With the team presentation yesterday you will have seen who's in our squad for the WT opener of the season in Adelaide this week, but for confirmation here they are:
101
Nathan
Haas
Leader (GC)
102
Ryan
Gibbons
Leadout
103
Jacques
Janse van Rensburg
Domestique
104
Lachlan
Morton
Domestique
105
Ben
O'Connor
Domestique
106
Mark
Renshaw
Leader (Sprints)
107
Jaco
Venter
Domestique
As you can see, Haas is our big hope for the GC after warming the legs up in the Bay Crits and other races and will look to break into the top 10 at the minimum. Meanwhile veteran Renshaw will hope to continue his decent form into some podium sprint finished after his two second-places last year. He'll be lead out by Gibbons , with help from Venter (and the others). South African Champion Janse van Rensburg will be helping Haas in the GC fight, along with locals Morton (who'll hopefully carry on with his attacking form from the NC) and O'Connor (who'll be making his WT debut), both able uphill riders for themselves as well. All the non-leaders, especially Lachlan on hilly days, will also be given the all-clear to go up the rode, get some intermediate sprint glory and show the jersey.
Our goals for the race are:
- Top 7 GC
- Two stage podiums
- Five breakaways
- Podium finish in KoM jersey
BMC Tag-Heuer: Santos Tour Down Under Team Presentation
BMC-Tag Heuer are here in Australia to conquer it all.
The team have set the highest goals possible aiming for the win in our venture to Australia.
Team:
Richie Porte
Team Leader
Rohan Dennis
Super Domestique
Miles Scotson
Baroudeur
Danilo Wyss
Team-Mate
Amael Moinard
Domestique
Francisco Ventoso
Sprinter
Damiano Caruso
Super Domestique
Ambitions:
Richie Porte: My goals are simple, win! This race, especially this year is perfectly suited to me, hot conditions, a climb no one has beaten me in the past 3 years and hopefully a win,......finally. Stage 2 is very hard and this year could even be harder than Willunga. Talking about Willunga, I will be looking to take my 4th win in as many years, but it will be tough. The two Colombians are looking especially dangerous (Chaves and Henao), we will see who will take it.
Rohan Dennis: My aim is to be the key helper to Richie. I will take my chance if possible, but it is all in for Porte. Damiano and I will be looking to set the climbs on fire for Richie to finish it off.
Miles Scotson: My season is already a great one, winning the National Championship of my country was a big boost for me, this race will be one where I will be allowed to go in the breakaway and help Richie take the win.
The rest of the team will be seeing this as a training ride and will look to build form for the rest of the season.
So slight disclaimer before I start this, I had not been following results of the race thread previous as I was not sure, but from now on I will.
Robert Power
Stage 1 Stage 1 was a bore-fest for me ending in a sprint which isn't favourite terrain. The cobwebs were to a certain extent blown out after riding my first WT race, with tomorrow being more favourable to me.
Stage 2: I woke up feeling a sense of excitement as it was the first stage where I could show myself, of course I wasn't the leader with Esteban and Gerro in the team, but I think I could do well in the climbs. As we arrived to the destination of the stage, Matt White actually gave me a call, he wanted me to ride aggressively and whenever there was an opportunity, to attack! He assigned me with a free role, but when necessary to help Esteban and Simon. As the stage approached its climax, I was getting radio messages to have a free role and to do whatever I wanted to. While on the early slopes of the penultimate climb, my opportunity had come, there was a lull in the pace-making, they all seemed to stop just slightly and so I saw the light and made my move. It was still 5km to go, but I had good legs, all that hard work from training had paid off. In the final, I found myself with Richie, but my legs had been hurt from an attack from further out and I couldn't quite get over Porte. Although this, it was an amazing stage for me, couldn't have thought it would have gone much better.
Looking forward to Stage 3 and most importantly WIllunga Hill!
First of all, sorry for only writting this now but with school and huge time difference I just couldn't do it.
Robert Gesink
Stage 1
To start off the 2017 season, Team LottoNL-Jumbo broughtr a balanced 7-man roster to Australia. Robert Gesink as the leader, Robert Wagner, Paul Martens, Enrico Battaglin, BertJan-Lindeman, Alexey Vermeulen and Koen Bouwman.
This first stage was quite a calm stage, as we didn't know the exact fitness of our riders, the team has opted not to send anyone to the break, so the main goal for today was to protect me, and if possible set it up for a sprint for Robert. As predicted, it was quite a calm, and easy race in the heat, and in the end Robert managed to do 11th, I finished in the middle of the pack but I had no problem as the team always had my back. Caleb Ewan ended up getting the victory ahead of Bennett.
Tomorrow will be a decisive day, I'm feeling good and I hope I can get a good result for my team because they deserve it.
Stage 2
Well I woke up feeling like it's the first test of the season, I was right, although the begining of the stage wasn't that fast, the heat made it exceptionaly hard, Alexey went up the road and managed to get some seconds in the intermidiate sprints, although that may not be needed, in the final 10 kilometers in the gentle drag, BMC, and Cannondale made it very hard to stay in the pack, but it all came together in the begining og the climb, I wasn't well positioned in the begining but managed to move up as the pack slowed, with 500 meters to go Richie Porte launched a move and I immediatly followed his wheel, but it proved to hard, to keep it up, I lost his wheel but managed to finish 4th in the stage, only behind Porte, Woods and Kelderman, I finished with the Sky duo behind so they can prove to be allies in the next few days.
I currently sit 4th in the GC and I hope to have a better day in Willunga so I can try to get that podium place
Stage 3
Today wasn't exactly an easy stage as it can seem on the map,it was again very hot and windy in fact, now, there weren't any crosswind attempts, but there was crosswind, it made a very fast day and super stressfull because fighting for the top 10 are still something like 20 riders, Koen got my back, I was on his wheel the entire stage and I'm proud of him because he is my training partner for something like a year and I see him evoluting every race we make together, in the end, it was only me and Enrico in the last kilometers, I told him to go for the sprint and he did, he managed a 7th place, but it's not bad as he is not a pure sprinter, as for me I finished 30th but happy to live another day in the privileged position I am.
