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Smowz' Saxobank story - 2010 Season complete!
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| roturn |
Posted on 02-05-2011 18:05
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Very well done. This is just the Vuelta, where you dominate with a medium level 5 form 
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 02-05-2011 18:05
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World Champion
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Great Vuelta win! Antón was really good in the last week, but Fränk played his cards well and deserved this win.
Well done.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 07-05-2011 12:36
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Roturn: Actually I had Frank on level 6 form I think early on in the Vuelta. But that was probably a mistake and explains why he was tailing off somewhat towards the end of the race. Still it was an enjoyable victory, taking the Giro and Vuelta is tricky with non-nationals though with the Schlecks its certainly much easier!
Pelli: Yeah Anton just went at the bottom, I debated whether to try and go with him. But I thought he would fade at the end. I was a bit nervous on the TT stage, at the hald way check Schleck was someway down, but he came back well.
Anyway here is the next one:
3rd October 2010, Geelong, Australia
The sprinters once again are denied here in Australia, it really has been a tough year for them.
World ITT
Unfortunately Fabian couldn't get up in this one but he did take the TT World title once again a few days ago. It was a strange one this in which the conditions almost saw a medium upset with the Aussies sending out our useful and on form prodigy Richie Porte out early.
Whilst I was trying to nuture a decent performance out of best Danish Triallist Jacob Fuglsang I kept an astounded eye on the monitor as the big favourites saw the wind blow them off course. No-one could get near Porte's time even with Vuelta form, not Contador, Menchov or even Aussie captain Evans.
Then of course we had Sparticus even he had a great deal of trouble but agonisingly for the home fans he managed to squeak inside young Richie's time to take another World ITT title.
World ITT results:
Spoiler | Rank | Name | Team | Time | | 1 | Fabian Cancellara | Team Saxo Bank | 50'03 | | 2 | Richie Porte | Team Saxo Bank | + 2 | | 3 | Taylor Phinney | Trek Livestrong U23 | + 40 | | 4 | Denis Menchov | Rabobank | s.t. | | 5 | Alberto Contador | Astana | + 43 | | 6 | Cadel Evans | BMC Racing Team | + 50 | | 7 | Matthieu Ladagnous | Française des Jeux | + 55 | | 8 | Gustavo César Veloso | Xacobeo - Galicia | + 1'01 | | 9 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel - Euskadi | + 1'05 | | 10 | Tony Martin | Team HTC - Columbia | + 1'11 | | 11 | Tejay Van Garderen | Team HTC - Columbia | + 1'14 | | 12 | Jack Bobridge | Garmin - Transitions | + 1'15 | | 13 | Carlos Sastre | Cervélo Test Team | s.t. | | 14 | Vincenzo Nibali | Liquigas - Doimo | + 1'18 | | 15 | David Millar | Garmin - Transitions | + 1'19 | | 16 | Gustav Erik Larsson | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 17 | Jakob Fuglsang | Team Saxo Bank | + 1'24 | | 18 | Dominique Cornu | Skil - Shimano | + 1'25 | | 19 | Stef Clement | Rabobank | + 1'27 | | 20 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Professional Cycling Team | + 1'31 | | 30 | Jens Voigt | Team Saxo Bank | + 1'45 | | 66 | Alexsandr Dyachenko | Astana | + 2'46 |
Canadian Classics
Whilst Frank Schleck and Richie Porte had been off at the Vuelta, Fabian, Jens and Jacob had been in Canada having a pop at the two new protour classics there. No-one else really bothered other than World Tour chasing Vaconsoleil and BMC.
In Quebec we got a decent selective race with Cancellara managing to get away with Karston Kroon in a tactical race.
Of course the great Sparticus had more than enough power to outsprint the plucky dutchman.
Seeing a lethargic field again in Montreal saw Saxo up the ante again.
.... with predictable results Cancellara simply riding away from the field in the finale.
