@The Schleck Fan- thanks unfortunately seconds do matter in some cases,but oh well!
Welcome to the 2014 edition of the Tour Mediterranean. This season the race has attracted a star studded field with, Bradley Wiggins, Alejandro Valverde, Juergen van den Broeck, and Warren Barguil among the starters. Despite the fact that there are many great riders on the startline, I am still maintaining my objective of a podium place on the final rankings, and possibly a stage win on top of Mont Faron.
Today’s first stage could go either to the sprinters, or the punchers with a steady incline shortly before the finish, it is very important to make sure to stay near the front of the field in case there is a split so I can finish with the leaders. The sprint field quality is less than that of the Etoile de Besseges, so today our man is Clement Koretzky if the sprinters survive, and Anthony Delaplace if it is a reduced field dash.
As we rolled off I was still feeling some of the effects of my Besseges efforts, but I am confident that I will shake off the cobwebs and have a good ride this race! The first 3 days are all about conserving energy and saving up for the TT and the final day to Mont Faron. Quickly a 4 man breakaway formed, and surged out to a 6’30’’ lead, the contents of the break were:
-Vinjebo- Cult
-Poulhies- Cofidis
-Paiani- Roubaix-Lille
-Amorison- Wallonie-Bruxlles
Paiani and Amorison traded blows on the 2 categorized climbs of the day, repeatedly attacking each other fiercely, but it was almost in vain as each one won a mountain and they were tied on points for the stage, we would have to wait for the podium to see who would pull on the jersey for stage 2.
The catch of the 4 was made with 13KM to go, there was an intermediate sprint point coming up with 6km to go, I figured that no sprinter would want to waste any energy on the point, so I decided to have a go of it, and easily cleaned up the points and the 6’’ time bonus, a very heady move that puts me just that far ahead of my rivals, and as we saw in Besseges, every second counts!
Koretzky survived the climbs and was on great form (+5) and had plenty of energy left so we did our leadout for him! As the sprint was launched, it was clear that no one could hang with Koretzky, our man took the win by an incredible 5 meters, plenty of time to sit up and enjoy his two-armed salute! A great victory for us, and a leaders jersey to boot! And as I crossed the line, I too threw up two arms in the sky to celebrate our mate’s accomplishment!
Stage Rankings:
1.) Clement Koretzky-Bretagne- 4h54’28’’
2.) Alexandr Porsev-Katusha- st
3.) Sonny Colbretti- Bardiani- st
4.) Bernhard Eisel- Sky- st
5.) Jens Debusschere- Lotto- st
...
34.) Brice Feillu-Bretagne-at
Clement Koretzky comments:
“What a day! I am so pleased with this win, it is the finest win of my career. I have to thank my teammates, they gave me the perfect leadout, Benoit Jarrier delivered me perfectly to the sprint, and from there it was all about finishing it off for them! I am excited to have the leader’s jersey, and although I am not very confident in overall victory, I will fight very hard to hold it all the way to the end of the race, for me however, I would love to get another victory and reward the team for having faith in me!”
It was a great day for us! Clement was amazing in the sprint, and our leadout train was HTC-esque For me it was an easy day, but a successful one, getting the 6’’ time bonus gives me an advantage, and I will keep my eyes open to any opportunity I can get to pick up more seconds. Tomorrow will be another sprint stage, but we will have to defend the leaders jersey for Clement, so it will be a difficult day for us, however I will do what I can to balance my personal ambitions with team orders, and if Clement needs anything from me, I am at his service. I look forward to defending yellow tomorrow and will tell you all about it!
Sincerely,
@sutty68- yes it was!
@The Schleck Fan- a great day indeed!
Stage 2 of the Tour Med will be a relatively similar day to stage 1, it most likely will end in a bunch sprint. Today will be our first day this season defending a race lead, we will try to control the race from the beginning, setting a solid pace, and being sure to reel in the breakaway before trying to set up Clement for another stage win, it will be a long day in the saddle but well worth it if we could hold the jersey and get our man another stage victory!
As we rolled off our man looked quite sharp in yellow!
A 5 man breakaway took to the front after 15 km of racing, they worked well together and built up a 6’00 advantage in the break was:
Kolobnev-Katusha
Romero-Columbia
Grmay-MTN
Rostollan-Le Pomme Marseille
Schillinger-Net App
We worked hard to control the pace at the front and began to reel the breakaway in, with the advantage at just about 1’00’’ Kolobnev took off and took points at the top of numerous climbs, giving him the lead in the KoM classification, but unfortunately for him his solo attack was nullified with just 6km to go, and we began to get the lead out ready for Clement.
