Today the plan was to get a guy in the break and then to enjoy the ride to the finish. We put Teo in the break as we knew he'd want to pick up a few KoM points which he managed to do and then he just sat on the break and took the easy ride as there a few difficult days ahead and we need to sea e as much energy as possible. When the break still had a decent gap coming to the final few kilometres, I panicked and attacked, which I shouldn't of done as the bunch were more detrained to catch me so I was tired by the sprint, so I'm happy that I could still be up there, but I thought Caleb was still in the group but he'd been dropped on the climb, so we had no back up, but tomorrow is the key day so we have to make sure we have the legs for tomorrow. SimonEdited by JoeArmstrong13 on 20-09-2014 08:35
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The plan for today was always going to be to defend the jersey, however we want to win so we were obviously going to try for the stage win. The plan didn't change from any other day, so we put Ian up the road, and told him to ride steadily and just follow the group, and then try to pick up the KoM points, and if he was able to go for the stage win, however we were quite happy as he was the best placed rider on GC, and we knew that they couldn't gain enough for him to take the jersey. So we just let other teams do the work and then we would have more riders at the finish to help us defend from attacks. However we saw the opportunity to gain time so we just went for it and didn't look back, we had three of us in the group with Dan Martin, and the other contenders were a fair bit behind us so we committed fully and the gap started to grow. We caught the break but then Gadret went and we weren't able to get him back in time, although Simon had a great try, and I think we are in a strong place as we gained a decent gap on Contador and Quintana, so I think we can win this, whether it is me or Chris doesn't matter as we are on the same team, but yeah I'm confident I'll say that, you know we have a good 5 minutes on 3rd so we are in a strong place now. Adam
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Rumours are beginning to surface about a new British World Tour team, that will be built around the Yates Brothers and Chris Froome. The team is believed to be a team currently racing as a Continetal team in the UK, and is currently in negotiations with the UCI about gaining a World Tour license for the next season, currently the team is believed to be in contact with a number of British riders including some riders that have yet to turn pro. The newt British team is believed to be in contact with Steve Cummings, Adam Blythe, Ben Swift, Luke Rowe, David Millar, The Yates Brothers, Chris Froome and Teo Geoghen Hart.
In a statement Simon Yates said, We are yet to be contacted by any teams for next season, however we would be interested in joining a British team, be it a new team or Team Sky as I think that we are both at a stage in our careers where we need to find a team to be able to lead, however we want to ride with Froomey as he is a great friend and an honour to ride as a teammate for. We also want to find a team where we can bring in our own choice of teammates as riders like Mikel, Teo and Locky are strong riders, so we want to have them with us as they are great friends and teammates, so we want to be able to bring in our own help and Ivan as he is a very smart man and someone that we get on very well with.
Where as Adam Yates told us, Personally I want to move teams this year as I haven't been able to get the opportunities I wish, such as Richie taking over the lead in the Giro, but I think that Froomey is a rider that I'd like to ride with, so I think that next year I will target the Giro or Vuelta and then aim to help Froomey in the Tour, for hopefully his 3rd time in a row. At the minute I'm not fussed about leading the team at the Tour as I have a long career still ahead of me, but I need to be allowed to gain experience in leading in a Grand Tour.
The new British team is also believed to be interested in signing Peter Sagan, who has hadn't a great year at Saxo and is wanting to move to greener pastures. They are also believed to be interested in signing french duo Roman Bardet and Thibaut Pinot as well as young talents like Peruvian Duo, Jamel and Diego Johnson, who have proved themselves in the under 23 races this year. It is also believed that Matt Gibson will join the team, a long with Jon Dibben and Scott Thwaites.
In other news MTN Qhubeka are busy in the transfer window signing, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Geraint Thomas, Matt Goss, Richie Porte, Cameron Meyer, Simon Clarke, Michael Rogers, Daryl Impey and Robbie Hunter.
