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Joel Wallin | Finished
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 19-02-2014 16:44
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Stage 2: Hasle - Rønne
Finally it was time for me to race again as I was sent to Bornholm to race their three-day stage race for the first time.
The first stage is kind of flat except for a hard hill early on. On the way it goes through the two merged villages of Sorthat and Muleby. Translates to Black-hat and Muzzle-town.
The race usually ends up fairly chaotic so we have been granted permission to chase things every single one of us.
With strong sprinters like Jebjerg and Alex Rasmussen here we had to be inventive to get any result as we won't stand much of a chance in a bunch sprint.
With 1 km to the only mountain sprint of teh day I decided to attack and managed to keep up the speed to take the 5 point on offer at the top.
After a lot of struggling I was joined by 10 others in what should be the break of the day hoping to be able to keep the sprinters at bay.
With 100 km to go we were told that we had a gap of just over 7 minutes.
Since my mom was there in the finish area I really gave it my all in the break to make it last as long as possible. That is Martin Pedersen right in front of me on the pic by the way.
With 50 km to go the peloton had reduced our gap to just over 4 minutes.
This is the picture my mom dreamt of, only we both hoped it wouldn’t be with 13 km to go and the peloton just about a minute behind.
Daniel Jarstø joined me in my attack and with 5 km to go we still held on to half a minutes lead.
With 1,5 km to go I glanced back and this is what I saw: Robert Wagner coming on like a rocket from behind.
The German started sprinting way too early and faded quite a lot near the end. Gunnar did good in the sprint though!
Unfortunately my mom was so excited about seeing me on the podium that she forgot to take a picture of me. You’ll have to wait until I get on the bike again tomorrow for that.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 19-02-2014 19:41
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A decent start to the race for Gunnar  |
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 20-02-2014 09:12
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sutty: Another solid day from Gunnar in deed, though Wallin's climbers jersey is even more thrilling for me
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| Shonak |
Posted on 20-02-2014 16:19
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Mountain Jersey is a well-deserved reward for Joel's effort today. I'm sure there were plenty of photographers around so his mom can get from someone a picture.
Edited by Shonak on 20-02-2014 16:19
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 20-02-2014 18:03
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Shonak: Hopefully Joel will make sure to give his mom a chance to photpgraph him in teh jersey on the next stage
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 20-02-2014 18:24
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Stage 2: Allinge - Allinge
Today will take us on a circuit, where we several times will have to climb one of the worst climbs in Denmark in Vang averaging at about 7 % with sections of more than 10 %!
My hope is to be able to defend my mountain jersey throughout the day. It won’t be easy though!
So I followed when Rosch and Viganó attacked early on.
Several others joined us and apparently I wasn’t the ony one out for the climbers jersey as I had to dig deep to get 2nd on the Vang-climb. 12 % at it’s steepest!
Viganò rode a really aggressive race and the others decided that it was up to me to close the gaps. I assume because I had the jersey, but the others would have better odds of winning the stage.
I succeeded the first many times, but in the end I cracked.
The next time we came to the KOM in Vang I was lucky that others had brought things together in front while I had saved a bit of energy. So I went early to avoid taking the battle on the steepest part.
Another 2nd place – this time behind the Dane Jacob Clorius from Saxo - Tinkoff. Since he didn’t have any points before that I got to expand my lead.
I had 21 points – not quite sure exactly about the others except that none of them should have passed my yet as far as I can figure out.
There wasn’t much collaboration in the break, but fortunately all the attacks kept things together.
Once again I went all-in for Vang as that has the most points compared to the other smaller climb.
This time I was joined by the Slovenian NetApp rider Jarc, who allowed me to cross the line first giving me very good odds at taking the jersey.
At the following KOM we had been caught again and I was completely empty. Fortunately the other 9 breakers are good at sharing the points between them!
I had been so focused on the KOM’s all day that I never really got around to worrying about the gap to the peloton but with 25 km we were caught again. Probably a good thing for me as that should mean that the final mountain points go to other riders.
I was so tired that I couldn’t concentrate on both telling Gunnar about the good spots for attack and keeping my bike upright. This is the result…
From there I just worried about getting my bike to the finish line hoping for the best.
I was told afterwards that Grönlund tried his best to get away, but he just couldn’t keep up with Chris Anker Sørensen and burned himself out trying leaving him with nothing for the sprint.
I finished the race on my own, but got a lot of cheering from the locals, who apparently had heard about my affiliation with the island. Really all I thought of at the time was to hear the final distribution of points.
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 20-02-2014 18:34
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Nice stage defending and extending the KoM lead! Hope the crash wasn't too bad
.: Manager of :.
.: My Awards :.
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| The Rider |
Posted on 20-02-2014 19:00
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You can really tell Joel is a real fighter! Is Jens Voigt training him?
Victory was never on the cards with Novo Nordisk continuing to send quality riders to the smaller races! |
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 20-02-2014 19:24
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the_hoyle: at least he got back on the bike and finished the stage, so with only a hort TT to go he should be able to pull through to take the jersey.
