I put him on "dot" and 87 on the Eyserbosweg. Obviously bad idea. I should let him struggle but stay in the group and then try to relax on the short flat part.
His fitness was 89, it will be on 92 for the FW. I need a rider for the Ardennes only, then I could have level 6 for this week like Maaskant on the cobbles. But with Hesjedal, who needs to be in a good shape for many races including the Vuelta it`s very hard with just level 5.
Thanks. Hopefully it will be better in the next races Otherwise he has to win the Vuelta instead
La Flèche Wallonne is a hilly cycling classic held in April in Belgium. It`s held between the Amstel Gold Race and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The hills are longer than in the Amstel Gold Race but not as steep as in LBL. Normally the best mix between hilly and mountain riders have good chances here.
Most wins have Davide Rebellin, Moreno Argentin, Eddy Merckx and Marcel Kint with 3 each.
Result in 2011
1
Paul Martens
Rabobank
2
Jonathan Hivert
Saur - Sojasun
3
Branislau Samoilau
Quick Step
4
Jan Bakelants
Omega Pharma-Lotto
5
Christophe Le Mével
FDJ
6
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
7
Philippe Gilbert
Liquigas-Doimo
8
Fränk Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
9
Alberto Contador
Astana
10
Nicolas Roche
Ag2r La Mondiale
This was a big surprise last year. The first 5 riders attacked at race half and were able to win by just a few seconds ahead of the favourites.
Sanchez and Hesjedal finished close outside the top10.
Garmin squad in 2012
The squad is nearly the same than in the Amstel Gold Race. Change are Wilson for Duggan, who is in Trentino at the moment and Boom for Maaskant.
Hesjedal is aiming for a top10 again.
Charleroi - Huy
In relationship to the AGR the climbs are longer, but the favourites are nearly the same. As there are less hills and long descents we expect a bigger peloton in the end.
A strong group today. Impey (Katusha), Pereiro (Astana), Danielson (HTC) and Tankink (Vacansoleil) are some of them.
Quickstep leads the peloton the first of three times over the Huy. The group has an advance of ~5min but the hilly part just begun.
With 60km to go Gerrans attacked and Kessiakoff tries to follow him in the background. It`s a similar attack than last year but unfortunately no one else is following them and the pace is higher.
The 2nd time over the Huy and and this time it`s not very long to the finish. Hesjedal (-2) and Vansummeren (-1) are still there without bigger problems.
The group is also caught now.
Therefore Moreno and Devenyns were able to create a small gap after the climb. I haven`t seen them attacking as I normally planned to send Vansummeren with the next attack.
The second last climb and Gilbert attacks. He doesn`t want to wait for the final sprint up the Muur de Huy.
Lövkvist tries to follow him but on the following descent both of them are caught again.
The final sprint starts soon and both our leaders in an excellent position and still feeling good.
Frank Schleck is the strongest again. Can he now do the Ardennes Triple?
He wins ahead of Cunego and Gilbert, while Hesjedal and Vansummeren lost some placements in the end and just finished 15th and 16th.
As last year our final chance is LBL and there we must reach a top 10. Otherwise our sponsor won`t be very happy.
Thanks.
Always hard to split the peloton on the Fleche Wallone and then you have almost no chances with a 78/77 hill rider in the uphill sprint.
In LBL there will again be bigger splits and with a bit more luck with the daily form I hope so, too.
The Giro del Trentino is normally at the same time, but I will post a very short summary of the race after LBL as I don`t have any rider there for the overall. Dan Martin and Stetina aren`t in form and just training for the Giro, while riders like Basso, Nibali, Cataldo or Scarponi are in a good form and get the national bonus.
If you still like a bigger report of 4-6 pictures each stage then shout
I have all the screenshots.
Esepcially Lampre and Quickstep with their Italian double lead might control the race. Karpets is the big question mark. With a good form he could be their biggest contender but he didn`t raced a lot in the last weeks.
Stage 1: Riva del Garda - Torbole sul Garda (ITT)
Our hope in this timetrial was on Meyer and Millar. Meyer as 8th did quite well but he couldn`t beat the GC contender. But biggest surprise was the young Russian Timofey Kritskiy, who won the stage today.
As expected our two leaders lost already much time today as they are pure climbers and no timetrial specialists.