As the sprint was launched, Sonny Colbretti from Bardiani opened it up, but then Clement found his kick and took to the front but there was a hard charging Movistar rider coming for the victory, it was not a sprinter, it was their GC man, Alejandro Valverde, but luckily for us, he was too little too late to catch up and Koretzky was able to go 2 for 2! Another huge victory for us, and a little bit more cushion in the overall lead! Clement is proving that he is truly the best sprinter in this race!
Stage:
1.) Clement Koretzky- Bretagne- 4h02’38’’
2.) Alejandro Valverde-Movistar- st
3.) Sonny Colbretti- Bardiani- st
4.) Florian Vachon- Bretagne-st
5.) Arthur Vichot- FDJ.fr-st
…
37.) Brice Feillu-Bretagne- st
Clement Koretzky’s comments: “Today was a textbook perfect day for us! The fellas worked extremely hard on the front and again the lead out was perfect, Florian Vachon and Benoit Jarrier were phenomenal! Getting more bonus seconds is giving me more and more confident in possibly holding the jersey until the end, but I will have to put forth another good time trial like I had in Besseges, and of course Mont Faron will not be easy, but I will try with all of my might!”
Stage 3
Stage 3 is another short stage, one that will be a tricky one, we will again work the front, but we have to be extra vigilant to ensure that a breakaway doesn’t steal the day or our jersey. We will try to get Clement another victory and continue to pad his lead going into the decisive final 2 days!
Right from the gun a 3 man break went clear, yesterday’s hero Alexandr Kolobnev instigated the move jumping clear with Julien Fouchard (Cofidis) and Julian Antomarchi (Le Pomme Marseille) and the 3 collaborated to build up a 2 and a half minute lead.
Europcar and Bardiani helped us pick up the chase and we reeled the break in dangerously close to the finish, picking them up with just 2.5 km to go. Unfortunately Colbretti was too strong in the sprint today and he nipped Clement by a few bike lengths to take a very solid victory, Koretzky still picked up a time bonus of 12’’ which pushed him a little bit further ahead of overall contenders like Valverde and Wiggins.
Stage:
1.) Sonny Colbretti-Bardiani- 1h27’31’’
2.) Clement Koretzky- Bretagne- st
3.) Jens Debusschere- Lotto- st
4.) William Bonnet-FDJ.fr-st
5.) Tony Gallopin- Lotto- st
…
29.) Brice Feillu- Bretagne- st
The last two days have been trying ones for us, however we have passed the test with flying colors, we have ridden extremely well and defended Clement’s lead perfectly. Personally, I am right where I want to be heading into the final two days, besides Valverde I am ahead of all contenders, and I am given a free role meaning that I do not have to partake in the pacemaking for Clement, and if he begins to falter then I will attack in hopes of keeping the jersey within the team and then achieving my personal goals. I first off need to ride a good time trial tomorrow, I believe that I can ride an even better trial then my first one and I hope to finish up in the top 15 and keep my placing in the top 5 overall and being ready to compete for the overall come Mont Faron. It will definitely be an exciting final two days and I hope you will eagerly be following along, and are as excited as I am!
@-sutty68- yes he does! Hopefully he can continue it in some bigger races!
@Dusen- Thanks
@FansDeSpons- Thank you for following
If theres any tips or suggestions anyone has about the story! Please let me know!
The Stage 4 ITT here in the Tour Med is one that suits me pretty well. Right from the start the course goes downhill leading to a climb halfway through the 18Km course, then another descent before a flat final 2Km, the more up and down in a time trial, the happier I am and the better my time should be. My expectation in this course is a top 10 and an effort that will keep me competitive for the overall GC, however with good TT riders like Wiggins, Valverde, Peraud, and De Gendt I expect to lose a little bit of time.
Young Danish rider, Michael Carbel from the CULT Energy Team was the first rider to set off down the start ramp, but he wasn’t the first rider to finish as his teammate Mads Wurtz passed him up on course and set the benchmark with a 29’47’’ The best time swapped hands a number of times with riders like Bookwalter, Flens, Guillou, Smukulis, Dennis, and Ignatiev taking the pole position, but none of the times were ones that were going to stick by the time the stage ended.
