This is my first ever story on PCM, so its a completely new experience for me. We'll be following the cycling career of a 19-year old from Mildura, Australia; "Stuart Adam Levick", who hopes to be the next Australian winner of a Grand Tour since Cadel Evans at the 2011 Tour, through his own eyes. Over the next few posts, we'll learn quite a bit more about Stuart, such as what his stats are, who his cycling hero is and what teams he's been offered contracts for, for the forthcoming season.
I hope you guys enjoy this story and stay for its duration, because I know I will, and I hope this will be one great story of a true underdog in the cycling world.
G'day mates,
I'm writing to you from my hometown of Mildura, Victoria, Australia, which is around 450km north of this year's Australian National Championships host town of Ballarat.
So let me introduce myself: I'm Stuart Adam Levick or "Stuey" as my friends prefer to call me. I'm from Mildura (as has been previously mentioned), I'm 19 years old, I'm what's known as a Stage Racer, I am 184cm tall, weigh 67kg and have tanned skin all year round due to the amount of time I spend in Australia and other sunny countries/areas.
Many of my friends in cycling believe my sporting hero is Cadel Evans, due to my similarities with him, however, he isn't. My true cycling hero is the first Aussie rider to don the maillot jaune of the Tour de France in 1980, Phil Anderson; whose best result in the Tour was in 1981 when he finished 5th overall and wore yellow for 9 days. His exploits in yellow were of great inspiration to me in my junior and amateur career.
Now on to a bit about my stats and abilities. I'm quite a good time-triallist and climber, though I don't have the natural acceleration of a pure climber. I'm also quite good in the hills at climbing at steady tempo, due to my lack of accelerating ability. However, two of my serious weak points are on cobblestones and on the flat, where I may lose time. However, I look forward to improving in those areas throughout my career.
One last thing I want to talk about before I go is contract offers. I have had three contract offers for the forthcoming season from three different teams;
-Drapac, an Australian Continental Pro Level Team.
-Team Budget Forklifts, an Aussie Continental Level Team.
-Axeon CT, an American Continental Level Team.
Want to find out who I'll join? I'm afraid you'll have to wait until the next time I write to you!
See ya later guys, Stuey
Spoiler
Note: I do know the photo I'm using is that of Adam Blythe, but that is what Stuart is meant to look like.
@sutty68: Thanks sutty!Edited by Martii_Scots01 on 06-12-2015 00:15
interesting start, I would take a CT-Team, which one is depending on weather you want either a bigger racing calendar to chose from (Budget) or a bigger role (Axeon)
good luck :)
#2 A Team For The Season and Early Season Racing Calendar Options!
Ballarat, 04.01.2015
G'day mates,
I'm writing to you from Ballarat, Victoria, which is this year's Australian National Championships host town and also the location of my team's first training camp of the season.
I finally what team I'd join 2 days ago, and you'll be happy to hear I joined my second option of the Aussie UCI-Continental Level team, Team Budget Forklifts. I've signed a 1 year contract with them for 2,500€ per month, which is 30,000€ per year! I'm going to be their team leader/joint-team leader in Mountainous and hilly Stage races and a free element for flat or cobbled races. I'm the second best stage racer and climber in the team, but I'm only the 7th best time trialist. On average, I'm the 12th best rider in the team and the worst at sprinting.
When I first got to the training camp yesterday, I went and met all of my new team-mates straight away. We have some great young Aussie and Kiwi riders in this team, including amazing 25-year old Aussie time-trialist Jack Bobridge, who is also a reasonably good climber/stage racer, and 29-year old Aussie sprinter Sam Witmitz. With this team, we are bound to get quite a few victories throughout the seasons, in sprints, the mountains and time trials, especially team-time trials, because our team is awesome in them. We also have great young talents such as me and 22-year old Aussie time-trialist Brendan Canty.
After meeting my new team-mates, I then went and met my new director sportifs to dicuss season goals and my early season race calendar. At first I was given the option to ride each of the following races bar the New Zealand Championships.
After a lengthy discussion, we decided that I would be first reserve for the National Championships of Australia squad and be set to ride my first race on that day no matter what as I was put in the squad that would head to Netherlands for the first round of the PCMdaily Cup series, which I am due to ride the whole series, barring injury or being called up to the nationals squad. After the season opening cup series, I will head back to the Southern hemisphere to race the New Zealand Cycle Classic and the Herald Sun Tour stage races. I have multiple weeks between these races and the next two stage races which come back-to-back, the Grand Prix of Sochi in Russia and the Tour de Normandie in France, with only the one-day Classica de Loulé in Portugal in between them. Soon after we finalised my schedule, we decided on my objective races for the first part of the season, which were:-
PCMdaily Cup 4(TimeTrial) PCMdaily Cup 5(Mountain one-day race) Herald Sun Tour (5-day Stage Race) Grand Prix of Sochi (4-day Stage Race)
So, next time I write to you, I'll probably be in Belgium after finishing the third PCMdaily Cup, but I might end up writing to you after the Aussie National Championships are over if I do get called up.
