Don't worry fernando! It's a while before Ian has to make that decision.
And thanks a lot cunego. You may have guessed that you were one of the main reasons why I wanted to do this one rider story, so that means a lot. Edited by brewers90 on 26-04-2012 20:51
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
Ian: "Another lumpy stage but this one has just one proper climb. Nevertheless, the hilly nature of the finish will mean the punchers will fight it out for the win today."
Ian: "Today will be a case of every man for himself. The main task is to get JTL to the end in the main group and then we'll see who's feeling the best when we get to the final charge for the line."
Ian: "I am a completely free rider today and I will get the chance to ride for myself at the end unless JTL is in trouble. Again, not quite my type of stage, I would prefer a flat finish, but I'll give it a go!"
Race Report
Today's breakaway consisted of ten riders with Andy Tennant getting in there for Endura. He really has been in superb form lately, so it's only right that he gets his own chance. The best rider was probably Rui Sousa, but they only ever pulled out four minutes on the peloton.
Lampre used their very strong team to full effect today as they were in control from start to finish. Even Scarponi was taking turns on the front as they pulled back the break.
With the peloton coming closer and closer, Tennant decided to give it one last go in the hope that the momentary confusion would allow him to stay away. But as you can see in the background, the peloton were right behind him and it didn't succeed.
Niemiec wasn't in the mood to sit back and enjoy his lead as he was unnecessarily but entertainingly giving it a go as we hit the last ten kilometres. The pace was too high though, even for the in-form Pole to resist.
In a very exciting and close uphill sprint, Edgar Pinto just edged out Cesar Veloso and El Fares to take the win for LA Antarte. Tiernan-Locke finished seventh, with Camano and Bibby both in the top fifteen. The bonus seconds gained by Veloso makes it very close heading into tomorrow's decisive final stage.
"That went alright for us as we did all that we needed to and JTL got a good top ten in that tense finish. I could have finished better but got slightly blocked and sat up to prevent any further damage! In all honesty though, I could have finished 10th or 11th but there was no point wasting the energy so sitting up was probably the best idea. I somehow managed to gain five places on the GC, which I was very surprised about when the DS told me, but I'll certainly take that! One stage to go."Edited by brewers90 on 27-04-2012 01:40
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
Ian: "The final stage here is another toughie with tons of climbs to deal with. Again, the main challenge will be the summit finish on Alto del Naranco, which is a great place for a showdown between Niemiec and Cesar Veloso."
Ian: "JTL is in 11th at the moment, and we need to keep him there but it will be very difficult as the final two climbs are steep and will be tackled very quickly. Camano will hope to stay up there aswell."
Ian: "My job today is to position JTL at the front before the final climb and then try and come in as fast as I can because a top twenty is definitely possible for me."
Race Report
The breakaway today consisted of nine riders. The highest placed was Rui Sousa in 27th. Other riders included Ricardo Mestre, Michael Rasmussen, Patxi Vila, Artem Ovechkin and young Austrian prodigy George Preidler. They rode brilliantly together and at one point had a lead of nine and a half minutes.
On one of the faster descents, Andrew Tennant clipped a wheel and hit the ground really hard. He tried to carry on but eventually decided to wait for the team car and abandon. The prognosis was a broken hand, a massive shame for Andy as he won't be riding the Tour of California now.
Lampre were all over it again today, taking control with 80km to go and causing serious problems for a lot of riders on the climbs. They will certainly be hoping for a performance like this in the Giro, starting next week.
And with 10km to go, on the penultimate climb, the breakaway was brought back. The pace was phenomenally high and even Tiernan-Locke was struggling to stay near the front. However, great work by Fleeman and then Bibby kept him up at the front at the right time.
But it was pathetically easy for Lampre as Niemiec took his second win here to clinch the GC. El Fares took second with Lloyd and Pietropolli third and fourth for Lampre. Both Tiernan-Locke and Camano came in in Scarponi's group 38 seconds back.
"Well, that has been one hell of a hard race but to finish 19th overall against this really strong field is a fantastic result for me. I guess April's been ok from my point of view with a couple of strong performances in Spain! Further up the road, JTL unfortunately lost a place but 12th place is still very much acceptable for us. It's easy to forget that we're only a Continental team and against these huge teams, to get anywhere near the top ten is a huge achievement. We have been somewhat helped by Movistar, though, who have had an absolutely disgraceful race apart from David Arroyo. I have a couple of days off, then I'll be off to America to get some training in before my next race. Speak soon."Edited by brewers90 on 27-04-2012 01:40
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
Endura Racing had an incredible week in the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey with some superb individual performances, With a route that never looked like causing massive gaps on any particular stage, it was always likely to come down to either a brave attacker staying away or time bonuses given at the end of stages. Russell Downing continued his strong recent form with three top fives in the first five stages, including a podium on the Queen Stage, stage five. This put him in an advanced position on GC as well as earning him the green jersey.
Russell Downing was absolutely brilliant all week in Turkey and capped the performance off with a superb sprint win on stage six.
