On a hilly stage with a steep finish, Team NetApp - Endura surprised everybody with some tricks up their sleeve. The other teams may have thought they'd want to play it safe, but we were in the attack. And the first of them was already Ioannis Dimitriou who joined the break of the day. Of course, this was only a control move and he sat back to force the other teams to do the chasing.
As a result of Dimitrious selfless move and action upfront, the team felt like we had total control over the race. When the gap got too big, the team worked. But we felt comfortable and we're in a position of forcing the others to help us, most notably Garmin-Sharp. Without 4 minutes lead, the break of the day was always in striking distance and could be bridged given the right effort. However, we didn't do anything... and when at 10 kilometers, the break still had 4 minutes, the other teams got nervous. After all, 4 minutes in 10 kilometers of uphill, that's quite something. Garmin - Sharp worked and paced hard, only to find a surprise waiting for them when Rui Costa and Leopold König attacked.
Exactly. Birt allowed König to get away and while people were watching the young australian, the Portuguese from Movistar and our star rider König got away. Sagan tried to follow them too, but König was too strong today, when he even dropped Rui Costa in the climb!
A true showcase performance began by our ambitious czech rider as he passed riders from the break of the day. He was hunting for the stage win, but more importantly he was putting some serious time into Rui Costa, Chris Horner and T.J. Van Garderen. Upfront was also Ioannis Dimitriou, who had a real chance for the stage win here as well, however he may have been a bit irritated of what to do: Help your captain, go for our own result? Dimitriou achieved a fantastic fifth place today in the end, congratulations to our very own greek too!
Thanks to this effort by König, we keep the leader jersey in our very own rows and things are looking bright for us here in California to make the American (NetApp) dream come true. There's some serious hype to be felt now in our quarters and the hard sponsor goal appears to be achievable, but it's still a long way ahead for the team and we'll try everything to keep it until the end.
After stage 2, we wern't done yet with our tactical games quite yet. Stage 3 saw a finish that we didn't like much. Sagan finished ahead of Rui Costa, that meant both of them got closer to König and the first place. We had to come up with something obviously.
Stage 4 saw a hilly route and in an great effort from the team we dropped some of the GC contenders, most notably T.J. Van Garderen. Unfortunately Mitchell Birt was a victim of the peloton's split too and lost his great place in the overall. Despite our pacing efforts, we also left the breakaway safely get away though, which meant that Sagan and Rui Costa got no bonus seconds. Although we cooperated with Cannondale throughout the stage, we were always keeping in mind our very own agenda. Honestly, the stage could have gone only better if Rui Costa would have lost time too and Horner... well, did something horner-ish bad. So we nearly played it perfectly today.
And we continued with these tactics on stage 5, where we preferred Ian Boswell's stage win thousand times over Sagan and Rui Costa taking time from König.
Still, despite great team tactics, which reduced the field of favourites to a measurable number, and an instinct to racing that made it a joy for the viewership and the sponsor, things arn't looking too bright. The time trial up next will be an early decider for General Classification, and if König loses too much time, he might have no chance of getting it back on the next day. It's not only Rui Costa we have to worry about, NetApp has come to fear the powers of North Korean Po-Ding Kim by now, and Bradley Wiggins is still the reigning Tour de France champion. We have to hope that his time loss doesn't get ouf of hand and that the leader jersey grants him those famous wings of the race leader. It's highly likely that König will have to attack full on out on stage 7 to make up the lost time from the Time Trial. In any case, NetApp and all other sponsors are very happy with the team's performance up to now.
The role for me at this team is nice and simple: Attack, Attack, Attack!
It took me a couple of days to get settled in Turkey, but on stage 4 I finally hit the break. Or rather I didn’t but I bridged the gap along with a few others. Sadly it only lasted until 14 km from the finish line.
On stage 5 I missed the break, but seeing as they were caught again pretty easily that wasn’t too bad. Me and Huzarski decided to try and mix in for the sprint just too see what would happen and I’m actually fairly happy with a 25th in a proper bunch sprint in a peloton like this.
Not that I have any kind of plan of starting to go for bunch sprint so on stage 6 I was off in the break again. This time it was much more shortlived than expected as the GC guys all had big fat circles around this stage and kept it tightly locked in.
For a moment on stage 7 I really regretted that I didn’t insist enough on getting in the break, but then it was caught for another bunch sprint and to be honest I was just empty on stage 8. I still have a lot to learn in terms of lasting through a stage race more than a week long.
Even though I didn’t score any points for the team I’m somewhat satisfied with my effort. This was just not a race for breakaway riders with a much stronger peloton that we had expected and a lot of teams really going for it.
