February 7th: Tour of Qatar
Stage 1: Doha, 8.1 kms (TTT)
As already said, the winner here has a great chance to hold the lead for the whole race. Our goal today is not end last, and that will be a very difficult mission, not only because of our team, but also because I suck in short Team Time Trials xD
Under rain and cold weather, our riders raced getting last place in the first check and in the finish, losing 1’10” to the leaders - we failed the mission of not ending last(21” behind 19th team)
After Sky had set the early best time, HTC - Columbia did their best, passing just 5” after Sky in the first check, but they also ended second in the end by the same 5”. It wasn’t Sky who won it, tough - they finished 3rd, 3” behind HTC. As expected, who could stop time trialing machine Fabian Cancellara? He led the Saxo Bank team to win the stage and the leader jersey.
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Fabian Cancellara
Team Saxo Bank
10'54
2
Stuart O'Grady
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
3
Jens Voigt
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
4
André Steensen
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
5
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
6
Anders Lund
Team Saxo Bank
+ 2
7
Laurent Didier
Team Saxo Bank
+ 5
8
Bert Grabsch
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
9
Patrick Gretsch
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
10
Vicente Reynès
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
You know just now I noticed something… in PCM 09, the time bonification for the winner of a stage in Tour of Qatar was -10”… but in PCM 10, time bonifications is -20”, which changes everything!! Saxo Bank win now means much less with this bigger time bonification. A win from Mark Renshaw or Greg Henderson or Boasson Hagen can already take the leader jersey from Saxobank hands, no matter where a Saxobank rider stays(in this case, Matti Breschel). With this, we’ll probably see much more interesting stages, as the battle for the leader jersey will probably be still opened until the last sprint.
In reality it`s 10s for the winner. You can change it in the classification files in the main folder. Just create a new file just for Qatar or search for one with 10s bonification.
Changing it in the actual wouldn`t make sense as too many races would be inflicted then.
February 8th: Tour of Qatar
Stage 2: Al Zubarah - Doha Golf Club, 139.5 kms
An almost completely flat stage. As usual, we’ll try to send a man to the break and protect our sprinters. Pagliarini’s fitness is now 81, so I don’t think he will have (much) trouble following the pace in the final kilometers. Walker fitness is a little smaller, so he’ll try to lead out Pagliarini today.
Today’s breakway featured 9 riders, none of them from Seara/Vivo, as we failed in trying to put a man in the break.
Spoiler
BotD: Anatoliy Pakthusov, Perrig Quemeneur, Alexander Kvachuk, Damien Gaudin, Valeriy Dmitriyev, Uros Murn, Daniele Righi and Jonathan Bertrand.
The break never got out of control, getting a maximum gap of 5’58”. They were eventually reeled in with 14 km to go.
We've decided to see what could we do trying to do a sprint train. Daniel Rogelin in front, then comes Nilceu dos Santos, our lead-out Nicholas Walker and in his wheel Luciano Pagliarini. Pagliarini was feeling good today (+3).
With the sprint about to start we had a good position on the left side of the road.
But as the sprint started, lots of riders passed flying our guys. Pagliarini could still get Mikhaylo Khalilov’s wheel, who was in Matti Breschel’s slipstream. Kenny De Haes on the right was trying to give a good lead-out to his leader Greg Van Avermaet, although Angelo Furlan was between them.
Under the 1 km to go banner, it was De Haes, Furlan and Greg Van Avermaet in the same line contesting for the stage win!! Or could someone still come from behind and pass them? Pagliarini was trying to get out of Breschel’s wheel.
And Greg Van Avermaet wins it!! The stage and the leader jersey for him, who doesn’t even have the time to celebrate it! Rubén Pérez with an amazing sprint in the last km crosses 2nd. Pagliarini can’t pass Breschel but still gets 10th.
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Greg Van Avermaet
Omega Pharma - Lotto
3h05'55
2
Rubén Pérez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
3
Greg Henderson
Sky Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
4
Angelo Furlan
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
5
Kenny De Haes
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
6
Geraint Thomas
Sky Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
7
Mark Renshaw
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
8
Juan Antonio Flecha
Sky Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
9
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
10
Luciano Pagliarini
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
s.t.
Well, a good stage for us, a 10th between these good sprinters is good, but we want more, and we're going for more. Anyway, 1 of 2 top 10s, this goal should be easy to complete now. At least we hope so.
February 9th: Tour of Qatar
Stage 3: Camel Race Track - Qatar Foundation, 135.2 kms
Same thing over and over again. The stage profiles are all the same, just in different orders. The hills are exactly the same, in fact they don’t exist in the game. And stage 2 profiles is equal to stage 4, stage 3 equal to 5. Just another boring flat stage.
The Break of the Day contained 6 riders today. No rider from Seara/Vivo again.
