Vuelta ciclista a Andalucia (Kluge, Porte, Schelling)
Stage 1 (6.8km prologue, pan-flat)
1) Phinney 2) Porte +0’01
3) Gutierrez +0’03
Great start for Porte!
Stage 2 (Flat with lumps, three cat 3s)
1) Favilli
2) Gutierrez +0’00
3) Gavazzi +0’00
Sprint. Porte tried to steer Kluge into position but no chance.
Stage 3 (Mountain, a cat 1, a cat 2, a cat 3, and a summit finish)
1) Horner
2) Gutierrez +0’00
3) Arroyo +0’00
Porte climbed well to finish with the front group in 12th, and sits 4th in overall GC.
Stage 4 (Medium mountain, lumpy with three cat 3s)
1) Iglinskiy
2) Florencio +0’00
3) Gavazzi +0’00
Stage not testing enough to prevent a mass sprint finish. Porte down to 6th overall due to time bonuses.
Stage 5 (Mountain, three large cat 3s and short uphill drag to finish)
1) Horner
2) Nieve +0’13
3) Arroyo +0’13
Horner secured his second summit finish victory. Porte was present in the front chase group behind Horner. Horner won the overall GC, Porte a strong 7th at +0’41 (mostly time bonus losses)
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Bertogliati, Elmiger, Kluge, Langeveld, Rast, Schar, Van Avermaet, Veelers)
1) Ballan
2) Boonen +0’00
3) Syl.Chavanel +0’00 4) Van Avermaet +0’00
A big race for us as the sponsors outlined it as one of our biggest goals of the season. We shared the early work with BMC who put it all on the line for Ballan. It proved worth their while, as Boonen and Ballan attacked the front group with 6km to go. Ballan cleverly manoeuvred himself to the victory, outwitting Boonen. Although we failed in our target to win this race, Van Avermaet could not have done any more and secured a great 4th place. Langeveld a creditable 15th.
Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (Bertogliati, Elmiger, Langeveld, Rast, Schar, Van Avermaet, Veelers)
1) Ballan
2) Boonen +0’00
3) Sagan +0’00 4) Van Avermaet +0’00
On one of the steep cobbled climbs, we shattered the field and 4 of our riders caught upto the day’s breakaway. Langeveld broke away from this group on the final cobbled section and tried a solo ride to victory from 40km out. However a number of teams chased to stop him. In the final, Ballan again made the right move and his attack won the day, with Van Avermaet again 4th in the sprint behind him.
GP de Almeria (Intxausti, Kennaugh, Kluge, Morabito, Quintana, Schelling)
1) Petacchi
2) Fernandez +0’00
3) JJ.Haedo +0’00
Morabito attacked from the flag and was joined by 3 other riders. They were eventually caught and there was a sprint.
Trofeo di Lugano (Dietziker, Pinot, Porte, Tschopp, Wyss, Zaugg)
1) Brambilla
2) Spilak +0’00
3) Gerdemann +0’00
Zaugg and Porte tried to be active and get away but struggled to do so. Porte 13th with front group.
Trophee Samyn (Bertogliati, Elmiger, Kluge, Langeveld, Rast, Schar, Van Avermaet, Veelers) 1) Van Avermaet
2) Gallopin +1’15
3) Quinziato +1’15 5) Langeveld +2’03
Adecco were on the front all day and took the race apart. Gallopin made a break with 30km to go but Langeveld helped bridge the gap before Van Avermaet set off alone to catch him up and overtake him for a brilliant solo win.
sutty68 wrote:
Van Avermaet still has some incredible form
You'll be unsurprised to hear he leads the continental rankings . Desperately need it too, without his results so far the team would be pretty mediocre.
nice games, very well done. And Van Avermaet is certainly in a incredible form.
But if you do ctrl + u before you take a screenshot everyting will go out of the screen, also the circles around the riders and their names and stuff like that. You should try it out in your next game.
BikeRoel wrote:
nice games, very well done. And Van Avermaet is certainly in a incredible form.
But if you do ctrl + u before you take a screenshot everyting will go out of the screen, also the circles around the riders and their names and stuff like that. You should try it out in your next game.
Cheers.
I've been doing ctrl+u for all those screenshot but that doesn't appear to get rid of the circles. :/ Obviously there is a way of doing it but I can't work out how........
