Nizzolo has this in the bag, also u did not answe me about Schleck can he return to near is old level. It would make story even better i think, not that it needs it. This is 1 of my fav stories l love most but prefer WT stories and Trek are great this yr with the new additions.
Im doing a Tinkoff story at the moment but i loses motivation so quickly ive done 1 stage and im bored lol, but no ive said im not going to quit i will finish it lol. I get bored of the prep races in Jan feb etc.. Takes so long to upload my screens into JPG i think that is the real problem you always seem to have the motivation lol.
We really hope Nizzolo can at least achieve podium, if not the win here. But we surely have to be prepared on alot of attacks from favourites such as Tornado Tom or Sep Vanmarcke.
Great to know that you like this alot, atalanta. Hope you'll stay here for a long time and i hope you'll sort our your story stuff quickly, aswell.
A flat stage that is rated as cobblestone one, but we're pretty sure that some classic sprinters will play big role in finish of this race. Nizzolo is our leader here, but there are alot of good sprinters here such as Degenkolb, Ladagnous and even Boonen, so it will be hard.
Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne [1.1]
24th February, 2014
Sunny day, but only 6°C degrees outside, so it will surely be one cold day for guys, but this will surely prepare them for some way longer and harder classics that are coming soon.
Anyways, breakaway is launched early and some strong guys are there. Pichot and Groenwengen are some of them.
They kept strong pace from an early start and easily got 10 (!) minutes, which immediately made them big favourites. We're now on the middle of the race, somewhere on part with steepest climbs.
Just as expected, some outsiders decided that's enough and made a move just when these hills started. Koen de Kort of Giant Shimano was the first one. He can make good result here if he catch the BOTD group.
Almost immediate after his attack, Borut Bozic of Astana decided to attack aswell, with Jacobs following him. They got advantage quickly.
They soon reached BOTD group who was clearly way more exhausted, although they had 10 minutes lead in some point. Eight guys in that group at the moment, but still 80 kilometers to go.
As biggest favourites for the win, Omega Pharma QuickStep couldn't just watch that, so they started some pretty hard pace. Now, it doesn't look like the break will make it to the finish line in front of peloton, anymore.
They were on front of the peloton almost for 50 kilometers and kept reducing the gap. When it came to "only" 1 minute, their tactic suddenly changed. Just from nowhere, Boonen attacked! Breakaway is still at the front.
Belkin took care of that and neutralised it quickly. They also caught almost all riders from previous BOTD. Almost all i said and it was like that. Pichot is still at the front. He's struggling alot, tho.
3 kilometers to go and there's one compact group of 50 riders once again. No one is trying to follow someone as everyone's exhausted. Nizzolo makes a move from his seat and places himself in big advantage over the others.
But, probably the top favourite for taking this race before its start, John Degenkolb started sprint just in the time Nizzolo did and after they passed last corner and now they're only 2 fighting for win. Degenkolb is going like rocket, can Nizzolo follow that?
There were small chances for Nizzolo here and it turned out to be like everyone predicted. As the guy with clearly better cobblestone abilities, much better acceleration and great stamina, Degenkolb took the win on this race!
Giacomo Nizzolo finished in 2nd once again, in front of Matthieu Ladagnous from FDJ. He quickly needs to get a win, but we can't say anything against this. One great result for the team , once again.
Yup, Nizzolo did great to get that 2nd place, although he could maybe wheelsuck and try to win here. We'll surely try to correct that in some of upcoming races.
Also atlanta, i forgot to answer on your question about Schleck again. So here it is: - No, i won't bring Andy to his old level in terms of stats, but in terms of tactics, race he's riding he'll be old Andy and i'll give my all to get some great results on Tour and other races that Andy will race.
In the same time as KBK, one more race were held today, which make it 3 different races in 3 different countries for our team in only 1 day. Pretty impressive! Anyway, the race is, as you can see, circular race with one steep climb at the end which should bring us alot of fun.
GP di Lugano [1.1]
24th February, 2014
There are 8 same paths around the Lugano after the guys enter last 15 kilometers and face last hill, the really, really steep one. Should be very interesting race to follow although there are not many interesting sections in profile, to be honest.