Spoiler
BotD: Valeriy Dmitriyev, Bartosz Huzarski, Mikhail Ignatiev, Yohann Gène, Stanislav Kozúbek, Steven Caethoven.
In yesterday’s stage, the wind didn’t play a vital role. Today was different. Towards the middle of the race, the pack was completely stretched. Our riders were in the middle to the end of the pack.
And, of course, splits happened in the pack. 2 main groups were formed, the first one having 50 riders and the second one, 95 riders. All our riders were in the second group. As usual, most of the important riders made it into the first group, such as yellow jersey Greg Van Avermaet, Fabian Cancellara, Danilo Napolitano and Mark Renshaw.
With about 17 km to go, the first group caught the break. They had a 1’42” gap to the second group at that moment, so probably the winner would come from the first group.
The second group never closed the gap, and, with 3 km to go, the first group started the sprint for the stage win. Stuart O’Grady was in front, with Edvald Boasson Hagen and Danilo Napolitano also near the front.
Under the 1 kilometer mark, Boasson Hagen was strongly leading the sprint. A few meters behind was Napolitano and then a surprising Cancellara in 3rd.
And that’s today's podium! Hagen is the new yellow jersey with the 20 seconds bonification!
A lot of space between the podium riders. Boasson Hagen about 4 bicycles in front of Napolitano, who was almost 6 bikes in front of Cancellara! Sieberg crossed 4th, and yellow jersey Greg Van Avermaet crossed 10th. Pagliarini passed 39th, 1’32” behind stage winner Edvald Boasson Hagen.
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Edvald Boassong Hagen
Sky Professional Cycling Team
2h58'08"
2
Danilo Napolitano
Team Katusha
s.t.
3
Fabian Cancellara
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
4
Marcel Sieberg
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
5
Aleksejs Saramotins
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
6
Michael Albasini
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
7
Maxime Vantomme
Team Katusha
s.t.
8
Stuart O'Grady
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
9
Bert Grabsch
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
10
Greg Van Avermaet
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
I've said that on the finish of Giro di Calabria "In Tour of Qatar, take care of the wind and we have a chance". Well, I did not follow my own advice xD We were just trying to protect our guys from the wind and suddenly all them were near the end of a very stretched peloton. Our error, we'll try not to repeat it.
February 10th: Tour of Qatar
Stage 4: Khalifa Stadium - Al Khor Corniche, 139.5 kms
Again very flat stage. Same tactic as always, try to put a man in the break and protect Walker and Pagliarini. A short stage, good for a breakaway, plus the strong wind. The sprinters’ team should take care of the early escapees.
Beginning in Khalifa Stadium, under a very hot sun. Wind, as always, was strong, but not near as strong as yesterday’s wind(32 today).
It took a very long time for the break to be formed. After several failed attempts and 64 km raced, finally 6 riders succeeded in breaking of the peloton. Between the escapees, a very famous name: Philippe Gilbert! What is he doing there? The 6 riders were split in 2 groups, the first one having one rider, and the second one, five chasers. Again no Seara/Vivo rider between the escapees of the day.
E1 - Francisco Javier Aramendia
E2 - Steve Chainel, Scott Davis, Davy Commeyne, Philippe Gilbert, Koen De Kort.
Contradicting the expectations, 23-year-old Aramendia not only was not caught by the chasing escapees, but also managed to increase the gap! With 42 km to go, he had a solid advantage of 1’33” to Gilbert group and 4’34” to the pack! Things were looking good for him.
Aramendia’s gap was only growing until those 42 km to go. Then the peloton woke up and immediately set up a very high pace, starting with 54km/h! Sky and mainly Team Katusha were setting the pace! That was killing our riders, and that was very bad for us, as Pagliarini was having an awesome day today(+5), and with that pace he was becoming tired for the sprint.
We had 18 km left when the pack caught the 5 rider group. They had kept an average speed of 51 km/h for almost 20 km by then. 3 of our riders had already dropped.
But young Aramendia kept going also really hard, doing alone a speed of 49, 50 km/h for those 20 km!! He still had a 3’01” gap to the pack with only 17 km left!! Could he do it? His situation was very good! He was 2’00” behind yellow jersey Edvald Boasson Hagen, so it was very difficult for him to steal the overall classification in an epic solo effort.
As the pack entered the last 10 km, the advantage had fallen to 2’07”. Seara/Vivo had only 3 riders in the pack with any amount of energy, and Walker was struggling in the fast pace(53 km/h) so he wouldn’t be able to lead out Pagliarini today.
Aramendia couldn’t keep up the fast pace, and was going 45 km/h with 5 km to go while the peloton came with 54 km/h!! Aramendia had a very good gap though, 1’26”, but nobody was 100% sure whether he could still do it.
