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Vauxhall Racing Team - 2014
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| Jaywol |
Posted on 02-10-2014 21:41
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Vauxhall Racing Team
Launch Statement
Vauxhall Racing Team is a new British based professional cycling team racing at continental level. The team aims to race competitively at that level with the goal of progression to pro continental level as soon as possible.
The team is formed from a core of young European riders, who the management feel can achieve solid results this year. The team will also look to strengthen through the transfer period, as well as develop fresh new talent, mainly from the UK.
The team is pleased to announce its sponsorship agreements with Virgin, BBB, British Land, Focus and Umbro. This season the team will be riding Ghost bikes and wheels will be supplied by Bontrager. The support from these sponsors will provide the team with the perfect base to launch a successful racing campaign.
Following the rise in popularity of cycling in the UK, and the teams considerable early season success, the team sponsors have asked the management to start an online blog to promote the team and its sponsors to a wider audience.
Team Jersey
Credits to Ice Design (awesome jersey) It fitted the bill perfectly as I wanted a British based team and work at Vauxhalls 
Sponsor Goals
Team Presentation
Matthew Brammeier, aged 28, was signed from the Synergy Baku Cycling Project team. Born in Liverpool, although claiming Irish national status, he is a five-time Irish National Champion (four-time road race winner & one time trial title). Matthew brings a proven track record along with many years experience to the team.
Jasha Sütterlin, aged 21, was signed from the Movistar cycling team. Born in Freiburg, Germany, he is the current German U23 national ITT champion. Jasha is an exciting new talent with a promising future ahead.
Jelle Wallays, aged 24, was signed from the Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise cycling team. Born in Staden, Belgium, he had a solid 2013 season, winning stage one of the World Ports Classic, and taking a top ten placings in Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, GP van de stad Geel, Grote Prijs Jef Scherens and Post Danmark Rundt.
Alexis Gougeard, aged 21, was signed from the AG2R La Mondiale cycling team. Born in Rouen, France, he again is an exciting young talent, who flourished in 2013. Coming 3rd in the French U23 National ITT championships, winning the prologue at the Tour de l’avenir and gaining a top ten placing in the ZLM Tour. We feel he will continue to improve throughout the 2014 season.
Sven Vandousselaere, aged 25, was also signed from the Topsport Vlaanderen Baloise cycling team. Born in Bruges, Belgium, he is a seasoned professional, who’s results in 2013 included a third place at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and a top ten placing at the Tour de Picardie.
Zico Waeytens, aged 22, came to the team from the Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise cycling team. Born in Ledegem, Belgium, he is another exciting young prospect. His 2013 results included third overall in the Tour des Fjords and seventh place at the Grand Prix de Wallonie.
The Season so Far
The season began in earnest at the end of January, with a four day training camp at La Londe les Maures, France. The training camp allowed the team to bond and mainly consisted of general fitness work and team building exercises. Although some of the team members already knew each other from their previous teams, the group gelled quickly and the training rides showed that everyone was at a good level of readiness for the new season.
As the season opened the results began to arrive, and it was the teams up and coming youngsters who showed their promise was not unfounded. In February's Etoile De Besseges, Alexis Gougeard secured the overall victory in the mountains classification and rewarded the team and sponsors with some early podiums.
In March, Zico Waeytens came 2nd overall at Classic Sud Ardeche and won GP Ville de Lillers with an excellent solo attack 20km from the line. Another youngster, Bennoit Jarrier, claimed a great second place at the one day Trofej Umag.
Now nearing the end of March, the team has had resounding success at the Tour de Normandie. Right from the beginning of the race an excellent team effort saw Jasha Sütterlin claim victory in the opening time trial, with Sven Vandousselaere second and Jelle Wallays third. On the podium, the team scooped up the overall, points and young riders jerseys and the overall team classification. A stunning result for the whole team. The second stage saw Jasha Sütterlin retain the overall and young riders jerseys and Alexis Gougeard take the lead in the mountains classification, a sponsor goal for this race. The two riders maintained their leads in these competitions at the end of stage three.
Edited by Jaywol on 05-10-2014 02:02
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| Paul23 |
Posted on 02-10-2014 21:43
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4411
Joined: 10-08-2011
PCM$: 400.00
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Can i write here?
Great jersey indeed. Story looks great so far. Good luck.    