The Rider: Must be the many hours he have been cheering for Jensie on TV
It was a massive Novo Nordisk team here. I wouldn't even have brought this many top riders here when I was in control...
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| Shonak |
Posted on 21-02-2014 21:21
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So how much in the lead? Great effort by Joel and lots of stuff happening there. Always nice to have so much to report about a single stage in a one-rider story. Breakaway, seemingly a dozen KoM sprints, crash, fan contact... Joel did real good today.
Looks great in KoM jersey btw
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 21-02-2014 21:55
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Shonak: Comfortably in the lead - especially considering that there's only a TT left.
It was an eventful stage for him so there was a lot to tell, happy that you like them though as it's a learning experience to report from a one-rider perspective after having done a team story for so long.
The KoM jersey is the same as in Post Danmark Rundt and it won't be the last one he chases this season I think
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| Shonak |
Posted on 21-02-2014 22:52
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I know what you mean since I'm experiencing the same with aCross the road right now. You have to set your priorities different and report with much more focus. I find it more relaxing so far but then again, Gora Euskadi! offered some rather long reports at times. 
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 22-02-2014 09:09
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Stage 3: Rønne - Rønne (ITT)
We were to finish off with a 14 km TT around the main city of Bornholm.
For me it was mainly about showing my jersey and then later on cheering for my teammates since Gunnar is chasing (another) top 10 and the Fins have a shot at the youth jersey.
When I crossed the line Lasse Norman Hansen held best time.
Then I went to the finish area to first cheer Kinnunen in finish as the team’s best bet for the youth jersey. He was the fastest Fiskars-rider so far, but as suspected he was nowhere near beating Sütterlin.
Soon after I saw my old team-mate Bøchman set a very fast time catching Anders Lund on the line.
When Gunnar finished in a decent time I went with him to the team bus where we to no surprise heard that Alex Rasmussen improved on the best time enough to take the GC win.
Getting on the podium to pick up the mountain jersey was amazing and fortunately my mom remembered to take a photo today!
This was a great experience for me, but there's not much time to celebrate as we have to race in Vejle again tomorrow.
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| Shonak |
Posted on 22-02-2014 09:31
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Looks like Novo Nordisk are doing quite well, at least on that level.
Joel seemed to really enjoy this time trial. No wonder when you have the KoM jersey won. 
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 22-02-2014 13:08
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Great to see Joel bring home the Mountains jersey |
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 23-02-2014 10:44
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Shonak: No one was ever really going to beat Novo Nordisk here...
A TT for a guy having lost all GC chances is always funner when wearing a jersey that can't be lost
sutty: Couldn't agree more
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 27-02-2014 17:40
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The curcuit around Vejle with the Munkebjerg hill as the decisive factor should suit me reasonably well. At least if the legs aren't too tired after the hard racing on Bornholm.
The first attacks came as soon as we hit the climb the first time. The manager wanted me to wait a bit so I just stayed near the front of the peloton while Nystrand went in the break for us.
For some reason Johan was the only of the breakers that continue after the descent. In spite of it having no chance of success he helps the team by forcing the other teams to do the work.
Nystrand was caught with 4 round to go and the next time we hit the hill Svab went away followed by Grönlund.
That duo lasted less than a round and then both Lehtinen and Grönlund started pulling to make the last 50 km hard.
With 30 km to go only 49 riders remained in the front group with me getting protected by Kinnunen. I really felt privileged about that situation and determined to reward them for their work.
With 16 km to go Simon Clarke went away. I was a bit unaware at the moment so I had to follow the next wave of attacks hoping that we would be able to catch up with the Australian.
I did my best, but just wasn’t in the shape I needed to be yet. At least things were brough enough together for Gunnar to attack with 5 km to go.
Hi didn’t get quite enough of a gap and was caught by a trio of Joker riders right at the foot of the hill. Meanwhile I was only just hanging on to the main group.
Clarke was just the strongest today, but I feel like I’m getting into some decent form.
Now I'm gonna go back to Sweden to prepare for another batch of Danish races in April.
Hopefully they will bring the team as much succes as these ones!
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 27-02-2014 22:57
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At least Joel managed to finish in the front group |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 28-02-2014 10:55
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A solid day in some horrible danish weather. Joel really tried and it's good to see that he and Gunnar seem to complement each other quite well.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Atlantius |
Posted on 01-03-2014 15:20
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sutty: In deed. After all it's still early season and this is one mean finish (by Danish standards at least), so finishing in the front group is a job well done!
Shonak: Two solid riders - neither of them favourites for anything spell a good duo for attacks.
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Bornholm Rundt 
Koen De Kort
Robert Wagner
Gunnar Grönlund
Gediminas Bagdonas
René Mandri
Eugenio Bani
Joel Wallin
Novo Nordisk - SAS
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke
Andreas Hofer
Frantisek Rabon
Jorge Zambrano
Freddy Cruz
Simon Clarke
Boris Shpilevski
Yukihiro Doi
Reto Hollenstein