The Big guns began to roll down the start ramp, Uran, De Gendt, Pozzovivo, Valverde and Wiggo all began their time trials, Wiggins rocketed to the top of the chart with a 28’13’’, while Alejandro was even better by just a single second!
Ruben Plaza, the man who won the TT in the Etoile de Besseges, again set a blazing tempo and surged to the top of the charts with a 27’51’’ another great rider for the Spaniard, possibly the next great Spanish Time Trialist.
As I set off on the course, I was feeling good in the legs, and confident in the mind.
As I approached the intermediate time check, I set the 9th best time, and with the climb still to come, I felt extremely confident that I could better that by the time I reached the finish. I was climbing so well that I was able to catch and pass my 2 minute man Jeffry Romero from team Columbia.
As I came up to the line, I was able to set the 2nd best time 18’’ off the time of Plaza, the best TT of my life! I never thought that I would ride this well, I was able to beat the times of Peraud, De Gendt, Wiggins, and Kiryienka what a ride for me!
Unfortunately our maillot jaune Clement Koretzky wasn’t as fortunate as me, he struggled on course and came in 1’14’’ down on Plaza which means that he will lose his race lead and fall to 4th overall, handing the jersey over to the stage winner Plaza, thus placing me back in the role of team leader on the eve of the final stage.
KoM: Alexandr Kolobnev-Katusha-26 points
U25: Clement Koretzky- Bretagne- 10h52’51’’
Team: Movistar- 32h38’45’’
Wow! What a ride for me, never in my wildest dreams could i have imagined that I would finish 2nd and beat the likes of Wiggins, and Peraud. I am extremely proud of my effort, and I feel so confident heading into tomorrow’s final stage up to the summit finish of Mont Faron. I am sitting 3rd overall right now, only 3’’ behind my primary rival Valverde, I am hoping to win, but maintaining a podium spot would achieve my goal and be very pleasing to me. Tomorrow I will be the unquestioned leader again and I will be relying heavily on Anthony Delaplace to look after me and set up the mountains for me. I will have to be vigilant and follow all attacks, and hopefully make my team proud and post a good result. I am very excited but also very nervous heading into it. Hopefully I can confirm that I am back and a force to be reckoned with once again in this sport! We’ll see what happens!
@The Schleck Fan- lots of dancing bananas here too!
@sutty68- A WTF on this end too haha
Stage 5, Mont Faron, my first real test of the season. I have had this day earmarked on my calendar for some time now, today will be about trying to take it easy in the first part of the stage and then turning it up in the finale, guys like Valverde, Pozzovivo, and Uran will be the favorites of the stage, the short and steep climb is more suited for the explosive climbers, but my goal will be to try to follow the attacks and hopefully have something in the finale to contend for the win. I will be relying heavily on my young teammate Anthony Delaplace, he will be my main lieutenant, and will take care of me on the flats and set the pace for me on the climb. Today will be one that will tell me if i am getting my career back on the right track, it is a decisive day for me, and suffice it to say I have put a lot of pressure on myself to perform.
As this defining day opened up the attacks came fast and furious as a group of 28 went clear but was reeled back in quickly by Movistar, who I can only assume was splitting team leadership with the yellow jersey Ruben Plaza and the explosive veteran, Alejandro Valverde, after a few more large groups failed to form, finally a group of 7 was able to go clear and build up its advantage. For the third time in the race the polka-dot jersey of the ever-aggressive Alexandr Kolobnev was in the move joined by:
Surprisingly Movistar let Ladagnous go, as he was sitting 8th in the overall just 1’06’’ down, making him the virtual yellow jersey on the road. As the break began the penultimate climb of the Col du La Garde they had only a 1’15’’ advantage, meaning that the attacks from the peloton came in droves, Andrew Talansky, Jonathan Hivert, Simon Geschke, Luis Leon Sanchez, and Thomas de Gendt all had a go, but were reeled in on the descent into the town of Toulon. Kolobnev and Ladagnous were the last two in the break, meaning that Kolobnev snatched up enough points on the climb to cement his victory in the KoM classification. As we rolled through town, Florian Guillou, and Anthony Delaplace took to the front for me and began hammering out the pace.
Almost immediately as the climb began, Valverde attacked, showing that he had no intention of working for the yellow jersey of Plaza. Uran and Peraud were the first to respond to the attack, and as they began to stretch out a lead, I attacked bridging up to the 3 to form the elite group that would battle for not only the stage victory but also overall honors. Domenico Pozzovivo, and Thomas Voeckler eventually made it up to our quartet, and made it a 6 man race for glory!
