Tour de San Luis, Stage 2, Jan 18 Hesjedal, Urán, Talansky, Haedo, Landry, Vos, Williams, Giles
Results:
Story:
After yesterday's (to quote from the Argentine media) "Heroic win" by J.J. Haedo, the team is definitely feeling good, as they will start the day in the lead or tied for every catagory. Haedo will be wearing the yellow, Talansky will be in polka dots, and even Landry our breakaway man will be in the young riders white. Yesterday was emotional and J.J. did catch a bit of hell from his teammates for the "tears of joy" during the media session, but the team will have to quickly regroup itself for the climbers finish today.
Recap:
While being called a hilly stage, much of the route is very flat with a small 2 lap circuit in the middle giving us both our intermediate sprints and KoM sprints. The finish though is on a sharp climb that I don't think anyone would classify as a hilltop finish. It definitely resembles a mountain top finish having multiple switchbacks to reach the summit. A perfect chance for Ryder Hesjedal and Rigoburto Urán to put time on the field.
The start of the race saw the Señor Frogs team move up to the front of the peloton, with both Hesjedal and Urán being protected by their teammates. Vos was protecting team leader Hesjedal, and ironically the current young rider classification leader Ray Landry was protecting fellow young rider Rigoberto Urán. The young US sprinter Justin Williams would head off in the breakaway, but would ultimately be brought back before anything could develop. As we approached the first sprint point, Haedo was starting to line up for a chance at more points, but suffered a puncture that would cause him not to get a chance. Justin Williams would instead race for the points, but would wind up 4th and empty handed.
As the riders now off the front for that sprint were being pulled back in, KoM leader Andrew Talansky shot off an attack in the confusion, easily separating from the field and giving him a chance at a solo ride to some mountain points if he could stay ahead of the field. At the same time, luckily Haedo finally caught back up to the field with Giles pacing him back. It wouldn't take the peloton long to realize the polka dot jersey was missing and ahead of them, and then the chase was on. The pack would catch Talansky, but it would be too late, the young rider had already crossed the line for points before the peloton could reach him.
With the pack staying together now and another KoM sprint coming up shortly, a winded Talansky sat behind his teammate trying to recover to put in another attack and get some more points before the finish. About 15k before the 2nd sprint point two riders launched an attack, and with Talansky not ready to counter, the team would form the front and chase them down. The two riders were caught just shortly before the KoM sprint and Talansky along with others were off, this time for the first time in the tour someone else would win the sprint, but Talansky with a great final push would take 2nd by a tires width.
After the KoM sprint, a new breakaway would form, getting up to 12 strong with no one from the team in it. More work for the domestiques on the team, Williams and Giles being the only two spare riders at this point would have to keep the breakaway close. As the race came down to 30k left Williams and Giles had done great jobs, keeping the break to just over a minutes lead, and suddenly riders in the green Landbouwkrediet jerseys pushed forward to reel back the break. A big relief for the two tired workhorses, which were giving one final request of getting some water for the team before the finish. After getting the water they were able to drop into the middle of the field and relax, with a job well done. The team would now turn to Talansky who had recovered well from his KoM sprints and would lead the team up two moderately gentle ascents and a quick downhill before the final climb. Talansky would do his job well, actually dropping riders off the back of the peloton and putting the burn in the legs of both Landry and Vos who gave it everything to protect the main riders. All their jobs were done now, leaving only two riders left with work to do today. Urán and Hesjedal would start the climb at the front of the pack and almost instantly would put a gap behind them with other riders still very tired from the pace Talansky held.
Urán would play the role of teammate today, helping Hesjedal to as much of a lead over the field as he possibly could get. In the end both men were simply to much for rest and would easily finish ahead of the next rider, and as many predicted this team seems to be in a world of its own.
Recap:
Stage one is a relatively flat stage with an early climb and then two sprint points seperated by only 6 kilometers before doing 3 laps around the city of Tanunda and finishing on an uphill sprint.
The race would start much as we are becoming accustomed with the Señor Frogs team as they would launch one rider into a very early breakaway, in this case it would be one of their better climbers and maybe even a potential high finisher in the overall standings Fabio Duarte. The early climb would make this a favorable choice as Duarte has little problem shedding the other breakaway riders on his way to the top for the mountain points.
With Duarte in the break the peloton was sharp to react, and would quickly bring back the break. A second break would form, this time without a Frog in it, and the team would have to react and keep them from getting too far away and even better bring them back before the sprint points not too far in front of them. For all the teams effort, the break would beat them by just a little to the first sprint point.
With the second intermediate sprint only 6k further down the road, and the pack getting close Farrar decided to gun it. His gamble would pay off as he was able to run down the breakaway and blaze by them for the extra points in what is likely to be a hot competition.