Worlds RR
Unfortunately, though without me screaming down his earpiece Fabian while active with Jens Voigt in today's road race he was unable to be the one to break the Italian and Spanish grip on the race.
However it was Vuelta warm up man Phillipe Gilbert, who has been focussing more on Grand Tour stage wins this year who saved his season really with a brilliant attack and win.
The Danes Breschel, CA Sorenson, Fuglsang etc. were not in the shape and simply were not up to the task.
The minor medels went to Australia and Russia through implike riders Gerrans and Ivanov.
World RR result:
| Rank | Name | Team | Time | | 1 | Philippe Gilbert | Omega Pharma - Lotto | 6h29'27 | | 2 | Simon Gerrans | Sky Professional Cycling Team | + 1'00 | | 3 | Sergueï Ivanov | Team Katusha | s.t. | | 4 | Jens Voigt | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 5 | Karsten Kroon | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 6 | Bobbie Traksel | Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 7 | José Joaquín Rojas | Caisse d'Epargne | s.t. | | 8 | Matteo Carrara | Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 9 | Fabian Cancellara | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 10 | Filippo Pozzato | Team Katusha | s.t. | | 11 | Heinrich Haussler | Cervélo Test Team | s.t. | | 12 | Damiano Cunego | Lampre - Farnese Vini | s.t. | | 13 | Allan Davis | Astana | s.t. | | 14 | Juan Antonio Flecha | Sky Professional Cycling Team | s.t. | | 15 | Rigoberto Urán | Caisse d'Epargne | s.t. | | 16 | Alexandr Kolobnev | Team Katusha | s.t. | | 17 | Óscar Freire | Rabobank | s.t. | | 18 | Carlos Barredo | Quick·Step | s.t. | | 19 | Martijn Maaskant | Garmin - Transitions | s.t. | | 20 | Kim Kirchen | Team Katusha | s.t. | | 25 | Richie Porte | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 27 | Thor Hushovd | Cervélo Test Team | s.t. | | 33 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Sky Professional Cycling Team | s.t. | | 34 | Matti Breschel | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 39 | Tom Boonen | Quick·Step | s.t. | | 41 | Jakob Fuglsang | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 43 | Mark Cavendish | Team HTC - Columbia | s.t. | | 49 | Theo Bos | Cervélo Test Team | + 2'50 | | 50 | Taylor Phinney | Trek Livestrong U23 | s.t. | | 51 | Gert Steegmans | Team RadioShack | s.t. | | 52 | Tyler Farrar | Garmin - Transitions | s.t. | | 56 | Koldo Fernández | Euskaltel - Euskadi | + 3'22 | | 59 | Domenik Klemme | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 67 | Daniele Bennati | Liquigas - Doimo | + 4'58 | | 88 | Baden Cooke | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 91 | Jonas Aaen Jørgensen | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 127 | Chris Anker Sørensen | Team Saxo Bank | + 8'26 | | 129 | Stuart O'Grady | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 160 | Laurent Didier | Team Saxo Bank | + 14'34 |
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| BikeRoel |
Posted on 07-05-2011 12:53
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Domestique
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nice, that you won the ITT championship but not so good that you came 4th on one minute in the WCR (World Championship on the Road), but well done 
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 07-05-2011 13:08
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World Champion
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I thought Cancellara won the RR too when I saw him celebrating his win in Quebec. Too bad I saw wrong.
Nice results in Canada.
Edited by Pellizotti2 on 07-05-2011 13:08
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| Smowz |
Posted on 07-05-2011 16:51
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Team Leader
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Bike Roel: Not much Cancellara can do without his team chasing it. Really Gilbert was chase down able but the peleton just didn't bother.
Pelli: His form was really beginning to taper off by the road race, I was surprised by how good he was in Canada, then again the opposition there sucked.
One more report to come after this tomorrow morning!
16th October, 2010: Como, Italy
It is the season finale at the Giro del Lombardie, folks.
