Well a bit of a disappointment for you guys.. At the end of the stage, I pressed on the wrong button, instead of clicking on replay, I accidentally went to the results page!
Sorry for the disappointment guys! Hopefully, that won't happen again..
96km of completely flat terrain in Adelaide to conclude this Tour Down Under which culminated in a real fight for the overall in yesterday's stage over the Willunga hill.
Pre-Race
Today's stage should follow a similar scenario to the first stage. A sprint finish after a small breakaway going early on. McEwen should, in all likelihood, seal the overall win, unless Sutton wins and McEwen finshes outside of the bonus seconds.
My prediction for today: McEwen! The Australian will do more than defend his lead here, in my opinion.
Race Report After yesterday's aggressive racing, today's race started in similar fashion. Waves of attack went on one after another! It took all of 37km for a break of 7 to be established.
5 more riders were coming through behind and the twisting roads led to gaps appearing upfront. The leaders were separated in three groups
While the two leading groups joined, GreenEdge started to assert their authority on the race with 50km to go, hitting the front of the bunch and driving it on.
The bunch swallowed all the breakaway men, with 30km of racing left. Sky were now leading the bunch at a very fast pace. This played against themselves, as Sutton was caught in a break in the peloton.
As it all came back together, a chaotic dogfight between the sprinters ensued to get into a good position heading into the final kilometres. Gallopin was the big loser, being`20 places down heading into the final 400m. Hinault opened the sprint with Ravard on his wheel.
Vichot gave a magnificent lead-out to Bouhanni on the left side of the road.
Bouhanni opened his sprint with 200m to go, and got a few bike lengths. His lead was never closed down and he took the stage ahead of the incoming Freire, who finished second ahead of McEwen. If there's one man to thank here for Bouhanni, it's definitely Vichot!
What I love about the screenshots is the colours! Never ever realised the colours were so bright despite playing all that time.
Btw, I'll only be posting a recap for smaller races. If there are people who differ in opinion, let me know about it. Suggestions are more than welcome, they will only improve the story!
For some strange reason, pcm decided to give Gallopin the young riders jersey ahead of Bouhanni, while putting the latter ahead of the former in GC. Well, well, no complaints! I got a jersey!
With January nearing its end, the team has disclosed the races in which we will be taking part in February.
Volta ao Algarve
A 5-day stage race in Portugal in mid February. Local lads Oliveira and Machado will be looking to play a part in the race.
Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol
This spanish 5-day race will be used as a platform for some of our men heading to Paris-Nice. Haimar Zubeldia has also announced that he will be part of the team heading there.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
Our classics men will be looking to kick-start their season there. Fabian has expressed his desire to participate in this race.
Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne
This will be our final race in February, another opportunity for some riders to test their legs ahead of the cobbled classics.
Edited by nightguy on 03-06-2012 10:51
29/01
Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise: Stephane Poulhies of Saur-Sojasun won a mass sprint ahead of Florient Vachon and Sebastien Hinault.
1/02 - 5/02
Étoile de Bessèges:
The 5-day stage race in France in early February was won by Leigh Howard ahead of Florient Vachon and Cedric Pineau, to continue a brilliant start of the season for GreenEdge. Howard held on on the hilly terrain in stage 4, and made the most of the bonus seconds he obtained on flat stages. He went away with 3 stage wins!
04/02
Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi: Grega Bole shone in Italy as he outsprinted Kristjan Koren and Juraj Sagan to claim victory in this race on the flat.
05/02 - 09/02
Vuelta a Mallorca:
A weak field was present at the spanish race and veteran David De La Fuente imposed himself on the race, taking the overall as well as 2 stage victories. Ruben Lobato took second ahead of Francesco Failli.
06/02 - 10/02
Tour of Qatar:
The sprinters were on show in the Arabian deserts, GreenEdge were again on great form! Matthew Goss took two stages, Peter Sagan took one, and Francesco Chicchi got one too. The sprinters' teams, however, were taken bysurprise in the second stage, which went to a breakaway. The overall was thus taken by Arnaut Coyot - another victory for Saur-Sojasun - followed by Tobias Ludvigsson and Maarten Wijnants, all part of that winning break.
Race Description
The course will follow a fairly flat terrain over the first four stages. Sprinters will have their fair share of opportunities at stage victories. Breakaways have a decent chance in this race with many riders likely to be nowhere near their peak form. Finally, the fifth stage will end with a very tough uphill finsh, which should decide the GC, unless some sprinters can hold on and not lose too much time.