Neither the startlist is overpowered actually. Some strong names from some strong WT teams there, but no big starts. Meersman, Dumolouin, Swift, Cancellara, Costa, Schelck brothers decided to put this race in their schedules, so they're all going to participate here.
Our team, especially on paper, looks really good here! Cancellara, Voigt, Schleck Brothers alongside with Jungels, Watson, Busche and Popovych are here. Of course, none of these guys are in top form, so no one should expect some kind of domination for us.
That of course doesn't mean we won't try to win this. This is one of most important 1.1 races for our team, so we'll actually give our all to capture the win here. Fabian will be our first pick, which is somehow normal, since the race is held in Switzerland and he's building his form for spring-classics slightly. We'll see, everything can happen!
Degenkolb clearly the best that day but Nizzolo with a superb finish snatching 2nd place. A win and a podium, Trek is certainly ready for the northern classics.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Quite unlucky Degenkolb've choosen that race as one in his schedule, but we can't do anything against it...
Once again, nice weather in Switzerland! Something strange is happening around the world, since it's February and we still didn't feel any rain this season. That should surely help our guys to get a good result today!
GP di Lugano [1.1]
24th February, 2014
Wyss and Bennett, as well as few more guys decided to create a breakaway of the day group pretty early this morning. OPQS, neither Sky had anything against it, so they quickly started gaining some time.
As the race was closer to finish, the weather was even better and better and sun even started showing up, but i guess i should stop talking about weather and focus on damn cycling.
Anyways, the 'real race' started around 43 kilometers to go when few outsiders decided to make move. Grestch, Ratto, Bono and Lofkvist are there.
Well, we decided that we should not let them go and neutralised their lead quickly. No big things happened in next few kilometers, but then big boom.
One of the main favourites, our 2nd leader for today, almighty Jens Voigt decided to make a move. Well, i would say it's surprise when someone who's listed as favourite attacks this early, but it's Jensie so everything is possible!
And he actually got some advantage quickly! It was on 1 minute at 20 kilometers to go. As the last climb got close, OPQS started some hard relays and when the climb started, Jensie was only few seconds ahead.
Our guys had great positioning on the start of the climb, which means we have alot of space for attack now.
Schleck brothers, Jensie as well as Fabian were there. Fabian started some accelerating from his seat and managed to get few meters of advantage over others quickly. Voigt will protect him until the end of the climb - at least that's the plan.
And it was like that. Cancellara now got some serious advantage and it looks he can easily win this. But not that easy, as Rui Costa, current World Champion is there aswell. It looks scary how fast he is on this downhill. Clash of 2 great downhillers. Can Fabian keep this 20 seconds advantage until the end? 4 kilometers to go!
Just when Rui almost caught Cancellara, it was time for turbo machines. Cancellara used his great downhill abilities and once again recovered 20 seconds lead. He's now in sprinting zone and he actually started sprint. Looks great so far for us!
And of course, Herr Fabian will have one more win from 2014 in his palmares from now. What a great win!
We can't say anything to Costa except: "Hats off!" What a brave fight it was from World Champion, but he got 2nd unlucky. Voigt finished in 4th.
Doing great but better take out that electric motor from Cancellara´s bike..
What i really liked to see was Voigt´s 4th place... he deserves all the best.
What can I say guys , except thank you so much! Seems like i finally got what i searched for in past few months (in terms of right team for the story) and i hope this will continue for some long time.
Spartacus really did well, but once again team did great job on this positioning and without that great position on the bottom of the hill, there wouldn't be any way that he could do what he did. Trek is certainly on fire when it comes to wins and podiums and we surely hope that can continue until the end of the season, at least.
Once again, classic "______/" stage. No big percentages at the end, but long climb instead of that. All of these should perfectly suit Kiserlovski and I am pretty sure we would be able to secure that GC win here, as this is the last stage that something can be changed.