See ya then guys, Stuey
@Croatia14: Thanks Croatia, btw I stole your idea for headings from the Andy Schleck story, which I love.Edited by Martii_Scots01 on 06-12-2015 00:15
G'day mates,
I'm writing to you now from the famous town of Huy, at the bottom of the famous Mur de Huy, a short climb of 2.5Km with ramps of 26+%! Its also the finish town of the third PCMdaily Cup, which I just completed yesterday.
So, my first race as a professional cyclist was, as expected, the PCMdaily Cup 1, a flat circuit style race around Sint Willebrord. It didn't suit me at all and so I decided my best chance was to get in the early break and hope for the best.
So, very early on in the race, about 5km in, there were attacks flying off the front. I bided my time at the front of the pack until the first real breakaway got away, which I was part of, having followed the attack of Maxime Anciaux (Wallonie-Bruxelles) and Lander Seynæve (Wanty-Group Gobert). We stayed away for around 150Km and had a lead which was at one point around 6 minutes.
It was quite interesting throughout the day, because Anciaux had to change bikes three times, due to various mechanical problems and each time we eased the pace to wait up for him.
However, with 22km to go, with our gap hanging about a minute, it was clear to us that we wouldn't survive to the line. We ended up slowing up and were caught by the peloton with 14.5Km to go. As soon as we got caught, Anciaux dropped right back through the peloton and would finish last, over 7 minutes behind the winner, tired from his chases back into the break after mechanicals. Me and Lander lasted until 9km to go, but by then our legs could take the pain no longer and out the back we went.
We ended up finishing together, roughly 3 and half minutes behind winner, Wesley Kreder (Team Roompot – Oranje Peloton), with Fernando Morales (Colombia) leading me and Lander over the line.
For my next race, I went back home, to race the National Championships, which I got the final position in the team for, with one of my team-mates getting injured, only for 2 days, at the last moment. It was a hilly route, and I had a plan of attacking with 3 laps to go of the circuit and hoping the big guns such as Matthews (Orica), Porte (TeamSky) and Gerrans (Orica) would let me go up the road for a couple of laps before being brought back.
However, that didn't happen and instead, my attack started off all of the action, with big guns counter-attacking me and then attacking me again. It just wasn't to be my day, so I slipped back into the peloton and finished 23rd, just over 4 mins down on winner Michael Matthews, who outsprinted Richie Porte in the final 2km.
After this pleasing perfomance at the National Champs, it was back to Belgium for me and in store for me was a full length but Continental Pro level Flèche Wallonne, known as the PCMdaily Cup 3, as the last of my first three races! I was team leader of my team for this race, given its profile suited some of my skills more than others in the team.
I had a mini-plan for this race; survive until the last lap, drive on the Thier de Huy, and hope for my first top fifteen/twenty. I had majority support from my team for this, with only 2 riders being allowed the role of free element, who were Westley Gough, a 26-year old time trialist and Luke Davison, a 24-year old fighter. An early break got away and we had one man in it, Westley, who could become useful if I or Luke attacked later in the day.
Unfortunately for us, all of our team apart from me and Westley were dropped from our groups after the first lap of the tough finishing circuit, which featured both the Thier du Huy and the Mur de Huy, two very short, steep climbs. On the second lap of this circuit, I went to the front of my group of just 36 riders, with Westley's 4-man break around a minute ahead of us. Unfortunately, when the break was caught, Westley was exhausted from his efforts and unfortunately could not help me with pacing. I almost drove away twice in that second lap, the first time on the Thier, and then almost managed to get away on the Mont Saint Etienne, which came between the Thier and the Mur.
Sadly for me, when we got to the Mur, I didn't have much energy left, having wasted a lot trying to get away throughout the final lap. It meant however, that since I was in a group of only 18 riders, that I could definitely get a top 20 placing. So, when we got to the top, I was off-the-back but in the distance, I could the see the arms of Simone Ponzi (Southeast) go up in the air, I was happy for him because I had wanted him to win if I couldn't. What I was unprepared for, was seeing Damiano Cunego (NIPPO – Vini Fantini) only about 20 seconds and four places ahead of me, which was a shock; it obviously wasn't a good day for him. In the end, I finished just short of 2 minutes behind winner Ponzi.
Well, thats it for now in terms of racing action. Next up, I have my first two objectives of the season the PCMdaily Cup 4, a 16km time-trial around Knowsley in the UK, followed by the PCMdaily Cup 5, a mountain stage to Modane Valfréjus in the French Alps, which I should be able to get at least a top 20 in each.
See ya then guys, Stuey
Spoiler
BTW guys, the reason this is soooooo late is because my game kept crashing on the PCMdaily Cup 3 as well as lagging continuously on Australian Championship Road Race, and I was taking forever to choose which screenshots I wanted, the ones you see are only five or six of about twenty per race, bar Aussie Champs, where I only took 4 stupidly enough.
[url=https://pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=42479&pid=1133229#post_1133229][b]trekbmc wrote:
Also to remove the interface from screenshots press control+U in game, and apostrophe to remove the green circles.
