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The Way to Nice - A short story - Finished!
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 21-06-2012 22:31
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[After reading so many amazing stories on this site I finally decided to give it a try and write a (short) story myself. This is quite exciting. So please be kind , but you are very very welcome to give me any advice or constructive criticism.]
The Way to Nice
Hey guys,
It's me Jérôme Coppel. If you don't know me already, I am a cyclist at the team Saur-Sojasun and I'm 25 years old. As I am a stage racer I will mainly aim to finish as high as possible in the general classifications in some week-long stage races this year.
One of the most important races for me, but also for our team and the sponsors is the legendary Race to the Sun, Paris - Nice.
Our public relations counselor asked me to document my preparation until the race and of course during the race itself to make a little promotion for our team. If this is a success and doesn't distract me to much from my training I might continue this blog. But we' ll see about that later.
In preparation for Paris - Nice I will ride those races:
But I won't be looking for results in the Tour Méditerranéen and Tour du Var. After that I will have a few days to prepare and train some more until Paris - Nice starts.
It is hard to define a concrete goal for Paris - Nice, but I at least hope for a Top 10 in the overall or maybe a little more .
So... I think thats it for now.
Your sincerely,
Jérôme
Edited by johannes-w on 15-08-2012 10:54
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 21-06-2012 22:37
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All right, a Coppel story!
Good luck in Paris-Nice! |
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| fernando97 |
Posted on 21-06-2012 22:37
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It looks really nice, I hope you'll have lot of fun with Jerome! |
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 21-06-2012 22:37
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Sounds great johannes, good luck. This Paris Nice route should suit quite nicely.
Edited by Alakagom on 21-06-2012 22:38
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| Vien |
Posted on 21-06-2012 22:39
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Very Nice idea
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 21-06-2012 22:40
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Good Luck with this |
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| Montolivo |
Posted on 21-06-2012 22:42
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Very nice idea. Short story with a different race goal should be very interesting to follow. Good luck! |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 23:54
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 21-06-2012 22:45
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Vien wrote:
Very Nice idea
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 22-06-2012 11:19
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Hi,
It's Jérôme again.
I just talked to Laurent Mangel, he is one of my team mates and a very dear friend. Yesterday Laurent participated in the first race for our team this year. I also read something about it in the newspaper today.
It was the Grand Prix Cyclista la Marseillaise. Although I wasn't part of the line-up I will give you a short summary of what happened.
Grand Prix Cyclista la Marseillaise
The race started and finished in Marseille. Only a few kilometres after the start Laurent Mangel and three other riders attacked and got away. He told me that he really felt good and worked pretty hard to keep the group running.
But although the break lasted until about 15 kilometres before the finish they never had a gap of more than three and a half minutes.
We saw quite a few attacks at the last hill top, but no one could get away, so the race ended in a mass sprint. Jürgen Roelandts showed a very good early season form and a powerful sprint. Jugding from the pictures I saw he had quite the advantage.
I mean look at this:
We had to be satisfied with Julien Simon at least getting a Top 10 for us and Laurent representing us in the break of the day all day long.
Top 10
| 1 | Jürgen Roelandts | Lotto Belisol | 3h37'41 | | 2 | Rüdiger Selig | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 3 | Luca Paolini | Katusha Team | s.t. | | 4 | Francesco Gavazzi | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 5 | Egidijus Juodvalkis | Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | s.t. | | 6 | Ben Hermans | Radioshack - Nissan | s.t. | | 7 | Jure Kocjan | Team Type 1 - Sanofi | s.t. | | 8 | Anthony Roux | FDJ-BigMat | s.t. | | 9 | Julien Simon | Saur - Sojasun | s.t. | | 10 | Tejay Van Garderen | BMC Racing Team | s.t. |
Anyways I have to go now and do some solid training with some of my team mates. You' ll hear from me soon
Your sincerely,
Jérôme |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 22-06-2012 11:21
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A nice 9th place for Simon |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 22-06-2012 13:43
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Roelandts |
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 22-06-2012 14:00
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Nice start.
Press the ' button before you take a screenshot though. That will remove the circles under the riders. The screens look much better then.
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 22-06-2012 14:10
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Pellizotti2 wrote:
Nice start.
Press the ' button before you take a screenshot though. That will remove the circles under the riders. The screens look much better then.