Our Line-up Tiago Machado
Nelson Oliveira
Jan Bakelants
Jesse Sergent
Giancomo Nizzolo
Benjamin King
Tiago Machado is our designated leader, but chances are wide open for everyone!
Edited by nightguy on 03-06-2012 10:50
Race Report A breakaway went clear early on. After some counter attacks, a group of 8 joined up on the road, while 2 men were left in no-man's land.
The peloton left it too late to organize the chase and the breakaway men fought it out for the stage. The peloton's efforts weren't totally in vain though. There were no time gaps on today's stage.
Julien Vermote of OmegaPharma-Quickstep clearly had the best sprint. He takes the stage by 3 full bike lengths ahead of breakaway companions, Daniel Summerhill and Tanel Kangert.
Stage 2
Race Report Today's 7 breakaway riders accumulated all of 11 minutes before the chase started. Right after the first climb, Sky and OmegaPharma came to the front, causing damage at the rear end of the peloton.
The break was caught with 25km to go. In the sprint finish, Kenny Dehaes of Lotto-Belisol easily outfoxed his opponents. Lotto did even better, getting 1,2, with Vicente Reynes finishing second! Third place went to Samuel Dumoulin.
Hero of the day: Samuel Dumoulin! Crashing when the chase was really hotting up, making it back into the bunch with the help of his team mates, and finishing on the podium! Hats off!
Julien Vermote retains the overall lead today, but this might well change tomorrow, with the sprinters likely to eat up more seconds of his advantage.
Stage 3
Race Report After a very aggressive stage start punctuated with attacks and counters, a strong break finally settled with 12 men. This was a good move and such a big group would surely have a decent chance.
Well it wasn't to be for the 12 brave men tackling the 200km course. Atop of the day's last climb, the peloton swallowed, one by one, the breakaway riders. The high pace up the climb had its consequences on the rear of the peloton with a number of riders losing contact.
Samuel Dumoulin announced himself as the main contender for the overall standings, with a brilliant stage win following his exploits yesterday. His opponents could only watch as the Frenchmen raised his arms over the line! He also now leads t(e overall standings. His teammate Aleksejs Saramotins finished second ahead of Jussi Veikkanen on the stage.
Stage 4
Race Report Today's break featured 8 riders. Their lead stretched to 7min at the top of the first climb, after which a few teams started chasing. The climbs on the menu were short, never more than 2km, but they were brutal! Each of them had sections above 12%!
As the break was caught, the sprinters tried to position themselves in the front. Arthur Vichot did a great job getting on Dehaes' wheel and in the dying metres came around him to take the win. GreenEdge were again present in the sprint, with Howard completing the podium. With tomorrow's decisive stage still to come, Dehaes leads Dumoulin by a slender 4s.
Incredibly so, in the last few hundreds of metres, the peloton was broken in two, with most of the sprinters ahead and the main favourites for tomorrow's stage losing all of 48s! Tony Martin and Michael Rogers were two of the big names who managed to make it into the first group.
Stage 5
Race Report The 3 breakaway riders who broke clear at the very start of the stage never worried the peloton. As the first real difficulty of the day was tackled, half of the peloton lost contact, breaking down into small groups along the road.
The race was going to be decided atop the Alto da Torre. The climb averages 12% over 2km. The peloton reached the foot of the climb with only 40 riders
Yesterday's winner, Vichot, put in an incredible turn of speed at the very start of the climb and immediately broke clear. Machado tried to follow but he just didn't have the legs.
Vichot was never caught and took his 2nd stage win in two days! Amazing performance from the frenchman! Behind, Machado really started suffering. Kreuziger was really the best of the rest, with Tony Martin a close third.
Not expecting much here in fact, it's more for a run-out and experience for the newer guys! But we'll see, Machado can get a result on the last stage, despite the various stronger riders like
Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol 19-23 Feb
Race Description
The Ruta del Sol this year will go over a hilly region, which will suit breakaways and attackers. None of the climbs included are very hard though to give a fair chance of victory to sprinters. The organizers are expecting to see some big names in the race. Spanish riders usually love to race here.
Our line-up Jens Voigt Haimar Zubeldia
Thomas Rohregger
Tony Gallopin
George Bennett
Matthew Busche
Jens Voigt and Haimar Zubeldia will share leadership of the team in this race. We will also be counting on Gallopin for the sprints and if he survives the attacks, he may well become our best chance for the GC.
