Hey guys,
the 170km of the 93rd Prueba Villafranca-Ordiziako Klasika (1.1) are left behind now, and originally I wanted to write later in August the next time. But for now we had some good legs to test in Spain and an interesting preperation race with some steep climbs.
With 14.1 kilometers to go my race started, as I saw Geschke suffering and took my chance to attack on a smaller hill, chasing the breakaway trio (Fominykh, Roldan, Belda)
Soon I went up & away, and despite Movistar organizing the chase I increased my advantage to 50 sec with 9 to go. My legs felt great, and even with leaving something in the engine room for the final steep ramp I could hold on to my advantage till the gradiant kicked up. Taking the climb in "Shut up, legs!" style - you know what it´s about - I worked myself uptop, keeping my advantage to Jesus Herrada up, who dropped all his opponents.
Soon I was sure it´s gonna be my day, and finally I could raise my arms crossing the line first:
Only danger man was Herrada, the others finished outside 2 minutes. Seems like the spanish one-day races are fitting me well, surely there is a chance of riding Clasica San Sebastian next year...
Closing the Top 11 taken out of the official results today:
1
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
4h34'20
2
Jesús Herrada
Movistar Team
+ 53
3
Nathan Haas
Team Cannondale - Garmin
+ 2'18
4
Daniel Moreno
Team Katusha
+ 3'01
5
Edward Ravasi
Bora - Argon 18
+ 3'13
6
Igor Antón
Movistar Team
+ 3'28
7
Dayer Quintana
Movistar Team
s.t.
8
Diego Rosa
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
9
Jesper Hansen
Tinkoff-Saxo
+ 3'59
10
Serghei Tvetcov
Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec
s.t.
11
Simon Geschke
Bora - Argon 18
+ 4'27
Great day for us, especially Ravasi and me, and a more than good preperation for the upcoming Volta ao Portugal. Bis bald, Andy
Hey guys,
guess what? - I´m writing from Portugal after nearly two weeks of cycling in Portugal. A lot of hilly stages with short but steep climbs and tough finishes, as well as a couple of flats, a long Time Trial and a crucial mountain stage are done now.
This time I will do more of a picture and results report, with short comments of mine.
After a flat stage 1 the second gave me the chance to attack on a small climb near to the finish,
taking a slight advantage on the pack and coming near to the last man from the breakaway under the flamme rouge.
And I continued my attempt to the line, taking the stage, yellow, and 15 seconds on all my opponents.
Stage 3 was flat and no trouble at all, while stage 4 was much harder.
S4 breakaway victory (Prete)
Finally I came in last of the quartet, but saving the jersey.
1
Joshua Prete
Team Budget Forklifts
3h53'48
2
Floris De Tier
Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
s.t.
3
Tsgabu Grmay
Lampre-Merida
s.t.
4
Pierre-Roger Latour
Ag2r La Mondiale
s.t.
5
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
s.t.
6
Fabio Duarte
Colombia
+ 1'13
7
Carlos Barbero
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
s.t.
8
Andrea Fedi
Colombia
+ 1'48
9
Simon Geschke
Bora - Argon 18
s.t.
10
Frederik Plesner
Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
+ 3'12
S5 (6k climb)
Trying to bridge over to the early attacking Duarte and Carthy...Latour looked really strong already behind me.
At the end I saw victorious Duarte, coming home on same time with Latour
1
Fabio Duarte
Colombia
4h05'07
2
Pierre-Roger Latour
Ag2r La Mondiale
+ 29
3
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
s.t.
4
Hugh Carthy
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
+ 52
5
Robert Power
Ag2r La Mondiale
+ 1'15
6
Tsgabu Grmay
Lampre-Merida
s.t.
7
Ilya Koshevoy
Lampre-Merida
s.t.
8
Christian Mager
Bora - Argon 18
s.t.
9
Floris De Tier
Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
s.t.
10
Rodolfo Torres
Colombia
s.t.
From this stage on I had Geschke, Oliveira, Ravasi and Mager working for me, which was great.
On stage 6 once again I tried a late attack for the stage, and just made it in front of the pack.
Great 1 & 2 with Christian who launched me the attack
1
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
4h23'36
2
Christian Mager
Bora - Argon 18
s.t.
3
Fabio Duarte
Colombia
s.t.
4
Lachlan Norris
Drapac Professional Cycling
s.t.
5
Heiner Parra
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
s.t.
From this moment on I looked also on green if something on the climbs happened (Duarte and Latour looked very strong)
Points after S6 (before the rest day)
1
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
76
2
Fabio Duarte
Colombia
49
3
Davide Appollonio
Lampre-Merida
40
4
Carlos Barbero
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
39
Stage 7
another late attack, just didn´t work out to catch the last man from the breakaway (Lluis Guillermo Mas Bonet)
1
Lluis Guillermo Mas Bonet
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
4h29'27
2
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
s.t.
3
Carlos Barbero
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
s.t.
4
Asbjørn Kragh Andersen
Drapac Professional Cycling
s.t.