Yeah, I already knew that. I just kept forgetting throughout. You will see interface-less screenshots in the next update but only on PCMdaily Cup 5, because I thought it was important to show the changing best times of the time-trial.
G'day mates,
I'm writing to you from the ski-station of Modane Valfréjus in the French Alps, the summit finish of the PCMdaily Cup 5, which was raced two days ago and brought the PCMdaily Cup Series to a close, with no repeat winners in each of the Cups.
First up, was the PCMdaily Cup 4, a 16km Individual Time-Trial(ITT) around Knowsley in the UK. We here at Budget brought a strong team with 5 potential top ten finishers; me, Jack Bobridge, Westley Gough, Brendan Canty and Jacob Kauffmann; it was the time-trial super team for the Continental Level.
I was the second man from my team to set off, as the earliest of our 5 time-trial specialists, with sprinter Scott Sunderland having set off before me, who realistically stood no chance of winning the time-trial. I started off very well, at least I thought I did, and I was correct, at the time, I was third at the intermediate sprint point, six seconds down; however, by the time I had finished, I'd dropped a place at that early sprint.
However, in that first section I had been holding and in the second section, I really began to speed up, and on the hill, I managed to catch the man in front of me, Jerome Gilbert (Vérandas Willems), just before the finish line and ended up setting the fastest time when I reached the finish by 22 seconds ahead of Artem Nych (RusVelo). I had expected this time to stand for some time, and I was more than correct.
I was looking at the list of team leaders after I finished the time-trial and I saw many names that I was worried about smashing my time. But, after many riders had finished, it got to a situation where there were only four men left to finish, including massive favourite and my team-mate, Jack Bobridge; yet, I still had 16 seconds over the virtual second place, Mauro Finetto (Southeast). Only 1 man was to go faster than Mauro, but was still 13 seconds slower than me; his name was Ricardo Vilela (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA). My team-mate Jack had a shocker today and finished 45 seconds down on me, in 26th place, and also placed on the same time yet one place behind another of my team-mates, Brendan Canty. So yeah, my first ever race win in my fourth race as pro against superior opposition in a time-trial, and I did it in style!
Next up, I travelled to France for a mountainous PCMdaily Cup 5, with a summit finish at the ski-station of Modane Valfréjus. After my brilliant performance in the time-trial, I was expected at least another top-ten if not a podium in this race. For this race, I was given the team leader's number of 121 for our team, however, my team was not suited for this race, as we had no climbers; only sprinters and breakaway specialists.
Unfortunately, when me and my team were about to go to the start and take our positions in the pack, the mechanics were looking at my bike and found a problem with my chain. This meant I had to wait around 10 minutes to get my bike when it was fixed. When it finally got fixed and a new chain was on, the mechanics gave me my bike and I had to sprint to the start. However, because of this I had to start at the back and work my way through the pack and up to the front before the first climb of the day, the 2nd -category, Cote d'Hery sur Ugine, where I moved to the front and began to test my legs on relatively steep gradients of around 8 percent.
After a short descent, then a long ride along the flat with a couple of lumps and bumps, I decided to pace again on the scenic 1st-category Lacets de Montvernier. By the time we reached the top I allowed Damiano Cunego (NIPPO – Vini Fantini) and a rider from the Colombia team to pass over the top of it in front of me. That pacing formed an elite group of 12 riders which would catch the break, turning into a sixteen man move.
However, on the final climb, the group began to split apart on the final climb, with all of us, except Damiano, were unable to follow the initial attack of Rodolfo Torres (Columbia). However, it wasn't long until the Little Prince was dropped from Torres' company as well! I trudged in, having cracked physically in the final kilometres for 6th place, losing almost 6 minutes 10 seconds to winner Torres. But, all in all, I was happy, because I wasn't as good as most of the riders I was in the company of on the final climb and was satisfied with the 6th place I achieved, having drove away from the small group in the final two kilometres, even though I had cracked.
Also, in between races, my stats improved and I've became a better rider because of that; here are my new stats with upgrade differentials as well as old stats:
Anyway, next up is a return to the southern hemisphere for one of the early season stage-races, the New Zealand Cycle Classic, where I aim to wear the white jersey for at least one day and hope to get a top fifteen in the opening prologue time-trial.
See ya then guys, Stuey
Spoiler
No episodes for four days, then two in the same day? What is this nonsense? xD
Hey good luck with you're story but a couple of notes, both Mildura and Ballarat are in Victoria and not New South Wales. Mildura is right on the border of Vic and NSW but most certainly in Victoria
Hells 500 Crew and 6 x Everester
Don Rd Launching Place
Melbourne Hill Rd Warrandyte
Colby Drive Belgrave South
William Rd The Patch
David Hill Rd Monbulk
Lakeside Drive Emerald https://www.everesting.cc/hall-of-fame/
Strydz wrote:
Hey good luck with your story but a couple of notes, both Mildura and Ballarat are in Victoria and not New South Wales. Mildura is right on the border of Vic and NSW but most certainly in Victoria
Ok, thanks for that helpful info which I have updated in the posts now. Didn't even know about Victoria before today; just thought it was a sub-region of NSW.