Tour of Malaysia (Albasini, Degenkolb, Frank, Grabsch, Stalder, Taaramae)
Stage 1 (19.8km individual time trial, pan-flat)
1) Thomas 2) Grabsch +0’01
3) Vaitkus +0’03
Good result for Grabsch. Overall GC hope Taaramae 16th at +0’31, which was good enough to lead the young riders GC.
Stage 2 (Rolling terrain, one cat 3)
1) Swift
2) Sutton +0'00
3) Vaitkus +0'00 4) Degenkolb +0'00
Disappointing as we had an ok leadout. Sky pounced late for a one-two. Vaitkus steals the overall GC lead due to time bonuses. Grabsch down to 3rd.
Stage 3 (Flat with a few small lumps)
1) Swift 2) Degenkolb +0’00
3) Blythe +0’00
We got a little boxed in at 3km to go and Albasini had to leadout from far behind. Swift wins again but Degenkolb getting stronger.
Stage 4 (Flat with a few niggles)
1) Hondo
2) Goddaert +0’00
3) Vaitkus +0’00 5) Degenkolb +0’00
This was a technical finish after a few little lumps in the profile. Degenkolb only strong enough for 5th.
Stage 5 (Lumpy, one large cat 3 and one small cat 3 just before the finish)
1) Barredo
2) Thomas +0’00
3) Roche +0’00 6) Albasini +0’00
Albasini was poorly positioned which cost him a chance of victory. Taaramae just about clung onto the front group after a tough final.
Stage 6 (Pan-flat until the long and tough Genting Highlands summit finish)
1) Stortoni
2) Roche +0’36
3) Lofkvist +1’01 4) Taaramae +1’01
We took control on the climb, with Albasini and Frank shepherding Taaramae. Stortoni attacked with about 10km to go and rode away for a solo win. Taaramae rode tempo for 4th and moves upto 3rd in the overall GC as a result, with Lofkvist the new leader. Taaramae strengthens his young riders GC lead.
Stage 7 (Flat with one tiny cat 4)
1) Didier
2) Poos +0’00
3) Willems +0’00
The winner came from the breakaway. We tried to chase it but we’re not superhuman, we needed help but didn’t get it.
Stage 8 (Pan-flat with two miniscule cat 3s)
1) Vaitkus
2) Kristoff +0’00
3) Swift +0’00 6) Degenkolb +0’00
Degenkolb simply doesn’t have the legs, concerning against this kind of opposition.
Stage 9 (An early rolling uphill rise but pretty flat)
1) Neirynck
2) Meenhorst +0’00
3) Tuft +0’00 6) Grabsch +7’00
8) Degenkolb +17’33
We decided not to chase, and bafflingly Sky left yellow jersey Lofkvist to pull the peloton along on his own to try to save his GC lead. A 5 man breakaway took a massive lead and Grabsch decided to chase it from 100km out. Sky eventually chased hard from 20km but lost the GC lead to stage winner Neirynck. Baffling stage.
Stage 10 (Flat, slightly rolling at times) 1) Albasini
2) Hermans +0’00
3) Poos +0’00
Albasini took to a breakaway of 7 riders. With no GC threat, no team chased. Albasini was comfortably the strongest finisher of the 7 and won easily.
Stage 9 winner Neirynck won the overall GC, Sky only have themselves to blame, he was 15 minutes down on Lofkvist going into that day. Taaramae won the young riders GC and finished 4th in the overall GC. Team Adecco won the teams classification. Degenkolb will be disappointed with his sprinting throughout.
Ronde van West-Vlaanderen (Elmiger, Langeveld, Rast, Schar, Van Avermaet, Veelers)
Stage 1 (12km Individual time-trial, pan-flat) 1) Langeveld
2) Quinziato +0’02
3) Phinney +0’04
A great result for Langeveld, we can hopefully defend his lead over the next 2 days.
Stage 2 (Five cat 4 climbs and lots of cobbled climbs) 1) Langeveld
2) Van Avermaet +1’33
3) Roelandts +1’33
Despite Langeveld puncturing with 40km to go, he and Van Avermaet attacked the peloton after the rest of our guys brought the race together. Langeveld then went solo from about 20km to go and took a brilliant win. Considering he buried himself to set Langeveld up, Van Avermaet’s 2nd was equally excellent.