Result
1
Timofey Kritskiy
Team Katusha
16'11
2
Dario Cataldo
Quick Step - Innergetic
+ 7
3
Carlos Barredo
Quick Step - Innergetic
+ 12
4
Vincenzo Nibali
Lampre-ISD
+ 13
5
Andrei Mizourov
Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team
+ 14
6
Vladimir Karpets
Team Katusha
+ 16
7
Michele Scarponi
Quick Step - Innergetic
+ 18
8
Cameron Meyer
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 19
9
Brian Bach Vandborg
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 25
10
Ivan Basso
Lampre-ISD
+ 26
...
15
David Millar
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 34
50
Timothy Duggan
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 55
86
Johannes Löw
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 1'06
92
Peter Stetina
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 1'08
97
Thomas Peterson
Garmin - Cervelo
s.t.
133
Daniel Martin
Garmin - Cervelo
s.t.
165
Brent Rowe
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 1'53
Stage 2: Dro - San Martino di Castrozza
The hardest stage of this race. Lots of long climbs. Normally a perfect stage for Martin but not this time.
Quickstep was doing a high pace and so Martin struggled on the final climb. With 8km to go he lost contact to the first group. Stetina was still with the favourites but he wouldn`t do much better as he is already at his limit.
Surprisingly Matthias Frank wins the sprint of a bigger group ahead of all the Italians.
Only nice thing after the stage. Stetina will wear the white jersey tomorrow and hopefully will win it in the end.
Result
1
Mathias Frank
BMC Racing Team
5h10'37
2
Francesco Masciarelli
Ceramica Flaminia
s.t.
3
Dario Cataldo
Quick Step - Innergetic
s.t.
4
Bauke Mollema
Colnago - CSF Inox
s.t.
5
Vincenzo Nibali
Lampre-ISD
s.t.
6
José Rujano
Farnese Vini - Neri
s.t.
7
Ivan Basso
Lampre-ISD
s.t.
8
Michele Scarponi
Quick Step - Innergetic
s.t.
9
Yury Trofimov
Team Katusha
s.t.
10
David López García
Amore & Vita - Conad
+ 30
...
29
Peter Stetina
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 2'59
33
Daniel Martin
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 5'24
36
Timothy Duggan
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 6'31
53
Johannes Löw
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 10'15
54
Thomas Peterson
Garmin - Cervelo
s.t.
71
David Millar
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 12'47
104
Cameron Meyer
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 26'39
110
Brent Rowe
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 43'51
Stage 3: Fiera di Primiero - Trento
Actually we tried to bring Duggan into the break but the pace was too high on the mountain, so he was caught again and then we had no other rider for a attack. What a pity as the group did very well.
For a long time Euser was in the virtual jersey but in the end it was Facci, who won solo with more than 10min ahead of the peloton. As Euser lost 7min on him in the end, Cataldo will stay in yellow.
Result
1
Mauro Facci
Androni Giocattoli - Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni
4h26'22
2
Federico Canuti
Colnago - CSF Inox
+ 1'20
3
Cristiano Benenati
De Rosa - Stac Plastic
s.t.
4
Martin Elmiger
Adria Mobil
+ 1'46
5
Volodymyr Zagorodniy
Miche
+ 6'04
6
Rafaâ Chtioui
Acqua & Sapone - D'Angelo & Antenucci
+ 7'33
7
Tomas Swift Metcalfe
Carmiooro NGC
s.t.
8
Lucas Euser
Spidertech powered by Planet Energy
s.t.
9
Yury Trofimov
Team Katusha
+ 10'40
10
Dario Cataldo
Quick Step - Innergetic
s.t.
...
21
Daniel Martin
Garmin - Cervelo
s.t.
69
David Millar
Garmin - Cervelo
s.t.
72
Timothy Duggan
Garmin - Cervelo
s.t.
75
Peter Stetina
Garmin - Cervelo
s.t.
82
Thomas Peterson
Garmin - Cervelo
s.t.
83
Cameron Meyer
Garmin - Cervelo
s.t.
93
Johannes Löw
Garmin - Cervelo
s.t.
133
Brent Rowe
Garmin - Cervelo
+ 14'57
Stage 4: Arco - Alpe di Pampeago
The next hard stage. Can Cataldo defend his lead? Several riders are in range.
The stage was quite similar. But this time it was Stetina, who struggled first and Martin was able to stay a bit longer.
