We were back with some good spirits after Rudy's good show in Fleche Wallonne.
Mikel Landa went in the early break, but apart from that we didn't manage to show anything at all in the race.
Thank god the classics season is over now...
4 Jours de Dunkerque is not the most important race on our calendar - far from out. It is a race that suits the profile of Rudy Verboven very nicely though, so hopefully he'll be able to justify us entering an extra race with cobbles.
Verboven, Rudy Bilbao, Pello Bravo, Garikoitz Sicard, Romain Chaoufi, Tarik Kocjan, Jure Radochla, Stefan Schulze, André
On stage 1 the team were finally ready to start actually helping Verboven on a race featuring cobbles.
They did a good job bringing him to the finish, but also burned themselves out in the proces so he didn't have much of a sprint train in the last few km. Still he put in a solid effort.
Stage 2 was another one for Rudy. After a quiet start to the day he showed himself taking part in a very nice attacking finish.
Unfortunately things were brougth together in something close to a bunch sprint and Rudy had burned too much energy at that point to win the stage. Still another good show from him though!
We signed up for this race in order to give de las Campos the best possible preperations for the Giro d'Italia even though only two of his team mates here are going with him to the Giro as well.
de las Campos, Cristiano Izagirre, Ion Izagirre, Gorka Bilbao, Pello Bravo, Garikoitz Mínguez, Miguel Verdugo, Gorka Mestre, Ricardo
We kept quiet until the last 35 km of this race when we got closer to the sole climb of the day. There we saw Ion attacking along with a few other guys and the early break still 2 minutes ahead.
Ion joined the break and ripped it apart only allowing Mucelli to hang on, The Italian got to cross the top first as a reward fro his long day in the break, but in the finale the were no charity and Ion Izagirre took the stage win in superior style!
The third stage in Dunkerque had a few more hills towards the end, which I hoped would be too much for most sprinters. Yet Lotto was very strong here, so it would be hard to beat Roelandts. The Hills were going well, but then we had a crash near the front of the peloton. Luckily I didn't crash myself, but I lost a lot of places. I was really cursing, as I had good legs today. With the sprint about to start, I was just too far behind
I was passing so many riders now, but the leaders had a big gap. I couldn't close it anymore.
Or could I? Everyone was slowing down while I was still picking up speed. I was just behind their wheels.
Almost there..
But no, three in a row for Jurgen Roelandts. Really frustrated about this. A good thing we're not in Belgium, or the kids near the finish line would have had some not so nice words added to their vocabulary. You really can't come closer to it than a second place. If only I could've started the sprint more to the front. I got the white jersey due to the bonus seconds, but I couldn't really smile on the podium. This picture is going to haunt me for quite some time.
The month started with the last two stages of our biggest home race, where the boys needed to produce a small miracle in order to achieve our goal. Instead they continued underachieving…
After our home race we went to Amstel Gold Race the team continued its run of bad performances in WT-classics since the team only was mentioned thanks to Igor getting a puncture…
So we weren’t too optimistic regarding our goal of a top 10 in La Flèche Wallonne. We didn’t get much coverage throughout the race apart from Sicard being fairly anonymous in the break, but when the results were published they showed that Rudy Verboven had fought his way to a 9th place saving our orange asses!
Hoping to get a bit of good spirit and some valuable experience for coming years we had arranged a cobbled race for the Basque Regional Championship Series. The boys did ok, but wasn’t able to convert the strength in numbers quite as well as in the first edition. Hopefully they’ll have learned something at least…
In Liège – Bastogne – Liègewe were back to our old ways struggling to get noticed and failing to score points.
When we came to 4 Jours de Dunkerque we hoped that getting rid of some of the top riders would help the boys to get back on track and they definitely showed the team spirit needed on stage 1 fighting for Verboven’s chances but burning out too early to help him in the sprint. Nevertheless Rudy got top 10’s on both the two first stages once again showing his class.
At the same time in Italy we aimed to use Giro del Trentino to prepare Cristiano for Giro d’Italia, but Ion took the stage with a late attack resulting in a stage win on stage 1, which was then beautifully defended by an 8th place on the TTT the next day!
