Shonak wrote:
No, he's french basque like Sicard and his name is Igon Viscaya like stated multiple times (why'd you think FO would be his name?! Sorry I misread it in the post before).. Faux Orange is just a title and a hint towards former Euskaltel-Euskadi, that's all.
Ah okay... Remember the Contador - Vuelta thing? (that's my excuse to stupidity )
Game Version Patch 1.2.0.0: "PCM.daily Expansion Pack 2015 V0.8" database. Grand Champion Potential. Game Rules: Normal Difficulty at the start, throughout season 3-4 mostly on Hard. Season 5 entirely on Hard, except for some hilly stages where my stamina just goes poof cause of the flat parts where everybody is pacing >.>. Quick simulation of most flat/uninteresting stages.
Season Summary
After his performances last season, where he got a 5th place at the Giro d'Italia, his wins at the Vuelta Catalunya and the german time trial championsips, and his valiant breakaways to claim the KoM jersey at the Tour de France, Moldef had become a name in the sport of cycling. In pre-season interviews and throughout the season, he was referred to as one of the "potential winners" of the Tour. And Moldef tried to put himself in the best place possible to fulfill that potential.
Contrary to previous seasons, the young german did not race in January. The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race ( 1.1) was his first race of the season, but it only served to gain some road experience, as he crossed the finish line at the end of the peloton. Next, he started at the Volta ao Algarve ( 2.1) during the middle of February. But this race was only thought of as a stepping stone towards his first fitness peak of the season. A good ride against the clock on the 4th stage rewarded Moldef with a decent 4th overall in the GC. Moreover, he claimed the U-25 jersey for the first time this season (not for the last time though). Six days later, at the hilly one-day race of the Classic Sud Ardèche ( 1.1), Moldef joined a late attack of the favorites, but eventually had to resign himself to 7th place.
Next up was one of the highlights of the early season, the prestigious Paris - Nice ( CWT). Despite still improving upon his form, Moldef finished the prologue as 10th, but had a much better time in the hilly stage 5 and took 2nd place. Another 2nd place on the mountain time trial on the last day of racing was synonymous with Rank 2 in the overall GC. Only a mere 2 seconds were between Moldef and winner Thibaut Pinot, much to the chagrain of the young german. However, winning the young rider's jersey was some consolation at least.
In any case, Moldef didn't need to be sad for a very long time, as he was able to pick up his first win of the sesaon in stage 3 of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya ( CWT). Great finishes in the other stages meant that Moldef was able to equal his feat of the previous year and win the general classesment ahead of Dayer Quintana and Nairo Quintana.
At this point though, Moldef's excellent form began to dip. As a result, he couldn't compete with the best at the Amstel Gold Race ( CWT) despite trying his best to do so. A 24th place in the Netherlands and a 40th place in Belgium left a bit of a sour taste (both were won by Julian Alaphilippe). Evidently, the german had to accept he would probably never excel at one-day races that were traditionally decided by fast punchers.
Towards the end of June, the national championships took place. Despite attending as the reigning german time trial champion, Moldef did not have his best day on the wheels. Ultimately, he only placed 5th and had to hand over the german time trial jersey to Lennard Kämna of Team Stella Artois. Two days later, Moldef felt much better during the german road race championships. Gathering all his energy for a strong attack, Moldef flew out of the leading group with only 15 km to go. However, he got caught by a group of 5 riders within the last two kilometers and had to settle for 4th place. His general manager still had reason to be happy though, as the race was won by Moldef's teammate Emanuel Buchmann.
In any case, Moldef couldn't dwell on the "what-ifs" too long because it was time for the highlight of his season. The Tour de France ( CWT) awaited. Would he manage to take home the maillot jaune at the age of 23 much like Jan Ullrich? During interviews he tried to downplay his ambition and said he would be aiming for a Top 3 finish, but that anything in the Top 10 would be awesome.
Moldef was pumped and nervous at the same time as he left the ramp during the 14 km prologue in Utrecht. At the end of the day, it did appear that his nerves got the better of him, as he "only" finished 8th. At the same time though, he already gained precious seconds on all other favorites, so he wasn't too unhappy.
Not much changed throughout the following 2 stages, but that was about to change on the day of the 4th stage. The directors of the tour decided it was time to add some cobblestones... Unfortunately, this was not one of Moldef's strengths. Disappointed and angry at himself, Moldef couldn't manage better than 94th place, which also meant he lost precious minutes to other GC contenders as he saw his rank plummet to 26th. The rest of the first week belonged to the sprinters.
Moldef started the second week with a good 6th place on stage 8, but had to swallow another bitter pill the day after. Stage 9 was a hilly team time trial, and despite having decent teammates, the Giant-Alpecin team was dead last. Moldef had lost another couple of minutes on his rivals and dropped to 16th place in the GC, already 5'50" behind leader Thibaut Pinot.
For the next three stages, the peloton was riding through the pyrenees. Moldef was in perfect condition and was riding as hard as he could. After a good 3rd place on stage 10, Moldef was able to follow a decisive attack of Romain Bardet on the following day, and managed to win the sprint to win the 11th stage of the 2015 Tour de France. On the last day of the mountains, Moldef placed 4th, which saw him rise to 7th place in the GC. However, his deficit actually increased, as he was now 6'10" behind leader Pinot.
During the following, mostly hilly stages, Moldef finished mostly in the Top 10, but he still lost some more time on the french superstar and some of the other contenders. But the Alps were already looming. Stage 17 to 20 were all incredibly hard, and there was still the possibility of gaining many minutes. It was do or die time for Moldef.
Turns out it was something in between. Moldef was clearly one of the best riders at the Tour, as he was able to place within the Top 5 in all four stages, and was only beaten by Pinot on Stage 19. Needless to say though, Top 5 was not good enough. While he did manage to gain a little bit of time, he was still down 5'37" after Stage 20. Moldef would not be winning the Tour while he was still 23. He would not be equaling Jan Ullrich. He was disappointed.
Moldef did not feel like celebrating much during the last day of racing in Paris. While he had to smile and laugh for the pictures at the start of the race (since he would be winning the U-25 jersey), Moldef was gloomy through the rest of the day. He never felt so alone despite having 175 riders around him. He kept replaying every important attack in every important stage. Why did he suck so much on cobblestones... Why did he lose a it of time during the hilly stages... Why was he not explosive enough to just fly out of the peloton and bring some precious distance between himself and his rivals... Why was his team full of losers when it came to hilly time trials... but most importantly, why the hell was he not able to follow Thibaut Pinot et al. when it mattered most...
Moldef ended the Tour de France on the 4th place, and it hadly mattered to him that he was only 13 seconds behind third placed Romain Bardet.
However, after having slept on it for one night, Moldef was finally able to swallow some of his disappointment. A fourth place and the U-25 jersey was still very very good. Plus he had won a stage. And, while he couldn't win the Tour anymore at 23, Jan Ullrich never managed another win after his first. There was still time aplenty to eclipse his idol. Also, there was no point in mulling over his style of racing. He would never be able to match the acceleration of an Alberto Contador. He would stoically stamp up the mountain, just like Jan Ullrich did. He liked it.
