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Mikel Hammarling - Through a DS Eyes
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 27-12-2012 21:23
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Tour de France Champion
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17th January 2013
"I come from a land down under"
Where beer does flow and men chunder, Can't you, Can't you hear the thunder?
For those of you (most i guess) thats Men At Work. Of course it means the Aussies are on show in home turf. With both NC's and the Tour Down Under coming close together its a busy time for that part of the team.
So i'll catch you up on the nationals first.
The Road Race
A full team of 8 riders included Gerrans, Meyer, Clarke, Durbridge, O'Grady, Davis, Hepburn and Lancaster.
Only one result would do, victory.
Gerrans was the clear designated leader, and he commanded the team well on the road. He made his move with 3 laps to go, but held off to win solo and claim the teams first win of the season. The whole team rode well in his support.
Spoiler | 1 | Simon Gerrans | Orica - GreenEdge | 3h52'19 | | 2 | Jonathan Cantwell | Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank | + 24 | | 3 | Michael Matthews | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 4 | Adam Hansen | Lotto Belisol Team | + 45 | | 5 | Michael Hepburn | Orica - GreenEdge | s.t. | | 6 | Rohan Dennis | Team Jayco - AIS | + 1'11 | | 7 | Calvin Watson | Team Jayco - AIS | s.t. | | 8 | Luke Durbridge | Orica - GreenEdge | s.t. | | 9 | Mark Renshaw | Rabobank Cycling Team | + 1'38 | | 10 | Nathan Haas | Bontrager - Livestrong Team | s.t. |
The Time Trial
The team entered 5 riders; Meyer, Durbridge, Hepburn, O'Grady and Lancaster.
A win was wanted, but a podium would suffice against some tough opposition.
Meyer put in a great ride at just over the hour, but he had to settle for 3rd.
The rest of the riders put in solid performances.
Spoiler | 1 | Jack Bobridge | Team Jayco - AIS | 59'40 | | 2 | Richie Porte | Sky Procycling | + 13 | | 3 | Cameron Meyer | Orica - GreenEdge | + 33 | | 4 | Adam Hansen | Lotto Belisol Team | + 48 | | 5 | Cadel Evans | BMC Racing Team | + 1'20 | | 6 | Michael Hepburn | Orica - GreenEdge | + 1'33 | | 7 | Luke Durbridge | Orica - GreenEdge | + 1'42 | | 8 | Ben Day | UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team | + 1'43 | | 9 | Michael Rogers | Sky Procycling | + 1'55 | | 10 | Michael Matthews | Rabobank Cycling Team | + 2'09 |
So of course the Tour Down Under starts today, or rather started. Thanks to time differences the race is currently underway. I have to wait for Eurosport to air some highlights later this evening. Should be a good watch.
We have sent a fully Australian squad, i mean we had to, its the only big Aussie race.
Leader: Simon Gerrans 
Free-Role: Cameron Meyer
Sprinter: Allan Davis
Team-Mate: Stuart O'Grady
Team-Mate: Baden Cooke
Team-Mate: Alan Scott
Team-Mate: Leigh Howard
Target: 1st GC and 1 Stage Win
Key Stages: Stage 2 Lobethal-Stirling and Stage 5 Snapper Point-Old Willunga Hill
The rest of the team will be arriving in Europe in the next few days to start final preparations for the season. We go down to Corsica on the 21st for 5 days, then onto Sardinia for a further 5days. Then its onto normal training as the racing gets truly under way.
So what is my role in all this. Simple really. Meet the team and drive the main support car. At least i shouldn't muck that up.
I'll updated you from Corsica with all the camp news and TDU results.
Signing off.
Mikel
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| Daggen |
Posted on 27-12-2012 21:24
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Jesleyh wrote:
Interesting routes, you can be a serious contender in all the GTs I guess.
Oh, and:
Spoiler Yaaaay, Kelderman leads 2 GTs!! 
Does he? |
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| Jesleyh |
Posted on 27-12-2012 21:32
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Daggen wrote:
Jesleyh wrote:
Interesting routes, you can be a serious contender in all the GTs I guess.
Oh, and:
Spoiler Yaaaay, Kelderman leads 2 GTs!!