Langeveld strengthens his GC lead, Van Avermaet up to 3rd overall.
Stage 3 (Flat, three cat 4s) 1) Van Avermaet
2) Wagner +0’00
3) D.Wyss +0’00 5) Langeveld +0’00
With Langeveld very safe in GC, we rode for Van Avermaet and a sprint. The team provided a perfect leadout (reflected by Langeveld’s 5th), and Van Avermaet did what he’s being doing all season.
We swept the board winning all 3 stages, Langeveld winning the overall GC, the points classification and the mountains classification, and Van Avermaet 2nd in both the overall GC and points. The whole team did a superb job.
Vuelta a Murcia (Bertogliati, Dietziker, Kennaugh, Morabito, Schelling, Wyss)
Stage 1 (Mountainous, two cat 1s and a tough summit finish)
1) Arroyo
2) Betancourt +0’10
3) Vandevelde +0’38 7) Morabito +1’52
Wyss was part of a 4 man breakaway. The final climb was brutal and Morabito rode excellently to take 7th.
Stage 2 (9.4km individual time trial, pan-flat)
1) Vandevelde
2) Rosseler +0’02
3) Zabriskie +0’04
A Garmin top 3 lockout. Morabito best for Adecco in 14th at +0’17.
Arroyo took the overall GC. Morabito in a strong 7th, at +2’06.
Strade Bianchi (Bertogliati, Dietziker, Kennaugh, Morabito, Schelling, Wyss)
1) Pozzatto +0’00
2) Florencio +0’00
3) Riblon +0’00 4) Quintana +0’00
Zaugg attacked from the flag, with other breakaway candidates not able to keep up with him. His brave effort was in vain as Pozzatto took the uphill sprint. Quintana took a great 4th.
Paris-Nice (Intxausti, Kluge, Pinot, Porte, Quintana, Tschopp, Zaugg)
Stage 1 (9.4km pan-flat prologue)
1) LL.Sanchez
2) Gutierrez +0’03 3) Porte +0’04
Great performance by Porte who is in good shape.
Stage 2 (Flat)
1) Ciolek
2) Mondory +0’00
3) Keukeleire +0’00
Garmin did all the chasing but Farrar a disappointing 5th.
Stage 3 (Rolling with one cat 3 and a short(ish) summit finish)
1) Gallopin
2) Florencio +0'00
3) LL. Sanchez +0'00
We sprung into action before the final climb to put Porte in a good position, shepherd by Quintana mainly. Porte finished 12th safely in the lead group.
Stage 4 (Hilly, two cat 2s and two cat 3s with an uphill kink to finish)
1) LL.Sanchez
2) JJ.Rojas +0'00
3) Florencio +0'00
A bunch finish without the main sprinters (bar Rojas), Sanchez pounced late. Porte safely home in 7th, maintaining 3rd in overall GC.
Stage 5 (The queen stage, two cat 3s, a cat 2, two cat 1s and the summit finish at La Croix Neuve, Mende)
1) J.Rodriguez
2) Kloden +0’08 3) Porte +0’17
4) Zaugg +0’17
5) Quintana +0’17
6) LL.Sanchez +0’17
Epic stage. Attacks were flying from everyone in the last 30kms but we held firm with our plan to team relay: Pinot, Intxausti, Zaugg, Quintana with Porte our protected rider. Pinot and Intxausti got us onto the final climb in a great position with Zaugg and Quintana showing immense power and stamina to finish tucked in behind Porte. Sanchez retains his overall GC lead with Porte bumped up from 3rd to 2nd. Quintana enters the top 10 and is 2nd in the young riders GC.
Stage 6 (Hilly, four cat 3s and a cat 2)
1) Roy 2) Intxausti +0’26
3) Poulhies +0’26
Intxausti joined the day’s successful 6-man breakaway, and launched an attacked with Roy on the cat 3 10km out from the finish. Roy however was the stronger rider in the run into the finish. GC standings unchanged.
Stage 7 (Mountainous, one cat 1, two cat 2s, and one cat 3)
1) Riblon
2) Nordhaug +0’25
3) R.Costa +0’25
On the cat 1 Col de Vence we tried to dislodge Sanchez with a strong tempo. We ended up riding off the front all alone, allowing Porte to attack from the summit with 40km of mainly descending to the finish. It was a brave attempt (gaining over a minute at one point), but Sanchez’s Rabobank team regained their composure with the help of other teams to eventually nullify the threat. Quintana managed to overhaul Kruijswijk in the young riders GC.
