One of the most renowned names that had yet to agree terms with a team for the 2016 season was Andy Schleck. The Luxembourgish finally announced yesterday that he had agreed terms with Vacansoleil - DMC. Schleck's season had been underwhelming for a rider that was supposed to be one of the leaders in Quickstep. However, his career has been like that for years. Vacansoleil also announced that Wout Poels will be joining the team as well.
The winner of the team's World Tour classification, Lotto - Soudal, announced their third signing for the season. George Hincapie is a quality rider whose main role will probably be helping Bjorn Leukemans in the cobbles. It will be interesting to see whether Hincapie finds a way to shine because Leukemans is by far the best classics rider currently.
Movistar Team has taken the opportunity to sign Stefano Garzelli, the leader of Lampre - Merida this season. The relegation of the Italian team to the Pro Continental Tour means that they are not able to afford his contract anymore. This is the second signing of Movistar this year, as Jose Joaquin Rojas is also joining the team.
One of the riders that has been attracting attention in the market has been Thomas de Gendt, although his season has been rather poor. The Belgian will be leaving Team Sky to join Tinkoff - Saxo. The Russian team has also confirmed that Chris Anker Sorensen will be extending his contract with the team for a further 2 years.
emre99's stages Thread of the Week : Tour of California 2014 -Official PCM World Cup 2016, 10th best keirin player in the world PCM.daily Awards : 2 Nominee 0 Award
Daily Song Contest WINNER! With Foals - Mountain at my Gates with Greece! 1 like 1 girlfriend ''I call you the stage god. You are the stage god.'' -baseballover312, 15.07.2016
I always wanted to make a fantasy story like that, but I was late. (a little bit )
And I didnt wanted to make something like that on PCM14 afterwards, as I thought it will be a steal of a nice decision
Looking forward to 2016!
#FREELANDA #FREELIA MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
emre99's stages Thread of the Week : Tour of California 2014 -Official PCM World Cup 2016, 10th best keirin player in the world PCM.daily Awards : 2 Nominee 0 Award
Daily Song Contest WINNER! With Foals - Mountain at my Gates with Greece! 1 like 1 girlfriend ''I call you the stage god. You are the stage god.'' -baseballover312, 15.07.2016
I would be more than happy if you started your own fantasy story. In the end, I was inspired by another story in the forum to start mine. Feel free to start another one, although I have to say that it is hard work to make it progress steadily.
I agree with mpardo too mate, make your story and try to enjoy it but leave a quick message at the start up to say that you were inspired by this story
I am getting there with finishing to edit the database for the 2016 season, so as usual let's start with a reminder of what the calendar for the new season will be.
One more season has gone by and the World Tour Teams are heading back to Australia for the opening race of 2016. The Tour Down Under is normally prone to surprises, given that the form levels so early in the season are quite different between riders. This will be the first race for the new Pro Continental team, Cofidis. The French team brings Igor Anton, their best rider, to Australia with the hope of a top 10. Elsewhere, IAM Cycling will take over the old structure of the Garmin team. Garmin has now joined forces with Cannondale to sponsor their squad.
The surprise winner of 2015 was Joost van Leijen, who also took the win in the stage finishing in Willunga Hill. This year he will face many of the same riders that he beat last year, including Simone Ponzi and Bjorn Leukemans. The podium was coped by Ben Hermans and the local Cameron Meyer. However, the rider with the most wins in Australia is still Peter Sagan, who took the win in the 2012 and 2013 editions.
Favorites:
- Philippe Gilbert (Trek Factory Racing): Gilbert is one of the the best hills riders in the startlist of the Tour Down Under. The Belgian was mainly a supporter to Simon Gerrans last year but the results he got in the hills classics have given him a more important role in the team for the season. It will be interesting to see whether he can start winning in Willunga Hill.
- Simone Ponzi (Team Katusha): Simone Ponzi is a completely different rider to Philippe Gilbert. The Italian has the ability to stay with the best in the hills but can also be among the top sprinters of the race. Therefore, if he manages to get a few bonus seconds in any of the first 3 stages it will be hard to take him out of the leader's jersey.
- Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto - Soudal): Bjorn Leukemans achieved a very difficult feature for any rider in 2015: winning the Paris - Roubaix, the Liege - Bastogne - Liege and the World Championship. However, he has stated that he means to get the same kind of success in 2016. He will start his season in Australia, where he will need some special performance in Willunga Hill to take the overall win.
