So, Germany is up, and the Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt. Five days of tour, with the Stage
4 as the crucial and decisive one among a couple of flat adventures. A fresh peir of riders
will set sail for their first race of the season. Vermeltfoort and Van Winden will be the
well-known and in-shape faces. The natural leader of the new six is Thom Van Dulmen.
With three days of easy riding, the main event of the tour awaits. With three hard climbs
and only 130 kilometers, it should be a decent, if not overwhelming, test for our hilly
specialists.
Van Dulmen will set out for the GC and Thomas Rabou will be our man for the breaks.
Rabou finds himself in the right place at the right time. Alongside unknown riders
Ludescher, Graf and Maus he takes the first mountain sprint, four minutes ahead of
the peloton.
Rabou strikes once more, thus earning another 16 points for the KoM competition.
Still two points behind polka dot leader, an aggressively riding Christian Müller.
In an eminent form-of-the-day, Thomas Rabou falls back to his team leader Thom
Van Dulmen as soon as the break-away is wheeled in. He sets the pace for the first
eight kilometers of the last climb, until this happens.
The inevitable attack from the best climbers, as Van Dulmen is powerless and remains seated.
Rabou stays at front, working alongside T-Mobile captain Gerdemann, to minimize the gap.
The Rabou-show reaches a new dimension, as he proves strong enough to claim fourth
on the top, only overpowered by specialist climbers Glomser, Lagutin and Gutierrez.
He takes polka dots with a six point lead.
Lagutin triumphs on the last meters, taking yellow and, probably, the GC-win.
Van Dulmen stands no chance on the last kilometers, in a "red sprint" he is dumped by
his fellow escapees. Amazingly he is recorded the same time as his companions.
To top the already achieved result, KoM win and top 15 in the GC, Van Dulmen adds poison
to the open wounds of his opposition. He was strangely given the same time as the E2 sprinters
on the mountain stage of the tour. Thus, as he breaks away from the peloton five kilometers
before the finish of the last stage, he crosses the line as 11th in the mass sprint.
Leaping from 14th to 4th in the GC!
Edited by Balaverde on 16-08-2007 09:18
Crommy: Sure... But I find it easier to search the site this way. Besides, this way it won't be mixed with the comments and so on. When I try to catch up on a story that I haven't read for the last three updates, it really is a mess... But I don't quite now, yet.
Smoothie: Nice observation! Well... The Northern races tend to be like that! Is it a Dutch team or is it a Dutch team... Besides, I believe my best riders like the rain...
Sure - they have a German license. I barely meant: all my riders are Dutch, thus I compete in Northern, and primarily Dutch, races... Could you take a look on my "Crash..." post - since the game that crashes is "this one" - my Espoirs one.
So - thanks to CrueTrue (I bet that has been said a lot on this site) my career is up and working again. Next update will be one of our primary goals (three stars); the Bayern-Rundfahrt. I'm considering an interview with Thom Van Dulmen as well, but I'd like other ideas on "between races" action too...
So, almost half of our race calender has already been ridden, and we find ourselves
in fine position for the next races. Our sponsors are not only confident, but utterly excited
and satisfied with our results. Above our puny level, Rebellin leads the ProTour with victory
in two of the three Ardennes greats, Freire has achieved most victories as he smashed
through the opening Spanish races of February, and CSC maintain lead position in the
team rankings.
With his win on the Danish cobbles, his polka dots in California and his top 5 in Drenthe,
Lars Boom is our man for the continental rankings:
So, the first day of June should let us set sails for the most important month of the season.
With the Bayern-Rundfahrt and the GP Schwartzwald as our main priorities from the start
of January to the end of October, June is our time to shine.
And here it is. The first stage of the Bayern-Rundfahrt, as the riders get themselves
ready at the starting line in Gunzenhausen, for the first 200 intense kilometers of the
German tour.
The route itself should not make our riders anxious, but nevertheless it could be decisive
for us. Because the first of the many tour inclimbs awards the front rider 10 points in
the KoM competition, as the only climb in the whole tour, early action should be needed.
Our sponsor goal is to obtain polka dots only once in the race, and this could be the day
to take the important lead in that specific contest.
