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Lotto Soudal: The Career Report
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 13:33
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 26-03-2015 10:50
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Sounds like a hectic and tough Giro, but a good learning school for guys like Wellens and Benoot  |
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 26-03-2015 10:53
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Directeur Sportif
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really interesting to follow! :)
vdb on the pursuit of old days? :D
Edited by Croatia14 on 26-03-2015 10:53
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| Shonak |
Posted on 26-03-2015 21:19
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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@Ian: Definitely good learning experience for Tim. Not so sure about Tiejs. I wanted to get him to times in a break but didn't work out.
@Croatia14: Hopefully not too much VDB of old days. I like the new attacking attitude he has suddenly developed under my uhm.. guidance. 
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Shonak |
Posted on 28-03-2015 16:11
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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June
Next up where some smaller races like the Tour of Luxembourg. We didn’t score stage wins, so little need to dwell on that.
With Thomas De Gendt and Tony Gallopin as captains, we went into the Criterium du Dauphine which saw a classic strong field. Giro winner Froome was here, as well as Contador, Quintana and some other big shots. De Gendt was doing a very strong Prologue and first Mountain stage, and was 4th there, just a few seconds down on Froome. Unfortunately he was part of a mass crash the next day and lost some minutes on stage 4. Strong showings on the remaining days put him up there, coming as close as 11th to the Top 10. Gallopin had some highlight performances but of course he’s too weak to keep up in the high mountains of France. With the team coming 3 times on the podium, we were again unlucky to not achieve a stage win.
In Switzerland, MaxMon made a solid showing. With his decent mix of TT and mountain riding, Suisse suited him well and he achieved a remarkable 10th place overall.
Dauphine was won by Froome ahead of Contador and Quintana. Tour de Suisse saw another stage race victory by Purito, Kelderman 2nd and Chaves 3rd.
No National Championship Titles except for De Gendt’s TT crown is a terrible balance ahead of le Tour. Disappointing finale in Geel, where Roelandts, Boekmans and Debusschere couldn’t do better than fifth in the bunch sprint. Instead, Gert Steegmans took the win for Trek. On a hilly german route, Greipel didn’t stand a chance to repeat his victory from previous season.
As for transfers: Both Wout Van Aert and Mathieu Van der Poel have signed already a deal when we approached them. So instead, we’ll try to build up some additional strength in the powerhorse department. Someone like Navardauskas or Vandenbergh could suit us very well. Another fast man is also a likely option. Ciolek (new german NC), Meersman and some more names are already connected to Lotto Soudal.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Selwink |
Posted on 28-03-2015 16:18
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8856
Joined: 17-05-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Shonak signs Van der Poel, what a surprise 
Been following this with great interest, hopefully the Tour can bring some success.
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| Shonak |
Posted on 28-03-2015 16:22
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Thanks!
Selwink wrote:
Shonak signs Van der Poel, what a surprise
Hehe, but just a few days too late, he's with Lotto now, LottoNL unfortunately. 
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Shonak |
Posted on 30-03-2015 11:06
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Tour de France
Since the Giro went rather disappointing and the win statistics has been recently a bit in a downward spiral, I didn’t have my best hopes for le Tour. A strong roster, which consisted of both men for sprints (Greipel, Henderson, Boekmans, Roelandts, Hansen) as well as for mountaineous and hilly breakaway stages (De Gendt, Gallopin, De Clerq, Van den Broeck) should at least ensure a little bit of success.
Indeed, le Tour kicked off miserably. De Gendt and Van den Broeck both lost time in one of the opening stages due to poor positioning and echelons being formed. But Roelandts quickly set himself apart as one of the best riders in this year’s Tour as he came to stage victory honours on the second stage. Props to Gallopin who had put in the hurt with an attack 5 kilometers out but couldn’t finish it off. Few days later on stage 5 things got even better as Roelandts took over the yellow jersey from Navardauskas. Unfortunately despite Lotto’s massive work that day, we didn’t get the stage win but with Roelandts and Gallopin sitting on 1-3 in GC it was for a few days a nice press coverage we received. Until Kwiatkowski took the yellow jersey from us.
Roelandts winning stage 2
Before our mountain riders received their chance to shine, Roelandts took another stage win from a breakaway on stage 12. At that time he already lost yellow jersey in the first mountain stages. De Gendt quickly established himself there as our guy. He performed throughout the three weeks on a high consistent level. Due to the 4 minute time loss earlier on, it was tough for him to get into the top ranks but once he managed he stayed there. With a little bit of ups and downs and a highlight performance up to Pla d’Adet, he eventually secured 7th overall against a field of extraordinary rivals.
