:18
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jandal7 wrote:
A decent Quebec.
Also looks good for the charity ride, I was going to mention Carlos' bro last time but though he was only about 16 now .
Were you going to suggest him for the race? Man, you really are ahead of the story 
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 26-01-2015 07:23
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
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Not too shabby result, just missing the podium
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 26-01-2015 07:34
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
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Cycleman123 wrote:
jandal7 wrote:
A decent Quebec.
Also looks good for the charity ride, I was going to mention Carlos' bro last time but though he was only about 16 now .
Were you going to suggest him for the race? Man, you really are ahead of the story
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 26-01-2015 10:15
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4478
Joined: 30-07-2012
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jandal7 wrote:
Cycleman123 wrote:
jandal7 wrote:
A decent Quebec.
Also looks good for the charity ride, I was going to mention Carlos' bro last time but though he was only about 16 now .
Were you going to suggest him for the race? Man, you really are ahead of the story
Fine then. Make a prediction about something to come this season Also, his name is Carlo.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 26-01-2015 10:20
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Nice result for Fabio in Quebec and good to see two riders in the top five too
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 26-01-2015 10:25
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Ian & Sutty: The whole team's doing the job to really consolidate promotion.
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 26-01-2015 10:42
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 Tre Valle Varesine Preview
Another good hilly profile for me. I'll definitely be looking for a strong result. 
Roldan, Cattaneo and Ballan went in the break.
With 5km left there were 68 riders in the peloton, and we were absolutely dominating. Things were going according to plan.
2km out I had gotten away with Rohan. Things were really going according to plan.
Things were still going according to plan under the flamme rouge: we had 13 seconds.
Oh no! Things were not going according to plan now! Rohan had really f*cked up his leadout, and now I was in trouble. The win was slipping away. With 400m left it was me vs Cameron Meyer.
I got ahead with 300m left but Rohan was actually still ahead. Could he go all the way?
I felt like he could, but with just a few metres to go he just fell back. Thankfully it went too quickly for me to react as I was through for the victory.
And I could raise my arms in victory once again! A great race in terms of team tactics, but I still have
some questions regarding Rohan. "Mate. What did you do?"
"What are you talking about? I just didn't have the legs."
"Look, I know better than to get you to confess. Thanks for bringing me up the field, anyway."
"Hey, Fabio, wait... I know I really fucked up that leadout, I didn't deserve to win."
"It doesn't matter who of us wins, it matters if the team does. That's as much your victory as it is mine. Go get the team award on the podium today, ok mate?
"Thanks Fabio"
Fabio
Edited by Cycleman123 on 27-01-2015 00:11
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 26-01-2015 15:04
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Great Victory 
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 26-01-2015 18:47
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
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Fabio won't win WC, WC ITT, All three GTs, all 5 monuments in a single season. Now go ahead, prove me wrong.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 26-01-2015 19:08
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7651
Joined: 28-05-2009
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Great couple of races for Fabio!
.: Manager of :.
.: My Awards :.
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 27-01-2015 00:13
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4478
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Jandal: Well that's spot on because Argentina doesn't have a national team, and I'm not racing every GT and Monument
Sutty & Phil: Thanks guys, I'm on some great form
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 27-01-2015 00:29
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4478
Joined: 30-07-2012
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The team's all set in terms of gear for next season, with Sean tieing the knot on equipment deals with BMC, Campagnolo and Shimano.
Alec may have had his breakthrough race in professional cycling, having won Stage 2 of the Tour of Britain. He would've been just 2 bonus seconds away from the overall win, if not for a break stealing the show on the penultimate stage.
With 1st and 8th on the 2 stages of the Tour du Gevaudan, Virgilijus took the win there.
World Championships
Once again Argentina chose not to field a team at the Worlds, so I was just watching on TV. In the time trial, Rohan was hoping to scrape into the Top 10, but after getting progressively better over the course, he managed to finish 2nd! A brilliant result.
Meanwhile, in the road race, not only was most of the Columbia team made up of my teammates, we also had Virgilijus Grazhys who was hoping to defy the critics saying the course would be too steep for him.
Just when we thought the Lithuanian sensation couldn't get any better, he broke away from the favourites group and gained enough time to hold off John Degenkolb by over 20 seconds! We have the World Champion!
The team also had a bunch of other riders in the race.
Atapuma - 59th
Dennis - 64th
Pantano - 106th
Diluca - 120th
Chaves - 130th
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 27-01-2015 00:44
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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The World Champion within the team, very nice indeed
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| Cycleman123 |
Posted on 27-01-2015 01:45
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4478
Joined: 30-07-2012
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Sutty: A lot to live up to
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 27-01-2015 08:39
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7651
Joined: 28-05-2009
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Lithuanian World Champion!! Great news for the team
.: Manager of :.
.: My Awards :.
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