Anyways, the season was far from over. Less than a week after the Tour de France, Moldef travelled to Spain to start at the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian ( CWT). He still felt great, and, more importantly, he wanted to collect some more points for the WorldTour ranking, where he was excellently placed. Towards the end of the race, the pace was starting to increase. Eventually, Moldef found himself in a very select group of only 7 riders. But as he was probably without a chance in a sprint, Moldef tried his damndest to set an incredibly high pace in order to shake off some riders. His strategy almost suceeded, but in the end he had to settle for 4th place as he watched Nairo Quintana beat his competition in a sprint.
But the season wasn't over yet. For the first time in his career, Moldef wanted to compete in the [ITT] World Championships. Thus, after a three week holiday to replenish some of his energies, Moldef returned to the saddle to get back into racing condition.
Using the GP Pantaloni ( 1.1) as a means of getting into shape (he placed 19th), Moldef deemed himself ready for the time trial world championship. Once again, he was lucky to have found great legs on this day and set a new best time after crossing the line. Now he would have to wait. His toughest competition would likely be Lennard Kämna, Tony Martin and Nathan Brown. He waited anxiously as each of them started the race. And, one by one, they all failed to equal Moldef's time. Yes, neither of them had managed to beat him. Moldef's head was swimming. Had he really won the World Championship Time Trial? Had he? The answer was... No. Crossing the line as the very last rider, Yüksel Kuljic from Austria clocked in as Number 1. A whopping two seconds ( >.< ) ahead of Moldef. Sigh. Keep calm and move on.
And yet, the season was still not over! Moldef was currently ranked 3rd in the World Tour rankings, just 5 points behind Wilco Kelderman and within reach of first place as well. Thus, he would race at the Il Lombardia ( CWT). Before that though, Moldef brought home another 2nd place at the Tre Valli Varesine ( 1.HC). Still in decent shape, but riding with his last remaining energy reserves, Moldef managed a great 5th place at the Il Lombardia. This saw him improve to 2nd place in the WT rankings... Another second place... Just a few points behind the winner Nairo Quintana. (I think a third place at the Lombardia would have been enough to be first... Sigh²)
This concluded Moldef's longest, but most successful season. After having some time to distance himself from all the disappointments, Moldef was able to draw plenty of positive energy from his 5th season. And he had plans to do even better in his next season. Plus, he was still only 24!
In Other News - 2019
At the Giro d'Italia (), Fabio Aru won ahead of Merhawi Kudus and Mikel Landa. Nacer Bouhanni won the sprinter's jersey, while Fabio Aru also claimed the Maglia Azzurra. Second placed Merhawi Kudus was also the winner of the Maglia Bianca.
In France, Thibaut "all-your-Tours-are-belong-to-me" Pinot managed to repeat his victory (again) and won the Tour de France () ahead of Wilco Kelderman and Romain Bardet. Thibaut "you-again-???" Pinot also claimed the maillot verde, and Steffen Moldef was the best rider under 25 years of age. As a surprise to everyone (haha), Thibaut "just-stop-it-already" Pinot also won the KoM jersey.
Yüksel "still-salty-about-those-two-seconds" Kuljic turned out to win the [ITT] World Championships, and Peter Sagan was once again crowned World Champion just a few days later.
Moldef's team Giant-Alpecin improved once again and finished the year as 4th. Tinkoff-Saxo had more than double the points of second ranked Cell C (2,594 pts vs. 1,264 pts), which is not surprising if you have both Nairo Quintana and Thibaut Pinot in your team.
Season 5 done. I'm sorry for the friggin long wall of text... Please do let me know if it's annoyingly long so I can improve
I guess I failed at equalizing Jan Ullrich's feat of winning the Tour at 23 years of age... but there's always next year. At least Jan only won the tour once, so that shouldn't be too difficult to achieve
Anyways, this has been a very good season obviously, but still, my stamina mainly keeps me from keeping up with the best in the mountains sometimes if the daily form is not to great. But we'll see how it goes next year.
Edited by Moldef on 30-08-2015 11:43
Rider Type:Climber Training:Puncheur Key Stats At Start of S5: MT79, HL80, ACC77, TT64 Age: 23
[IMG-l]https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b543/Sh0nak/s05_zpsu58f2k5u.jpg[/IMG-l]When the Tour route was announced, Viscaya froze for a second. 3 Time Trials making up for almost 100 Kilometers. He looked at Bernaudeau, and the old man nod his head. It was time to train Time Trial.
Season 5 – EKOI at 47.500 until 2019
Despite a promise to himself, Vizcaya remained mostly focused on his climbing though.. kids these days. It was where he had the most fun and it was eventually also the abilitiy that counted the most for him. He’d always lose minutes in a Time Trial, what good was it to reduce the time loss for a few seconds if it was preventing himself to become an angel of the mountains?
The season started off well as Vizcaya took a stage win at the Volta ao Algarve, his traditional preparation race for Paris-Nice. There in France, he once again was riding actively but he did not achieve a stage win this time around. Instead, another U25 jersey and a 7th place where all he had going for himself there. At his first appearance at Milano-San Remo to prepare himself to the long Ardennes races and to come to ride the full distance once, Vizcaya caused some joy as he was putting in a strong attack at the Poggio. Unfortunately down the road into San Remo, Vizcaya was caught by the peloton and John Degenkolb won the sprint.
Vizcaya decided to skip the Volta a Catalunya, the race he won last year, and focused his preparation on Pais Vasco and the Ardennes races. He was formidable in Pais Vasco and conquered the leader’s jersey on the way up to .. . Although Fabio Aru denied him the most wanted stage win, Vizcaya had the jersey, at least until the last day. There, a time trial ruined his dream of winning his basque home race, as Fabio Aru and also Tejay Van Garderen put him to the side. Still, Vizcaya managed to remain on the podium and was smiling down on a huge basque crowd.
The Ardennes races started off horrible in their usual way. It was the first appearance for Vizcaya there, and two crashes at the Amstel Gold put him right out of contention. The second mass crash was only 40 kilometers from the finish, when Vizcaya was up again all hope was gone for a surprise win at the Cauberg.
Fleche Wallone went uninterreupted by crashes, but Vizcaya was still hurt from the previous Ardennes event. Additionally, following a move by Alaphilippe put him far into the red zone. This caused him to completely bonk at the Muur de Huy, finishing somewhat around thirty-something.
The last race and most important in the spring campaign for Vizcaya was definitely La Doyenne. Of course at such an event his team sooner or later had to piss him off and without bottles and helpers, he was left to do it on his own. Once again. At la Redoute, he attacked far out and a little elite group formed itself around him. With all the top tier Ardennes riders of the last years present, Vizcaya saw no reason to indulge in the relay work and preferred to save himself the power. Unfortunately at one point, they broke away from him and he reacted too late. He spent large parts of the remaining 20 kilometers riding behind them, leaving Meintjes, Van der Poel and Chernitsky eventually behind him. However in the sprint up Ans in the five man group, Vizcaya lacked the important power and so he came short against Kwiatkowski, Alaphilippe and Aru; he finished 4th in La Doyenne, his first appearance. This left him very happy but even more so: Hungry for more now that he knew it was possible to win this race for him.
