edit: If anyone has any other feedback on the posts so far, please let me know!
Well, I would advise you to find your own style The layout is an almost exact copy of Kiserlovski01's Caja Rural story, and while it's completely fine to take elements from other stories you enjoy, this takes it a bit too far imo. Take some inspiration, but make it your own thing. The addition of the results of each of your team's riders is a good start.
@cunego59 - Thank you for the feedback! I agree the styles were very similar. This is my first attempt at a story, so I'm hoping to find my own take on things as I go, so it's always helpful to have it pointed out when you go a little off course! I've made some edits to the previous posts, and will continue to try and develop the style as the story progresses
On a separate note, I have updated all of the photobucket images to imgur links so hopefully everyone can see everything now? If there are still any issues with the image links please let me know and I will try to correct them!
Race Strategy:
With the field looking very strong for this stage race, our aim will be to go for stage wins. After his victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise, Julien El-Flares has once again been given the license to attack! We come into this race with the same team as the previous race and, on a day that looks set for a bunch sprint, we will be looking for better from our twin sprinters Yannick Martinez (team leader) and Rohane Bouhanni.
The Days Action:
The race opened at a frenetic pace, as once again there were attacks from the off! After missing out in Marseille, this time we were ready and were able to position Julien El-Flares into the break away. The peleton initially tried to pull the breakaway back, setting a frenetic pace that caused an early split in the field, but eventually an eight man group was allowed to get away from the pack.
The first instance of note occurred as the breakaway approached the first categorised climb of the day. Fabien Grellier of Direct Energie attacked at the base of the climb, a move that was covered by El-Flares. The two rode away from the rest of the break, with El-Flares holding the wheel of Grellier until the last few metres, before moving past him to take a maximum 6 points at the top of the first climb.
At the top of the first climb, the break had extended their lead to 6'10. As the peleton crested the first summit, the bunch lifted their pace and began to eat away at the lead of the breakaway. By the time the break reached the 2nd categorised climb, their lead had been reduced to 4'05 with 65 km still to race.
Nobody else in the break challenged El-Flares for the points this time, as he was able to lead the group over the Cote de la Tour for another maximum 6 points. Fabien Grellier once again wheeled over in second, showing he is retaining some interest in this competition.
The second slope really seemed to take the sting out of the breakaway, and the peleton really began to eat into their advantage. By the time the group reached the Intermediate Sprint at 26 km to go, their advantage was down to just 1'28, and the peleton was closing in.
El-Flares had a go at the intermediate sprint, but the hills had taken the speed out of his legs and he was only able to get 3rd place for 2 points in that competition. Fabien Grellier this time was able to go over in first place and pick up the maximum six points.
A few kilometers later, and it was all over for the breakaway as the peleton swept them up with 20km to go.
The run in to the finish was fast and frantic, as the sprint teams set a break neck pace to prevent any more attacks. The pace caused a number of splits in the peleton, with a number of BPCE-Nataxis riders getting caught the wrong side, including our young sprinter Royane Bouhanni who wouldn't be figuring in the finish today. Yannick Martinez was able to stay with the main group, along with Anothony Delaplace and Julien El-Fares, but used up all his energy trying to get to the front of the pack so had no kick when it came to the line and didn't figure in the sprint.
The final sprint was hotly contested, with Navardauskas ultimately able to hold off the challenges of Bos and Degenkolb to pick up the win! Disappointment once again in the sprint for us, but seeing Julien on the podium receiving his jersey will more than make up for it!
Race Strategy:
Julien El-Flares starts the day in the polka-dot jersey, but after yesterdays efforts will be having a quiet day today to rest for tomorrows queen stage with three Category 1 climbs and 30 points on offer. We will be looking to our sprinters to find some legs today, after a difficult start to the season.