The focus of Saxobank is entirelly on Frank Schleck who took second at Emilia and won the Piemonte preparation races to get himself in good shape.
It is an excellent startlist for this one, that includes recently crowned world champion Phillipe Gilbert, former two time winner Damiano Cunego and Tour 2010 winner Alberto Contador.
Spoiler
Omega Pharma
1. P.Gilbert
2. C.Brandt
3. F.De Greef
4. M.Lloyd
5. J.Peraud
6. J.Van Goolen
7. J.Van den Broeck
8. J.Vanendert
Saxo Bank
11. F.Schleck
12. F.Cancellara
13. J.A.Jørgensen
14. M.Mørkøv
15. R.Porte
16. A.Rasmussen
17. C.A.Sørensen
18. J.Voigt
Lampre
21. D.Cunego
22. M.Bono
23. V.Buts
24. A.Kashechkin
25. E.Magazzini
26. M.Marzano
27. D.Pietropolli
28. S.Spilak
Astana
31. A.Vinokourov
32. A.Bazayev
33. A.Contador
34. E.Gasparotto
35. V.Iglinskiy
36. J.Jufré
37. B.Noval
38. P.Tiralongo
Katusha
41. A.Kolobnev
42. A.Botcharov
43. G.Caruso
44. V.Gusev
45. S.Ivanov
46. V.Karpets
47. K.Kirchen
48. J.Rodríguez
Sky
51. S.Gerrans
52. S.Calzati
53. D.Cioni
54. S.Cummings
55. P.Kennaugh
56. T.Löfkvist
57. S.Pauwels
58. B.Wiggins
The Shack
61. B.Hermans
62. L.Armstrong
63. J.Brajkovic
64. C.Horner
65. A.Klöden
66. L.Leipheimer
67. Y.Popovych
68. I.Rovny
Liquigas
71. R.Kreuziger
72. I.Basso
73. J.Guarnieri
74. K.Koren
75. V.Nibali
76. A.Vanotti
77. E.Viviani
78. O.Zaugg
HTC - Columbia
81. M.Albasini
82. T.Martin
83. M.Monfort
84. P.O'Byrne
85. M.Pinotti
86. V.Reynès
87. K.Siutsou
88. M.Velits
Garmin
91. R.Hesjedal
92. K.Carlsen
93. S.Cozza
94. T.Danielson
95. T.Lowe
96. D.Martin
97. D.Millar
98. D.Pate
Quick•Step
101. C.Barredo
102. D.Cataldo
103. K.De Weert
104. D.Devenyns
105. M.Facci
106. D.Malacarne
107. J.Pineau
108. J.Van de Walle
Rabobank
111. D.Menchov
112. R.Gesink
113. P.Martens
114. B.Mollema
115. J.Posthuma
116. K.Reus
117. D.Van Winden
118. P.Weening
AG2R
121. N.Roche
122. J.Bérard
123. A.Efimkin
124. V.Efimkin
125. J.Gadret
126. B.Gastauer
127. R.Nocentini
128. A.Ravard
Française des Jeux
131. C.Le Mével
132. S.Casar
133. M.Chérel
134. R.Di Gregorio
135. M.Ladagnous
136. F.Mourey
137. T.Pinot
138. J.Veikkanen
Androni Giocattoli
141. L.Bertagnolli
142. A.Bertolini
143. L.Á.Maté
144. C.J.Ochoa
145. J.Rodríguez
146. M.Scarponi
147. J.Serpa
148. L.Solari
Caisse d'Epargne
151. L.L.Sánchez
152. A.Amador
153. D.Arroyo
154. M.Bruseghin
155. V.Kiryienka
156. P.Lastras
157. J.M.Soler
158. X.Zandio
Miche
161. P.Niemiec
162. F.Baliani
163. S.Campagnaro
164. E.Carvajal
165. L.Gitto
166. P.Muto
167. L.Pinizzotto
168. L.Rocchetti
Acqua & Sapone
171. S.Garzelli
172. D.Andriotto
173. A.Fantini
174. R.Marzoli
175. F.Masciarelli
176. D.Ortega