Normally, it would seem foolish to attack with our best rider in the first kilometers,
simply to see him be swooped back in the peloton and spend great amounts of energy.
The reason why this is a different situation, is that there are not only one, but two
mountain sprints at the first kilometers. And between the two, no flat kilometers.
So, as the first opportunists make their move, Van Dulmen says farewell to his team-mates
and launches the first offensive move by the Rabobank Espoirs. They quickly lose
the one minute gap they gained on the attack, but as the road starts to rise Van Dulmen
attempts yet another break. Gradient is strong and overwhelms his fellow escapees.
But the first mountain sprint is within reach.
Van Dulmen shows tremendous capacity, to claim the first two KoM sprints of this years
tour. 16 points earned, and a certain amount of pressure attached to KoM-combatants
Rast and Moe Rasmussen. As he crosses the line for the second sprint, he reasonably
drops back to the peloton.
But that does not mark the end of todays Espoirs-action! As a few riders break away,
Berkhout is sent on the attack, to take as many points as possible and protect his leader
in the KoM.
Unfortunately, he is not in-form to follow another Dutch rider, Peter Möhlmann, and
prevent the continental rider from taking the last points to total 17. A bitter defeat
to see an opponent swoop into virtual polka before the next stage.
At the last kilometers, the break is overhauled and the sprinters set themselves up.
The main men for the line are there, as Kazakh Bazayev outsprints Feillu and Eckhout.
We did not claim the polka dots as we wanted, still we seem to have the best cards
on our hands before the next stages. Van Dulmen did not overexstend himself to
take the points he now has, and he should be on the attack later on in the race.
Edited by Balaverde on 20-08-2007 07:38
After a slightly dissapointing first stage, we are looking to step up the pace for another
day of KoM-battle. The route includes six mountain sprints and has a quite flat middle
section. But the last 25 kilometers look fairly interesting, not only in the race for polka
dots, but in the matter of a possible stage victory as well?
The first five sprints are taken by the break-away, the Espoirs team cool as ice, as there
are several KoM-points left in this important tour. As the peloton closes in on the last
one of them, however, it is all back to square one for the riders at the front. And the
first of those to move, is our team captain, Thom Van Dulmen.
With 20-some kilometers to the finish, we target the points and leave the battle for the
stage to those who are not obligated by their sponsors to be on the look-out for polka dots.
But, to the surprise of our main candidate, the favourites for todays 184 kilometers
have come out to play. Among the chasing hillers is the familiar face of the man in the
renowned white shirt, Steffen Wesemann. Glomser and Ermeti follow the German.
And the time gap down to the peloton is increasing! Van Dulmen decides to take full relays
to get as much time as possible, although we are aware of our mediocre chances in
an eventual sprint finish.
With less than ten kilometers to the line, team leaders Martinez, Breschel and Fothen
decide to shoot clear of the main bunch. Two of the three looking to gain a little ground
before the arrival of their favourite terrain with the individual time trial.
Martinez is able to flee from the front of the peloton, but none of the three are capable
of reaching the front group. Van Dulmen has the weakest nerves in the tactical fight
for positions, but tries to make up for his front lead by opening up late.
Will it be enough for the Flying Dutchman to see the Saxon dissapear at the back?
It will not. Van Dulmen plays his cards well, but only to see the Wesemann onslaught
continue, as the Wiesenhoff leader conquers yet another medalion and adds more gold
to an already tremendous season. Austrian airline Gerrit Glomser overhauls Van Dulmen,
in time to take second, but the Espoirs-youth resists the competion from Italian Ermiti
to take podium.
And our sponsors should be pleased. Third on the line and polka dots on the menu of tomorrow.
We failed to achieve the most in the final, but faced strong opposition from two of the best
riders of the continental teams.
Edited by Balaverde on 20-08-2007 08:12
Perhaps I should consider to stop this story and focus on my Ferrari team.
I don't want to sound saddened or anything like it, I guess the story simply hasn't got any fans.
Okay that sounded saddened nevertheless - but I'm considering stopping the thread since there's no real response to my updates and posts.
