We have decided to skip Tour of California, instead we are training and focusing on Giro del Capo (South Africa).
Giro Del Capo 1/5
139.5 km flat. Hopefully my sprinters can do well here. Early breakaway comes to nothing. Crash with 10km to go splits the pack, no front runners are affected.
Downing wins, Goss is 3rd, Woolridge is 6th
Ford and Clarke were too tired to sprint.
Stage 2/5
Goss and Higgerson are the hopes for this.
Over the final hill. 1 leader with Higgerson in an 8 man chase group. Goss is in the main peleton.
The group is caught during the descent. Higgerson is 4th.
Goss is now 5th overal
Stage 3/5
Another hilly stage. Again hopes are for Goss and Higgerson.
Goss falls out of the peleton on the early climbs. Higgerson is left alone in the lead group. Attacks start on the 2nd last climb, Higgerson cannot respond.
Rutieskiw, who is yellow jersey wearer is in the lead, with people spread out everywere. Higgerson is in an 11 man group 1:28 back.
Sponsors want us to old the points jersey for at least one day. I think this is unlikely but i will give it a go, especially with a few good Pro teams attending.
Stage 1/6 207 kms flat.
3 Early breakaways and ofcourse the one i do not get in, gets away 93km to go and Ford gets dropped. With 35km to go both Clarks struggle. McConnell also gets dropped.
Hopefully Goss can sprint ok. Goss cracks and the sprint is won by Clerc from Averson. McConnell lost 4:30!
1st mountain stage. Hopefully Higgerson and McConell can go well.
The field got shattered on the 1st climb. Only Higgerson and McConnell remain for us in the lead group. 6 people are out in front. On the final climb the peleton drops from 40 to 19 and both of my riders fall back.
3 man break away still has 1:30 on thelast downhill, will they survive?
Hesjedal wins ahead of Van Den Broeak. The peleton is almost 2 minutes back
Stage 5/6
We got McConnell into an early 9 man break away.
McConnell in a 3 man group which has 10 minutes on the peleton with only 40kms to go.
McConnell hits the wall shortly after this. Can he hold on for any decent position?
Zaugg solos from Garrido (who survived from the initial escape). McConnell tires to 20th.
Stage 6/6
An early break away (which i could not get in again) that was never chased.
Schwab wins, Goss sprints into 7th.
Overall:
Higgerson 30th
McConnell 37th
Next race will be Tour De Qinghai Lake in China in mid July. (I am trying to keep the schedule realistic and also not overwork my young riders).
Woolridge and Dawson are our main hopes for this stage.
The stage ends in a mass sprint. Dawson was 3rd, Wooldridge was 5th. Dawson takes young rider jersey.
Stage 2/9
145km
Clarke got into an early 9 man breakaway and won the mountain sprint. Dawson and Woolridge got dropped on the climb.
The break away had 2:43 with 19km left and the lead was building.
Clarke gets ousprinted by Van Rensburg, main pack is 1:54 back. Clarke is now 3rd overall and the leader of the young rider.
Stage 3/9 121.2km flat
Another break away, another chase that struggles. The break away gets to 4:40 with 20km to go. Everyone expect for Clarke is too tired to sprint. The break away will win the stage.
Filip Simonei wins. The break away won by 3:40 and now own the top 5 spots.
Stage 4/9 152.km a slight hill at the end but otherwise flat
Sulzberger gets in an early 9 man break away, can it stay away as well? The pack starts to chase it but it will be close. 4 min gap with 26km to go. Looks like it will work.
Dominguez wins. The peleton is 3:21 back. Sulzberger was 4th.
I took a gamble here and put Lloyd in an early break away. Hopefully he can get a nice lead and break free on the final climb for a solo.
Lloyd tries to break free on the climb but is caught. He is part of a 5 man group that has 5 minutes on the peleton at the start of the descent.
With 2.5km Llyod is left with just 1 other rider. Can he do it?
Nope he is piped at the line.
Llloyd moves to 9th overall, +1.44
Stage 6/9 112km 1 big long climb and then a descent
After the 1st climb only one person is in the lead, over 5 minutes ahead. Interesting McConnell falls out of the 1st group.
Quinziato solos. McConnell and Lloyd are 3:26 back. Lloyd moves into 4th overall.
Stage 7/9
Objective now is to keep Lloyd up the classifaction and move McConnell up as well.
McConnell gets in an early break away, this time however it gets chased. It does not work and they get caught on the penultimate slope.
Lloyd gets another 2nd place and stays in 4th place overall. McConnell 21st 4:37 back and drops to 29th overall
Stage 8/9 Mountain
Another succesful break away. They gain 5mins and puish Lloyd back to 5th overall.
Stage 9/9 Flat with a slight hill
Will it be another break away? We launched many attacks early but none worked. When i coudl attack no more, a break away got away with the person 8th in the GC (grr). As was typical this tour, it got away.
Disaster Dawson and Lloyd fall near the end. Lucky it made no difference and he still came 5th.
I am keeping my entire team for next season and have added the following cyclists:
Ricky Smith, AUS, 19, sprinter
Ken Hargill, USA, 20, climber
(yes a non Australian, there will be a few).
I am in negotations with other riders, but have yet to commit.
Vuelta a Colombia Pilsen stage 1/15
19.8km ITT
Winner
Stage 2/15
144km flat.
Early 3 man break away gets caught with 15km to go. Ford however starts to tire.
Are sprinters tire and do not get anywere good. Ford is still overall leader, Woolridge is 4th.
Stage 3/15
Hopefully Meadley and Goss can do well here. Hutchinson is now unhappy so that makes him getting good results harder, he ahs been a disappointment this season.
An early break away has 2:30 at the start of the final climb, can they hold on? No they get caught with 7km to go. Goss and Medley crack with a few kms to go as the attacks start.
Mizorov wins. Meadley is now the best for us 21st overall.
New Signing Updates:
Fred Smeltz, 18, AUS, sprinter
Chris Sutton, 21, AUS, sprinter from COFIDIS
John Lee Augustyns, 19, RSA. future stage winner
Steven Cummings, 25, GBR, a great pickup for us. Solid all rounder and will make a great leader for our young team.
Stage 4/15
101km, basically flat
Olman gets into a 5 man break away. The break away survives.
Olman on the line
Woolridge was 6th, Goss 9th
Stage 5/15
Big Mountain stage.
Attacks came on the penultimate climb, we could not do anything but watch them. Everyone finishes along way down.
Stage 6/15
160km flat stage at high altitude
1 man break away allowed us to get alot of sprint points. All sprinters are ideally placed for the finish.
I have low hopes for this stage. Meadley gets in an initial 5 man break away. They built over a 10 minute lead by the end of the descent. 16km to go and the group becomes 2 with 3:44 lead.
Meadley easily outsprints his opponent and wins. Goss stays with the main pack, the rest are dropped.
Signed Kirlo Popseov, 30, UKR, will lead the team in mountain events and add experience.
Tour of Britain Stage 1/6
Early 12 man break away with J Clarke in it. They get a 7 minute lead which the peleton finds hard to reel in. They stay away and Jonathan Clarke wins by almost 3 minutes.
Stage 2/6
Hilly again. Early 3 man break away gets cuaght right at the end. It is a bunch sprint. Only woolridge is in any shape to sprint for us. Bonomi takes it for Barloworld. Woolridge is 2nd.
93km to go and Ford gets dropped. With 35km to go both Clarks struggle. McConnell also gets dropped.
