Cool calendar!
As you know I'm not really that picky when it comes to choosing terrain, but I just wanted to give you a few thoughts along the way as to what would make me really happy...
As an aggressive rider I think Langkawi would be a good fit as it's a relly long race and thus breakaways tend to have better chances than in shorter races.
And then I would really like to try a few cobbles, so I hope you'll send me to Strade Bianche. Marseillaise and Indorain could be other good races for a guy like me.
Off course it's up to you as the boss, but I feel like I'm still to young for the toughest WT-races. Since the team races both P-N and T-A I completely understand if you want to throw me into action in one of these and I promise you I will fight with all I have to help the team.
It seems my thrills about getting a pro contract was a bit premature. The boss haven't been seen for more than two weeks and no one has told us riders anything.
Luckily the UCI have decided that if we tell them what races we want to race they will make sure we get signed up - that would never have happened in the old UCI!
So I would like to race these races in the early season: GP La Marsaillaise Le Tour de Langkawi Strade Bianche GP Indorain
It seems my thrills about getting a pro contract was a bit premature. The boss haven't been seen for more than two weeks and no one has told us riders anything.
Luckily the UCI have decided that if we tell them what races we want to race they will make sure we get signed up - that would never have happened in the old UCI!
So I would like to race these races in the early season: GP La Marsaillaise Le Tour de Langkawi Strade Bianche GP Indorain
A Total of 13 race days
I scratched out Strade, as it overlaps with Langkawi. And no, you can't board a supersonic aircraft and fly back to Italy just in time to start the race.
I'm just back after an amazing race in France. Still no one has heard from the manager, but the UCI let us start anyway. That is me, Benedetti, Dempster, Jarc, Kluge and Rowsell.
Without the manager we had no one to build complicated tactics and assign roles, so we went with "rock, scissors, paper" and guess what: I won the right to bear number 1 on our team. Not that it really matters, but still it's cool to race my first race with the lowest number!
Anyway when the racing got going so did I. In fact I went so early that I was almost hit by the commissaires flag!
With the high likelyhood of the team folding after the season we all have to show ourselves to potential new teams. And I did so by constantly attacking until I finally got away along with a bunch of other guys.
We kept getting company from the back and in the end we were a rather large group. I even got a few good stories from Sven Nys about some of his wins in cyclo-cross. He's a great rider and I hope I can use some of his tips when finishing a race from the break some day.
Not today though as several big names like Voeckler joins us from the back in the final part of the race. Still finishing 18th in the favourites group in my first pro-race ever is more than I had dreamt of! Much more!!
I started the Tour de Langkawi today and I was so excited to be making my pro debut that I couldn't help myself, I had to attack straight away. I know the boss told me to wait for the sprint but I just had to attack, it's more my style. I was only joined by one guy, Kovalev, but I had him for breakfast (), so I will be wearing the KoM jersey tomorrow (probably the only one I'll ever wear!).
Hopefully, I will get another chance later in the race but maybe somebody else will get a go tomorrow. Maybe our Swedish friend Hagg will give it a go.
They say this is one of the races with the weakest startlist, and we probably have to admit that we are one of the weakest teams there on paper. So our goal was to mess things up. I personally hoped to get in a few breakaways and perhaps even trying to take the KOM jersey.
On the first stage Dermot did just what I had hoped to do, but I finished as the best rider on the team.
On the second stage I just didn’t have the legs to attack, so I stayed in the peloton making sure Dermot didn’t have to waste energy fetching bottles and could focus on the sprint. He finished 9th, so that was very nice!
Stage three and four went pretty much as stage 2 except Dermot wasn’t as fast in the finish.
Stage 5 was the big GC deciding mountain stage, so I had to work instead of chasing breakaways. José and Ioannis did their best, but wasn’t able to get in to the top 10.
On stage 6 I managed to get into a break. Unfortunately Orica – Greenedge and Bardiani didn’t like us and reeled us in. After we fought hard to establish I didn’t have the juice needed to follow the next attacks. Annoying as the peloton suddenly decided that the break could get as a big a gap as they wanted. Really annoying that they couldn’t have let the first one go instead.
So after having gotten myself a bit worked up about stage 6 I went in the break again on stage 7. And this time there was no catching me!
Well actually they did but not before right on the line and I’m extremely happy to have gotten a 3rd place here.