The Days Action:
Julien El-Flares started the day in the Polka-Dot jersey for us today following the points he picked up during his time in yesterdays breakaway, but he wouldn't be getting involved in any attacks today as he saves his energy for tomorrows queen stage. Todays breakaway took a little bit of time to form, as two groups, one including Royane Bouhanni, were pulled back by the bunch and not allowed to get away. Eventually a group of 5 riders was allowed to escape the peleton and settled down to form the days breakaway.
The breakaway had built up a lead of 3'10 as they crested the 2nd category Uzes, and continued to build their lead up to 4'30 by the time they reached the days Intermediate Sprint.
The breakaway continued to work well together and passed over the final categorised climb of the day uncontested with a lead of 4'11 over the peleton. However, the sprinters teams were now at the front and were eating away at the advantage of the breakaway. This increase in speed began to cause gaps in the peleton, with some riders shooting out the back. Unfortunately Royane Bouhanni was one of the riders caught the wrong side of this gap and would not be sprinting for the stage. The increased pace proved too much for the breakaway and they were caught with around 8km left on the stage.
With the breakaway caught, it was once again down to the sprinters with a flat run in to the finish. With Bouhanni the wrong side of the split, it was all down to team leader Yannick Martinez to get us a result. Martinez had worked hard to get a good position at around 10th wheel in the peleton as we approached the final few kilometers on the stage. However when the sprint kicked off, Martinez had nothing left to give and quickly went backwards through the field as Ramunas Navardauskas sprinted to his second successive stage victory, this time ahead of Jose Joaquin Rojas, to cement his place at the head of both the GC and the points jersey.
Well done by Julien to secure the mountain jersey, some more breaks in the race and he should be able to bring it home. Little Bouhanni needs to work on his positioning, getting caught out twice in a row is almost a pattern.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Shonak wrote:
Well done by Julien to secure the mountain jersey, some more breaks in the race and he should be able to bring it home. Little Bouhanni needs to work on his positioning, getting caught out twice in a row is almost a pattern.
Thanks! After taking a rest on stage 2, expect Julien to go on the attack on stage 3 - particularly with so many mountain points available!
This is definitely something I need to work on! My guys are getting caught out a fair amount in pack splits atm, which is likely down to my negligence. I don't seem to quite have the sprinting mechanic down with a lesser team in this game, so hopefully results will improve as we approach the first of our sponsor objectives for the year!
Race Strategy:
Stage 3 is the Queen stage of this years Etoile de Besseges, a 151.4 km stage which loops around the town of Besseges and sees the riders climb the Category 1 Col de Trelys three times! With 30 points up for grabs, we had only one focus for today – to get Julien El-Flares in a break to pick up as many mountain points as possible and secure the jersey!
The Days Action:
As planned, Julien El-Flares attacked from the off with the stage starting immediately into the Col de Trelys. A number of riders attacked behind El-Fares, but Julien was able to hold them off and cross the summit in first place to secure the first 10 points of the day.
With the 10 points in the bag, El-Flares slowed on the descent to allow some of the riders behind him to catch up and form the days breakaway. The break swelled to 11 riders in all, and by the first Intermediate Sprint of the day the group had built a lead of 1'40. The break continued to work together and build their lead, until they reached the base of the Col de Trelys for the second time. On the slopes of the climb, Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo-Vital) broke the cohesion of the break and attacked. El-Flares responded and was able to ride up to the wheel of Perichon, but just couldn't get around the French climber and had to settle for 2nd over the summit and 8 points in the KOM competition. Perichon had not contested the first climb, so Julien held a 20 point lead in the competition at this stage.
The break reconvened on the descent of the Col de Trelys, with a lead of 3'40 in tact. Once they were off the descent, 3 riders attacked and formed a gap in the breakaway with 85 km still to race. El-Flares had missed the move, and found himself in a group of 8 riders down the road. Pierre-Luc Perichon had followed the move, and was well positioned in the group at the head of the race, so El-Flares needed to close the gap. Four riders worked together over the next 25 km, and were finally able to peg the 3 riders back as the group hit the slopes of the Col de Trelys for the third time. The group was now down to 7, but there was no respite. No sooner had the second group reattached themselves, Pierre-Luc Perichon attacked once again. El-Flares couldn't follow the acceleration, having put in a lot of work to peg the lead group back. Perichon was able to ride away from the group and secure the 10 points, but El-Flares was able to make a late move to distance the other 5 riders and take 2nd place and another 8 points. This gave El-Flares an 18 point lead in the competition, and with only 12 points available on Stage 4 secured the Polka-Dot jersey for the team!