Tomorrow should be a calmer day as it's mostly flat so we will all try to organize better as a team and keep moving towards our goals.
Fernando Gaviria was born 22 years ago, in La Ceja, Colombia. A country when several and great climbers born but his characteristics are different. He started on the track, in 2012 and 2013 he won many races, like the Omnium and Madison World Championship - U19, the Omnium Panamerican Championship, then, in 2014 he won the Omnium in Southamerican Games, also in Central American and Caribbean Games and the UCI World Cup. In 2015 he won the Omnium Rainbow Jersey in Paris, beating O'Shea and Viviani. Last year he won again the rainbow jersey in Omnium, becoming one of the strongest men in this specialty.
Thanks to his strength, speed, acceleration and power. He decided to take part in Road Races, showing his talent for the Sprints. Was in the 2014 Tour de l'Avenir, when he show his skills in some flat stages, but was in 2015 when he exploded and won his first important sprints, nothing less than Mark Cavendish in the first stage of the San Luis Tour being part of the Colombian National Team. Days later, he won another sprint against Cavendish and Quick Step didn't hesitate to put their eyes on Fernando. They contacted him and sign him as stagiere since August 1st, his first race with the belgian team, was in Prudential RideLondon, where he was 8th, eleven days later, he won his first race with Quickstep, a Team Time Trial in Czech Tour and the next day he won the 2nd stage. That year, he finished his participation with Quickstep in Tour of Britain, winning the stage 4th against another strong sprinter, Andre Greipel.
2016 arrived, a more experienced and better know Fernando, started a new season, he went to San Luis and again bet another strong rival, this time was Peter Sagan who had to saw how Fernando bet him at the stage 2. Later, at Tirreno-Adriatico, Fernando won his first world tour race/stage, at the 3rd stage betting Ewan, Viviani and Sagan in the finish line of Montalto di Castro.
That same year, he suffered a great disappointment at Milano-Sanremo, he arrived as one of riders to watch, although he had never raced long races as MSR, and maybe Cipressa and Poggio would be to much for him, but he was at the favourite group in Poggio, at the finals kms, he was in good position in front, but, he made a mistake, he touched the Avermaet rear wheel and fell to the floor. That was a shame, he could win but the nerves and inexperience in this kind of races played against him.
Leaving behind that disappointment, he went to belgium and take part in two cobbled races, showing that he can face cobbled sections, he was 10th in Dwars door Vlaanderen and four days later 6th in Gent-Wevelgem. Quickstep has another rider with pottential for this kind of races. After that, at April, he was forced to stop because an injury in his pinky finger and had to re-plan his season and preparation for the Track Olympic Games in Rio. Then, he won two stages at Tour of Pologne and could won another but he let his teammate, Martinelli, win, was the same situation with Richeze at Tour of Suisse that year. At Olympic Games, he was sick and he couldn't fight for the Gold Medal in the Omnium and after that he said: "I think my time in the Track is over, i'll focus in Road Races". Then, at auttum, Fernando obtain his more important victory, Paris-Tours, when the main group waited for the sprint, he surprised everybody and launched the sprint with 600 mts to finishline, nobody could chase him and Fernando made history winning this race.
He finished his season with the World Championship in Doha, he went as one of the favourites, but he crashed and did not finish the race.
Fernando is ready to start the 2017 season, he will ride at Tour of San Juan and i'm sure that he will ride the spring classics like Milano-Sanremo as his main goal, also Gent-Wevelgem and others like those, Giro d'Italia 100th edition, will be his first Grand Tour.
I will be informing you about his calendar and results through the year. Hoping for quality victories against the better sprinters and top cyclists.
19.01 Tour de San Luis - Stage 1 - San Luis › Villa Mercedes
21.01 Tour de San Luis - Stage 3 - Concarán › Juana Koslay
13.08 Czech Cycling Tour - Stage 1 (TTT) - Unicov › Unicov
14.08 Czech Cycling Tour - Stage 2 - Olomouc › Unicov
09.09 Tour of Britain - Stage 4 - Edinburgh › Blyth
2016
18.01 Tour de San Luis - Stage 1 (TTT) - El Durazno › El Durazno
19.01 Tour de San Luis - Stage 2 - San Luis › Villa Mercedes
25.02 Tour Cycliste International La Provence - Stage 3 - La Ciotat › Marseille
11.03 Tirreno-Adriatico - Stage 3 - Castelnuovo Val di Cecina › Montalto di Castro
13.07 Tour de Pologne - Stage 2 - Tarnowskie Góry › Katowice
15.07 Tour de Pologne - Stage 4 - Nowy Sacz › Rzeszów
17.09 Primus Classic Impanis - Van Petegem
09.10 Paris - Tours Elite
..........................................................................
P.S: Sorry for my english, i'm Colombian, obviously.
I'm on a mission: And that is to be Africa's best CT cyclist in 2017! My name is Valens Ndayisenga, and this is my 2017 journey with the developement team of Dimension Data, #africasteam Dimension Data for Qhubeka.
Over the winter I've worked hard in my home country in Rwanda for massively increasing my power-base. Helpful with that was the fact that I was allowed to participate in the main team's training camps, hopefully this support will continue after their management change this season. With the professional help of DiData I could really strengthen all the skills needed for having a successful season, including the opportunity to test several times on a decent TT bike organized by the main team. Thanks for that!
Working on the allround game I have my big goals set now. Contrarily to last season I hope that DimensionData for Qhubeka will partcipate in all African races on the calendar, to give me the opportunity to go for a big point on my agenda: A podium in the overall classification of the UCI Africa Tour. Together with my (hopefully) future teammate Joseph Areruya and #teamrwanda legend Adrian Nyonshuti we've worked on a plan how to best possibly build up our hopes in these races. Fact is, that I'll surely want to participate in all the opportunities, either for DiData for Qhubeka or for the Rwanda National Squad or even for a different team if DiDatas plans aren't compatible with mine.