- Joost van Leijen (Team Giant - Alpecin): Joost van Leijen is the defending champion of the Tour Down Under. The Dutch took the win at the top of Willunga Hill and did not lose any time in other stages, which gave him the overall win. This year he has signed for Giant in their debut as a World Tour team. The German team will have it difficult to avoid the last place in the final season rankings but their hopes are that Van Leijen can give them success.
Other riders to take into account are Michael Matthews (Lotto - Soudal), Rui Costa (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Tony Gallopin (BMC Racing Team), Cadel Evans (Movistar Team) and Davide Rebellin (Astana Pro Team).
The sprinters that will start the season in Australia include Lloyd Mondory (Etixx - Quickstep), Marcel Kittel (Astana Pro Team), Andre Greipel (Lotto - Soudal), Ben Swift (Vacansoleil - DMC), Kenny van Hummel (Team LottoNL - Jumbo) and Tyler Farrar (Tinkoff - Saxo).
The season starts in the same way as last year: with a rather short stage in the north of Adelaide between Nuriootpa and Angaston. Most of the stage is very flat but the last kilometers include a climb to Menglers Hill, which is hard enough for some sprinters to struggle to hold on with the best. Nevertheless, the stage is predestined to finish in a sprint of a rather big group. Last year it was Marcel Kittel who took the win in the first stage of the season.
It was not easy to form the first break of the season. Eventually, a group of 5 riders including Marco Marcato (BMC), Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Lampre), Michal Kwiatkowski (IAM), Geraint Thomas (Tinkoff) and Moreno Moser (Sky) was allowed to go away. With 74 kilometers remaining their gap was a comfortable 5 minutes but the peloton seemed to be in control with teams such as Lotto, Quickstep and Astana setting the pace.
The second intermediate sprint was placed in Bethany, 64 kilometers from the finish line. Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel seemed to be the only two sprinters interested in the points and for the second time today Greipel managed to beat his fellow German. The push of the peloton before the sprint reduced the gap to 3' 45'' and even caused the bunch to break in two parts. There were no important riders in the back and the second group rejoined shortly after. There is quite a bit of wind that is making riding not that comfortable.
The key moment of the day was the climb to Menglers Hill. The break started the only climb of the day with a small gap of 40 seconds over the bunch. Michal Kwiatkowski was leading the front group, given that he is the best hills rider in it. Meanwhile, Giovanni Visconti and Daryl Impey were leading the chase for the main bunch. Most of the sprinters should go over the hill without trouble but some of them might leave valuable energy behind in the climb.
The gap to the break barely decreased in the climb to Menglers Hill and was around 35 seconds with 10 kilometers to go. However, the peloton was well organized and the chase seemed to be a matter of a few kilometers. Enrico Gasparotto is leading the chase for Quickstep. Marco Marcato was the quickest in the KoM sprint and will be wearing the mountains jersey tomorrow. Lloyd Mondory, Marcel Kittel and Alexander Kristoff were very much at the front of the pack.
The break was reeled back in by the main bunch in the descent towards Angaston and Rui Costa tried to attack taking advantage of the lack of organization at the front of the pack. However, the Portuguese never enjoyed more than a couple of seconds lead and with 3 kilometers to go he was brought back. Astana had Luca Paolini leading out Marcel Kittel, while Filippo Pozzato was ahead of Lloyd Mondory for Quickstep. Other important sprinters close to the front were Kenny van Hummel, Mark Renshaw and Tony Gallopin.
Lloyd Mondory seemed to start the final sprint from way to far out and with 1 kilometer remaining he was effectively leading Tony Gallopin out. The French was very skilled in getting his fellow countryman's wheel. Marcel Kittel was struggling quite a bit behind and was still hiding behind his teammate Luca Paolini. Meanwhile, the sprinters that go easier through the hills, like Simone Ponzi and Jose Joaquin Rojas, were making good progress. On the other hand, Andre Greipel was nowhere to be seen.