His preparation was well under the way and solely the Criterium du Dauphine as well as the French National Championships were on the race schedule ahead of le Tour. At le Dauphine, he saw the power of the Giro double tag-team Quintana and Pinot, who have dominated the Giro d’Italia and gained 1-2. Both of them were prone to show their muscles ahead of le Tour, but Vizcaya was the smartest when he took stage 1 of the race. He was placed well within reach of the two superstars, but fell eventually short in the Time Trial and lost significant time. He finished 3rd in the Dauphine and critics would have said that he peaked too soon. The french nationalchampionships were pro forma and Vizcaya put in a half-hearted attack on a flattish course, Vichot won solo.
Especially Vizcaya’s hilly climbing and his punch helped him gain vital seconds on easier stages, whilst he lost major time in the many Time Trial kilometers (3 TTs, almost 100km in total) and in the high mountains. For a long time, Vizcaya held the third place: Fabio Aru came dangerously close though at the start of the third week to push him off the podium. But just like Quintana earlier, Aru hit a bad day and had to abandon. You could say that day Vizcaya was gifted the podium in Paris already since he had major time advantage on 4th place World Champion Adam Yates and 5th Thibaut Pinot. This left him to do some freewheeling and spiritual attacking; the crowds loved him for that. Vizcaya could sincerely enjoy riding his bike since it was unlikely he could move up the ranks nor he could lose all that he gained so far.
In the end, he was third at the Champs-Elysses behind Chris Froome and Mikel Landa. Standing on the top of the yellow famous podium was the ultimate step for Vizcaya to be considered a future Tour de France winner. Looking back at particular stages, Vizcaya reminisces that his far-out attack at the Col du Coq on stage 10 was the key point where he knew he was riding for the podium: There only Landa and Froome caught up to him and although he lost time on both of them in the end, he gained significant advantage on all his adversaries all thanks to himself taking by the heart and forcing his luck.
As a result, every major team wanted to sign Vizcaya and talks were immediately held after the Tour conference. Vizcaya wanted initially to sign with Ekoi again but since they got rid of his only climbing domestique last season, Guerrin, who didn’t even do a decent job at protecting Igon, he decided it was time to leave the team. Major efforts with lots of cash were on the table; Telefonica got Vizcaya’s signature in the end. Because it was such a close time frame, the team and Igon could only agree on a one-year contract though, however with the many basques on board at Telefonica, it was likely he could find a place he can call home much like at Murias Taldea previously.
Vizcaya could have called the season quits by then but instead he preferred to do the Vuelta a Espana alongside Chris Froome, Mikel Landa, Adam Yates and some other notable Tour contenders. With a focus on a backlogged multi-mountain third week, the first two weeks were used by Vizcaya to ride himself into form. When he has reached third week of la Vuelta, he was already quite a margin behind race leader Froome, who benefitted from (once again) from a very heavily featured Time Trial course. Froome also profited enormously from the help of Meintjes and Mollema who seemed to be at times superior to him. Mikel Landa (once again) the strongest climber did even worse in the first two weeks than Vizcaya but almost climbed himself onto the podium, just be kicked off by Kelderman on the last day in the Time Trial.
Vizcaya’s mountain performance were mostly anonymous, featuring between Top 5-10. Only on the penultimate stage, when the peloton went up the Angliru, Vizcaya was to be seen riding aggressively and full of confidence: Something that resulted in the stage win atop the legendary climb! He also climbed up to fifth but just like his fellow basque Landa, Vizcaya lost a few places and finished la Vuelta a decent 7th place, additionally he gained the U25 jersey which may have been the thing he was looking for in the first place. In the end, Froome comfortably won the double of Tour-Vuelta ahead of the two dutchies Poels and Kelderman. An impressive feat by Froome! Of course the Velo d’Or is a given in this case.
Vizcaya was not selected for the World Championships, which were won by Marcel Kittel, so probably a good decision to skip that race. Instead Vizcaya traditionally closed his season at his beloved Il Lombardia. Mid-stage he was involved in a crash which made him lose sight of the favourite group but strong pacing by Lotto Jumbo for Van der Poel brought him closer to the favourite group again and Vizcaya decided to take a leap when they were close and caught the group of Alaphilippe, Kwiatek & Co. on his own. He did not contribute to the relay work, pointing at the nasty road rash on his body, claiming he still has not found the power. However on the final climb he was able to follow the weak attacks of Kwiatek and Alaphilippe. A group of 6 riders came together into Lecco; there Kwiatkowski easily won the sprint ahead of Alaphilippe. For Vizcaya there was (once more) only the 4th place to gain, just at La Doyenne.
I always like reading about your accomplishments with Vizcaya, Shonak
Not only because we're at similar places in our respective careers, but also because it's always a good read and your style of racing seems to be quite similar to mine (i.e. more focussed on realism instead of abusing AI to win stages and KoM Jerseys)
Hope both Vizcaya and Moldef can manage a GT win in their sixth season! I've just started Le Tour, so let's see how it goes...
Hopefully Vizcaya will have better teammates around in his new Team!
Thanks, I enjoy very much reading your progress and story too! Keep those wall of texts coming
I've done some stories here on Daily but this is pretty much what I always wanted; to have quick seasons and get some epic time frame.
I am actually surprised at how useful his teammates are. Nieve and Anacona are monster at protecting him! We'll be playing Giro soon, hoping things will work out.. so far, season 6 is a season of close misses and second places
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Game Version Patch 1.2.0.0: "PCM.daily Expansion Pack 2015 V0.8" database. Grand Champion Potential. Game Rules: Normal Difficulty at the start, throughout season 3-4 mostly on Hard. Season 5 entirely on Hard, except for some hilly stages where my stamina just goes poof cause of the flat parts where everybody is pacing >.>. Quick simulation of most flat/uninteresting stages.
Season Summary
Going into the new season, Moldef's primary goal was of course to win his first Tour de France. After finishing 4th last season, things would hopefully go better for the 24-year old this time around. Perhaps Thibaut Pinot would finally falter. In any case, Moldef had done his best during the off-season to iron out some of his weaknesses.
Similar to his approach in the last season, Moldef planned a first fitness peak during Paris-Nice, the Volta a Catalunya and the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vaisco. Once again, he kicked off his season in Australia, during the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race ( 1.1) (and what a nice-looking race this is ).
A good 15th place proved that he was on the right track. To his annoyance, Moldef couldn't start at the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal since his team didn't bother to attend there. Instead, Moldef rode the Tour of Oman ( 2.HC). Being witness to the completely different landscape in Oman helped curb his disappointment over not starting in Portugal (see below). A 4th place finish during the queen's stage rewarded him with 8th overall.
