We kicked off racing with the New Zealand Championships, which were won by Greg Henderson. Since then, he got to enjoy riding in a very stylish black Lotto Soudal jersey. Nice design choice definitely. I was first confused by the look of it at Santos Tour Down Under, but seeing him sprinting soon reminded me of the fact, he had won something and it sorta just cleared my confusion. Obviously, I wasn’t used to playing career much in recent times.
Tour Down Under was a success in that Hansen got some good early form and was competitive. We missed the podium eventually, losing to superior riders. Hansen’s 4th rank was a solid first UWT result though.
Some minor races were thrown in between. Omloop and Kuurne had been disappointing, like really terrible. No further words needed. At Strade Bianche, we got a late wildcard but neither Wellens nor De Gendt did anything there. Wellens secured a decent 13th or 14th rank. No one really cared, I had hoped of far more from my young favourite protégé. At least we double whooped Volta ao Algarve, where VDB 2.0 and MaxMon made it a nice sweet 1-2. De Gendt on 4th narrowly missed the podium, oh. Hope that won’t become a thingy.
Paris-Nice opened up with a surprise as Gallopin took a win and the lead overall from a break, alongside Bakelants and Trofimov. The next couple of days, the team had to endure my willingness to defend the jersey at all cost. I’ve been a dick to them like a real Directeur Sportif. Lots of relaying. In the wind, in the rain. On the climbs. Till the finish. We kept the jersey for a long time but lost it eventually to Purito. Still ranked third, Gallopin’s attacking on the next two days saw him move up to second at least. Definitely a yeah-ish performance!
Tirreno – Adriatico on the other hand had been major shit. Jürgen Van den Broeck finished the first (snowy) mountain stage 9th, but decided the next day he’d pull out. Consequence of riding with short sleeves, Jürgen. We sucked the later part of the race completely.
At Milano – San Remo, we had managed to set up a real good, effective train up to Poggio and down to San Remo. Problem with it was, Greipel wasn’t good enough for the hill. He was fairly exhausted when we reached San Remo. As a result, Roelandts just kinda went with it. He didn’t stand a chance against Kristoff in the end, and Degenkolb. But he finished 3rd, so still a very nice result despite a mediocre fuck-up in our sprint train.
Edited by Shonak on 19-03-2015 22:38
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Thanks guys. It's basically a small career discussion thread I'll update from time to time. I just prefer to keep it sorta ordered when I post about the career and maybe throw in a bit of narrative here and there, maybe.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
I really like the Lotto team this season, so good to see a story(ish). Did you stcik with the stats or upgrade a few guys who clearly improved this winter (Wellens, De Gendt, Debusschere)?
I sticked with the stats provided by Jesleyh & Co. I think they are rather up-to-date despite the game having started in 2014 but the roster being from 2015, although Wellens is kinda underrated but I'll get him there (also I probably just see him slighty better than he actually is ) Not sure if that was that PCM14-noob in me but anyway.
Lotto has been great to follow since they split from Omega and were founded and they have really stepped up their game each year a bit more. With guys like Wellens, Gallopin, Hansen, Gorilla and De Gendt, it's definitely one of my top 3 right now, however I can't even sayright now which team I'd prefer over them.
I miss Euskaltel Edited by Shonak on 22-03-2015 18:22
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Then finally came along the classics. E3 and Gent-Wevelgem both were vital goals for us, so it’s basically big sponsor-time for us. Before that, Dwars door Vlaanderen was dominated by Vanmarcke and whilst Lotto Soudal tried its best to keep the dominance at bay, other rival riders eventually took advantage of our very active riding, leaving my guys either in the wind when they attacked or without any strength in the sprint. So, we didn’t exactly go with the best of feelings into the two classics.
Two days later, Roelandts pretty much sucked in E3 as we failed big time when he slept through the important splits and bonked by riding up a Hellingen, trying to follow some moves. Retribution came soon later though, Gent-Wevelgem was won in impressive manner by Greipel, in large thanks to Marcel Seiberg’s perfect leadout. We had also dropped several other fast sprinters earlier on the Hellingen, and with Roelandts as a wildcard, we had someone following various moves. Greipel could sit back and save energy. A few days later, Greipel took three stage wins at Three Days Of Panne and won the overall. To be fair, it was a sponsor goal, so I guess it’s kinda okay that I fire with cannons on birds. Plus, the team needed some more confidence ahead of the monuments.
Two Top 5 goals at the monuments then. Easily one of the toughest challenges we faced for this season. Roelandts is a good specialist but he’s no Tom Boonen, Vanmarcke or Cance. He’s not even close to being Van Avermaet or Boom. He’s just good, old Jürgen Roelandts, usually disappointing me in various ways. And does he find plenty of ways to do that.
Naturally, he failed at Ronde. I failed. Big time. Vanmarcke just dominated the race again, Boonen the only one close to challenging him. Cancellara got outsprinted by Thomas in the end. And Roelandts got dropped despite having a shit ton of teammates with him until 40 km to go, doing everything in order to protect him. At least teamwise, it was a solid race since we had several guys upfront, who later were in good shape to take over the protecting duties.