Strydz wrote:
Hey good luck with your story but a couple of notes, both Mildura and Ballarat are in Victoria and not New South Wales. Mildura is right on the border of Vic and NSW but most certainly in Victoria
Ok, thanks for that helpful info which I have updated in the posts now. Didn't even know about Victoria before today; just thought it was a sub-region of NSW.
All good!!! It hasn't been a sub region of NSW for a bit 200 years
Anyway good start to this story buddy, hope it continues
Hells 500 Crew and 6 x Everester
Don Rd Launching Place
Melbourne Hill Rd Warrandyte
Colby Drive Belgrave South
William Rd The Patch
David Hill Rd Monbulk
Lakeside Drive Emerald https://www.everesting.cc/hall-of-fame/
#5 My First Ever Stage Race and the KoM Competition win!
Palmerston North, 02.02.2015
G'day mates,
I'm writing to you from Palmerston, the final destination of the New Zealand Cycle Classic, on New Zealand's North Island, which finished earlier today. It was a fun race and you'll find out more about it throughout this post.
The New Zealand Cycle Classic started off with a short 6.5km prologue individual time-trial around Massey University, with no intermediate time checks. Therefore, it was an all-out effort against the clock.
When I started, I was the 4th rider from our team to go, with 155 as my dossard for the whole race. As soon as I started, I knew I could be challenging for the stage win, because I was full of energy.
Unfortunately, it simply wasn't to be my day, as I left it too late for speeding up in the final 2km and ended up losing 6 seconds to provisional race leader James Oram(Axeon CT), finishing in 8th place provisionally. I knew this time wouldn't stand for long.
I was more than correct, as when more of the team leaders and prologue specialists began to start their efforts, I was fast slipping down the provisional leaderboard. After seeing my final result of 26th, 15 seconds down on race leader, Dominique Cornu (Vérandas Willems), I thought of my new objective, to go for the King of the Mountains classification. This meant I would probably be trying to get into the break everyday and would give my team some lengthy TV exposure.
The second stage was a great day for me to get into the breakaway, with many KoM points on offer for me to attempt to get, with 3 4th-category climbs and 1 3rd-category climb. When me and the rest of the team met with our director sportifs before the start today, a race plan was set down, I was to get in the early break and challenge for KoM points, while Sam Witmitz was to be protected until the final sprint, where he would be lead out by a couple of team-mates.
When we got to the start, my team ensured I was placed near the front, as it would make it easier for me to get in the day's break. After a flurry of attacks in the first 20 kilometres, the break finally formed after 25km. It was formed of me, Tijmen Eising (Metec – TKH) and Matthias Plarre (Leopard Development Team). We all worked together throughout the day, with Plarre winning the intermediate sprint against Eising, while I didn't compete as I wasn't interested in the points classification.
After the intermediate sprint, we had a long, slow, slighty uphill slog to the first KoM sprint point of the day. Unfortunately, at this first sprint point, I misjudged my effort and ended up sprinting too late, coming in 2nd to Eising. Luckily over the next three sprints, including the Category 3 hill, I judged my effort to near perfection and beat Eising easily each time, with Plarre in third place at all four KoM points. As we went over the final mountain sprint (sprint #4), we had around 30km left to ride and a gap of around 2 mins 45 seconds over the main field, where there had been a couple of crashes earlier in the day.
Unfortunately, by this point, Plarre was dropping back to the main field as he had nearly cracked over the final climb, so only me and Eising were left at the head of the race. Unfortunately for us, with 20km to go, it became clear to us that we wouldn't survive 'til the end as our gap had plummeted to 1 minute 15 seconds over the pack and with 9km to go, we were swept up by the bunch.
Within sight of the five kilometres to go banner, I had a mechanical problem and ended up having to switch bikes, before coming home in 135th place, 2 and half minutes down on winner, Patrick Bevin (Avanti Racing Team). However, I did manage to get the right to wear my first ever race classification leader's jersey for the KoM competition, with 19 points, leading Eising by 4 points.
After this very good stage, it was off to the team hotel before recovering to do a similar effort tomorrow. When we got to the start line the next morning, I was excited for my first day in the KoM competition leader's jersey. A nice surprise was the fact that at the team meeting two of my team-mates were ordered to chase down any of the early breaks that didn't include me!
This meant I got to start the stage at the front of the pack, next to the leaders of the GC, points classification and best young rider classification. After quite a few breaks were brought back by my team within the first 15km, a break formed including me, Carlos Ribeiro (W52 – Quinta da Lixa), Lennard Hofstede (Rabobank Development Team), Kevin Suarez (Colba – Superano Ham) and Joey Van Rhee (Cyclingteam Jo Piels), after 17.3km. Over the first climb of the day, a 4th category, I had a mechanical 5km from the sprint point for it and ended up being the last member of the break over the line, having rejoined 500m previously.