His next stop was the Classic Sud Ardèche ( 1.1) where Moldef was the only one able to follow a late attack by Louis Meintjes, who would also go on to win the race, leaving Moldef with a great 2nd place. Staying in France, Moldef joined his team at Paris-Nice ( CWT). Attempting to improve upon his 2nd place of the previous year, Moldef unfortunately didn't have the legs to finish better than 30th in the opening prologue. Moreover, the Giant-Alpecin rider lost more time during the hilly stages 4 and 5. Stage 6 was to be this year's queen stage, and after a hard days racing Moldef managed to beat Thibaut Pinot to win the stage, his first win of the season. However, due to his earlier time losses and because riders like Alaphilippe only lost about a minute, Moldef was only placed 7th. More time losses in the hilly stage 7 meant that Moldef would not be able to win Paris-Nice. A decent 4th place on the last stage's mountain time trial only saw him improve to 5th overall and put him in the young rider's jersey. Julian Alaphilippe won the race.
Not entirely satisfied with this result, the german wanted to do better in Spain. Before that though, he participated in his first ever Milano- Sanremo ( CWT). But yet again, the one-day classics proved too difficult for Moldef as he only came in 42 places behind winner Sam Bennett. More importantly though, the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya ( CWT), which Moldef had won twice in the past two years, was approaching. Once again though, the young german lost time in the hilly stages. A 3rd place in the mountain stage placed him at a disappointing 9th in the overall GC. Nevertheless, he still won the U25-jersey while Jeffrey Perrin () could celebrate his victory over Thibaut Pinot.
At this point, Moldef had to think hard about the remaining schedule. He had originally planned to stay in Spain and particpate in the Vuelta ciclista al Pais Vasco and then race L-B-L and the Amstel Gold Race. However, seeing as how the course in Spain would be extremely hilly and without a true mountain stage, Moldef unceremoniously decided to hit the brakes and skip out on all those races. He would take some rest until the end of May, when his preparation for the Tour de France would begin. Additionally, he decided to race at La Vuelta as well and skip the World Championships.
Having made that decision, Moldef used his free time to have a three weeks holiday in South America. Meanwhile, Fabio Aru handsomely won 7 stages en route to an easy Giro win ahead of Dayer Quintana, Robert Power and Thibaut Pinot. Eventually, Moldef joined the racing circuit again on the 30th of May at the Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan ( 1.1), where he finished 13th.
Thus, Moldef was feeling extremely confident when he left France to prepare for the german national championships (). After a good ride in the german time trials, Moldef was only beaten by super time-trialist Lennard Kämna. While 2nd place was still a good result, it technically didn't mean much more than being the first loser. Due to the flat profile of the german road race championships, Moldef tried to help his faster teammates as much as he could. But at the end of the day, this didn't seem to help much as his teammate Phil Bauhaus only came in 4th. Moldef finished 55th.
Thus... Le Tour de France (). The highlight of the season had started.
Stage 1
Le Tour kicked off with a flat stage (214 km) in France. A day for the men with the fast legs. Sam Bennett would turn out to be faster than anyone else and would therefore be the first rider to don the maillot jaune. GC: Moldef (174) +0'0"
Stage 2
The second day of the tour consisted of a rather hilly profile (154 km). In the end, 89 riders remained in the peloton, of which Peter Sagan was the fastest.
Stage 3
Stage 3 was another hilly stage (147 km) and was the first reason for celebration within Moldef's Team Giant Alpecin. In a reduced bunch sprint of 83 ridrers, noone was able to beat the german sprinter and teammate of Moldef Phil Bauhaus.
Stage 4
Next up was an important stage and awakened unpleasant memories for Moldef. The team time trial (23 km). Last year, Team Giant-Alpecin was dead last and meant that Moldef was almost already out of contention for the yellow jersey. This time around, Moldef had actually sort of threatened his GM that if last year's fiasco would be repeated, he would pack his things and move on to another team. Perhaps threatening to leave the team had helped, because this time Giant-Alpecin reversed their standing. They won the stage 10" ahead of Superteam Tinkoff-Saxo. Moreno Hofland from Team Giant-Alpecin claimed the maillot jaune. GC: Moldef (6) +0'0"
Stage 8
The first mountain stage. After a flat 130 km at the start of the stage, the climbers could prove their prowess in the following 60 km by scaling one HC and one category 1 mountain (Ax 3 Domaines), where the day's racing would conclude. Tinkoff-Saxos superteam set a really high pace up on the first mountain of the day. Eventually, only 7 riders remained.. of which 4 were from the Tinkoff-Saxo team. At this point though, Wilco Kelderman launched his attack, and only Moldef and Thibaut Pinot could follow the dutchman's pace. One too many attacks by Kelderman saw Moldef crack. This time he wouldn't be able to Ullrich-style pace his way back. Attempting to limit his losses, Moldef crossed the finish line 29" after winner Kelderman and Pinot. At this point it was already pretty clear that it would be a three-way fight for the first place. Especially since rank 4-6 were populated by Tinkoff-Saxo riders, and 7th rank Fabio Aru was already 5'42" down on Pinot.
1. Pinot
30h22'24
2. Kelderman
+12"
3. Moldef
+19"
Stage 9
Another mountain stage. But as the last climb of the day lay 30 km ahead of the finish line, most favorites were either content or unable to attack Pinot, whose team governed the pace throughout the mountains. Eventually, a nine rider leader group formed (4 tinkoff riders) after the last mountain. Pinot et al. played their advantage during the final sprint as they took first place with Merhawi Kudus. Kelderman finished second and was the only one to interrupt a Tinkoff 1-2-3. Moldef came in 8th as he wasn't able to hold the wheel of Kelderman. No changes in the GC.
Stage 10
Another flat stage, this time won by german Nikias Arndt. The green jersey was still with Peter Sagan. No changes in the GC.
Stage 11
The 30 km time trial during stage 11 provided some changes in the GC. Moldef, generally acknowledged to be the strongest time trialist amongst stage racers in the world, proved just that, as he won the stage ahead of teammate Tom Dumoulin. Kelderman came in 11th (losing 1'17" ), while Pinot only managed 20th (losing 1'38" ). As a result, for the first time in his life, Moldef donned the maillot jaune. It was a great feeling.
1. Moldef
40h26'34
2. Kelderman
+1'10"
3. Pinot
+1'19"
Stage 12 and 13
Two flat stages. Two days for the sprinters. Or so one would have thought. Both times a breakaway managed to stay ahead of the peloton. Stage 12 was won by belgian Yves Lampaert, whereas slowenian Matej Mohoric could celebrate one day later. The green jersey went over to Sam Bennett though. KoM was still with Kelderman. No changes in the GC.
Stage 14
A hilly stage over 187 km. In the end, Leopold König beat Louis Meintjes to the line. The two also created a gap of 12 seconds to a small peloton of 39 riders, which had all the favorites in it. No changes in the GC.