Stage 8 (Individual time-trial, 9.8km up the Col d’Eze)
1) J.Rodriguez
2) LL.Sanchez +0’10
3) Kloden +0’12 6) Quintana +0’24
7) Porte +0’28
Sanchez cements his overall GC win, with Quintana and Porte performing well but moving in different directions in the overall GC from their original placing.
We sacrificed stage win opportunities to help Porte through the tricky mountains and lay the foundations for a tilt at the overall GC. The sponsors wanted a top 10 and both Porte and Quintana didn’t disappoint with 4th and 6th, so ultimately we’re very happy. Quintana winning the young riders GC was a big bonus as we were solely focused on Porte’s challenge.
GP van Drenthe (Albasini, Degenkolb, Elmiger, Grabsch, Kennaugh, Langeveld, Veelers, Wyss) 1) Degenkolb
2) Van Hummel +0’00 3) Veelers +0’00
Pan-flat course and a sprint was inevitable. We dominated the leadout, no team could compete with us and finally Degenkolb scored a much awaited win. Leadout man Veelers in 3rd which rubber-stamped our authority.
GP van Nokere (Bertogliati, Elmiger, Langeveld, Rast, Schar, Van Avermaet, Veelers) 1) Van Avermaet
2) Scheirlinckx +1’07
3) Amorison +1’57 7) Langeveld +4’56
8) Rast +4’56
Our tactics are pretty simple for these flat(ish) cobbled courses; set a strong tempo with our team until about 40km out and then allow Langeveld to tow Van Avermaet to the front so he can compete for victory. It worked, again. Langeveld and Rast in particular had great legs and took top 10s.
Handzame GP (Dietziker, Elmiger, Langeveld, Morabito, Rast, Schar, Van Avermaet, Veelers) 1) Van Avermaet
2) Thomas +0’42
3) Se.Chavanel +0’42 7) Langeveld +0’42
We dominated the race on the cobbled sections, and our strongest riders simply gobbled up the field and rode away together. Elmiger, Langeveld and Rast kept Van Avermaet in front of a peloton of around 25 that had regrouped and were in strong pursuit for the last 30km.
Milano – San Remo (Albasini, Bertogliati, Elmiger, Langeveld, Quintana, Rast, Schar, Van Avermaet)
1) Sagan
2) Freire +0’00 3) Van Avermaet +0’00
Elmiger took to a breakaway of 5. It was caught before the final 25km and Breschel launched a lone attack but it was controlled. On the final climb of the day, Langeveld did a superb turn to nullify any attacks and to bring it to a sprint finish for Van Avermaet. Van Avermaet was the first to launch his sprint, and was heartbreakingly pipped at the line by Sagan and Freire. It was a fantastic effort though.
Route Loire Atlantique (Degenkolb, Dietziker, Frank, Grabsch, Kluge, Morabito, Veelers, Wyss)
1) Lodewyck 2) Degenkolb +0’00
3) Se.Chavanel +0’00 6) Veelers +0’00
This was a really messy lead up to the sprint, no team could get control. We actually managed to get in position for the actual leadout but we weren’t good enough to win.
GP de Cholet (Albasini, Langeveld, Rast, Schar, Van Avermaet, Veelers) 1) Van Avermaet
2) Roux +0’00
3) Dumoulin +0’00 4) Albasini +0’00
Van Avermaet is absolutely irrepressible this season! This was a difficult sprint, we went a bit late but Van Avermaet just had enough power to steal the win from under Roux’s nose.
sutty68 wrote:
WINS and more WINS, the team is just awesome at the moment
Yeah its brilliant. I had Van Avermaet in PCM11 and he was really good but I can't quite believe how well he's doing. 10 of our 17 victories are courtesy of him. Without him we'd be having a reasonable season, with him we're having a superb season.
Apologies for no updates recently, I took a little sabbatical. Got my appetite back and have been racing in the last week. Will post updates in the next coming days.....some exciting results to bring!
And yes Ian, Van Avermaet's signing proved an inspired decision......more to come from him shortly.....
. Desperately need it too, without his results so far the team would be pretty mediocre.