177. G.Palumbo
178. C.Sarmiento
CarmioOro
181. E.Sella
182. L.Beuret
183. P.Grillo
184. J.Kocjan
185. A.Quadranti
186. D.Tamayo
187. F.Tizza
188. A.Tonti
Euskaltel
191. M.Nieve
192. B.Intxausti
193. I.Isasi
194. E.Martínez
195. M.Mínguez
196. J.J.Oroz
197. I.Velasco
198. G.Verdugo
Colnago - CSF
201. D.Pozzovivo
202. G.Brambilla
203. M.Frapporti
204. M.Gaia
205. S.Modolo
206. S.Pirazzi
207. F.Savini
208. E.Zen
Footon - Servetto
211. J.A.Benítez
212. E.Capecchi
213. G.Cheula
214. M.Eibegger
215. F.Felline
216. D.Gutiérrez Gutiérrez
217. I.Mayoz
218. A.Pérez Arrieta
Saxo go into plan A mode for this one, no messing about as the early break are bought in and a combination of Jorgenson, Voigt and Cancellara are used to reduce the pack down to 15 riders.
We have Gilbert, Cunego and Contador here with Liquigas duo Nibali and Basso as well as World RR medalists Gerrans and Ivanov. Early season supremo Vinokourov is up here as well with Frank Schleck and last domestique for the day Sorenson.
So we are on the Madonna del Ghisallo with just 15 riders, Frank has a look around and decides to up the ante.
The Astana's and Liquigas boys are working hard and pretty well to keep Frank Schleck in touching distance. This climb however is proving too tough for some riders who are maybe wishing for smaller sharper stuff. First Gerrans and Rodriguez slip off with Sorenson and then big news Gilbert cannot hold with Ivanov and Le Mevel.
By the top of this climb Schleck passes the famous church and he is just about solo with Giro runner up Ivan Basso the closest with Cunego just behind the tree.
Basso and Cunego are at 33 seconds with a group for six including Nibali, Vino and Contador at 1.11.
This group is lead by on fire Miche man Niemec.
Frank is not the best descender and Basso/Cunego get back to him as we race along Lake Como the six behind are trying to get across also.
They get close but as we move up to the last climb of the San Fermo della Battaglia just before the finish the impetus goes out of the chase as the Astana's look out of energy. Now it is down to three riders and Frank looks to rid himself of Cunego and Basso.
It is hard work here for Frank who is feeling every kilo he has travelled here across Europe. He didn't go to the worlds though and perhaps that gives him the edge here. He has about 25 seconds on Basso by the top who seems to have got clear of Cunego himself.
On the descent Frank tries to hold the narrow advantage.
Basso seems to close but not by enough, Frank has his monument win here.
Just superb stuff from the Saxobank team here making this a hugely selective race.