The pack slowed down a bit, and as the sprint started, with 3 km to go, they were still 1’02” behind Aramendia. The young was gonna win it! Pagliarini had got O’Grady’s wheel.
Yes, Francisco Javier Aramendia is home safe! When he sees the finishing line, he can do a very-well deserved celebration! Almost 80 km alone against all!
And 35 seconds later comes the peloton, with Kenny De Haes in 2nd and Assan Bazayev in 3rd. Pagliarini crossed 7th.
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Francisco Javier Aramendia
Euskaltel - Euskadi
3h02'31
2
Kenny De Haes
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 35
3
Assan Bazayev
Astana
s.t.
4
Baden Cooke
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
5
Angelo Furlan
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
6
Yukiya Arashiro
Bbox Bouygues Télécom
s.t.
7
Luciano Pagliarini
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
s.t.
8
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
9
Mikhaylo Khalilov
Team Katusha
s.t.
10
Greg Henderson
Sky Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
Gnah, things weren't good today. The cameras didn't focus on the pre-sprint moves on the pack, but as I said, Pagliarini got Stuart O'Grady's wheel. The fact is that O'Grady never sprinted, so a lot of other riders passed Pagliarini sprinting while I was waiting for O'Grady to sprint. I fail. 7th is good, but Pagliarini was +5, we should have taken advantage of that to get a new best position. 7th is our best so far in these 8 days. At least we've now completed our goal of 2 top tens. Btw, this was our goal, nothing from sponsors or anything.
If we just had gotten a better wheel...
February 11th: Tour of Qatar
Stage 5: Al Khor Academy - Al Khor Corniche, 135.2 kms
Our sprinters fitness is near 86, maybe we’ll try to do a sprint train today, it will depend on peloton speed and riders’ day feelings. And we’ll probably try to put someone in the break.
The BotD had 11 riders today. Again, no Seara/Vivo rider. There’s been some stages now since we aren’t able to put a man in the breakaway. Between the escapees, a known name for me: Patrik Sinkewitz, from the 09 story
Spoiler
BotD: Bert Scheirlinckx, Alexandre Geniez, Anatoliy Pakthusov, Alexander Porsev, Roberto Antonio Richeze, Laurent Lefèvre, Bernardo Riccio, Blaz Jarc, Juan José Oroz, Patrik Sinkewitz, Alessandro Bazzana.
Today’s main workers were Team Katusha and Team Sky. The break’s maximum gap was 5’40”, the sprinters might be willing to have a chance to win again after yesterday’s trick from Aramendia.
The last escapee was eventually caught with 15 km to go.
As already said, we tried doing a sprint train, and we had a good position with 7 km to go. You can see in the right of the road.
Unfornately we couldn’t hold the position, and with the sprint starting with 3 km left, we had a bad position. Matti Breschel was the first rider, with Hondo on his wheel. On his right, was sprinter jersey wearer Angelo Furlan with his lead out Grega Bole. Our train is now on the very left of the road.
Some riders passed flying coming from nowhere like O’Grady (today you sprinting, huh?) and Galimzyanov. Walker tried to get O’Grady’s wheel.
Tragedy in the peloton!! Hondo and Furlan had made their moves and were going strong in the lead near the 1 km banner, when, in the last turn, Furlan falls, bringing a lot of riders too the ground too!!
It’s really a giant crash, almost 50 riders down!! And between them, you see yellow jersey Edvald Boasson Hagen and 2nd in GC Fabian Cancellara!! 2 riders from Seara/Vivo were caught in the crash, Tiego Justo and Hugo Vítor.
But the sprint can’t stop!! In the final 700 meters, Hondo is still leading, with Assan Bazayev in second position and Yukiya Arashiro in 3rd! Would the winner be one of these three?
No, the winner is Kenny De Haes!! Where did he come from??
Let’s see that again. De Haes escapes from the crash.
Under the 1 km mark, there are still 11 riders in front of him!!
700 meters to go, and 6 riders still in front of him.
In the last 200 meters, he still behind the 3 leaders!
With the finish line just there he reaches and passes them, in an awesome speed of 61 km/h!! He has even time to celebrate, what a win!!
Back to the crashed riders, most of them got up without major injuries, but 2 riders were seriously injured and had to abandon: Francesco Tomei and Seara/Vivo’s Hugo Vítor. Vítor will be out until mid April, I'm not sure yet, because we have a very good doctor that came with the team but we're not staying with him. So I suppose that without the good doctor his recuperation will be over about mid April. And that can ruin part of our season planning.
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Kenny De Haes
Omega Pharma - Lotto
2h56'43
2
Danilo Hondo
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
3
Assan Bazayev
Astana
s.t.