Unfortunately, as the climb kicked up in percentage, Valverde attacked with Uran right on his wheel, and although I tried with all of my might to respond, I could not match the explosiveness of the two and quickly I refocused and set my sights on defending my podium place. I immediately took up the pacemaking efforts of our group in hopes that I could possibly move up to second overall, or that we could even catch the leaders, as I grinded away at the front of our group Voeckler and Pozzovivo began to teter off the back in the final kilometer almost ensuring that I would finish up 3rd overall as even with a time bonus Peraud could not unseat me in the GC.
Uran took a very fine victory, outkicking Valverde in the final few hundred meters, a winning day for both of them, a stage for Uran, overall for Valverde. In the group behind, Peraud jumped around me for third in the finale, and I had to settle for 4th on the day, which kept me 3rd in the overall standings, so mission accomplished for me!
KoM: Alexandr Kolobnev-Katusha- 42 points
U25: Anthony Delaplace-Bretagne-14h45’47’’
Team: AG2R La Mondiale-44h19’46’’
As I stood on the podium with two of the best climbers in the world, I couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear, yes I did not win the Tour Med, but I was able to achieve my goal of a place on the final podium, I was just bested by two men who on this particular day were better than me. This race is a massive confidence builder for me, it tells me that I can race with the best in the world, and I can hold my own on any terrain (well maybe except cobbles ) and that I am back! What a feeling it is, all of the struggles, and sickness, and uncertainty of the past few years, almost feels as if it is behind me, and I can truly allow myself to fly once again on a bicycle! I am so proud of my team today, they looked after me perfectly on the flat, and Anthony Delaplace did an amazing job on the final climbs, and even he was able to take a top 15 place overall, and the white best young riders jersey, although I wanted to reward him with a stage win, I was so happy that he was able to take some overall glory for himself.
All in all this was an incredibly successful beginning to the season for myself, three top 10’s including a podium place, I couldn’t have asked for a better start, well unless I was able to win a race, but that will come soon, I can feel it. Now, its time for me to take a little time off and sit down with team management as we finalize my schedule up through the Tour de France, as soon as it is final, I will let you know what it is, and then its back to it as I prepare for my first major goal of the season, Paris-Nice where I hope to do a top 10! Thanks for following me through the Tour Med, and I look forward to having you along for the rest of the season!
As the month of February winds down here in France, the weather and the cycling season is preparing to heat up! It has been a few weeks since my last race at the Tour Med, and I am feeling very well rested and ready to race again very soon. In the week following the Tour Med, I sat down with team management and discussed my racing schedule leading up to and including the Tour de France. Because I am on a very small team, I will be taking on more races this season than usual, if I was to be riding for let’s say a WorldTour team, however the more racing I am able to get in, the more exposure I can get myself and the more I have a chance to produce results and win races! I believe that I have a very nice balance of high quality stage racing, classics, and even a few cobbled classics in preparation for the cobbled stage at the Tour de France. My schedule up through July as is follows:
3/01-Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
3/9-3/16- Paris-Nice- 8 Stages
3/28-3/30-Criterium International- 3 stages
4/13- Paris-Roubaix
4/23- La Fleche Wallonne
4/27- Liege-Bastogne-Liege
4/29-5/4- Tour de Romandie- 6 stages
5/15-5/18- Rhone-Alpes Isere Tour- 4 stages
5/31- Boucles de l’Aulne
6/8-6/15- Criterium du Dauphine- 8 stages
6/20-6/22- Route du Sud- 3 stages ?? (Depends on form and condition)
6/27-French ITT Championships
6/29-French Road Championships
7/5-7/27- Tour de France- 21 stages
I am extremely pleased with the schedule we have come up with. It is a great balance, and I feel that I will have many opportunities to succeed, and prepare myself for the Tour. I will have the opportunity to lead the team in races some races (Paris-Nice, Dauphine, Crit. Int’l), to work as a domestique (Liege, Fleche, Roubaix), and to have a free role to chase victory at my leisure (Boucles de l’Aulne, Rhone Alpes). I am very excited that our team was able to get wildcard invitations to many different WorldTour races, it will be exciting for our guys to get to show the Bretagne colors at races like the Volta Cataluyna, Tour de Romandie, La Fleche Wallonne, and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, races we have never taken part in prior to this season. There is also a learning portion to this season, learning how to lead a team, learning how to mentor younger riders, and learning how to race cobbles. If I hope to achieve my goal of a top 15 in the Tour, I will have to limit my losses and try to stay with guys like Froome, Contador, and Nibali on the stage to Arenburg, therefore I wanted to get some experience on cobbles leading up to the race so I can have somewhat of an idea on what Im getting myself into. My only expectations for the 2 cobbled races are to gain experience, stay upright, and finish within the time limit, something I wasn’t able to do in my only go at Paris-Roubaix back in 2009.