February Rankings
First Name
Last Name
Days
Points
Rudy
Verboven
5
110
Samuel
Sánchez
2
60
Ion
Izagirre
6
24
Spoiler
Igor
Antón
5
Mikel
Landa
5
Romain
Sicard
5
Pablo
Urtasun
5
Cristiano
de las Campos
4
Pello
Bilbao
4
Garikoitz
Bravo
4
Miguel
Mínguez
4
Mikel
Nieve
3
Gorka
Verdugo
3
Tarik
Chaoufi
3
Egoi
Martínez
2
Ricardo
García
2
Gorka
Izagirre
2
Jure
Kocjan
2
Ricardo
Mestre
2
Stefan
Radochla
2
André
Schulze
2
Rubén
Pérez
1
Riders not mentioned did not race this month. Full rankings can be found in post #2
Rider of the Month
Two results stand out this month with Ion’s win and Rudy’s 9th in Flèche.
Since Flèche was a goal for us and Rudy Verboven continued his good run in 4 Jours he gets to be the first to be awarded “rider of the month” twice.
Coming Up
Apart from finishing the races already running we expect both Romandie and Giro d’Italia to start this month. In Romandie we will be led by Antón and Sánchez while Giro d’Italia will be with Cristiano de las Campos in the leading role. Hopefully he will take that on his shoulders and stop helping any teammates better placed after the first few stages…
A Glimpse of History
I'm running out of ideas to moments in the Euskaltel-history in need of a piece, so this month you get a video with Caroline Philips telling about the hurdy-gurdy's place in Basque culture as well as playing a bit so you can hear it in action.
Not the best stage today, even though I was really looking forward to it. I immediatly ruined my white jersey by hitting the ground early in the race.
Luckily my back was still ok, but I did feel sore for the rest of the race. I didn't reply when the first guys went, but now we didn't manage to get them back either. I was isolated in the final, and we just couldn't bring them back.
So, no good stage result, GC chances lost, and I even lost my white jersey. Not a good day for me. Well, it means I'll go full for a stage win tomorrow.
This stage featured a lot of climbing up and down a few small but steep hills.
Verboven crashed just as the fireworks began, but fortunately Kocjan were able to keep him from losing too much time and keeping the Fleming inside the GC top 10.
This was meant to be the day when Cristiano should compare himself to the greats!
Unfortunately he is so nice a guy that he insisted on working on defending Ions leadership jersey in spite of it being completely hopeless.
Hopefully he'll settle in the leading role for the Giro at least...
After the disappointment on stage 3 we decided to go after the break today.
Verdugo ended up as the man out front all day where he did great to finish 2nd in the final sprint and getting a shared 1st place in the mountain classification.
When planning teh season we had completely forgotten about the addition of cobbles to the race. Not that the changes to the roster would have been major anyway...
Egoi Martinez made sue we were represented in the main break of the day. Not only that but the commentators even claimed that "Nobody is more impressive as Martinez today"!
But then came the cobbles and Egoi started lookinga lot less strong.
He did good to ahang on to a point-giving 12th place while Verboven disappoints behind by never really entering the race.
On a stage wheer we were much more visible due to Igor trying a late attack not much more happened worthy of a mention as both Igoe and Samuel finished with teh favourites.
With several worse TT'ers ahead of him Samuel had a real chance of entering the top 10, even though riders like Po-Ding could pose a danger from behind.
Samy did decently getting an 19th place passing Moreno in the GC and keeping Cameron Meyer behind. Unfortunately the North-korean was too much and Pellizotti managet to keep a lead of two seconds on 10th place making the race an overall huge disappointment.
At first we just went here for the fun of it figuring it could fit us decently up to the TT at least. Then we were given a sponsor goa of getting a stage win and things got serious. I think that shows on the roster:
Izagirre, Ion Lobato, Juan José Verboven, Rudy Bilbao, Pello Bravo, Garikoitz Landa, Mikel Kocjan, Jure Sicard, Romain
I told the boys to stay calm and get Rudy in a good position for the sprint. They did more of the first than the second, but Rudy did good on his own none the less gaining a lot of terrain in the very last part of the sprint!
With both a bit of cobbles and a bit of hills this was one od the days we needed Verboven to shine.
He failed completely in that since he got caught behind som crashes along with Gilbert.
Ion tried his best, but didn't hit one of his sprinter-days unfortunately.
One for the sprinters it seemed before more hills will decide the GC tomorrow.
The team for once did great providing Rudy with a proper train for the finale with Ion in white as one of the final riders before Lobato started his leadout.
Rudy did his best in the sprint and almost managed to pass Belgian champion Boonen on the line.
The last stage was also expected to be the GC decider.
Bravo went in the break to take the pressure off the rest in protecting Ions GC and white jersey.
Things went just as planned until Rudy started attacking over and over again. The last time right after Ion had been reeled back in. That attack served only to pull Ion's biggest rival away ruining our GC completely and putting the rest of teh teams hard work to shame, as Rudy kept riding hard to benefit no one but Kakhi and to much lesser extent himself.