Stage 15
80% of stage 15 were entirely flat. However, the last 18 km consisted of an extremely difficult climb up to the Mount Ventoux. At the foot of the mountain, a number of riders attacked, among them eventual winner Julian Alaphilippe. Meanwhile, the favorites watched each other carefully. Kelderman was the first to throw down the gauntlet. Both Pinot and Moldef managed to claw their way back though. Consecutive attacks by both Pinot and Kelderman were stoically countered by Moldef. Eventually, the three race leaders were only accompaned by Pinot teammate Merhawi Kudus. Then, just 3 km before the finish line, after another attack of Kelderman, one of the Tinkoff men cracked... And it wasn't Kudus. Pinot had to let go and lost valuable time at the end of the day. Eventually, Kudus couldn't follow anymore either. Moldef beat Kelderman in the final sprint to take 2nd place, just 7" behind winner Alaphilippe. Pinot eventually lost 35" to the dutch and german. By placing second, Moldef also picked up the KoM jersey. He thus carried three of the four jerseys at the moment.
1. Moldef
58h28'44
2. Kelderman
+1'10"
3. Pinot
+1'54"
Stage 16
Stage 16 was the last hilly stage of this year's Tour de France. And for the first time since the first mountain stage, Moldef showed signs of weaknesses. As Alaphilippe accelerated again and again, Moldef had to eventually let go. He finished 7th on the day, but lost 23" to both Pinot and Kelderman, who managed to hold on to the wheel of winner Alaphilippe. Things were getting close.
1. Moldef
62h36'46
2. Kelderman
+0'47"
3. Pinot
+1'31"
Stage 17
Another time trial was awaiting on stage 17. Two hills had to be climbed during a 32 km race. Once again, Moldef demonstrated his dominance over other stage racers during time trials. He almost overtook Wilco Kelderman (who placed third on the day) on the finish line as he pulverized the best time. Pinot lost 1'27" and Kelderman 1'30" during the time trial. Winning the Tour de France was now an attainable reality suddenly! Moldef had to be very careful during the coming mountain stages. After all, he hadn't managed to take any time off of Kelderman so far in the mountains.
1. Moldef
63h27'47
2. Kelderman
+2'17"
3. Pinot
+2'58"
Stage 18
Le tour loves Alpe d'Huez. The organizers love it so much, they included the climb up to Alpe d'Huez twice during this stage... Alberto Contador would emerge victorious on the day, as he joined the morning's breakaway. And the escapees were never seen again. Not only that, they had a lead of almost 30 minutes at some point. The cause for that was the laughable pace that the team Giant - Alpecin set. If you have Marcel Kittel pacing up Alpe d'Huez, and crossing the mountain in front of the peloton, you kinda know something's off. Luckily, Contador was more than an hour behind the GC leaders, and best placed Tiesj Benoot from Belgium only climbed to 8th place after taking 11 minutes from the favorites.
Concerning these favorites, Wilco Kelderman proved once again that he was the strongest climber. Relentless attacks up to Alpe d'Huez (the second time) forced Moldef and Pinot into submission. Kelderman finished 13th of the day (+14'47" ), just ahead of Pinot and Moldef (+15'06" ). All the mountain points also meant that Benoot would slip into the KoM jersey.
1. Moldef
68h33'34
2. Kelderman
+1'58"
3. Pinot
+2'58"
Stage 19
Stage 19 consisted of two HC mountains. Both of them had to be scaled within the first half of the stage though. But three more mountains (one category 1 at the end) made for a tough second half. After the last mountain, a short 10 km decline took riders to the finish line.
Again, a breakaway took advantage of the weaklings in Moldef's team and would decide the stage winner amongst themselves. Fabio Aru (at the start of the day 15 mins behind) took the victory, but the ageing Alberto Contador also had cause to celebreate, as he was able to claim the KoM jersey at the end of the day.
Amongst the favorites, the ever-aggressive Wilco Kelderman managed to ride away from everyone else. He crossed the last mountain almost 1'30" ahead of Moldef, who was second over the mountain. Without any help during the descent, Moldef had to risk all he had to limit his losses. Eventually, he clocked in 1'13" behind Kelderman. Pinot had a bad day and lost another 47" to Moldef.
1. Moldef
74h29'16
2. Kelderman
+0'45"
3. Pinot
+3'45"
Stage 20
The last mountain stage of the 2020 Tour de France was relatively short (126 km) but included two difficult mountains. One category 1, and a final climb up to the Tourmalet. Would 45 seconds be enough to stay ahead of Kelderman? Or would the dutchman manage to destroy Moldef's happiness? It would be an explosive day.
Contraty to previous days, the escapees were reeled in relentlessly this time around. Contador managed to secure a few more KoM points, but the peloton stayed together as they started the last climb of this year's Tour.
The first rider to look for glory was Telman Baykal from Azerbaijan. He was followed by Jan Polanc from Poland and Simon Yates from the UK. A few kilometers later, it was once again Wilco Kelderman that was looking to break away and rip the maillout jaune off of Moldef's shoulders. The german, among other favorites, countered though, and an elite group of 7 riders was formed.
Thibaut Pinot felt much better and decided to try his luck. Kelderman couldn't follow and Moldef only had eyes for the dutchman, thus, Pinot created a gap.
Ultimately, the race situation was such that Baykal was still ahead of everyone. He was chased by Thibaut Pinot. A short distance behind were Moldef and Kelderman. A herculean effort from the young german finally cracked Kelderman. The dutchman couldn't follow anymore. The tour was decided.
Moldef couldn't care less that Baykal secured victory on the Tourmalet 1'03" ahead of Pinot and Moldef (who had caught up to the frenchman). Kelderman lost 24" on the german.
Barring any accidents in Paris, Moldef would have done it. He had won the Tour de France. With a one year delay, he had finally caught up to his idol Jan Ullrich. Tears streamed from his face as he collapsed on the Tourmalet, and everyone celebrated. Even german fans were ecstatic. The newspapers were full of praise, people were celebraiting, singing and drinking, and I'm sure people were hugging. Steffen Moldef had won the most imporant cycling race in the world.
1. Moldef
78h21'03
2. Kelderman
+1'09"
3. Pinot
+3'45"
Stage 21
Moldef's mood during the last stage was a stark contrast to how he felt exactly one year ago. This time he was full of laughter and happiness. Luckily nothing bad happened, and Moldef was able to breath a sigh of relief as he crossed the line as 15th of the day. It would probably take a few days to fully comprehend what he had achieved. And he would also have to get used to being a superstar in his home country in Germany. He didn't know it at that time, but the people were considering him a national hero. Moldef's life would be different from how it was before, that much was certain.
The day's win belonged to Peter Sagan.
Phew... Okay, this concludes the first half of the season I wanted to try a more detailed reporting of the tour, especially since it went so well !
The second half of the season will be much shorter I assume. I'll be racing in San Sebastian, at the Tour de Pologne, and then at La Vuelta. And I don't think I'll be able to compete for the win in Spain, but who knows. I'll try at least, but goal would be top 5.
