Good luck, great choice! (started a career with Rabobank myself at PCM 09, great first year with 2nd in Tour, 2nd in Vuelta, leading all rankings, but went bankrupt after signing Sammy Sanchez & Cavendish..... So don't make that mistake please ).
January
6th - Australian Championships ITT - Cadel Evans (BMC)
10th - Australian Championships RR - Cadel Evans (BMC)
It was almost the first win there for Rabobank, Michael Matthews became second because Cadel was just to strong. On the two hills he just ride a steady tempo so all the riders fel off. Matthews won the sprint of the first small group then.
SANTOS TOUR DOWN UNDER
With Brown and Matthews we have our two leaders for this race, last year it was Greipel who won so we think Matthews and even Brown have a good chance of winning.
Edited by Tombola on 11-06-2011 12:15
Santos Tour Down Under
Stage 1 - Mawson Lakes - Angaston
*** Cavendish
** Davis
* Swift
The first Pro Tour race of the year 2011! The riders are ready for take off!
Guarniri (LIQ) is the first attacker of the day, immediatly from the start he attacks with Wyss (BMC) in his rearwheel.
HTC, Astana and Sky don't let them go and before the first KoM the riders have been relead in by the peloton. But it looks like Wyss is going for the KoM because he attacks again at 1,9 km from the top of the hill.
But no chance there for Wyss, it was Muravyev (SHAC) who took the 16 points and right after the sprint it is Bessy (SAUR) who attacks another time. This time it could go all the way says the speaker! But we know better!
The peloton sets a steady pace of 40 km/ph so it looks like this is going to be the break of the day!
Already 1 minute in front but they keep on attacking, don't really see the point here but we just let them. Rabobank sits quitily in the peloton, knowing that it's a long season.
Here they are, Muravyev (SHAC), Walker (GEOX), Castroviejo (EUSK), Tanner (SAXO), Oss (LIQ), Fischer (GAR), Mouris (VAC), Hansen (OMEG), Bessy (SAUR). After several minutes also Izagirre (EUSK) joines the group so Euskaltel has now two riders in front.
The moment he joined the group and asked for a bottle of water he hit the rear wheel of Mouris and slammed on the ground. Almost got hit by the jury car! The gap is now 1.49 to the peloton but Izagirre lost a minute now.
The riders wait and with 70 kilometers to go the group was together again. Muravyev took the first sprint and Walker the second, all different riders so Muravyev and Walker are the first "virtual" leaders of the STDU.
First Rabobank action of the day! Clement wants something to drink for himself and his teammates...
With 40k to go the gap is at his max, 3.21 and Leopard, Astana, Movistar and HTC are doing a steady pace. At the right side of the peloton you see Matthews and Brown going to the front.
Only 15k to go and the leaders are almost realed in, just 40 seconds left so the stage will end up in a mass sprint. We are ready for it and the train is on his tracks! It order, Flens, Vermeltfoort, Matthews and Brown.
Two kilometers later the breakaway was at his end, dispite several attacks in the breakaway group, no one got away.
Our train got a little boxed in, while Cofidis was working for Dumoulin.
Vermeltfoort took over but Brown lost the wheel of Matthews! On the left side of the screen you see Thomas (SKY) and Hammond (GAR), on the ride side it is Vacansoleil who brings Bozic, with Cooke (SAXO) in his wheel. Cavendish (HTC) took the wheel of Matthews.
Thomas started the sprint and out of nowhere it was Steegmans (QST) who joined the first row! It looks like it's going to be between these four, as Ventoso (MOVI) can't keep the pace on the right side.
Hee comes Bennati (LEOP) with a lot more speed then the four riders in front!
Bennati was going really fast and when Brown came out of the wheel of Matthews the still couldn't keep up with the sprinting Italian.
Clear victory this one! We are very glad with our first podium spot and the young ones, Vermeltfoort and Matthews doing so great!
