Hainan is over after 9 stages and I very much sealed the deal. Those asian girls couldn't believe their luck, seeing me 3 times on the podium on the last day and being allowed to kiss my cheek three times!
I couldn't believe my luck either, so I decided to make out with the last podium girl for real. The little asian girl smiled and was pretty much embarressed but later gave me her phone number, the crowd cheered.
Hainan was an allround success for me and a perfect conclusion to this season's end. After Tour of Turkey, I was lacking both in races and wins. Giro d'Italia has been too much of a hassle to bother, whilst on the other side I had almost no races left. I'm very happy that Hainan proved to me that I am, in fact, a King Of Delivering Results.
Both the achieved sponsor goal and my first GC win rank highly in my personal ambition to become the world's best sprinter. This is the second sponsor goal I have fulfilled this season, so I hope that my team manager is happy with me in this regard. The domination of the Tour of Hainan also spills is in some valuable points for the team, that may give them an extra budget come the transfer period. Awkwardly enough, with my wins at Hainan I might push NetApp Endura one step down.
In total I was very solid both in my point scoring as well as keeping the lead. A lead of 40 seconds merely by grabbing 1-2-3 places and bonus seconds speaks for itself. Similiar the lead in the points classification is quite big. By winning the young rider classification, it was an allround festivity for our team.
Since the race marked the end of the season for me, my team and I went on to celebrate highly. Frapporti and Gavazzi took some cheap hookers home whom I believe to be men (but they deny that of course...), while I faded out multiple times from simply partying too hard. Each time I woke up, I was right back on the table, dancing and celebrating my wins. I also got a call from my future Movistar DS who said he had been very happy about my performance. I told him, "I'M GONNA WIN MSR FOR YOUUU!"
Ryu Kawasaki presents himself as new Androni Sprinter
No sooner has Calzone's win in Hainan settled down as the it was announced that the Continental Tour would return to the region next year Japanese Kieran star Ryu Kawasaki announced his intention to try his hand at the road.
I can see Androni are the team for me after such an amazing showing here with Calzone. I think I can do well on these roads but also around the world - I have had a few goes in local races and I enjoy the wider spaces than I get on the track. Stamina work had got to happen but I think it is time for a Jaopanese rider to really show the professional pack what I can do.
The 9 stage Tour of Hainan in China was the team's final race of the season. We went there with the goal of a stage win but as the race is flat we were also hoping for a good GC. Carlo Calzone would be our leader and would get most his help from Gavazzi, Felline and Frapporti.
Stage 1
The first stage of the race was won by Guido, Calzone finished down in 6th but he is not entirely at fault because we didn't make a train.
Stage 2
Again no train of ours was formed so Calzone had to jump onto the Bardiani train.
Hanzen wins for Sky while Calzone finishes in 6th again.
Stage 3
A whole lot of leaders crashed, including Hanzen, Modolo and Abundi.
With 5kms left Frapporti was at the front leading the Calzone.
1.2kms to go and Calzone opens up his sprint, Frapporti keeping the pace very high.
And a dominant win for Calzone which means that he fulfills our goal. This also moves him to 2nd in the GC only 8 seconds behind Guido.
Stage 4
Abundi takes the stage win on this messy sprinters stage, Calzone in the green finishes a resepctable 3rd which means he has the same time as Guido now.
Stage 5
The sprint is opened up by 18 year old escapee Hagg for NetApp.
Calzone nearly catching with 300m to go.
And UCI decided to give Hagg the win because they feel bad for him, Calzone finishes 2nd and takes over the GC lead.
Stage 6
We were forced to do a lot of work because we had the yellow jersey.
Failli wins it from the breakaway.
The peloton loses no time as Calzone comes 2nd in the Peloton sprint and so finishes 7th. He is still in yellow.
Stage 7
Calzone on the wheel of the Vacansoleil riders with 2.5kms to go.
100m to go and no one looks like the favourite, Calzone coming fast up the middle.
And it is stage win number 2 for Calzone in Hainan, increasing his GC and Points lead.
