For stage three of the giro della calabria, I had a really detailed report with a lot of screenshots, but it was deleted because my computer spazzed out and i was forced to log off. So all I can give you for this stage are the results, because it took a long time and I'm too tired to make another one. Sorry. In the end it was a peloton sprint, with two riders ahead who made a late attack, but everyone was awarded the same time.
So we won the Giro della Calabria, which made it a pretty great race, considering the fact that we also won the points competition and the KOtM competition. I will post a January summary very soon
Our first race of February was the GP de Besseges, a five-stage race in France. The first stage of this race was flat, with three tiny climbs. We put out an eight man team led by Jerome Coppel and Christophe Kern, fresh off a victory at the Giro della Calabria.
Christophe Kern
Tony Gallopin
Guillame Levarlet
Stephen Cozza
Peter Statina
Jerome Coppel
Adrien Daude
Gwenael Bara
The early morning breakaway was established with about 150 kilometers to go, made up of eight riders, including Stephen Cozzza and Geuillame Levarlet. Early Morning Breakaway
Spoiler
G. Levarlet AirFrance-Fuji
S. Cozza
B. Giraud La Pomme
J. Jules La Pomme
G. Muggiore Dre Prosa
B. Planckaert Landbouwkrediet
A. Molmy Bigmat
E. Baumann NetApp
They shot ahead early to a 35 second gap, and looked to make it bigger. No one contested Levarlet and Cozza over the first climb, so they took first and second. Mountain Sprint 1
Spoiler
1. Guillame Levarlet AirFrance-Fuji
2. Stephen Cozza AirFrance-Fuji
3. Eric Baumann NetApp
The gap to the peloton hovered around 45 seconds, but not getting significantly larger or smaller.
As it slowly began to come down to almost 30 seconds again, Levarlet decided that they needed some action, so he attacked, and all of the riders except for the two La Pomme riders followed.
However, Baumann and Molmy dropped off of the pace of the leaders when G. Muggiore attacked, leaving two leading groups of four, one about a minute ahead of the other.
Pretty soon the second group was caught by the peloton, leaving just one leading group of four about 1'25" ahead of the peloton.
Once again, no one contested Levarlet at the KOtM sprint. Mountain Sprint 2
The gap began to grow, and AirFrance-Fuji didn't help out with the pace of the peloton. Eventually FDJ took control of the peloton and started chasing the breakaway. They brought it down to about one minute. finally the breakaway was caught with 75 kilometers to go.
Another attack was made by A. Henkisz of CCC Papol, and he created a gap of over one minute, and it lasted through the intermediate sprint point. Intermediate Sprint
Spoiler
1. Adrian Henkisz CCC Papol 2. Tony Gallopin AirFrance-Fuji
3. Marcel Kittel Akil-Shimano
Not long afterwards Henkisz was caught and it was once again only the peloton, charging along on the road.
Preben Van Hecke of Miche suffered a puncture in the back of the race, and fell behind the peloton, and struggled to catch up.
His teammates went back to help him.
Meanwhile, at the front of the race, it was FDJ who had their sprinter, William Bonnet, set up for the finish. Pierrick Fredrigo led him out perfectly, but Bonnet didn't have the pure speed to close out, and Sebastion Hinault passed him by and took the stage win.
Tony Gallopin, AirFrance-Fuji's sprinter, went from an awful spot and didn't even get in the top ten.
At least we had the lead in the KOtM competition, and we still had a chance in the GC when it got into the mountains.
The first attack came rather early, made by four riders, who opened up a gap very quickly. Six more riders attacked a few kilometers later, and bridged the gap, to make one big breakaway of 10 riders.
No real contenders were in the breakaway, so the peloton wasn't too worried about letting them get away. Even so, the breakaway wasn't very strong and was caught at the beginning of the climb. The pace of the peloton slowed considerably, so Christophe Kern and Guillame Levarlet, two AirFrance-Fuji riders, made an attack and broke free of the peloton.
They opened up a gap with ease and hadn't even broken a sweat. Levarlet won the KOtM sprint, extending his lead in that competition. Mountain Sprint 1
The gap was soon pushed to over two minutes as they approached the summit of the second climb. Once again Levarlet went over the climb in first. Mountain Sprint 2
This put Levarlet into a commanding lead in the KOtM, 14 points ahead of his own teammate, Kern.