At Paris-Roubaix, another Top 5 goal, we had a bit of luck early on. Vanmarcke, Van Avermaet, Degenkolb and some others crashed at Arenberg. Greipel and De Bie brought Roelandts back to Cancellara group, and then Greipel turned up the engine full steam. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to prevent Group Vanmarcke from getting back to the front but it was worth the effort. Over time, the group of 15 riders got significantly smaller as various riders dropped. Greipel put in a monster display. Roelandts was soon on his limit though. Countless small attacks kept the action dynamic for the final 40-50 kms. Van Avermaet made the race winning move 10 kilometers out. Roelandts was by then hanging on to his dear life at the end of the group. Hope was still there. When Van Avermaet won in the velodrome, Roelandts was just preparing his sprint. He took the wrong wheel. Cancellara was clearly having an off-day, since he came last in the sprint. Unfortunately that was the wheel Roelandts and I decided on, duh. Maybe if he had followed another wheel, Roelandts could have made the Top 5. This way, he came 7th. Not good enough but still better than the show of embarrassement that was Ronde van Vlaanderen.
With Van Avermaet’s win, we also probably won’t have good chances to sign him for next season. Probably slightly over our, sponsor goal-failing budget. At least, a little bit of compensation came from the “spanish” team-side a few clicks down. In Catalunya, we got a decent stage race result by De Gendt, whilst Tim Wellens was very actively trying to get some stage win glory. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. But it did work out for Pim Ligthart in Pais Vasco, where we shamelessly took advantage of Albasini’s eagerness to win, as we just stayed on the swiss guy’s wheel for the last 10 km. To be fair, Ligthart was pretty much spent from a long day in the break and Albasini made a late move in that stage to reach the BOTD. Both races were won by, well who else – Joaquim Rodriguez, who at the time was comfortably leading the UCI Rankings, making way for his 3rd or 4th time on top of the rankings, dunno.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Could you try to make a few screenshots of your great moments? Just to spice things up?
Roelandts 7th in PR is not bad, and offers perspective for the future!
Yeah, if there ever will be a great moment haha I try to keep it in my mind but it's mostly just about quick recaping of races, and I prefer to keep it simplistic in such a way. We'll see.
Thanks mate!
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
De Brabantse Pijl was okay with Roelandts coming 2nd behind Gilbert. So once again a beating by BMC, meh. Cool thing: Wellens finished 9th. So things were looking decent for the Ardennes. But with Brabantse Pijl being a super wet affair in the rain, it set the mood right for the next three races in the Ardennes, who have all offered some rather shitty weather and quite some crashes in general.
I took Roelandts with us because he still had some good form. Vanendert, Gallopin, De Gendt & Wellens were the four guys I put my faith in. Amstel Gold Race was hectic but a great team performance showed me how strong the team can be. Combined the guys brought back the favourites group after some of the favourites attacked 40 kms out. We dragged a whole bunch of riders with us, who dropped but later came back. Thanks to Lotto Soudal, it became the typical sprint up the Cauberg, but this time at least stuff was happening before Valkenburg. So, you're welcome. In the finish, Vanendert was the best coming 5th. De Gendt 7th, Gallopin 9th. Simon Gerrans won the race, and it wasn’t a borefest. That’s probably the bigger surprise than Lotto Soudal getting three guys in the Top 10 in a race that isn’t even on our goal sheet.
Next up was Fleche Wallone but we first got some good news that Monfort was back in action. On fitness level 1. Coming from an injury. Cozy. Favourites attacked with 15 km out. Despite our most active efforts, we couldn’t bring them back till the end. De Gendt sprinted up the Muy in approximately some freaking record time. Still wasn’t enough. He was the only one of the pack behind to have reached the favourites group but alas, we had another failed the goal of Top 3 on our hands. But at least we showed ourselves. Vanendert got 10th. Tim Wellens on 15th is worth noting too, after being a workhorse for the past 10k. Winner was He Who Sucks Wheel again, Simon Gerrans. He was dangerously close to making the Ardennes treble by now. Gilbert meanwhile about to make the Treble of second places, poor boy.
Just another rainy race was waiting in the form of La Doyenne for my Belgium boys then. We got once again 3 guys in the Top, ranging from 8th to 10th. I decided to put my hopes in Monfort, since Jelly had some bad legs that day and De Gendt was sorta spent. MaxMon was actually on pretty great shape but overall, he just lacked the quality to contest against a winner like Purito or the other Ardennes riders.
I’m not too hurt about the Ardennes although we have failed both goals. In total we got a lot of points and have put in some great team performance, the approach to have multiple leaders worked out great and all of them performed in some way. I’d like to say that Vanendert warranted his leader status but De Gendt was actually much stronger, yet not having even peaked for those races. He more or less was in constant racing since Tirreno. Obviously there's room open for improvement and it's good I already know the spots for it.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Amstel was a bit of a crazy race for us since we did so much work. I'm fairly okay with the result. First time playing the Ardennes in any new PCM is always a bit tricky for me. La Doyenne should have been better though.
