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The Way to Nice - A short story - Finished!
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 23-06-2012 22:53
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Nice shots, I applaud your style. 
Edited by Ian Butler on 23-06-2012 22:53
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 24-06-2012 10:27
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 Yeah i started editing the screens afterwards. I like them more that way, too. Thanks
Hey,
I got another report for you guys. Laurent called me, he was just overly delighted with how the day went.
Here is why:
Etoile de Bessèges - Stage 4
There were a few attacks as always, but today we decided to chase them back at first as we wanted Mangel to get a few more points for the KoM without too much effort. When only two riders attacked we stopped chasing and they got away a little before the first hill top. Mangel was fighting hard for every point and managed to get third. A little chase group formed around him afterwards.
Mangel in the break trying to get some drinks
But the two original escapees stayed in front alone, because the chase group didn't put in enough effort to close the gap. Therefore Mangel only managed to get third on the next two KoM-classifications as well. The group only lurched roughly a minute in front of the peloton and was caught soon after the last classified hill. Happily it was enough effort from Mangel to equal up to Vanmarcke and even get the jersey in the end of the day because of his better standing in the GC.
The stage ended in a mass finish. After already looking strong in the last days and missing the victory narrowly Grega Bole finally gets his first win here.
Bole finally managed to time his sprint perfectly
Top 10 - Stage
| 1 | Grega Bole | Lampre - ISD | 3h04'19 | | 2 | Jimmy Casper | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. | | 3 | Zakkari Dempster | Endura Racing | s.t. | | 4 | Michael Mørkøv | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 5 | Adrien Petit | Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne | s.t. | | 6 | Matteo Tosatto | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 7 | Jure Kocjan | Team Type 1 - Sanofi | s.t. | | 8 | Steven Tronet | Bigmat - Auber 93 | s.t. | | 9 | Arthur Vichot | FDJ-BigMat | s.t. | | 10 | Egidijus Juodvalkis | Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | s.t. |
Top 10 - Overall after Stage 4
| 1 | Zakkari Dempster | Endura Racing | 13h32'43 | | 2 | Jimmy Casper | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. | | 3 | Grega Bole | Lampre - ISD | + 4 | | 4 | Egidijus Juodvalkis | Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | + 5 | | 5 | Jure Kocjan | Team Type 1 - Sanofi | + 32 | | 6 | Matteo Trentin | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | + 38 | | 7 | Matteo Tosatto | Team Saxo Bank | + 44 | | 8 | Adrien Petit | Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne | s.t. | | 9 | Michael Mørkøv | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 10 | Christopher Sutton | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. |
Top 3 - KoM-Ranking
| 1 | Laurent Mangel | Saur - Sojasun | 34 | | 2 | Sep Vanmarcke | Garmin - Barracuda | 34 | | 3 | Julien Antomarchi | Team Type 1 - Sanofi | 30 |
We are very happy to have something in our hands now. Great work from Laurent and the rest of the team.
Your sincerely,
Jérôme
Edited by johannes-w on 24-06-2012 10:32
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 24-06-2012 12:58
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Great to have that jersey! Mountain jersey is my personal favorite 
Good work! |
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 24-06-2012 18:24
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Hi there,
Sorry for being a little late with the next update, I know you were waiting for the last two stages. So as you know yesterday the Etoile de Bessèges ended. That means I owe you two more short race reports. But I have to keep this brief, because two days from now my season finally starts at the Tour Méditerranéen and tomorrow we will already have to get to our team hotel near Pertuis, where the first stage starts.
Etoile de Bessèges - Stage 5
Well what should I say we tried it in the break again, Delaplace was the lucky one today. He was riding alongside three other riders, but stage five was quite short and there were no mountain or intermediate points awarded today. So Mangel was riding save in the peloton. With 25 kilometres left in the stage the break still had an advance of 1:30 min. Short before the top of todays only climb Oroz and Vichot tried to attack out of the peloton. David Le Lay immediately tried to get to them, so did Tankink, but they were all caught on the following downhill. Also the break got caught soon after them.
In the sprint for the stage win Dempster could double up his win account.
Dempster celebrating a close victory
Top 10 - Stage
| 1 | Zakkari Dempster | Endura Racing | 1h51'06 | | 2 | Jimmy Casper | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. | | 3 | Grega Bole | Lampre - ISD | s.t. | | 4 | Matteo Tosatto | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 5 | Matteo Trentin | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | s.t. | | 6 | Adrien Petit | Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne | s.t. | | 7 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 8 | Egidijus Juodvalkis | Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | s.t. | | 9 | Jure Kocjan | Team Type 1 - Sanofi | s.t. | | 10 | Pim Ligthart | Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team | s.t. |
Etoile de Bessèges - Stage 6
The last stage was kind of an epilog, as it was a 10 kilometre short time trial. We hoped for a decent showing from at least one of our riders today as it could probably have quite an impact on the GC with 39 riders inside 1:04 min before the stage.
