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Karl Hammarling - Scene 25: The Grand Finale
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 14-11-2013 21:39
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Tour de France Champion
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Act 1: The Breakup
Scene 7:
The ITT for Stage 3. Michal will be up against World Champion Tony Martin for the win. It’s a good field but I think I can get something good. Finish well today and a solid GC position will be secured. The course if pan flat and about 20km long, shouldn’t take too long to finish.
Grabsch, himself a former world champion, set a good marker fairly early on. Gretsch, another promising German trialist beat that time to take the lead. I set off quite late on thanks to the split the day before. My job was to hit the day hard and send back info for Michal to use behind me on the road.
I’ll be honest, couple of scary moments. One really stands out. Cutting off a main road into town I got cocky and tried to cut some of the corner. I clipped a man-hole cover that was sticking up and had a huge drift across the road. Made a point of telling Michal not to do that.
I crossed the line in a provisional 12th place, 1’34 behind Gretsch’s time. Pretty good effort I thought, and should put me up around 10th GC at the end of the day. A short while later and Michal came down the finish straight, and smashed Gretsch time by a full 45”! Der Panzerwagon responded in kind and wooped Michal by 30”. Not a stage win for Kwiat but 2nd place and 2nd in GC. I didn’t quite make the Top10 GC, and was now up to 12th, but with no real hope of moving up now.
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| Ad Bot |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 15-11-2013 12:07
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Strong TT performance from Michal  |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 15-11-2013 14:09
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Act 1: The Breakup
Scene 8:
Nearly done with the race now. I had not quite got the full respect back from the team, but we were good enough. Another flat stage so in to protect Michals GC and try and get Lukey mixed in at the line. He most likely would not win but we could get him into the Top10 again.
Around 50km to go things got interesting. The big sprinters teams of Argos and Quickstep picked up the pace to chase the days break. We were on some back country roads, decent condition as long as you stayed away from the edges. So guess what happened next… Luke picked up a puncture. By the time the car got up to him, changed the wheel, and sent him away again Rowe was about 1’30 behind, and it was going to get worse without help.
“Karl, I need you to drop back and pace Luke to the peloton”… What the fuck! I was 12th in GC… “Hey, get James to do it, or Felix”
“They’ll be there to help. Now drop back!”
So I dropped backwards down the group and waited for Luke to catch me up. That was when I noticed that neither James nor Felix had appeared from the peloton.
“Hey ermm, where’s James and Felix?” “Karl, just bring Luke back”
By myself? No way, no fucking way. I didn’t deserve this. But I had no choice. Luke tagged onto my wheel and away we went. Pointless effort, the peloton was long gone. By the time Luke got to me we were almost 2 minutes down. I put in the effort for about 10km before sitting up, they were gone. Luke looked at me, and I could tell he was angry. Whether it was with me for stopping the chase, or the team for not sending more support, I could not tell and I most certainly was not going to ask…
Edited by TheManxMissile on 15-11-2013 14:09
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 15-11-2013 15:43
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Tour de France Champion
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Total B******s for not sending James and Felix back as well  |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 15-11-2013 17:29
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Tour de France Champion
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Heh? Bad DS, a lot of BS. |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 15-11-2013 23:46
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Tour de France Champion
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Act 1: The Breakup
Scene 9:
Luke and I came home 8’00 behind the peloton. We had both given up serious effort about 30km out and just cruised in. Lukes chance at another Top10 were gone, but my GC was ruined… Neither of us was happy and headed straight to the bus to ask why we were abandoned like that. Luke got into the bus first, so I waited outside. After a while Luke came out and told me to go in. He looked satisfied with the answer given to him.
As I mounted the steps he turned back to me. “Dickhead! Why did you say that you could chase it on your own?! Fucking idiot, you ruined my stage!”
I was stunned. Where the hell did that come from! And I found out. Turns out the DS told Luke that I had said that I could bring him back alone, hence why none of the others were there to help. I mean I never said that! That thought was just dumb.
I stepped down of the bus. Looked straight into Luke, turned and walked away. Not once did I look back the whole way across the car park. And I just kept going, across the street, down an alley and away… far far far away.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 15-11-2013 23:54
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Back stabbers or what
Edited by sutty68 on 16-11-2013 17:35
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 16-11-2013 12:37
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Tour de France Champion
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@sutty - yeah! DS apparently more of a Mozart fan.... 
Act 1: The Breakup
Scene 10:
I awoke to the vibrations from my phone. My flailing arm eventually knocked it down onto the bed. The harsh light made me squint. Why was anyone calling so early in the morning? That was when I realised it wasn’t the morning. No it was mid-afternoon.
“Karl! Don’t bother showing up today. Or tomorrow. In fact just stay away from Base for a while. We’ll call if we want you back. Malcolm.”
That about summed it up for me. Here I was in a hotel bed in the middle of the afternoon, and I should have been back in Stoke, getting ready for the Tour Series. I had just walked away, clean away. I was angry. No, I was more than angry at the time. Yeah I made a mistake before the race, but that was no reason to ruin things for me, let alone Luke as well.
I remember going into a bar a couple of blocks away and not a lot more after that. All I know now is that I’m in a hotel in Munich. It’s 5 days later… And who’s this girl…
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 16-11-2013 15:55
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Its about time Karl moved on and started afresh |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 16-11-2013 17:27
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Tour de France Champion
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@sutty - A break is exactly what he needs, so....