More good news from the mountains came in form of VDB2.0 and Bart de Clerq. 2 days after Roelandt’s second stage victory, VDB2.0 took an easy win from the breakaway, climbing up to new heights at Risoul. De Clerq did it similar to him as he dropped everyone up to Port de Balesand enjoyed a magnificent solo-downhill ride to stage honours.
4 stage wins, a few days in the yellow jersey for Roelandts and a man on 7th in GC is a great result for the team. We put in some solid team tactics for De Gendt, so he always had support. But also there was lots of breakaway actions for my guys and we were a very present team. Gutted that Gallopin has had a lot of near misses, be it either in terms of stage wins or that he was for a long time ranked 3rd and for two days 2nd in GC but coulnd't grab the jersey at least one day.
Unfortunately Andre Greipel was defeated in every sprint. The best result he managed was a 3rd place. Our train clearly didn’t work as we had hoped on this highest level. Unsurprisingly, during le Tour Lotto-Soudal has therefor already announced the signings of Gerald Ciolek and Navardauskas. We also failed our sponsor goal therefor, winning the points jersey.
Tour de France, Results
| Rank | Name | Team | Time | | 1 | Alberto Contador | Tinkoff - Saxo | 87h09'06 | | 2 | Alejandro Valverde | Movistar Team | + 4'09 | | 3 | Rui Costa | Lampre - Merida | + 12'35 | | 4 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | + 15'51 | | 5 | Joaquím Rodríguez | Team Katusha | + 20'29 | | 6 | Rigoberto Urán | Etixx - QuickStep | + 22'39 | | 7 | Bauke Mollema | Trek Factory Racing | + 22'53 | | 8 | Thomas De Gendt | Lotto - Soudal | + 25'46 | | 9 | Leopold König | Team Sky | + 27'17 | | 10 | Tejay van Garderen | BMC Racing Team | + 27'55 | | 11 | Jean-Christophe Peraud | AG2R La Mondiale | + 36'56 | | 12 | Julian Arredondo | Trek Factory Racing | + 40'29 | | 13 | Michal Kwiatkowski | Etixx - QuickStep | + 40'44 | | 14 | Adam Yates | Orica GreenEdge | + 40'58 | | 15 | Nairo Quintana | Movistar Team | + 41'51 | | 16 | Fabio Aru | Astana Pro Team | + 47'30 | | 17 | Sérgio Henao | Team Sky | + 47'45 | | 18 | Thomas Voeckler | Team Europcar | + 48'27 | | 19 | Sylvain Chavanel | IAM Cycling | + 51'37 | | 20 | Fränk Schleck | Trek Factory Racing | + 53'49 | | 21 | Thibaut Pinot | FDJ.fr | + 54'34 | | 22 | Louis Meintjes | MTN - Qhubeka | + 57'10 | | 23 | Nicolas Roche | Team Sky | + 58'21 | | 24 | Pierre Rolland | Team Europcar | + 1h01'33 | | 25 | Diego Ulissi | Lampre - Merida | + 1h05'09 |
As the Tour ended, another goal presented itself to us: Tour de Wallonie. Jelle Vanendert won the first stage uphill and got a decent gap on his competitions. He further dominated the field on stage 3, claiming another win. Our sponsor goal of winning Tour de Wallonie was close, but Jelle Vanendert decided to crash on the last day, throwing away the GC win just like that. Tim Wellens finished 6th.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 30-03-2015 11:37
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Fantastic Tour de France!
De Gendt, Roelandts, De Clerq and Van Den Broeck in excellent roles.
Greipel a bit disappointing, but you can't win them all!
(on PCM 11 with a '12 database I'm playing with Lotto, too, now. Signed De Gendt, of course, but was sad to see Greipel leave due to financial difficulty after attracting a TT monster De Gendt... Still, Bille turning into a strong cobbler and Debusschere & Dehaes as a strong sprinting duo)
Edited by Ian Butler on 30-03-2015 11:43
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| Selwink |
Posted on 30-03-2015 11:39
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8856
Joined: 17-05-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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That's a great race finally. Seems like the disappointment of the early season has been washed away at least somewhat.
A pity that Wallonie was ruined by such an unfortunate event, seems to have been regular this season.
I love the signings you made
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| Shonak |
Posted on 30-03-2015 20:13
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Enjoy Ian, PCM11 is a great game and Lotto a great game. I'm really happy though I have a 2015DB. I tried to play older DBs but it's just not quite so much fun for me.