4
Yukiya Arashiro
Bbox Bouygues Télécom
s.t.
5
Mark Renshaw
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
6
Stuart O'Grady
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
7
Mikhaylo Khalilov
Team Katusha
s.t.
8
Nicholas Walker
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
s.t.
9
Simone Ponzi
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
10
Steve Chainel
Bbox Bouygues Télécom
s.t.
Seriously, I can't remember the last time I saw an sprint like this one in PCM. Not only the awesome performance of De Haes, but also the adrenalin of a 50 rider fall under 2 km to go. A weak performance by Pagliarini, he couldn't even overtake Nicholas Walker, who was his 'lead-out'. At least, we got another top 10.
@janne_837
Thanks and yes, poor Hondo, right on the line
@olabj
Thanks too about the results, at least we hope so
February 12th: Tour of Qatar
Stage 6: Al Wakra - Doha Corniche, 118.9 kms
Now, to finish Tour of Qatar, and to vary a bit, a flat stage. Very short, but maybe too short for a break - they probably won’t have time to build a good gap before the pack start chasing.
7 riders formed the early break today. After some stages with no rider in the break, Seara/Vivo is represented by a rider among those.
Spoiler
BotD: Petr Bencík, Simon Clarke, Laurent Lefèvre, Renato Ruiz, Uros Murn, Sergey Rudaskov, Jonathan Bertrand.
Again, it was mainly Team Katusha doing the work. This time they had more help from Team Saxo Bank, though. And as happened in almost all the stages, very small participation from Team Sky, whose rider Edvald Boasson Hagen wears the yellow jersey. The break got a maximum gap of 5’01” with 64 km left.
The wind was strong today, and it didn’t take long before the pack was very stretched. Again, our riders were near the end.
With 40 km to go and the gap between break-peloton of 3 minutes, Renato Ruiz attacked his breakaway companions. He knew he had very few chances of doing it, but at least our sponsors liked it.
Initially he started gaining ground on the breakaway chasers, but maximum gap for him was 41” eleven kilometers after his attack. He was eventually caught by the other escapees with 23 km to go, just 5 km before all escapees were reeled in by the pack.
After the break had been reeled in, a split occurred in the peloton. This time, though, differently from stage 3, we managed to put our riders in the front of the peloton before the splits started to occur. That problem was that this cost them a lot of energy.
As the peloton passed the 5 km banner, we saw the most clear sprint train of all the race. In the right, we see a Omega Pharma - Lotto train with Leif Hoste, then Greg Van Avermaet and finally Kenny De Haes. In his wheel, yellow jersey Edvald Boasson Hagen, then Marcel Sieberg, Matti Breschel and finally Rubén Pérez. In the left, there were some sprinters such as Danilo Napolitano and Angelo Furlan. Our sprinters were nowhere near the front of the group, very tired.
It was a really strange sprint. Greg Van Avermaet simply got out of Omega train, Boasson Hagen let go De Haes’ wheel and Marcel Sieberg let go Boasson Hagen’s wheel. And almost all the front riders did not start sprinting, such as the whole Omega Train and its followers.
Under the 1 km mark, De Haes started to sprint and went for a really easy victory. Boasson Hagen, Van Avermaet and Leif Hoste never sprinted. Hoste could still guarantee the double for Omega Pharma while Matti Breschel won the battle against Angelo Furlan for the 3rd place.
Boasson Hagen crossed 5th securing his yellow jersey and Van Avermaet crossed 6th celebrating his team mate win. Nicholas Walker was our best rider here in 18th position.
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Kenny De Haes
Omega Pharma - Lotto
2h34'39"
2
Leif Hoste
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
3
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
4
Angelo Furlan
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
5
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
6
Greg Van Avermaet
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
7
Marcel Sieberg
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
8
Danilo Hondo
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
9
Yukiya Arashiro
Bbox Bouygues Télécom
s.t.
10
Juan José Oroz
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
Not really a good stage here. Our sprinters got too much tired going to the front of the pack before it split. Anyway, we had already fulfilled our goal of 2 top tens. So nothing really to worry here.
General Classification
1
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky Professional Cycling Team
14h49'13"
2
Fabian Cancellara
Team Saxo Bank
+4"
3
Greg Van Avermaet
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+7"
4
Stuart O'Grady
Team Saxo Bank
+8"
5
Michael Albasini
Team HTC - Columbia
+17"
6
Bert Grabsch
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
7
Patrick Gretsch
Team HTC - Columbia
s.t.
8
Rubén Pérez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+18"
9
Aleksejs Saramotins
Team HTC - Columbia
+19"
10
Ian Stannard
Sky Professional Cycling Team
+20"
Spoiler
11
Marcel Sieberg
Team HTC - Columbia
+22"
12
Matthew Hayman
Sky Professional Cycling Team
+24"
13
Wilfried Cretskens
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+27"
14
Michiel Elijzen
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
15
Olivier Kaisen
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
16
Danilo Napolitano
Team Katusha
+32"
17
Yohann Gène
Bbox Bouygues Télécom
s.t.