Since Peter Luttenberger is enjoying as a fanatic tivosi the Giro d'Italia and I'm floaded with work thanks to the missing work personal (where's our hot fitness coach off, Dermot?!), the final report from California will have to wait a bit.
Domestique Race Series
NetApp - Endura may be taking part in the Domestique Race Series, something similiar to the great Basque Race Series, in which some of our guys already participate. The limit of riders who are allowed to race is AVG 70.
We thought that this could be a great opportunitiy for some of our youngsters to prove their worth. Are Heimdal Hägg, Jose Alberto Juarez and Ioannis Dimitriou interested? We are likely to include Ralf Matzka too.
We have not yet teamed up with another team, but we are sure everybody is super eager to meet us personally and race with you guys.
So long,
X
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Shonak wrote:
(where's our hot fitness coach off, Dermot?!)
Oh, erm, yeah, sorry about that. She noticed I had poor stamina so we've really been working on it lately. She's also been helping me with my bike riding.
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
Shonak wrote:
(where's our hot fitness coach off, Dermot?!)
Oh, erm, yeah, sorry about that. She noticed I had poor stamina so we've really been working on it lately. She's also been helping me with my bike riding.
We thought that this could be a great opportunitiy for some of our youngsters to prove their worth. Are Heimdal Hägg, Jose Alberto Juarez and Ioannis Dimitriou interested? We are likely to include Ralf Matzka too.
Well I'm always interested in riding my bike so I'll race anywhere i can squeese in!
The Amgen Tour of California, as many will know already, was a very important race for the team. Our leader Konig ended up dong very well and I came away with a stage win and a decent GC placing. You can expect to see more of me in the future .
As most of you probably know by now Peter Luttenberger was so kind to apply for a spot in Glava Tour of Norway so that I could race as close to home as possible.
And I have to say that I'm really enjoying it so far. On stage one I went in the break chasing everything that moved as well as the sprints, who were actually didn't move at all. Or well they did relative to me, but that's all a matter of perspective I guess...
Anyway they generally moved faster towards me than they did towards the other guys which resulted in me picking up the mountain jersey as well as the young riders jersey from a GC 3rd thanks to the bonus seconds!
I have to say I relly enjoyed getting on the podium so it was pretty great to be able to pick up (at least) two mountain jerseys on the first two stages. I hope that I will be able to find the legs to also get the last one, but we will see how things pan out.
Everyone is certainly keeping a closer eye on me in this jersey than in my regular one!
So it's been a busy week for me, but that's how I like them anyway so that's great.
On stage 3 and 4 in Norway I could really feel everyones eyes on me in the dots. An extraordinary position to enter the finale of the queen stage right behind the yellow and green jersey - even though we lost some time to the strongest riders on the day. I kept my dots so I was plenty happy!
For some reason the Norwegians decided to put in a rest day before the final stage. I'm not much one for resting so I joined the team in Rund um Köln in stead.
At first I could feel the travel in my legs and I wasn't quite ready to follow the early attacks. Fortunately they warmed up in the first half of the race so I decided to have a go at it anyway and was joined by a couple of others.
We caught up with the break and helped it last all the way to the finish line where I was boxed in between some of the other guys and teh organizers car almost running me over.
Turns out the team had an objective of getting a top 10 here so the boss was pretty happy when he saw on the scoreboard that I took the final spot in top 10!
He's a good guy so I'm always happy when I can make him happy.
Anyway I had to go straight back to Norway for the final stage.
I could still feel Köln in my legs so I feared that I would lose the jersey to someone in the break but our British veteran Russel Downing went in the break making sure to keep both himself and the others on a lower points-count than me.
What a guy doing all that work for his neo-pro teammate!
This has to be the proudest moment in my life standing on the final podium of a UCI-race with my entire family having come here from Sweden to support me!
So, more German races to tell you about since my last update. My hands can't keep up with my legs at the minute.
So, after Frankfurt, we met up again in Cologne for a very hard one-day race with cobbles and hills. Sadists. Needless to say, I was awful from the start but, once again, so were the rest of us. We missed the early breakaway and then sat at the back of the bunch. Heimdal was, as usual, the saviour, going on a mid-race attack and staying away for a top 10 finish. I was the final NetApp rider across the line in 115th. I have a long way to go before I can challenge in one-day races.
After that, it was off to Bavaria for the five-day Bayern Rundfahrt. My form picked up where it had left off in Koln and I was way down on stage one and lost a bit more time on stage two. However, I'd had enough of being anonymous and I was so determined to get in the breakaway on stage three, I attacked on a downhill - no, I have no idea either, it just happened - and formed the break of the day with five others. It wasn't to be unfortunately and we were brought back comfortably before the end but at least I'd been featured in the coverage.