After the badly timed mechanical, it was on to the two 3rd-category climbs, in the middle of the stage; at the first climb, I gladly made up for lost time, or should I say, lost points, by winning the sprint. However, at the final KoM point, I messed up, crossing second behind Ribeiro, but all in all, I gained an extra 10 points for the classification throughout the stage, and extended my lead for still second placed Eising, who wasn't in the break, to 14 points, with my current total being at 29 points. The break was caught with 12km to go and just after 5km to go, I was off-the-back again, with a team-mate who had crashed earlier in the stage. I crossed the line in 117th place, 2 minutes 45 seconds down on winner Andrea Palini (Skydive Dubai).
Next up, stages 4 and 5, both very similar, with two 4 category climbs en route, in circuits around Palmerston, the only difference being the course being ridden in the opposite direction each time. First up, here is the profile and favourites list for stage 4:
On stage 4, after just 1 attack, the break was formed 10km into the stage; in it were me, Adrian Aas Stien (Team Joker), Rick Goeree (Metec-TKH), Elmar Reinders (Cyclingteam Jo Piels) and Luis Filipe Fernandes (W52-Quinta da Lixa). All of the breakaway co-operated throughout the day until the last mountain sprint and first up was the first of two 4th category KoM sprints, which I won!
Then we had a downhill and a ride along the flat, before the intermediate sprint, which I placed fourth in, because I wasn't too interested in the points classification, as previously mentioned. After this, we hit up towards the second KoM sprint, which I won as well. However, as this sprint, I dropped out of the break with a mechanical problem and by the time I'd got a new bike, the pack had caught me, and I helped my team-mates in the lead-up to the final sprint by protecting them, in my polka-dot jersey!
I crossed the line 38th, level on time with double stage winner Andrea Palini (Skydive Dubai). After this, I worked out I'd extended my lead by another ten points, so it was now unassailable, unless I abandoned! This was because I got another 10 points and none of my rivals were in the break. I now have 39 points and my lead over Eising is 24 points.
The final stage(stage 5)'s circuit was an exact reverse of stage 4's circuit, with the climbs being climbed in the opposite direction, with the intermediate sprint still in between the climb on the circuit being climbed for the first and second times. I wanted to go out with a bang and take even more point for the KoM competition today, so my team were given the same instructions again: chase down any breaks that don't include Stuey.
Very early on in the stage, the first attack in fact, created the day's break, including me, Luis Filipe Fernandes(W52 – Quinta da Lixa), Odd Christian Eiking (Team Joker), Arno Van der Zwet (Metec – TKH) and Arvid De Kleijn (Cyclingteam Jo Piels). After a while, our group hit the first KoM sprint of the day, where I placed third, following another mis-timed effort. The break worked together and due to this, De Kleijn won the intermediate sprint.
On the second KoM sprint, I blew the group apart albeit on just 6% gradients and crossed the line first, making my total amount of KoM points 45. After this sprint, while the rest of the break continued a futile effort out front, I dropped back to the main field to help my team leaders, before helping set up the sprint with a really fast relay.
In the end, I crossed the line 61st, on the same time as stage and overall classification winner Patrick Bevin. I was happy to receive my first ever race classification winner's jersey, for the KoM competition, with a final advantage of 30 points over Eising. I hope it will be the first of many!
As well, after the race ended, I received news from my team's director sportifs, that my stats have improved. Here are my new and up-to-date stats:
Finally, I'm heading back to Australia, and to Melbourne, for the Herald Sun Tour, as my next race, which starts in 2 days time. I have aims of either the KoM competition, or a top 20 Overall.
G'day mates,
I'm writing to you from Nagambie, near the small climb known as Arthur's Seat, which the final stage of the Herald Sun Tour ended on yesterday. It originally wasn't a good race for me, but after a change of plan, it was brilliant; you learn about it throughout this post.
The first stage was a descending prologue time-trial of 3.1 kilometres around Melbourne, the biggest city in Australia. I was not amongst the favourites as there were quite a few WorldTour and ProContinental Tour teams here, as well as us and Avanti Racing Team.
As soon as I started my effort, as our third last man to go, I knew I wasn't feeling great and wasn't going to put in a great time at the finish.
However, I didn't expect to lose so much time, I mean, losing 15 seconds over just 3km is miserable. So now, it seems like my objective over this coming 4 days of racing will be to get in the break and grab KoM points, and hope for a stage win somewhere along the way!
Stage 2 was the first day I wanted to get involved in the breakaway on. With 2 second-category climbs en route from Mt Macedon to Bendigo, it was the ideal stage to build a base for a challenge in the KoM competition. However, today there would be little change of a breakaway win, as the finish was around 75km away from the summit of the final climb, and there was a lengthy flat afterwards.
After several attacks within the first 10km, the day's break formed and it contained the white jersey of Michael Hepburn (Orica), Wesley Kreder (Roompot) and Marco Frapporti (Androni). When we hit the first climb of the day, Mount Macedon, we had a 1 minute lead over the pack. I decided to pace from the bottom and by the top, only Kreder was still with me. However, I easily won the sprint from him and we all regrouped on the descent while we got some rest; I didn't compete in the first intermediate sprint point and came over the line last.