5
Andrea Palini
Sky Dive Dubai Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
S9 one hell of a stage, last 30 km climbing (Rodriguez, Cardoso, Cobo from the break)
Soon Power put on the pressure for Latour, climbing twentyfive kilometers with Latour and me on his wheel.
After that Latour attacked me on the last final five, but I managed to cover his attacks everytime and cross the line in front of him.
Only Jackson of the break was in front of me on top of the climb:
I won the points classification by the way, Stage 11 was flat with no danger for me; Appollonio took it in front of Barbero and Thwaites.
A great one for me: Yellow, Green, two Stages and the lead in the Europe Tour taken of the shoulders of Barbero. But as the Czech Tour is coming there is not much time to rest.
Hey guys,
updating you today with my latest results from the Czech Cycling Tour (2.1).
The Tour started very well with a 17th place in the prologue, much more than I expected and some pure time triallists ahead of me. But on the second stage the damage began, my legs felt weak. For this stage I managed to stay with the peloton.
Stage 3&4 were hilly, nothing more than surviving was the plan as I had some hard nights and couldn´t hold on to my food. The thirs stage gave me P12 leading a bigger group (breakaway victory by Conti), and stage 4 resulted in P10 directly behind yellow jersey conti.
At the end it was just the 9th place in the GC, but I had nothing to offer for better places here.
1
Valerio Conti
Lampre-Merida
11h44'13
2
Fabio Felline
Trek Factory Racing
+ 1'32
3
Eddie Dunbar
Astana Pro Team
+ 2'54
4
Nicola Boem
Bardiani CSF
+ 3'13
5
Stefan Denifl
Adecco
+ 3'20
6
Fredrik Galta
Orange
+ 3'40
7
Jan Polanc
Lampre-Merida
+ 3'46
8
Salvatore Puccio
Team Sky
+ 4'00
9
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
+ 4'34
10
Marcel Aregger
Adecco
+ 4'35
After all some points, but truely disappointing looking at my previous results. At the lastest from next year on only wins count in these races, there I will concentrate on WT and .HC races. For now I take some points.
Luckily I left my illness behind, so now I can´t wait for the late italian classics as the season closer.
Hey guys,
it´s time to chill out. The season is over, and I used the fact that my last races all were italian classics for a short holiday in the Toscana. Now lying on the beach of Viareggio I´m ready to tell you about my latest racing action.
Coppa Agostoni - Giro delle Brianze (1.1)
I went on the attack early, as soon as the climbs started to test my legs for the final races.
But 48,6 km was way too far out, especially with Tinkoff-Saxo & Lampre working hard. Simon was behind, and as I got sorted out by the first group I decided to work for Geschke to bring him back. At least he managed to take P7, while I came in 13th.
1
Mathieu van der Poel
Tinkoff-Saxo
4h45'54
2
Jan Polanc
Lampre-Merida
s.t.
3
Edoardo Zardini
Bardiani CSF
s.t.
4
Andriy Grivko
Adecco
+ 57
5
Davide Villella
Team Cannondale - Garmin
s.t.
6
David Per
Adria Mobil
+ 1'40
7
Simon Geschke
Bora - Argon 18
s.t.
13
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
s.t.
Coppa Bernocchi (1.1)
Around Legnano I went into a break together with Garby, Santaromita and Vorganov, right from the beginning.
Not much to say to this, we got caught out on that bumpy circuit late, but were never a danger for the sprinters, from which van Asbroeck was the strongest.
1
Tom Van Asbroeck
Etixx - Quick-step
4h37'24
2
Niccolo Bonifazio
Lampre-Merida
s.t.
3
Alberto Cecchin
NIPPO - Vini Fantini
s.t.
4
Matteo Trentin
Etixx - Quick-step
s.t.
5
Sondre Holst Enger
Adecco
s.t.
27
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
s.t.
Milano-Torino (1.HC)
The first of the last couple of races, which had a much tougher finish than the previous but an easier way to the final climbs. At Milano-Torino, maybe the one with the most prestige, I went too late. Maybe a better place would´ve been possible, but with Dom up there I decided to sit back and let others work till the final hill.
There I could overtake a bunch of riders, but P6 was the limit while Nerz took second behind Aru.
1
Fabio Aru
Astana Pro Team
4h26'24
2
Dominik Nerz
Bora - Argon 18
+ 1'15
3
Julian Alaphilippe
Etixx - Quick-step
+ 2'10
4
Ilnur Zakarin
Team Katusha
s.t.
5
Mikel Landa
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
6
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
s.t.
7
Carlos Betancur
Ag2r La Mondiale
s.t.
8
Rui Costa
Lampre-Merida
+ 3'02
9
Jan Polanc
Lampre-Merida
s.t.
10
Diego Ulissi
Lampre-Merida
s.t.
Giro dell'Emilia (1.HC)
Finally we had the Giro dell'Emilia, and another time a very strong field. I was just lacking punch and uphill strength in comparison to the opponence, but looking at the riders in front of me I can´t be too curious about that...
1
Jan Polanc
Lampre-Merida
4h39'09
2
Peter Sagan
Tinkoff-Saxo
+ 13
3
Julian Arredondo
Trek Factory Racing
s.t.
