Hi guys ! My name is Alex and I am back at writting a story after the last one with Movistar . Unfortunately I had to give up at that one because I am at high school and in that period I had no time at all for games . Now I promise that this story will last for at least 1 season and the reports will be more complex . So lets start talking about this story : I decided to pick one of my favourite teams , Omega Pharma QuikStep , a team will a lot of good riders , one of the strongest teams in the world , but which also does not have the expectations of Team Sky of winning every race , so the pressure will not be as big as if I would have chosen Sky .I really hope you will like my style and follow my story .
Career details
- Career dificulty : Normal -Race fificulty : Hard -Database : PCM Daily 2013 ( with minor changes of some stats )
Post #2 will be about our riders and their schedules .
Post #3 will be about our goals .
Edit : Feel free to post Edited by alex valceanu on 16-03-2013 14:44
So lets talk about our riders .We have some amazing riders , like the former world champion Mark Cavendish , the best sprinter in the world , Tom Boonen , another former world champion , a legend of the cobbles , 4-time winner of Ronde and of course Tony Martin who last year won for the second time in a row the ITT World Championship title . We also have some riders with a lot of experience like Chavanel ,Bert Grabsch or Jerome Pineau who can help our young guns , Kwiatovski , Fenn , Trentin or Verona develop . This mixture of old and young riders , of time-trial riders ,spinters and guys for the classics make our team so interesting to watch . We expect the 2013 year to be even better than the last one , whcih was quite amazing with wins from Gent-Wevelgeam , E3 Prijs , Ronde , Paris - Roubaix , ITT WC and many other .
Leaders
Mark Cavendish
This is his schedule of training for this season . He will be our leader in Qatar , Oman , Tirreno-Adriatico and then he will participate in Milano San-Remo where he will be co-leader with Boonen .The he will return to racing in June where he will prepare for the biggest goal of his season : Tour de France . After that we will talk to him , see how he will feel and decide in what races he will participate in the remainnig part of the season .
Tom Boonen
A specialist of the classics Tomeke will seek for a 5th succes in the Ronde and a 4th one in Paris-Roubaix . He will start his season in February probably , then participate in Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-San-Remo to prepare for the 4 "big" classics with cobbles , races that he won last year .
He will return in competitions in June and prepare for TDF where he will be Mark's main helper in sprints .
Tony Martin
It's a proud thing for us to have in our team the ITT World Champion . He will start his season early , in February , and he will lead our team in Vuelta Algarve and Paris-Nice . He will also try to have a good performance in Dauphinee , Tour de France and at the WC . It's still unclear if he will ornot participate in La Vuelta .
Peter Velits
Peter is the best climber in our team and with his very good time-trial skills I find him as a decend GC rider . He will lead OPQS in LBL , Giro and then he will focus on La Vuelta for the second part of the season , where he will try to repeat his amazing performance from 2010 .
Protected riders
Sylvain Chavanel
He is a real fighter . A rider with a lot of experience , strong on flat, cobbles , hills and with very good TT performances , he is one of the most important riders in our team . He will help Tony Martin in Algarve and in Paris-Nice and then he will be Boonen's main helper in Ronde and Paris - Roubaix . In TDF he will play a vital role in the sprint train but he will also go in break-aways to go for the stage win or the KOM jersey .
Niki Terpstra
Just like Chavanel Niki is an mazing rider to have in your team . The Dutch champion will provide a huge help for Boonen in the classics but he will also be our leader is some smaller races . We talked to him and decided not to participate in any GT this season so he will have more chances in classics and in 1-week tours .Lets hope it is a smart decision .
Gianni Meersman
A very good rider , Gianni is a combination of pucheur and a sprinter and we are very confident that he will bring some wins this season for us . He will be our leader in GP Marseillaise , Etoile de Besseges and in Strade Bianchi so he will have lots of chances in the first part of the season .
Michal Kwitowski
He is such a talented rider , good on flat ,hills , time-trials , and also in the reduced sprints . We have a lot of confidence that he will develop in a real good rider for the Ardennes classcis and 1-week tours .
