JoeArmstrong13 wrote:
Paul 23: This isn't a domination story, we won't be dominating races I assure you. You need to do more justice to the other teams as they all have strong riders

H. Chabane
Y. Tekeste
A. Hannachi
J. Janse Van Rensburg
T. Voeckler
F. Schleck

With Frank acting as our GC ambition for the week, we want to try and get him within the top 10. Our sponsor asked for a win, however we feel that we shouldn't aim to high as our first race of the year is likely to be a tough one. Yonas Tekeste is here as the teams sprinter, having just from a sprint training camp in America, we hope that this big boost in confidence will help him find success. The other riders will be used to control the race or to make it harder for our rivals.





The first stage of our first race went off to plan as we managed to put Janse in the break, which was our first aim. Janse is a talented climber so we knew that he wouldn’t be a marked man on the flat stage today. He took both of the intermediate sprints, so we were happy with that result. Although we’re thinking of the KoM jersey for him this week, but there was no sprints today, so that was a shame as he looked strong. Later on in the stage we tried to set up Tekeste for the sprint, with Hannachi acting as lead out. However Hannachi was fried so Tommy V had to act as lead out which wasn’t ideal, and so it proved as Yonas came home 5th 3 bike lengths behind Selig of Katusha. However we were happy to hear it was enough to secure him the young riders jersey.



So with Yonas in the young riders jersey, we felt that the other teams might look to use to help and contribute. However we know that if we want to achieve our goals we have to wait, so we decided that we would let the break go even if they are a threat to our jersey. If the opportunity arises then Frank would aim to gain time in the final few kilometres as it was an uphill finish, however we were hoping Yonas will be able to get up there again. The stage went to plan and we stayed within the bunch all day. However in the finale Rodriguez jumped away and Frank was unable to follow the 13 rider chase group, which meant he lost 19 seconds to Rodriguez. Yonas lost the young rider jersey to Lawson Craddock, and slipped well down the rankings. We were disappointed, but the only way is up!



For the third stage, we decided to follow the same plan as the 2nd stage. We'd decided that it was best for the team to save legs for the finale and then go for Yonas in the finale. We sat in and followed the other teams, and let the break of 3 riders go away. The other teams tried to get us to chase, but we knew we had to resist and save ourselves, so we kept refusing. In the finale we managed to set up a train, and with 7 kilometres to go we made our move. We weren't able to get to the front as Etixx were all over the front of the bunch. With 1 kilometre to go we tried to press on, and managed to get level with them. With 500 metres to go Hannachi started our final lead out, and managed to force Tekeste out ahead of Boonen. The sprint was then launched by Selig, who was a long way back. Yonas managed to get ahead, and then he held of Boonen by the width of a tyre. We were all over the moon, and celebrated into the night.



The Mountain Stage was always going to be the key part of the race, and we hoped it would be the day Frank made a move for the top of the rankings. However that didn't happen as he didn't have the form we thought he had, so we were forced to improvise and give Janse a free reign on the final climb. He managed to take a respectable 11th place, but 55 seconds down on Rodriguez who took another stage, and extended his overall lead. We had to change our plan after this stage, and decided to go for the breakaways and maybe stage wins with Yonas.





The time trial was a stage we weren't expecting to be up at the top in. Tommy was our best time trialler, and as he put it himself he's more Citroen CV than Ferrari when it comes to time trials, so that shows what we were expecting from the day. Tommy did an impressive ride to get himself home in 13th place on the day just 24 seconds behind the winner Vermote, so we were very happy with that as he moved up to 12th just over a minute behind Rodriguez.



The final mountain stage was always billed as the big one, and we knew that even though Frank wasn't our best placed rider on GC, we had to push for him as he was our best shot at the stage win. We rode all day in the break with Janse and Hanny, who were reeled in at the foot of the climb. Chab(ane) then attacked and got a gap of 10 seconds, but he was reeled in after 1 kilometre. Then as the bunch eased Frank took his chance and went for it, he got a decent gap of a minute, so with 12 kilometres to go we thought we had it, but as Frank tired Rodriguez and Barguil came back and passed him with 2 kilometres to go. From then Frank fought valiantly to get himself 5th on the stage and catapulted himself back up to 6th overall, so we were delighted with that result.