Does he?
Appearently not. I was 100% sure that the post said that, but TMM didn't edit his post. My eyes betrayed me 
Feyenoord(football) and Kelderman fanboy
PCMdaily Awards: 12x nomination, 9x runner-up, 0x win.
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 27-12-2012 21:38
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Tour de France Champion
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@Jesl - Only the one, but its is the big one! And he could do very well there!
Slight change to Mikel's calendar, he will now DS the Giro instead of 5 Jours and Glava.
Had to race my own GT creation 
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| Daggen |
Posted on 27-12-2012 21:46
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I can't wait to see the giro!  |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 27-12-2012 22:55
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Gerrans is the National Champion once again  |
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 27-12-2012 22:57
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I have only just seen this story after my mini Xmas break! Good luck and a nice idea 
Well done with Gerrans in the AUS NC
.: Manager of :.
.: My Awards :.
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| chris01 |
Posted on 28-12-2012 00:50
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Great way to start the season with a win by Gerrans.
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring.
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| fcancellara |
Posted on 28-12-2012 01:24
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Very nice start, curious what you can do this season
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 28-12-2012 08:45
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Very curious about the Central Europe tour.
Good racing Down Under already! |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 28-12-2012 22:46
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21st January 2013
"Dont' need the Sunshine"
I have arrived in Corsica, with the team, for 5 days of full on training. It could be better if i'm honest. Its pissing it down, and is due too keep raining for 4 of our 5 days here.
At least i get to drive around in the car...
We will get on tomorrow with a simple 150km ride to gauge how the winter has treated the riders. Should be nice and simple. In the evening we've got some teamwork exercise lined up for bonding.
But on with the Tour Down Under.
Stage 1
Both Meyer and O'Grady were in the break for the day. The team rode ok until the final 20kms. The sprint train fell apart, and its clear there is a lot of work to do there.
On the plus side, fellow aussie Mark Renshaw took the stage.
Spoiler | 1 | Mark Renshaw | Rabobank Cycling Team | 2h59'31 | | 2 | Mark Cavendish | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 3 | Tom Veelers | Team Argos - Shimano | s.t. | | 4 | Andrea Guardini | Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | s.t. | | 5 | Matthew Goss | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 6 | John Degenkolb | Team Argos - Shimano | s.t. | | 7 | Arnaud Demare | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 8 | Peter Sagan | Liquigas - Cannondale | s.t. | | 9 | Tyler Farrar | Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 10 | Ben Swift | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 29 | Allan Davis | Orica - GreenEdge | s.t. |
Stage 2
The hilly Sterling stage. Need a good day here to keep the GC hopes alive. O'Grady was again in the break, and Meyer was lively. The team came to the fore on the finishing loops, controlling the race.
Uran, of Sky, attacked early with 2 laps to go, but it proved to be a good move. He won solo.
Gerrans chased well to finish 3rd behinde Jens Voigt of Radioshack.
sorry no official results, but the gap between Uran and Gerrans is 26"
Stage 3
Another day that O'Grady was off the front. Its well known that this is likely to be his final season and he is allowed much freedom on home soil.
Again the sprint train was atrocious, but slightly improved.
The Missile struck home in first for a Sky 1-2 ahead of Gossy.
Spoiler | 1 | Mark Cavendish | Sky Procycling | 2h57'43 | | 2 | Matthew Goss | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 3 | Mark Renshaw | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 4 | Andrea Guardini | Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | s.t. | | 5 | Tom Veelers | Team Argos - Shimano | s.t. | | 6 | Arnaud Demare | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 7 | John Degenkolb | Team Argos - Shimano | s.t. | | 8 | Tyler Farrar | Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 9 | Alessandro Petacchi | Lampre - ISD | s.t. | | 10 | Bernhard Eisel | Team Argos - Shimano | s.t. | | 27 | Allan Davis | Orica - GreenEdge | s.t. |
Stage 4
O'Grady makes it 4 for 4 as if up the road again flying the flag for the team.
No point mentioning the sprint today...