Stage 8
Calzone following Vacansoleil again.
Seems Calzone forgot to leave Boeckmans' slipstream as Calzone finishes in 2nd place. He has a comfortable GC lead going into stage 9.
Stage 9
Kristoff wins the final stage while Calzone finishes behind a few leftover Escapees in 7th.
Final
Carlo Calzone takes the GC win for the team in the Tour of Hainan by 40 seconds. The only GC win of our season comes in our last race.
He also wins the Points classification by a good 25 points, this just illustrating his dominance throughout the race which included 2 stage wins.
And of course he also won the Young Riders classification by 44 seconds over Guido.
And Mr Calzone, we too do not believe that Frapporti and Gavazzi would take home male hookers but we thank you for looking out for them despite being absolutely pissed and lying to your next year's manager
for me, life is a holiday every day anyway, so I need no special occasions to celebrate. But off-season is even a bit more special. No annoying calls from my coaches, no paparazzi following me around. Instead I can lie around on the beach and enjoy my free time, think about my victories and success in the past months and... enjoy my new wife.
Indeed, season ended with a bang, as I decided to get married. The italian girl from the sidelines of Firenze, well - what can I say? She is just the one. So I decided a week later to marry her. I am a man of passion; in racing, in my sprints, in life and most of all, in love.
So there I am, writing up my report whilst sipping some delicious cocktails. I will enjoy now some weeks honeymoon until I travel to Spain to meet my new DS. I want to thank my team and my Androni coach, we had a great run here. Seeing as how Androni finished 19th, with me playing a big role in it. I catapulted the team some ranks up I imagine with my late (point-wise) dominance in Hainan. I almost finished in the Top 50 as well, due to my performances of Tour of Turkey and Tour of Hainan. 571 stand in the end, not too shabby. Next season a Top 50 ranking should be easily obtainable and I look to double my win count at least from 3 to a half dozen. Maybe even double that count too then?
I can be satisfied with my first season all in all, although the Giro has took too many race days of my calendar and I played no role there. But alas, those are memorable lessons to be learned. My victories in Turkey and China rank the highest, I just love winning and winning loves me.
Good luck to my old team coach here at Androni and to my japanese follow-up sprinter.
See you at the finish!
Edited by Shonak on 08-12-2014 18:59
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Indeed, season ended with a bang, as I decided to get married. The italian girl from the sidelines of Firenze, well - what can I say? She is just the one. So I decided a week later to marry her. I am a man of passion; in racing, in my sprints, in life and most of all, in love.
How can you marry with a woman just a week after meeting her?
The user formerly known as 'The Schleck Fan' Gracias Alberto.
Hello to all of our fans, today we round up the season that has been and bring you a bit of news.
The News
Firstly, an important bit of news that we have received from the UCI. One of our older and more experienced riders by the name of Francesco Reda will not be riding for us next season. During the year it was found that he had been using Performance Enhancing Substances and although we have a few riders who have doped in the past we will not put up with current dopers. The UCI has therefore banned Reda for the next season, whether or not he will return to us in 2015 is yet to be seen.
Season Review
The 2013 season was a rather difficult one for the Androni Team. We relied on a few riders to step up and deliver results and luckily two of them did which is why we are where we are. The team enjoyed a few stage and classification wins throughout the season and showed an attitude towards racing that was aggressive which we applaud, we thoroughly enjoyed the many breakaways and attacks which were made by almost all of our riders throughout the season.
There were a few main highlights throughout the season. Most notably stage wins.
In the Tour of Turkey Carlo Calzone showed himself for the first time and achieved our stage win goal on stage 2 as well as winning the Points classification. He also took 3 other Top 10 stage finishes.
The Giro saw our most important race of the season. We had set ourselves a hard goal of a Top 10 in the GC in which we were hoping Franco Pellizotti would do the job and he did exactly that securing 10th in the GC on stage 20 after a marvellous battle with the young Wilco Kelderman in which Franco came out on top. The team fought hard and got 5 3rd's and a 5th, 2 from Sella, 2 from Pellizotti and one from Rosa.