The final stage was a short criterium, so we knew that Frank was secure in 6th overall, so we wanted to make sure we finished with him up there and hopefully a rider up there in the sprint. We started the stage with technical difficulties meaning we in the car couldn't see the race on the TV screen, so we had to rely on ace radio, which wasn't ideal, but never mind. We helped with a bit of pace making on the front of the bunch, and then in the finale we decided to give Hannachi a chance to go for the win, so Yonas led him out from 500 metres to go and launched him right from the front of the bunch. Hannachi went at 300 metres to go, and had Boonen challenging him. However with 75 metres yo go Hannachi started to tire, where as Boonen with his good endurance managed to power on through to take the win with Hannachi finishing in second. So we were a little dissappointed, but also very happy that we'd got our first win of the season, with Yonas and then a strong overall placing in 6th overall.

Final GC.

1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	23h27'19
2	Richie Porte	BMC Racing Team	+ 1'33
3	Warren Barguil	Team Giant-Alpecin	+ 2'14
4	Tejay Van Garderen	BMC Racing Team	+ 2'44
5	Ilnur Zakarin	Team Katusha	+ 3'31
6	Fränk Schleck	Team Unicef - Eritel	+ 3'40
7	Adam Yates	Orica-GreenEDGE	+ 4'04
8	Julian Alaphilippe	Etixx - Quick-step	+ 4'46
9	Cyril Gautier	Team Europcar	+ 4'56
10	Samuel Sánchez	BMC Racing Team	+ 5'20

G. Thomas
T. Voeckler
A. Hannachi
J. Janse Van Rensburg
N. Berhane
M. Kudus
T. Geoghegan Hart
H. Chabane

This race is a sponsor goal, so we have brought a strong team to try and get the overall win. Geraint Tgomas is here as our leader, so everyone will behind him when it come to the lumpy stages. For the single sprint stage we have Hannachi as our sprinter. He's on reasonable form so we have high hopes of a stage win, and with G we have a rider who could win the GC.




We knew that the sprint would be a hard fought one as with sprinters like Modolo and Debusschere, we knew it was a long shot to get Hannachi the win, so we decided to take a measured approach and just follow for the main of the stage. In the finale we gave Hannachi a free role and he didn't do to badly, as he managed to take 5th in the sprint. Debusschere took the win, and with it the first leaders jersey.



The second stage was another sprinters day, so we followed the same plan, but this time we had decided to have Tommy V lead Hannachi out for the win. Although Tommy punctured with 4 kilometres to go, meaning that Hannachi had to go it alone. He tried to use the Lampre and Lotto trains, but he wasn't able to get a position and came home in 9th place. The win was taken by Sam Bennett of Bora, with Viviani 2nd, meaning he took over the race lead.



The mountain stage was the key stage for the team today, we knew that if we wanted to get Geraint the win, we had to use our resources on the final climb. At the foot of the final climb Zardini attacked, so we sent Chabane with him. Then just over the top Martin, Moreno and Inxausti attacked, but we stayed calm and reeled them in with 6 kilometres to go. Then we saw Martin and the rest weren't riding so we didn't want to do the work for them so we sent Kudus straight over the top, and they didn't react. Either they were too tired from the attack, or they didn't feel he was a threat, but they didn't chase, so he pulled out a good gap. We were lucky that the early part of the stage had been slow as a group of 70 riders crested the top of the final climb together, as it meant we still had Tommy and the likes in the bunch, which meant that we were able to save our better climbers. That meant Kudus was fresh, so when he made his move he still had a lot of energy left, and obviously the others underestimated him, and he managed to hold off the pack. Danny Moreno sprinted home for second with G getting 4th. So that gave Kudus the overall lead by 34 seconds going into the final day.


The final stage today was a hilly stage with the climbs in the centre of the stage, so we knew that it would be a tough day. And so it proved as only 27 riders managed to make it to the finish in the front group, and luckily we managed to get Voeckler, Chabane, G and Kudus. We had to work to reel in a lot of attacks, and that's why we lost a lot of riders early. But we were very lucky to have G and Tommy as they kept the younger riders calm, and told them when to ride. G sheltered Kudus all day so we have a lot to thank him for. In the finale we couldn't of kept Merhawi in the leaders jersey without the work of the other riders, but also the hard work meant that we didn't contest the final sprint, but the overall win was a great result for us, and we celebrated into the night. We had a good result overall with Merhawi getting the win, G in 5th, Tommy in 6th and Chabane in 8th, so we showed we have a strong team even though we had to fight hard today.