Once again there was a regroup on the descent, this time only 5 riders bridging the gap. El-Flares was getting very tired at this point, having used a lot of energy on the climbs and chasing the lead group, so when Francise Mourey (Fortuneo-Vital) attacked with 40 km to go he had no response. Mourey was quickly joined by Evaldas Siskevicius (Delko Marseille), and the two riders rode away from the remnants of the breakaway.
The peleton had begun to ride at this point in the race and quickly swept up Julien El-Flares' group, just leaving two men out in front. Mourey & Siskevicius battled gamely, but could do nothing as the peleton swept them up with 15 km to go. The Queen Stage of the race had proved tough on the riders, as gaps were already beginning to form in the peleton – Royane Bouhanni once again the first BPCE-Natixis rider spat out. These gaps continued to form as the peleton roared towards the finish line. Eventually a small group of 12 contested the sprint, with John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Alpecin) finally able to beat his rival Ramunas Navardauskas (Cannondale) in the sprint to secure the third stage!
I like the relatively long texts, it's a a lot to read, but that's not a negative. However, if I may offer some more constructive criticism, you should probably zoom in on the screenshots, so that we can see more clearly what is happening. Also maybe experiment with different angles, it took me a while to see that some of the mountain sprint screenshots were actually not the same Other than that, it looks good, keep it up!
cunego59 wrote:
I like the relatively long texts, it's a a lot to read, but that's not a negative. However, if I may offer some more constructive criticism, you should probably zoom in on the screenshots, so that we can see more clearly what is happening. Also maybe experiment with different angles, it took me a while to see that some of the mountain sprint screenshots were actually not the same Other than that, it looks good, keep it up!
Thank you for the feedback! I'll look at reducing the length in future updates. I naturally write too much, so I've got to find that balance!
I'll be honest here, I didn't know how to move the camera to take better screenshots haha. I've done a bit of research and I think I know how to do it now! I've already raced the next update, but I'll certainly try and get better shots going forwards!
Race Strategy:
A much flatter stage in prospect today. After Julien El-Flares' efforts to secure the Polka-Dot Jersey yesterday he would be taking a rest on what looks to be another sprinters day that should see the resumption of the personal battle between Ramunas Navardauskas and John Degenkolb. Our hopes will be pinned on Yannick Martinez finding his legs for todays sprint.
The Days Action:
After a few false starts, a 6 man break finally formed 30 km into the stage. The break went over the first climb of the day uncontested, with a lead of 2'10. The Intermediate Sprint and the 2nd climb of the day also went uncontested, with the breaks lead extending to nearly 4 minutes. Their lead peaked at 4'50, and by the time the break rolled uncontested through the final Intermediate Sprint the peleton had begun to eat into their lead.
With the sprint teams at the front of the pack, the catch was made with ~15 km to go. The sprint trains were beginning to form, and Yannick Martinez seemed to be on a better day as he picked up the prized wheel of race leader Ramunas Navardauskas (Cannondale). Martinez looked to be in a good position as the sprint launched, but unfortunately Navradauskas seemed to be on a bad day and was never in the mix. This cleared the way for John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) to pick up an easy win, moving to within 3 seconds of the race lead and take the lead in the Points Classification heading into the final Time Trial. Yannick Martinez will be left wondering 'What If?' having got boxed in behind a surprisingly slow Navradauskas.