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-12-2024 10:53
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Bot Agent
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| Jaywol |
Posted on 03-10-2014 08:37
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Domestique
Posts: 723
Joined: 02-08-2008
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Sure, please feel free to comment. This is my first story thread, so any feedback is welcome. The season is currently at the end of March, so short season recap to follow. The story will resume from the Tour of Normandy. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 03-10-2014 14:56
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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Good Luck with this mate, hope you can get lots of success for Vauxhall  and its nice to see you in the story section too |
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| Roextro |
Posted on 03-10-2014 15:16
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2370
Joined: 24-01-2014
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Good luck with this, I like the team and will follow the story! |
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| Jaywol |
Posted on 04-10-2014 15:06
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Domestique
Posts: 723
Joined: 02-08-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Stage 4 - Tour de Normandie (Domfront - Villers Bocage)
As the riders take to the start line of today's rolling, hilly stage, Jasha Sütterlin wears the race leaders jersey while Alexis Gougeard wears the mountains classification jersey.
After a fast start, Alexis Gougeard gets into the days breakaway of three riders, along with Jack Wilson of An Post - Chain Reaction and Sébastien Delfosse of Wallonie - Bruxelles, in an effort to extend his lead in the mountains classification.
Gougeard's efforts, manage to secure him 14 points during the day
But the breakaway is finally caught with 33km to go to the line, as the sprinters teams, in particular Cofidis, lead the peleton.
In the final sprint to the line, the stage is won by Maxime Vantomme of Roubaix Lille Métropole. However, in a spirited display, Jasha Sütterlin arrives with the leading group for a top ten finish. Despite this, Maxime Vantomme takes the overall lead of the race, pushing Jasha into 3rd, 2 seconds off the lead. Jasha does manage to retain the lead in the young riders classification, while Alexis cements his lead in the mountains classification.
(Note the annoying purple casquettes)
Edited by Jaywol on 04-10-2014 15:18
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| Jaywol |
Posted on 04-10-2014 15:16
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Domestique
Posts: 723
Joined: 02-08-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Stage 5 - Tour de Normandie (Elbeuf-sur-Seine - Argentan)
With Alexis holding a 17 point lead in the mountains classification and only a maximum of 6 points available in the stage, we decided to allow him a day in the peleton. We decided to try and put Zico into the break to defend the mountains jersey and try for some of the intermediate sprints.
After a short chase, Zico managed to get into the days breakaway of four riders
While back in the peleton, Jasha and Alexis relaxed a little
Zico managed to win the mountain sprint and placings in the intermediate sprints saw him accrue 8 points and a few additional euros in prize money.
The breakaway was caught by the peleton with 25km to go, again with Cofidis leading the charge
As the race ended in a sprint, Cofidis got their man Adrien Petit to the line to take the stage win. Jasha managed a creditable 3rd, behind Maxim Vantomme. (Experimented with Zabel in the auto function to ride for the stage in this one)
This saw Vantomme extend his lead over Jasha in the overall classification to 14 seconds. Jasha did however manage to stay top in the young riders classification, with Alexis retaining his 17 point advantage in the mountains competition.
Edited by Jaywol on 09-10-2014 20:11
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| Jaywol |
Posted on 08-10-2014 20:59
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Domestique
Posts: 723
Joined: 02-08-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Stage 6 - Tour de Normandie (Gouville sur Mer - Carentan)
This flat stage contained only one 4th category climb, so again the team management decided to give Alexis an easy day in the bunch and try to consolidate Sasha's position in the overall.
An early breakaway of two riders developed, with Nazim Bakirci of Torku Seker Spor and Daniele Aldegheri of MG.Kvis - Trevigiani.
They were soon joined by a further three riders as the bunch sat up.
Dries Hollanders of Metec - TKH took maximum points in the days only KOM sprint, but he was no threat to Alexis's overall lead
The break was finally caught only 8km from the line as bretagne Seche and La Pomme began to form their sprint trains
Benjamin Giraud of La Pomme Marseille won the stage with Rick Zabel coming in inside the top ten and Jasha finishing 20th but with the main bunch
Sasha's time gap to Vantomme, still the overall leader, stayed at 14 seconds, but he dropped to 4th overall. He retained the overall lead in the young riders competition, as did Alexis in the KOM competiton. The team also topped out the team competiton, so overall, a very satisfactory day .