Young 1 Michael Matthews Rabobank Cycling Team 3h17'19
2 Geraint Thomas Sky ProCycling s.t. 3 Dennis Van Winden Rabobank Cycling Team s.t.
4 Matthew Goss HTC - Highroad s.t. 5 Bauke Mollema Rabobank Cycling Team s.t. 6 Coen Vermeltfoort Rabobank Cycling Team s.t.
7 Frederique Robert Quick•Step Cycling Team s.t.
8 Ben Swift Sky ProCycling s.t.
9 Andreas Stauff Quick•Step Cycling Team s.t.
10 Nikolas Maes Quick•Step Cycling Team s.t.
Edited by Tombola on 15-06-2011 14:04
Santos Tour Down Under
Stage 2 - Tailum Bend - Mannum
145 KM
*** Cavendish, Davis, Steegmans
So again, one for the sprinters! We are starting with the same goal as yesterdag, pulling a train forward for a stage win with Brown.
The pack already did 50k but still no one attacked. Maybe the other teams also realized that this could be a very long season. Or the 34 degrees kept them from attacking.
Then it was the Frenchmen Champion (AG2R) who attacked, with in his rear wheel McCartney (SHAC), Beyer (BMC) and Travis Meyer (GAR). The peloton didn't react at all...
Just 10k later the advantage of the 4 leaders was already 2'00"
The peloton kept a steady pace but the gap soon went up to 6'56" as a maximum
The group didn't fight for the points or seconds at the several Jayco Bay sprints, the first one was for Travis Meyer.
The leaders and the peloton didn't found the Mountain sprint intereseting either so Chad Beyer could take the points without breaking any sweat. In the peloton it was Kreuziger (ASTA) who did the pace.
It was Bertagnolli (LAMP) who took the last 4 points, it looks like he is the only one interested in the jersey. But there are already a lot of points gone so next stages he has to be in the breakaway will he every wear it.
The second and final intermediate sprint was for McCartney, this also made him "virtual" points leader. The gap to the peloton was stil 3'37" with 33k to go.
Now it was getting excited, with only 20k to go the gap is stil 2'25". You can see that Brown is already positioned very well. Teammates of Bennati, Davis, Ventoso and Cavendish are doing the pace now. Kreuziger did a nice trainingride with 100k at the front of the pack.
Less then 10k to go and there is still a significant gap back to the as the speaker said. The leaders are still 1'15" in front, the pack has to speed up while the Champion is attacking but never got away from his three collegeauges.
Here comes HTC, you can see Flens, Vermeltfoort, Matthews and Brown in the front of the peloton. But Flens had a bad daily form today...
So Vermeltfoort had to take over, to early if you ask me. Coen is still very young but we now he should be capble to be a great lead out.
But the other teams came along side, it's Movistar with Rojas and Ventoso.
The pace of Vermeltfoort isn´t high enough, Matthews takes over with only 3.5k to go! Still, the leaders aren´t caught jet!
A beautifull screen if I may say so, fighting leaders knowing they soon will get caught by the hungry peloton! But the peloton has to react very soon because Travis Meyer is still holding a steady pace after the 90k break.
It´s Cavendish who was the only rider who overtook Meyer! The first win of the Man Express this season but we all know it won´t be his last. So Meyer second and Ben Swift finally made his favorite roll a bit worthy with a 3rd place. Brown became 4th and is hoping for those good legs the upcoming days.
6 Dimitriy Muravyev Team RadioShack 6
7 Johnnie Walker Geox - TMC 6
8 Chad Beyer BMC Racing Team 6
9 Gert Steegmans Quick•Step Cycling Team 4
10 David Tanner Saxo Bank SunGard 4
A bit rougher terrain today, so it might be a chance for Matthews today.
*** Thomas, Goss, Davis
Colli (GEOX) is the first one with an attack, straight from the start at the uphill section, but he never got far. But he will try again later.
After the first uphill section, after just 5k, Gourov (AST) is already 1'15" behind! But later on he is able to stick with the peloton untill the finish line. Otherwise it would be a long day for the Astana rider.