Tony Gallopin took advantage of Lloyd Mondory's tow to speed past the Quickstep rider and with 500 meters remaining he seemed to have no rival for the stage win. Lloyd Mondory was losing ground, the same as Luca Paolini, who left Marcel Kittel behind. Mark Renshaw was 4th at that point, directly ahead of Simone Ponzi. The Italian seems quite fast but is too far behind.
Tony Gallopin wins in Angaston! The French managed to take a surprising win in the first stage of the Tour Down Under after a good performance in the final sprint and mainly a great positioning in the last few kilometers of racing. Gallopin did not have much of an advantage at the finish line as Simone Ponzi was quite close at the end. The third place in the stage was for Kenny van Hummel, ahead of Mark Renshaw and Alexander Kristoff.
The two main sprinters in the field, Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel, were quite disappointing. Most likely the final climb was a bit too much for them and could not show their speed. Tomorrow's stage will also favor those riders that are good in the uphill finishes but it is not hard enough for puncheurs. The local Chris Sutton took the win last year in Stirling.
The Tour Down Under will continue with the now classic finish in Stirling. The finish in the town located to the East of Adelaide features a 20 kilometers long circuit where the race is difficult to control for the peloton. The last 7 kilometers are mostly uphill, which normally makes it difficult for the pure sprinters to fight for the win in this stage. Chris Sutton was the winner last year but his only performances that were good in the season were in Australia.
The break of the day was formed by a group of 5 riders: Gregory Rast (Orica), Chris Sutton (Vacansoleil), Jonas van Genechten (Giant), Matti Breschel (Cannondale) and Gerald Ciolek (Lotto NL). The second climb of the day, Checker Hill, was placed 93 kilometers from the finish line. Gregory Rast was the first at the top of the climb but no one got enough point to take Marco Marcato out of the KoM jersey. The peloton was 6 minutes behind, led by Euskaltel, Quickstep and BMC. Nevertheless, they will need to cut that gap before the last 50 kilometers.
The second intermediate sprint of the day was placed in Balhannah, 66 kilometers from the finish in Stirling. It was surprising that Luca Paolini was the only rider that sprinted for the points, given that Marcel Kittel is the main sprinter for Astana. However, the bad result from the German in yesterday's stage might have changed the targets of Astana for the race. The break still had 4' 45'' on the main bunch but it still seems that the main bunch had the race in control.
The circuit around Stirling proved difficult again for the peloton and with 10 kilometers to go the break still had a chance of success. The gap had shrunk to 35 seconds but the front group was working well and there had been no attacks. Meanwhile, Giovanni Visconti and Rohan Dennis were chasing hard with other riders like George Hincapie also working hard. The most likely outcome is still that the 7 last kilometers of the stage will decide the winner.
The main bunch pushed hard in the first part of the final climb towards Stirling and the break was eventually reeled back in at around 5 kilometers to the finish line. At the 3 kilometers mark it was Euskaltel leading the way with Fran Ventoso ready to lead Alexander Kristoff to the front positions in the last kilometer of the stage. Andre Greipel was well positioned behind the Norwegian, although it seems that it will be a bit too hard for him. Quickstep had Filippo Pozzato taking care of Lloyd Mondory, while other good sprinters like Kenny van Hummel, Ben Swift and Michael Matthews were also close to the front.
Filippo Pozzato did a great job of taking Lloyd Mondory to the front ahead of the last kilometer of the stage. Euskaltel's Fran Ventoso was right behind but the quality of the Spanish team's sprint train seems to have decreased a bit thi year. Nevertheless, the climb seemed a bit too much for Alexander Kristoff. Ben Swift, Kenny van Hummel and Tyler Farrar were making progress but Mondory is the best positioned ahead of the final rush.
Alexander Kristoff emerged from the tow of his teammate Fran Ventoso with around 700 meters to go but at that point Lloyd Mondory seemed to be too far up the road for him to be caught. Kenny van Hummel was directly behind Kristoff and trying to snatch the second place on the day from him. The rest of the sprinters seemed to be too far behind to be a threat, although Tyler Farrar was leading the way and closing the gap.
Lloyd Mondory wins in Stirling! The French won the day with a sprint that probably looked easier than it was. He had a good margin when they crossed the line even though he seemed to lift off a few meters before. The second place was held by Alexander Kristoff, ahead of a fast finishing Giacomo Nizzolo. The Italian was nowhere around the front before the last 500 meters of the stage but made big progress in the last meters. The top 5 was completed by Kenny van Hummel and Michael Matthews.