The gap continued to grow steadily, and the peloton was having troubles, frequently splitting down the middle, very disorganized. Soon it was over three minutes, but there was still 125 kilometers to go.
At this point the peloton had been split in two, with a group of about 20 ahead by about a minute and a group of about 60 behind.
Eventually the gap grew to over four minutes, as FDJ tried to get some organization in the front half of the peloton. Pretty soon, Levarlet began to lose energy, and couldn't keep up with Kern as they crossed over the summit of the third climb.
At this point, all gaps were getting bigger. Kern was almost a minute ahead of Levarlet, who was 4'20" ahead of the 18-man chase group, which was two minutes ahead of the peloton. Riders were beginning to fall off the pace of the 18 man chase group, and soon it was down to 13. Kern continued to push on, winning the next intermediate sprint as well. Intermediate Sprint 2
Levarlet was being reeled in slowly, but Kern was still riding strong, and was giving away no time. If anything, he was putting more time in between him and the chasers.
Eventually, after a day's worth of riding ahead of the race, Kern began to tire. He had a 6'38" lead over the peloton with 29.5 kilometers to go. Levarlet was finally caught with 21.5 kilometers to go, and Kern still had a 5'46" lead.
With five kilometers to go, Kern still held a 4'21" lead, and was looking as if he would be in for a sure stage win. He had no trouble coming into the finish, and had won the stage on a solo ride, his second one of those so far in the season.
No attacks were made in the chase group, and Gallopin outsprinted his counterparts to grab second. Coppel came in right behind in third, so AirFrance-Fuji had gotten first, second, and third on the stage. That made everyone on the team happy.
There were many attacks early on in the day, creating three groups ahead of the peloton, two of four riders and one of five.
The breakaway survived through the first intermediate sprint, which was won by Kris Beeckmans of Top-Sport Flanders-Mercados Intermediate Sprint 1
Spoiler
1. Kris Beeckmans Top-Sport Flanders-Mercados
2. Juan Javier Estrada Ruiz Skil-Shimano
3. Michele Marlo Dre Prosa
At this point the leading breakaway of 13 had a two minute lead. By this time, though, the peloton was beginning to develop some organization, and slowly but surely began to pull the breakaway back in. they were caught with 100 kilometers still to go.
The next attack was by Michael Baer of NetApp. He was over 17 minutes back in the overall standings, so the peloton had no real need to chase him down.
Alexander Wetterhall of Endura Racing was close behind.
with about 80 kilometers to go, the gap had reached one and a half minutes.
By the time the gap reached two minutes, Loic Desriac attacked and opened up a gap quickly.
AirFrance-Fuji didn't want any more attacks, so they formed at the front of the peloton and started chasing the leaders. After estrada ruiz also joined the group of three at the front, AirFrance-Fuji really turned it on and brought the gap down to 50 seconds at the start of the climb.\
With 7 kilometers to go on the climb, Levarlet,Kern, and Coppel all attacked and began to pull away.
They caught up with the four leaders, and Coppel went right past them. Kern also went by, but not with the same speed.
Coppel easily won the Mountain sprint, and entered the descent with a two and a half minute lead on the peloton. Mountain Sprint
The group of five including Levarlet was caught near the summit, leaving just Kern and Coppel ahead on the road. Also, for the second straight stage, a group of just under 20 broke free of the peloton and got ahead by one minute, chasing Kern and Coppel.
The gaps to the chasers began to grow. With about 30 kilometers to go, Kern was 1'30" ahead, and Coppel was 2'00" ahead of Kern.
Soon Kern was tiring, and he was less than one minute ahead, even though Coppel was pulling away, almost three minutes ahead. Coppel continued to cruise along, and crossed the finish line in first place, for another win for AirFrance-Fuji in two straight days. Kern was passed at the last few seconds by a few riders. Hinault ended up outsprinting everyone for second, and Gallopin closed for third.
After another great day of racing, the race went back into two flat stages, and AirFrance-Fuji was just hoping to cruise along and not let any disasters happen.