Too bad about Navardauskas' refusal to lead out Martinez but at least the team will finish the race with El-Flares on the podium. Bouhanni continuing his streak of losing time at every stage hehe
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Shonak wrote:
Too bad about Navardauskas' refusal to lead out Martinez but at least the team will finish the race with El-Flares on the podium. Bouhanni continuing his streak of losing time at every stage hehe
Yeah it was a real shame, it was the first time Martinez has had the legs to sprint and I thought I'd picked the perfect wheel! Oh well, next time!
I'm starting to get a little bit worried about that! I must be doing something wrong, because he just sort of drops off the back haha!
Race Strategy:
The final stage of this years Etoile de Besseges is 10.1 km ITT. Ending on a climb will make pacing all important, as riders who blow up on the final climb stand to lose a lot of time. Our best hopes of a result today lie with Anthony Delaplace, who could sneak into the top 20 with a good time trial.
The Days Action:
The riders came out in reverse order, which meant Royane Bouhanni was our first man out. He looked to find some legs today, and actually posted a decent time of time placing him 4th at time of finishing, although most of the field were left to go.
Surprisingly our only rider to best Bouhanni's time before Delaplace took to the start ramp was Romain Bacon, who went round 6 seconds faster. Anthony Delaplace hit the start ramp with 50 riders to go, knowing he needed a time of 15'37 to take the virtual lead on the road.
Delaplace started fairly steady, increasing his pace throughout the ride. 25th through the initial check point, Delaplace was able to ride the climb hard and cross the line with the 8th best time on the road with a time of 15'49 - 11 seconds behind virtual leader Giovanni Visconti (Movistar). The big names were starting to come out now and Delaplace started to slide down the charts. Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) posted a new best time of time of 15'28, which looked like it would hold until Jesus Herreda (Movistar) went 9 seconds better to take the lead. His time held all the way to the final man, race leader Ramunas Navardauskas (Cannondale). Navardauskas knew he needed a time of 16'01 to win the race and was able to put in a good ride to post a time of 15'48 and secure a deserved win.
All that was left was the Jersey presentations. The entire team stayed to watch Julien El-Flares receive his Mountains Jersey from the gorgeous podium girls. I'm sure Julien enjoyed that one! Combined with Anthony Delaplace sneaking into the top 20, we could be happy with our efforts in Besseges. Now we just needed to take this momentum into our next race: Sponsor Objective La Mediterraneenne!
Well done and dusted now but too bad El Fares dropped so far down the GC. At least Delaplace came in 19th. Crossing fingers for the next goal and race.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Shonak wrote:
Well done and dusted now but too bad El Fares dropped so far down the GC. At least Delaplace came in 19th. Crossing fingers for the next goal and race.
Unfortunately El-Flares' lack of time trialling skills cost him in that final stage! Still a good ride from him to claim the Polka-Dot jersey!
The season really begins with the next race, as La Mediterraneenne is the first of our sponsors goals for the season! You can expect the team to be very active in this one!
The Days Action:
With it being such a short time trial, the time gaps shouldn't be too large today. With the course only being 7.5 km, we were able to save Martinez's legs and not have him do a turn on the front today. As our best time trialist, we were looking to Anthony Delaplace to help drag us up the rankings today.
The guys kept a good formation all the way round the course, and finished as a group so nobody lost time. A time of 9'22 wasn't too bad an effort considering the make up of the team, and placed us 12th out of 20 teams which we were fairly happy with. BMC Racing dominated the race putting 19 seconds in 2nd placed Cannondale Pro Cycling, which was a lot more than we were expecting over this very short distance. With our work done, we began to plan for the real racing which for us would start tomorrow...
The Days Action:
As expected a 6 man break formed early in the race and was able to quickly ride away from an uninterested peleton. As they currently occupied the first 8 places on GC, BMC Racing took on the responsibility of pace setting at the head of the peleton. Despite this, the break had built a lead of 4'26 by the time they reached the days Intermidate Sprint.