Thanks for reading, and sorry again for the looooooong text. I added some pictures here and there to make it prettier Edited by Moldef on 31-08-2015 00:29
Great stuff, congratz! Very good course for Moldef with plenty of TTs, seems like it.
Maybe a move from Giant will happen in the future to have more climbing domestiques or do you like the challenge of having Kittel pace the moutains? lol
Bertie still King of the Mountain at a nice old age hehe
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Haha yea, the course seemed perfect for Moldef. Very few difficult hilly stages where he tends to lose time, and lots of TT kilometres. Kelderman scared me there for a bit, but luckily he couldn't quite finish his late surge.
Concerning my team choice, Giant has quite a few good mountaineers (7 riders with MO 77+), but for some reason my GM never starts them in races that I am in. The only good one I had around was Atkinson (MO: 81) but he got reaaaally unlucky... He had a -4 or -5 in at least 5 of the mountain stages
In the Vuelta I had to once again rely on Kittel in the mountains to protect me >.> I think he was the 2nd best placed rider in the GC in the end of my team...
I did decide to extend my contract though, to reward the team for their great Team Time Trial at the Tour. Only later I saw that Thibaut Pinot will join Giant next year... so that kinda sucks. This late in the game, there's only very few "top" stage racers around, and many of them aren't even chosen to ride a GC (Quintana was only domestique, Bardet was absent from all GC, Landa too).
Is there a way to edit my rider into a new team? I originally wanted to go to T-Mobile, cause that'd be the ultimate Jan Ullrich move, but T-Mobile got relegated so I didn't. I heard about this Lachi editor or so? Can I put T-Mobile back in the WT and change to them still?
P.S.: Bertie was also at the Vuelta and was one of the more active riders actually at 37 years of age. But more about that soon
Hi guys, i just bought the game and i need some advice with training in Be a Pro Mode. When is good to set training at 0,1,2,3,4,5? For example how you prepare for Giro-TdF-Vuelta?
I am just start the game and sign for AWT-Greenway for 1st season.
Game Version Patch 1.2.0.0: PCM.daily Expansion Pack 2015 V0.8
Dificulty: Normal
Type of rider: Stage Racer
Potential: Grand Champion
Well if you're in your first season you won't be able to ride in any of the GT's yet.
But in any case, your fitness is dependent on your training and the race experience. So if you want to peak for example for races in April, I'd say slowly start building some fitness at least a month or 6 weeks in advance (a setting of 3). Then when you get closer to the race you want to have your best fitness in, up the training to 4 or even 5. Also make sure you schedule some races before the peak race(s). In the example above, you want to ride in some races already in March to get some rhythm and fitness.
Try to avoid situations where you are forced to repeatedly go for weeks of training with an intensity of 5 as that will rapidly increase your fatigue. It's much better to start training earlier and participating in other races. Keep in mind that if your fatigue exceeds 75, your fitness will suffer.
But I'm sure you'll figure it out. Later in the season it's sometimes important to add rest periods of training 0-2 in order to reduce your fatigue (even early in the season they can be important). Again, it's a mix of using races and training to get to a good fitness level.
polist4ever wrote:
Hi guys, i just bought the game and i need some advice with training in Be a Pro Mode. When is good to set training at 0,1,2,3,4,5? For example how you prepare for Giro-TdF-Vuelta?
I am just start the game and sign for AWT-Greenway for 1st season.
Game Version Patch 1.2.0.0: PCM.daily Expansion Pack 2015 V0.8
Dificulty: Normal
Type of rider: Stage Racer
Potential: Grand Champion
[img-l]https://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b543/Sh0nak/vizcaya/s06_1_zpspdgmxhpu.jpg[/img-l]From Bernaudeau’s Ekoi team it was a drastic change to Unzue’s legendary team, now sponsored by Telefonica. Alongside Rigoberto Uran, there were huge Grand Tours hopes for the french basque Vizcaya, but Vizcaya would also look for some surprises…
Season 6.1 - Telefonica at 91.500 until 2020
Unzue and Vizcaya saw potential in a possible two Grand Tour schedule, however Vizcaya insisted on trying his luck once more time at his beloved Giro d’Italia. He had bad luck two years prior, in his eyes it was time to change it. Due to the Time Trial-heavy route of la Tour, Vuelta a Espana was favored by both Vizcaya and Unzue then to try to close the season on good form.
Vizcaya did not start his season at Volta ao Algarve this year but instead rode Vuelta a Andalucia. The 2.1 categorized race saw Vizcaya finish 4th behind Betancur . He was second on a mountaintopfinish and indicated good form. At Paris-Nice, Vizcaya’s plan was to go for a stage win once more since the route wasn’t that suited to his liking but it didn’t work out; his attempts failed throughout the race, finishing 8th in the end without any special accolades. However, the form was great going out of Paris-Nice, and since there aren’t any world-known sprinters at Telefonica, Vizcaya was allowed to try his luck at Milano-San Remo. He attacked at the Poggio and almost made it this year; except he didn’t when he got caught by Coquard in the bunch sprint with around 200 meters to go. Still, Vizcaya was strong enough to fend the other sprinters off and finished on a great 2nd place...
Things went well in Volta a Catalunya where Vizcaya put in a great fight against later winner Landa and Quintana. He finished on a strong 3rd place, merely 11 seconds down on Landa. It were some thrilling mountain stages.
Next up were the Ardennes races. With Vizcaya lacking a bit high-end racing because of skipping Pais Vasco, he wasn’t that good at Amstel Gold Race and finished on the Cauberg 11th after a very chaotic last 40 kilometers. Mur de Huy went much better, he followed the various moves and even wanted to put in a dig with Alaphilippe with 10 kilometers to go: The later winner Alaphilippe and Vizcaya had no good collaboration going on though, Vizcaya came 6th at the Mur but more would have been possible.
La Doyenne saw Vizcaya in a very defensive position throughout the race, however he tried to instigate a leader group at La Redoute. The peloton was still fairly big at that time and even Saint Nicolas caused no real selection. Only at 10 kilometers to go, a five man group could get away including Vizcaya. Up to Ans, the strong group was looking at each other a lot, almost completely ignoring the fast pacing peloton behind them… But the nerves of the top riders were cold as steel and eventually, Vizcaya was the first to accelerate, only to be followed by former World Champion Adam Yates. The Katusha rider won the race then, Vizcaya once again second! Please make no Memes at this point?
At the Tour of Yorkshire, a few days after the Ardennes and before the Giro, Vizcaya took the third stage and overall victory. Good preparation for the Giro, who was scheduled as a three week long tour de force. There were crucial stages throughout the three weeks, making it vital that you had perfect shape right from the start.