Spoiler
Our next highlight came in Part 3 when the UCI thought they had us by setting a hard goal of winning the Tre Valli Varesine. The pressure was on Pellizotti to deliver. It was however another one of our riders stealing the spotlight. Miguel Rubiano who attacked at the midpoint in the race went all the way and won solo, a magnificent race and it felt like we had just spat in the UCI's face Pellizotti meanwhile finished 8th.
The Tour of Hainan was our final race of the season and we sent Calzone as leader and he did not disappoint. We had an easy goal of a stage win which was achieved. Calzone was in the Top 10 on all of the stages which included 3 top 5's and two stage wins. This dominance showed as he held the GC lead from stage 6 till the finish which gave us our only GC win as well as a win in the Points Classification and the Young Riders classification.
Spoiler
All the above results lead to the team finish 19th in the End of Season Rankings with 1778 points, we finished a long way behind the top WT teams but that was to be expected. Our top point scores was Pellizotti (834) followed by the Calzone (571), there were also good contributions from Sella (206) and Rubiano (158).
Goodbye Calzone
We say goodbye to the great Carlo Calzone who performed extremely well for us this season. With 4 classification wins and 3 stage wins. We could not really ask for much more from the young man. He will next year be riding for the Movistar team in the WT and as he is a WT quality rider we accept his decision and hope that maybe one day he will return to us.
Hello to our New Riders
There is also good news as we say hello to 6 new young riders. The most famous and known of these 6 is Costa Rican Delfi Cervero. He showed his worth with a Top 10 in one of the classics and a top 10 in the World Championships U23 Road race, we look forward to having him next season. We are also joined by soon to be famous Krista Marcus, she is the only female on the professional circuit and will be good motivation for the riders next season. Rich Qatar cyclist Ahmed Al Mohney also joins the team to add to the different cultures in the team next season. Brothers Sylvain and Pierre Lipawsky also join and will play important roles next season. Finally the big Japanese sprinter Ryu Kawasaki who wants Japanese cycling to be recognised around the world, he is effectively Calzone's replacement and will find comfort amongst our sprinting department in 2014. We shall see you all soon at our training camps.
We hope all our fans, followers and riders enjoyed the season and we will catch up with you again sometime during the transfer season.
Name: Krista Marcus
Nickname: Dropbear
Age: 18
Nationality: Australian
Specialty: Time Trial
Hello, my name is Krista and i am EPIC's first female cyclist. I come from Doonside, right on the edge of Sydney. It's a pretty flat area and that has translated to my riding where i'm best against the clock. But i'm not too bad a climber either having got plenty of experience at National Level.
Androni have taken a risk i won't deny that. Most people will say "how can an 18yo girl compete with pro-men?". Almost everyone i've come across in cycling laughed at the idea of me racing against the men. It's one thing at junior level nationally, quite another to go pro. Well i am going to show every single doubter of women athletes.
For this neo-pro season i just want to learn and grow as a rider. Get used to the pro-peloton and lifestyle. The team are happy to help me out and together we can do great things this year. My goals will be the Nationals mid-season personally. Like the other TMM Sports Management riders i will post updates all season. See ya soon!
Corruption, Christmas, Cheating and Everything In Between
In the blog "The Tracker" written by the amazing Mr Dippofix he talks of a pre-agreement involving a certain team from Australia. This manager has a dodgy past with over training his riders and it recently got out of hand when he was caught in the act of attempting to sign a pre-agreement. The UCI has announced that they are considering the punishments available to them including the involved rider going to the Belkin team. Our sources tell us there is a strange and suspicious relationship between the UCI and the Belkin Management and can reveal that this partnership may result in them receiving free riders which is absolutely outrageous!
In other news, we announced not long ago that our own Reda was caught doping. This was not good from us because we should have hid it better, but unfortunately we aren't Sky and so he will be banned from cycling for the next year which hurts us but we have young up and comers like Rosa who are better and less creepy.