Today's leader could only be 20th across the line and, therefore, lost the leader's jersey to Lloyd Mondory on the same time. Tomorrow's stage has a tough hill a few kilometers before the finish but Mondory should be strong enough to hold on to the lead if a break does not make it to the end. The French is also leading the points competition but Alexander Kristoff and Kenny van Hummel are really close.
The third stage in the Tour Down Under has the potential to start to put some clarity on who will fight for the overall win and who will not. The stage finishing in Campbelltown is flat in general but the 2.6 kilometers climb to Montacute is placed only 7 kilometers from the finish line. The pure sprinters should have a hard time going through the last climb and the peloton might even break before the descent towards the finish line.
The first intermediate sprint of the day was placed in Kersbrook, 106 kilometers from the finish line. The break was already settled at the front of the race. It was a group of 4 riders: Luka Mezgec (HTC), Tom Boonen (Sky), Heinrich Haussler (Ag2r) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Discovery). Tom Boonen was the first in the sprint, 2' 30'' ahead of the main bunch. In the sprint for the remaining points Marcel Kittel managed to beat Ben Swift. Quickstep and Astana were the teams controlling the pace today.
The other sprint was only a few kilometers away, in Williamstown. This time it was the turn for Ben Swift to beat Giacomo Nizzolo and Marcel Kittel. The German was in a good position ahead of the sprint but got blocked by other riders and had to settle for third. Meanwhile, the gap of the break had increased slightly to 2' 45''. Nevertheless, the stage seemed completely controlled by the main bunch. The day has been quite tough so far as it took a while for the break to settle at the front.
An uneventful ride led the break to the bottom of the climb to Montacute with a tiny gap of 15 seconds over the main bunch. Heinrich Haussler was already losing contact with his fellow riders in the break with 10 kilometers to go. The main bunch was being led by Enrico Gasparotto and Daryl Impey. A few of the important names were starting to get well positioned, including the top riders in the GC: Lloyd Mondory and Tony Gallopin. The bad news came from Ag2r, as Rui Costa crashed a few kilometers before the climb and was losing considerable time.
Kenny van Hummel was the surprising rider that went first through the top of the climb of Montacute. The Dutch attacked in the last few meters in order to be in the best position ahead of the descent towards Campbelltown. Maarten Tjallingii was the second rider in the peloton. The climb was quite hard and a few gaps were appearing in the bunch. Among the sprinters, riders like Alexander Kristoff, Lloyd Mondory and Michael Matthews were very close to the front with 7 kilometers to go.
Only 54 riders made it to the first group on the road and with 3 kilometers to go it seemed unlikely that the several groups that had been formed would come back together. The main rider that missed the first group was Philippe Gilbert, who is one of the favorites to take the overall win. Pozzato was leading the way for Quickstep ahead of Lloyd Mondory, while Giacomo Nizzolo was trying to bring them back together. Mark Renshaw, Stefan van Dijk and Michael Matthews were the riders right behind Mondory in the front group.
Lloyd Mondory started the final sprint from way too far out. The French was probably trying to avoid other groups from joining and putting as much time on them as possible. It should not be forgotten that the French might as well be a contender for the overall GC. In the stage he might as well have been preparing the sprint for Mark Renshaw, Michael Matthews and Kenny van Hummel. The sprint, in this reduced group, was very chaotic with almost no teammates. Tony Gallopin was in the group but a bit too far back to fight for the stage, while Philippe Gilbert was 1' 20'' behind.
Lloyd Mondory had a lot of energies in his legs and was still leading the way with 500 meters to go. It still seemed like he could win the stage and add a few more bonus seconds on his side. Nevertheless, Mark Renshaw, Michael Matthews and Kenny van Hummel were all trying to beat the French for the line. All the rest of the riders in the front group were to be too far behind to be a threat. Simone Ponzi was 5th on the road at that point but his chances were slim at best.
Mark Renshaw wins in Campbelltown! The Australian got past Lloyd Mondory and comfortably beat Michael Matthews for the line to get his first win of the season. This is the first stage win for an Australian in the Tour Down Under. Another Australian, Michael Matthews, took the second place in the stage. The third place was for Lloyd Mondory, while Kenny van Hummel and Simone Ponzi completed the top 5 of the stage.