Here is the KoM-leader Laurent Mangel tackling the course:
Our first hope for a good time: David Le Lay
He was able to fulfil our hopes and finished the stage in third. Our best result so far.
And the second candidate for a strong result: Jimmy Engoulvent
He didn't disappoint either sixth place in the stage for Engoulvent. Nice!
Top 10 - Stage
| 1 | David Millar | Garmin - Barracuda | 16'47 | | 2 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Sky Pro Cycling | + 2 | | 3 | David Le Lay | Saur - Sojasun | + 3 | | 4 | Sylvain Chavanel | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | + 4 | | 5 | Geraint Thomas | Sky Pro Cycling | + 9 | | 6 | Jimmy Engoulvent | Saur - Sojasun | + 12 | | 7 | Marzio Bruseghin | Movistar Team | + 13 | | 8 | Luke Roberts | Team Saxo Bank | + 16 | | 9 | Laszlo Bodrogi | Team Type 1 - Sanofi | + 17 | | 10 | Marco Pinotti | BMC Racing Team | s.t. |
Top 10 - GC
| 1 | Zakkari Dempster | Endura Racing | 15h41'10 | | 2 | Jimmy Casper | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 1 | | 3 | Grega Bole | Lampre - ISD | + 6 | | 4 | David Millar | Garmin - Barracuda | + 10 | | 5 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Sky Pro Cycling | + 12 | | 6 | David Le Lay | Saur - Sojasun | + 13 | | 7 | Sylvain Chavanel | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | + 14 | | 8 | Geraint Thomas | Sky Pro Cycling | + 19 | | 9 | Egidijus Juodvalkis | Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | + 21 | | 10 | Jimmy Engoulvent | Saur - Sojasun | + 22 |
Top 3 - KoM
| 1 | Laurent Mangel | Saur - Sojasun | 34 | | 2 | Sep Vanmarcke | Garmin - Barracuda | 34 | | 3 | Julien Antomarchi | Team Type 1 - Sanofi | 30 |
We kind of saved it a bit in the end with the mountains jersey, two riders in the Top 10 of the GC and a third place in the last stage. That is ok for us, although we were aiming for a win.
Your sincerely,
Jérôme |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 24-06-2012 22:18
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Not bad at all. You can't always win, and as long as the form's going up!
Still some nice results. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 25-06-2012 08:58
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Nice rides by Le Lay and Engoulvent, just narrowly beaten to the win
And nice to see Mangel hold on to the K.O.M |
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| mattie524 |
Posted on 25-06-2012 09:29
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johannes-w wrote:
Thanks for the comments
@aidanvn13 I just wanted to try out writing a story myself and thought it would be good to have a real ending for it instead of just stop posting at some point
Hope you don't have to wait too long for your PCM anymore
Hi everyone,
I have a small addition to my last post. A few guys took pictures of our training today and best of all I could get a hold of the pictures. Look at this:
The three of us riding up Cote d'Aubert le Crès
And my favorite one:
My attack at a small hill right before we reached Rodez
As you can see the weather here is quite bad. We were "happy" it wasn't raining yesterday. Today we got completely soaked with rain all day long and it was a lot colder as well.
Your sincerely,
Jérôme
How the hell did you get training photos? Is this PCM 12? Thats probably why.. 
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| Teddy The Creator |
Posted on 25-06-2012 09:31
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@mattie He just dropped back in the peloton and took screens looking like training. People have been doing it for years.
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 25-06-2012 11:26
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That's something cool |
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| mattie524 |
Posted on 25-06-2012 11:30
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Teddy The Creator wrote:
@mattie He just dropped back in the peloton and took screens looking like training. People have been doing it for years.
Yea i thought that was it. I thought it was a new feature for a minute where you can actually ride your training camps but i didn't think that'd be it...
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 01:49
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 25-06-2012 12:20
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mattie524 wrote:
Teddy The Creator wrote:
@mattie He just dropped back in the peloton and took screens looking like training. People have been doing it for years.
Yea i thought that was it. I thought it was a new feature for a minute where you can actually ride your training camps but i didn't think that'd be it...
yes they just dropped back in stage race mode - no training mode
Edited by johannes-w on 25-06-2012 12:21
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 25-06-2012 14:11
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Thanks for the comments. Well Bessèges was just a prep race and no one was in serious form, so I don't worry about the result. But I am happy with winning the KoM-jersey at least.
Hi,
Today we arrived in our team hotel, it's small but quite nice compared to other hotels we stayed in, for example during the Tour. So tomorrow the Tour Méditerranéen finally kicks off and because we only went on a short training ride today I thought I just share some of the info, which I got today, with you.