In some other Androni related news. We can now reveal our secret of getting fans. No, it is not Pellizotti, no it is not Calzone and no it is not that we beat Kelderman.
The secret is
Spoiler
Yes, our sponsor Androni-Giocattoli, agreed to give away hundreds of these to people around the world in order to bring in fans and increase the awareness of the brand around the world.
And now for some Cycling related news, Krista "Dropbear" Marcus recently arrived in Italy to the approval of many of our riders. We are unsure about the nickname but there have been suggestions that it's because she makes some people want to drop everything and be bare. Our riders have already been informed that they are not to screw around with her as she is under the protection of the TMM Sports Management and the Androni Management and to our knowledge is in a relationship with a member of the Europcar Team which is ok because they are no longer rivals with us.
Last of all, Merry Christmas to all and travel safe on your adventures.
Just rode the whole, what was it?, 20 minute ride from my apartment in Genève to Italy, well, it was a little longer to the team base, but it was good to meet most the team on an easy group ride, I even got to meet Pellozotti! Hopefully I can meet riders like Cancellara, Frank, Voeckler and Nibali in the future. My brother and I are really excited for the upcoming year, as I can see myself fitting in here, although my Italian isn't the best, so I may have to improve it over the winter, hopefully Pierre can help-he is fluent- I also collected some team kit for the upcoming winter, nothing too important and none of next years equipment, but just some stuff to keep me warm for winter training, felt great to try on the Androni jersey. I also spoke to Mr Rujano again and he seems pretty excited about the upcoming season, I asked him about the chances of a Giro wildcard and he seemed pretty confident, so I'll be training for that next season.
À bientôt, Sylvain Lipawsky
Chao,
My brother and I rode into Italy to go out on a light ride with the team, got to meet them and I'm really excited to meet them, as far as I can work out, I'll be a domestique for most people, especially our sprinters and I'll ride alongside my brother in the Giro (if we get a wildcard) so I'm pretty excited about all this, it was great to meet a few of these riders as well, Delfi is a nice guy and I'm looking forward to racing alongside him. I also can't believe the equipment we are getting, these wheels are more expensive then my whole bike before this and I even don't have to move away from Genève, the only thing better will be to meet Cancellara, hopefully I'll compete against him soon. I'm really looking forward to this season and I think that we can have some great results.
Chao, Pierre
Edited by trekbmc on 21-12-2014 07:26
The transfer season is fast descending on the EPIC world. Scandals and rumours alike are surrounded in a veil of secrecy, and the dark ancient evil known among men as 'pre dealing'. Delfi Cervero descended into a trance and spoke to the powerful gods of Mt Olympus to find out more.
The so called Cycle Gate scandal recently blew the EPIC apart, but it is not the first pre deal, nor will it be the last. The wheels and cogs of the sly and suspicious fit effortlessly into a huge machine, one bent on the destruction of small teams and rivals alike. Already the unwilling have fallen into the poisonous snares of corruption and deceit, treachery and betrayal.
Already deals are sown up, their participants sworn to secrecy, their tongues tied, in far too deep, too far to climb out of this endless abyss. Old friends are cast aside, old enemies strike a deal with the devil, all for such little gain. Risks are taken without thinking, but is it worth it?
Despite it all the earth shudders from the sound of moving feet, of shouting and bargaining, deals struck and promises broken. From black to orange and green to red, homegrown legends are greedily led. Sharp eyes fix their gaze on the men in green, hoping to garner the latest part for their machine. The old and the wise sit waiting, watching, laughing at the hot headed who they are so slyly outfoxing.
Everyone wins and everyone loses, the next season will be the same again, battles and bruises.
Spoiler
Look, I'm sorry, but its really hard to write something even vaguely poetic or meaningful about the transfer season.
Tour of Hainan Review 
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
Season Review 
Pellizotti meanwhile finished 8th.
Krista "Dropbear" Marcus 
Lipawsky Brothers 