| Rank | Name | Team | Time | | 1 | Fränk Schleck | Team Saxo Bank | 6h48'28 | | 2 | Ivan Basso | Liquigas - Doimo | s.t. | | 3 | Damiano Cunego | Lampre - Farnese Vini | s.t. | | 4 | Rinaldo Nocentini | AG2R La Mondiale | + 2'16 | | 5 | Przemyslaw Niemiec | Miche | s.t. | | 6 | Alexandre Vinokourov | Astana | s.t. | | 7 | Vincenzo Nibali | Liquigas - Doimo | s.t. | | 8 | Dario Cataldo | Quick·Step | s.t. | | 9 | Alberto Contador | Astana | s.t. | | 10 | Sergueï Ivanov | Team Katusha | + 3'12 | | 11 | Philippe Gilbert | Omega Pharma - Lotto | s.t. | | 12 | Christophe Le Mével | Française des Jeux | s.t. | | 13 | Simon Gerrans | Sky Professional Cycling Team | + 6'56 | | 14 | Carlos Barredo | Quick·Step | + 7'44 | | 15 | Joaquím Rodríguez | Team Katusha | s.t. | | 16 | Roman Kreuziger | Liquigas - Doimo | s.t. | | 17 | Chris Anker Sørensen | Team Saxo Bank | + 8'32 | | 18 | Jens Voigt | Team Saxo Bank | + 9'36 | | 19 | Ben Hermans | Team RadioShack | s.t. | | 20 | Richie Porte | Team Saxo Bank | + 11'04 | | 21 | Kim Kirchen | Team Katusha | + 11'44 | | 22 | Simon Spilak | Lampre - Farnese Vini | s.t. | | 23 | Alexandr Kolobnev | Team Katusha | + 12'16 | | 24 | Levi Leipheimer | Team RadioShack | + 14'16 | | 25 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Professional Cycling Team | s.t. | | 26 | John Gadret | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. | | 27 | Ryder Hesjedal | Garmin - Transitions | s.t. | | 28 | Bauke Mollema | Rabobank | s.t. | | 29 | Robert Gesink | Rabobank | + 14'48 | | 36 | Denis Menchov | Rabobank | + 15'28 | | 44 | Fabian Cancellara | Team Saxo Bank | + 18'00 | | 49 | Lance Armstrong | Team RadioShack | s.t. | | 127 | Jonas Aaen Jørgensen | Team Saxo Bank | + 29'28 | | 147 | Michael Mørkøv | Team Saxo Bank | + 36'48 | | 174 | Alex Rasmussen | Team Saxo Bank | + 55'44 |
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| BikeRoel |
Posted on 07-05-2011 16:58
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Domestique
Posts: 497
Joined: 05-04-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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nice win, but you have to make your image's in .png then they are much better to see, and much nicer.
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 07-05-2011 17:00
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World Champion
Posts: 12986
Joined: 20-05-2009
PCM$: 530.00
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BikeRoel wrote:
nice win, but you have to make your image's in .png then they are much better to see, and much nicer.
Actually no. jpg is better if you save it properly plus PNG is 3 times the size of jpg so a full page of png's would take 5 minutes to load.
Therefore jpg is better.
Edit: 2nd season? 
Edited by valverde321 on 07-05-2011 17:00
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| Crommy |
Posted on 07-05-2011 17:15
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World Champion
Posts: 10018
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 200.00
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valverde321 wrote:
BikeRoel wrote:
nice win, but you have to make your image's in .png then they are much better to see, and much nicer.
Actually no. jpg is better if you save it properly plus PNG is 3 times the size of jpg so a full page of png's would take 5 minutes to load.
Therefore jpg is better.
Edit: 2nd season?
Incorrect - JPEG is a lossy form of compression (i.e. it throws out information about the image - although it can be set (uncommonly used) to be lossless), whilst PNG is lossless (loses no information about the image). But so as long as you don't set the compression level too low, the method used by JPEGs means the change in quality is barely or non perceivable through the human eye
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 07-05-2011 17:18
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World Champion
Posts: 12986
Joined: 20-05-2009
PCM$: 530.00
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Crommy wrote:
valverde321 wrote:
BikeRoel wrote:
nice win, but you have to make your image's in .png then they are much better to see, and much nicer.
Actually no. jpg is better if you save it properly plus PNG is 3 times the size of jpg so a full page of png's would take 5 minutes to load.
Therefore jpg is better.
Edit: 2nd season?
Incorrect - JPEG is a lossy form of compression (i.e. it throws out information about the image - although it can be set (uncommonly used) to be lossless), whilst PNG is lossless (loses no information about the image). But so as long as you don't set the compression level too low, the method used by JPEGs means the change in quality is barely or non perceivable through the human eye
Shows how much I know, I always thought you could make them more detailed than png somehow. Oh well.