18
Angelo Furlan
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+35"
19
Sergio De Lis
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+36"
20
Bartosz Huzarski
ISD - Neri
+38"
21
Marcin Sapa
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+41"
22
Alfredo Balloni
Lampre - Farnese Vini
s.t.
23
Mikhaylo Khalilov
Team Katusha
+42"
24
Denis Galimzyanov
Team Katusha
s.t.
25
Timofey Kritskiy
Team Katusha
s.t.
Points
1
Kenny De Haes
Omega Pharma - Lotto
82
2
Angelo Furlan
Lampre - Farnese Vini
46
3
Greg Van Avermaet
Omega Pharma - Lotto
41
4
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky Professional Cycling Team
37
5
Assan Bazayev
Astana
32
Spoiler
6
Danilo Hondo
Lampre - Farnese Vini
32
7
Francisco Javier Aramendia
Euskaltel - Euskadi
31
8
Yukiya Arashiro
Bbox Bouygues Télécom
31
9
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo Bank
31
10
Stuart O'Grady
Team Saxo Bank
27
Young
1
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky Professional Cycling Team
14h49'13"
2
Greg Van Avermaet
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+7"
3
Patrick Gretsch
Team HTC - Columbia
+17"
4
Ian Stannard
Sky Professional Cycling Team
+20"
5
Sergio De Lis
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+36"
Spoiler
6
Alfredo Balloni
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+41"
7
Denis Galimzyanov
Team Katusha
+42"
8
Timofey Kritskiy
Team Katusha
s.t.
9
Maxime Vantomme
Team Katusha
s.t.
10
Vitaliy Buts
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+43"
Team
1
Team HTC - Columbia
44h06'32"
2
Sky Professional Cycling Team
+4"
3
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+10"
4
Lampre - Farnese Vini
+25"
5
Team Katusha
+26"
Spoiler
6
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+1'10"
7
Team Saxo Bank
+1'27"
8
ISD - Neri
+3'25"
9
Bbox Bouygues Télécom
+3'26"
10
PSK Whirlpool - Author
+3'29"
---
The PCM 10 podiums looks a bit ugly, don't you think? I mean, the riders are too bright
---
A good race for us here. Even though I expected more than a 7th in one of the 5 flat stages, it is still a good race. 3 out of 6 Top Tens, 1 stage being a TTT, so basically 3 out of 5. The bad part is that Hugo Vítor got injured here, and we'll probably need to change his schedule. If we need to do so, he won't be able to help Tanel Kangert in AToC, and that is very bad.
With the 20 second bonification the GC was way more opened than if it was normal 10 seconds. Add that with a shorter TTT than in PCM 09, for example, and the yellow jersey was wore by 3 different riders in these 6 days. Edvald Boasson Hagen was the most constant of the 3 and deserved the win.
Our next race will be Tour of Oman, starting the day after tomorrow. It's basically the exactly same thing as Tour of Qatar: 6 stages, 5 flat(even the profiles are the same) and one time trial - this time a longer, individual one. We won't have our 2 best sprinters with the team, but nevertheless it should be a great race, so stay tuned!! (That's all folks coming back only in next race xD)
Edited by lluuiiggii on 23-12-2010 01:03
February 14th
Tour of Oman
Basically, a ctrl+c ctrl+v of Tour of Qatar. 6 stages, 5 flat, 1 time trial. The 5 flat stages profiles are the same from the Tour of Qatar ones. The only difference is that the time trial is an 26 km long ITT in stage 6. Differently from Tour of Qatar, the time trial stage should indeed define the winner of the race. Unless a good sprinter with decent time trial stats grabs enough time bonifications to hold the leader jersey in the time trial. The bonus for winner are also 20 seconds, so that’s not impossible to happen. It’s just very difficult. The race was founded this year, so this will be the first edition of it. Stage profiles:
The GC Contenders
Obviously, GC Contenders are the good time trailers, or maybe, as already said, a sprinter with ok TT abilities. BMC looks like to have the best cards here in George Hincapie and Brent Bookwalter. Omega Pharma’s Leif Hoste is willing to give the BMC boys a though competition. Sébastien Joly (Saur - Sojasun) is another rider we should watch, and also his team mate Jérôme Coppel. Other names are Jose Antonio De Segovia (Xacobeo), Vitaliy Popkov (ISD CT), Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sosajun) and Sebastian Lang(Omega Pharma).