Mondory got 1 bonus second by finishing third, which puts him on top of the GC with a 1 second margin over Mark Renshaw and Tony Gallopin. However, we also witnessed today how Philippe Gilbert lost 1' 34'' and Rui Costa more than 6 minutes. This time loss puts both of them out of the equation in the fight for the final podium of the race.
The fourth stage in the Tour Down Under is the first that is clearly for the pure sprinters. Almost all the stages have finished with sprints of more or less big groups. However, today's stage is the first that has no relevant climbs that will make the options of the sprinters lower. The route's only categorized climb is Myponga Dam, halfway through the stage. The day finishes in the coastal town of Victor Harbor, south of Adelaide.
The break of the day had a rather small gap of 2 minutes at the first intermediate sprint of the day, in Echunga. The riders in the group of 5 were Geraint Thomas (Tinkoff), Mauro Santambrogio (Sky), Samuel Dumoulin (LottoNL), David Millar (HTC) and Jonas van Genechten (Giant). The French was the quickest in the sprint. In the main bunch, Marcel Kittel was the only rider that was interested in sprinting and took a few more points. The teams leading the bunch so far were Astana and Lotto.
The only categorized climb of the day, Myponga Dam, was 53 kilometers from the finish line. Quickstep had started the chase seriously and they were starting to cut back on the lead that the break had, which was 3' 45'' at the top of the climb. Giovanni Visconti and Jens Debusschere were the ones doing most of hte work. In the fight for the KoM points Samuel Dumoulin won the sprint but the holder of the KoM jersey at the end of the day would be Geraint Thomas, who added a few points to his tally today.
The last few kilometers of the day were getting closer and closer and the chase was about to be caught with 10 kilometers to go. Jonas van Genechten tried to make the break survive a bit longer and was followed by Samuel Dumoulin but the gap was only 25 seconds. George Hincapie and Maarten Tjallingii were leading the chasing peloton. The second intermediate sprint, with 30 kilometers to go, was won by Ben Swift. The effort in that sprint might weigh on some riders in the final sprint.
Lotto was very committed to the mass sprint and after the break was finally reeled back in it was the World Champion, Bjorn Leukemans, who was leading the peloton. The Belgian team had the best sprint train and John Degenkolb was ready to lead Andre Greipel. Simone Ponzi was right behind the German. Astana was the second sprint train on the road with Luca Paolini ahead of Marcel Kittel. Kittel's wheel was also very precious and it was Ben Swift who took it. Meanwhile, Filippo Pozzato was protecting the leader, Lloyd Mondory. Other riders well positioned were Michael Matthews, Alexander Kristoff and Stefan van Dijk.
Luca Paolini did a great job of bringing Marcel Kittel to the front before the last kilometer mark but the German seemed to be struggling to follow the pace of his teammate. Ben Swift was right behind Kittel and looked much fresher. The other sprint trains fell apart and a few sprinters were not bery well positioned, including Andre Greipel, who was now following Lloyd Mondory's wheel. His teammate Michael Matthews seemed keen to fight for the win as well.
Marcel Kittel had a magnificent lead out by Luca Paolini but was still hiding behind his teammate with 500 meters to go. At that point Ben Swift had already emerged from his wheel and seemed ready to sprint for the win if the German did not react quick enough. Lloyd Mondory was the fourth man on the road, slightly ahead of Michael Matthews, while the other Lotto sprinter, Andre Greipel, had disappeared from the picture. However, Matthews seemed to be too far back to be a contender.
Ben Swift wins in Victor Harbor! The British did not give any chances to his rivals and, even though Lloyd Mondory was gaining on him in the last meters, his win was never in danger. This is his first win as a Vacansoleil rider, which will give him confidence ahead of the new season. The leader took three valuable bonus seconds in the finish line. This takes his lead to 4 seconds in the GC.
The third place in the stage was for a quick finishing Simone Ponzi, who held Jose Joaquin Rojas and Yauheni Hutarovich for the 4th and 5th final positions. The stage met the expectations that everyone had in the morning and all the favorites had a quiet day ahead of the crucial stage in Willunga Hill tomorrow. The number of riders that will actually have a chance is only 51 as all the others have lost time in some of the past stages.