Then it's the Belgium Vandenbergh who attacks. Immediatly he is followed by several other riders who will join him a few kilometers later. The others are Mangel (SAUR), Urtasun (EUS), sprinter Haedo (SAX) and again Colli. Especially Urtasun is very active this Tour Down Under.
The pack doesn't fight a second for it, but some riders will, Hansen (OMEG), Veuchelen (VAC), Sijmens (COFI), Stauff (QST) and Bodnar (LIQ) will close the gap.
The pack doesn't seem interested and Lampre is riding an easy pace, don't know why they are in front. There best rider yesterday was Bertagnolli with a 53th place.
With 90k to go the two groups join eachother, at the first sprint it is Haedo who got the points, but they didn't sprint at all.
Astana, Leopard and HTC are doing the pace now. The terrain is well suited for Davis but the last two stages he didn´t show his face in front with the mass sprints.
At the only KoM today it´s Urtasun who is the first on top, that makes him 1st in the Mountain classification along with Muravyev (SHAC) and Beyer (BMC).
Just on lap of 17k to go and the leaders are only 30" in front of the peloton, this is definatly going to be a mass sprint today. But it's a very bendy one!
On the right side you'll see Flens with Brown and behind Selvaggi (VAC) you'll see Vermeltfoort with Van Winden and Matthews. Can the young train pull a stunt!?
Vermeltfoort is doing great today! He let's the pack suffer on the 4% uphill sections just 6k before the finish.
The pace from the other teams is going up and Van Winden has to take over but has a enormous lack of speed...
Matthews on the right side lost a lot of places but is now able to keep this pace, the problem is that he has nobody in front of him. Brown is doing great on the left side, while Davis, Bozic and Pedersen crash in the peleton.
Again it is Benatti who wins! Very strong because he had to make up a lot of places as you could see in the screen before. But he took the ride wheel and had a lot of accelaration in the end.
Santos Tour Down Under
Stage 4 - Norwood - Strathalbyn
There is some rough terrain I we don't know if Brown will be fit enough to sprint, will see during the race. But we just wait for a mass sprint, tomorrow will be the day to make up the general classification!
*** Cavendish, Davis, Goss
Klaas Lodewyck (OMEG) is the first to attack, nice bikes those Canyon's. Unfortunatly, he won't make it very far...
When the Belgium rider got caught it was the national champion of Brazil who attacked, Fischer (GAR) is also a very active rider this Santos Tour Down Under.
He won't make it far but attacks again at the first uphill section along with a few other riders like Oss (LIQ), Tosatto (SAXO), Colli (GEOX) and Turpin (SAUR). They wont make it far either.
That's because Iglinsky (AST) is closing the gap...
The peloton caught the first part of the breakaway and Oss and Hondo (LAMP) are attacking again!
Now the group really got away, with Fischer, Oss, Hondo, Turpin, Tosatto, Colli, Lodewyck, Montagutti (AG2), Wyss (BMC), Robert (QST) and Jenkins and Schmitt from (UHC)
Fischer takes the only KoM of the day and almost secures the mountain jersey, because of several breakaways he already had a lot of points. Now he made a gap of 12 points untill number 2.
The peloton let's the group ride for a long time, with 70k to go the gap reaches a maximum of 4'28". Why do the teams start to chase so early in PCM 10, no fun for a breakaway!
Because of the two stage wins of Benatti, it's Leopard who does the work all alone untill 30k to go. The gap is now closed to 2'30" by Clarke and Vigano.
Rabobank meeting in the belly of the peloton, while Clement brings Brown a bottle of water Graeme tells Stef that they should ride for Vermeltfoort or Matthews. Graeme suffered already while the young ones didn't.
With 15k to go it's Oss who attacks for several times but not really got rid of the others. The gap is still 1'00"
It is Cofidis doing the pace for Dumoulin, while on the right side of the screen you see Flens, with Clement and Matthews who decided to sprint for Vermeltfoort. Coen has the best form and daily form.
It's now up to Clement, the young sprinters are doing great.