@readers - Should polish off pre-writting the remainder of Act 1 tonight. Will be enough scenes stacked up to get me through a busy two weeks of deadlines. However after the 27th i have no deadlines until mid/late January, so expect more updates more often in a couple of weeks... In case two a day wasn't doing it for you
Act 1: The Breakup
Scene 11: London's Calling
“Flight BA2061 to London-Gatwick now boarding.” Having said an awkward goodbye to Claudia… or was is Claire… or Kylie… whatever, I booked onto the next flight back to the UK. I knew what I’d done was wrong, but I was not about to go straight back to Node4 begging forgiveness off them. I wished could have called Dad and talked to him about things.
Instead I could at least go home and start getting things back on track. Mum was away in Stockholm again, so I decided to crash at an old mates house in London for a few days. My plan was simply to clear my mind, take a few real days off. Catch up with some people and relax. Then once I’d got myself in a better place I’d go back to training, and eventually back to Stoke. Hopefully I could get back in the good books and go to the nationals at the end of the month.
“Mr. Hammarling to Gate 12. Mr. Hammarling to Gate 12.” Oh sh*t, best not be late for the flight, I’ve had enough bad luck.
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 17-11-2013 10:13
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Tour de France Champion
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Not his best days  |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 17-11-2013 11:24
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Tour de France Champion
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@Ian - Hopefully the break will help get him back on track
Act 1: The Breakup
Scene 12: Testing Times
“Well Karl, I’ll be honest, I was not expecting you back.”
“Malcolm, don’t pretend about honesty. You lied to the team before so who’s to say you’re not lying now.”
It was certainly a rough welcome back. The Nationals were next weekend and I had decided to go back to Base and show them what shape I was in. I spent a couple of days chilling with my mate in London, crap flat by the way, then hit training… hard!
London is great for speed work and handling skills. I was whizzing up and down any and every street, dodging traffic, pedestrians and the occasional policeman. I hadn’t lost any of my stamina or winter base fitness so was just working on topping off what I had in terms of speed and form.
Malcolm got me set up on the static bike to give a proper test. I duly obliged my smashing all my old PB’s, and most of the teams as well. At peak I was generating well over 1000 watts, albeit only for only a few seconds or so. It was easy to see Malcolm’s face drop. I suspected he wanted me to fail the tests so he could kick me out. But even he could not ignore those numbers.
“Very impressive Karl. I guess you’re on the squad… If you wake up in time.”
“Oh, it’s no problem Malcolm. I’ll be there nice and early”.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 17-11-2013 16:07
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Nice to see Karl throw it back in there faces 
Now go and win the Nationals |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 17-11-2013 16:10
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the Nationals, always a great and unpredictable race!
Time for Karl to prove himself better than his silly team manager and team mates |
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| admirschleck |
Posted on 17-11-2013 16:11
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Hmm , Karl need good result there! And try to wake up in time.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 18-11-2013 13:14
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Tour de France Champion
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@Sutty - Winning would be special indeed
@Ian - Even more random with a "flat" course that includes over 1500m of climbing
@admir - He'll definitely make the startlines
Act 1: The Breakup
Scene 13: Time is a Variable
The ITT was set to be held on a Friday, with the RR on Sunday. The time trial course was fairly standard. 35km in length and almost entirely flat, save for a few short kicks. As the final chance to prepare before Le Tour the big names were here. Wiggins, Froome, Dowsett and Millar were all on the startlist. Oh yay.
Peter Kennaugh was also riding the ITT for Node4. He went off about half an hour ahead of me, so I was using his split times as reference. I went hard the whole way, saving little energy. I crossed the line setting a new best time! That said it wasn’t an amazing time, only about 20” quicker than Pete managed and 10” or so ahead of next best rider Ed Clancy.
Still it wasn’t until Stannard came through that I was knocked down. And after Ian there were only 5 more guys, I could finish no lower than 7th! Cummings beat me, Millar beat me, Dowsett beat me, Froome beat me and finally Wiggins beat me. 7th place in the ITT, a really nice result to have. Ok so Wiggins won and was ahead of me by over 2’10 but I was happy. My training had paid off.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 18-11-2013 13:20
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Finishing seventh behind such Great time trialling talent was indeed a Great performance from Karl |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 18-11-2013 15:39
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Tour de France Champion
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Great result there |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 18-11-2013 19:18
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Tour de France Champion
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@Ian + Sutty - Was impressive indeed. Clearly in good form
Act 1: The Breakup
Scene 15: Can He...?
The Road Race soon came around. It was a rolling route with two climbs per lap. The first was about 3k at 4-5%, nothing serious. The second was tough, about 4k but at a higher 8-10%. The finish line was put at the top of that second climb, with the intention of giving the title to a climber. As a result Kennaugh was our Leader, but no-one was expecting the beat Froome.
From the gun it was an aggressive race. Only after 50km did a break go away. I slipped into it, along with Ed Clancy, Russell Downing, Alex Dowsett and a young guy called Jack Wiles. A strong group but not too strong. Ed and Russell were sprinters so could be counted out. Alex could climb but is not explosive and as such is unlikely to feature should we survive. Wiles however was fairly unknown. He was thin and powerful, certainly a climb, but had no results to his name. I did not know what he could manage.
3 hours later and we were into the final 50km. And interestingly we were still in front, and by a decent margin of 4’00 or so. So as we came over the first climb I pushed the pace a bit, and watched as both Ed and Russell gave it up and dropped back. Over the second climb I pushed it again, this time putting Alex into real troubles. The decent was short, only a couple of km, but I decided to go for it.
Over the crest of the hill I accelerated…
Edited by TheManxMissile on 18-11-2013 19:19
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 18-11-2013 23:50
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Tour de France Champion
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Its looking good for Karl at the moment, lets hope he can hang on until the finish |
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