The Sprinters
While the GC Contenders will have only one stage to show themselves, the sprinters will have 5!! The best sprinters we have here are Kenny Van Hummel and William Bonnet(a funny name for me because the most famous Brazilian TV news presenter is called William Bonner ). Other ones are Jurgen Roelandts, Sacha Modolo, Denis Flahaut and Luca Paolini. We have some more sprinters, but these are the main ones. Oh, and let’s not forget Greg Van Avermaet who raced Tour of Qatar so already has 6 days raced.
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
Team Goals:
- Top 15 GC (Médici)
- 1 out of 6 Top 10 (Escuela, Médici)
We’re bringing a quite weak team here. Our best sprinter is Ricardo Escuela(SP 68 ACC 75). So not really a good sign for the sprint finishes. We are, though, bringing our best time trialists, Matías Médici (this name is horrible for us Brazilians, by the way, because the most cruel military leader during the military government in Brazil was called Emílio Médici). The rest of the team is riding just for going to breakaways and… riding.
1. Matías Médici
2. Armando Camargo
3. Ricardo Escuela
4. Danilo Mello
5. Fabrício Morandi
6. Daniel Rogelin
7. Renato Ruiz
Edited by lluuiiggii on 23-12-2010 19:06
@baia and janne_837
thanks! lets see what we can do
February 14th: Tour of Oman
Stage 1: Muscat Corniche, 118.9 kms
As said, we have no good sprinter here, so we intend to protect Matías Médici and maybe try sending 2 man on the break. If there is a mass sprint, Escuela will try something.
The BotD was formed by 11 riders, 2 of them being from Seara/Vivo.
Spoiler
BotD: Stefano Pirazzi, Vojtech Dlouhý, Salvatore Mancuso, Kristjan Fajt, Volodymyr Rybin, Mikhail Antonov, Danilo Mello, David Livramento, Dario Andriotto, Daniel Rogelin, José Luis Roldán.
Today, the teams that were doing most of the work were BMC, Bbox Bouygues Télécom and Skil - Shimano.
With 42 km left, and the break gap to the peloton 2’35”, Stefano Pirazzi attacked his breakaway companions. No one followed him.
After that attack, things were very strange in the break. I put Danilo Mello to pull the break very hard, and Daniel Rogelin resting. But no one would do the work with Mello. I tried stopping Mello and they also wouldn’t work, staying in a very easy speed of 36 km/h! If Daniel Rogelin attacked, though, they would immediately start working in a speed of 57 km/h so Rogelin wouldn’t even pass the others! As soon as he stopped, pace would get back to 36,37 km/h. I couldn't understand this.
With such a disorganized break, the pack caught quite early, with about 14 km to go. Pirazzi was caught a few kilometers later.
With 3 km to go, there 4 main sprint trains in front. To the left, Bbox sprinter William Bonnet and his lead out. In blue, Colnago - CSF train for Sacha Modolo and Marco Frapporti, Denis Flahaut on his wheel. In the middle, Acqua & Sapone’s Reinier Honig leading out for Luca Paolini, with Greg Van Avermaet and Jurgen Roelandts in their wheel. Finally, to the right, Skil - Shimano’s Robert Wagner tried to lead out Kenny Van Hummel, with Jimmy Engoulvent on his wheel.
Alexandre Usov sprinted very well to earn the victory! Jimmy Engoulvent crossed 2nd and can be very happy with his 12 second bonus which can help him a lot in the final day’s time trial. Luca Paolini finished the podium. Ricardo Escuela crossed 21th.
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Alexandre Usov
ISD Continental Team
2h38'23
2
Jimmy Engoulvent
Saur - Sojasun
s.t.
3
Luca Paolini
Acqua & Sapone - D'Angelo & Antenucci
s.t.
4
Jürgen Roelandts
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
5
Gerben Löwik
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
6
Denis Flahaut
ISD Continental Team
s.t.
7
Marco Frapporti
Colnago - CSF Inox
s.t.
8
Sébastien Turgot
Bbox Bouygues Télécom
s.t.
9
Cyril Lemoine
Saur - Sojasun
s.t.
10
Daniele Callegarin
CDC - Cavaliere
s.t.
The breakaway was very confusing today, and it was probably our best chances of getting a good result in this stage. Escuela wasn't really in a good day (-2), but I think if we have more 4 mass sprints, he may have a chance to snag 1 Top Ten, which is one of our goals in the race.
@baia
Thanks! Yeah, breaks usually doesn't make it in these smaller races.. even if the others had worked it would be really difficult, I just got a bit mad at them for working when I attacked
February 15th: Tour of Oman
Stage 2: Nizwa - Samail, 135.2 kms
Same thing as yesterday: we’ll be protecting Médici today and try to send a man in the break. The only thing is that yesterday our man for the break was Rogelin, and our sprinter, Escuela. Today their positions will be inverted: Escuela in the break and Rogelin as the sprinter, because Rogelin has a better fitness as he took part in Tour of Qatar.