The Team Time Trial went really well, Telefonica finished 2nd 7 seconds behind Tinkoff-Saxo. The Russian Superteam was still dominating in its Grand Tour potential, even if Pinot left the team after only one year. Giro winner Quintana (MT83, HL78, TT74), former Giro winners Zakarin and Simon Yates (MT81, HL78), stage hunter genius Diego Ulissi, young promising Campbadal (MT80)… Of course Tinkoff Saxo was great at defending Quintana’s maglia rosa. The first initial mountain and hilly stages saw little time difference but enough to put Vizcaya (MT81, HL81, TT65) at a time loss of over an minute in the first week. The young basque had established himself as a prime runner-up and first rival to Quintana, despite the presence of Astana’s Fabio Aru (MT82, HL79, TT72) and Sauber’s Rafal Majka (MT80, HL77, TT75) , who were fairly close as well. Also Westpac’s Miguel Angel Lopez (MT80), SKY’s Nibali (MT80) and Giant’s Wilco Kelderman (MT80, HL78, TT77)were notable active riders.
Oddly enough, Quintana did not take a stage win, instead the glory went to various other riders. Vizcaya scored well with consistency, always being somewhat close to Quintana but just not reaching the Colombian’s level. Fabio Aru had some off-days, which meant small time losses, much to Vizcaya’s liking of course. Also, Vizcaya had a victory up the ramp of Volterra. Bonifazio dominated most of the sprinters against World Champion Marcel Kittel, but Cavendish was the guy with the points jersey. The time difference were little on the stages, except that Vizcaya lost about another minute onto Quintana on the hilly time trial, which was won by Aru.
The third week started off with a bang then: Quintana got involved in a crash and could not continue. The Colombian broke his neck in a mass crash, a horrible event and it’d put him out of racing until Mid-June, le Tour was a possibility therefor. This meant that the fight for the Maglia Rosa was suddenly wide open again! Having been 2 minutes behind Quintana at that point, Vizcaya had now all the cards to play to win his first Grand Tour seemingly out of nowhere. Vizcaya had done solid racing, which meant that he was 2’47’’ ahead of Fabio Aru and almost 5 minutes ahead of Rafal Majka.
Thanks to Tinkoff-Saxo’s earlier strong team riding, Telefonica was at comfortable position and had well reserved their energies. Especially Manfredi was glorious at some later stages, but also Rigoberto Uran (16th) put himself finally into Vizcaya’s services. Tinkoff Saxo was immediately to save what was possible in the form of stage wins, whilst the battle between Aru, Vizcaya and Majka was full-on in the later stages. On the road up to Monte Terminillio (twice), Aru set out for a furious ride alone up the gravel roads! Vizcaya played it smarter though and ultimately managed to catch up to the Sicilian on the last kilometer.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Season Summary
After his impressive win at the Tour de France, Moldef was scheduled to race at the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian ( CWT). He travelled to Spain with his team, checked into the hotel, prepared for the race, woke up the next day, headed to the starting place... and noone was there.
The organizers were missing and all the riders from all the different teams were clueless as to what had actually happened. In the end, for whatever reason, the San Sebastian race did not take place, the starting money was missing, and the organizers were probably suntanning on the Maldives. It was absurd.
Disappointed and confused (mostly confused), Moldef travelled to Poland to participate at the Tour de Pologne ( CWT). Luckily this race DID take place. Moldef was able to carry his great form into September by winning Stage 6 and the overall classement of the Tour de Pologne! Another great victory to add to the german's accomplishments!
Less than two weeks later, the Vuelta a España ( CWT) started and Moldef was once again Giant - Alpecins man for the GC. At the opening stage's Team Time Trial, Giant - Alpecin was unable to repeat their victory in France and placed 7th, 54" behind winner Spotify. During the hilly stage 2, Moldef proved he was still in good condition by placing 6th on the day, just 16" behind a quartett of riders, from which Matej Mohoric had the strongest legs. Stage 3 was flat and was won by Peter Sagan in a bunch sprint. The following stage was also mostly flat, but a small, but steep, hill just in front of the finish proved too difficult for the sprinters. They could only watch as Adam Yates raised his arms in a solo victory. One day later, Peter Sagan was back on the winner's podium.
Stage 6 marked the first day of selection. At the end of the day, 6 riders finished within the same time, amongst them Wilco Kelderman, Adam Yates and Steffen Moldef, who were likely to be the strongest GC riders. Teuns Dylan won the stage and Mathieu van der Poel slipped into the leader's jersey. The premonition that the three aforementioned riders would be the strongest in the peloton was confirmed during the mountaintop fniish of stage 7. Kelderman was the strongest rider, finishing just ahead of Yates and Alberto Contador. Moldef came in 4th, losing 1'13" to Kelderman. Adam Yates was race leader at this point, 10" ahead of Kelderman, 37" in front of van der Poel, and 1'22" ahead of Moldef.
At the end of stage 8, Mohoric could celebrate his second victor at this year's Vuelta, Moldef lost another 26 seconds to race leader Yates. Stage 9 was similar to stage 5, as it consisted of a sharp hill just ahead of the finish line. Moldef had great legs and was only beaten by Alaphilippe of France. More importantly though, Moldef gained 12" to Yates and 32" to Kelderman. Peter Sagan was once again the fastest man during stage 10.
However, now the real mountains were looming beginning with stage 11. A very hard stage with 5 tough mountains had to be bested by the peloton. The rider who did this faster than anyone else was once again the dutchman Kelderman, who definitely proved to be the best climber in the world this season. Moldef came in 2nd, 53" behind. Yates however had a very bad day as he finished 4'28" behind Kelderman. At this point, Kelderman had a 2 minute lead on Moldef and was 3'45" ahead of Yates.
Stage 12 was flat again, and this time Fernando Gaviria was the strongest sprinter. On the following day, a three man group of escapees stayed ahead of the bunch and norwegian Adrian Aas Stien could celebrate victory.
Stage 14 was another mountain stage and escapee Barrenetxea was victorious. Amongst the favorites, Adam Yates had recovered and finished 4th of the day, gaining 40 seconds to race leader Kelderman. Moldef lost another minute to the dutch rider. The GC at this point was:
At this point Moldef was feeling extremely tired, but he still decided to race at the ITT World Championships and at Il Lombardia ( WCT), especially since a good place at the italian classic might see him overtake Fabio Aru in the UCI World Tour rankings. At the ITT World Championships, Moldef came in 5th, as Campbell Flakemore once again proved what a strong time trialer he was.
Moldef's last race, as mentioned previously, was the Il Lombardia in Italy. Extremely tired, but motivated by a potential first place finish in the UCI World Tour, Moldef tried his best. Ultimately though, his fatigue was clearly noticeable during the race. At the half-way point, Moldef didn't pay attention and was involved in a crash. Luckily though he did make it back into the peloton and sat in a good position as the action began to unfold. At that point though, it became clear that he just didn't have the legs to compete today. Moldef was left behind as the favorites of the day fought for victory. Moldef came in 28th of the day, almost 2 minutes behind winner Alaphilippe. Not only was this not enough to overtake Aru in the WCT rankings, but Pinot's 3rd place also meant that the frenchman would overtake Moldef in the rankings.