Because I didn't have any sprinters on the current team and the next stage of the GP de Besseges was flat, I decided to just simulate the stage, and nothing went wrong. All of my riders finished safely in the peloton, and there were no changes in any of the competitions that we were leading in. The onyl change was that Sebastien Hinault increased his lead in the Points Competition.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1. Marcel Kittel Skil-Shimano 3h39'25"
2. William Bonnet FDJ s.t.
3. Denis Flahaut Roubaix Lille Metropole s.t.
4. Jimmy Casper Saur-Sojasun s.t.
5. Stefan Radochla Nutrixxion s.t.
6. roger Kluge Skil-Shimano s.t.
7. Sebastien Hinault AG2r s.t.
8. Michael Shweizer Nutrixxion s.t.
9. Michael Vin Staeyan Top-Sport Flanders-Mercados s.t.
10. Bobbie Traksel Landboukrediet s.t.
I will probably simulate the final stage to, because it is also flat.
Here are the final results for both the final stage and the overall competitions.
In the final stage, a breakaway succeeded, but none of the riders in it were threats, so there were no major changes in th overall, and Kern still held his lead.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1. Geert Stiurs Top-Sport Flanders-Mercados 2h32'06"
2. Loic Desriac Roubaix Lille Metropole s.t.
3. Benjamin Giraud Velo-Club La Pomme Marseille +1'22"
4. Guillame Blot Bretagne-Schuller s.t.
5. Marcel Kittel Skil-Shimano +2'47"
Air-France-Fuji's next race was the Vuelta ciclista a Mallorca, a five day race in which many top riders and teams would be entering. We entered a pretty strong team. the only problem was that most of the riders had bad fitness. Romain Feillu was the highest with 78.
Sylvain Chavanel
John Lee Augustyn
Alexandre Vinokourov
Romain Feillu
Janez Brajkovic
Taylor Phinney
David Fleury
Stage 1 was a 110 kilometer race, with many small hills, but none big enough to have a big effect on the GC.
The first attack of the day came from K. Szczawinski and P. Lechuga.
E. Garcia Etxegibel soon joined them, making it a three man breakaway with a 27' lead with 100k to go.
They were caught without much trouble, though, which launched a bigger attack by five riders, going for the intermediate sprint. P. Vunspeybrouk won the sprint, taking a few points. Intermediate Sprint 1
Pretty soon everyone was back together. More attacks came and went, and AirFrance-Fuji brought them back every time. they had an iron grip on the peloton.
At the second intermediate sprint, there was no breakaway, so the sprinters had their chance. Kolbo Fernandez went first, but Romain Feillu was right on his wheel. Feillu pulled around Fernandez and nipped him at the line, taking the intermediate sprint and a few green jersey points. Intermediate Sprint 2
After the sprint, Brett Lancaster attacked. This time, rather than pulling him back, AirFrance-Fuji sent Sylvain Chavanel after him.
They built up a lead of about a minute with 30k to go. that gap slowly began to come down, and was at about 20" with 15k to go. Chavenel decided that he needed to attack again, so he did, and pulled away from Lancaster. Lancaster pulled his way back, but they had stretched their lead to 45'".
AirFrance-Fuji formed a train with about 10 kilometers to go, as the leaders were finally caught.
They couldn't get organized, however, and Feillu began his sprint from behind the other sprinters. He still made the most of it, and zoomed for the finish, gaining on Freire, who had gone into the lead. It was definately one of the closest finishes I've ever seen.
I had no clue who won.
The officials looked at the photo finish, and finally declared that Feillu had won, just barely. Truly an amazing sprint. Friere must've been extremely tired.
Stage 2 of the Vuelta ciclista a Mallorca was a 172 kilometer race, much longer than stage one. It had three very small climbs that probably wouldn't cause much trouble for anyone. Feillu would be looking for another stage win, after a great battle with Oscar Friere in stage one.
As the race began, a few riders attacked right away from the peloton, scrambling around each other trying to create a gap.
A five man breakaway was formed early on, including David De La Fuente of Geox-TMC. He was the only dangerous rider in the breakaway.