I am also very excited to race two of the Ardennes classics, I have only raced one before (Liege in 2012) and am hoping to have a good ride in them and mainly to have fun. Although this season is a pressure-filled on for me, it also appears that it will be my most fun one to date, as you can tell im loving my new team, and looking forward to the rest of the season, and to the bigger races that will be starting up soon!
Speaking of my team, my young teammate, Clement Koretzky has earned the team rider of the month award for February. Clement has been on a hot streak to start off the season, he won 2 stages, and the points jersey at the Tour Med, he took a stage and overall honors at the Tour du Haut Var, finished 7th in the GP Marseille, and 12th at the Etoile de Besseges. After February he leads the UCI Europe Tour standings, with a commanding 79 point lead over Caja Rural’s Luis Leon Sanchez. Koretzky will be targeting some of the upcoming French one day classics in hopes of claiming overall victory in the Coupe de France competition at season’s end! Clement has also been a very valuable domestique when the time calls for it, and he for sure will be an invaluable resource as the season goes on and the competition turns up. Koretzky is first in the Continental Tour standings, 4th in the CQ Rankings, and 6th in individual victories with 4 of our team’s 5 victories so far. As a team we lead the Continental tour standings, and are 4th in the team CQ Rankings, an amazin start for us, and one we hope can lead to more team success, and more importantly success at the WorldTour races! We love being underdogs and plan to show the cycling world our heart and determination throughout the calendar season!
Well its about time for me to board my train to Gent as I prepare for Omloop Het Nieuswblad, wish me luck and I will write you all soon!
Welcome to Omloop Het Nieuswblad 2014, the first cobbled race of the cycling season, this Belgian semi-classic, along with Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne are the primary warmup races for Gent-Wevelgem, Ronde van Vlaanderen, E3 Harelbeke, and Paris-Roubaix, the primary cobbled classics of the season. For me, this is my second time tackling this race, the first time was way back when in 2009, that day, I was able to finish 41st. Today I just hope to stay off the tarmac and finish the race within the time cut would be a very successful day for me! Our strategy as a team is to work for our co-leaders, Armindo Fonseca, and Arnaud Gerard, we again will send a man up the road in the early break and hope that we can have someone left for the finish!
Omega-Pharma Quickstep are the clear-cut favorites for this race with 4 riders in the favorites category, plus Gert Steegmans, although you definitely cannot count out the Belkin guys, Thor Hushovd, Arnaud Demare, and Dries Devyens, it will be quite an exciting race!
It was a very cold day as we rolled off, I had my arm and leg warmers on, although it was early March, it hardly felt like springtime, it felt as if I was riding the frigid GP Marseille again, I could tell that it was going to be a very hard day, and the wind and weather was enough motivation to keep me upright and off the ground, where injuries were sure to sting even more than the norm today. As soon as we reached kilometer 0, our Benoit Jarrier took off looking to instigate the breakaway of the day, and he was successful in opening up a 1’25’’ gap and now he had to keep up the pace waiting for other brave souls to join him. It took a few kilometers but finally our man was joined by:
Because the breakaway formed very early in the race, they were allowed a 9’50’’ advantage, as Belkin and Omega-Pharma Quickstep did the pacemaking obviously looking to set up the big favorites for this race, Sep Vanmarcke, and Tom Boonen. As the pace began to fall around 3’00’’ 3 riders took off in hopes of joining the leading group, Jens Keukeleire (Orica), Dries Devyens (Giant), and Florian Senechal (Cofidis). It took them about 15km but they were able to join the lead 4 and provided some huge firepower for the breakaway. Quickly however, the group failed to work well together and Jarrier and Senechal took off trying to go to the end on their own, unfortunately for us, Jarrier didn’t have the freshness in his legs like Senechal did so he was dropped and the young Frenchman continued on by his lonesome.