Edited by alex valceanu on 16-03-2013 15:35
Okey know that you know a little bit about our most important riders lets focus on the goals that our sponsors have
Well you can say that we expected most of them to be our goals and are possible to achieve with the riders we have .But some of them are quite impossible to achieve so I decided to make a personal list of the results we want to achieve .
*** Green Jersey in TDF , Win The Ronde , Win Paris-Roubaix ** Win ITT WC , Top 3 Paris-Nice ,Top 3 MSR , Top 5 Dauphinee , Top 5 Vuelta * Win E3 Prijs , Gent-Wevelgem , KOM Jersey in TDF , Stage win in Giro, Top 10 in LBL , Win Tour of Qatar , Strade Bianche , Stage Win(s) in Tour of Pologne , Tour de Romandie , Vuelta Cataluna , Vuelta Pais Basco
Edited by alex valceanu on 16-03-2013 15:53
So here it is ... The first race of the season !
Our riders have worked really hard for 3 months to be in the best shape at the start of the season , so we expect them to perform well .
Our line-up
Stage 1
A short stage that will , most likely , end up in a mass sprint .
At the nd of the first climb there was no break-away formed so G.Rast ( RNT) , R.Dennis (GAR) , H.Houle (ALM) and R.Sinkeldam (ARG) attacked from the peloton . Rast won the sprint and took the 16 points and the KOM Jersey at the end of the day.
On the downhill Andrew Fenn attacked and he succesfully cought the other 4 riders . It was nice for us to have a man in the BOTD .
He was the fastest man from the group so he had no problem winning the 1st intermediate sprint , Good job Fenn !
Unfortunately at the second sprint he was caught off-guard and he had to settle with 3rd place .
But then with 25 kms to go he said he was feeling great so we told him to attack . He surpised his fellow companions on a downhill portion and he created a 25" gap .
He maintained his lead and won the last intermediate sprint , knowing for sure that tomorrow he will wear the Points Jersey . But the peloton was coming fast , led bt Blanco , Vacansoleil and Lampre .
Yep...He got caught . Still an amazing performance by Fenn for the first day of racing of the season .
Stybar took Belleti's wheel behing the Lampre train , formed by Cimolai and Richeze .
Unfortunately he got blocked , finished 17th . Good job for Renshaw , taking the overall lead with this victory ! Also congratulations to Fenn who will wear tomorrow the Points Jersey .
An even shorter stage than yesterday , just 110 kms , but the final will be a liitle bit more difficult with a climb in the last 10 kilometers .
No break-away was formed until the first intermediate sprint so Fenn , wearing the Blue Jersey , decided to start an early sprint , because Renshaw was very close and it was expected him to be faster .
No problem beating Renshaw , but Ahstrand (ARG) came in front of Fenn , with Wurf in 3rd place . Fenn now has a total of 18 points , sitting comfortably on the 1st place in Points Ranking .
Ahstrand and Wurf continued the attack , forming a 2-man break-away , while Fenn decided to sit in the peloton . At the 2nd intermediate sprint Andrew fought with Renshaw for 3rd place , but the Aussie won .
The 2 riders were caught and it will be another mass sprint . Lastras lauched Ventoso , who was in the lead with 1.2 kms to go . Unfortunately both Fenn and Meersman had been positioned badly at the start of the last climb and cant fight for a top 10 .
And Ventoso wins , with Urtasun right behind him . Renshaw keeps the Leader's Jersey thanks to the 3rd place in the intermediate sprint .
The first difficult stage of the tour , with an uphill finish . We expect the favourites to attack and have some time gaps in GC before Old Willung Hill .
After only 500 meters from the start of the stage Meersman decide to attack . He successfully created a gap .
And he kept this lead over the peloton to win the mountain sprint and have 16 points in KOM standings , tied with Gregory Rast . After the climb he slowed down and got caught .