No one was really chasing down the breakaway, which opened up a gap of about three minutes before it began to come down. Mountain Sprint 1
Spoiler
1. Stijn Nairynck Top-Sport Flanders-Mercados
2. David De La Fuente Geox-TMC
3. Darwin Atepuma Colombian y Parson
As they passed over the summit, the lead had been cut down to just 2'35".
It was soon down to less than two minutes. After another 10 kilometers, it was at one minute. Mountain Sprint 2
Spoiler
1. Darwin Atepuma Colobian y Parson
2. David De La Fuente Geox-TMC
3. Stijn Nairynck Top-Sport Flanders-Mercados
The catch was finally made a few kilometers after the mountain sprint, with a little over 100k to go.
The peloton neared the first intermediate sprint, and once again it was Koldo Fernandez who went first. This time, Feillu went a little too late and had to settle for third. Intermediate Sprint 1
Brett Lancaster attacked a few kilometers from the second intermediate sprint, and got ahead by 30". He still had a gap with one kilometer to go from the sprint point, but Feillu started his sprint early and sprinted right by Lancaster at the last second. Fernandez and Friere never made it out of the peloton, because they were both boxed in. Intermediate Sprint 2
Both Lancaster and Muravyev had plans to continue their attack, so they plunged on while Feillu slipped back into the peloton, preparing for the finish.
The gap grew to 1'30" before AirFrance-Fuji took control of the peloton and began to reel in the breakaway. The breakaway was finally caught about one kilometer before the KOtM sprint, which wasn't contested for. Mountain Sprint
Spoiler
1. Alexandre Vinokourov AirFrance-Fuji
2. Igor Anton Euskatel-Euskadi 3. Sylvain Chavanel AirFrance-Fuji
The peloton continued to cruise along with no attacks, and got raedy for a mass sprint finish. Feillu got onto the back of the AirFrane-Fuji train, which was forming with about 15 kilometers to go. this time he had a much better leadout, and was released, just behind Koldo Fernandez, who once again had begun his sprint very early. This time, Oscar Freire was boxed in and couldn't find a way out until far too late.
It was all down to Phillipe Gilbert and Feillu. In the end, Feillu was too fast for Gilbert and took the stage win.
It was Feillu's second stage win in as many days, and he was ecstatic.
1. David De La Fuente Geox-TMC 6pts
2. Darwin Atepuma Colombian y Pason-Kafe Colombian 6pts
3. Stijn Nairyck Top-Sport flanders-Mercados 6pts 4. Alexandre Vinokourov AirFrance-Fuji 5pts
5. Igor Anton Euskatel-Euskadi 3pts
U25 Competition (All Even)
Team Classification
Spoiler
1. Andalucia Caja Rural
That was the last of the flat stages, and all that was left were the three small mountain stages, in which Feillu wouldn't be expected to get any more stage wins, but getting both flat stages must've felt good for him.
I have a quick question for some1 who can answer:
As you may notice, I am using a standard jersey right now now that was already in the game, and it isn't custom or very interesting. I have a jersey that I want to put into the career, but I can't figure out how to switch it. If anyone knows how that would be great
Stage 3 of the Vuelta ciclista a Mallorca was the first one that wouldn't favor the sprinters. Alexandre Vinokourov would be going for a stage win in this.
The breakaway of the day included six riders, none of which were threats to the overall, except maybe J.J Cobo Acebo of Geox-TMC who could climb pretty well.
Just after that, P. Muto and R. Mastre joined up, making it an eight man break, with a 1'30" lead on the peloton.
Soon after, six more riders, including J. Lee Augustyn of Air France-Fuji, making it a massive 14 man breakaway, which always has potential for danger. then, just to make it even stronger, Xavier Zabaldo of Orbea attacked. he didn't make it to the breakaway before the first intermediate sprint. Intermediate Sprint 1
Unfortunately for the breakaway, Zabaldo's attack woke up the peloton, and Rabobank was now chasing. Zabaldo was caught, and the breakaway pushed it's lead up to 1'40". Intermediate Sprint 2
As Rabobank retreated, it was Omega Pharma-Lotto who took over the peloton for their man Phillipe Gilbert, and began to chase furiously. Meanwhile, John Lee Augustyn attacked near the top of the climb and grabbed maximum points. Mountain Sprint 1
Spoiler
1. John Lee Augustyn
2. Pasquale Muto Miche
3. Adrian Palamares Andalucia
Over the climb, the peloton began to dwindle, and by the summit it was down to about 40 riders.