The rest of the race was a long ITT (yeah, not my strength) and a flat stage to finish but I couldn't do anything there either. The last month has been a little disappointing as I seem to be repeating the same mistakes but Russ keeps telling me not to worry. He says that at my age, I should be making these mistakes as that's how you learn but still, it would be nice to get into the top 100 occasionally .
Next up, I'm off to Philadelphia for another one-day race. What can go wrong? Then, finally back to Europe for the Tour of Luxembourg and the National Championships. My goals? A breakaway or two in Luxembourg and to do the best I can for the team in Glasgow. Whether I'm the leader or just a domestique, there are five of us so we have to show ourselves against the likes of Sky and Omega Pharma.
Until next time, Dermot Walker
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
After the last two hard races I went on to a small race in Austria only featuring some of the less well-known riders from the peloton.
Anyway we rode in a team together with some guys from RadioShack. It was good fun to talk to them about how their life as pro cyclists on a WT-team are. Not that I think I'm anywhere near ready for that myself yet - I'm very happy where I am!
We didn't do much in the race - for me mainly because I was still quite tired after Norway and Köln but you won't see me complaining about getting too many km in my legs
~ Heimdal
I've just started packing for my trip to Philadelphia which will be my last race before the Swedish Championships. Well that is if the team management decide to enroll me for that. I really hope they will as I think I actually have a decent shot at doing something there?
Edited by Atlantius on 09-05-2014 10:00
Amgen Tour of California
Disappointment in the last two stages!
With a fair share of disappointment and regret, NetApp – Endura has to announce that we have failed our big mid-season goal of winning the Tour of California. Despite the fantastic efforts of König and the entire team, the last three stages proved to be too much by then.
A solid Time Trial performance put König into a good position for the upcoming mountain stage. He was merely 11 seconds behind Wiggins at that point. However, there was a hungry pack behind us.
Stage 6, TT
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Tejay Van Garderen
BMC Racing Team
56'27
2
Bradley Wiggins
Sky Procycling
+ 25
3
Tony Martin
Omega Pharma - Quick•Step Cycling Team
+ 50
4
Po-ding Kim
Team Europcar
+ 57
5
Andrew Talansky
Garmin - Sharp
+ 1'07
6
Christian De Vries
Champion System Pro Cycling Team
+ 1'13
7
Taylor Phinney
BMC Racing Team
+ 1'20
8
Peter Velits
Omega Pharma - Quick•Step Cycling Team
+ 1'22
9
Tanel Kangert
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'27
10
Rui Costa
Movistar Team
+ 1'30
16
Leopold König
Team NetApp - Endura
+ 1'46
The stage up to Mount Diablo then was crucial, and Talansky surprised us with a relatively early attack. Since NetApp had worked everyday in the past week, the team was missing the much needed power at that point. König was looking left and right, thinking of attacking but the legs didn’t feel great today. He stayed in the back, kept himself up there, but couldn’t make a move. Neither could he follow Rui Costa. With many other GC contenders, he finished 15th, almost 2 minutes down on an impressive Talansky today.
In the end, this was a solid Tour of California with days in the leaders jersey, a stage win by Mitchell Birt and some great coverage. We are disappointed to not have fulfilled the ambitious goal but as it stands, the sponsor is surely still happy with the team’s performance here in the USA.
GC
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Andrew Talansky
Garmin - Sharp
28h57'29
2
Christian De Vries
Champion System Pro Cycling Team
+ 56
3
Chris Horner
RadioShack - Leopard
+ 58
4
Rui Costa
Movistar Team
+ 1'02
5
Bradley Wiggins
Sky Procycling
+ 1'31
6
Leopold König
Team NetApp - Endura
+ 1'42
7
Po-ding Kim
Team Europcar
+ 1'46
8
Peter Sagan
Cannondale Pro Cycling
+ 2'22
9
Peter Velits
Omega Pharma - Quick•Step Cycling Team
+ 3'07
10
Janez Brajkovič
Astana Pro Team
+ 3'26
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
At the end of my last blog I told you I was doing the Philadelphia Classic but the team decided to pull out at very short notice, due to the manager clearly hating one-day races by now. So, I stayed in Europe, where I could prepare for the Tour of Luxembourg.
Wow, this race sucked. First of all, I had to get up at 7am to make my prologue start because they forced me to go first. Do they not know I'm still a teenager? What kind of time is 7am?!
Then on the first road stage, I was too far back to go on the attack at the start, then I punctured and had to ride back on my own, then I was involved in a huge crash near the end that really, really hurt. After that, the remaining three stages were all hilly and it's fair to say I was useless to the team. With my injuries and lack of climbing ability, I offered nothing and was just pleased to finish the race in 128th, over half an hour behind. I've not felt this useless yet in my very short career and it shows how much I need to improve. But had the opening stage gone differently, it could have been a better race, I'll never know.
