Hi – My name is Asbjørn Kragh Andersen and I will be running this block on behalf of my team Delko–Marseille Provence KTM.

Some of the post will by myself or a short interview I will make with someone, some post will be created by my teammates, giving their impressions form the various races we ride.

To start with here is our roster for the 2016 season:

Top GC Riders

DIAZ Daniel Ricardo age 26 - Our strongest GC rider, clearly our best in the high mountains and also fine on the hilly stage, his ITT is if not good then still amongst the best on our team.

FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio age 29 – Our 2nd option in the stage race with mountains, but his ITT is bad, should be avoided if much more than a prologue.

The Puncheur’s

EL FARES Julien age 30 – On paper our best puncheur, but with a weaker finish than Galten, he has to finish in a smaller group.

GALTA Fredrik Strand age 23 – Has a good combination of punch sprint and acceleration, very strong in the reduced sprint after some hills close to the finish.

The Sprinter/Fighters

MARTINEZ Yannick age 27 – The most all round sprinter on the team, got the finish and acceleration, but also able to handle some smaller hills and even a bit of cobbles.

GIRAUD Benjamin age 29 – almost as good as MARTINEZ but needs a flat profile, can’t handle to much undulation.

ANDERSEN Asbjørn Kragh age 23 – Not as fast as the other but with the best speed on the flat he is a perfect leadout.

DUQUE Leonardo age 35 – More a fighter than a true sprinter, with a good punch great for attacking and picking up KoM points while strong enough in the finish to potentially win from a breakaway.

Domestic

PACHER Quentin age 23, all round fighter type
LABORIE Christophe age 29, sprinter type, also ok attacker on flat to hilly stages.
HUPOND Thierry age 31, as a domestic fine uphill
SISKEVICIUS Evaldas age 27, sprinter type weak uphill
LAAS Martin age 22, sprinter type weak uphill
DI GRÉGORIO Rémy age 30, as a domestic fine uphill
COMBAUD Romain age 23, very all-round
ARISTI Gardoki Mikel age 22, a trainee very weak as it is.
PAILLOT Yoann age 24, ITT rider (in the making)
YEUNG Ronald age 27, just a watercarrier.

Reporter : Can you tell us about your pre-race expectations first.

Rostaing : In a race on this level of competition, with many WT teams and many good riders, we can only hope to get some points, and a bit of time in the spotlight. So the goal will always be to get in the breakaway and/or get rider inside top 20.

Reporter : Ok, now can you give a brief summary, of how things unfolded, seen from the Delko director car.

Rostaing: Yes, first of all we saw a breakaway of 5 allowed to go, with none of you riders in it. They got 2 minutes and it did not look good, but then more riders attacked and everything came together again.




Rostaing: Better luck 2nd time, we get Evaldas Siskevicius in the new breakaway and it looks like they will be allowed to stay out, they get 4’12� with 80 km to the line.




Reporter: So part one of the plan was a success !, and then we get the crash, bad one taking one of the favorites out, Ulissi (Lampre) leaves the race. Might say bad luck for him but good luck for you.

Rostaing: Don’t ever think like that, we are competitors but we are also colleague. We were just lucky this time.




Rostaing: Anyway the fun in the breakaway don’t last, with about 57 km left, Siskevicius can’t keep up and finds his own pace. FDJ is now pulling with all they got and the distance melt.

With 16 km to the line, at the foot of the final hill, race favorite Romain Bardet attacks, passing the two riders from the breakaway.




Reporter: Then how do you react in a situation like this.

Rostaing: Well my first reaction was where is El Fares, I call him and in this case tell him to find his own pace, “do what you can to stay close – but in YOUR pace�

When Bardet and his like attacks on a climb you just can’t counter, they will eat you, you have to listen to your own body.
Julien El Fares got in as 12th, I belive he did everything almost perfect.




Reporter: Thanks for Your time Monsieur Rostaing!

Ag2r’s 25 years old Romain Bardet, born in Brioude, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, about 340 km north of Marseille won the race, already his 2nd win of the season, we sure hope to hear more from him later in the season, not to mention the tour.



25/1 L'Équipe – Marseille

Hi this is my first block post, so I thought I would introduce myself first. I am 24 years old, born in Angoulême south western France about 120 km north of Bordeaux. Been with the team since 2012, my best results was 1st in Time trial, National Under 23 Road Championships, and 2nd Time trial, UCI Road World Under 23 Championships both in 2013.