With about 20 km to go on the longest section of cobbles the remnants of the 6 were brought back and the race broke apart, as 15 of the best cobbled racers formed an elite group about 55’’ behind Senechal and immediately they opened up a quick 2’30’’ gap over the third group on the road of about 25, which I was a part of, also in this group were guys like Devolder, Degenkolb, Stybar, Tjalingi and van Avermaet. In the 15 deep elite chase group was:
Degenkolb then attacked out of our group and put forth a furious chase trying to get back on to the chasing group, and with 7km to go, just as Senechal was being caught up front, Degenkolb tagged on to the back of the group making it the leading group of 17 who would duke it out for the win, that group had nearly 12’00’’ on our chasing group. With 4km to go the leaders hit the final section of cobbles, and then the unthinkable happened, both Tom Boonen, and Thor Hushovd, two of the best cobbled racers in the world were dropped nearly insight of the finishing line, all of the Omega-Pharma works seemed to be for naught now as they were without their best sprinter. As the sprint finish was launched it was clear that no one could match the giant German John Degenkolb who took an easy victory by almost 10 lengths over Tony Gallopin, and Arnaud Demare, our own Arnaud Gerard was able to get a phenomenal 5th place, a great result for us in our first cobbled race of the season!
Nearly 15’00’’ behind the race, the pace in the peloton was slow and relaxed, and that’s when I decided to launch an attack to try to capture a respectable finish and test my legs at the end of a long day, I was joined by another cobbled expert, Bernie Eisel who missed the elite cut and was trying to salvage something out of his day. Over the final sector of cobbles Eisel dropped me, no major surprised and for me with about a 3’30’’ lead over the remainer of the race, I coasted home 13’26’’ down on Degenkolb, in 22nd place, a great result for me, but one that will be extremely hard to repeat in Paris-Roubaix and even the Tour stage, however for today I will smile and breathe a sigh of relief as I have achieved my goals for this race, and most importantly I did not crash!
Results:
1.) John Degenkolb-Giant-Shimano- 4h29’22’’
2.) Tony Gallopin-Lotto-st
3.) Arnaud Demare-FDJ.fr-st
4.) Sep Vanmarcke-Belkin-st
5.) Arnaud Gerard- Bretagne-st
6.) Bjorn Leukemans-Wanty Group Gobert-st
7.) Klaus Lodewyck-BMC-st
8.) Cyril Lemoine-Cofidis-st
9.) Florian Senechal-Cofidis-st
10.) Martin Wynants-Belkin-st
…
22.) Brice Feillu-Bretagne- 13’26’’
Wow! What a long, cold, and hard day…im so happy that this race is over, I hate, HATE cobblestones, and I consider it a true miracle that I finished so highly, and without incident. I feel like I did a great job today, and feel a little bit more comfortable on the cobbles, so my preparation for the Tour’s stage seems right on track. Not looking too forward ahead, but I think it could be possible for me to capture some time on that stage and possibly set myself up for a high finish in the Tour, but only time will tell on that matter. We are very pleased with Arnaud’s result, what a great ride he did to finish with the greatest cobbled riders on the planet. Now, I am back to my comfort zone, the hills of France, as I get ready for Paris-Nice, one of my major goals this season, I expect a Top 10 overall, and hopefully I can find a way to steal a stage win, im super excited for this race, and I believe that it will be a very successful one for myself, and my team! Man am I ready for this! I wish I could tell you all about it right now, but it will be soon enough!!
Welcome to Paris-Nice 2014, this year’s edition is one that suits me perfectly, hilly stages, and no time trial, this is my 3rd crack at the race, however I have never finished the race. I hope to make a major impression on the race, I plan on doing so by launching attacks in the hills and going to stage victories, and shooting for a Top 10 overall, which is not only my personal goal, but also a sponsor goal, so I hope I don’t disappoint. As a team we will be looking to set up my brother in the sprints, and then pursuing the breakaways in hopes of taking home the King of the Mountains jersey.
This edition of Paris-Nice has a star-studded startlist, defending Tour de France champion, Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Marcel Kittel, Andre Greipel, Thibaut Pinot, and Diego Ulissi among the starters. It will be a very challenging race, but I am confident in my form and my abilities, that I will be able to achieve all of my goals!