Yea sorry I am playing on my macbook with bootcamp and already tried this and a few other keys before because it was annoying me as well.
Just now i found out on my keyboard its the letter "ä" I have to press so next screens will hopefully be a little better |
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 23-06-2012 14:27
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Hi all,
I am currently training together with Jonathan Hivert and Brice Feillu in the south of France. Today we rode parts of the Paris - Nice stage to Rodez. I think it is a finish that could really suit my abilities. In the end the other two could not even keep up with me, so I am feeling confident about my form, although the first few race days will probably be quite hard like every year.
The day before yesterday our team started to the next race here in France. Again I was not part of the line-up. It's the Etoile de Bessèges.
The first stages didn't really suit our team, because they were mainly flat and our line-up didn't feature a real sprinter.
Here's a short report of what happend:
Etoile de Bessèges - Stage 1
In stage one we tried to get in a break away and after several tries Mangel picked the right group with his attack. The speed was very high and 30 kilometres before finish he had to let the others go as he couldn't keep up with their speed anymore. The rest of the break was reeled in right after the 15 kilometre mark and the mass sprint was once again inevitable.
As our team didn't feature a sprinter Engoulvent tried a late attack inside the last 10 kilometres, but it didn't work out. The sprint then was won by Jimmy Casper.
Casper finishing a dominant performance
Top 10 - Stage
| 1 | Jimmy Casper | Ag2r La Mondiale | 3h10'04 | | 2 | Jure Kocjan | Team Type 1 - Sanofi | s.t. | | 3 | Zakkari Dempster | Endura Racing | s.t. | | 4 | Grega Bole | Lampre - ISD | s.t. | | 5 | Matteo Tosatto | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 6 | Egidijus Juodvalkis | Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | s.t. | | 7 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 8 | Matteo Trentin | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | s.t. | | 9 | Romain Mathéou | Véranda Rideau - Super U | s.t. | | 10 | Mathieu Drujon | Bigmat - Auber 93 | s.t. |
Etoile de Bessèges - Stage 2
The second stage had a slightly more challenging profile as you can see here.
We again tried to get in the break, of course. But this time we weren't as lucky as yesterday.
At some point a five-men group around Hoogerland and Lastras went clear, but they never stood a chance against the chasing peloton. They never had an advantage of more than 4 minutes and so they again got caught about 12 kilometres in front of the finish.
But then it got pretty interesting. There were several attacks in the hilly final 10 kilometres. Once again Engoulvent tried his luck, but he wasn't strong enough.
One of those attacks came from the not so well known Egidijus Juodvalkis(Landbouwkrediet-Euphony). Either his move was very strong or more probably he caught the others by suprise, but he was able to keep a small lead and made it to the line with the small margin of 19 seconds.
Juodvalkis really surprised everyone else today
Top 10 - Stage
| 1 | Egidijus Juodvalkis | Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | 3h26'43 | | 2 | Grega Bole | Lampre - ISD | + 19 | | 3 | Zakkari Dempster | Endura Racing | s.t. | | 4 | Jure Kocjan | Team Type 1 - Sanofi | s.t. | | 5 | Jimmy Casper | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. | | 6 | Matteo Trentin | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | s.t. | | 7 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 8 | Matteo Tosatto | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 9 | Adrien Petit | Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne | s.t. | | 10 | Michal Kwiatkowski | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | s.t. |
Top 10 - Overall after Stage 2
| 1 | Egidijus Juodvalkis | Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | 6h36'27 | | 2 | Jimmy Casper | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 19 | | 3 | Zakkari Dempster | Endura Racing | + 23 | | 4 | Jure Kocjan | Team Type 1 - Sanofi | + 27 | | 5 | Grega Bole | Lampre - ISD | s.t. | | 6 | Matteo Tosatto | Team Saxo Bank | + 39 | | 7 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 8 | Matteo Trentin | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | s.t. | | 9 | Adrien Petit | Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne | s.t. | | 10 | Michael Mørkøv | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | ... | | 21 | Jimmy Engoulvent | Saur - Sojasun | s.t. |
We again were not even able to get a Top 10. The pressure is slightly rising now, but we will show something in the coming stages. I am cofident of that. Also Mangel told me on the phone today, that they are all very motivated for the next days and that the team spirit was good.
Your sincerely,
Jérôme |
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| aidanvn13 |
Posted on 23-06-2012 15:04
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mmm...Cool story and smart idea making it only until Paris-Nice Your English is good as well.