Then there is obviously the Tour of Rwanda as the main goal, where I am willing to defend my title. My 2016 win might have been the most amazing moment in my life, equally to the NC TT victory in 2015. Speaking of that, the double win in the NCs is another big goal. The opponence in Nsengimana, Areruya and Nyonshuti will be tough to beat though.
Going one step higher, that should of course also lead into leadership in the African Continental Championships, where I'm confident to lead one of Africa's best nations against the strong opponence of Morocco and Eritrea. Still a double victory there is my goal too, and I feel able to possibly reach that. This all should lead to the opportunity to ride under the Rwandan flag in the World Championiships 2017 in Bergen, where participating would be everything and a dream of every young African cyclist.
Minor goals for me are gaining some experience in European Races, to possibly make the jump over to European cycling in the future. As I feel stronger than ever, I might even to be able to surprise some guys here and there, like Daniel, Merhawi or Mekseb did in the past.
For this winter I wanted to keep an allround focus in terms of keeping the ability of winning on (almost) every terrain. The future though shopuld also bring me some deeper ideas on where I might have my strongest point to specialize myself, we'll see if I recieve some hints over the season for that.
As already drawn, it's still undecided whether I'll stay at DimensionData for Qhubeka for 2017. They've told me that they might not 100% trust in my abilities and ambitions, but don't worry for my future: I am in good talks with both Bike Aid - Ride for Help and Team Tirol: some decent despite very different options for me, let's see what the end of the month brings us. For that fact I soon need some clearance, as my racing will start at the 3rd of February at Les Challenges de la Marche Verte to begin the Moroccan calendar.
Until then you'll here from me and my plans though.
This is Tanel Kangert calling. You may know me as the climber from a purely flat country that is most likely to win a GT. Very unlikely, but still - have you ever seen a non-choking dutch rider at a GT? That's it.
I have to admit though, that our small Estonian climbers training group - containing of Rein and me, sometimes we pair up with Kpnstantin and Vasil though - may not be near to one either. But winning a GT is not my job at Astana. I'm most likely here for smaller tours, and helping our promises: First Vincenzo and Mikel, now Fabio is my guy. And by the time that system worked pretty well, as for example being a vital part of Vincenzo's Giro winning team in 2016. Also on the individual side I had my joy, for example at the Trentino or in Abu Dhabi.
Now with Aru stuff might become a little more difficult, but I'll do what Vino says as otherwise my paycheck is frozen. I would've loved to have at least a shared captain role at Le Tour this season with Aru concentrating at Giro & Vuelta and Mig not too far away from being the next big thing. But they decided to put my friend Jakob as our captain there with Mig as super domestique despite his injury, so my racing calendar won't see Le Tour this season.
Instead I've got my peaks on different stages of the year, mostly between April and May. At the Giro our bigs want Aru to win after a depressing Tour. Michele and I should guide him once again, not sure how'll that works out but we'll see. Hopefully better than in France.
However, things might become a little bit more interesting when taking a look at the schedule before: Paris - Nice, Alpes & L-B-L, with chances to go for a result at any of these stages. After the Giro then I'll try on something that has worked out pretty well in Belgium last year. At Liege-Bastogne-Liege I found my love for those long races with ugly weather and rough racing, hence I won't concentrate on the Italian calendar in the second half. Instead a mixture of classics and small tours will plaster my ways, hopefully with a lot of chances to lead. The calendar is not defined yet, but f.e. The Tour of Pologne, Austria, the Arctic Race of Norway, the Canadian Classics, GP Wallonie and Rad am Ring are on my list.
Furthermore I'll try an experiment with my team: As you might have recognized Lars Boom went as our cobbled leader. Instead some others might have the chance, so my mate Jakob has claimed that he wants to try his luck preparing for the Ronde van Vlaanderen. I had some rides with him this winter in a meet-up in our "circle of mates" in Belgium, trying out some cross racing and also a lot of cobbled streets. And well, what can I say: Laurens, Oscar and Jakob convinced me to give it a go, so I'll be part of Astana's early classics campaign: Omloop, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, E3, de Ronde and optionally even Paris-Roubaix. All that having a pretty free role, as we have no clear captain on the team. Exciting sights for the future? At least something risky and new huh?
Well, as I've already told I pretty much trained a lot in the pure power section over the summer. Since the end of last season I feel a lot more contendable in doing hard turns and strong hurting efforts, which should help me digging in deep for a higher frequency of amounts. Additionally my overall toughness should've taken a boost, which should give me more access to energy on the final parts of long one-day races, a field where I clearly lacked something. To add to that, going through cross and cobbles surely increased my feeling for difficult terrain and technical roads and descents.
On the downside, I fear that I've kind of hurt my time trialling abilities while leaving the chrona bike aside for most of the season. While I surely won't have lost my strength in steady efforts on mountain stages and long sprints after a selective stage, a little bit of my acceleration might have gone missed in the winter, as that wasn't exactly in my focus. To add to that, I haven't significantly worked on my problems with unsteady climbs and Contador'esque fast changes of pace on mountains, wich could be a thing I really regret throughout the season.
All in all though for my recognition the versatility and overall strength of my level of cycliong has increased over the winter period. I also found a new faible for riding under extreme conditions, as I discovered a fire in me to be tougher than anybody else when it comes to ice, rain and wind. Come on Petrus!
To come back to my season start you'll at first see me, yes, for real, at the Omloop het Nieuwesblad! Further starts are planned at the revenge for het Nieuwesblad, Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne, and Le Samyn, before heading to Paris-Nice for the first real goal of the season. Before this all I am guess where? Invited to the home of Laurens, to do some further training on the rough Belgian winter with Laurens, Jakob and Oscar.
The Tour Down Under was this season's WT opener as per usual, and a mixed bag (mostly bad) for Team Dimension Data.
Stage 1: South African Champion Janse van Rensburg showed the rainbow flag in the breakaway as the team protected Renshaw in the pack. He was struggling for a while but the strong work of O'Connor and Venter brought him back to the front before Gibbons dropped him off in the front rows. He managed a pretty average 6th place.