After 38 raced kilometers, 4 riders managed to break away from the peloton. Ricardo Escuela made it into the 4.
BotD: Domenico Agosta, Emanuele Rizza, Ricardo Escuela, Marino Palandri.
Bbox Bouygues Télécom did most of the work today, receiving some help from ISD CT and Skil - Shimano. The breakaway was reeled in with 14 km left after getting a maximum gap of 5’48”.
When the sprint starts, the best good sprinter with a good position was Alexandre Usov. He quickly got some meters away from the others, but he had no lead out and could very well crack further in the sprint.
On the last turn before the finish, with 1.5 km to go, Usov still had a good gap to the other sprinters! Could he get 2 wins in 2 days? Alessandro Ballan was giving a great lead out to team mate Chris Barton. Luca Paolini was also strong with Engoulvent and Modolo on his slipstream.
Modolo waited no longer to make his move, and in an awesome burn of speed, passed Usov with 400 meters left! Paolini and Engoulvent were also very strong, though, and Jurgen Roelandts came out of nowhere!
Photo-finish!
After seeing it, the judges declare Sacha Modolo the winner, in the bike throw! Our rider Daniel Rogelin stayed just outside of the Top 10, in 12th.
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Sacha Modolo
Colnago - CSF Inox
3h04'04
2
Jürgen Roelandts
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
3
Jimmy Engoulvent
Saur - Sojasun
s.t.
4
Luca Paolini
Acqua & Sapone - D'Angelo & Antenucci
s.t.
5
Alexandre Usov
ISD Continental Team
s.t.
6
Alessandro Ballan
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
7
Gerben Löwik
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
8
Cyril Lemoine
Saur - Sojasun
s.t.
9
Chris Barton
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
10
Sébastien Turgot
Bbox Bouygues Télécom
s.t.
What a sprint!! Photo finishes are always very exciting! Daniel Rogelin with a very good sprint, unfornately 2 positions away from getting our goal of a top ten in the race. This shows he's strong, though, and I believe he or Escuela will be able to achieve it in the next 3 stages.
February 16th: Tour of Oman
Stage 3: Saifat Ash Shiekh - Qurayy, 139.5 kms
Not much to say here… just another flat stage.
After a few failed attempts, a break containing 11 riders was formed. We managed to put 2 riders in it.
Spoiler
BotD: Aljaz Hocevar, Arkimedes Arguelyes, Bernard Sulzberger, José Luis Roldán, Rida Cador, Davide Ricci Bitti, Ricardo Escuela, Armando Camargo, Kristjan Fajt, Marcos García, David Livramento, Sergey Renev, Eugenio Loria, Petr Kaltofen.
Most of the work today was done by Bbox Bouygues Télécom and Acqua & Sapone. The break never got out of control, having a maximum gap of 5’09”, and was eventually reeled in with 14 km left.
As the sprint trains are being formed, with 8 km to go, William Bonnet falls, taking other 23 riders with him!! No other important rider hit the ground. Unfortunately, 4 riders were seriously injured and had to abandon:
Daniele Callegarin
Ruslan Ivanov
Dario Andriotto
Antonio Piedra
With 5 kilometers left, Daniel Rogelin had a great position, in the wheel of Luca Paolini! Our rider was feeling awesome today(+5)!! He wasn’t tired, and had a good position! Could he reach our Top 10 goal today?
Oh no, another fall in the peloton! This time it’s Alexsandr Dyachenko going to the ground. Fortunately, he only took 5 more riders with him. Also fortunately, he was back in the middle of the pack, so no sprinters went with him.
As the sprint is about to begin, we can see a lot of sprint trains! This one is going to be a great one! Usov’s train is in front, while the others are aligned. Rogelin doesn’t feel tired and still sits comfortably on Paolini’s wheel.
Almost all the sprinters waited no time on their lead out wheels and already launched their moves! Usov is leading(again) with 1.5 km left, but Kenny Van Hummel is coming real fast!
Under the 1 km banner, Van Hummel is in the lead. Sacha Modolo is also passing Usov, and Rogelin is trying to make his move!! Would he have the energy to reach a Top 10 position? Come on, Rogelin, put power into those legs!
He passed the others, and is coming faster than Van Hummel! We were thinking in a Top 10, but now we’re aiming at the victory?
No, Rogelin is no real good sprinter to take it, but as Van Hummel celebrates his win, Daniel Rogelin and the whole Seara/Vivo team has a lot to celebrate too!! What a podium from Daniel Rogelin, a really strong performance by the 38-year-old!!