On stage 8 I rested my legs in the peloton. Good thing McEvoy could take care of the attacking then getting the team another podium.
On the last stage I just helped keeping Dermot in the front group in the finish. The peloton split to pieces and both I and Dermot were where we should. The Australian just wasn’t fast/fresh enough to do anything more.
All in all I’m very happy with my 3rd place as well as finishing in the best half of the GC.
Well, I'm finally back from Malaysia, it's a different world with the heat and humidity. I'm now in Britain and it's not warm, let's put it that way! So, in my last, brief update, I told you that I had got into the breakaway on stage one. If you can't remember, here's the proof again!
So, I got to wear the KoM jersey for a day, which may be the first and last one I ever wear! On the second stage, I took it much easier, sitting in the bunch all day, waiting for the sprint. I had no idea what it would be like at this level but I did after this stage. Fast! But I was just running on adrenaline and I got 9th place! You can see me in the red jersey in this shot, taken 500 metres from the end. I was delighted with that.
After this crazy start, I had to calm down. The more experienced guys were reminding me of the first rule of professional cycling: Don't waste energy. There are ten stages and I need to make it to the end, so I survived the mountains, finding a nice grupetto way out the back and making it to the end. Man, these guys climb quickly! I spent a lot of time with Brammeier and Stauff on the climbs. They're cool guys. Unfortunately, the team had a pretty bad time in the mountains, so morale wasn't great but I have to say I didn't really care, I was just enjoying riding my first pro race .
So for the remaining stages, there was a lot of pressure on us to get something from this race and we knew breakaways would be our best chance. Unfortunately, Heimdal got in one on stage six but that got brought back and then another breakaway (which we missed ) made it all the way. By 10 and a half minutes!! Heimdal was really angry and upset afterwards but we all told him to use the anger for the next day, which he did.
He finished 3rd, so close! it wasn't a bunch sprint though, even though it looked like it. He was in a group of six that just made it to the line ahead of the sprinters. Stage 8 went even better for the team and was definitely the highlight of the race for us. McEvoy got into the break and finished 2nd as they made it to the end again. And just behind them, I finished 4th (!!) in the bunch sprint. Only Brookes, Howard and Guardini beat me as I came 7th. I was ecstatic.
Another breakaway made it on stage 9, but we weren't in it. I was 8th in the bunch sprint this time, 12th on the stage. Then, on the final stage, McEvoy got into the break but the peloton were riding so goddamn fast, they almost killed everyone. A lot of riders got dropped in the strong winds and I was giving it everything just to stay in there. Heimdal was helping me out a lot aswell. A couple of climbers beat me in the sprint, that's how tired I was, but I was delighted to have finished such a long race with still some decent legs.
I would just like to say a massive thanks to Johnny and Heimdal, who looked after me throughout the race and hopefully we get the chance to ride together again soon.
Looking forward to getting under some less absent management.
I have already spoken a bit with our new manager to convince him to sign up for the team and I feel certain he will be great for us. At least he will definetely be around more...
Team NetApp – Endura is proud to announce that former Austrian cyclist Peter Luttenberger will take over the team as Team Manager.
Following the departure of Michael Boogerd, the Team has seen months without a true manager. The dutch cycling veteran joined Team NetApp – Endura recently but disappeared from the public after heavy doping allegations came to the surface. Michael Boogerd stated in one of his interviews, that he “has never really seen it as something wrong”, meaning to dope and to cheat. Regardless of Team NetApp – Endura’s stand against doping, it is obvious that the team cannot function without a team manager. In combination of both events, Team NetApp – Endura has sent Boogerd’s family the official letter of dismissal, though the dutch manager will have a chance to get back on the team as a co-manager if he explains himself and wishes to join the team once again.
In the end, it all went rather quick after Peter Luttenberger brought in his name to join the german Pro Continental Team NetApp – Endura. The former Austrian cyclists made a name for himself in the 90ies, where his biggest win was without a doubt the overall victory in the Tour de Suisse 1996. In the same year, he also finished 5th at Tour de France. If anybody is wondering about Luttenberger’s quality as a rider, you should know that he would have won the Tour de France 1996 if the four proven doped riders hadn’t participated. Though being an acclaimed climber, Luttenberger reassured everyone that Team NetApp - Endura will maintain its mix of different specialisations in the coming years and that he has learned enough from his former teammates such as Fabian Cancellara to allow riders of any trait to flourish.