@Selwink: Yeah, classic Lotto luck I guess in Wallonie. Ciolek and Navardauskas will be great for the sprint train at le Tour and also bring in some results of their own. I quite like both riders.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 30-03-2015 20:25
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7651
Joined: 28-05-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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Great Tour for the Team! Loving the 'story' so far
.: Manager of :.
.: My Awards :.
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| Shonak |
Posted on 31-03-2015 10:03
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Thanks mate!
August
We had little luck in San Sebastian and Wellens and Gallopin had been pretty empty once we arrived at the coast after a tough of day of racing. Tour de Pologne saw Greipel leading out the in-form coming Henderson. Our New Zealand champin took two stages wins, thereby even beating Kittel as well. Rohan Dennis of BMC took the overall. One or two days later, Henderson continued winning ways at RideLondon Classic. Great month for Henderson certainly.
Eneco Tour was a Top 3 goal for us, so we brought De Gendt, Gallopin and Wellens. All three finished within the Top… 11, De Gendt making it up to third and thus securing our first goal since March... The Eneco Tour was pretty mental racing though. De Gendt put in a solid prologue and thus established himself as leader. At the cobblestone stage, he was alongside riders like Sagan, Terpstra, Kristoff and Van Avermaet, and he made a good impression. Unfortunately the last section messed it up for him and he lost some time. We planned to overtake 'em sprinter boys and get third on the stage to Aywaille, but unfortunately the sprinter boys hang on a bit too well. Whilst we made up time, it wasn’t enough to get back the minute we lost. The last stage was pretty flat business and De Gendt sat on fourth, having distanced Cancellara the previous day on Aywaille at least. Our very own sprinters took care of pacing and it was some tough racing and in the middle parts, roughly 60 kilometers out, Wellens and Gallopin picked up the pacing over some hills. This allowed for splits in the peloton, with only a handful of riders capable of following or willing to follow De Gendt. Sagan, Terpstra and Kristoff were there, our direct opponents, key was now to shake one of them off: With various attacks by De Gendt and classy support by Gallopin and Wellens as well as lots of stop-and-going riding, De Gendt finally managed to get clear with Sagan, Kristoff and Gallopin, whilst Terpstra was left behind. At some point, Terpstra was seemingly empty from the chasing effort and sat up for the peloton where his guys came, but at that point it was too late for Etixx QuickStep to get their guy on the podium still. Also, Henderson took a stage win as well here in Belgium. The most in-form guy in August despite cloaking up close outreagous large amount of race days already.
Henderson beating Sagan to the line at Enecou Tour!
At the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, it was Kenny Dehaes turn then. Henderson gave back for the formidable leadouts of the past weeks, and I enjoyed the feeling that I was able to set up a functioning sprint train in this game. It could have been two more wins if it wasn’t for abnormal large breakaways that Lotto Soudal was largely left to chase on their own. Thanks Astana.
Vattenfall Cyclassics was a no-show for us as Kittel and Degenkolb splitted the win between the two, and Greipel was flying in Spain already anyway.
Transfernews: Spotted a few talents, two even with a grand future prediction. Took two of youngsters under sponsorship wings but so far no signing. Most of those guys are already in talks with other Directeur Sportives, which is unfortunate. The way the Belgians got schooled in the U23 races this season doesn’t make me believe that any of them has the ability to match Benoot and Wellens anyway.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 31-03-2015 10:05
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World Champion
Posts: 14563
Joined: 08-08-2011
PCM$: 9100.00
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Top 11 reference
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 31-03-2015 18:37
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7651
Joined: 28-05-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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Henderson on top form and being given the lead in the sprints! Nice to see
.: Manager of :.
.: My Awards :.
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| Shonak |
Posted on 08-04-2015 20:42
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15615
Joined: 16-07-2013
PCM$: 350.00
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Thanks guys. Yeah Henderson was in some real special form in those weeks. Hoping for some more wins from him next year. 
Vuelta, World Championships and little Autumn shit races
So, Vuelta a Espana took a bit but eventually we wrapped it up. The team was quite strong but not for this terrain. Greipel and Debusschere for the sprints but little did they manage because Cavendish and Kristoff once more kicked our ass. Several “seemingly perfect” lead-outs did obviously not work out perfect. At least in the GC business it went better. De Gendt wasn’t in the best shape coming into the Vuelta despite his third place at Eneco Tour a few days prior. He had some podium places but a stage victory wasn’t achieved for long. For a couple of days De Gendt even had the leaders’ jersey. Can you spot him?
