Individual Time Trial

It's a day before official first race of this season, National Championship ITT for Aussies and Kiwis. Our guys are prepared, ,but we really don't expect anything big from this race since we'll try to focus on Road Race, few days later. ITT is 40 kilometers long, and pan flat.



Here is list of favourites for this race:

Name	Team
Sam Bewley	Orica - GreenEdge
Jack Bauer	Garmin
Jesse Sergent	RadioShack

Road Race

4 days after Individual Time Trial, Road Race will take the place. We're definitely looking forward to it and we think we can do something big there, from breakaway , of course. Profile isn't too hard and it's repeating for 12 times. Only problem for us is that steep short climb, but we'll see what we can do.



You can check favourites list right below this post:

Greg Henderson	Lotto - Belisol
Hayden Roulston	RadioShack
Michael Northey	Node 4 - Giordana

Startlist

Starlist for these National Championship races isn't really big, with only 24 guys starting in both races. However, our team has most guys over here, and that should be nice advantage.



See ya on race, Manager of Node4 - Admir.

admirschleck wrote:
Dippofix - Yes, in the middle of summer. But as i said , it's January and guys are preparing for start of season.

Individual Time Trial

Williamson (N4G) is first on the start, as the worst ITT rider over here, on paper. 2nd rider on the start is also from our team. It's Van Uden (N4G) actually.



With small chances to even get TOP10, they started. 20 not important guys started after them, none of them could actually win. Finally, it's time for favourites and our best TT rider, Rodger (N4G). He had really bad day and after he finished his race, he was 9th on board. That was quite bad for his skills/form. Just bad day for him.



As i already said, we were aware of our small chances there , so it was not surprise. It's time for favourites. Bewley (OGE) is first one of them to start. He's so focused and he's looking really good, almost not moving on his bike and has perfect position. This can't be bad.



And yes. He finished with 1'30" advantage over 2nd guy at that point. Still 2 more guys to come. Can he keep lead and win this? Bauer (GAR) is next one! Nice body shape, but he looks exhausted somehow. Seems like pre-season training was just too hard for him.



And it was true. He finished 45 seconds behind Bewley (OGE). Sam's on great way to win this! Only one more guy. One of most promising timetrial talents in the world, Jesse Sergent (RLT).



Just perfect ride from him as always, but it seems like he is not in shape. Don't forget that he's aiming for 2nd part of season. Anyway, as it was expected, he finished 22 seconds behind Bewley (OGE) and we got new New Zealandian ITT champion!

1	Sam Bewley	Orica - GreenEdge	55'57
2	Jesse Sergent	RadioShack - Leopard	+ 22
3	Jack Bauer	Garmin - Sharp	+ 45
4	Jeremy Vennell	Bissell Cycling	+ 1'38
5	Hayden Roulston	RadioShack - Leopard	+ 1'45

---

Road Race



After bad ITT, it's now our time. We have most guys in this small group of 24 riders, so we tried to use that in best way for us. Pretty strange tactic for us, but it was final decision. We had 3 guys in breakaway and actually no one decided to follow that. Guys at the front of the race are: Van Uden (N4G), Barry (N4G), Rodger (N4G).



Surprisingly , no one decided to follow or chase that. Seems like we have this! At some point advantage reached 20 minutes, so it was definitely over. But who's going to win this? We have solution! Team got deal that Van Uden (N4G) will work all the time, and that he'll actually attack on last hill and win this. And it was like that.



It's only routine now. We won this! Roman Van Uden (N4G) is new New Zealandian National Champion!

1	Roman Van Uden	Node 4 - Giordana Racing	4h44'51
2	Daniel Barry	Node 4 - Giordana Racing	+ 3'21
3	Shem Rodger	Node 4 - Giordana Racing	+ 4'35

At the end , only 3 guys finished, since rest got time ramp and withdrawn. Great, great , great! That's it from New Zealand.

See ya at next race, Manager of Node4 - Admir.

And 2 NC races were only races for our guys in this month. It's now end of January and that means time for monthly review. Let's firstly start with race results.

Race Results

Race	Category	Winner	Team
New Zealand ITT	NC	S. Bewley	OGE
New Zealand RR	NC	R. Van Uden	N4G
Australia ITT	NC	L. Durbridge	OGE
Australia RR	NC	S. Gerrans	OGE
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo	2.1	T. Slagter	BEL
Tour de San Luis	2.1	P. Kennaugh	SKY
Tour Santos Down Under	UWT	S. Clarke	OGE
New Zealand Cycle Classic	2.2	F. Rodriguez	JBL
Gran Prix la Marseillaise	1.1	P. Urtasun	EUS
Etoile de Besseges	2.1	B. Coquard	EUC

Some of these winners were quite expected such as Gerrans or Kennaugh, while others like Van Uden and Rodriguez are surprises. Let's now jump on rankings review.

World Rankings

Individual

Type	Leader	Team	Points
UCI World Tour	S. Clarke	OGE	104
Continental	R. Van Uden	N4G	80
CQ Rankings	S. Clarke	OGE	332
Victories	F. Rodriguez	JBL	3

Full rankings in spoiler below:



Team

Type	Division	Team	Points
UCI World Tour	UWT	OGE	167
Continental	CT	N4G	168
CQ Rankings	UWT	OGE	800
Victories	UWT	OGE	4

Full rankings in spoiler below:



Just great month for us. Currently on 1. place in Continental Rankings and at 12. at CQ Rankings which is better than half of UWT teams. We're really happy about our results so far. I hope we can continue this way.

See ya next time, Manager of Node4 - Admir.

We're already in February and 2nd race in our schedule is up to start. As we did with NCs, we're going to post preview of it now. Valley of the Sun Stage Rage is actually 3 days race that takes place in America and is 2.2 category. Here are profiles of these 3 stages;

Stage 1


Stage 2


Stage 3



Every year, alot of Continental Teams from America and Western Europe compete there. This time, Node 4 - Giordana is part of this race, too.

Startlist



As the race starts with 22kms ITT , winner of this race will probably be someone who do well in Time Trial. Race favourites are:

Favourites

Name	Team
T. Zirbel	Optum
N. Brown	Bontrager
B. Jacques-Maynes	Jamis

We'll try to get some noticable result at 2nd and 3rd stage, since we're prepared for disaster at Prologue.

See ya on race, Manager of Node4 - Admir.