Vuelta a Mallorca
A tour which is made up of mosly hilly stages. But they come towards the end. The sprinters will be able to have their fun in the first few stages until we reach the hills.
Start List:
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Thomas Lofvkist
Michael Barry
Kjell Carlstrom
Stephen Cummings
Russel Downing
John-Lee Augustyn
Ian Stannard
Lofvkist will be our main man for the overall but we have a fair bit a competition with some other big riders participating. Eddy Boasson Hagen will be our sprinter and will have Downing to help him out.
Stage 1
A circuit stage with what looks like a hilly finish. This could suit Boasson Hagen but we'll have to wait and see how he feels when we get to that point. Cavendish, Freire and Bennati all riding in this tour.
A breakaway of 12 today.
But of course they wouldnt survive. Downing had the job of putting Boasson Hagen in a good position and as Downing pulled off, Boasson Hagen had 3rd position in the line. Surprisingly we can see Lofvkist and Stannard still at the front.
As the sprint starts with 2km to go. Boasson Hagen is very well placed.
Under the 1km banner. Arrieta has made a big move on the left. Boasson Hagen is trying to follow him.
We were able to get past, but once we did, Bennati just shot past us to take another stage victory. Hes in great form at the moment. Once again we were left to play second fiddle.
Start List
Juan Antonio Flecha
Chris Sutton
Matthew Hayman
Lars Peter Nordhaug
Chris Froome
Davide Vigano
Nicolas Portal
Given that all stages are flat aside from stage one which is a team time trial, Sutton will most likely hope to continue his good form and get us a good position in the overall. Although a good result for him will rely on how our Team Time Trial goes.
Stage 1
I decided to sim this because my TTT skill are quite horrible.
Not the result we wanted, but I didnt expect much considering Froome is our only good time trialist on the team.
A flat stage. Boasson Hagen will go for a top 3 finish once again. Whether we can beat Bennati is another thing though. We'll need a bit of luck.
John-Lee Augustyn made numerous attempts to be in the break today but just couldnt time it right. In the end 13 riders made it away today.
The group of 13 were still ahead with 5 km to go. The finish will be very close.
As the sprint started, Boasson Hagen was well placed in the peloton but the group ahead still looked good to cause a surprise with just over 1km to go.
It was Vicioso from the starting breakaway who would take the stage win. I feel alot of bad luck coming on here as once again we lead home the peloton in the sprint when it was the breakaway who had the success. Luckily Hagen was close enough that no time gaps were made.