Today winner is
1
Kenny Van Hummel
Skil - Shimano
3h07'33
2
Daniel Rogelin
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
s.t.
3
Yann Huguet
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
4
Alexandre Usov
ISD Continental Team
s.t.
5
Gerben Löwik
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
6
Sacha Modolo
Colnago - CSF Inox
s.t.
7
Marco Frapporti
Colnago - CSF Inox
s.t.
8
Robert Wagner
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
9
Cyril Lemoine
Saur - Sojasun
s.t.
10
Jürgen Roelandts
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
Yes!! Everything went perfect today!! Rogelin had an awesome day(+5), a very good position in the wheel of Paolini, he didn't get tired following the pace in the final kilometers and his move within the last kilometer was awesome!! And he is no really good sprinter (SP 67), if he was better he could have snatched us the victory, maybe? We reach our goal, and do it in style, with a podium and also our best result so far. Congratulations to Rogelin, amazing ride by him today, we are very happy and proud of this result!!
February 17th: Tour of Oman
Stage 4: Ibri - Nakhal, 135.2 kms
Same of yesterday… just another flat stage.
After almost 40 kilometers of race, finally 4 riders manage to break from the peloton. Our team missed the action.
BotD: Manuel Ortega, Alberto Fernández, Alexsandr Dyachenko, Leonardo Scarselli.
The peloton really worked hard and gave the escapees a very short amount of time. The maximum gap was 3’51” and they were reeled in very early, with 31 km to go.
With the sprint starting, Rogelin had Reinier Honig’s wheel…. The only fact is that Renier was supposed to be Luca Paolini’s lead out. Paolini found himself in Rogelin’s wheel. Btw, it’s always like this: until 5 or 3 km to go no sprint train has been formed, then suddenly a bunch of trains appears and goes really fast to the front. Really strange.
Passing the last turn, William Bonnet was in front; Modolo and Paolini were coming really fast, though. Rogelin was doing a great sprint and maybe we could have another Top 10.
With 500 meters left Paolini was leading and was still going strong. Modolo in second and Saïd Haddou in third. Rogelin was apparently good in a battle for 6th position against Greg Van Avermaet.
That’s how the podium finished! Paolini won without major problems. Rogelin loses the battle to Greg Van Avermaet but let nobody more pass him to claim a great 7th place.
Today winner is Stage Results
1
Luca Paolini
Acqua & Sapone - D'Angelo & Antenucci
2h56'23
2
Sacha Modolo
Colnago - CSF Inox
s.t.
3
Saïd Haddou
Bbox Bouygues Télécom
s.t.
4
William Bonnet
Bbox Bouygues Télécom
s.t.
5
Alexandre Usov
ISD Continental Team
s.t.
6
Greg Van Avermaet
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
7
Daniel Rogelin
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
s.t.
8
Cyril Lemoine
Saur - Sojasun
s.t.
9
Yann Huguet
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
10
Gerben Löwik
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
Hum, a very good stage, our second Top 10 now, maybe we'll get the third tomorrow? As always, a strange break, but this time, I mean, caught with 30 km left??? And the peloton wasn't driving really hard, I think it was the break riders that weren't really good. Anyway, the Tour of Oman see its 4th different winner in 4 days, and tomorrow's stage will be an incredible battle for the points jerseys: 1 point is what differs each of the top 3 riders in this classification. You can check it on the spoiler box, right below GC =)
General Classification
1
Sacha Modolo
Colnago - CSF Inox
11h45'45
2
Luca Paolini
Acqua & Sapone - D'Angelo & Antenucci
+ 6
3
Alexandre Usov
ISD Continental Team
+ 16
4
Jimmy Engoulvent
Saur - Sojasun
+ 18
5
Kenny Van Hummel
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
6
Jürgen Roelandts
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 26
7
Daniel Rogelin
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
s.t.
8
Ricardo Escuela
Rio es Carnival/Seara/Vivo
s.t.
9
Saïd Haddou
Bbox Bouygues Télécom
+ 30
10
Yann Huguet
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
Spoiler
Points
1
Sacha Modolo
Colnago - CSF Inox
66
2
Alexandre Usov
ISD Continental Team
65
3
Luca Paolini
Acqua & Sapone - D'Angelo & Antenucci
64
Mountain (no mountain classifications)
Young
1
Sacha Modolo
Colnago - CSF Inox
11h45'45
2
Jürgen Roelandts
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 26
3
Manuel Belletti
Colnago - CSF Inox
+ 32
Team
1
ISD - Neri
35h19'09
2
Astana
+ 0
3
Xacobeo - Galicia
+ 0
Merry Christmas!
May your Christmas sparkle with moments of love, laughter and goodwill,
And may the year ahead be full of contentment and joy.
Have a Merry Christmas!
about the results, at least we hope so 