Final GC

1	Merhawi Kudus	Team Unicef - Eritel	13h48'04
2	Daniel Moreno	Team Katusha	+ 34
3	Beñat Intxausti	Team Sky	s.t.
4	Daniel Martin	Etixx - Quick-step	+ 36
5	Geraint Thomas	Team Unicef - Eritel	+ 37
6	Thomas Voeckler	Team Unicef - Eritel	+ 40
7	Dario Cataldo	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
8	Hichem Chabane	Team Unicef - Eritel	s.t.
9	Andrey Amador	Movistar Team	s.t.
10	Diego Ulissi	Lampre-Merida	+ 1'23

T. Benoot
E. Boasson Hagen
A. Hannachi
T. Phinney
G. Thomas
P. Velits
M. Velits
T. Voeckler

We've brought a strong team here as we want to make sure that we're competitive in every race we do. We have Edvald as the team sprinter/leader as the race has a relatively flat route, so we feel that he's our best chance for the overall win, and at getting a stage win.





The team time trial was a big stage for us as it was the unknown, we haven't had to do a team time trial yet, but we've been training for it a lot, so we wanted to get a good result. We set out aiming for a top 5, however when we hit the first time check we were leading by 1 second, so we were a little surprised. Then with 3 kilometres to go we discovered that we were second 2 seconds down on BMC, so we tried to push on, but the lads couldn't quite get back on terms, so we finished second 8 seconds back, but we were very happy with that result.



The first stage was a tough race with a lot of crosswinds, and a red hot pace that made even the strongest riders suffer. The race was hard from the gun, with nobody being allowed to get in a break. Eventually the break was allowed to get away, with 3 riders getting in it. Then with 5 kilometres to go we tried to execute our plan to get Edvald the win, and we managed to form our train, but with 3 kilometres to go we broke up, and Edvald lost positions, from then on it was a fight to get back together, but we weren't able to, and we ended up getting our best rider being Geraint in 7th, which was disappointing as we were in with a shout of the win. But we knew what we had to change for the next stage.

H. Aguilar
N. Berhane
J. Janse Van Rensburg
L. Meintjes
M. Russom
B. Swift
M. Teshome
T. Van Asbroeck

We've brought a team here that's got good legs at the minute, so we're hoping for good things from the next 5 days. We have two threats for the overall win in Ben Swift, as it is a relatively flat race, so we hope he can be up there. However if it doesn't quite go to plan then we have Meintjes and Berhane to back him up.





For us the prologue was all about limiting our losses as we didn't have a super time trialler in our team for this week. Our best rider on the stage was Van Asbroeck in 50th position, but luckily it wasn't a long stage so we only lost 15 seconds, so we can still be in the fight for the overall. Swifty came home outside of the top 100, so that was a bit of a set back for us, but we were confident we could improve on it.


The first road stage of a race is always interesting as your not quite sure how some riders are going, and how they'll ride this week. We were confident in our team, and the riders we'd brought. The race was a relatively flat stage with two cat 2 climbs, we knew that Swifty could climb, so we decided to set a hard tempo over each of the climbs on the route to test a few legs, on the first climb the group broke with 33 riders making the front group, but everyone quickly grouped together, and then on the second climb everyone was expecting it. We made it to the finale and we started to form our lead out train, and we hit the front with 5 kilometres to go with Berhane setting the tempo, and we managed to hold it until 2.5 kilometres to go where we got swamped, and then wehen Tom went to lead out Swifty he got a bit boxed, and this is where normally Swifty would of put his head down and given up, but over the winter we've been trying to make sure he gives it his all the way to the line, and that he can take a few more risks. We watched as he went like a gun from about 10 th back in the string, and took the win fairly comfortably, so we were over the moon. That moved him up to 4th overall 5 seconds behind Dennis, with Haussler who was 2nd moving up to 2nd just 4 seconds down.

sutty68 wrote:
Plenty of experience in the Management Team should bode well for a successful season