Hello dear fans and followers, and welcome to my new website.
My name is Dominik Nerz, and for those who might not know we that well, I'm going to introduce myself briefly:
About me
I was born Wangen, Germany, on 25 August 1989, which means that I'm 21 years old by now.
I started as a track rider and won the German juniors champions in the team pursuit in 2007. I then changed to road races and won some youth races like the Giro di Toscana.
My professional career began in 2008. Aged 18, I signed for the German continental team Team Ista. The team was split up after that season and I changed to the Milram Continental Team. In that season, 2009, I achieved the biggest win of my career (yet): I won the German U23-championship!
In 2010, I graduated to ProTour, as the Pro Team Milram signed me. Unfortunatly, I wasn't able to achieve a win in that season, and the team was dissolved at the end of the year, so again I had to look out for a new team.
To my own surprise, the Italian team Liquigas - Cannondale offered me a three-year contract. I thought about it a lot, but finally, I accepted the challenge and I'm now proud to be the only German member of this fantastic team.
I may well tell a little about what kind of rider I am: My metier are the stage races. Allthough I will never be an extraordinary time trialist, I think I have the potential to become one of the worlds best climbers and be able to compete in the Grand-Tours. But that is still a long way off.
On this website, you'll be able to get an insight in my cycling career. Five categories await you:
In the Palmarès, you'll be able to see the results of all my races.
You can also look up the news of my team in Liquigas News.
Not only that, I will also keep you informed about cycling in general with the category Cycling News.
This site also offers you a live ticker to every race I participate in, and I will comment on them in the Race Reports section. You can find a brief monthly summary there, too.
But the heart of this site is my personal cycling blog, where you can follow my steps in professional cycling!
I hope that I could arouse your interest and that you'll follow my career on this site!
@all: Wow, thanks for all the positive feedback. @johannes-w: I hope that, too, but considering the races he'll participate in, this is rather unlikely, as you will see soon...
As you can see, the team consists of Basso and Nibali, and then there is the rest, basically. Except for those two, we have no real top class rider. Of course, Sylwester Szmyd and Peter Sagen are good guys who might challenge for a good postition in some races, but in the end, our team is defined by our two Italian stage racers.
What doesn't seem too good in general might turn out quite positive for me: As there are so few riders who can fight for the victory, I might get more chances to ride for me. Because usually, my role in the team will of course be that of a domestique. Nevertheless, I know that the DS signed me not without a reason. I'm still very young and I hope that I can benefit from the experiences I make now to once compete for the victory on my own.
I'm really looking forward to this season!
So far for my first entry here. Stay tuned,
Dominik
Edited by cunego59 on 15-07-2011 11:09
I'm writing to you from the small Swiss city of Kreuzlingen, where I live. I've just returned from Italy where we had our pre-season meeting. We all got our training schedules and the DS presented our season goals, and I'm really happy and excited. But first, here is a brief overview of our season planning:
Grand Tours
The main objective of our team is, not surprisingly, the Giro d'Italia, the second most important stage race in the world, and a must for an Italian team. Vicenzo Nibali will be our captain there. He will peak so heavy that he'll finish his season afterwards.
Therefore, Ivan Basso will head for the other two GTs. The Tour will be his main objective and we'll see what he can do in the Vuelta later.
Sponsor goals
Our main sponsor gave us three goals: The Giro, of course, furthermore Tirreno – Adriatico, and, a little surprising, the Giro della Provencia di Grosseto. The latter two will be targeted by Vicenzo Nibali as a first season peak.
So far, we have one secondary sponsor, the Italian sports manufacturer Nalini. They promise a bonus if we reach a Top-5 in the Giro di Lombardia. Peter Sagan is the one who is going to target that race.
The other secondary sponsors aren't fixed yet, but when we get to know more about their goals, I'll tell you right off.
Now, here's the great about it:
My plan
Nost notably and most awesome: The DS seems to have so much confidence and trust in my strength and potential, that they let me rider the Tour! I really had to control myself in that meeting not to shout for joy! I'm so looking forward to that.
I'm going to fly to Mallorca tomorrow to start training because I'll enter the season relatively early. Here is my complete racing schedule:
21. - 25.02. Vuelta a Andalucia 27.02. ....... Beverbeek Classics 28.02. ....... Clasica de Almeria
After those preparation races, we'll enter the challenges for Pro-Tour points:
07. - 14.03. Paris - Nice 22. - 28.03. Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 05. - 10.04. Vuelta Ciclista al PaÃs Vasco
Our sponsors and the DS don't target these races at all, so the stage racer fraction in the squad for these races is really weak. I therefore hope to get some chances to ride on my own in these races.
My season continues in June with my next Pro-Tour races, including the highlight:
I'm really grateful for the opportunity to ride both the Tour and the national championships.
All in all, I'll have 58 race days this season. I'm aware of the role I have in this team, nevertheless I hope that I will be able to achieve the one or other good result myself.
So far from me, I guess you'll here from me during the training camp in Mallorca again.
Stay tuned,
Dominik
Just to make something clear: I don't use training camps in the game. It's just an element of the story, which has no impact at all on the rider's shape or something.
The first serious road races took place in the past days: The ITT and road championships in Australia.
Liquigas riders:
Only one of my Liquigas teammates is Australian: Cameron Wurf. He's a time trial specialist, but he couldn't compete for the victory in the TT-championships. Nevertheless, he reached a solid 11th.
Saxobank's Richie Porte dominated the race and won with a comfortable advance of 41 seconds in front of Heinrich Haussler, who seems in rather good shape. Michael Rogers followed another 5 seconds behind.
1
Richie Porte
Saxo Bank – Sungard
55'51
2
Heinrich Haussler
Team Garmin - Cervelo
+ 41
3
Michael Rogers
HTC – Highroad
+ 46
Richie Porte shoots through the parcours and takes the victory easily.
And just a minute ago, the road race ended as well. Cameron did a good job again. He showed the team colors in the break of the day, I guess he knew that this was his only chance to get a good result. Unfortunatly, the break didn't succeed.
The favorites attacked on the last hill and Heinrich Haussler won the sprint out of a group of five. Stuart O'Grady and Cadel Evans complete the podium. Cameron Wurf eventually finished within the pack.
1
Heinrich Haussler
Team Garmin - Cervelo
4h37'39
2
Stuart O'Grady
Leopard - Trek
s.t.
3
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
Heinrich Haussler celebrates his win in front of O'Grady.Edited by cunego59 on 22-05-2011 16:48
As I promised, this is the first report from the training camp in Mallorca. I just returned from a ride with Vicenzo Nibali, Peter Sagan and Elia Viviani, who are all here as well, preparing for the Tour Down Under, or, in Vicenzo's case, for some races in February.
Our team has now all of its three secondary sponsors. Gewiss, an Italian energy company, will sponsor us as well as the clothing manufacturer Benetton.
Hence, our plannings are done, and the racing season will begin. Tomorrow, a team around Peter Sagan and Mauro Finetto will ring in our season with the Tour Down Under, the first Pro-Tour race of the year. Check the Liquigas News-section for results.
