Hmm, the times in the report for Birtles don't match up with the results but still a great result nevertheless. Bradley who?

I don't know why my riders always fail in these end of race TTs. They did last year too but a nice 11th place for Tejay to comfortably secure the goal.

I feel for Bikex, missing out on a top 10 by 6 seconds thanks to a breakaway but what a performance by Yates.

Great job with the reports Luigi. Especially the mountains were done very well.

Kangert manages to finish off the job with 4th. 2 Giant riders in the top 10 also!

De Gendt stays 6th. Great result. Whatever happened to Richie, Thomas has taken over in style. No top 10 in the last TT is quite disappointing.

EDIT: Just realised he had beaten Contador in the process. Now we'll see if he can win 2 GT's...

I think we all had our share of 11th places

Another shit showing from Lampre

Time to unleash Plant?

Another crappy performance. Had reallu hoped for more from Castroviejo...

All in all a crappy shit-race for Euskaltel.

I would like to thank danny, luigi and shonak for their great reporting, they really made the 3 highlights of this season part truely EPIC

Many thanks, it was good seeing some great pace from luigi and Atlantius

Most definitely

So... catching up with things after a few days away.

Quite pleased with how Paulinho performed in Paris-Nice, getting 2nd in the KoM and a decent GC placing (although that fails to net us any points), but that fails to mask the horror of Moreno's atrocious performance, being one of the best puncheurs in the startlist yet finishing more than 15 minutes down in an ignominious display of incompetence.

Contador too has been poor in Tirreno, especially considering our top 5 goal. Obviously not helped by the PCM AI and the ridiculous gaps it creates, but he should be doing better than he has. Fuglsang decent but highly anonymous.

Not looking great in the rankings, especially considering despite our stage racing focus we won't score well in the P-N and T-A double, but both Purito and Majka are yet to race and due to a planning mistake we have a ridiculously strong lineup in Catalunya

Indeed I am happy to announce Lampre got some startlists in

Hell YEAH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmm, 2 problems. OZrocker has been missing for a while, I kinda need someone to take over Catalunya. And Cycleman is still busy with Algarve, so maybe a different reporter for Criterium International could be handy as well. Let me know if someone is up for it, many thanks in advance.

I could do CI, although the break will win the GC.

thanks, and you did well in Almeria by letting Kittel win

Startlist won't come till monday unfotunately

NO, I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS! #LeFaucon

I heard Le Faucon, what happened

After the opening races and Dwaars door Vlaanderen, soon follows E3 Prijs Harelbeke. The flemish classic has increased his reputation in past years and he's by now a little fan favourite. Both Boonen and Cancellara have dominated this race in the past, however there's always a chance of an outsider taking away victory. Last year, Tom Boonen took victoy ahead of Cancellara and Peter Sagan.


The race is usually an entertaining mix of attacking and tactical play. A reduced sprint is always a likely option though. Chances are actually quite high that a daring move some 40+ kilometers out is successful by various contenders. Oude Kwaremont may present itself as decisive like it usually prides itself, the usual cobbled sections quite far out from the finish. With Taienberg leading up to the ending, the finish is an alright challenge for every rider in this tough 203 km long race.

Top Favourites include Cancellara, Sagan and the set-up of Omega Pharmasists consisting of Boonen & Terpstra. Last year's monument winners Greg Van Avermaet and Sep Vanmarcke are likely to step up their game even more. Kristoff and Degenkolb have proven to be able to hold their own and in case of a sprint, they are able to match the strength of Boonen and Sagan.

With the dismissal of Sithembile from the EPIC program, Erik McDermott and Khamphan are the new top tier cobbled riders. McDermott & Stybar may be a cruel combination of talent with the help of Nuyens, Vansummeren & Navardauskas. Flecha gets captaincy alongside Del Pino for Movistar and the spanish squad may be in for a highlight season when it comes to cobblez.

This may be the first test for my leaders duo if they can combine well.
Flecha is propably the better candidate here since the distance is way too short for del Pino but we'll see. A good result from him would surely be a signal for the monuments!