Cavendish makes it 2 in a row
Spoiler | 1 | Mark Cavendish | Sky Procycling | 2h52'13 | | 2 | Arnaud Demare | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 3 | Andrea Guardini | Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | s.t. | | 4 | Tyler Farrar | Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 5 | John Degenkolb | Team Argos - Shimano | s.t. | | 6 | Mark Renshaw | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 7 | Tom Veelers | Team Argos - Shimano | s.t. | | 8 | Matthew Goss | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 9 | Peter Sagan | Liquigas - Cannondale | s.t. | | 10 | Fabio Sabatini | Liquigas - Cannondale | s.t. | | 42 | Allan Davis | Orica - GreenEdge | s.t. |
Today is the Willunga Hill stage. Gerrans will be going all out for the win and we will be watching the highlights with bated breath in the hotel.
I'll let you know how it goes next time i update you. That will be either at the end of this 5 day camp for from the start of the follow up in Sardinia.
Signing off.
Mikel
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 28-12-2012 22:55
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O'Grady seems like he has got some good fitness with him being in the break four days running |
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| Jesleyh |
Posted on 28-12-2012 23:06
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Not much success in the sprint, but a chance to grab the GC.
Also a nice job of O'grady.
Good luck at stage 5
Feyenoord(football) and Kelderman fanboy
PCMdaily Awards: 12x nomination, 9x runner-up, 0x win.
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| chris01 |
Posted on 29-12-2012 00:31
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Good luck at Willunga Hill!
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring.
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 29-12-2012 09:27
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At least the Missile is winning, you don't mind that |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 29-12-2012 22:46
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Tour de France Champion
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27th January 2013
"Rain, Rain, Rain"
No-one can escape the rain! Its everywhere! Seriously...
Starting in Oz. Both stages 5 and 6 were drenched making for some interesting racing.
Stage 5
Old Willunga Hill. As i said, lots of rain, and things got worse from there.
O'Grady was off again attacking! This took the pressure of the team, and forced Sky to work.
Meyer attacked on the first pass and this split the peloton up. However Uran was on fire and danced on the pedals to victory again. Gerrans was just on the wrong side of a split and fell to 5th on GC.
Spoiler | 1 | Rigoberto Urán | Sky Procycling | 3h39'54 | | 2 | Thomas Voeckler | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 3 | Tiago Machado | RadioShack - Nissan | s.t. | | 4 | Moreno Moser | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | | 5 | Rinaldo Nocentini | AG2R La Mondiale | + 15 | | 6 | Sylvain Chavanel | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | s.t. | | 7 | Elia Favilli | Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | s.t. | | 8 | Michael Mørkøv | Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank | s.t. | | 9 | Daniele Bennati | RadioShack - Nissan | s.t. | | 10 | Maarten Tjallingii | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 12 | Cameron Meyer | Orica - GreenEdge | s.t. | | 13 | Simon Gerrans | Orica - GreenEdge | + 29 |
Stage 6
Again an absolute wash-out. No-one could match Sky as Cavendish took another win.
Our sprint was slowly improving, but was still massively underwhelming.
Spoiler | 1 | Mark Cavendish | Sky Procycling | 2h00'45 | | 2 | Andrea Guardini | Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | s.t. | | 3 | Matthew Goss | Sky Procycling | s.t. | | 4 | John Degenkolb | Team Argos - Shimano | s.t. | | 5 | Arnaud Demare | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | 6 | Tyler Farrar | Garmin - Sharp | s.t. | | 7 | Mark Renshaw | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | 8 | Alessandro Petacchi | Lampre - ISD | s.t. | | 9 | Tom Veelers | Team Argos - Shimano | s.t. | | 10 | Bernhard Eisel | Team Argos - Shimano | s.t. | | 23 | Allan Davis | Orica - GreenEdge | s.t. |
Final GC
Spoiler | 1 | Rigoberto Urán | Sky Procycling | 18h08'02 | | 2 | Moreno Moser | BMC Racing Team | + 40 | | 3 | Thomas Voeckler | Rabobank Cycling Team | + 46 | | 4 | Jens Voigt | RadioShack - Nissan | + 1'03 | | 5 | Simon Gerrans | Orica - GreenEdge | + 1'05 | | 6 | Sylvain Chavanel | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | + 1'07 | | 7 | Niki Terpstra | Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team | + 1'16 | | 8 | Oscar Gatto | Farnese Vini - Selle Italia | + 1'21 | | 9 | Ben King | RadioShack - Nissan | s.t. | | 10 | Rinaldo Nocentini | AG2R La Mondiale | + 1'26 |
So, not a great race but much better than the team managed last season. Solid start, with riders showing the expected form at this stage of the season.