Finally, I went up to Glasgow for the Nationals. Once again, I was first to start the time trial, just ahead of Wiggins. Though I wasn't ahead of him for very long. I finished 13th, over six minutes down on Wiggo but I did at least beat two of my team mates. In the road race, we knew we had to get a rider up the road but it wasn't me unfortunately. Rowsell was the man and he came so close to winning the stripes, only Dowsett able to beat him. I finished with the rest of the NetApp boys in a group 21 minutes behind. But I beat most of the Sky team, so...
On to the final part of the season we go. My main goal will be the Tour of Britain but apart from that, I shall have to see what the manager decides for my schedule.
Until next time, Dermot Walker
Manager of Bunzl - Centrica
ICL's World Tour Champions and Talented Bottlers
First I went to Philadelphia, where I thought I was supposed to participate in a race, but it turns out we weren’t signed up for that anyway. I got so annoyed that I jumped on my bike and rode 267 km just to cool off before I took the plane back to Europe.
There I go to ride Tour de Luxembourg, which was a much better experience than my trip to the States!
Still a bit tired after my trip I ride a terrible prologue. Still I was 4 seconds faster than Rudy Verboven so that’s something I assume?
On the second day I almost got mixed up in a crash, but got on OK even though I lost a bit of time and couldn’t be part of the finish, which I had actually looked forward to.
Then on stage 2 I had refound my legs and managed to get in the break after quite a struggle. Fuglsang was immensely strong in the finish, but I crossed the line alongside all the other big names.
That stage also put me in a good GC position (13th), which kind of locked me in the next days as no one wanted me to go away.
Too bad since the breaks took the last two stage wins…
It was a fun experience trying to ride a good GC, though I’m sad that I didn’t manage to score any points for the team. With a 15th place in Norway and 16th here I think perhaps I should train a bit towards this kind of small tours in the future as they seem to fit me as a rider?
Also I was home in Sweden for the National championships. I had hoped to be able to do something in the road race, but with only five riders taking part it became a very weird race where no one wanted anyone to get away and all attacks were closed down immediately.
At least I got two medals in my first two NC’s. I suppose I should be content with that…
The newest season part comes around, and with it, starts the Big one. le Tour is soon on its way - without NetApp though.
There will still be a lot of racing going on, for the team and for our youngters.
The Vuelta team as it is, is set in stone. Only youngster to ride the GT will be Mitchell Birt in a free-role. Leopod König, who recently received some magic mushrooms to push his performance in a legit and allowed way, will be our captain!
If some riders have special wishes, please announce them here. We have already compiled a race schedule for everyone (all EPIC riders are left with 0 race days at the end of the season for your information) but we are of course open to talks, sugggestions and wishes.
We'll post the first draft of race schedule for every EPIC rider later today.
NetApp has signed up for following races:
CT.5
Osterreich Rundfhart
[30 June-7 July]
CT.6
Tour de Wallonie
[20-24 July]
WT.4
Tour de Pologne
[27 July-3 August]
CT.6
Danmark Rundt
[31 July-4 August]
CT.5
RideLondon-Surrey
[4 August]
CT.6
Vuelta a Burgos
[7-11 August]
CT.5
USA Pro Cycling Challenge
[19-25 August]
WT.2
Vuelta a Espana
[24 August-15 September]
CT.5
Paris-Bruxelles
[7 September]
CT.5
Tour of Britain
[15-22 September]
CT.5
Milano-Torino
[2 October]
CT.5
Giro del Piemonte
[3 October]
WT.4
Tour of Beijing
[11-15 October]
CT.5
Giro della Emillia
[12 October]
CT.4
Paris-Tours
[13 October]
CT.5
Tour of Haina
[20-28 October]
You may wonder about the lack of german races this season part, but NetApp - Endura may be a german team but our international and global approach must force us also in the world. Since we have little chancse at Vattenfall Cyclassics still, we will save it this time around. We aim to have young sprinter talents such as Dermot Walker or Daniel Schorn get their chances more in stage races instead of one day classics.
Note that following race overlap:
Tour de Pologne & Danmarkt Rundt
USA Pro Cycling Challenge & Vuelta a Espana
Vuelta a Espana with Paris-Bruxelles & Tour of Britain
National Championships
We'd also like to take a second to welcome the new national champions of Australia and Germany back amidst us. Zakkari Dempster and Paul Voss have surprised the cycling world by outsmarting and outracing their opponents in the Road Race and from now, they will race in NetApp - Endura's fantastic looking national championship jerseys. Zakkari will first show off his jersey at Tour de Pologne, whilst Paul Voss will wear it at Danmarkt Rundt. Keep your eyes open for them.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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