Banana!

Good luck in the WC

yeah you can easily do a top 50

World TT Championships
The race is a 47 kilometer time trial that is mostly flat with only very small hills throughout the stage. I’m not even close to being a contender for the race so anything in the top 20 will be good for me. I was the only Irish rider to go and I went half way through the stage. I felt strong and managed to take a great placing of 17th place out of 66 of the best time trialists.



My biggest competitor in the Vuelta showed his strength and came in a great 4th place.



In 3rd place was Cancellara who was the big favorite to win so he has to be disappointed with that result.



America took 1-2 and the best part of it is the Garmin – Slipstream rider, David Zabriskie was the winner of the race! Phinney surprised everyone and came in 2nd place. What a race!

Phinney!!!
BTW nice result

Update: where have you find these flags?

pcm clubs database.

World RR Championships
The stage is a long hilly stage that is really gonna bring the pain to a lot of riders. Some riders decided that they wanted to go on a suicide mission and try to break away. I figured, “why not join them?� and attacked with them.



I led for most of the race but when I was caught with 40 kilometers left, I was dropped and came in 76th place. Up front the favorites began attacking which included, Cunego, Rolland, Valverde, and Zabriskie.



Cunego was clearly the strongest and accelerated away from all the other leaders. With 5 kilometers to go he had a 2 minute lead.



He held on to his lead and took the victory for Italy.



Valverde came in 2nd and Zabriskie came in a great 3rd place for USA. I finished way back, all by myself. I’m anything but disappointed because I knew going into the race that I had no chance of winning.




Stage Results

The World Championships will be held in Ireland next year! They will be raced in Cork! It will be an exciting race full of hills. It would be a great honor to represent the host nation.

New Riders Preview (Neo – Pros)

Sammy Close – Is a young Irish rider who has a great future with our team. He will be a future stage racer who may have the same destiny I once had as a young rider. By the end of the year I will have a huge competitor in Irish RR championships.

Jon Andoni Checa – He joined our team last year for the Vuelta and finished in last place. For him to finish was a big jump for him, so I expect that throughout the year, he will continue to improve.

Luis Leon Donoso – the 19 year old young talent will have a great future on our team. He is already a decent time trialist and will continue to improve into a top stage racer.

Mario Hita – he was a huge surprise during last years Vuelta. He held the jersey for a day and that was just a small peak at what is to come for this future great.

New Riders Preview
Thomas Swift - He is joining us after spending his last two years with Palmeiras Resort/ Tavira. He has been pretty disappointing so far in his career with his only decent result being 7th in the British RR championships last year. He’s only 26 years old and might improve some more in his career. He will shine in time trialing and is a decent puncheur and climber but won’t win any stages in the mountains.


Craig Lewis – We add another American to the team this year and it is Craig Lewis. He is a good climber and is only 26 years old so he still has a long future ahead. He joins us after spending his last 2 years with Team Columbia where he took no top 10’s. We hope he will improve and take some small wins for us.


Charles Wegelius – One of our big signings was Wegelius who is one of the best British Stage racers. Last year he won the Route de Sud and took a stage win also. He came in 2nd in stage 5 of the Tour de Romandie and finished 4th overall. He is 32 years old and will help us in the Mountains in bigger races and be a leader in smaller races.


Jonathan Bellis – The former Saxobank British sprinter is still improving on the cobbles. He can win some sprints and in the future he will be a great help to Maaskant in the northern classics. He came in 3rd in the British National championships last year and had a good placing in the Vuelta stage 3. He hasn’t had any wins so we hope he gets his first with us.


Mark Renshaw – A good sprinter who will be a great leadout man for Farrar and can take some wins on his own. He hasn’t taken any wins in his past 2 years with Columbia but he has taken a number of 3rd – 10th places in sprints. He is only 28 years old and has a great future with our team.

My Provisional Schedule

11/02 - 15/02 Tour Mediterraneen
11/03 - 17/03 Tirreno Adriatico
22/04 - 25/04 Giro del Trentino
28/04 - 03/05 Tour de Romandie
09/05 - 31/05 Giro d'Italia
BREAK
05/08 - 14/08 Volta a Portugal
29/08 - 20/09 Veulta a Espana
24/09 World ITT
27/09 World RR

Janurary Race Review

Australian TT - Rogers took the win again beating out Evans for the jersey. Renshaw was Garmin's highest place taking 17th.

Australian RR - Lowe couldn't retain his champion jersey. It was won by Simon Gerrans who won ahead of Cadel Evans and Matthew Loyd. Lowe came in 9th place and Sutton came in 12th.

Tour Down Under - Manuel Vasquez won the first PT race of the year for Euskaltel - Euskadi. He won stage 5 which was where he took the jersey. Roche came in 3rd overall and Garmin's highest placing was 76th overall but Renshaw did finish 6th on stage 4.

I'll post my first race of the season tomorrow.

good luck in your "extreme" season matt!

good luck man!

What are Martin's stats right now? And good luck for the season

they haven't changed since before the Vuelta. I don't think I will improve much more.

Good luck, hope that you'll win Giro whis year

Ok. But the stats are not bad at all

can we see the squad stats please?