No, De Gendt will ride Tour - Vuelta since he needed a break, but probably next year then. VDB2.0, MaxMon and Timmy will ride Giro though.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Not gamebreaking, but a couple of missing equipment, some inaccurate stats and most obvious the game starting in 2014.
I'll help you with any trouble you get ofc, but still I feel sorry
Already searching the market for some available talent. Mathieu Van der Poel and Wout Van Aert both are available. Van der Poel would pretty much determine the team's path for the rest of this career in the way, that he will be top rider at some point. With Van Aert I am not sure about his potential and in this way, he'd sorta be the more interesting signing. Plus, he's belgian, so sponsor certainly liked that.
Unfortunately my scouts havn't found much talent yet, neither in Flanders nor in Walloonia. Hoping that I'll get at least one decent guy who can become a solid rider in the next few years.
Open contracts that are interesting so far, for either Lotto Soudal or me personally since I like the rider: Stybar, Meersman, Igor Anton <3 & Pierre Rolland. There are some more great riders out there on the market but those are sorta the ones I'm eyeing. Favoring Stybar and/or Anton, however I'd like to keep the belgian focus of course.
Edited by Shonak on 22-03-2015 20:20
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
We had pretty great hopes for our versatile attacking team. The sponsor goal was a Top 5, and with VDB 2.0, MaxMon, Future Great Tim Wellens and Jelly Vanendert, we sent a solid four riders, capable of breakaway success in the mountains and top chances in the few uphill sprints. Plus 5 more guys, incl. Adam hansen and Tiejs Benoot going for his first Grand Tour experience.
Unfortunately, neither the sponsor goal wasn’t achieved nor could we get a stage win ultimately. With 3x second place and 2x third place, we were several times pretty close though. And the sponsor goal was missed pretty close, at least when you look on the ranking and ignore the time gaps. 6th place for VDB2.0 after three hard weeks of racing.
The edition was pretty much a bumpy road straight into insanity. Starting in Marathon (Greece) with a TTT, and finishing in Turin on a flat sunny day, the three weeks have been tough on most riders. 3 of our guys abandoned during the GT. Some iconic mountain stages were up, especially some of the mountain passes looked stunning and were some real eye-candy for riders and viewership.
Marcel Kittel took an amazing 8 stage wins, meaning Giant Alpecin dominated every sprint finish. They dominated even more when you count the several second and third places by Degenkolb and Mezgec. Another similar dominant performance was seen by Chris Froome, who took 5 stage wins.
However, the overall GC wasn’t as one-sided as you might think. With Purito and Nibali, Froome had some tough challengers. Rafal Majka was in contention too for the first two weeks but ultimately got some beating in the third week. Purito was on fire mostly throughout the first two weeks, whilst Nibali finally won a stage on the 20th day of racing. La Squallo mostly lost the Giro in the second week where he couldn’t keep the wheel of Froome on various occasions, but he rose to some heights later then. Purito meanwhile fell a bit short and certainly was at an disadvantage with so many TT kilometers.
I’m pretty satisfied with my team although we missed both goals, the sponsor one and my personal one. The sponsor one was unlikely when I saw the list of competitors. Majka, Bardet, Mollema, Hesjedal, Talansky, Kelderman, Pozzovivo, Uran et cetera. You know the drill.
VDB 2.0 had his problems in the second week of racing. In his first, he was pretty quick on the draw in the uphill finishes, also thanks to some good support of the team. On the first key mountain stages he was below expectations, but that could have been due to him having some headaches for a couple of days according to the doctor. Shame. As a result, for the next few days then the team was trying to play catch-up. From 12th, VDB2.0 gradually improved. After the most part was done, including two TTs, a mountain TT and of course several more mountain stages, I was content with VDB2.0 finishing 9th, with the chance of overtaking Mollema maybe on the penultimate stage.
On stage 20, a stage over gravel mountains, some summits and long descents, which really split up the peloton in thousand little groups for over 60 kilometers of tough, spectacular racing, the GC was really turned upside down (Hesjedal dropping from 7th to 10th e.g.), as he had a solid day and advanced from 9th to 6th, holding the spot of course on the last day as well.
Tim Wellens, Jelle Vandenert and MaxMon all enjoyed various days in the breakaways. The finishes were unlucky, but sometimes I was also too confident of finally winning a stage. In that way, they may have put in too much effort, or reacted too late to the racing winning move. Wellens finished 18th overall, so that’s something worth noting.
What else: Tiesj Benoot started and finished his first GT, but rode rather anonymously. Henderson had some solid sprints in the 3 weeks but when Kittel is here, you don’t stand much chance. Lars Ytting Bak was very active in the first week but later only enjoyed protecting duties. Hansen flew under the radar in order to save some energy for the next two GTs. Boris Vallee also with his first GT. He, Bak and Henderson did not finish the race.
We also had another goal at the Tour of Belgium, Top 3. With Kwiatek, Boonen and Terpstra claiming all podium spots, our archrivals of Etixx Quick Step really ruined that goal for us. Greipel best at 6th, as Gallopin unfortunately failed on dropping the peloton on the last hilly stage.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
He should've been able to do better, especially in Amstel.