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The plan for today was to get Ian and Teo in the break, so that we had them for latter if we needed them, and at the start Simon told me he wanted to go as well, just to test his legs before the Tour, so the plan changed slightly and we knew that the race would be quite hard so it would be good to have a few guys for later in the race, the plan was for me to attack at the bottom of the final climb and then for Froomey to follow Contador and Thibaut, so that if they caught me he could counter and go for the win. We managed to put Simon in the break with 6 riders including Ian and Teo so we were in a good position, as Simon was the best placed on GC. When we hit the final climb the break still had a decent lead and we thought that Simon would get dropped so we decided to up the pace at the foot of the climb to make it hard to attack and then for me to go full gas when the gradient started to ease off a little. When I attacked nobody responded at first but then Contador caught and passed me, and then Froome caught me and started to set the pace for me, which I am grateful for as he could of just left me but he chose to wait and pace me up the climb. I told Chris to go as I was suffering so he went and bridged across to Contador, and then managed to get the stage so it's a good day for us as we won the stage and we still have the jersey. Adam
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Today the plan was to just control the race and then set Simon up for the win, however we decided when the break went we wanted to put Caleb, Ian and Teo in the break as we thought that it could go all the way and we didn't want to have to chase all day with a hard stage tomorrow. We knew that Contador and Quintana would want an easy day, so we decided to just sit in and save as much energy as possible. When the gap was at 8 minutes with 20 kilometres to go we realised the break wasn't going to be caught so we were in a great position as we had the best sprinter and 4 out of the 5 guys in the break. However Gadret attacked on the climb and the guys had no response to it, and then Contador attacked and made a decent gap to us but we were pretty confident as we knew that we would gain time tomorrow so we just stayed together and rode to the finish. Adam
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I'm happy to get the overall win as I have worked hard for the team all year so to be allowed to lead the team is great, and we are in a great place for the Tour, and I think that Chris will be even stronger then, I'm glad as it is my first big GC victory, so it's a good sign for the future, and I think that I'm in the form of my life so I am looking forward to the Tour where I think I could win a stage. Adam
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The Cannondale team at the Tour De France will be led by Britain's Chris Froome as he aims to dfened his title last year, the team that will support him will be as follows:
Chris Froome
Adam Yates
Simon Yates
Thomas Lofkvist
Elia Viviani
Jens Voigt
Kristijan Koren
Stefano Pirazzi
Teo Geoghen Hart
The team's aim will be to get Chris Froome overall victory in the race, but later on in the race, the team may be allowed to go for stage victories or for other jersey, if they have the opportunity.
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Tony Martin (OPQS) takes the prologue and the Yellow Jersey, as Cannondale's Froome comes home 10th, 20 seconds back.
Today's aim is to just get through the stage and ride as well as I can, Before the stage I had some people come up to me before the stage and offer me a contract with the new British team, but I said that I will have to think about it as I am not sure want I want from a team next year, they told me that Froomey is already signed up, so I think I may end up there, however MTN Qhubeka, Rapha Condor, Colombia and Lotto have all contacted me in the past few weeks, although Cannondale haven't offered me a deal yet so maybe I won't be here next year but I'll decide at the end of the Tour. Today I'm happy because it was a hard thing to go flat out for 8 kilometres, so yeah I'm happy as the Tour has still got 20 stages left, so I can't get hung up on today's ride as I have to focus on the much harder days ahead. I had a bad day today and I've got to move on from that I mean a couple of minutes is nothing in a 3 week Tour and I can gain that back in the mountains, if I have to or on the cobbles on stage 4 you know I've got to focus, I'm not here to win the Tour I'm just here to work for Chris and maybe get a stage win. Myabe it's a good thing as I won't be marked, and I will be able to focus on working for Chris, so yeah I've got to be positive. You know the team had a good day as Chris was the best of the GC boys, so that's always good and with the hilly stages in the first two days it should be a good few days for us even if I have disappointed myself. Adam
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Quintana Sprints to Victory as Martin retains Yellow jersey. Lofkvist takes the KoM jersey.
The plan for today was for me to go up the road and try to win as many KoM points as possible, and then help the guys in the finale and try to get Simon or Vivi the stage win depending on who was still with the bunch. Although the difficult climbs, should get rid of the main sprinters. Dan Martin is the favourite for today, so we will have to watch him in the final few kilometres, but we should be ok. However the bunch wouldn't let me get away so Locky went up the road and I tried to bridge across, but the bunch wasn't letting me get anywhere so I just sat up and let him go. We managed to get rid of the sprinters on the climbs, so we knew that we just had to control it until the final few kilometres and then Simon would be able to get the win, its a shame we rode so hard as we shredded Locky's lead but we needed to get rid of them before the finish. Today though was a hard day and the bunch were going super fast so we just couldn't keep the race together as everyone was attacking and trying to win the stage. You know I've never ridden a stage that is fast as that was today, so I think that I was lucky to be able to stay in the front group Adam
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Betancur wins the stage and takes the jersey, as Yates takes over the Points jersey from Quintana.
I think today is a key stage for the GC as if any of the favourites get distanced then it's going to be hard for them to regain any time, as the time gaps will be big. However I think that a break will win today as the difficult nature of the stage means that the bunch aren't going to want to chase hard as the next few days are going to be very interesting, so riders will want to save energy. The plan for today wa to get someone up the road, be it me or Locky, as we didn't want to have to work, and as a break is likely to stay away we want to have a strong rider in the group. As soon as I got to the front I attacked, and nobody went with me, and there wasn't any reactions from the bunch, so I just kept going. Then the bunch started riding hard behind and the race blew up completely, so I decided to sit up and then let Locky go up the road. When he started to tire Pirazzi and Teo went and bridged across to him, so we had 3 guys up the road, but OPQS didn't have the fire power to bring it back as they couldn't handle the hills, and nobody else was interested in chasing it, so that gap started to grow. Then the other teams released that Teo was a threat on GC, so they started to ride but the gap wasn't coming down, and then at the sprint Simon took second in the bunch, so that put him equal with Quintana. Then Betancur went and nobody reacted, so he got away and took a great win, when Simon led home the bunch for 2nd it meant he went into the green jersey, so that was good, and Chris didn't lose any time, but I did I finished in a back group with what seemed like the whole Lampre team. Adam
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Yates solos to Roubaix victory and Takes the Yellow Jersey.