Tour de Langkawi [Stage 5]
21st February - 2nd March, 2014
It's mountain stage, so big break was expected and few guys attacked and met the expectations. Surely, strongest name here is Svein Tuft of OGE. Others are just some domestiques or very young talents. The group looks compact and they co-operate, but can they really manage to get in front of the group at the end?
I guess we'll still have to wait for the answer on the question above. Anyways, as the route is pan flat before that final climb, literally nothing happened. At one point, Bisolti from Vini Fantini - Nippo made a move. He's one of the outsiders , so guys had to warm up a legs a bit. That move was neutralised quickly. Breakaway group still has more than a minute advantage.
Guys quickly arrived to the bottom of the climb and first moves started on it. Few guys from firstly BOTD made a move and got advantage over the rest of the group from the start of the day. No big surprises here, as the Tuft and Debesay, as two best riders here, are there.
The gap between peloton and group at front was slowly but constantly decreasing. Only 3 kilometers after the climb started, peloton managed to catch the guys in front. It's now time for favourites!
And, our guys starts an already trained tactic - accelerating from seats. Zoidl is protecting Kiserlovski, while Didier is protecting Arredondo. They look good!
Of course, it was clear that Didier was weakest of our 4 riders, so he dropped quickly. Now, everyone has its own path. Kiserlovski made advantage over Arredondo, who made advantage over Zoidl. Caruso, De Clerq and Kesiakoff are there with Zoidl now.
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And that was absolutely show of class from Robert. He did everything from his seat, without giving any chance to anyone else. This picture shows the situation best ,as the Kiserlovski is in front of some good 500 meters!
Riders behind were struggling, especially our Zoidl. He was sick last night and it seems like this turned out to be bad day for him, as he dropped soon.
Robert easily managed to get the win - totally and absolutely deserved one!
Caruso reduced a bit the gap and finished in second, still getting more than a minute on Robert.
And finally, the best battle was in fight for 3rd, 4th and 5th place. At the end, Kesiakoff managed to get the only rest podium place, while Arredondo finished 4th in front of De Clerq.
Really successfuly day for all our guys, except Zoidl. He finished as 11th which surely isn't the result he hoped for in this competition. But, there is alot of time for newcomer to show himself in a better light this season!
I really do like the reports in this story admischleck. It would be great if you would do some MAN Game reporting maybe?
Great to see Cancellara winning in his home country, that bodes well for the upcoming big classics. / Although isn't it a bit of an 'overkill' sending Kiserlovski to Langkawi!
Thanks alot, The Rider. I will surely apply for MG Reporting as I am very interested in it and I really hope I'll be choosen. Also, I don't think it's an overkill to send Kiserlovski to Langkawi, since it's his first race of season and he'll skip PN and TA and head to Volta Ciclista a Catalunya directly after this one. It's pretty nice preparation for Giro, imo.
Spartacus did what was expected from him (he really shined there, Sutty!) and he's really on fire this season. It's his 3rd or 4th win this year and we're still in February. This looks like it's going to be great season for him!
After we finished with mountains in Malaysia, it's now flat until the end of the race, which means 5 more flat stages. Van Poppel is a bit tired after yesterdays race, so we don't expect much from him today. Top 10 would be nice, tho.
Tour de Langkawi [Stage 6]
21st February - 2nd March, 2014
To be honest, this was one of most boring stages i've ever seen and you'll see why later. Only 2 guys, Debessay and De la Fuente in break. That was somehow expected after yesterdays tough stage.
They got caught after 100kms and next 100, absolutely no one tried to escape or something similar. So, we'll skip directly to last few kilometers.
Trains are now at the top of the group. Actually, only one train is there and it's Cannondale's one. Lotto and Trek decided to skip making train for today's stage, since riders are exhausted. Androni's train is way behind.
Nice positioning from van Poppel, but he already lost alot of energy until last kilometer, so it's hardly to believe he's going to get good result. And it was like that. While Marcato had perfect leadout, Boeckemans and Van Poppel failed hard. Great victory for Italian!
Boy even missed to get Top 10, since he finished on 12th position. A stage to forget for Dutch guy. General Classification didn't change today.
pity that Degenkolb was there though 