The next KoM sprint came after the first intermediate sprint, on the top of Mount Alexander. I used the same tactic and exhausted the other members of the break on the early steep section of the climb, before easily winning the sprint at the top, putting me in the KoM jersey with 40 points, with Kreder and Frapporti both trailing me with 16 points each. After this sprint, while the rest of the group continued on, I had a mechanical and had to drop back to the main field. After riding in the pack for over 40km, there was a crash with about 9km to go until home.
It unfortunately happened right in front of me and I went down as well, but as soon we had crashed, I knew I hadn't hurt myself. We ended up in a chasing group and by the finish, I had lost 1 minute 35 seconds and came into receive 126th place on the stage and the polka-dot jersey.
The next stage, which I intended to use as rest, was very flat; it featured only 1 category 3 climb, which I intended to use to stretch my legs, to ensure they didn't stiffen up during the day.
A break got clear early today, but unfortunately, none of our team were in it. I remained near the front of the pack for the whole day, awaiting the only climb of the day where I went to the front of the group and crossed the summit in 5th place, at head of the pack with a team-mate sitting in front of me.
After this moment, nothing much happened apart from a crash which brought down 5 riders, including one of my team-mates Myron Simpson. I ended up crossing the line in 17th, on the same time as stage winner Matteo Trentin (Etixx). As there was no-one close to me in the days break in the KoM competition; in fact, none of them had any points at the stage start; I went up onto the podium at the end of the day to re-collect the polka-dot jersey.
The next stage, was more of the same, but instead of a singular category 3 climb, this stage included a single category 1 climb, but it was too far away from the finish for a break to stay clear until the finish. It was my team's aim to get me in the break in case of a potential breakaway win and to collect more KoM points for the polka-dot jersey competition.
Standing at the start line, I had a quick talk with Nikias Arndt (Giant Alpecin), the current leader of the GC, about the race so far, which proved very interesting. After a flurry of attacks within the first 20km, a break was established which included me, Alessandro De Marchi (BMC), Angel Vicioso (Katusha), Marco Bandiera (Androni) and Luca Wackermann (Southeast). After a long ride on the flat, separated by an intermediate sprint, we reached the bottom of the Category 1 climb to Highlands.
On the climb, I went to the front and tried to blow the break apart on the steep percentages near the middle of the climb. However, by the top, only Bandiera had dropped off the back and I was beat into second in the sprint at the top by Vicioso, gaining another 16 points for the KoM competition.
After that sprint, it was pretty much job done for the day. I was soon caught on the flat by the main field and finished 24th, 1 minute 57 seconds behind winner from the break Wackermann. I went up to the podium to collect my KoM jersey and found myself with a 32-point lead over 2nd placed Vicioso.
I was really pumped up to see what I could do on the final stage, and made a plan; breakaway for the first two climbs of Arthur's Seat, and hope for the best on the third climb of it.
After around 17km of constant attacking, a breakaway of 12 finally got away including me, Marco Frapporti (Androni), Luke Durbridge (Orica), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre), Maxim Belkov (Katusha), Patrick Conrad (Bora-Argon18), Arnaud Courteille (FDJ), Joey Rosskopf (BMC), Carlos Quintero (Colombia), Timothy Roe (Drapac) and Albert Timmer (Giant-Alpecin). Excluding Timmer, who was playing the game of “I'm protecting the yellow jersey” and refused to relay, we all took turns on the relay and worked well together. Before the first climb of Arthur's Seat, we had an intermediate sprint which all 12 of us took part in.
After the intermediate sprint, came the first of three climbs of Arthur's Seat and I easily out rode the others and picked up 20 KoM points at the summit. At the top, four members of the break had became detached, but at the bottom of the descent, they had all made it back. On the second climb of Arthur's Seat, I raised the pace further and by the top, half the group were off the back, however, they still managed to make it back on the descent.
On the day's final climb of Arthur's Seat, at the bottom, the peloton were around a minute behind the break and I went to the front of the break to raise the pace again. After 2km of the climb, I was on my own, powering up the climb. I got to within 600m of a stage win before cracking and seeing Fabio Felline (Trek), Davide Rebellin (CCC-Sprandi), Cattaneo and Courteille all sprint past me forcing me eventually into 5th place on the stage.
I also took 9th on GC and 5th in the Young Rider Classification, before stepping onto the podium to collect my polka-dot jersey for KoM competition win. I was very pleased with my performances here!
Anyway, next up for me is a couple of weeks of hard training in Australia, before I fly out to Portugal for the Classica de Loulé, a race in which I'll either be in the break or helping my team leader.
See ya then guys, Stuey
Spoiler
Sorry this update is soooo late, I've had about 9 tests for school over the past two weeks, and have been too busy revising to write this.
G'day mates,
I'm writing to you from Loulé, the final destination of the Classica de Loulé, which finished two days. It was an interesting race and you'll find out about it during this post.
During my two hard weeks of training in Australia, I really felt like I had improved after my couple of weeks of hard training, and asked my team to carry out performance tests on me. Around three days ago, I received news from my team managers, that my abilities definitely have improved. Here are my new and up-to-date stats:
The Classica de Loulé was a flat-rated race with many rolling hills but also a few steep gradients, and it was expected end in a sprint of which I would be barely any use in the lead-up to, so my team gave me the free role and my goal was to get in the breakaway in case the break got enough time to be in with a chance of winning the race.