This year it's only a four-stage race. On the first three stages we will mainly try to get into break aways, as those have quite a flat profile, which suits the sprinters more. Except for me probably everyone from our team will get the chance to try his luck in a break. My task more or less is to get the season going on this opening stages.
The hardest stage will, as often before, be the last, because it ends atop the Mont Faron, so it will probably decide the overall ranking. In that stage I hope I'll be able to stay with the best or at least not lose too much time.
Our DS said that I will share my protected role with David Le Lay, who already has had some race days in contrast to me. So his shape will probably be a little better, but we'll see. On the other hand the Mont Faron finish should normally suit me more than him. We look to get at least a Top 10 finish in the overall. Another pre-race target for our team is definitely to win the mountains jersey here as well.
Our line-up will be the following:
David Le Lay
Guillaume Levarlet
Yannick Talabardon
Jérôme Coppel
Brice Feillu
Jonathan Hivert
Jean-Marc Marino
Maxime Méderel
Favorites from the other teams should be:
Nocentini (AG2R)
Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone)
Van Garderen(BMC)
So much for now. I will tell you about the first stage tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Yours sincerely,
Jérôme
Edited by johannes-w on 25-06-2012 14:14
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 25-06-2012 14:14
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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You're one of the favorites here |
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| mattie524 |
Posted on 25-06-2012 23:38
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Domestique
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Ian Butler wrote:
You're one of the favorites here
+1 couldn't agree more!
I love it how people do stories based on one rider (or the top teams like BMC or RadioShack !) There used to be a Timothy Roe and a Dominik Nerz story but they dropped off! I also like how you've set a point where to stop! Good start mate and keep it going to the sun!
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 26-06-2012 13:03
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Posts: 833
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Hi,
So this was finally the start to my first race of the year. Let's get right to it:
Tour Méditerranéen - Stage 1
We saw many attacks right from the start. For our team Talabadon and Feillu tried it a few times, but no one was successful. At some point David Le Lay increased the speed, but nobody wanted to follow him. He rode alone in front of the peloton with only one minute in advance, so he gave up 10 kilometres later.
We were already mid way into the stage and still no break had established. The first mountain sprint was getting closer and it was quite clear, that the peloton would let a group go sooner rather than later. Feillu initiated the group, that finally got away with 50 kilometres to go. He was already close to the first mountain top, while the other attackers still tried to close the gap, so he was able to win the first KoM sprint. Right after the top Quitana, Rabon and Tschopp completed the four men lead group, coming over the top in that order.
Feillu with a small advantage
At the second mountain sprint Quintana showed his climbing abilities in impressive style. Behind Rabon Feillu followed, who was already a little tired after attacking a few times early on in the stage. So no mountains jersey for Feillu today.
Quintana passes the climb first
Back in the peloton Moreno attacked one kilometre before they reached the last KoM sprint of the day and closed the gap pretty fast. So now that there were two strong Movistar riders in the front group, of course they had to do the majority of the work. And they did, but with 25 kilometres left until the finish they were only about one and a half minutes in front.
The group was working together nicely
With about 20 kilometres to go, at the start of the last hill, I decided to test my legs as I felt pretty good.
With my attack I could close the gap fast.
While I reached the back of the break Feillu started pulling on the front instantly, so I could try to take a breath.
But four kilometres before finish it was all over. The group got caught from an unexpectedly large peloton, with a lot of sprinters surviving the hills of the day. Degenkolb was clearly the strongest of them and therefore won the stage.
Top 10 - Stage 1
| 1 | John Degenkolb | Team Argos - Shimano | 3h16'09 | | 2 | Mathieu Ladagnous | FDJ-BigMat | s.t. | | 3 | Boris Shpilevsky | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. | | 4 | Kenny Dehaes | Lotto Belisol | s.t. | | 5 | Borut Bozic | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 6 | Dmitriy Muravyev | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 7 | Morgan Kneisky | Roubaix Lille Métropole | s.t. | | 8 | Arnaud Gérard | FDJ-BigMat | s.t. | | 9 | Nacer Bouhanni | FDJ-BigMat | s.t. | | 10 | Reinier Honig | Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | s.t. |
Top 3 - KoM
| 1 | Nairo Quintana | Movistar Team | 24 | | 2 | Brice Feillu | Saur - Sojasun | 20 | | 3 | Frantisek Rabon | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | 18 |
Although our team didn't achieve much countable in the end of the day, we showed ourselves in the break of the day and collected a few points here and there. As for myself, I was very satisfied, because my legs already felt pretty strong and I noticed how good I could get away from the field on that short climb, so I am confident for the next days to come....