Rujano wins the stage ahead of Nibali, both of them attacked in the end and got rid of the rest. Cataldo lost 32s and also the lead to Nibali. A perfect start into the preparation for the Giro for last year`s dominator.
Martin finished on a good 14th today.
Stetina defended the youth ranking ahead of Ratto (Carmiooro). Good result for him.
"La Doyenne" is the 4th monument this season. It`s the third of the 3 races during the Ardennes week. The hills on the route are longer than in AGR in general and steeper than in the FW. It`s also the longest of the 3 races with ~260km. Some of the hills have averages above 10%. It`s held since 1892. Record champ is Eddy Merckx with 5 wins.
Result in 2011
1
Philippe Gilbert
Liquigas-Doimo
2
Alberto Contador
Astana
3
Damiano Cunego
Lampre-Farnese Vini
4
Benoît Vaugrenard
FDJ
5
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
6
Fränk Schleck
Team Saxo Bank
7
Alexander Kolobnev
Team Katusha
8
Enrico Gasparotto
Astana
9
Francesco Ginanni
Lampre-Farnese Vini
10
Kim Kirchen
Team Katusha
Hesjedal missed the top10 very close as 12th and last of the group around the 3rd.
Garmin squad in 2012
The same team than for the Fleche Wallone. Same goals, too.
No slot for Hesjedal this time. All the big names from Trentino or other races like Nibali, Basso, Scarponi or Gesink are participating and make the field stronger than in the first two Ardennes classics.
A top 10 for Hesjedal seems to be close to impossible.
Liège - Ans
Hills all over the stage. But especially the 2nd half is very hard. A mix of long and short hills but all of them are very steep.
14 riders in the break. Actually this is a very strong group.
Moreau, Serpa, Calzati, Watty, Popovych, Rogers, Ghyselinck, Fofonov, Vandborg, Szmyd, Bono, Kireyev, Goddaert and Ferritto.
The first half is over and all 3 Garmin leaders with one helper left. So far so good for us. Hesjedal (0), Kessiakoff (+1) and Vansummeren (-3).
With 36km left the group is almost caught. Hesjedal is still feeling good while the other two are already struggling.
Gilbert with an attack and just Kolobnev is able to follow. This is coming very early I think.
Kolobnev and Watty in the lead, then Gilbert ahead of some other riders and the peloton. The gap is bigger than expected.
With 20km to go the riders are caught again and immediately Andy Schleck with an attack.
Several riders try to follow and so the peloton is splitted a lot. Unfortunately Hesjedal wasn`t able to follow and sits in the first big group.
12 riders in the lead, then Quickstep with Scarponi and Chavanel and Hesjedal in the next bigger group. Hesjedal and Chavanel try to attack and jump into the first group but in the end they just get exhausted.
Cunego wins the Doyene ahead of Kolobnev and Frank Schleck, who wasn`t able to win the Triple.
Hesjedal finished 19th in the 2nd big group. Most riders ahead of him have better hill stats but still not the best result for us.
Next year we definitely need a pure puncheur or a better prepared rider (level 6 necessary)
Good luck for Romandie and Giro
Hesjedal is probably too weak for top tens at Ardennes, is someone like Sagan without contract for next year? He would be great addition
The "Niedersachsenrundfahrt" is a German stage race for the sprinters held since 1977. Since 2008 it was just an U23 race due to financial problems but this year it`s back in the professional league.
Big names like Klöden, Petacchi, Voigt, Padrnos or Wesemann are in the victory list.
The route is the same than in 2008 with 5 mostly flat stages but also some hills for a possible attack,
Garmin squad in 2012
It`s a chance for our 2nd row to show their qualities. Especially Hunter, Fischer and Kreder will get some freedome. Biggest chances might have Fischer, whose form is quite good after all the classics.
It`s also an important race for our young German Löw, who lives quite close to the route.
But next to the sprinters there are also riders like M.Iglinskiy, G.Thomas (Designa), Kreder (Garmin), Hincapie (HTC), M.Fothen (NetApp), Kopp (Kuota), Eichler (Thüringer) or Schumacher, Voigt (Nuttrixxion), who might try it with an attack on the last 2 stages.
Looking forward to this one.. I think (and hope), that Hunter and Fischer will have good chances for a stage-win and an overall good result!.. Hadn't noticed by now, that Jens Voigt rides for Nutrixxion Nice.
Otherwise he has to win the Vuelta instead 