Peter Luttenberger alongside Alex Zülle and Miguel Indurain.
Of course, appointing a team manager of the 90ies, the time of the dark Armstrong & Festina years, is not without risk, as Team NetApp – Endura already learned the hard way in the last months. Albeit there were never any kinds of doping allegations against Luttenberger, recently an anonymous teammate of his at Rabobank, stated that he has seen Luttenberger use blood centrifuges, when he was a roommate of his. Luttenberger was quick to denounce these allegations though.
At the press conference, Luttenberger said: “I don’t know, who made this interview, but these statements are not true.” In an interview with De Telegraaf he mentioned earlier, that he has been even criticized by the Rabobank team management to not want to work with their team doctor Geert Leinders. Additionately, Luttenberger was keen on always being alone in his hotel room, thus never actually having a roommate and giving the anonymous source no real claim to his allegations. Luttenberger jokingly added: “Maybe that source mixed up the names. It’s been quite a lot of years since then and there were quite a lot of riders. Maybe he was sour that I seemed to be the only one whose name wasn’t tarnished.”
“We have checked with the former Rabobank team management and they confirmed his truthful story”, stated Ralph Denk, founder and owner of Team NetApp – Endura. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be sitting here today if we think that Luttenberger cheated in the past.” Upon a further question of a journalist, Denk confirmed that the rumour that there is a clause in the contract which will dismiss Luttenberger. However Denk stated, that this clause was mutually agreed upon. “We know what it means when a former cyclist says, that his conscience is clear or that he has never cheated, so there you go – I say it: I never doped”, reassured Luttenberger. He was also keen to announce that the team is very strict against doping and all sorts of cheating, and that its membership of the Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Crédible is a sign for any legit riders that they should trust in the team.
Upon the question, which riders he is especially keen to meet and train, Luttenberger said: “Well, we obviously have a very multi-national team, euro-centric, and I think it’s a good mix. I can’t say too much about the riders yet, but I look forward to meeting all of them. The czech riders Leopold König and Jan Bárta are well-established. We have a good german block in the team with riders like Paul Voss, but will hope to expand on it in the future, and our scottish sponsor Endura has allowed us to make us more attractive for the great british talents that are in our team. We also have some very hopeful young spirits and I look especially forward to help them develop and gain success in the world of pro cycling, like Hägg, Dimitriou or Walker.”
In a further question how he would rate NetApp – Endura’s season so far, Luttenberger was reluctant to give a comment and wanted to first take a deep look at everything. Expect further information in the coming days though. However, he already said, that some of the results he has seen, were quite optimistic. “I think the team has a mix of everything. Some guys have shown that they can really hold up in a bunch sprint, something I was never good at [he laughs]. Others have shown a great spirit getting into breakaways. Sometimes results don’t reflect the situation of a team at all.”
Peter Luttenberger lives in Austria with his wife and two children, though he will move to Bavaria in the coming weeks. He previously lived in Monaco during his professional career. He has a private vineyard in Austria and he invites all his cyclists to join him in the first break of the season in order for them to get to know their new team manager. “Just don’t get too drunk, boys, we will have a tough season ahead of us”, he stated as his last sentence in the press conference. Luttenberger's motto on the official website is Ride Your Dreams, and for him, clearly this was a dream come true - to once more be a part of the Pro Cycling circuit.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Team NetApp - Endura has agreed to a deal with notorious Journalist X. The reporter has made a name for himself by his coverage of Gora Euskadi! in a parallel universe (or at least he claims that), and will look to improve the team's recognition around the world. He will be responsible for Team NetApp - Endura's summary of race reports and provide coverage on anything that may sell a few more newspapers. We are pleased to get him on board, and advise anyone upfront that "X will mark the spot".Edited by Shonak on 05-01-2014 13:51
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
We can confirm that Hägg and Walker will both race their wished races (GP Indurain, Volta Limburg). Since both races are on the same day, we will focus on Volta Limbug since it's one of our season goals and we will sent a total of 8 riders to it.
We are confident that Heimdall, along with the others, will deliver a worthy performance of our team, and most riders are free to take their chances at GP Indurain of course. Heimdall’s great competitive spirit at Tour de Langwaki has surely impressed us so far.