Stage 2: Young gun O'Connor jumped in the morning break but today would be remembered as the day our GC hopes died, with Haas and Morton both losing chunks of time.
Stage 3: Eventful day, nobody in the breakaway as we tried to deliver Renshaw and/or Haas to the line. The former fell away so plan B materialised: an aggressive Morton pushing the chasing Orica team to within 4km with a late attack. with a reduced number of pure sprinters Haas stayed in the wheels for a creditable 9th place finish.
Stage 4:Venter began an assault on the polka dot jersey but was caught unfortunately early, however a good finish for Haas meant that we were on the front immediately after, however another move getting clear meant that three riders finished clear of the pack, whilst Nathan took 7th in the peloton for 10th on the stage.
Stage 5: The big one for us as we had a plan concocted the night before on how to nab ourselves a stage win from under the noses of the GC men. Venter was to continue his hunt for the KoM win which we're pleased to report he secured by getting into the break along with Gibbons, who's presence didn't bother anyone in the bunch or the break.
On the first Willunga Hill ascent O'Connor and Morton went clear, and once the gap was established, another chase group formed containing Janse van Rensburg and Haas, meaning we now had 6 riders up the front when they came together. 6 others were along for the ride, which meant Ryan, Jacques and Jaco (who had secured the KoM win on the first climb) could burn themselves up securing the gap before Ben lead us into Willunga. With a solid lead now Lachlan started to hammer it up the climb but disaster struck when Nathan cracked, giving the former the seemingly impossible task to TT up Willunga and hold off Porte and Power.
With a lucky but unfortunate slip of a bottle through some sweaty hands Nathan still got rid, however undeservedly and completely by accident (hey Petr, you kiss your mother with that potty mouth?) of Morton's last hanger-onerer. In the end, he survived far longer than most would but was so unluckily pushed into 3rd around the final left-hand bend.
Stage 6: Short and sweet - Renshaw was boxed in and so no placing for us in Adelaide.
Goals: Our goals for the race were:
- Top 7 GC - Nowhere near
- Two stage podiums - Just the one
- Five breakaways - Just four, but what a four they were
- Podium finish in KoM jersey - Yes sir! Venter went above the goal and took it home!
Verdict: Two most aggressive rider awards (one shared), plenty of entertainment provided (we were voted by a twitter outlet's fans the "Most Aggressive Team" but not a lot of results. Not good enough, but good spirit shown.
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race Preview
101
Nathan
Haas
Leader
102
Ryan
Gibbons
Domestique
103
Jacques
Janse van Rensburg
Domestique
104
Lachlan
Morton
Free Role
105
Ben
O'Connor
Domestique
106
Mark
Renshaw
Domestique
107
Jaco
Venter
Domestique
It seems like a very good course for leader Haas to sink his teeth into, and we're hoping the days since the Tour Down Under ended have been enough time fora mojo refinding. Morton will have a free role after an aggressive Tour Down Under whilst O'Connor and Janse van Rensburg will be key in helping set up one of these two for a result, whilst Venter, Gibbons and Renshaw will be doing soem grunt work carrying bottles and helping the four climbers be ready for the endgame, and trying to catch a break.
Goals: Our goals for this race are:
- Top 5 result
- Breakaway appearance
- Two riders in Top 15
After Stage 3, I thought to myself, can I continue this form, I knew I had the ability, but it was just a question if I was able to believe.
Stage 3:
An interesting day in the saddle which was just a day to survive for the GC guys like me. It was a day for the attackers, but the sprinters team's brought it back, unfortunately Caleb wasn't quite fast enough finishing in a near 2nd.
Stage 4:
This was a day, more cut-out for the sprinters, as the undulations came in sparsely. On paper, it was easier than yesterday, but it certainly didn't turn out like we thought it would.. Bystrom went up in the break, which was always going to be an interesting one with him being up there in GC. My team chased hard along with BMC and Bora etc, but we couldn't quite manage to get them back. At the end of the day, Bystrom took the jersey by 16 seconds over Porte and 21 over myself, but had he wasted all his energy before Willunga?
Stage 5:
Coming into the Willunga stage, my legs were feeling good and I was in a very good 3rd place in the overall and I had the team all backing me up. It was really great actually to see guys like Gerro help me out so far and the team already trusting me so early in the season......Well, what can I say. The day turned out exceptionally for me! It actually went quite smoothly as we went up the climb at a steady temp, but with several attackers at the helm of the race. BMC and Katusha helped us out with the pace-making and soon enough, at the foot of the final climb to Willunga, we had virtually neutralized the race with no one up ahead in contention of winning the overall. As I said previously, I had prepared for this race, so my form was always going to be very good and earlier on in the climb Richie attacked, but I decided to stay patient.........1km to go, Katusha were still driving with a depleted peloton, while the break were still up in front although only just. I saw Marc go, it was really a trigger for me to follow and I did just that as I had the "power", left in the tank which soon enough bridged me up to Richie. I saw the Dimension Data rider up the road, at the time, I had no clue who it was so I used that as like a "carrot to follow". At this time, Porte was right with me, but soon enough a final attack managed to catch him out as Marc dropped back. Just with the line beckoning, I saw the DDD rider in sight (Lachlan Morton) and he seemed to hit the wall as I sailed past him. It was really an incredible moment in my life, an unforgettable one. As I raised my arms and crossed the line, I had mixed emotions, I was joyful in the fact I had won the stage, but was it enough for ochre? I was really nervous, I had taken the stage, but was it enough as I saw Richie and Sven come in after me........Whitey gave me thumbs up and I fell in jubilation. It was a moment to saviour, had I just one my first professional race with still one stage to go? It was 1 second, the margin to Porte after the official timings, with possible bonus seconds for tomorrow. I stood aloft in the podium, as proud as punch wearing my hometown tour's leader's jersey. An interview barrage came after which was quite amazing being my first time and I just took each question as it came. I was very relaxed as we went onto the next stage.............
