@Wogsrus Cheers mate, nice to know you'll be following along
@Ian Agreed, we'd secretly hoped for a stage win but his form wasn't great and we're happy with a top2
@Miguel thought you'd be pleased to see the portuguese stage win
Stage 2 saw a moderately complex par cours, though it was very much expected to come down to a sprint finish. Our man for the day was Ed Clancy, and the inention was to build a 4 man train for him at the finish.
We chose not to contest for a spot in this mornings breakaway. 5 men went clear and contested the mountain sprints, with the Australian Bernard Sulzberger becoming the first KotM.
Spoiler
1
Bernard Sulzberger
Drapac Cycling
17
2
Alejandro Marque Porto
OFM - Quinta da Lixa
10
3
Ian Bibby
Madison Genesis
9
4
Omar Lombardi
Utensilnord - Ora24.eu
2
5
Jesús Del Pino
Burgos BH - Castilla y León
1
The day had a moderate number of climbing metres in the first portion of the day, It fell to Daniel Lloyd to protect our leader as the peloton made it's passage over the climbs.
It quickly became clear that no team really wanted to take up the chase, so once we'd got over the worst of the days climbs, we sent several riders to the front, and began to eat into the breaks lead.
1 final monster turn on the front from Felix English was enough to get us back on level terms with 17km to the line, the stage seemed to be coming down to the sprint we'd been hoping for.
In the shelter of the peloton we constructed a train with 9km to go.
Grivell-Mellor --> Hammond --> Lloyd --> Clancy
After Lukes effort to get us to the front of the peloton, Roger Hammond took over at the front of the peloton. He shows how big a part he can play for this year with a great 4km turn, handing over to Daniel Lloyd with just 2.8km to ride.
Despite several guys going around him, Ed decided to make use of Dan's great leadout and save his powder for the final 800m...
Sadly, he didn't quite find the speed he needed to overcome his rivals today, and had to make do with 5th place. Never the less it's a strong result, and enough to move just 1point behind in the points classification.
Post Race Comments - Mike Pye
Well, we may not have quite got the result that we wanted today, but 5th is a good result for Ed, especially as we're still fine tuning that leadout train. (Let's face it, 2 of the guys involved today have been in the team for less than 3 weeks!) We're hopeful that we can grab a stage win before the end of the race, and keep Ed in the top 10 GC.
@All Firstly sorry for the short delay, I decided that I shouldn't really go starting another story whilst still having one on the run, so I finished off the Underdog Tour over the last few days for a sense of completion. Now however i'm back and ready to truly get going with Rapha - Condor - JLT
Stage 3 in New Zealand saw torrential rain conditions which made it hard for a breakaway to form. After 40km of riding a 4 man group had 20" advantage, though our british rivals UK Youth were keeping the pace high and limiting all efforts to breakaway.
Eventually 5 men did get away. The earlier 4 were joined by Hayakawa of Nippo and managed to take the lead over three minutes.
Being unsure of how well Clancy would manage the climbs during todays stage, we opted not to take charge of the pace. Our spot was filled by both UKyouth, and Madison-Genesis, who kept the group pegged at just over 3minutes.
However, our fears were entirely without need, the pace was never pushed to high, and Clancy was able to hold his own near the front of the pack all the way over the climbs.
With the climbs negotiated, we along with several other sprinters teams sent men to the front, and the 5 man group of Hayakawa, Duchesne, Torres, Guldhammer and Zamparella quickly saw their lead begin to drop.
With 7.5km to the line and our train in full swing, we finally made the catch of the break. Grivell-Mellor was pulling on the front of our leadout, in the same formation as yesterday. (G-M, Hammond, Lloyd, Clancy)
With 4km to go we had the front line. Hammond was giving it everything to maintain the slight advantage we had, whilst Eckhouts SeanKelly team had failed to sort a leadout, leaving their man on the Cult train.
Sadly however, Clancy missed out once more in the sprint, as Reihs of Cult-Energy took victory. Ed managed 7th place, but just didn't seem to have the pace in his legs at the death.
Post Race Comments
Well we're still building form here, it'd be nice to grab a stage win before we get to the end of the race, but we're still working on finetuning some of the more complex points. When you have new guys join the team it can take a while to gel perfectly, we hope that Dan, Roger, Ed and Luke can work it out before the final stage, as a good result there could reclaim the points jersey.
Just 1 thing, try using less pictures,since you will probably have huge calendar. Its on you,but this is just for faster progression. Great layout ,btw.
@Sutty we're giving it a good go, the boys are still trying to gel together at the moment, we've got bigger hopes for slightly later in the season
After limited success in the sprints so far in the race. We decided this morning to try and get a man into the break. 18year old Hugh Carthy volunteered before the race, and tried to light it up right from the off.
9 men managed to escape, sadly despite his best efforts Carthy couldn't match the pace in the break, and was forced to drop back on the days 1 of 2 Cat.4 climbs.
With 41km remaining in the stage, we had a reshuffle and 4 men remained out in front. We're still leaving the chase up to UK Youth, who seem happy to control the speed for their fast man Ian Wilkinson. As a result Clancy is being gifted an easy ride, and we can keep back the majority of our domestiques
With just 25km remaining in the stage, Eckhouts Sean Kelly team have taken control and reduced the lead to just 32"
With Luke not feeling great all day, we opted to form later, but go with a 3 man train of Hammond, Lloyd, Clancy. At 6.5km we come to the fore, trailed by Wilkinson.
A promising leadout from Hammond falls to pieces at the first handover, and Clancy has been left with it all to do at 1.1km remaining...
[img]A promising leadout from Hammond falls to pieces at the first handover, and Clancy has been left with it all to do at 1.1km remaining...[/img]
A disappointing finish to what looked a promising stage. Ed didn't get the much needed leadout, and can only claw his way back to 10th place on this penultimate stage.
Post Race Catchup with Ed Clancy
MP: Ed, what happened there? It was looking good with 1700m to go!
EC: I don't know, Roger got us into a strong position, but then when he tried to hand over to Daniel, he just couldn't match the pace. I tried to come around, but I was too far out, and he was blocking my line.
MP: We'll work on it Ed, it's early days, there's plenty of time before we get to the Premier Calendar and Halfords Tour.
EC: I know, I think he was just having an off day, whatever the reason is, we need to have a look at it, I need a quicker final man in the train, or I'm going to have to go following rival trains...
Despite Ed clearly not being happy as he rolled away following the race finale, I as DS am feeling pretty happy with the teams performance. We've had a collection of Top10 and hold 4 in the GC. Tomorrow will be the decisive day, where we make or break this race.
