A lot of new riders on the roster, as the race are mainly meant as training for the races in early April.

Jebjerg impresses once again on a hard route ending on an 8th place.

Result:
1. Mikel Nieve, Euskaltel - Euskadi
2. Amets Txurruka, Euskaltel - Euskadi
3. Vladimir Karpets, Movistar
8. Kasper Jebjerg, Falcon - Norheim

Monthly status - March

The manage sums up the last month on team Falcon - Norheim:


Rider of the month:
Tom Boonen, Omega Pharma – QuickStep. The cobble season has begun and Boonen have proved to be exceptionally strong winning three of the early cobble classics and some very good riding in KBS-Driedaagse de Panne-Koksijde. He is now the rider with the most victories in both E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke and Gent - Wevelgem.

CQ Rankings:
1. Tom Boonen, Omega Pharma – Quick-Step, 1109 pts
1. Alessandro Petacchi, Lampre – ISD, 535 pts
3. Samuel Sanchez, Eskaltel - Euskadi, 639 pts
17. Kasper Jebjerg, Falcon – Norheim, 364 pts

1. Radioshack – Nissan, 2691 pts
2. Garmin – Sharp, 2103 pts
3. Omega Pharma – QuickStep, 1846 pts
20. Falcon – Norheim, 696 pts

1. Belgium, 3141 pts
2. Italy, 2698 pts
3. Spain, 2322 pts
10. Denmark, 1226 pts
18. Norway, 361 pts
23. Finland, 264 pts
27. Sweden, 105 pts

In April Falcon – Norheim hope to do well in Circuit Sarthe – pays de la Loire and Himmerland Rundt. To achieve this we will ride a bunch of smaller races around Europe as well.

Trainer Lars Michaelsen about he growing expectations of the team:


The team has just announced that Erik Meineche McDermott () will join the team as stagiaire in august. He is widely recognized as the biggest Nordic U23-talent of his year.
Team Scout Tommy Nielsen explains why they make this public so early in the season:

Jebjerg is starting to become a competitive sprinter. Next season he might be with the big guns in some races. Keep up the good work.

Hope the team can move up a bit more on the CQ but 20th is already very good

Jebjerg reminds me a bit of Mario Cipollini

@Jakstar22: He could be good for the hard classics, but I don't think he will ever be able to match the topsprinters, when they're in shape.

@Ian Butler: I would expect us to lose a little terrain. My best riders have had their form top early and the races with the big points are still to come. Over the spring/summer we will see the big names get a lot of points, and my team will probably have a hard time competing.

@Daggen: That's quite a compliment

Our riders tried their best on the hilly road, but no one could match Jonathan Tiernan-Locke in todays race. Still the new Danish cycling profile Kasper Jebjerg managed to get yet another top 10.

Results:
1. Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, Endura Racing
2. Frédéric Amorison, Landbouwkredit – Euphony
3. Alexander Mironov, RusVelo
8. Kasper Jebjerg, Falcon – Norheim

Our sponsor have declared, that they really want us to win a stage at this race, so we will do our best and chase the win both in breakaways and the final sprint should the break get caught. Jebjerg will be the sprinter – all the others chase the breaks.

Stage 1
First group to get away includes Martin Pedersen of Christina Watches Onfone and Pelle Clapp. The group gets caught right at the top of the days only categorized climb. Clapp passed first securing the jersey. Geir Berg get in a 4-man break and works hard to keep the lead, but he peloton is closing the gap rapidly.
The Falcon-riders have placed themselves perfectly for the sprint and HÃ¥kan Nilsson opens the sprint at the front of the peloton from far out. Jens Erik Madsen follows him preparing the leadout for Kasper Jebjerg. All the other sprinters are trying to keep Kaspers wheel, and Ravard proved to be the fastest today.

Stage results:
1. Antony Ravard, AG2R La Mondiale
2. Kasper Jebjerg, Falcon - Norheim
3. Guillaume Blot, Bretagne - Schuller
Mountain Jersey: Pelle Clapp, Falcon - Norheim



Stage 2 – TT
In todays short TT we didn’t expect a victory, but if any of our riders should achieve something we would expect it to be Morten Kruse Brink. None of our riders are anywhere near the stage victory, but Brink is now second in the youth competition, in the same time as Taaramäe.

Stage results:
1. Rick Flens, Rabobank
2. Christophe Riblon, AG2R La Mondiale
3. Jimmy Engoulvent, Saur - Sojasun
13. Morten Kruse Brink, Falcon - Norheim
Mountain Jersey: Pelle Clapp, Falcon - Norheim

Stage 3
Categorized as a flat stage, but with lots of small hills, that might affect the result. Same procedure as always. Breakaway gets off, including a Jeppe Lykke Hartvig Nielsen, Peloton catches the break and Ravard gets the win.

Stage results:
1. Antony Ravard, AG2R La Mondiale
2. Arnaud Demare, FDJ - BigMat
3. Leonardo Duque, Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
9. Kasper Jebjerg, Falcon - Norheim



Stage 4
Same story as stage 3, except Brink was the guy in the breakaway. He used the breakaway to get a few bonus seconds and win the young riders jersey. Again today it ended in a bunch sprint and again today Ravard was stronger than the rest.