We new that today could ruin Chris's GC chances so we wanted to keep him at the front for as long as possible and then see if Simon could get the stage, as he's been close for the past two days, but he doesn't managed to finish it off in the final kilometre. The plan was to get a guy up the road and then to sit back and try to save energy until we hit the cobbles. We knew that the intermediate sprint was going to be fast so we wanted to set Simon up for it, so that he could gain some points over his rivals, however we couldn't do a lead out train as we had a guy up the road so we had to get Simon to ride on the front and then go. Simon managed to win the sprint, so that means he now has a decent lead over Betancur, and Quintana. Then Simon went on the first cobbled sector, and I knew that he would win the stage, so I'm very happy for him as he rode a great race, and he deserves the win, as he has focused on this stage so it is very worthwhile for him. Personally I'm happy as I didn't lose time, I would of preferred a few more cobbles, but I can't complain, Simon is in the yellow so it was a good day for us. Adam
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Today we were expecting to be in the top 5 on the stage, and hold onto the leaders jersey, as we have s strong team that we have built to be good at the team time trial, however with the cobbles this could prove interesting and I think that the time gaps will be really big, so hopefully we can capitalise upon it. We just have to make sure that Simon doesn't kill us all on the cobbles. We managed to keep it together and did a decent ride losing just 24 seconds to Katusha, so Simon managed to keep a hold of the jersey so that was a good day for us as he extended his lead over the other riders. Adam
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The plan for today was to get Simon or Vivi up for the win, however as the finish was uphill, we decided that Simon would be the guy we try to work for, however we knew that the race might not stay together so we decided to have Vivi as a back up in case Simon tried to follow an attack or something. We also wanted to try and get some points at the intermediate sprint as we know that Simon needs as many points as possible as Cav and the other sprinters will start picking up points from now on. Simon managed to pick up a few points in the intermediate sprint, however he told us that he didn't want a lead out train for the finale as it was to technical so he would just follow the other sprint trains. I tried to attack on the final climb, to just pick the pace up as I knew that Simon would prefer if it was a faster race, however I got a gap but it wasn't anything significant and I was caught with 23 kilometres to go. Then I dropped back to the team car to watch the finish, and I saw that ikon was in a decent position, but he didn't go when they hit the climb, as he should of, so he wasn't able to get on terms with the big sprinters. In hindsight if he had a lead out he would of won, but thats bike racing so we've got to change and do better next time. AdamEdited by JoeArmstrong13 on 11-09-2014 08:17
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Today was a pretty straight forward day as the break went early, and we had Koren in there so we were able to save our legs for the finale, then Simon managed to pick up a few points and extend his lead at the intermediate sprint, however the finale we could of done better, as we got Simon into a good position coming into the final few kilometres but by 2km to go I was the only guy left so I tried to lead Simon out as best I could however it wasn't quick enough to string the bunch out, so he wasn't able to get the jump on the top sprinters so he got 4th, but his focus is the Green Jersey and he's still leading that so he's happy its just s ahem we couldn't win the stage. Adam
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New Transfer Rules! Changing the season before it's even over.
In a strange twist of events the UCI has announced that the cycling transfer season will be changing to mirror those of football and rugby, they have announced that starting at the end of the Tour and finishing at the start of the Vuelta there will be a transfer period where teams can sign riders, and they will then join the team effective immediately.
They also then told us that there will be an off season transfer period for teams to sign riders which will last from the Tour of Lombardy to December 31st.
This means that any signings already made will be implicated in the transfer period after the Tour, therefore meaning that the new British World Tour team, which we can now announce will be taking over Leopard Trek Continental Team, will be a World Tour team during the transfer period.
The new team will continue to ride in the Leopard Trek kit, however it has strong backing from Millionaire Tycoon Sir Richard Branson, meaning that the team will have a strong British feel.
Another announcement that the UCI has made is that free riders can be signed throughout the season, meaning that if team has a lot of injured riders they can sign more to fill the spots, the only rule is that teams can have a maximum of 35 riders.
New World Tour team begins to take shape.
In other news, new WorldTour team Leopard Trek is beginning to take shape as today's announcement of the signing of The Yates Brothers as well as 2013 Tour De France winner, Chris Froome.
These new signings will join with Leopard's already strong team, which features Andy and Frank Schleck, who are beginning to find the form of their best years, and Brazilian (Peruvian origin) brothers Diego and Jamel Johnson, making the team unbelievably strong in the mountains.
Although with the signing of Simon Yates, who aims to compete in the cobbled classics, means that the team have two strong contenders as earlier this week Fabian Cancellara joined the team.
The team has also signed a number of British riders including, 18 year old cumbrian climber, Joseph Armstrong, as well as The Yates Brothers past teammates, Teo Geoghen Hart, Matt Gibson and Kristian House.
The Yates' have also brought a number of riders from there current team Cannondale, including DS Ivan Basso, Spanish climber Mikel Nieve, and Swedish powerhouse Thomas Lofkvist.
Jens Voigt also joins the team in what is believed to be his last season at the top of the sport.
The team has also signed a number of young talents as they aim to continue to nurture the younger riders.
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