Man of the Race: Mark Cavendish (Sky)
Orica of the Race: Stuart O'Grady
Team of the Race: Team Sky ProCycling
Right, moving on to Corsica. All it did was rain there as well. All 5 days of the camp were damp, if not wet. Glad i had a car roof and a heater.
The first day was a simple 150k ride with a few hills just to see what stage the riders were at. Kittel was showing well as was Impey. Keukeleire was lagging abit, but nothing to worry about. We all had a laugh in the evening with some team building exercises.
Day 2 and 3 were all about going up hill. Of course Purito was in a class of his own, but Weening was very impressive as well.
Day 4 we decided to test early season TT form. The morning we split the team into 5 man groups and ran some TTT's over 20k. In the afternoon we ran a series of ITT's. We would send a rider off, then 30" later a chaser. The goal was to catch the rider ahead. Great fun with some interesting results.
The final day we decided to shake it up with some MTBing. Clarke and Kruopis were good, Cooper not so much.
It was a fun camp and we got all the data we needed off the riders about their form and training. Shayne was looking happy enough with the results.
I spent most evening chatting with Robbie McEwen about how to run a race from the car. He gave some good advice which i hope to put into practice.
Now, as i said, we are down on Sardinia. Another 5 days of training as final preparation for the season. Slightly different plan for these 5 days. Each DS will take an 8 man team. Basically we have a 5 day stage race around the island. I get to work with Kelderman, Impey, Lancaster, Dean, Hepburn, Bewley and Cooper. Should be fun.
Finally the teams for Qatar and Oman have been announced.
Leader: Marcel Kittel 
Free-Role: Simon Clarke
Team-Mate: Daryl Impey 
Team-Mate: Svein Tuft 
Team-Mate: Richard England
Team-Mate: Sam Bewley 
Target: Qatar - 1st Points, Top5 GC. Oman - 1st Points, Top10 GC.
Key Stages: Qatar - Stage 2 Lusail TTT. Oman - Stage 5 Summit Finish
Signing off.
Mikel
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 29-12-2012 22:53
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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Kittel will definitely take a stage in Qatar, at least one!!
At least the team scores some nice points in Australia, that's the main thing |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 29-12-2012 23:38
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Tour de France Champion
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O'Grady certainly deserved the Orica of the race
And a nice GC finish for Gerrans |
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| TheManxMissile |
Posted on 30-12-2012 00:05
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 18187
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2nd February 2013
"If you want the rainbow..."
You've got to put up with the rain.
Yep, five more days of rain in Sardinia. Getting used to it now actually. Still, i hope it stops in time for some racing. The guys need a break.
Just to update you on the final 5 day camp. As you know this was broken down into a 5 day race around the island. Quick reminder of the 8 guys in my control: Kelderman, Impey, Lancaster, Dean, Hepburn, Bewley and Cooper.
Day 1. A simple flatish day. A chance for Kittel to show he is the teams lead sprinter. Of course everyone else tried to mess it up for him, but Marcel has some class.
Day 2. A rolling day of hills. Purito broke away with Gerrans and Van Avermaet. Kelderman was the best of my lot about 2'00 behind the trio.
Day 3. Another rolling day. Again that trio took the honors, but Kelderman was closer, only 45" behind.
Day 4. A long ITT. Today Kelderman came good. Actually taking 3rd on the leader table.
Day 5. Another rolling day. Van Avermaet took it and the win. Kelderman held onto the 3rd position.
A lot of fun and a great way to learn to DS. Plus the guys took a lot from it aswell.
My next action is the Clasica Almeria at the end of the month. My first time as a DS in competition. It should be fun.
Of course both Qatar and Oman are first, and i'll let you know how they went in a blog just before Almeria.
Signing off.
Mikel
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 30-12-2012 09:40
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Can't wait for Clasica Almeria!! |
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![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