Under normal circumstances I am a domestic rider, but in this case I was chosen to be the captain in Étoile de Bessèges due to the fact that it is likely to be decided in the ITT. This is our preview of the race:

3/2 – 8/2 2016 Étoile de Bessèges

Location: The race is held in “Le département du Gard� in the area surrounding The Gardon or Gard river, between Montpellier and Avignon. The area is relative flat dominated by forest, wine and grain production.

sutty68 wrote:
A nice race for the team to get its teeth in to

The temperatures was fine with blue sky, but we had a lot of wind, at least 50 km/h waiting for the race to start in Beaucaire, never the less quite a few Beaucairoises had gather to see the race begin. The town is known for its “Monument historique� Château de Beaucaire castle ruin, with structures from the 12th and 16th centuries.

We had Julien El Fares in different breakaway attempts but no rider in the breakaway that succeeded to get away after 40 km of intense fighting.



While Duque, Paillot and myself was sitting protected waiting for the expected mass sprint, El Fares tried another attack over the 2nd KoM, but it was in vain, with 40 km left he was brought back.

8 km to go, the break resigned, quickstep leading the peloton with 58 km/hour.
Our train was fine, Paillot and then me in front of Leonardo Duque, getting ready for the final burst towards the line.




Paillot is not the fastest rider to lead a train, but he got fine tactical senses and in a sharp curve he took the inside, squeezing our train in front of Quick Steep, about 3 km to the line.



I started the sprint for Duque from 2.1 km, Gaviria would of course launce Kittel in an unbelievable high speed, I saw him pass me in the same moment Duque was also about to overtake me. Did not have time to look back to see how much distance we has to the other sprinter.



Can’t find words to describe how happy I was to see Duque holding Fabio Felline behind him for 2nd.

Goodbye for now, Asbjørn Kragh, Bellegarde.

Croatia14 wrote:
Here for praising a team containing Evaldas Siskevicius and Martin Laas. The dream combo of rider, trust me. Forget Froome and Wiggins, forget Contador and Tiralongo, forget Renshaw and Greipel. It is Laaskevicius.

In other terms: Good luck Mate!

Croatia14 wrote:
It is Laaskevicius

sutty68 wrote:
Good effort from the guys

Outtakes from sports director Arvis Piziks postrace analyze with the riders.

First of all this was a hard stage to call, we really did not know if that the short uphill finish would suite the puncher over the sprinter, but went for a sprinter setup.

It always annoys me to see a breakaway go without any of our riders, so please wake up and be ready boys, we want to be in those breakaways!! Especially you Quentin (Pacher) you had a free role today, but I did not see you even try.




Julien (El Fares) You did attack a bit later, but this late you had to close a 3 minute gap on your own, and missed the first KoM option.

And what happened on the 2nd KoM, you had used energy closing the gap, and they kicked you off with easy, we just got to think more clever that this. It is not just the legs you need a brain too!




Ok, the break was caught, we missed the first part of the race, now the sprint.

We had a train, looked ok to me, but then Asbjørn (Kragh) you suddenly decided not to stick to plan, and took Fabio Felline’s wheel?

I am not saying that was a bad idea, just saying lets stick to want we have decided as long as it is looking ok. So basically you can all do much better than this, looking forward to see that happen in the coming stages!

Asbjørn Kragh Andersen:
The stage was surprisingly won by 26 years old Italian Daniele Ratto from Androni-Sidermec. His best result since a stage in Vuelta a España back in 2013

VoetsT wrote:
Small mistakes costs some results today, but mistakes are made to learn

Today we have had the opportunity to get some input from the outside, as pre-race favorite José Rojas from Movistar, has promised me a short description of how he saw today’s events.

First we say a 10 rider break go, with the white and dotted jerseys. As far as I remember also with one of yours (Quentin Pacher).

We decided that it was to many and brought it back.



After that we got a much more manageable two rider group, another of your guys (Julien El Fares) and from original breakaway Florian Vachon from Fortuneo. We left the front.




I was having a bad day, first half was fine sitting between the first 25 rider in the peloton, but with the pace getting higher and climbing over the last category 1, followed by several uncategorized hills, my headache and by legs was getting worse and I found myself at the rear of the peloton. With my teammate Lobato still in it for a win, I had no help around me.




To make things worse our train was also a mess and Juan José Lobato had to attempt to make it on this own, under the red kite he was a bit too far back, while your sprinter Leonardo Duque still had his lead-out man in front of him.



Lobato was our best as 8th, 4 places behind your best Duque.
Congratulations on that , I finished with an embarrassing no. 100

Regards José Rojas.

Asbjørn Kragh Andersen: Just to round off this fine input from Rojas, a few details more.

Julien El Fares took 18 KoM points today, overall 2nd 10 points behind Florian Vachon (Fortuneo).

Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek) win the stage, brilliant season for him he also took 3 stages in San Luis.