Edited by Jaywol on 09-10-2014 20:06
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 08-10-2014 23:28
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Nice to see the team still have the dotted jersey |
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| Jaywol |
Posted on 09-10-2014 20:05
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Domestique
Posts: 723
Joined: 02-08-2008
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Stage 7 - Tour de Normandie (Torigne sur Vire - Caen)
The final stage saw the team working towards two goals. Firstly for Alexis to cement his lead in the KOM competition and secondly for Sasha to try and maintain his lead in the young riders competition and keep his top 5 place overall.
Alexis managed to get into the days early break
He lead the breakaway through the days first intermediate sprint point, just as the break was caught. Still with good legs he followed the second break of the day, which the peleton allowed to go clear, leaving him in position to increase his lead in the KOM competiton
He won both of the KOM sprints, taking him to an unassailable 37 points
The break was finally caught with only 7km to go to the line and the day would finish with a bunch sprint. Romain Feillu of Bretagne - Séché Environnement took the stage and the overall race win, with Rick Zabel achieving another top 10 stage finish as his sprinting form continued to improve.
Unfortunately Sasha was edged into 2nd place in the young riders competition but still retained his top 5 place overall, 24 seconds behind the race winner. Another bonus was that the team clinched the overall team competition, 36 seconds ahead of second place Bretagne - Séché Environnement
Edited by Jaywol on 09-10-2014 20:54
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| baia |
Posted on 09-10-2014 20:37
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5398
Joined: 04-10-2007
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I think you shouldn´t worry about those pink basebol caps... you should direct your worries to your screens... get rid of those circles and panels... just press Lstrg(ctrl) + U when you want to make screens. Good luck.
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 10-10-2014 12:39
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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Nice that Gougeard brought home the Mountains Classification for the team |
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| Jaywol |
Posted on 10-10-2014 20:16
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Domestique
Posts: 723
Joined: 02-08-2008
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Thx Sutty, I was quite chuffed with the teams performance. Would have been nice to win the young riders competition too. Currently racing Grand Prix of Sochi, but keeps crashing during the loading of each stage  |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 10-10-2014 22:32
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Jaywol wrote:
Thx Sutty, I was quite chuffed with the teams performance. Would have been nice to win the young riders competition too. Currently racing Grand Prix of Sochi, but keeps crashing during the loading of each stage
Its so annoying when the game doesn't behave, hope you can fix it |
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 12-10-2014 10:24
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7651
Joined: 28-05-2009
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Liking the story so far
.: Manager of :.
.: My Awards :.
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| Jaywol |
Posted on 15-10-2014 21:44
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Domestique
Posts: 723
Joined: 02-08-2008
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Thx, will try and continue over the weekend. |
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| Jaywol |
Posted on 17-10-2014 21:01
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Domestique
Posts: 723
Joined: 02-08-2008
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Classic Sud Ardeche (Bourg Saint Andeol - Ruoms)
On the back of good success at the Tour De Normandie, some of the other team members were given their chance at Classic Sud Ardeche, the hilly one day race in central France. The race started at a frenetic pace and none of the guys managed to get into the days breakaway. Hoping to get Rick in a good position for the finish, the guys rode in the bunch all day. The break was caught with only 5km to go
After a great effort in a scrappy sprint, Rick managed 5th overall, with Yves Lampaert of Topsport taking the win
Edited by Jaywol on 17-10-2014 21:02
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| Jaywol |
Posted on 17-10-2014 21:03
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Domestique
Posts: 723
Joined: 02-08-2008
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Next race in the calender was Grand Prix of Sochi, but all stages crashed while loading So had to sim the entire race with pretty poor results. |
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| Jaywol |
Posted on 17-10-2014 21:23
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Domestique
Posts: 723
Joined: 02-08-2008
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Circuit des Ardennes Stage 1 (Vouziers - Vouziers)
The start of April saw the team travelling to the Ardennes for this four day stage race. The race also saw the return of Matty Brammeier after an early season collar bone break, sporting his National jersey for the first time this season.
Despite several attempts, no one managed to get into the days breakaway.
Even a final desperate lone chase by Jasha was closed down by the bunch.
The guys rode in the bunch, hoping to set Rick up for his first elusive win of the season. But it was that man Adrian Petit of Cofidis who stormed the sprint again to take the stage, with Rick managing a creditable 4th place.
A great team effort however saw the guys lead the overall team competition
Edited by Jaywol on 17-10-2014 21:24
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 17-10-2014 22:44
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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Rick has managed to grab a couple of good finishes of late |
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