Favorites:
***-Kittel, Greipel, Modolo
**-Coquard, R. Feillu, Swift
*-Renshaw, Napolitano, Bennati
As Paris-Nice 2014 rolled out, we had a relatively easy day before us as we made a journey around the town of Mantes-la-Jolie, there were no King of the Mountain points out on course, so we decided to forgo the breakaway today, we were putting all of our efforts in the leadout for Romain, so a 3 man breakaway went clear very early in the stage and built up a 10’00’’ advantage midway through the stage.
As the monotonous day rolled on, 3 teams took the front, and not surprisingly the 3 were the primary teams of the best sprinters in the race, Lampre watching out for Sasha Modolo, Giant-Shimano for Marcel Kittel, and Lotto-Belisol for the German champion Andre Greipel. With 20km to go in the race, the break still had a 2’30’’ advantage, did the peloton leave the catch too late? Would the breakaway survive? The answer to that question was no, as they were reeled in with 4.2Km to go, and the leadout trains began to form in earnest. Here you see our train up against the big boys of Lotto and Giant.
As the sprint commenced, Kittel suddenly was no where to be found, so Giant-Shimano swapped to Plan B, Koen de Kort, although he is nowhere close to the level of Kittel, and he too was nowhere to be found as the sprint rolled on. Our leadout for Romain was perfect, our recent signing, Argentinian Mauro Richeze, brother of Lampre lead out man Maximiliano Richeze place Romain perfectly on the wheel of Bryan Coquard, and in the final meters our man surged around the young Frenchman and took pipped him by the slightest of margins, while also holding off a hard charging Modolo! The opening stage victory for us in a WorldTour race what an accomplishment! I am so proud of my brother taking his first victory since 2011 and a high profile one to boot, what a start to Paris-Nice for us! As I came home 40th I too put my arms in the air celebrating my brother’s victory!
Romain Feillu comments:
“What an incredible day for our team today! I first have to thank my team, they kept me out of trouble all day long, and in the final 10km Armindo Fonseca and Mauro Richeze led me out perfectly, and positioned me in the right place, and from there it was on me and im so proud to have won a stage in such a prestigious French Stage Race. I am happy that I could deliver for my team, they have placed a great deal of faith in me and offering me a contract after 2 very unsuccessful years at Vacansoleil, I now believe that I can return to the form that saw me winning left and right in 2011. As for the race, I will do my best to protect the jersey for as long as possible, but once we start to reach the hills, I believe that I will lose it to the better climbers, but then I will be working to support my brother Brice, and hopefully he can take a top 10, and possibly even a victory, but as for a team, a victory in a WorldTour race is enough to brand this race as a success!”
I am so proud of my brother today, he and I have both been struggling in recent years, and to see him breakthrough today in a major race is the best feeling in the world! I only hope that I can have my breakthrough very soon, and for Romain and I to do it in the same race would be a dream come true. Well tomorrow is another sprint stage so we will work to defend our jersey and then try to go for win #2! I am very excited to work for my brother and I am also just as excited to reach the hills so I can show what I can do on a bicycle!
@sutty68 and @Dusen- a great result! Thanks for following
The second stage of Paris-Nice is again one for the sprinters, it will be interesting to see if the main sprint favorites like Kittel and Greipel can rebound and compete for the win after showing very poorly in the opening stage. Today we will be defending the yellow of my brother Romain Feillu, much like we did in the Tour Med, we will be defending yellow and then trying to set up our yellow jersey for the sprint finish. Today we will try to get someone up in the breakaway for the mountain points and to be able to have options in case the breakaway gets too much of an advantage.
As the day started, it was so great to see my brother in yellow, much like he was in the 2008 Tour de France, even 6 years apart, yellow looks no different on him! We also took up the early pacemaking and controlled the race, and showed our organizational skills, we also wanted to ensure that nobody dangerous got up the road, and that the break would not build up an unassailable advantage.
Mateusz Nowak from the CCC Polsat team initiated the break much like his teammate Adrien Honkisz did the day before, but surprisingly nobody went with him, so we decided to send our domestique Erwann Corbel up the road to join Nowak. The two began to work well together, but unfortunately Nowak punctured and was quickly swept up by the peloton led by Europcar, Corbel was up the road alone, and we decided to have him continue to soldier on in hopes that someone else would make their way up to him, unfortunately, nobody did so it was a solo breakaway. Corbel took the maximum points atop the days sole climb giving him the first Polka-dot jersey of Paris-Nice, a team goal of ours.