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| Smowz |
Posted on 08-05-2011 06:55
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Team Leader
Posts: 6479
Joined: 09-04-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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All: I find png's take a while to load screens as well. Some stories seem to take forever to load meaning that casual readers will be put off.
Anyway here is the last report here. Hope it covers your question Valverde, the story will kind of continue but it will not be as all conquering Saxobank.
November 1st, 2010 Copenhagen, Denmark
Well that's it, I got off the phone for Bjarne. He wants to step back into the spotlight and back into controversy of course with Contador now leading the team. I am offered the chance to manage other members of the squad including young Richie Porte but I rather feel that he will be used to support Contador in whatever he can get away with.
Let's look back on the year though now at season end.
Andy Schleck
He won the Giro and perhaps overdid it by going to Switzerland and won that too ahead of Contador. He attacked and attacked at the Tour, but sadly fell short by not too many seconds.
2010 Highlights:
Five stages and 1st Overall at Giro D'Italia (inc. winning Youth and Mountains)
Three stages and 2nd Overall at Le Tour de France (inc. winning Youth)
Two stages and 1st Overall at Tour de Suisse
Frank Schleck
Taking the Vuelta was a real coup for classics man Frank Schleck. He was also in excellent form at the Classics warming up well taking the race to the sun and second in the Basque country. Unfortunately couldn't take La Doyenne though and had to settle for the winning up the Huy. Superb season ending win of the Tour of Lombardy.
2010 Highlights:
Six stages and 1st Overall at La Vuelta D'Espana (inc. winning the points and Mountains)
A stage and 1st Overall at Paris Nice
Two stages and 1st Overall at the Tour of Poland
Winning Giro de Lombadie and La Fleche Walloonie
2nd overall at the Tour of the Basque country
Fabian Cancellara
The Cobbles triple crown (Gent Wegulum, Ronde Van Vlaandaraan, Paris Roubaix) was an excellent achievement. Came back after Tour domestique duty with dominating wins of the Eneco Tour, Vattenfalls and the Canadian Classics. Fabian's Time Trialling remained as solid as ever giving him a lengthy stint in Yellow at the tour as well as taking the World ITT in hostile conditions.
2010 Highlights:
Wins Paris Roubaix, Tour of Flanders, Gent Wegulum and E3 Prijs
Wins Vattenfalls, GP Quebec and GP Montreal
Holds World ITT championship crown
Wins the Eneco Tour, De Panne Tour and Tour of Oman
This sort of domination left Saxobank with a comfortable 1,2,3 on the rankings, which of course had them dominating the team standings.
The Velo D'Or trophee would go to Cancellara, which is probably fair due to the cobbled domination. He was unbeatable over those. Frank Schlecks out of the blue Vuelta triumph and yearlong consistency deservedly got him second place.
However I had to dispute the award for third place to Tour champion Alberto Contador, I had voted for Tour sprinter Edvald Boesson Hagen who put his name firmly on the scene there. But this was a kick in the teeth for Andy.
Scrolling through the 'journalists' I quickly find one of the culprits:
Anyway this completes my Saxobank 2010 season. Due to the massive real life changes on the Saxobank squad I decided to not continue this one - rest assured though I am looking at using the pcmdaily 2011 database to continue Erik Viklings management career!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 19:33
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| roturn |
Posted on 08-05-2011 07:41
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It was a very nice story. Great to read.
Hopefully the "following" 2011 story will be the same entertaining.
Actually I am quite sure about that. |
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 08-05-2011 10:13
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World Champion
Posts: 10121
Joined: 01-05-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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A shame that this story will end. It was a great read and your reporting style was so nice.
I just want to thank you for sharing it.
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| BikeRoel |
Posted on 08-05-2011 10:14
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Domestique
Posts: 497
Joined: 05-04-2011
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nice story, hope you got more from us, and have more in the story of 2011
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