Your sincerely,
Jérôme |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 26-06-2012 17:41
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Nice late attack, good to test your legs. Let's just hope you don't take that with you on the stages where you have to make the difference! |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 26-06-2012 18:22
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Good Luck in the Med |
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 26-06-2012 18:42
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Ian Butler wrote:
Nice late attack, good to test your legs. Let's just hope you don't take that with you on the stages where you have to make the difference!
I think you don't need to worry, the form is coming and he didn't spent too much energy. The Tour Med will get interesting - that's a promise!
@sutty: thanks |
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| johannes-w |
Posted on 27-06-2012 08:08
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Hey guys,
Oh what a day. I am completely exhausted.
Tour Méditerranéen - Stage 2
The start was very hectic today, there were a lot of attacks, but the peloton just went on full speed. This was hopefully hard for a lot of other riders, too, or my form is not as good as I thought. The attacks were all chased down by quite a few different teams, I guess they all had their reasons to do it. Especially the sprinter teams probably wanted to score points at the first intermediate sprint.
Three kilometres in front of the sprint Engoulvent attacked and got the points, but he was soon back in the peloton as well.
At the bottom of the first climb David Le Lay attacked followed by two others. They got caught too right after he won the first KoM prize of the day.
Le Lay winning the first mountain points
Afterwards we arranged a high speed in the peloton through Méderel up the second climb with Feillu lurking right behind him just waiting to attack.
At this point Quintana, the KoM leader, was way back at the end of the peloton as he realized the situation too late. Feillu jumped out of the front with one kilometre to go on the second categorized climb and secured himself the top points and the virtual KoM lead.
Feillu passing the top of the second climb
But he didn't pull through, so just as he was back in the peloton a few small attacks happened, but the sprinter teams didn't give them much room anymore, because the finish wasn't too far away. Two riders could get a little gap though. They were also in front at the last categorized climb, which Possoni won in front of Rabon. Feillu tried closing the gap, but underestimated the two leaders. Therefore he came seconds too late and only got third.
Feillu doesn't have to be too disappointed about getting third on that climb
But the stage also ended in a mass sprint. Yesterdays winner Degenkolb had to settle for second place, as Bozic had just a little more speed in the end. I finished safely inside the large peloton today.
No time to celebrate for Bozic in front of the line
Top 10 - Stage 2
| 1 | Borut Bozic | Astana Pro Team | 2h58'21 | | 2 | John Degenkolb | Team Argos - Shimano | s.t. | | 3 | Reinier Honig | Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | s.t. | | 4 | Tiziano Dall'Antonia | Liquigas-Cannondale | s.t. | | 5 | Arnaud Gérard | FDJ-BigMat | s.t. | | 6 | Aidis Kruopis | Orica - GreenEDGE | s.t. | | 7 | Pierpaolo De Negri | Farnese Vini Selle Italia | s.t. | | 8 | Anthony Roux | FDJ-BigMat | s.t. | | 9 | Nacer Bouhanni | FDJ-BigMat | s.t. | | 10 | Nico Sijmens | Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne | s.t. |
Top 10 - GC
| 1 | John Degenkolb | Team Argos - Shimano | 6h13'58 | | 2 | Borut Bozic | Astana Pro Team | + 4 | | 3 | Mathieu Ladagnous | FDJ-BigMat | + 20 | | 4 | Reinier Honig | Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | + 24 | | 5 | Boris Shpilevsky | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. | | 6 | Aidis Kruopis | Orica - GreenEDGE | s.t. | | 7 | Jimmy Engoulvent | Saur - Sojasun | + 26 | | 8 | David Le Lay | Saur - Sojasun | s.t. | | 9 | Morris Possoni | Lampre - ISD | s.t. | | 10 | Evgueni Petrov | Astana Pro Team | + 28 |
Top 3 - KoM
| Brice Feillu | Saur - Sojasun | 32 | | Frantisek Rabon | Omega Pharma - Quickstep | 24 | | Nairo Quintana | Movistar Team | 24 |
We got it! Some good tactics brought as the next lead in a KoM ranking. We are very happy about having the jersey, but there will be no time to celebrate, yet, as the target is to defend the jersey in the next two days now. Also we have two riders in the Top 10 thanks to the intermediate sprints. But that list will probably look quite different after stage four anyways.
As I said earlier I felt a little tired today, but that's quite normal for me in my first race days of the year, so don't worry. I am sure I will be up there at the Mont Faron.
By the way, at dinner my team mates told me they had a hard time riding in the peloton as well, because of the high speed, so I wasn't the only one after all.
Your sincerely,
Jérôme
Edited by johannes-w on 27-06-2012 09:01
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 27-06-2012 10:00
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Tour de France Champion
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Start of the season and already tired?
I hope you have a good rec, because you'll need to be there the next couple of stages.
I hope the team can hold on to the jersey! |
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