If I have any readers, please comment on if you like the format. Is it too wordy? Does it need more? Is there anything else (graphics) you want to see? Would you watch highlights if I posted to youtube?
I'm really thinking about cutting down some of the writing, and may do about the writing I am now for the GTs, less for the UWT events, and just quick notes with pictures for the other races.
Edited by Kentaurus on 23-08-2011 03:33
i am a massive fan of your concept mate...breaking riders up in to teams. i do prefer the stories where the pictures aint spoilers. far easier to not click on the spoiler every time...but thats just me
personally i would prob click on to watch some clips. would be a point of difference to the stories out there for sure
JD317 wrote:
i am a massive fan of your concept mate...breaking riders up in to teams. i do prefer the stories where the pictures aint spoilers. far easier to not click on the spoiler every time...but thats just me
personally i would prob click on to watch some clips. would be a point of difference to the stories out there for sure
agreed it's quite annoying to click on the spoilers everytime also i prefer it when the races are in order of played and now as you have put them where tour de san luis are all together adn tour down under are all together just my thought.
Tour de San Luis, Stage 3, Jan 19 Hesjedal, Urán, Talansky, Haedo, Landry, Vos, Williams, Giles
Story:
A great start by the Señor Frogs team winning both stages so far in the Tour de San Luis, Local hero J.J. Haedo won the first sprint finish, and Canadian Ryder Hesjedal won the second stage on a mountain finish with Rigoberto Urán coming in second. This early season tour has been dubbed the "Frogs Race" as most if not everyone would agree they just sent the most talented team. I get the feeling from the team that this level of competition is what they plan to take to every race on this half of Earth and they expect to win every one of these races. So far they have.
Recap:
Day 3 in this Argentine tour is a classic sprinters stage, a very slight uphill for most of the race, then a downhill run into the finish. Two sprint points well spaced out should create some opportunities for the sprinters to gain some points as long as the breakaway doesn't ruin it for them.
From the start of the race on, the race leading Señor Frogs team took control of the peloton, and for the first time in any race this season they failed to get a rider into the early breakaway. With essentially every jersey well in hand there would be no reason for them to pull back a breakaway early, and this showed as they were very content to let the break get a short lead. The breakaway sailed through the first intermediate sprint with little struggle and was cruising along before it fell victim to attacks from within. After a series of attacks a single rider was able to get off the front and two smaller breaks formed behind, with the peloton starting to pull back each of the smaller groups now. With the lead team only casually trying to pull back any breaks, the final push would be made by the other teams vying for the stage win in the final sprint. Green jersey holder J.J. Haedo would be forced again to rely on his opponents to form his lead out as the team isn't strong enough on the flat to bring him home.
As the sprint opened up the riders took off one by one off the back of a very good lead out train. Haedo would be the last to go, waiting as long as he could to try and come over the top. There was plenty of time to doubt the photo-finish but the wait was time perfectly as the Argentine was again victorious in his homeland.
Santos Tour Down Under, Stage 2, Jan 20 Rujano, Duarte, Brenes, Phinney, Lacombe, Farrar, Craddock
Story:
After the first stage of the Santos Tour Down Under, the Señor Frogs team has done everything right. Farrar holds both the leader's jersey, and the sprinter's and Duarta made a good move to get off the front and take the King of the Mountain lead. Now will they be able to hold all of it?
Recap:
One of the more uneventful days in cycling history would see the normal set of breakaways, the first with the Señor Frogs team getting Taylor Phinney into the break, but quickly reeled back in a Second break would go clear without any one from the team in it and make good on the first intermediate sprint. That break would be brought back fairly quickly too though and Fabio Duarta would again attack off the front on even fairly gradual uphills, and just push himself through the Mountain sprint just ahead of the chasing peloton. With the pack all together again the second intermediate sprint would allow all the guns to go, and Tyler Farrar would get there first with plenty of room to spare. The final parts of the race would set up a large mass sprint that would see a good looking Señor Frogs train fail fairly badly as the lead outs opened up their sprints. Taylor Phinney would get blown away and Lacombe wasn't fast enough to catch back up, Farrar would have to do his best just to get in with a podium finish.
Tour de San Luis, Stage 4, Jan 20 Hesjedal, Urán, Talansky, Haedo, Landry, Vos, Williams, Giles
(No highlights, ITT)
Story: With the team now racing seemingly day round, with a race starting here and then finishing some hours later, only to be shortly followed by a start technically a day later but really only a few short hours after the finish in Argentina, the team is already getting into full swing. 15 of it's 25 riders have now put several miles of raced road behind them, 3 of those 15 now have wins, and 6 riders putting on jerseys at some point, things are well on their way.