Chaos! The breakaway got realed in with only 1,5k to go. Hopefully everything will work out well, it looks like Cavendish has the best papers by passing the group the quickest!
First out of the corner, Cavendish, in his wheel it's young Belgium sprinter Goddaert (AG2R) but he doesn't stand a chance.
The sprint worked out well and Vermeltfoort was really clever by taking the wheel of Italian stalion Benatti! Is he able to overtak the Leopard rider?
Yes he is! It's Cavendish, Goddaert and Vermeltfoort who may join at the podium. This is really great and it looks like we just saw a glimp of his talents! Now the riders have to rest before the hardest stage of the STDU tomorrow.
VladuuTs wrote:
3rd with coen! very good a very promising young rider
He could be a nice classic rider if he's able to grow a bit further! But there are a lot of talents of course! The result of today showed already a little bit of his talent! Hope the team will get some more Pro Tour points.
I think the Santos Tour Down Under is a very difficult race because you really don't know what to expect from the riders. Not from your own team and not from others because of the lack of condition!
Santos Tour Down Under
Stage 5 - McLaren Vale - Willunga
Today we had to take the "famous" Willunga hill twice before the finish, it will be a fight for the KoM, the stage and the general classification of course! We put our hopes on Mollema and maybe Matthews.
*** Klöden, Voigt, Löfkvist
The riders love to races in the land of the Kangaroo's, it's always warm.
After 5k the first attack, Tanner (SAXO), Pergot (AG2R) and Gavazzi (LAMP) are trying to break a way.
We wanted someone in the breakaway so it might be a help for Mollema on one of the hills or in between of course. So Flens took his chance, that rimes too...
The group got to big and never got very far, at a moment there were 24 riders in the first group. Flens stayed out of the wind, knowing that the pack will quicken the pace.
Another attack, again Leopard won't let them ride. Flens does a great job by staying in the wheel, this way he is able to react on another attack.
The next attack are also more then 20 riders, Leopard is never going to give this away. Also Movistar and Astana are putting up a heavy pace in the peloton.
Two riders in front and the pack let's them go, now Rick attacked once more and got away on his own. He closes the gap from "50 all alone.
Within several kilometer Flens is close to the two leaders, Menzies (UHC) and Dean (GAR).
The break of the day...
Flens grabed some money and points along the way by getting first at the Jaycobay sprint.
Always a nice crowed along the Aussie roads, at the sprint the gap was 3'20" but now they arrived at the foot of Willunga hill and the gap has increased till 1'20", they are coming very fast.
It is Bertagnolli (LAMP) who attackes for the KoM, but he never got to the three in front so it were only 6 points for him this time. Also Chavanel (QST) and Lastras (MOVI) gave it a try for the KoM. But the riders for the GC don't show themselfs jet.
The pack almost caught the leaders when going for the last lap. Clement just brought Mollema to the front of the peloton, Willunga hill is around the corner!
At the foot of the hill Mollema sets a hard pace and attacks. The gap goes from 20" till 58" at the top.
It are Kuschynski and Brutt (KAT) who are setting the pace, don't know for who but it's pretty dissapointing. Most of the Leopard riders suffer from fatigue so this was Bauke's chance. But unfortunatly he had to do it all alone.
All alon in front but with 15k to go the gap is already increasing, the win today are the 16 KoM points probably.
A bit further Mollema's waits for the peloton as he realize this won't take him far. He heard in his earpiece that "Bling" Matthews was still in front so this Plan B!
The young Rabo riders are doing great, Matthews is searching for Bauke's backwheel...
He found it, now Mollema is riding a steady pace with only 3k to go this looks very promising!
Then out of no where, it was one of the favorites for this stage, Jens Voigt! He came on the right side with a massive speed along Michael. Michael had speed op but was to late, it was a real shame because the last 200 meter Matthews had the most speed of the riders sprinting for the stage.
Still a nice win for Voigt though! Playing on hard is tougher then I thougt!
).
! I hope, that Brown can hold on Top-5 til the end!