The Intermediate Sprint point seemed to signal to the peleton that it was time to raise the pace a little. By the time the breakaway group reached the top of the only categorised climb of the day, they were a man down with Vladimir Isaychev (Katusha) being dropped, and their lead was down to 3'18.
The breakaway continued to fight hard, but the 5 men just didn't have the legs to hold off the advancing pack and were caught with 20 km to go. This signalled that it was time to start getting Yannick Martinez into position. We had initially planned to use Rayane Bouhanni to lead out Martinez, but the youngster was already approaching his max from increased pace of the pack. Instead Bouhanni helped move Aurelin Passeron and Martinez towards the front of the group until his legs went with around 10 km to go. Passerson kept the pace high to keep Martinez at the front of the group, as the two men slipped in behind the Cofidis train. With 4 km to go, Passerson lifted the pace and moved Martinez to the very front of the pack. Passerson kept Martinez in position until he wass ready to launch his sprint. As Martinez kicked he was at the head of the ract with only 500m to go! However, the other sprinters were coming back fast! In a desperate dive for the line, Martinez was able to take a very creditable 4th place as Jose Joaquin Rojas of Movistar proved to be too fast for the rest of the field! We missed out on the win, but a much improved performance from the team and from Martinez. We would try again tomorrow!
@Shonak - Thanks! Martinez seems to have come into some form, so hopefully we will be more competitive in the sprints from now on! It was a shame he couldn't sneak the win, but we still have two more stages to try and achieve the objective!
@sutty68 - Thank you! Julien's had a great start to the season for sure with a win at Marseillaise and then the Mountains Jersey at Besseges! Now we just need a few more guys to get some results to help us achieve our season goal of promotion to the UCI World Tour, and ultimate winning le tour!
Pre-Race Meeting:
The guys seemed in good spirits after Yannicks strong performance in yesterdays sprint. Todays stage had four climbs, so could prove to be the day for the baroudeurs rather than the pure sprinters. We were hoping this would help Yannick by eliminating some of his sprint rivals before the finish.
--Race Review --
The days break formed early today, and unfortunately for us no BPCE-Natixis riders were positioned well enough to join the move. A 7 man break formed after only a few minutes of racing and began to move away from the peleton. The 7 quickly splintered as Phil Gaiman (Cannondale) attacked on the first Category 1 climb of the day, reducing the group to 4 riders and taking the full 16 points on offer. Undeterred by their depleted numbers, the break continued to move away from the peleton and had built a 6'00 lead as they crested the second climb of the day.
By the time the break passed through the Intermediate Sprint, the peleton had increased its pace and the breaks lead was down to 3'05. As the break approached the final climb of the day they were still holding onto a slender lead, but the peleton was now looming. Behind the break, an attack from Joseph Dombrowsi (Cannondale) caused a split in the depleted peleton. Unfortunately for us, all of our remaining riders found themselves the wrong side of the split and were playing catch up. Dombrowski's attack saw the break quickly swept up by first the leaders and then the race intensified.
The leading group of 15 crested the final hill with a 30 second lead on the chasing pack. Julien El-Flares hit the front as our best descender to try and close the gap and set up a sprint for Yannick Martinez. Despite his best efforts, the lead group proved elusive and Jesus Herrada (Movistar) was able to win the sprint between the 15 riders and take a second stage win in two days for his Movistar team! The chasing group finished 21 seconds behind the leading group, with Yannick Martinez the best finisher from Team BPCE-Natixis as he sprinted to 19th place.
Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo-Vital) wins the Intermediate Sprint, with the peleton looming down the road.
The layout is an almost exact copy of Kiserlovski01's Caja Rural story, and while it's completely fine to take elements from other stories you enjoy, this takes it a bit too far imo. Take some inspiration, but make it your own thing. The addition of the results of each of your team's riders is a good start.
Etoile de Besseges (2.1)
J. Degenkolb
R. Navardauskas
D. McClay
J. Rojas
Z. Waeytens
M. Moser
M. Breschel
V. Kiryienka
J. Drucker