Edited by nightguy on 03-06-2012 19:27
Race Report Of the 8 riders who went clear, one withstood the chase of the peloton all the way to the end! Gustavo Cesar Veloso takes the first stage in spectacular fashion having ridden in the front all day long! As we say the riders make the race, and Euskatel did just that! The peloton reaching the finish line was stripped of half of its numbers, making Cesar Veloso's win even more impressive. Samuel Sanchez only managed 3rd place on the uphill finish, just behind Joost Van Leijen.
Stage 2
Race Report The stage was animated all the way througout and, yet again, Euskatel stamped their authority on the race. After allowing a big group of 11 riders getting away early on in the stage, Euskatel put the hammer down midway through the stage and chased hard, thinning the peloton out. As we reached the final gradients of the day, waves of attacks came. Euskatel never panicked`even when a strong group of 6 riders managed to get a minute's lead 25km fron the end. Samuel Sanchez made his move on the final climb of the day, catching, and passing the 6-men group before soloing his way to his first victory of 2012.
Samuel Sanchez attacks
Stage 3
Race Report An uneventful stage where a harmless break of 6 was allowed to go clear early on and build a lead of 11minutes. The best-placed man in that group was all of 10min down. So, Euskatel controlled the gap all the way until the final climb before starting to cut it back. A mechanical for Gesink on the climb meant that his chances of a good result were all but gone.
Pena attacked from the breakaway on the climb but was brought back on the downhill as the a#celeration resulted in one of the breakaway men falling off the pace. The sprint was hardly contested, Gaetan Bille taking it easily for Lotto sprinting from the front with 250m left to go!
Bille sprints to victory
Stage 4
Race Report This was the final hilly stage where a difference could be made on the final climb, which was nonetheless 20km from the finish. A strong group of 8 riders broke clear in the earlier parts of the race as Euskatel looked to again control the race. The advantage was allowed to grow to 6 minutes before the peloton gave chase. Euskatel were flawless yet again! They cut the gap down slowly initially but set a furious pace on the climb to discourage attacks. Voigt and Barredo were the only ones who tried to get away. They did get away but were reeled in eventually, Barredo staying out all the way until the final 300m. The breakaway men fought it out for the stage with the peloton closing down the gap very well to finish in the same time as the leaders. Michal Golas, who had sat on the wheels for a good part of the race, was the freshest of the group and he found a channel in the closing 100m of the uphill finish to come through and take a victory.
Golas the freshest of the group
Stage 5
Race Report A flat stage which would doubtlessly have no effect on the GC started with several attacks. Numerous teams wanted to get in the break seeing the success breaks have had in the race. Eventually only 6 men got away. They came close to a stage win, being caught only 500m from the line. GreenEdge once again proved the sprinting talent in their ranks, Baden Cooke winning the stage ahead of his teammate Jens Keukeleire. A crash in the final kilometre threatened the podium places of Cesar Veloso and Matthew Lloyd, but their teams ensured they ended in the same`time as the peloton.
I think the report of the Volta ao Algarve was way too long, so from now onwards I'll keep the report of smaller races shorter, just highlighting the defining moments.
There will be plenty of time for longer reports with Paris-Nice coming up soon!
baseballlover312 wrote:
Looking for a good result here!
Yeah I was, I was hoping for a win in the overall in fact! Still achievable, but after seeing Sanchez attack and the team Euskatel have, I doubt they'll let it slip!
By the way, if any of you guys reading the story see some image missing or something, let me know.
Sometimes the posting tool is a bit buggy, or it's my browser maybe, I don't really know. So things tend to change a bit on their own when I edit posts, just saw an 'i' transforming into a bracket!Edited by nightguy on 04-06-2012 09:04
On to the first semi-classics of the season then, in late February.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 25 Feb
Race Description
This year, the race will be flat, with as usual, several cobbled sections. At around 40km from the end, there will be a number of cobbled sections in quick succession. The long section 17km from the line is likely going to be decisive in the battle between the classics men. Fabian Cancellara, touted as one of the hot favourites for the cobbled classics this year, has confirmed his participation in this race. His main opponent, Tom Boonen, is yet to be heard of.
Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne 26 Feb
Race Description
Coming right after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne holds less prestige than the former but still attracts a decent field of riders. This year's course will be flat, punctuated with cobbled sections, some of them over climbs. Those tough climbs might not be enough to make the difference though as the race concludes with 30km of flat terrain where riders can work their wayback to the front.
Without an inch of a doubt Fabian is our leader here. He hasn't raced yet this year and his form will probably not allow him to compete for honours but he shouldn't be too far from the top!
If it comes down to a sprint and Daniele is fresh enough, he will be the man we will be working for.
Edited by nightguy on 04-06-2012 10:48