After 15.5km of racing, the day's break was formed. It consisted of three riders; me, Pablo Torres (Burgos-BH) and Martin Schöffmann (Team Felbermayr). We all worked together throughout the day and gained a maximum advantage of around 5 minutes over the pack with about 80km left to ride. However, the gap was decreasing quickly, with 60km to go, we now only had 3 and half minutes back to the pack. Later, with 40km to go, the gap had decreased to two and a quarter minutes to the peloton. It soon became clear to us that we wouldn't survive until the end.
With 12km to go, we still had an advantage of 1 minute 8 seconds on the pack, and I decided as since I would be the weakest of the break in a sprint, that I would try to go solo for the win. I attacked, but unfortunately there was a reaction from Schöffmann, yet there was none from Torres. But after about five kilometres of my high pace, he was gone as well. Going into the last 3km, I had an advantage of 20 seconds; it would be a victory on the line for either me or a sprinter; well at least I thought it would be. I got caught with 600 metres to go to the finish, the second time in two consecutive races, which was very unfortunate for me and my team, who had a great chance of a win.
I ended up finishing 25th, on the same time as native Portuguese winner Jóni Brandão, from Team Efapel. After the finish, my team-mates came up to me and congratulated me for coming within in 600m of the win on a race that didn't suit my characteristics at all and in which they expected very little from me but to show our team colours in the break, I was chuffed with this. Hopefully next time, I'll get the win I deserve!
Anyway, next up for me is a couple of weeks of hard training in Andorra, before I fly out to Russia for the Grand Prix of Sochi, a race in which I'll either be team leader or the super-domestique for my team leader.
G'day mates,
I'm writing to you from Nebug, a town in Russia on the coast of the Black Sea, where earlier today, the Grand Prix of Sochi finished with a sprinter stage into the town.
The first stage was a predominantly flat stage into the town of Anapa, with a flew bumps along the way, including three 4th category KoM sprints, but with a danger of crosswinds, as would be the case as you will later find out.
For the whole tour, I was given deputy team leader role due to my time-trialling and climbing ability, should anything happen to Jack Bobridge, the team leader for the race, who I would be super-domestique for. At the race start however, I had a mechanical very similar to that of PCMdaily Cup 5, and ended up showing up with the only space left available at the back of the pack. As soon as the race started, I knew I needed to move towards to front to protect Jack.
Early on a break of 3 got away, they went got an advantage of almost 6 minutes at one point, before us and other teams started to reel them back in. With 12km to go, they were caught and my team moved to the front in lead-out formation, with me following Brendan Canty, Jack following me and our stage favourite Sam Witmitz at the back of the train, following Jack. Unfortunately, as we were moving to the front, a group of six sprinters and two team-mates for one of the sprinters got away; we wouldn't not catch them again, and would eventually lose 55 seconds to them. In the end, I crossed the line 16th on the stage, 55 seconds behind winner Konrad Dabowski(ActiveJet).
Stage 2 was a stage in which we would be able, as a team, be able to take back time on the breakaway riders, as it was an individual time-trial and none of the breakaway riders were good time-trialists. Me, Jack and Brendan had 24 kilometres in which to work our magic, and we would all be starting in the last 25 riders to go.
I started as the 19th last rider to go, because even though I was 16th yesterday, some members of the break that escaped early yesterday had gained time bonuses at the intermediate sprints, dropping me down three places. My team-mate Jack had started directly before me, with Brendan starting 3 places before him. By this time, one of the other favourites, Marcin Bialoblocki (ONE), had set the best time at the first time-check.
As soon as I started the time-trial, I knew it would be a good chance of the win for me today. When I got to checkpoint 1, I found myself 16 seconds down on the provisional best time set by Brendan, however, my team director in the team support car told me that Brendan had started much too fast and told me to continue riding at my own pace.
Due to this, when I got to checkpoint 2, I was 43 seconds down on him, but again my team director told me some interesting news. The team director following Brendan was telling me that he was suffering because of how fast he had set off, so he wasn't expected to hold his pace until the finish, and that was proved correct when he came in provisional 10th at the time, 56 seconds down on someone he had been 23 seconds up on previously.
As I was approaching the finish, with about 1.5km to go, I heard that Jack had just came in and had set the best time so far, at 33 minutes and 35 seconds. However, my team had timers out on course and at the 1.5km to go mark, I still had 12 seconds in hand over him. As I approached the finish the noise of the crowd nearly deafened me and I didn't bother to look up at the clock over the finish. However, after I crossed the line, I turned round and saw the time of 33 minutes and 26 seconds!
I had probably won another time-trial, as the men behind me were not good time-trialists. The stage was actually starting to turn into a fun game of maths trying to figure out using intermediate splits how much time the six breakaway riders at the end of yesterday's stage would lose over the time-trial, and whether my effort had been enough to put me into yellow? And it was enough! I had made around 2 minutes up on each of the breakaway riders when I had only had to regain 1 minute 6 seconds! I was the new race leader of the Grand Prix of Sochi!