Stage 6:
I only had 5 hours sleep from the previous night. My phone was nearly broken at this point with messages of encouragement and congratulations. It was quite astonishing, but as I went into the final stage I was 1 second ahead of Richie and 10 seconds from Sven. Riche not being able to sprint really aided my day to be honest. BMC rode very hard in the opening kilometres which had me on hold, not allowing any breaks to go. While this was happening, we have very good ties with Jay Mccarthy and Bora, so we decided to work together as Jay was one of my best friends and really was a great motivation in my upbringing (they also wanted Sagan to win the points classification). The first 2 sprints came and gone and we eventually prevented Porte from taking any with Bora taking all the bonuses. The rest of the day was a good old Sunday afternoon ride for me, I was well protected and with the final 3km, I knew I had won the race as the rest of my team-mates set the sprint for Caleb. It didn't quite work out well, but I did win my first ever professional stage race! The endless amount of interviews came in after which didn't really allow the win sink in. It really was a bit of a daze. This last week of my life was truly unforgettable.
Jack Haig Herald Sun Tour
So... here we are, those long winter rides in the cold, not knowing you're exact form. I'm here today to see the effect they have done on me. I felt like it was a good winter, I didn't have any injury or crash, and only got sick once but it was in a bad timing, just before the Tour Down Under... it was a real shame, because I was really motivated to go there and perform but I was proud to see Esteban getting the 2nd place GC, and also the 2nd place in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race. I felt better before the last one but I thought it would be smarter to not go there and focus here, the Herald Sun Tour, it is in fact the last race here in Australia, I will head back to Girona after the race, but I'm excited to be here.
The team will be lead by both Chaves and Gerrans, it's a really strong duo that can bassicaly cover up any race situation, both of them are heading for the GC but the priority is Chaves as in stage 2 there is a big uphill finish. Me, I will try to have a good GC in the end but the real focus is to help my team leaders achieve their results. Also here in the team are Damien Howson, Robert Power, Mitch Docker and Sam Bewley. It is a really strong team, we can definately fight for victory and defend it. The only other WorldTour team here is Sky and they wil surely be our rivals, Chris Froome is here and I'm preety sure he is in good shape, it won't be easy ttaking him on but there is a lot of confidence in our group right now. Stage 1
Now the real talking... today was the opening stage... a real short prologue, only 2.1Km but it was enough to put a few seconds on each other. I felt good at the time-trial, I really felt the power in my legs and managed to do 19th, 7 seconds away from winner Leigh Howard from Aqua Blue Sport. Gerrans lost 5 seconds and Esteban lost 11. It's nothing to worry about though, bonifications alone can cover up for this gap... and tomorrow will be the hardest stage so I'm really excited for it. Stage 2
Today is the queen stage, two long Aussie climbs were in the menu, and good news coming here as Esteban won the stage! And even better for me, I managed to do 6th, 38 seconds off him. Robert also took 5th, he came along with me but Simon really struggled and is no longer in the fight. Team Sky took up the race in the climb so we had a somewhat more relaxed mood. Esteban attacked with 2.5Km remaining taking Froome with him, the real gaps were there but Froome finished with Esteban and is now the new leader. Cam Meyer finished third and Jonathan Clarke fourth. I am now 5th in the GC, it's a goal already accomplished but there are still two more stages to be held and I have to work hard to keep it. Stage 3
Today was a kind of surprising day... Nathan Earle won the stage from a late attack, 2Km remaining and we couldn't follow. In the climb the group ended up really shattered, I got left behind but later regrouped with the leader's group. With something like 15 riders in the front. a flat end saw Earle attack without a response, me and Robert tried to close it down to see if Chaves could bonificate in the end but we just weren't capable of doing it. I still finished in the group though, 8 seconds away from Earle but I lost my 5th place to him... Tomorrow is a stage I can recover in but 2 days from today we are back in charge. Stage 4
Today was the calmest day of the race, the profile was flatter and we were able to get some much needed recovery, in the end Danny van Poppel from Sky got the victory, Simon did 4th nonetheless and me, Esteban and Robert finished safely in the pack thus keeping our places. Stage 5
Today was the final day... in the begining of the stage I wasn't feeling to well but it got better as the stage moved on. We lifted our hands in victory once again has Damien managed to get in the break and win the stage in a classy way. He crashed on stage 2 and lost hope of fighting for the GC but we knew he was strong and we felt we could give him a chance... he paid back, as for me I finished in the main group, 13 riders in the finish, the race just wasn't hard enough to attack so we decided to keep calm to preserve our 2nd, 6th and 7th places in the GC. Meyer did attack but Esteban followed and it came back together.
It was a very positive experience here, I kind of think I could've done better if it wasn't for the illness a couple of weeks ago, but it's a sign I'm doing the right things and my winter paid off. Up next I will head back to Girona, my 2nd home and then race the Volta ao Algarve, where I will be one of the team leaders surely.
Esteban Chaves is heading into his first race of the season in the Herald Sun Tour in Victoria as the second billed rider on all the marketing - ahead of even home favourite and two-time winner Simon Gerrans. He's one of cycling in Australia's most marketable riders and it shows. Australia's oldest stage race got a huge profile boost last year with the appearance of then two-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome, who'd win the race on his way to a third maillot jaune. The Kenyan Brit is back again this year after making his debut in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and 2nd and 3rd at La Vuelta last year will be doing battle in Victoria as the second clash of big GT contenders of the year after the Tour de San Juan.
The twilight prologue will be held this evening, starting in Federation Square. Damage limitation will be the aim of the game for the Colombian as his Orica teammates compete for stage honours. Froome will probably look to gain a few seconds before the potentially decisive climb to Falls Creek, where many are saying he and Chaves will come face to face. The Colombian has been pretty tight lipped about his prospects but admits that he can't wait to start racing again.
Hey buddies, how are you doing? It has been a while since I talked to you. Happy new year to every single one of you, who incondionally support me every day I'm out there in the road. I hope together he can have a great year!
