Our sponsors want us to wear the sprinters jersey in Norway
Stage 1
As our sponsor wants us to wear the sprinters jersey we tried saving a bit of energy for the final sprint. And everything went as planned until 5 km from finish. Nybö even picked up a mountain jersey on the way. When the sprint was about to start our sprint train lost a little position and neither Nybö nor Nilsson, who was in charge of the leadout managed to get Madsen properly positioned again, so the sprint ended up a disappointment with a 10th.
Stage results:
1. Bartolomiej Matysiak, CCC Polsat - Polkowice
2. Andreas Stauff, Eddy Merckx - Indeland
3. Stefan Schumacher, Christina Watches - Onfone 10. Jens Erik Madsen, Falcon - Norheim
Mountain jersey: Havard Nybö, Falcon – Norheim
Stage 2
Looks like another one for the sprinters, but today we will not wait for the finish, but try chasing the stage victory from the breakaway. A lot of teams work hard to keep everything together, but at least Nybö manage to pick up the only KoM of the day. For the last 100 km of the stage no breakaway managed to get more than one minutes lead. Todays sprint went better than yesterday. Madsen was perfectly positioned, but just not fast enough.
Stage 3
This being the flattest stage of the race it would be extremely surprising if it doesn’t end in a sprint finish – but the essence of Falcon – Norheims season this far have been exactly the chase of surprises. The riders chased their best, but they were never anywhere near anything.
Stage results:
1. Andreas Stauff, Eddy Merckx - Indeland
2. Stefan Schumacher, Christina Watches - Onfone
3. Bartolomiej Matysiak, CCC Polsat - Polkowice 11. Jens Erik Madsen, Falcon - Norheim
Mountain jersey: Havard Nybö, Falcon – Norheim
Stage 4
The King stage of the race, the stage results and the final GC will have great similarities. There are a lot of mountain points on todays stage so Havard Nybö does his best to get away in the break. He succeeds in winning the first mountain sprint, but doesn’t get in the big break of the day. Luckily teammate Geir Berg got a slot in front and drove excellent on the climbs taking the Mountain jersey from his mate. The last couple of climbs are driven hard and a group of 25 riders come in together. Gunnar Grönlund does his best to cheat the others realizing the group had better sprinters. Unfortunately he did not succeed.
Stage results:
1. Leopold König, NetApp
2. Markus Fothen, NSP - Ghost
3. Pawel Cieslik, Bank BGZ 16. Gunnar Grönlund, Falcon - Norheim
Mountain jersey: Geir Berg, Falcon – Norheim
Havard Nybö on twitter after the stage: Lost my dots today. Bummer! But hey - Berg is Norwegian for mountain anyway
Stage 5
Berg goes in the break to defend his new jersey. A very good decision by him Lucas Schädlich has found his way to the break hoping to steal the jersey. Berg manages to pick up a few points and retain his lead.
Stage results:
1. Stefan Schumacher, Christina Watches - Onfone
2. Bartosz Huzarski, NetApp
3. Alexander Gottfried, Nutrixxion Abus 12. Havard Nybö, Falcon - Norheim
Final Standing:
1. Stefan Schumacher, Christina Watches - Onfone
2. Bartolomiej Matysiak, CCC Polsat - Polkowice
3. Leopold König, NetApp 9. Jesper Mørkøv, Falcon - Norheim
Mountain: Geir Berg, Falcon – Norheim
Points: Stefan Schumacher, Christina Watches - Onfone
Young rider: Leopold König, NetApp
Team: Falcon – Norheim
Allan - that's another Nordic race that didn't quite go as you had planned. What went wrong?
Yeah, we had aimed for the sprinters jersey, but we have to admit that none of our riders were fast enough to make that come true. We are very happy with the mountain jersey and the team classification though - and Falcon seem to have forgiven us for winning the wrong jersey
The company behind Nordic Cycling Project has issued the following announcement:
It has been known for some time that Norheim’s sponsorcontract expired after this season. We can now say with certainty that the team does not carry Norheims name next year as another sponsor agreement have been made. We are very happy that we have been able to convince the Danish construction market STARK to become co-sponsors with Falcon.
Team manager Allan commented:
STARK has presented us with an offer that makes the transfer season very interesting. Let’s just say that money shouldn’t be a problem in the negotiations…
Thanks for the support, really good to have new sponsor with more money.
Stark takes the place of Norheim, so I guess the game will make them secondary sponsor even though they pay 4x the money that Falcon does...
Not the most prestigious of stage races, but our sponsor want us to wear the sprinters jersey
Stage 1
This stage is categorized as completely flat but a large hill on the middle of the stage might sort some of the sprinters away. No breakaway managed to get going and when the riders hit the hill Falcon – Norheim goes to the front to put the pressure on. And in the end the front group is only 41 riders at the finish. Jens Erik Madsen did a good sprint, but Marek Rutkiewicz was faster today.