Spoiler
The reason you won't see podiums of me in yellow and as the stage winner is because the game crashed as it was loading the podiums.
Next up is a very hilly day, including a third category climb, a second category, and three first category; all the 1st category of which were within the last 60km of the stage. I was pretty sure at the stage start that I would be able to defend yellow, even though my team-mate Jack was seen as a second-level favourite for the stage win today.
It was a brilliant feeling today showing up at the start right at the front, with my yellow jersey on as race leader, the first of many race leader's jerseys during my career I hope.
Very early on, the weather was miserable, chucking it down with rain, and we as a pack let a break of 7 riders get away after roughly 15km, the best placed of the break was 2 minutes 10 seconds down, so not too much to worry about. However, with 145km still to ride, a group containing a rider at a minute twenty seconds down got away; me and my team were determined to reel that second breakaway group, as someone just over a minute down could become a worry near the end and were caught just 3km after they attacked. The gap to the original break eventually increased to a maximum of three minutes before we and other teams started to reel them back in. In this time, on the descent of the 2nd category climb, a group of 20 were involved in a crash, surprisingly, one of the men caught up was Moises Dueñas (Burgos-BH), a rider who once competed for Barloworld at the Tour de France. A few kilometres later, and another crash; this time the 4th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th placed riders on GC all went down with two of my team-mates and the leader of the KoM competition at the start of the stage. They would all eventually made it back between the two intermediate sprints, before the third climb of the day, the first of the three 1st category climbs.
On the first of the three climbs, the pack pretty much stayed together all the way up the climb, though the gap to the break did decrease to 40 seconds. The rain also stopped on this ascent, so we no longer needed to wear rain-capes, with made the climb and the following descent much nicer, on which we also caught the remains of the break. On the second climb of the same climb, the group started to split, and by the top a group of 60 remained as the main field. Near the top, a rider from the BurgosBH team attacked but he was caught within 3km of the descent starting.
On the final climb, the same climb of the day but extended by two kilometres from the previous summit to the finish line on a plateau, I paced straight from the bottom and eventually a group of 4 riders formed, including me, but excluding Jack strangely enough. We rode together all up the climb and at the 1km to go mark, I launched my sprint, too early as it would later turn out. I ended up crossing the line fourth, on the same time as stage winner Sergey Nikolaev (Itera-Katusha), and increased my GC lead over new-second place Alfredo Balloni (Nankang). Jack dropped to fifth, exactly a minute and a half down. I also took the lead in the points classification today, though I expect to the lose it to Dabowski tomorrow, as well as my yellow and white best young rider jerseys; my team also took the lead in the teams classification.
The final stage of the GP Sochi was not to be a ceremonial stage. It included one third category climb and a long drag uphill from the start, until the descent down to the category 3 climb before a sprint finish in Nebug, where I would probably lose my green points jersey to Dabowski.
Yet again, the weather was miserable at the start, with very cold temperatures and heavy rain during the first 40km of racing, in which we let a break of 6 go clear, and they gained a maximum of 7 and a half minutes during the stage. However, after roughly 50km of racing, the weather took a turn for the worse, torrential rain started and on the descent off the long slow slog up from the stage start, two of my team-mates crashed, one of them being my team's hopeful stage winner, Sam Witmitz, however by the end of the descent, they had rejoined the main group.
After this, the 3rd category climb was pretty uneventful, but the rain was still torrential, and on the way down, the rider who was second on GC, Alfredo Balloni crashed. However, out of respect, we slowed down and waited for him to rejoin, along with one of my team-mates who had been caught up in the confusion afterwards, having went back to the team car to get new water bottles for the whole team. As we passed through the second sprint point of the day and final intermediate sprint of the tour, the break had a lead of 2 minutes on the pack; it was going to be an exciting two laps of the Nebug sprint circuit.
With 8km to go, the break still had a minute over the peloton, and it was looking increasingly likely that a member of the break could win the stage. I was trying to get onto the wheel of Dabowski, my closest rival in the green jersey competition who could do well in a mass sprint and my team-mates were bringing me up there. In the end, the break were almost caught on the line, but the members of the break managed to cross the line first, just. I finished 34th, on the same time as stage winner from the break, Pablo Torres (Burgos-BH) In the end, Dabowski didn't get a high enough placing to snatch the green points jersey off me, so I kept it, luckily for me! I also won the yellow jersey for overall classification winner, the white jersey for best young rider overall and the teams classification with the rest of my team.
So next up for me is a flight to France later today where I shall get ready for the Tour of Normandie, which starts tomorrow. My goal for the race is to get a top 10 placing in the prologue and wear the white jersey for best young rider for at least 1 day.
Hey guys, just got a quick question to ask; Would you prefer me to continue writing this story the way I'm currently writing it but with less stages at a time, or would you prefer more stages at a time but less detailed reports about them?
PCMdaily Cup 4
PCMdaily Cup 5
New Zealand Cycle Classic
Herald Sun Tour
Grand Prix of Sochi
Subaru Sea Otter Classic
Huy, 15.01.2015
Loulé, 03.03.2015