Nevertheless, as Moldef looked back on his 6th season as a professional cyclist, he was overjoyed for he had won the Tour de France. Noone could take that away from him. His next goal was to repeat his victory in France to not remain as another one-hit-wonder.
Season Recap - 2020
At the Giro d'Italia (), Fabio Aru won ahead of Dayer Quintana and Robert Power. Nacer Bouhanni repeated his victory of the sprinter's jersey, while Wout Poels claimed the Maglia Azzurra. Third placed Robert Power was also the winner of the Maglia Bianca.
In France, Steffen Moldef celebrated his first win at the Tour de France () ahead of Wilco Kelderman and local hero Thibaut Pinot. Sam Bennett claimed the maillot verde, and oldie Alberto Contador won the KoM jersey. Steffen Moldef was obviously also the best rider under 25 years of age.
The Vuelta a España () was won by Wilco Kelderman. Second place went to Steffen Moldef ahead of Adam Yates from Great Britain. Peter Sagan won the points classification, and Lachlan Morton from New Zealand took home the climber's jersey. Second placed Steffen Moldef received the youth jersey.
Campbell Flakemore won the [ITT] World Championships, and Niccolo Bonifazio was crowned World Champion just a few days later.
Moldef finished the UCI World Tour as third best rider, just a few points behind winner Fabio Aru and second placed Thibaut Pinot. In the CQ-Ranking, Moldef ranked 2nd, behind winner Peter Sagan.
Moldef's team Giant-Alpecin improved once again and finished the year as 3rd. Tinkoff-Saxo was once again the strongest team, but finished with only a small margin ahead of Cell C.
Alrighty, season 6 finished finally I might change the difficulty to extreme during season 7... mainly because there's a lack of good GC riders nowadays. Maybe that will make it a bit tougher for Moldef Edited by Moldef on 17-09-2015 10:01
Despite them not being finished yet,
I don't think anyone will object if I add the two first stories to the Hall of Fame soon, namely Moldef's A New Hope and Shonak's Faux Orange.
It's silly how putting your signature on a certain piece of paper can give you an opportunity to make your wildest dreams come true. Yet this was the case for Tim Boute in the year 2014, when he signed a contract for the Lotto U23 team, the development team of Lotto - Soudal. He would ride a full season for the development team while learning the ropes.
They say the life of a cyclist is one that's hard to adjust to. Long days, lots of training, even more you have to sacrifice. For Tim Boute, it all came naturally. And even so, he never had a lot of time to adapt. Lotto U23, believing fully in Boute's abilities, decided to send him to the new Cyanide Cup races in Spain. He had his first professional racing experience there, with a decent 10th place in the 3rd race to show for it.
After a short trip to Croatia for the Istrian Spring Trophy, where Boute worked for his team mates, he went to Italy, for a few U23 races. The second race, 1.2U23 Giro Belvedere di Villa di Cordignano, was a big success. The race was classified as flat and everyone was expecting a mass sprint. Quite new to the U23 scene, Boute impressed by jumping away on the final climb of the day. The sprinting peloton came up short and Boute won his first victory in the U23 scene.
With his confidence raising, Boute turned homewards for a few important races to him. In the Ronde Van Vlaanderen U23, Boute managed to finish 22nd. Less than a month later, he podiumed the Liège - Bastogne - Liège U23 race. Ten days later, he came even closer to winning again, at the 1.2 Flèche Ardennaise, being beaten in a two-man sprint by Meurissen.
Boute made an appearance on the television by being in the breakaway in his first Belgian National Championships Road Race. At the time, nobody could ever predict they'd see this young boy so much more on their television sets in the years to come. But for now, Boute was still learning, sometimes the hard way, as it was when he crashed in the 2.2U23 Volta a Portugal do Futuro.
In the 1.NCup Trofeo Almar, Boute took his second victory of the season. Differently from his first win, this one was not taken by surprise, but fought for on the slopes of the Tainenberg against some of the U23 best punchers. Boute, only 19, beat two of them in the sprint. It was now obvious this boy was full of raw talent.
This victory couldn't have come at a better time. The 2.NCup Tour de l'Avenir was just around the corner. Boute, backed by a strong team, managed to win no less than 3 stages, one from the breakaway and two hillier stages. Needless to say, he had also won the points classification and was now certain of being offered a contract by a WT team for the next season.
Boute finished his season without losing much shape. Another victory in a U23 stage race in Italy put his counter on 6. He was one of the top riders in the U23 milieu. 1.2U23 Paris - Tours Espoirs was his final race for Lotto U23 and - for him - the biggest disappointment of the season. After managing to break away from the peloton, Kragh Andersen took the upper hand in a two-man sprint, leaving Boute to settle for place 2.
Still, Boute's first season had been an incredible success. His young age, however, made him hesitate about accepting one of the WT contracts offered. In the wisest decision of his career, Boute decided to sign a 1-year contract with Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise.
In the next season, he would ride a calendar perfectly suited to his needs. On the one hand, he could still enter U23 races, to gain confidence and ride short(er) races, while also racing higher races and learn the ropes with the professionals. At the age of 20, the world was at his feet. But the next season would not be easy. Surprising is the easy part. Confirming is the real challenge.
(that's my excuse to stupidity 
)
Steffen Moldef
1.1) was his first race of the season, but it only served to gain some road experience, as he crossed the finish line at the end of the peloton. Next, he started at the Volta ao Algarve (
2.1) during the middle of February. But this race was only thought of as a stepping stone towards his first fitness peak of the season. A good ride against the clock on the 4th stage rewarded Moldef with a decent 4th overall in the GC. Moreover, he claimed the 
1.1), Moldef joined a late attack of the favorites, but eventually had to resign himself to 7th place.
CWT). Great finishes in the other stages meant that Moldef was able to equal his feat of the previous year and win the 
CWT) and the La Fléche Wallonne (
CWT) before spending some time to rest and recuperate before the Tour de France. However, if his opponents thought that Moldef might already take his foot of the gas in the basque countryside, they were in for a rude awakening. The young german 
CWT) at the beginning of August. Despite his form slowly dipping, Moldef 
1.1) as a means of getting into shape (he placed 19th), Moldef deemed himself ready for the time trial world championship. Once again, he was lucky to have found great legs on this day and set a new best time after crossing the line. Now he would have to wait. His toughest competition would likely be Lennard Kämna, Tony Martin and Nathan Brown. He waited anxiously as each of them started the race. And, one by one, they all failed to equal Moldef's time. Yes, neither of them had managed to beat him. Moldef's head was swimming. Had he really won the World Championship Time Trial? Had he? The answer was... No. Crossing the line as the very last rider, Yüksel Kuljic from Austria clocked in as Number 1. A whopping two seconds ( >.< ) ahead of Moldef. Sigh. Keep calm and move on.
2.HC). Being witness to the completely different landscape in Oman helped curb his disappointment over not starting in Portugal (see below). A 4th place finish during the queen's stage rewarded him with 8th overall.
) could celebrate his victory over Thibaut Pinot. 
) completed the podium. Along with the 
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