4
Ilnur Zakarin
Team Katusha
s.t.
5
Carlos Betancur
Ag2r La Mondiale
s.t.
6
Julian Alaphilippe
Etixx - Quick-step
s.t.
7
Fabio Aru
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'06
8
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
+ 1'53
No big results, but some decent efforts to end this season.
One last update will come this year, that´s all about rankings...
[img-r]https://i1033.photobucket.com/albums/a413/BlackAkinfenwa27/Team%202017_zps4dniuewf.jpg[/img-r]
Hey guys,
talking to you from Montreal we are at the main factory of Argon18. Some riders from our team (Nelson, Paul, Marco, Patrick and I) went here to do some aero training. That´s valuable for us to have a good start to the season but even more valuable looking at the results for Argon18 and how they could develope the bikes with our wind-test results.
Results is a good thing to look at this year in general. The season was more than I have expected from myself, getting better and better every day of the year. Next year it´s gonna be World Tour, and who knows, once my knee comes back totally I might get even stronger in the thirtys.
This year I took the Continental Circuit by scoring 1130 points, that´s an advantage of over 400 points to the following in the ranking, Barbero, Demare and Coquard. 1655 points lead to P13 in the CQ-Ranking won by Kwiatkowski.
By the way, Froome took the Tour de France again with Kittel in green. Looking at the riders, surprisingly it seems like Dubusschere turns out to be the strongest cobbler in the peloton and Kelderman, yes Wilco, should be the strongest climber while Quintana suffers from an injury.
The team took 17th in the CQ (second of the PCT behind FDJ) and first in the CT-Standings. But our best man went away (Sam & Dom) and the replacements were are not that strong. Now it´s even more pressure on me bringing in the results.
After the break I give myself in the next months racing will start next year in Down Under, giving my comeback on World Tour level couldn´t come to a nicer place fighting for an early seson victory.
Hey guys,
first race, first points, that´s how I like to start the first WT season since a long time. Teuns took it in front of two riders from new teams: Valverde of Desigual (former Movistar) and Alaphilippe of Nike.
I could position myself always in the Top 10 (despite one flat stage), but at the end I wasn´t strong enough to compete for the first three places. Until stage 5 I was fourth, but Old Willunga really made me suffer and go down to 8th, luckily Mollema lost time on the last flat stage so I secured P7 and the first WT-points for our team.
Additionally Christian Koch surprised with a fifth place out of a breakaway.
By the way, Bennett went to former Sky-Team Bwin leading out Cav, while Nerz has a go at Orica.
Coming soon is the Vuelta a Mallorca, and after that either Paris-Nice or Tirreno is in sight.
Hey guys,
I´m back to continental racing, but only in terms of one race, the Vuelta a Mallorca (2.1). There I lead the Bora squad against the tradditionally strong peloton containing the likes of TvG, Sagan, Meintjes,...
Stage one was just flat, and as expected I had nothing to do with the results.
But already on stage 2, which was a little more bumpy, I put my nose into the wind. Later than all the other contendors on that windy stage, and nearly with a perfect timing to sprint! for the victory. Wheelsucking nearly until the finishing line I had the fastest speed there, but couldn´t catch up to victorious Mannaerts (Sprite).
Beating Sagan and Theuns (in yellow) in a sprint was nice though.
The third stage was mine. I wanted to deliver here, so we controlled the race together with Sprite. When Facchini upped the tempo for me on the huge climb, I firstly couldn´t follow him. But lateron my legs recovered and I lead a small group to the flying couple Sagan and Martin. Over the top I attacked the group of siyx to just Sagan and me, who then refused to work. There was no chance of riding away from him on counterpunches to the final descents, so I thought about the GC and rode alone from the front. The last kilometers were very steep downhill, so I waited as long as possible and then just went full gas at the end. My plan went so nicely, as Sagan was able only to come around me just behind the finishing line.
The last stage was all about defending on a hilly circuit with a flat finish. There was trouble for me, especially when a group of 15 with Sagan went away. But at this stage Rüdiger Selig was amazing, just caught everything...I hoped for a breakaway to come through (10 secs bonus on the line, advantage of only four seconds). At the end both Tinkoff-Saxo and Lotto-Soudal refused to let the 12-men break go clear. And when we came to the finishing straight I thought it was over. So I tried a crazy early sprint, hoping that Sagan came with me and both finish outside the bonus seconds. But he overtook me and came in second behind Felline. In favour of mine I somehow could hold on to third, which secured us the first GC of the season!
1
Andy Schleck
Bora - Argon 18
14h04'24
2
Peter Sagan
Tinkoff-Saxo
+ 2
3
Peter Kennaugh
Bwin
+ 1'52
Upcoming now is a major break until Paris-Nice arises on the horizon. Not sure yet about whether I should go for the GC or the mountains jersey, how do you think about that? Until then and
Ordizia, 25.7.2016 
Lisboa, 10.8.2016 
Luxembourg, 26.8.2016 
Viareggio, 14.10.2016 
Although Nerz did get second. 
Montreal, 28.10.2016 