As for Volta Limburg, we sent a team of good sprinters into the race. We will see who has the best legs and a Top 10 result is highly necessary. Given that we expect tough competition, we feel it is wise to throw everything into this race. We will have both riders for a break and a potential sprint. Seeing as you, Walker, have already achieved some very nice Top 10 results, we are confident that you may just be our man for the final sprint. Alongside Jarc, Schorn and Kluge you four could become an impeccable, dynamic sprint quartet.
Unlike requested, Ioannis Dimitriou will participate in GP Indurain too, which we think is wise, since the route should suit him very well. His total of race days will thereby be 20 at the end of the first season part. Ioannis has only raced stage races so far and we think it is good to see his potential in one-day races too. Due to the current lack of information about Tour of Oman, we also feel this is an opportunity to assess his abilities further. Please inform us if you don’t agree with our decision though, Ioannis.
Best regards,
Peter Luttenberger
Volta Limburg Classic
GP Indurain
Dermot Walker
Heimdal Hägg
Daniel Schorn
David de la Cruz
Jan Barta
Andreas Schillinger
Scott Thwaites
Alexander Wetterhall
Blaz Jarc
Ioannis Dimitriou
Roger Kluge
Michael Schwarzmann
Zakkari Dempster
Bartosz Huzarski
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Great new boss. I'm really looking forward to the race ans I hope to have the legs needed to pick up some points for the team.
I know from GP la Marsaillaise that it's possible if I just keep on fighting till the end. Also I'm happy to ride alongside my fellow countryman Wetterhall.
I'll get right on packing so I'll have my bags ready when I get the call to get on the plane. Or perhaps I should just get on my bike and start riding towards Spain?
That's the spirit, Heimdal. But since we don't want you to fall of your bike already at the starting line, we will organize of course everything.
Keep the idea with Spain in mind though, we might be able to use it as a publicity stunt for a possible wildcard application for Vuelta d'Espana.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Thanks to the organizers at Volta Ciclista a Catalunya we managed to shake up our squad a bit in last minute and brought in some new names. Reason for that, well - I honestly don't know, seemed like Peter Luttenberger wasn't satisfied with the pick.
In an over-night attempt, we went straight from calling the organizers and convincing them to change the squad to waking up some of the guys and without even checking twice got them their plane tickets. I met them at the airport in Barcelona and they were all rather sleepy. “You guys really don’t respect nighttime, eh?”, told me Schwarzmann and he looked sleepy and I could just imagine him still wearing pyjamas but at least he got his cycling clothes with him. He didn’t look quite too excited for racing.
“Plans changed”, I explained him and that he should deal with it. “You are in form, right? And you need racing practice and more than anything you should be honoured to participate in such an event. What’s up with all these modern wishy-washy cyclists?”, I asked him and then I remembered that I could sleep a few hours in the team car.
The full-line up for Volta Ciclista a Catalunya includes:
Leopold König
David de la Cruz
Bartosz Huzarski
Blaz Jarc
Robert Kluge
Andreas Schillinger
Michael Schwarzmann
Markus Eichler
Further reports will follow. Stay tuned. And by the way, I feel like I’m settling in.
Yours,
X
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Because our NetApp servers crashed (but hey – the company supplies high quality-equipment, they just sent us some old machines that didn’t even work properly to start with) and a nasty virus blocks us from accessing Tour of Oman (we suspect Garmin-Sharp behind this nasty attack!), we bring you a not-yet complete overview of the race days of our riders and some worthwhile results along the way. I sure had to make some overtime under the dictatorship of… I mean, careful watch of Peter Luttenberger, but hey – I got to read some quality reports and that’s after all my daily bread as an underpaid cycling journalist. Expect larger segments on Tour de San Luis and Volta Ciclista a Catalunya soon. Big shout-out to Heimdal Hägg too, who helped getting through the mess left behind by Boogerd. If the boy hadn't such a talent for cycling he'd make a great addition to our office staff.
GP La Marsaillaise
Le Tour de Langkawi
Strade Bianche
GP Indorain
Tour of Oman
Volta Limburg Classic
), so I will be wearing the KoM jersey tomorrow (probably the only one I'll ever wear!).
.
) made it all the way. By 10 and a half minutes!! Heimdal was really angry and upset afterwards but we all told him to use the anger for the next day, which he did.