Stage results:
1. Marek Rutkiewicz, CCC Polsat - Polkowice
2. Jens Erik Madsen, Falcon - Norheim
3. Angelo Furlan, Christina Watches - Onfone Mountain Jersey: Havard Nybö
Stage 2
Another flat stage with a couple of bumps. We had Jeppe Lykke Hartvig Nielsen in the break most of the day, but unfortunately it didn’t last. Now it took a good finish from Jens Erik Madsen to make our sponsor happy, but Furlan was clearly the fastest today.
Stage 4 – TT
26 km of flat TT. Nybö came in provisional best suggesting this might end up a good day for Falcon. Michael Færk Christensen takes the win and the GC lead.
Stage results
1. Michael Færk Christensen, Falcon - Norheim
2. Stefan Schäfer, NSP - Ghost
3. Jimmy Sørensen, Christina Watches - Onfone 4. Jens Erik Madsen, Falcon – Norheim
5. Jesper Mørkøv, Falcon – Norheim
6. Havard Nybö, Falcon – Norheim
7. Geir Berg, Falcon – Norheim
8. Gunnar Grönlund, Falcon – Norheim
Leader: Michael Færk Christensen
Mountain Jersey: Jeppe Lykke Hartvig Nielsen
Young rider: Jesper Mørkøv
Michael Færk Christensen after the stage:
Wow! I didn't see that coming. Guess the other teams forgot to bring any half decent TT-riders.
Stage 5
Time to defend the highly surprising GC lead. None of my riders were allowed to go in a breakaway, but in the end a small three man break got going. When their advance reached 6 minutes with 60 km to go, Falcon had to go to the front and help wheeling them in, as Rasmus Sterebo as is only 5 minutes behind in the GC. The peloton never completely made it and Sterebo got the win but didn’t really gain any time for the GC.
Stage results
1. Rasmus Sterebo, Glud & Marstrand – LRØ
2. Daniel Dominguez, NSP - Ghost
3. Angelo Furlan, Christina Watches - Onfone 15. Michael Færk Christensen, Falcon – Norheim
Final Standings:
1. Michael Færk Christensen, Falcon - Norheim
2. Marek Rutkiewicz, CCC Polsat - Polkowice
3. Jens Erik Madsen, Falcon – Norheim 5. Jesper Mørkøv, Falcon – Norheim
8. Gunnar Grönlund, Falcon – Norheim
9. Geir Berg, Falcon – Norheim
Well our sponsor had said we should go for wearing the sprinters jersey, and we didn’t actually achieve that. Still I expect they might be satisfied with our winning everything else in the race instead…
It has been an over-the-moon month for Falcon – Norheim. Two stage race wins, podiums in Rogaland and Uppsala and a mountain jersey for Berg in Norway. But it has given us a bit of a luxury problem. We are now leading the leading continental team due to choosing races with poor competition and having a bit of luck. This team is not ready for promotion yet - that much have been obvious every time we have faced World Tour teams determined to win.
Rider of the month: Igor Antón, Euskaltel – Euskadi. For almost winning the Giro d’Italie with 3 stage wins a point jersey win and GC second behind Michele Scarponi, losing the leaders jersey on the last TT.
June is a fairly quiet month for the team in terms of sponsor goals. But still it is time for the national championships, which already when the team was founded that new years eve was named very important to the team. Will they get to keep the two jerseys they have?
Transfer rumours: Thor Hushovd has made public that he won’t extend his contract with BMC. He says that he want to try something new…
Meant to be a fairly calm day for the guys, while they got the legs going before the national championships. Bäckstedt got in the break, but as expected everything came down to a bunch sprint.
Results:
1. Krzysztof Jezowski, Bank BGZ
2. Angelo Furlan, Christina Watches – Onfone
3. Jonathan Cantwell, Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank 18. Kasper Jebjerg, Falcon – Norheim
Stage 1
A short TT of 5,2 km. All the best TT-rides from Falcon were there preparing for the NC’s, but nothing looks like a TT-championship for the guys.
Stage 2
A day with nothing but small ups and downs. Stevenson got in the break after a lot of hard work. Everyone in the break is working hard to keep it alive and it looks possible. Sadly with 20 km to go Stevenson can’t keep up with the rest of the break, and falls back to the peloton. Brambilla proves to be the strongest rider in the break, and all Falcon – Norheim riders slowly follows the peloton over the line 1’22 later. Brambilla now holds every jersey in the race.
Stage 3
Pretty much same deal as yesterday. Today Bäckstedt has the pleasure of doing a lot of hard work in a 6-man break all day, but it looks like Rabobank really want a bunch sprint today, and none of the riders in the break is quite strong enough to battle 5 chasing Rabobank riders... Sadly for Rabo Bos wasn’t quite strong enough to pay back today.
Stage 4
This stage was expected to be the GC-deciding stage, but in reality it has much resemblance with especially stage 2. The riders did their best but none managed to be there to fight for the stage win.
Stage results:
1. John Degenkolb, Argos - Shimano
2. Mathieu Sprick, Argos - Shimano
3. Oliver Zaugg, Radioshack - Nissan 38. Magnus Bäckstedt, Falcon – Norheim
Stage 5
Flat as a pancake. Degenkolb should have a good chance of winning the last stage wearing the leaders jersey. Many riders tried their luck in breaks, but it was obvious that the sprinter-teams had marked this one. But Argos mistimed it and Topsport Vlaanderen get a surprising victory just as the sprinters catch up with the break.