The BOTD was formed , but as expected they were caught early , with more than 25kms to go . Lots of riders attacked , including Lastras , Poels , I.Izaggire , Bakelands and L.Y.Bak . But all the attacks were neutralised by Blanco , who were determined to keep the Leader's Jersey . With 10 kms to go Casar launched a powerfull attack .
The Blanco riders tired and Casar was 1' ahead . He was celebrating the win when Nordhaug tried to create a gap from the peloton .
Shame you dont get good results here, but its not a big deal. As long as you win in Roubaix and Meerbeke.
BTW one thing: could you post the rest (after top 10/15/20) in a spoiler? That way we could follow our favorite riders.
Edited by Selwink on 17-03-2013 07:28
sutty68 We decided that our main goals for the rest of stages will be to keep Fenn's Blue Jersey and take the KOM Jersey with Meersman . We will probably not have any riders in Top 20 in GC if don't take part in a succesful break-away .We will try to get in BOTD because our riders aren't very fit to win a sprint against the whole peloton .
Selwink Thanks for saying that , I just thought that you don't care about the rest ; good to know . BTW: If you want any "upgrades" to the report , like Selwink suggested , say , I might be able to do them .
Another short,easy,flat stage that will probably end up in a mass sprint . Let's hope Fenn will be in good shape .
As expected the break-awat was formed . O.Kaisen , G.Rasch ,S.Tuft , D.Ratto , M.Keizer , M.Morkov and T.Lugvigson were in front and had a maximum lead of 5' over the peloton .With 60 kms to go FDJ started to up the pace and with 15 kilometers to go they were caught .
We tried to from a sprint train for Fenn . With 5 kilometers to go Maes , Stybar and Meersman were in front of Andrew . But Lampre and Blanco were well-positioned too.
Unfortunately Meersman felt really tired and our train lost some speed , still we were fighting for a top 5 . With 500 meters to go he was in 5th place . Can he hang on ?
Nooo...only 9th place . It was such a close sprint , 10 riders fighting for a podium place . Fenn lost 4 positions in the last 200 meters .
OK..here it is ! The uphill finish on the Old Willunga Hill . The queen stage of the 2013 Santos Tour Down Under . At the end of the day we will probably know the winner of the tour , can Sandy Casar defend his 1 minute lead over Nordhaug ?
Our objective was to place Meersman in the BOTD to take some points for the KOM Rankings . But the race was really odd. We tried several times to from a break-away but FDJ wouldn't let us . For the first 90 kilometers of the stage we rode at 50 km/h . It was insane ! And here we were at the start of the 1st pass over Old Willunga Hill with no break-away.
And Meersman lauched another attack , winning the mountain sprint . Another 16 points to his total and he is now the virtual leader in KOM Rankings.
Lastras and Millar attacked on the downhill . At the start of the final climb they had 30 seconds . Probably it will not be enough .
And everybody started their sprint . Meersman was in the first group too but after all those attacks he is exhausted . Who is the strongest ?
Its the main favourite taking the win : Daniel Moreno (KAT ) !
But wait Nordhaug is second , but an important lead ove Casar who seems to be exhausted . Can he come in time to keep his Leader's Jersey ?
Nothing good in the GC for us , but we have now the Points and KOM Jerseys . So we will try getting the stage win tomorrow and keep these jersey , for a decent STDU , knowing that we came here without any " star" in our line-up .
My name is Alex and I am back at writting a story after the last one with Movistar . Unfortunately I had to give up at that one because I am at high school and in that period I had no time at all for games . Now I promise that this story will last for at least 1 season and the reports will be more complex . So lets start talking about this story : I decided to pick one of my favourite teams , Omega Pharma QuikStep , a team will a lot of good riders , one of the strongest teams in the world , but which also does not have the expectations of Team Sky of winning every race , so the pressure will not be as big as if I would have chosen Sky .I really hope you will like my style and follow my story . 
Still an amazing performance by Fenn for the first day of racing of the season .