Stage results:
1. Antony Ravard, AG2R La Mondiale
2. Adrien Petit, Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
3. Arnaud Demare, FDJ - BigMat
15. Kasper Jebjerg, Falcon - Norheim



Final standing:
1. Rick Flens, Rabobank
2. Antony Ravard, AG2R La Mondiale
3. Christophe Riblon, AG2R La Mondiale
7. Morten Kruse Brink, Falcon - Norheim

Mountain Jersey: Fabrice Jeanandeboz, Saur - Sojasun
Point Jersey: Antony Ravard, AG2R La Mondiale
Young rider: Morten Kruse Brink, Falcon - Norheim
Team: Rabobank

The main sponsor made the following announcement after the race:

Nice Young Jersey and almost a stage win for Jebjerg

The Rund um Köln might be considered one of the smaller races on the calendar, but determination in the eyes of everyone around the Falcon – Norheim teambus indicates otherwise. The riders and managers were not to be disturbed, but we got a comment from the director of the board:

A very hectic start with a lot of attacks. Both Concordia, Saxo-Tinkoff, Østerhus and Falcon – Norheim were very active trying to establish a breakaway, but the decisive break ended up being founded by Philip Nielsen (Concordia) and Jeppe Lykke Hartvig Nielsen (Falcon). They was joined at first by German rider Dietrich and later by another five riders, making a total of eight riders from eight different teams.



With 80 km to go the break start losing time rapidly. JLH Nielsen does his best to maintain the breaks lead, but the effort from the other seven riders is not quite big enough to keep the peloton from gaining time as Saxo Bank and Adria Mobil (neither represented in the break) are really pushing up the speed. With 45 km to go the peloton is reduced to 58 riders. All Falcon – Norheim riders remain where they should.



With 28 km to go, the break need to up the speed quite a bit if they want to win. Nielsen decides to attack and see if anyone else has the energy for a final all-in attempt. He gets joined by Vasyliv (LKT Brandenburg) and with 10 km to go the duo have 1:17 to the peloton, who have now caught the rest of the break.



The two in front are working very well together and the peloton appears to have given up, when C. Jørgensen (GM-LRØ) attack with 6 km to go. All the Falcon riders are right there in his wheel and he gives up. In the front Vasyliv opens the sprint early allowing Hartvig Nielsen to come from behind and grab the win.
Back in the peloton the Falcons are riding defensively to keep the speed as low as possible. HÃ¥kan Nilsson grabs a 6th on the stage and 8 Nordic riders make their way to the top 10



Results:
1. Jeppe Lykke Hartvig Nielsen, Falcon - Norheim
2. Yuriy Vasyliv, LKT Team Brandenburg
3. Marko Kump, Adria Mobil
6. HÃ¥kan Nilsson, Falcon - Norheim

Great win. The team deserved that and so did Jeppe.

Great victory in Koln.

Nice story so far. very nice read

Thanks for the support. The riders want you to know that it gives them a lot of extra motivation to have you guys following their progress.

Especially Jeppe Lykke Hartvig Nielsen, who wasn't really expecting much more than development from this season

Todays is another hilly oneday race. Fewer but larger hills than the race in Köln. Our strategy should be more or less the same though. Get a rider in the break, while the rest of the team wait and see what happens in the peloton.

In the first part of the race Brink is trying hard to get away in the break, but only with very limited luck as Movistar and Euskaltel – Euskadi is leading the peloton. After 70 km a break finally has success in getting away. Geir Berg is representing Falcon – Norheim. The three Spaniard out there with him is lacking either skill, will or form to get a decisive lead. On the first real climb of the day another 6 riders including Bøchman (Glud & Marstrand – LRØ) catches up with them. That quickly improves the lead, but Berg is allready starting to have a hard tim on the uphill sections.
Behind HÃ¥kan Nilsson is the only Falcon left in the favourites group. As the race intensifies it gets clear, that these hills were just too steep for these riders. Movistar dominates the finish and takes a Spanish hattrick.

Results:
1. Pablo Lastras, Movistar
2. Juan José Cobo, Movistar
3. José Herrada, Movistar
37. Håkan Nilsson, Falcon – Norheim

Team manager Allan had the following comment to the race result:

When asked how this fits with the big ambitions the team has, he continued:

The team defitinetly showed its colors in Spain.

It took a lot of attempts for the riders to get away today, but finally after 50-60 km a lot of small groups managed to get away building a break of 12 riders including Ricky Jørgensen and Martin Pedersen (CWO). In the peloton Cofidis, AG2R and Bretagne was controlling the break and they seemed to have everything under control when Ricky decided to up the stakes a bit attacking from the break. F. Schmidt of Roubaix agreed that something needed to be done and the two quickly gained a decent lead from the break, but AG2R got their way securing a bunch sprint and a win for Mondory.
The Falcon – Norheim sprint train got caught in the hectic final phase and lost a lot of distance, but managed to get Jebjerg to finish 3rd.



Results:
1. Lloyd Mondory, AG2R La Mondiale
2. Laurent Pichon, Bretagne - Schuller
3. Kasper Jebjerg, Falcon - Norheim
7. Jens Erik Madsen, Falcon – Norheim

Brilliant racing in Germany

A profile with a lot of small hills should be good for us. As predicted a large breakaway gets going early, but it gets caught already halfway through the race.
Since no one else seems willing to spice things up Ricky Jørgensen takes his chance and attacks. After a while another three riders catch up with him and they build a decent lead of 3 mins with 35 km to go. But Ricky is marked by being in the first breakaway as well and loses contact with the three others.



The French teams worked hard to get the breakaway wheeled in, and the final 5 km got very chaotic with a lot of attacks. None of the Falcons had the legs to do anything in todays finis.

Results:
1. Guillaume Malle, Veranda Rideau – Super U
2. Pieter Serry, Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
3. Bram Tankink, Rabobank
19. Håkan Nilsson, Falcon – Norheim

Hakan did good.