The Vuelta was won by Daniel Martin ahead of Valverde and Ulissi. The Italian had a late surge from 8th to 3rd in the last 3 stages, or so. Meanwhile, De Gendt fell down some places hard, from 3rd to a 7th in the end. At least he took the win in the last short time trial, the epilogue, of 2014 Vuelta. So that was a stage win here in Spain after all. Hansen has finished his Grand Tour triple too, being pretty much useless with a ton of race days in the end!
The autumn races were of some interest to us. Lotto Soudal especially was keen to show themselves in the Belgian autumn races, winning the Van Petegem one with Kenny Dehaes. Unfortuantely no win in the World Tour One-Day classics from Plouay to Canada. However Gallopin scored a solid 2nd in Plouay which should have been a win if it wasn’t for Rovny in the breakaway.
Some of Belgium’s guys had some pretty great form going into the World Championships. Of course I only cared about the Road Race. Tom Dumoulin became TT champion ahead of Tony Martin. Now, Gilbert and Boonen were our leaders, Van Avermaet and Roelandts our wildcards. The route was Plouay, 240 kilometers. Maybe it’s down to being such a shitty lame route but the race itself was pretty boring. I took over most of the chasing and relay stuff with Belgium, until Van Avermaet attacked. Later Terpstra and Cancellara did too, and I sent Roelandts right up there. For the next 30 kilometers, it was then a four man group keeping the peloton easily at bay because Great Britain and Germany were sorta sucking big at chasing for Cavendish and Kittel, which – apparently, were favourites. In the closing lap, Roelandts attacked first on great form and rode it through to the end to become World Champion. Paris-Roubaix winner Van Avermaet attacked on the last climb and shook off Cance and Terpstra to snatch silver. 1-2 for Belgium. Quality work powered by Lotto-Soudal & BMC. You’ll see Roelandts in rainbow jersey boys!!
Greatest Moment of the season, no doubt!
Lombardia as a closing to the season was for Lotto Soudal pretty good. Though Vanendert disappointed me in his usual ways, De Gendt was up there to get a third place. The race was really tough, with favorites attacking 60 kilometers out. Loved the route. In the end, Daniel Martin, Nibali and De Gendt got clear and fought it out in the last 15 kilometers for the win. Martin was a bit too strong in the end when he made his final dig on the ultimate climb, De Gendt a bit too aggressive against Nibali, missing out on the second place. This race should be fun in future seasons. At least with De Gendt we got a third place and another podium on one of the monuments after Roelandt's third place at MSR.
The last wins of the season got Vanendert and Debusschere at some minor belgian races.
So, before we close, beware of the data:
UCI Top 3:
1 Purito
2 Contador
3 Froome
Best Lotto Soudal Rider: De Gendt 7th (376 pts)
Team UCI Top 3
1 Katusha
2 Tinkoff Saxo
3 Sky
7th Lotto Soudal (963 Pts)
Team CQ Ranking
1 Etixx
2 Tinkoff
3 SKY
7th Lotto Soudal
Number of Victories: 31
Andre Greipel - 9
Greg Henderson - 5
Jürgen Roelandts - 3
Jelle Vanendert -3
Jürgen Van den Broeck -2
Pim Ligthart -2
Thomas De Gendt -2
Kenny Dehaes -2
Tony Gallopin -1
Bart de Clerq -1
Jens Debusschere -1
Biggest Victory? Of course no doubt about it, Jürgen Roelandts at the World Championships in Plouay.
Roelandts rocking the rainbow jersey in Italy,
traditionally non performing as the Champion
(he deserves it to just show-off)
See you in rainbow stripes next season. 
Edited by Shonak on 08-04-2015 20:54
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 08-04-2015 21:45
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1020.00
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Tour de France
Greg Henderson
Jurgen Roelandts' entire season!
Let's hope for an even better 2016!
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 08-04-2015 21:46
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Sweeeeeet Roelandts.
A great guy irl and he would deserve it in real life, too |
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| the_hoyle |
Posted on 10-04-2015 15:52
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7651
Joined: 28-05-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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Wow! What a fantastic end to the season
.: Manager of :.
.: My Awards :.
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| Selwink |
Posted on 10-04-2015 15:53
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8856
Joined: 17-05-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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That's a very pleasant surprise. The season has had some ups and downs, but this is definitely the best result of the season
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| Roextro |
Posted on 10-04-2015 15:58
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2370
Joined: 24-01-2014
PCM$: 200.00
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Now THAT is how you end the season great job by Jurgen! |
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