But it was stage six where the race really took off for Endura as a great leadout by the whole team allowed Downing to charge to a comfortable win ahead of Gatto, Fischer and Degenkolb. This victory also meant that Russell took the yellow jersey off Fischer by just two seconds. Endura still weren't finished though as on stage seven, Wilkinson got into the breakaway. As well as clinching the polka dot jersey for the team, the break turned out to be successful and Ian timed his sprint perfectly to nip past Kai Reus on the line and make it two in a row for the team. Unbelievably, Wilkinson was now in the yellow jersey, just ten seconds clear of Downing, heading into the final stage.
Wilkinson not only won the polka dot jersey in Turkey, but a magnificent breakaway win on stage seven also clinched him the overall prize.
The following day was very tough but with Wilkinson coming home with the much-reduced peloton, and with Markus Fothen surprising the sprinters to take the win, Ian Wilkinson was confirmed as the winner of the Tour of Turkey 2012!! Not only that but Downing finished the final stage in fourth and he secured second place overall as well as the points jersey. A remarkable race for Endura.
Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey - Final Overall Classification
Thanks for the comments (and bananas, I'm looking at you Avin ).
Turkey was just phenomenal, I couldn't believe how strong our guys were but they were all peaking so that's what happens when everyone's in great shape.
sutty, the suffering is over my friend. The race has finished
And thanks olabj, got to keep the Endura fan happy, haven't I?
Monthly review coming up in a nice blog.
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
Well, incredibly we've reached May already, and the season couldn't have gone much better for us up to now!
A fantastic performance in Turkey moves us back to the top of the Continental rankings ()! Incredibly enough, were the season to finish now, we'd be off to the World Tour, (where we would proceed to get absolutely battered) but hey there's still three GT's to ride, so we won't stay there for long. If I were a betting man, I would put my money on Project 1t4i to go up and then whichever of the French teams has the better TDF, so between Cofidis, Europcar and Saur Sojasun. But Landbouwkrediet are also looking useful at the moment. It will be interesting, for sure.
I'll stop waffling now and give you the results from April, easily the busiest month of the season. Here's part one:
Well, there's only one place you can start. Spartacus. Fabian won both of the cobbled monuments again to go with his Gent-Wevelgem win. What an incredible machine of a man. Andy Schleck took the overall in the Basque Country, some would say surprisingly no doubt! It was an odd race where Rodriguez dominated but lost out to Schleck no.2 in the TT at the end. Gilbert started his Ardennes campaign with a good performance in De Brabantse Pijl, with Hupond and Cavendish winning the other HC races in the first half of the month.
Part two:
Cadel was in top form again with superb victories in Amstel Gold and La Fleche Wallonne. In both races Andy Schleck was second to the Aussie. LBL though, was, strange to say the least, with David Moncoutie staying away after a long breakaway, preventing Gilbert from taking the win. Schleck was third in this race, so three podiums for Andy, but no wins. It's hard not to feel sorry for the Luxembourger, or is it! The final World Tour race of the month was the Tour de Romandie, where, despite GreenEdge dominating, Bradley Wiggins won the race in the final time trial, no surprise there. Albasini was second and Gerrans third. De Weert and our very own Wilko took the big Conti races.
So, that's that, an exciting month all round. What about me? Well, I'm heading to America tomorrow with the rest of the team for the Tour of California. We have to go a bit early to get used to the timezone change and the weather, which should be very warm hopefully. We've seen the provisional startlist and all I can say is, don't expect much from us here! Evans and Schleck will be continuing their rivalry over there, as well as a whole bunch of top riders, which we'll talk about when the race actually starts. There is no doubt that the field here is stronger than that in the Giro. Once again I want to perform well in the TT, but breakaways will be on the agenda for the whole team here, so I'll have to get my attacking legs out.
It may still be very early in the season for transfers but time waits for no man when it comes to securing promising youngsters, especially with the big teams on the prowl. With this in mind, Endura Racing moved quickly to snap up yet another promising British rider in this golden age of cycling for the country.
Signed early to prevent Sky beating us to him, Endura Racing are pleased to announce the signing of Bradley Smith, who will join the team as their trainee in August. The 21 year-old rouleur has been in sensational form in the under 23 races this season, winning the Liege-Bastogne-Liege Espoirs by a comfortable margin, as well as winning the Giro delle Regioni, finishing second in the Tour de Berlin and finishing second, just, in the Ronde van Vlaanderen Espoirs. He is a very exciting young rider who we hope to be able to work with long-term and develop together to ensure he fulfills his potential.
Rider Info
Name: Bradley Smith DoB: 08/06/1990 Place of Birth: Fleetwood, Lancs, England Type of Rider: Rouleur, Time Triallist, Northern Classics U23 Palmares:
GP de Portugal; 8th overall
Ronde van Vlaanderen Espoirs; 2nd
Giro delle Regioni; Stage win, 1st overall
Liege-Bastogne-Liege Espoirs; 1st
Tour de Berlin; 2nd overall
*Has anyone ever had a more complete youngster than this guy first year? He's absolutely incredible, I certainly haven't seen anyone like this.