Then the peloton split into many different groups, scattered across the road.
On the second climb, many riders from the breakaway began to fall off the pace and back into the peloton, which was 1'30" behind.
Eventually the breakaway was caught, with over 30k left in the race, near the top of the climb.
As soon as they were caught, it was Alexandre Vinokourov's turn to go.
He still had a good three kilometers to the top of the climb to go, however. Vinokourov survived to the top of the climb with a 1'00" lead on the peloton. Mountain Sprint 2
Spoiler
1. Alexandre Vinokourov AirFrance-Fuji
2. Ivan Basso Liquigas
3. Samuel Sanchez Euskatel-Euskadi
On the descent, there was a lot of bustling around in the peloton, and many different groups were scattered around. 1'30" behind Vinokourov was a group of seven including L.L.Sanchez, Samuel Sanchez, Chris Horner, Michele Scarponi, Ivan Basso, Gustav Larsson, and Yaroslav Popovich. Janez Brajokovic and Igor Anton were close behind. Luis Leon Sanchez attacked on the descent, desperately trying to get closer to Vinokourov.
It was to no avail, however, as Vinokourov survived the rest of the way, and won the stage.
Meanwhile, at the back of the race, a small crash occurred involving Rabobank's Carlos Barredo.
Hopefully it isn't too bad and he can get up and continued the race and the season well.
L.L. Sanchez was caught at the last second, so he didn't gain any extra time overall besides the time bonus for finishing second.
Stage Results
Spoiler
1. Alexandre Vinokourov AirFrance-Fuji 3h53'02"
2. Luis Leon Sanchez Rabobank +1'43"
3. Yaroslav Popovich RadioShack s.t.
4. Michele Scarponi Lampre s.t.
5. Samuel Sanchez Euskatel-Euskadi s.t.
6. Gustav Larsson Saxo Bank-Sunguard s.t.
7. Ivan Basso Liquigas s.t.
8. Chris Horner RadioShack s.t.
9. Igor Anton Euskatel-Euskadi 10. Janez Brajkovic AirFrance-Fuji s.t.
... 12. Sylvain Chavanel AirFrance-Fuji s.t.
17. John Lee Augustyn AirFrance-Fuji +5'07"
26. Romain Feillu AirFrance-Fuji +7'07"
The only real surprise in these reults was that Phillipe gilbert was nowhere to be seen. I figure he must be in very bad form.
Overall GC
Spoiler
1. Alexandre Vinokourov AirFrance-Fuji 10h32'30"
2. Luis Leon Sanchez Rabobank +1'50"
3. Yaroslav Popovich RadioShack +1'54"
4. Samuel Sanchez Euskatel-Euskadi +2'02"
5. Michele Scarponi Lampre s.t.
6. Gustav Larsson Saxo Bank-Sunguard s.t
7. Chris Horner RadioShack s.t.
8. Ivan Basso Liquigas s.t. 9. Sylvain Chavanel AirFrance-Fuji +4'00
10. Janez Brajkovic AirFrance-Fuji s.t. 17. John Lee Augustyn AirFrance-Fuji +5'27"
26. Romain Feillu AirFrance-Fuji +6'33""
68. Taylor Phinney Airfrance-Fuji +11'54"
After a great stage, the only concern is whether Vinokourov will be able to recover well enough to hold onto his yellow jersey against some other great climbers.
What difficulty do you play? You win everything, and pretty easy. In my opinion, it's not fun to follow, because there is no question about the result, only which one of your riders will win!
My suggestion is to enhance your difficulty level. I think you play on easy, so go to hard (when you play hard, go to extreme).
But it's your story, you can decide what to do with it.
I may not post for a few days, because I am just beginning the Diego Ulissi story ad I want to get that up and running with a few posts before I come back to this, but it'll be back soon enough