Recap: A fairly expected day on an early season ITT, the favorites of the race put it out there and put the rest behind. So with the lack of intrigue to today's TT we will recap some of the surprises on the team thus far. Hesjedal and Urán at the top isn't one, neither is Haedo's wins, or really even Farrar's. However that doesn't mean there aren't surprises, Andrew Talansky currently 5th in the Tour de San Luis even while doing lots of work for both Hesjedal and Urán, and putting up a great ITT getting a podium finish for the stage. Also there has been our Dutchman, Lars Vos who is fallen only to 7'23" behind team leader Hesjedal, and is in the top 4 in the young rider category in his first ever professional tour.
There are also some downsides to point out, a glaring hole being the lack of a solid lead out train in either tour, Farrar having to make up distance after Phinney and Lacombe got blown away, and Haedo having to catch the wheels of the other sprinters. In the grand tours with more of the better riders on one team, this may not be as big of an issue, but the competition will also be stronger as well.
Ok, I think I have fixed everything to try and get close to what JT and JD have advised, no more spoilers (except on the stats of my riders in the Roster), files are all now the smaller JPEG, doing video highlights now, which I think are cool, especially with the two sprint finishes both look very good IMO. And my team came back down to Earth which I think is good, winning everything would be boring.
Also I'm looking for anyone that can post a screen or video of a sprint finish closer than the one in Tour de San Luis stage 3.
Edit: Also got the Youtube embed working now, so think I have all of the needed changes done, if anyone has anything else they would like to see added/changed let me know and I'll work to see what I can do. Anyhow going to bed now so see y'all in the morning after my ride.
Edited by Kentaurus on 27-08-2011 05:29
Santos Tour Down Under, Stage 3, Jan 21 Rujano, Duarte, Brenes, Phinney, Lacombe, Farrar, Craddock
Story:
For the first time this season, someone else climbed to the top step of the podium; not that it wasn't expected, the team couldn't win every stage of every race, but the trend was sure nice while it lasted. Thor Hushovd is a definitive favorite for this race and he showed why with the win. A hilly stage today could make another chance for Thor or perhaps one of the climbers can gain some edge on an otherwise flat tour.
Housekeeping change, previously I had thought Curaçao was still a territory of the Netherlands, (and thus would not have it's own NC but rather send riders to Europe) after doing a bit of research on Mark de Maar and him being Curaçao's National Champion, I did some research. As of 2010 Curaçao is considered a Country and a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (basically Curaçao functions like it's own country with defense provided by the Netherlands) anyhow it's a bit of a weird situation but none the less it is it's own country and I have switched it back to being that way. From here out Lars Vos on my team should have the Curaçao flag in front of his name instead of the Dutch Flag.
Tour de San Luis, Stage 5, Jan 21 Hesjedal, Urán, Talansky, Haedo, Landry, Vos, Williams, Giles
Story:
Señor Frogs continues to have success in Argentina, and at worst has a great start in showing the power of the new team, at best has proven they are near unstoppable on this side of the ocean. It is still very early though, and many if not all of the major riders from other teams did not travel here to challenge the team. Word has already come across from Austrailia of the teams finishes and a chance for Mini-Team One to claim victory. I guess it doesn't come as a surprise now with the creatation of these mini-teams there was going to be competition between them. So they have all asked me to keep a jersey tally for them to determine the best mini-team at the end of the season.
Recap:
A fairly flat stage that ends on a mountain isn't exactly what the Señor Frogs team is looking for, there won't be any time to burn riders off the climbs and the race should eventually end up in almost a very uphill sprint-climb. That said Ryder Hesjedal and Rigoberto Urán would still be the race favorites and would have to prove themselves at the end. Early on though it would be up to the team to try and get J.J. Haedo some chances at sprint points. The first sprint really was a missed opportunity as the team was just able to close down the gap on the breakaway as the intermediate sprint went by, another touch faster and the break would have been caught in time to get Haedo off the front for some points. The rest of the race would be dominated by Adrián Palomares from the Andalucia Caja Granada team who would ride the race of his life. Even with pressure being put on the chase by a determined Señor Frogs team, and then even getting help from the Landbouwkrediet team Palomares would build up an 8' lead with only 40km left to go. The two teams would keep working hard though and with 15km left it was cut down to a 3'30" lead at the base of the climb. The high finish would be Palomares' downfall though as the race to stay away had taken everything from him the climbers of Señor Frogs would rapidly make ground going up and finally with about 2km left Ryder Hesjedal would pass and then actually have some room to add over a minute before the finish. All would not be lost for the Andalucia Caja Granada rider though as he would still finish in second ahead of Bert De Waele and Rigoberto Urán.
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