Stage results:
1. Steven Van Vooren, Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
2. Win De Vocht, Accent Jobs – Willem Vereanda’s
3. Jan Ghyselinck, Cofidis, le credit en ligne 49. Kasper Jebjerg, Falcon – Norheim
Final standings:
1. John Degenkolb, Argos - Shimano
2. Daryl Impey, Orica - GreenEdge
3. Niels Wytinck, An Post – Sean Kelly 41. Michael Færk Christensen, Falcon – Norheim
Mountain: Daryl Impey, Orica – GreenEdge
Points: John Degenkolb, Argos – Shimano
Young rider: John Degenkolb, Argos – Shimano
Team: Argos – Shimano
We sent 9 riders to the TT-championships, but we have to be honest: It will take some kind of a miracle for any of our riders to beat Jakob Fuglsang and Alex Rasmussen. Brink and Christensen will be aiming for a top 10.
None of the early Falcons managed to produce a surprise, so now everything was up to Brink and Christensen as Michael Mørkøv had provisional best.
It started looking good as Christensen passed Niki Byrgesen with 2 km to go, and got a provisional 2nd in goal. Brink was a little slower getting a provisional 3rd place. Now all they could do was to wait for the favorites to come in. First defending champion Rasmus Quaade, who disappoints as Lars Bak almost caught up with him on the finish line, but no one was able to match Jakob Fuglsang today.
Final results:
1. Jakob Fuglsang, RadioShack - Nissan
2. Lars Ytting Bak, Lotto Belisol Team
3. Alex Rasmussen, Garmin - Sharp 5. Michael Færk Christensen, Falcon - Norheim
7. Morten Kruse Brink, Falcon - Norheim
Norsk Mesterskap ITT
All three Norwegians on the team is obviously there for this one, but with competition like Edvald Boasson-Hagen it looks near impossible to get a top result. Nybö is in good form and will be aiming for a top 5.
When all have passed the first intermediate time Nybö is 6th and Hagen does what favorites do…
In 2nd intermediate Edvald continues his domination. Berg is 6th and Nybö 7th.
In goal Geir Berg gets best provisional, but he looked very tired crossing the line – he might have lost a lot of time on the last part. And he barely gets to sit down in the hotseat before Nordhaug takes the spot from him. Nybö gets provisional 2nd, but can hear the audience cheer at Kristoff right behind him on the last kilometer. Hagen crosses the line side by side with Wilmann for the predicted win. Nybö is very happy to finish 5th – best continental rider.
This should be a strange race with only 14 riders on the starting line representing eight teams. That means that only two teams have more than one rider in the race. Falcon – Norheim and Concordia.
We haven’t got the single best rider, but we should be able to exploit our numbers to get a good result. Anything less than a podium will be considered a failure.
Early in the race a three-rider break is formed with Michael Stevenson from Concordia, Christofer Stevenson from Falcon – Norheim and A. Wetterhall from Endura racing. A perfect scenario as it forces the big names to work themselves if they want the win. None of the favourites seem willing to do anything and the breakaway gets further and further away. In the peloton the favourites keep looking at each other and the victory is that way handed to the break.
Nearing the finish M. Stevenson tries several times to lose the two other, but with no luck as the trio watches each other closely. The last 5 km no one is willing to take the lead – knowing that they could probably walk to the finish line before they got caught. Michael decide to open the sprint early, but he ends up acting as leadout for Christofer and Wetterhall. Wetterhall opens with 1,7 km to go but didn’t stand a chance against the Falcon. Back in the peloton the favorites start to move in pursuit of the 4th place, but Falcon – Norheim is not in the mood for gifts today, so the remaining four riders are watching Kessiakoff and Löfkvist closely. In the final sprint Bäckstedt shows that he still has some speed in those old legs.
Results 1. Christofer Stevenson, Falcon - Norheim
2. Alexander Wetterhall, Endura Racing
3. Michael Stevenson, Team Concordia Forsikring – Himmerland 4. Magnus Bäckstedt, Falcon - Norheim
7. HÃ¥kan Nilsson, Falcon - Norheim
8. Gunnar Grönlund, Falcon - Norheim
Glava Tour of Norway 
Bartolomiej Matysiak, CCC Polsat - Polkowice
Andreas Stauff, Eddy Merckx - Indeland
Jens Erik Madsen, Falcon - Norheim
Leopold König, NetApp
Gunnar Grönlund, Falcon - Norheim
Angelo Furlan, Christina Watches - Onfone 
Daniel Dominguez, NSP - Ghost
Tom Boonen, Omega Pharma – Quick-Step, 1510 pts
Cadel Evans, BMC Racing, 1250 pts
Garmin – Sharp, 4139 pts
Finland, 295 pts 
Ster ZLM Tour 
Damien Monier, Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
Daryl Impey, Orica - GreenEdge
Oliver Zaugg, Radioshack - Nissan