I've been a bit ausent as I've been working with my "new" team and preparing my new season so I can enter the 2017 season in the best way possible! I can also reveal that after Volta ao Algarve I will be racing Tour of Abu Dhabi, continuing to build form to Paris-Nice my first goal of the season. However, I would say for you to watch out on me in Algarve, I never won "at home" and even though they'll be my first kms of the season don't cut me out of the fight
Anyway, just a little update on my current condition, as I said been working on TT and climbing so I can re-gain my individual effort ability without affecting my performance on hills and mountains, and I think I may be finding the perfect balance...
Anyway I will be back to you a few days before the start of Volta ao Algarve. Have a good day!
Stage 1:
Not much of a stage this one where the break went early, but not much success for them. Came down to a regulation sprint which is fine for us while Richie was perfectly embedded into the peloton.
Stage 2:
This was a stage where fireworks were definitely going to be kicked off. Some would say the "queen" stage of this year's STDU. We knew Richie was here to perform, so we put a full team backing into the race especially for him. As the stage kicked off, we knew it would be a GC battle. The break had no a few pretty good climbers, so we decided to chase while Bora and Orica were also helping us in the pack. The day was all pretty hard, but as we soon hit the first of 2 final rises, we saw the day light up. Robert Power of Orica was the first to launch on one of the steepest parts of the incline while Bakelants and Michael Woods followed. To respond, we had to set the pace with Orica having a man up the road already. In a bit of panic at the red kite with Bakelants, Woods and Power still up the road, a tiring Damiano had to pull off to an upping in pace of Dennis, who soon dropped Gerrans from the group of favourites with Porte still in toe. Power still ahead, Porte launched an attack of his own, which was unmatched and with 700m, Richie reached Woods, but still with Power and Bakelants up ahead. Bakelants was soon caught, but the young rider of Robert Power had saved his energy enough to be the final rider up front from the escapees. With 100m to go Richie had caught enough and with only 50m to go Richie had the grit to go away from the young Aussie. WINNNNNN!!!!!Excellent stage win for Richie and the team who takes the Ochre Jersey!
Stage 3:
With the jersey in our hands, we paced all day long until the final 20km where a few attackers went off although none could succeed. The stage went to Sondre Holst Enger.
Stage 4:
A hillier profile, but should be a sprint again. The polka dot jersey went up the road as well as some experienced breakaway riders and guys in a good position in GC. We toiled all day as usual, but didn't get much help until the final 50km, but the break had already been established and had a good sized gap. With 10km to go, the day had gone extremely tough with only 40-50 riders in the peloton as we sent Caruso and Dennis to chase, but ti wasn't enough as Sven Erik Bystrom lead the front group who eventually took the stage with Nikias Arndt and himself finishing 3rd, 36 seconds ahead of Porte, Power etc. Bystrom took the Ochre jersey of Porte's back! Bystrom, 16 seconds in front of Richie and 21 ahead of Power heading into stage 5.
Stage 5:
The most famous and gruelling stage of the race is stage 5, the ride up to Willunga! The battle with Bystrom and Power would resume with an extremely close final overall. The day started off with the break, a strong one at that. The day had gone smoothly, but suddenly Dimension Data does a semi team attack up the first incline of Willunga, but are mainly kept in control by Katusha and ourselves. Up the final climb of Willunga, Katusha's pace is extraordinary and thins the group out to single digits with 1.5km to go. In fact Dennis is even dropped, but as the final helper of Bystrom drops (Machado) Richie Porte launches an attack of his own! Bystrom decided it was his turn and soon up the pace behind in the pack. Soler though, attacked which was closely followed by Power who sailed past Soler and bridged to Richie, while Morton was still up the road.Power though was in no mood, soon enough he put another attack to drop Porte and with the finishing line in reach, he broke Lachlan Morton's heart to take the win while Richie finished in 2nd just in front of a faltering Morton while Bystrom was way off the pace. With bonus seconds, ROBERT POWER takes the Ochre Jersey by 1 second!!!!!!!!Bystrom is 10 seconds down in 3rd. A really disappointing stage for the team as Richie finishes only a mere second down on overall .
Stage 6:
We tried to make it as hard as possible, but it wasn't enough, the day was hard from the outset as we were hunting for bonus seconds, but Bora cleaned them up and also took the stage with Bennett. Porte in the end loses out the jersey by a solitary second behind Robert Power.
Race Summary:
We took a stage win and 2nd in GC, although that might sound great, it really could have been better as Richie loses the race by a second. He continues his drought of never winning the TDU, but getting ever closer.
The mission has started! Africa Tour has kicked off for me lately in Morocco . And what can I say? It's proud to race in the national colours of my home country! But one after the other:
I am an official Continental Tour rider now! There was an opportunity I couldn't turn down, as Team Tirol offered my to ride in Europe this season already! ANd I had to grab it, of course. Especially when they agreed on my plans riding in Africa for my country. I'll ride with the material of Team Tirol (which is just stunning guys), so that might even help me in Africa. They even think of taking part in fitting races as part of their preperation for goals if conditions are much better down there, like f.e. at the Tropicale Amissa Bongo. But if not, I'll race for Rwanda.
And that's what I exactly did this weekend, starting at "Les Challenges de la Marche Verte - GP Sakia El Hamra".
Our team contained: Jean Bosco Nsengimana, Janvier Hadi, Bonaventure Uwizeyimana, Jeremie Karegeya and Samuel Hakiruwizeye.
We are all almost the same age (22-24), only Samuel is younger (19). A shame that Joseph and Adrien couldn't be with us, as they have to join their training schedules with Dimension Data. However, like this I was the captain, and on the windy flat roads our guys weren't fear of putting their nose in the wind with some powerful racing.
The moroccan teams were both stronger in quantity and experience though, so pretty early it was Bonaventure and me against the Moroccans, as it was a shootout race with the sidewinds on the coast. Torku with a rather strong young turkish guy though still in the mix and a frenchie as well, when the battle between the Moroccans and the Italians really began. One by one they attacked, and the others did react. Good for us, as like this we could both sit a little back.
