Ok so the next race is Tour Mediteranean .

Line-up
Venoso
Rojas
Rui Costa
Kiryenka
Castroviejo
Samoilau

Rui Costa is here to prepare for Vuelta Algarve where
he will be our leader , while Castroviejo is trying to get in shape for Vuelta Andalucia . Rojas is not yet in his best shape so again Ventoso will be our man.

Nice squad for the race, top 5 should be very, very possible

Stage 1 - a flat stage for the sprinters. With Kiryenka , Castroviejo and Rojas we definitly had the strongest sprint train for Ventoso and he did not disapponit.

Stage 1 Results
1.Francisco Ventoso
2.Matteo trentin
3.Scott Thwaites
4.Micheal Delage
5.Coen Vermelfoort




Stage 2-Another one for Ventoso
Satge 2 Results
1.Francisco Ventoso
2.Samuel Doumulin
3.Dominique Rollin
3.Michael Delage
5.Teo Bos

Stage 3 - Another flat stage .
1.Samuel Doumulin
2.Matteo Trentin
3.Francisco Ventoso
4.Michael Delage
5.Jacopo Guarnieri

So we had a 46 sec lead over the climbers , while tomorrow it will be a hilly stage with an uphill finish . It will be difficult to mentain the leader's jersey .

Ventose doing excellently!

Thanks Ian . We will try to keep our jersey in the uphill finish . It will be difficult but with Rui Costa and Kiryenka working for Ventoso anything is possible.

So here are the results

Stage 4 results

1.T.Machado
2.J.Gadret +22s
3.S.Pauwels +31s
4.Z.Stybar +46s
5.A.Jeansson +46s
.........
.........
16.Rui Costa +1 : 06
17.Kiryenka +1 : 06
31.Francisco Ventoso +1:34


GC
1.T.Machado
2.J.Gadret +30s
3.S.Doumulin +34s
4.S.Pauwels +43s
5.A.Geniez +1 :04
.........
.........
14.Rui Costa +1 :06
15.Kiryenka +1 :06


Points
1.Francisco Ventoso 66p
2.S.Doumulin 60p
3.M.Delage 42p

KOM
1.Bello Bilbao 30p

Young
1.A.Geniez


So we lost the jersey . But we remained with 2 stage wins , the Ponts Jersey and 2 riders in the top 15 in the GC.

Not a bad tour for the team

The next race : Vuelta Algarve



As you can see our team is build around Rui Costa who is aiming for the GC win in his home tour. With an uphill finish and an ITT the profile suits him .
He is also in good shape.

Ventoso showing some Great early season form

sutty68 Yea he had aroung 85 fitness which is very good in February. Also pettachi and Bos were not in good shape , like Doumulin for example


Stage 1- without Rojas or Ventoso we had no chance for the sprints

Stage Results

1.Luca Paolini
2.Tom Boonen
3.Daniel Moreno
4.Maxime Monfort
5.Daniele Benatti


Stage 2 - Aother one for the sprinters

Stage results
1.Luca Paolini
2.Tony Gallopin
3.Tom Boonen
4.Daniel Moreno
5.Gerald Ciolek

Paolini showed he is in super form but stage 3 will be an uphill sprint where Rui Costa has a chance to take the leader's jersey.

Stage 3 - an uphill sprint

Purito attacked with 10 km to go and when the last climb started he had a 1 minute lead over the peloton . But Kiryenka did an amazing job at the front of the chasing group and we came close .Rui Costa then remembered that he won on Willunga Hill
and had an amazing sprint. He finished 2nd.

Here are the results



Purio also took the overall lead with Rui Costa second only 12 sec behind , because he won an intermediate sprint in stage 2 and stage 3.

*I also added a screenshot with Ventoso's win in Tour Mediteranean .

Great sprint from Costa and its looking Good on the GC

Stage 4 - Flat Stage

Stage Results

1.Vaitkus
2.Bruno Lima
3.S.Ribeiro
4.J.EL Fares
5.Hugo Sabido

The break-away succeded and Vaitkus won the sprint . The peloton came after only 46 seconds , so the GC remained unchanged , except Ghyselink who entered the TOP 10 after
he was in the BOTD.

Only 9 seconds.Rui is a specialist in winning with small margins .

Stage 5 - a 25 km ITT

Normally no problem to beat Purito for 12 seconds , but we had to protect a 39 second lead over Cance . That will be a diificult job.

The results :


Cancellara showed his power and won.



After winning STDU , another tour won by Rui Costa .
He showed he is in great shape before Paris-Nice , where he confirmed his participation.

Its time for Veulta Andalucia

Line-up

Jonathan Castroviejo
Ruben Plaza
Jose Herada
Jesus Herada
Pablo Lastras
Angel Madrazo

Our leader will be Castroviejo.

Stage 1 - a prologue



Super performance by Catroviejo beating Millar and taking the leader's jersey.

Stage 2 - a flat stage

Stage results

1.Mark Cavendish
2.Oscar Freire
3.Paul Martens
4.J.Cantwell
5.Alexandr Kristoff

Cavendish takes the leader's jersey.

Stage 3 - a hilly stage

Satge results

1.C.Knees
2.K.siutsou
3.A.Kushynscki
4.R.Porte
5..J.H.Blasquez

Stage 4 - a flat stage

Stage results

1.Mark Cavendish
2.Theo Bos
3.R.Hunter
4.Porsev
5.David Millar

Stage 5 - an uphill finish

Stage results

1.D.Millar
2.C.Knees +8s
3.A.Grivko +8s
4.P.Rolland +8s
5.G.verdugo +28s

GC
1.C.Knees
2.D.Millar +15s
3.N.Vogondy +1 : 36
4.Luis Angel Mate +2 : 03
5.A.Klier +2 : 37
...........
...........
12.J.Castroviejo +4 : 54

CQ Rankings

Individual


1.Tony Gallopin
2.Rui Costa
3.Michael Matthews


Teams


1.Radio-Shack
2.OmegaPharma - Quickstep
3.Rabobank
.........
10.Movistar

Wth no WT races in February the WT Rankings remain unchanged.

Costa looking good in the rankings

Other races

*Mathhew Goss won 5 STAGES and the GC in Tour of Qatar.

*Cancellara won Omloop Het

*Boonen won Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuune

*LL.Sanchez won the queen stage from Tour Of Oman and the GC.

*Boasson Hagen won Trofeo Laigueglia

*Lofkvist won Tor of Langkawi.

*Chichi won Strade Bianche

*Moreno Moser won Etoile de Besseges

*Sagan won both stages from Giro del Callabria and of course the GC.

wow, you're going pretty fast! Keep it up

Here it is : Paris-Nice - the first "big"race of the season



Our team :



Our leader is , as you can see , Rui Costa . After winning STDU for 2 seconds and after beating with 9 seconds Cancellara in Algarve it is time for Paris-Nice . It is a tough competition but we are hoping that he can achieve our goal : winning a stage . Also a Top 10 in the GC can be achieved.

Good thing to pick up those early UCI points