The young Flemish riders till has a lot to learn regarding teamwork!
Our focus in the Giro is stage chasing with de las Campos free to do whatever he feels like be it chasing a GC top 10, a stage win or the climbers jersey.
de las Campos, Cristiano Astarloza, Mikel Azanza, Jorge Izagirre, Gorka Oroz, Juan José Sáez de Arregi, Adrian Verdugo, Gorka Tamouridis, Ioannis Vrecer, Robert
With two national ITT-champions on the team we had every reason to hope that we would be faster than someone and with a huge amount of luck perhaps even repeat our TTT top 10 from Trentino.
No top 10, but we did manage to beat 4-5 other teams!
The first day with a bit of climbing, which is what we came for.
The boys were fairly decently placed in the peloton on theclimbs, but then things exploded.
Not only wiht a lot of attacks, but also literally since it appeas Cristiano's tire blew and caused him a terrible crash. Since all his team mates stayed behind to try and help him up that caused the lot of them to lose a lot of time on the peloton.
A big mountain stage coming up right after the big dasaster of yesteday would prove to make our strategy for the rest of the race clear.
Envigorated by being the first Euskaltel-rider over the line yesterday Azanza went in the break.
The break got caught and that's the last anyone heard of us in the coverage. Cristiano hurt a lot after yesterdays crash while the Gorka's proved in much better shape so hopefully they'll be able to fulfill our stage win goal.
None of the guys did anything to get in the break today or even to go for something in the finale.
Ioannis did make sure to be in good position though. As usual in this race most of the boys cracked as soon as they hit the tiny hill though. Even Mark Cavendish climbs better than our climbers here!
Jure did as needed and found his way into the early break.
Unfortunately teh GC guys insist on taking every single stage so teh break was caught and it was another somewhat embarrasing stage as no one even managed to stay with the main group...
As the summary above shows the first week of our Giro d'Italia campaign has been a disaster to put it frankly with only the Gorka's on the level they're supposed to be.
Cristiano de las Campos seems unable to handle the pressure of being the leader - perhaps that's why he has insisted on being a super-domestique for Ion Izagirre in previous races in spite of having been granted leadership for the GC there as well?
One thing is certain though. Whether it's because of an injury after a crash, a more general illness or just a lack of experience we expect him to show something when we hit the real mountains. At the very least to show the jersey and the fighting spirit our team have been known and loved for in the past.
Anyway things can only get better after a very disappointing last couple of weeks with Ion Izagirre once again as the only highlight thanks to his consistent effort in Belgium putting him in the young riders jersey after a strong ITT.
~ Alaon EtxeberdeaEdited by Atlantius on 19-04-2014 10:19
We have now started preparing the next race in the series.
The route will be the same as the one used for Prueba Villafranca-Ordiziako Klasika. With 5 crossings over the short but steep Alto de Abaltzisketa and a downhill finale it's close to impossible to predict how it will end.
Both punchers and strong sprinters will have a chance, but most likely it'll be a very attacking finish leaving the win for whoever has the best legs on the day.
Obviuosly the bulk of the peloton will be as you know it, but this time a few other riders will be invited as a result of some great performances in our local races.
Now you probably expect the winner of Vuelta al País Vasco Alberto Contador to get an invite but no! Mr. Contador have still not issued an official apology for his attempt on slandering the Basque farmers after he got caught cheating. He will be considered persona non grata in these races until he apologies for his false accusations against the Basque farmers. Just because the Madrileans cheat doesn't mean that the Basque does!
That aside we will be inviting Michal Kwiatkowski along with one of his helpers from our home stage race. Michal was one of the most consistent riders in the race only finishing outside the top 10 on the mountain top finish so he seems to enjoy our lovely country.
We will also be rewarding RusVelo for being one of the most aggresive teams without Basque riders by invitign their to breakeaway riders Pedrowski and Firsanov.
We would have rewarded Fuglsang for a good show in both GP Indurain and Vuelta al País Vasco, but we're not quite sure where to send his invitation as his manager seems to have disappeared...
Peter Sagan
Rudy Verboven
Pablo Urtasun
Romain Sicard
Chaoufi, Tarik 
Kocjan, Jure 
Radochla, Stefan 
Mestre, Ricardo 
Grégory Rast
Rajesh Kakhi
Champion System Pro Cycling Team
Vincenzo Nibali
Richie Porte
Wilco Kelderman
Astana Pro Team
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky Procycling
Tamouridis, Ioannis 
Carlos Betancur
Hopefully there's one shortly after the Giro.
