Well guys, it seems new blogs of cycling professionals are popping like mushrooms lately. Anyway, don't be fooled - we are the real deal! Wether it's on a bycicle or on the night life, we always deliver the excitement! That's right, we are bringing back the balls to cycling, we will ride like Merckx and talk like Riccó!
We're two portuguese riders fresh off the junior circuit - that's right, no under-23 racing for these awesome bad boys! Still, for those of you a little bit challenged in the thinking department we have an article that will show what we are about to bring.
New superstars rising!
The tale of Francisco Rocha and Alexandre Coelho
The cycling world is always looking for new idols and new champions on the making. This time, there are no doubts: these two riders will take the world by storm!
Each in his own right, Rocha and Coelho are sure candidates to blow the records of any legend that has come before them.
With only 17 years of age, they have been recently signed by Movistar, which directors claim to have never seen such potential - let alone in the same generation!
"None of them is Merckx, there are no chances that an all-rounder like that would win everything nowadays because the specialization of the best riders in the world is unbeatable. Still, Rocha reminds me of Indurain - a master in the art of time-trials and a beast when the slopes are long and steep. On the other hand, Coelho is more of a Bettini - he may not be the most reliable climber when the altitude kicks in, but he is so fast in the sprints, the hills and the cobbles that the one day races will be his promised land".
Those are some big shoes to fill in, can these younglings come through? Well, they keep their objectives high enough: while Francisco is betting on the Grand Tour winning records (all of them), Alexandre thinks Boonen's reign on the cobbles and Gilbert's on the hills are through! He even thinks that, some time later, he may go for the points jerseys in the Giro d'Italia!
We will see if they are as serious as they sound, but it seems Francisco Rocha will have a tough time against other up-and-coming Grand Tour riders (like the new colombian generation) and Alexandre Coelho has to consider the likes of Peter Sagan and Sep Vanmarcke on the long run.
Let's watch how these new exciting prospects unveil and judge them on their results rather than on their words.
Francisco already told you in his intro and commenting the article on cyclingnews: we mean business! We're not exagerating one bit, even without those scumbag tricks like PED's and UCI pay-offs we will rock the cycling world. Get ready!
Boy, is Francisco angry. I haven't seen him like this since I slept with his sister.
For me the meeting was also a mixed bag of feelings. First, the bad news: for a major part of my season I'll be leading out Rojas! Really coach? I'll be working for a mediocre sprinter who never really showed why is he in the World Tour? To make things worse, I won't be taking part on the Ardennes' squad. What a crappy DS.
At least, I will be the team leader in the cobbled classics, though I don't have anyone that can cope with me and my leadershio will be somewhat of a lonely ride.
We are seriously thinking that Movistar sucks and wasn't a good choice for us, since they can't appreciate our unbeatable skills.
Now from the both of us, a little message to the other riders on the pro peloton:
Don't forget to follow us on twitter (@cyclingbadboys) for the latest updates on our pre-season training camp.
Very entertaining posts. Francisco and Alexandre may be tiny little bit delusional and hyper-motivated for their first season? But better that than to not dream big.
btw: Video. You only need the last part of the URL, meaning XMLiqEqMQyQ in this case.
I forgot to put this in the first post (rookie mistake), but I will be using the tugaupdate_u23 - an add-on for the PCM Daily Expansion Pack 2013 with a few stats and potentials edited by me because portuguese riders were WAY overrated.
I'll play in hard difficulty with 0.3 evolution.
The reports will be short, probably a race in each post, but the important races (for the storyline) will be more detailed. I even hope to surprise you every now and then.
The oppinions of the riders do not necessarily refflect mine.
Hey guys, today is just me - Alexandre. TDU has just started and I'm already displeased with management.
But first things first, here's the flat profile we had to run:
Yeah, I almost died laughing when I saw that HC climb in the profile. Real classy, aussies, just like climbing Tourmalet wasn't it?
I'll skip those boring reports and take you to crunch time: I was supposed to lead-out Ventoso who would launch Rojas. i was 3rd in line in our train as you can see on this picture:
I did what I had to do and even opened a huge gap to the other teams' trains. Then came Ventoso, who should have launched Rojas - not stop him! He screwed up big time and will sleep outside like the bad dog he is.
Still, Rojas started sprinting in about 4th position or so and ended 7th! Really Rojas?? The winner of the stage was Meersman! Not Cav, not Degen, not Sagan, not Greipel - GIANNI MEERSMAN!! How difficult can he be to beat in a mass sprint?
So, Alexandre Coelho here to bring you day number 2 of TDU:
Team reunion before the stage and I moved up in the lead-out: now I'm the last man before Rojas - the lieutenant of an average rider. Can't say I'm too happy about it.
Anyway, I always deliver the most amazing performances. After that last climb, almost no sprinters could hang to the front of the race so I started the sprint from way back! Here you can see me leading the race approaching the last km and fighting off the advances of Viganó (he was launching Elia Favilli).
When Rojas started his sprint he was side by side with Favilli - who was sprinting for an awful long time. So, what happened? He just kept losing meter after meter and not only he lost the stage to the italian from Lampre, but he almost lost his second place!
I was shocked! I even finished in the top-10 after sprinting for 3 km! How the hell do you lose this stage?
The GC shows it: with a half-decent sprinter we would be leading - no sweat!
Next stage is hilly, so i'll have the whole team working for me. It's about time, coach!