An exhausted Corbel finally succumbed to the chasing peloton with 15km to go and he was immediately spit out the back along with a groupetto that surprisingly included pre-race favorite Ivan Basso, the group would go on to lose 6+ minutes basically rendering Basso’s GC hopes as good as dead. Again Giant-Shimano tried to set up Kittel but he must be on poor form because as soon as the pace was lifted he fell right off the back of the Giant express. Europcar had the most organized train and it showed in the finally as Coquard was dominant in the sprint and as he crossed the line, he did a tribute to Peter Sagan giving a running-man celebration. Coquard took the victory by a large margin over Francisco Ventoso, unfortunately Ben Swift nipped Romain by the slightest of margins to deny Romain a time bonus, meaning he loses the maillot jaune at days end.
Stage:
1.) Bryan Coquard-Europcar- 4h24’23’’
2.) Francisco Ventoso-Movistar-st
3.) Ben Swift-Sky- st
4.) Romain Feillu-Bretagne-st
5.) Diego Ulissi-Lampre-st
…
21.) Brice Feillu-Bretagne- st
Stage 3 is the final flat stage before a few days in the French hills so it will be another big fight for the sprinters teams to set up their riders for victory before the GC men take center stage. Romain had the green jersey on loan from the race leader Coquard, and he was looking sharp on it riding behind our polka-dotted Erwann Corbel.
The ever attacking CCC Polsat team attacked in full force with 3 riders getting into a breakaway before being reeled back in, but another team rider, Adrien Honkisz had a go, along with Corbel and formed a two-man breakaway, unfortunately for Honkisz, we planned to drop Corbel back to the field after the days only climb, as Corbel took the sole points on the top of the climb, as planned, he freewheeled back to the peloton leaving the young Pole alone at the front, quite the role reversal from Stage 2 when Nowak left Corbel alone ahead of the pack. Honkisz only built up a 2’00’’ advantage and was reeled in with 45 km to go. The counter-attacks came fast and furious from the peloton, but none got more that 30’’ before Europcar took to the front and got down to business in service of the Yellow Jersey, Bryan Coquard.
The sprint was an event between 3 men, well for a few meters at least, as Lampre’s Sasha Modolo took command with 400meters to go and won by an easy margin, in fact the race organizers gave him a gap of 4 seconds back to the peloton, a dominating victory from the Italian. Romain didn’t have the legs to keep up with the favorites, and ended up with a 6th, but thanks to the bonus seconds he was able to snag at the intermediate sprint, he was able to re-take the yellow jersey, a nice coup d’état from our man!
Stage:
1.) Sasha Modolo-Lampre-3h45’36’’
2.) Ben Swift-Sky-+4’’
3.) Francisco Ventoso-Movistar-st
4.) Bryan Coquard-Europcar-st
5.) Diego Ulissi-Lampre-st
6.) Romain Feillu-Bretagne-st
…
52.) Brice Feillu-Bretagne-st
GC:
1.) Romain Feillu-Bretagne-11h43’15’’
2.) Bryan Coquard-Europcar-+1’’
3.) Sasha Modolo-Lampre-+3’’
4.) Ben Swift-Sky-+8’’
5.) Francisco Ventoso-Movistar-st
…
11.) Brice Feillu-Bretagne-+10’’
After 3 flat stages, it is going to be nice to test out the legs tomorrow, I am hoping to have a good showing, and with a climb right before the finish, it could be an explosive finish with the likes of Froome, Contador, and Dan Martin. It will be a stage you won’t want to miss! Romain was able to retake the yellow jersey today with a nice show of speed at the intermediate sprints, it will be very tough to defend the jersey tomorrow, but I know my brother and I know he will fight to the bitter end to try to stay in yellow come stage 5. I hope to be contending for the yellow jersey just incase it comes off Romain’s shoulders, it can slide onto mine. We will also be working hard to defend Erwann’s polka-dots, it will be a trying rest of the week, but also one that will be a good early season test for me, I hope to get my first A+!!
unfortunately seconds do matter in some cases,but oh well! 
) and that I am back! What a feeling it is, all of the struggles, and sickness, and uncertainty of the past few years, almost feels as if it is behind me, and I can truly allow myself to fly once again on a bicycle! I am so proud of my team today, they looked after me perfectly on the flat, and Anthony Delaplace did an amazing job on the final climbs, and even he was able to take a top 15 place overall, and the white best young riders jersey, although I wanted to reward him with a stage win, I was so happy that he was able to take some overall glory for himself. 