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
That explains why he's so fast in a time trial then Freitas
I found him in the U23's obviously, winning everything!
And, just incase there's anyone thinking it's a bit fishy, genuinely no editing. I just looked at the database to find his date of birth, nothing else, hand on heart.
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
Ian: "A very scenic, but tough, start to the Tour sees the peloton ride round Lake Tahoe with plenty of short, sharp climbs to test the legs. The final climb comes just nine kilometres from the end and is a real lung buster. The GC favourites will get straight down to it."
Ian: "The new, improved Jon Tiernan-Locke gets his big chance in what is effectively a World Tour race with the startlist we have here. He probably won't be able to do much today but hopefully he can finish in the lead group with bigger tests still to come. One person will definitely be going on the attack as we will every day."
Ian: "I start this race as the team's fittest rider but today isn't for me. I'm just a team mate today but hopefully I can show the DS that I have some form and persuade him to give me a more elevated role as the race goes on."
An Post
191. S.Ennekens
192. J.Bellis
193. M.Christian
194. R.Jans
195. J.Mould
196. J.Segers
197. K.Vanbilsen
198. N.Wytinck
Ian: "Wow, what a field here. Tour de France winner Evans, runner up Schleck and former podium finisher Sanchez are the main ones to watch here. But that's not all. Gesink, Wiggins, Uran, Hesjedal, Brajkovic, Kloden, Horner and LL Sanchez are also all here. Then you've got Cancellara, Flecha, Boom, Ballan, Sagan....
Race Report
On a lovely sunny day, the first group that managed to establish itself up the road was a group of nine. In there were Leukemans, Langeveld, Dall'Antonia, Boivin and Tour of Turkey winner, Ian Wilkinson, hoping to do what he did in Turkey again here.
They were soon joined by two final riders, Wytinck of An Post and no less than Flecha of Sky. These eleven riders really began to pull away from the peloton to a maximum of nine minutes ahead. Wilkinson won the first three KoMs to ensure he would have the polka dot jersey.
But it wasn't too long until the big American teams took control, with Millar, Kloden, Quinziato and Vansummeren taking long turns on the frront as the gap began to tumble.
With 35km to go, Wilkinson oddly decided that his breakaway companions were holding him back and went solo. At first it looked a bad decision but soon he had a minute over the other ten riders. There was still 20km to go though.
As the peloton hit the final climb, it was no surprise to see the attacks coming. First to go was Wout Poels followed by Ben Hermans and Kiserlovski. It was not until later that Evans, Schleck and the other big boys replied. The breakaway had now been mopped up but not Wilkinson...
...who crested the summit with a gap of one minute and now he just had a fast descent into the finish. Surely, now Ian would take the win. Sanchez was the next rider over the top but there were no significant gaps at this point.
YEEEEAAH!! The party was already starting in the team car as Wilkinson took one of the biggest wins in the team's history with a marvellous solo ride. Ian is unstoppable at the moment and will take the lead in all classifications, apart from the U25s of course. Stunning.
The next man across the line was Samu Sanchez, ahead of Evans, Hesjedal and Hermans. This group contained 18 riders with Uran, Schleck, Poels, Navarro, Horner and Gesink finishing in there.
A little bit later the next group was led across the line by Nicki Sorensen with Tiernan-Locke just behind him. Gerrans, Wiggins, Camano, Peraud, Sagan, Rolland and Bibby were some of the riders that finished in this large group, 1'35 behind Wilkinson.
"What a start to what will probably be our hardest race of the year! Wilko is flying at the moment but nobody was expecting him to go solo for nearly 40km! Of course, we won't really be able to defend the jersey for long and indeed, he was only in the breakaway to get the climber's jersey, but hey we should be able to keep it for a couple more days. Delighted for him and we have already achieved enough here with seven stages to go. The rest of us finished with the main group but some people gained time on us, which doesn't really matter as we weren't gonna beat them anyway. The goal here was stage win and/or KoM jersey and it's looking pretty good at the moment ."
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
Further up the road, JTL unfortunately lost a place but 12th place is still very much acceptable for us. It's easy to forget that we're only a Continental team and against these huge teams, to get anywhere near the top ten is a huge achievement. We have been somewhat helped by Movistar, though, who have had an absolutely disgraceful race apart from David Arroyo. I have a couple of days off, then I'll be off to America to get some training in before my next race. Speak soon."
)! Incredibly enough, were the season to finish now, we'd be off to the World Tour, (where we would proceed to get absolutely battered) but hey there's still three GT's to ride, so we won't stay there for long. If I were a betting man, I would put my money on Project 1t4i to go up and then whichever of the French teams has the better TDF, so between Cofidis, Europcar and Saur Sojasun. But Landbouwkrediet are also looking useful at the moment. It will be interesting, for sure.