But then Morocco did put on the pace to destroy everybody. Only the Frenchie, Siim (a young estonianv riding for a french amateur team), Meron from Stradalli and the Turk survived that move, and still 6 Moroccans in there. Now they tried to outplay us, but the Frenchie and the Turk really had some strong legs to make them angry. Climate went rougher as they were very unhappy with those only riding when a Moroccan attacked, so they started ellbowing around. It lead in a spectacular crash of the Turk, pushed off by a Moroccan, falling into two teammates of the initial pusher. What a dumb move.
And suddenly it was 3 vs. 4. The Moroccans now thought it was better to ride for themselves, as the Frenchie again attacked, and nobody followed. Another two Moroccans burned themselves to bring him back with 1.5 to go. In the meantime Siim was done for the day and dropped off. But Meron and I looked at each other and decided to give it a go. And like this we could surprise the Moroccans. Pretending to mark each other we opened up a gap and then really went hard on it. The final Moroccan chased solo, but he wasn't up to our combined power. Only just, which shows how strong those guys are.
Instead, I came to the line together with Meron. I knew that he was the stronger sprinter, so I stayed at his wheel for the final 500 meters. But he didn't make any mistakes, started his sprint and was juist too strong, so that I wasn't able to come around him. A big win for him and Bike Aid, but also a strong result for me to start the African Tour in a race which should've belonged to the Moroccans. Their best was only 3rd though, the solo chaser. But then two other guys of them ahead of the Frenchie, another one, and then Siim. And even Bonaventure could hang on for the Top10.
What a good day despite missing out close on the win!
Hey buddies, how are you doing. We arrived to Algarve today a few hours ago and I'm ready to start the season off! I can tell you that joining me in this race will be Guardini, Durasek, Polanc, Mohoric, Laengen, Bono and Pettili. We are going to practise tomorrow trough the roads of Algarve to be prepared to give our best Wednesday, when we're hoping to lead Guardini to the stage win!
I can say I feel prepared to fight for the victory, I know the competion is strong with the likes of Martin, Kwia or Amador but I'm confident I can leave Portugal with the GC win (and hopefully a stage).
You will hear back from me after the first stage, stay safe!
Spoiler
Meintjes can replace me in Oman. DON'T forget to add me to the Algarve startlist please
Our first goals of the season are here. For Omloop we select:
- Bille
- Cordeel
- Devolder
- Duyn
- Premont
- Van Aert
- Van Breussegem
- Van Zummeren
We want to protect Van Aert and Devolder here. One of them should be in a mid race attack, the other should try to follow the favourites as long as possible. A top 10 would be great here.
For Kuurne, the team will be:
- De Bondt
- Devolder
- Dupont
- Goolaerts
- Kruopis
- Merlier
- Van Aert
- Vergaerde
Someone should try to get in the breakaway, while the rest of the team has to support Dupont for the mass sprint. With our sprinters not riding yesterday, we might even try to set up a train. Either way, Dupont should be able to get a top 5 here, behind the top sprinters.
Luke Rowe is a 26 year old cyclist from Great Britain. He rides for Team Sky. He is a rider for northern classics and last year he had a 5th place in Ronde and 4th in Omloop. He was in the front group but when he crashed he helped Stannard in Paris-Roubaix and was 14th. He was also 8th at Paris-Roubaix and 9th at Omloop last year. He also has two GC top 10's at Tour of Qatar. His first and only professional win is the 1st stage of Tour of Britain 2012 from a sprint which Cavendish couldn't contest because he was caught in a crash so Rowe sprinted for himself and took the win.
This year he hopes to go a step further and podium a monument. He wants to race these races on the classic calendar:
Omloop
Kuurne
Milano San Remo
E3 Harelbeke
Gent Wevelgem
Ronde van Vlaanderen
Paris-Roubaix
He may also race the 3 days of Dane Panne race but that's not certain. After the classics he wants to ride the Eneco Tour and go for it in the cobbles stage if there is a one.
He can ride either Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico. The team can select the race he will do. Also he can ride the Vuelta to support Froome and train for the WC where he aims to get a top 10 because of the relatively hilly course (which should drop the pure sprinters) and his good sprint.
He wants to be the joint leader in all races except MSR where he is expected to work for Kwiatkowski and Thomas.
He wants to be like Tchmil, or a slightly worse version of Boonen because of his lesser sprint compared to Boonen's top form but Rowe is a good sprinter and rouleur as well so he may win a few stages in a GTs from breakaways or echelon finals with a late attack. He wants to win the northern classics but he also has an eye on MSR and says he wants to target that race next year.
This year he was 4th in the prologue of Herald Sun and he worked for Froome in the rest of the race and helped him to win a stage and come 3rd overall. He rode TDU as a build up race. Then at Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race he was dropped in a climb midway through the race and didn't manage to come back so he abandoned the race.
Edited by Forever the Best on 21-02-2017 18:39
Hey buddies, how are you doing? It has now been two days since the end of my first race of the season, and what a race it was!
The first stage of Volta ao Algarve was a calm start, testing my legs in the my first peloton ride of they year and they felt good. Unfortunately we didn't manage to place anyone in the top 10, as I finished mid-peloton not entering the sprint mess, trying to avoid any falls that could ruin the beggining of the season.
Stage two, and the first big test of the year, a challeging end at Alto da Foia and I started the stage with one goal, raising my arms at the end! The approach to the end was rough and soon we had attacks by the portuguese teams riders, and then a strong push by Etixx that needed to win time to defend themselves on the TT. I felt good though and in the end it was a one-on-one against Dan Martin and I managed to BEAT him and raise my arms for the first time in over A YEAR! What a feeling, has I received the yellow jersey in front of my supporters who sang my name.
Next we had the TT, where I wanted to show the critics I didn't lose my abilities on the individual effort and I made a good stage, despite losing the GC to Roglic for a few seconds, but I knew I could turn it around at Malhão. Another flat stage followed and the same scenario happened.
And then we reached the decisive stage the finish at the usual Malhão where I knew I had to attack if I wanted to bring the GC with me. Etixx yet again launched a big attack leaving me with Guerreiro and Martin alone and a good enough advantage to conquer the GC. We worked well together to raise the advantage as it was all of us best interest and in the end neither me or Martin were able to answer Guerreiro strong finish bit my biggest goal was fulfilled and I WIN THE GC!