I can't wait to get my PCM2012 |
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 23-06-2012 15:36
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Decent start at GP Cyclista la Marseillaise and quiet start so far in Etoile de Bessèges, but all that matters is nice prep for your riders to Paris Nice and Jerome to stay healthy and recon those stages
Edited by Alakagom on 23-06-2012 15:37
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 23-06-2012 17:20
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Posts: 833
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Thanks for the comments
@aidanvn13 I just wanted to try out writing a story myself and thought it would be good to have a real ending for it instead of just stop posting at some point
Hope you don't have to wait too long for your PCM anymore
Hi everyone,
I have a small addition to my last post. A few guys took pictures of our training today and best of all I could get a hold of the pictures. Look at this:
The three of us riding up Cote d'Aubert le Crès
And my favorite one:
My attack at a small hill right before we reached Rodez
As you can see the weather here is quite bad. We were "happy" it wasn't raining yesterday. Today we got completely soaked with rain all day long and it was a lot colder as well.
Your sincerely,
Jérôme |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 23-06-2012 17:28
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Nice training Pics |
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 23-06-2012 20:27
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Posts: 833
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Thanks sutty, glad you like them
Hello guys,
Oh my, the the days fly by. And so I can report you about yet another race day in France.
Etoile de Bessèges - Stage 3
The aim was clear - our team wanted to make up for the poor performances of the first days. And because the stage had a flat finish, too, we attacked right after the start.
Mangel not wasting any time
Again it was Mangel, who succeeded with his attack. By the way, as far as I know from our team he is the rider with the most training kilometres over the winter. Also he destroyed us all in our first team training camp in january and seems to have an excellent early season form.
The strong group consisted among others of Sep Vanmarcke, Bram Tankink and Pablo Lastras. They were really fighting for the mountain points today and as this would be a nice accomplishment we decided to throw our hat into the ring. It didnt work out perfectly as Vanmarcke was just a tad too strong but Mangel, who collected two KoM-points in the first stage, could add a few more points today. Mid-stage the group already got caught giving the possibility to break away for some other riders. A six men group including Delaplace and Hoogerland worked well together, but in the end they also didn't make it through, as the sprinter teams wanted a mass sprint.
The closer we came to the end the worse the weather became, so it might get dangerous in the sprint.
However Engoulvant was feeling very good(+5) today, so he decided to try holding on to Grega Boles rear wheel.
But he had no chance against the real sprinters. Zakkari Dempster took a nice yet slightly suprising win in front of Casper and Bole.
Dempster from Endura wins under very bad weather conditions
Top 10 - Stage
| 1 | Zakkari Dempster | Endura Racing | 3h52'02 | | 2 | Jimmy Casper | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. | | 3 | Grega Bole | Lampre - ISD | s.t. | | 4 | Jure Kocjan | Team Type 1 - Sanofi | s.t. | | 5 | Matteo Trentin | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | s.t. | | 6 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 7 | Egidijus Juodvalkis | Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | s.t. | | 8 | Arnaud Démare | FDJ-BigMat | s.t. | | 9 | Adrien Petit | Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne | s.t. | | 10 | Matteo Tosatto | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. |
Top 10 - Overall
| 1 | Egidijus Juodvalkis | Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | 10h28'29 | | 2 | Zakkari Dempster | Endura Racing | + 3 | | 3 | Jimmy Casper | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 7 | | 4 | Grega Bole | Lampre - ISD | + 19 | | 5 | Jure Kocjan | Team Type 1 - Sanofi | + 27 | | 6 | Matteo Trentin | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | + 39 | | 7 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 8 | Matteo Tosatto | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 9 | Adrien Petit | Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne | s.t. | | 10 | Michael Mørkøv | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. |
Top 3 - KoM
| 1 | Sep Vanmarcke | Garmin - Barracuda | 34 | | 2 | Maxime Le Montagner | Véranda Rideau - Super U | 28 | | 3 | Laurent Mangel | Saur - Sojasun | 22 |
At least now Mangel has a provisional third place in the KoM-classification and we were able to show ourselves again. We will try everything to get closer to the jersey in the next stages.
Your sincerely,
Jérôme
Edited by johannes-w on 23-06-2012 20:28
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| jseadog1 |
Posted on 23-06-2012 20:48
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Nice screenshots!
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