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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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!