What a fantastic start to the season, but I prepared very well this race and I'm now more motivated than I possibly could to fight throughout the season, with Abu Dhabi coming up soon, as we will present out new shirts that include our new sponsor Emirates! Anyway, this will make it but I want to thank you for the huge support I've been getting this past week either online or on the road, and I couldn't be happier to present you with two wins here in Portugal! I'll see you again in Abu Dhabi where I go with an high morale hoping for another good result despite big competition. Stay well!
Sorry for not posting for a while, I was very buisy but I didn't forget
Robert Gesink
Volta ao Algarve
We brought out here a strong team to the Algarve, I was in good shape but the race wasn't hard enough for me to target an overall victory, instead we would be going for Primoz Roglic who was in excellent form and had an amazing weapon with his time-trial abilities, and also Dylan Gronewegen who could target the sprints and was pointed out has one of the main contenders for them. Joining me was also George Bennett, Tom Leezer, Lars Boom and Gijs van Hoecke. Stage 1
So the first stage was flat, the main goal of the team was really to keep my, Bennett and Roglic safe has all of us could target overall depending on how it would go, but we didn't forget Dylan, Tom had his back throughout the day and even though he didn't have the support he deserved he still got an impressive second place in the stage, with all of us arriving in the peloton. Stage 2
Today was an important stage for the overall, the arrival in the Alto da Fóia would prove itself vital in the end, at least for me, as I wasn't as good as I expected, nonetheless Primoz did 4th and is now our only leader, with a good chance of a podium in the end. George also suffered a bit and lost time. Stage 3
Today was the time-trial, our man Primoz Roglic did 6th and amazingly passed to the lead of the race, as for me I tried to save myself a bit for the remaining stages and so didn't achieve quite a time. Stage 4
Another flat stage, I was riding in support of Primoz, as much of the team was in fact, in the end Dylan still went to the sprint but only managed 7th, but we were happy because we kept the yellow jersey with us. Stage 5
Today, finally... The final and queen stage, there was a lot of stress as there were many riders in contention for overall, and our worst fear came real, the race was attacked since Km0, Quickstep and UAE were super agressive, I lot contact with the group with 20Km to go and Primoz only had George with him, and I imagine he didn't last much aswell, Primoz was still able to start the final climb with the other contenders but they soon attacked and he couldn't respond, in the end he finished 10th but still managed to hold on to his podium position, wich was our initial goal so there were no broken hearts. We had a stint in the yellow jersey, a stage podium and a final podium, so our race was good and we achieved our goals.
As for me, I leave the race a little sad for not beeing able to help my teammates better, but it's not a huge problem as my goals are still far away. My next race is only in April, at the Tour of the Basque Country, but till then I will spent some days at home, and head to a training camp in Tenerife, that is scheduled to have 3 weeks.
Jack Haig
Volta ao Algarve
So, we brought a small team out here to the Algarve, everybody in the team had the desire to start the season very early but there weren't enough races for everyone, so the management at the last-minute got us a particicpation here, I was happy though, it's a very good race with good weather, it doesn't suit me perfectly but I will have the chance to lead the team, something that isn't usual. It's a small team, with me are Chris Juul Jensen, Alexander Edmonson, Luka Mezgec, Svein Tuft and Carlos Verona. Stage 1
A quite calm day, it was a surprise seing Alex in the break as it is one of his first races in the team, and that was actually the high-point of the day with us, Luka got 13th in the sprint and I finished in the peloton. Stage 2
One of the most important stages, I got 18th after I suffered a lot in the begining of the final climb, but I got my own pace and managed to claw back some places, with this I was officialy the GC contender of the team, but we were focusing a lot on breakaways. Stage 3
The time-trial, I got a modest 46th, not very bad but it didn't allow me to climb in the GC, I dropped to 19th actually but now it's important to recover and try something in the last stage. Stage 4
Another flat one, Luka got 8th in the stage and that was preety good seeing that we don't really have a good structure here, only Alex and Svein were able to be with him in the end. For me, I finished safely in the bunch and mantained my position overall Stage 5
The queen stage, it was very hard, fast from the start and oh so damaging, a constant up-and-down. Carlos got in the break and was in fact the last one of the day beeing caught, with that he got the Mountain jersey wich was in fact a good result for us, Chris was the only one able to help me in the final 30Km, Carlos was in front but as soon as he got caught he was left behind, I started the climb in the end of the very-reduced peloton and did the entire climb by pace, I quickly got dropped but in the final meters I got some seconds back to many people and finished 16th, just behind the Roglic group wich I guess it was a good result. With that I also finished 16th, Carlos got the Mountain jersey so it was a nice race for me, I got the taste of leading the team and it felt great, it was also meant for me to have a little bit of more experience leading, as the team has got plans for me this season. Next race up is Tirreno-Adriático where I will surely be in support of Esteban Chaves to get a little more Kms in the legs for the Giro, the first main goal of the season.
Robert Gesink
to begin the Moroccan calendar.
, left in the tank which soon enough bridged me up to Richie. I saw the Dimension Data rider up the road, at the time, I had no clue who it was so I used that as like a "carrot to follow". At this time, Porte was right with me, but soon enough a final attack managed to catch him out as Marc dropped back. Just with the line beckoning, I saw the DDD rider in sight (Lachlan Morton) and he seemed to hit the wall as I sailed past him. It was really an incredible moment in my life, an unforgettable one. As I raised my arms and crossed the line, I had mixed emotions, I was joyful in the fact I had won the stage, but was it enough for ochre? I was really nervous, I had taken the stage, but was it enough as I saw Richie and Sven come in after me........Whitey gave me thumbs up and I fell in jubilation. It was a moment to saviour, had I just one my first professional race with still one stage to go? It was 1 second, the margin to Porte after the official timings, with possible bonus seconds for tomorrow. I stood aloft in the podium, as proud as punch wearing my hometown tour's leader's jersey. An interview barrage came after which was quite amazing being my first time and I just took each question as it came. I was very relaxed as we went onto the next stage.............
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