Training has been going well over the past few weeks, and its good preparation for the Tour of Qatar and then the Tour of California. Already had a bit of a clash with Hamish Haynes, he really wants a more prominent role, but he is simply not good enough. And this isn’t the mood I wanted to create so early.
Anyway, Will has got here after the Australian Championships, and they were about as fruitful as I expected given how little fitness the team has, how poor the training has been. In the Road race, all 3 of our riders finished in the bunch, as Matt Lloyd (Rabobank) outsprinted Evans and Rogers to take victory. The TT went better. Stephen Wooldridge set the fastest time at the final intermediate sprint, but then completely blew up, and trundled home in 46th. Nathan O’Neill then set off, with Will following him in the team car. He started off Ok, and went off fairly well, but was 12th by the final intermediate sprint, so Will then decided to “motivate” him by shouting at him. It worked! He gained 6 places over the final 10km, only a minute down on champion Cadel Evans.
A nice start to the season, lets see what we can do in Qatar!
Tour of Qatar
Pancake flat, and it was a surprise to see Kirky named as one of the favourites. For our first race, I brought along a strong squad, with O’Neill for the TTT, Kirky to lead, and Russell and Stephen Wooldridge to help him out.
27th January, 2008 - Stage 1
The 6km TTT wouldn’t exactly decide the winner of the Tour, but it’s nice to get out and ride as a team – no superman one rider, it’s a full team effort.
The whole day was a totally new thing for me, and I was like a little boy in a candy store, marvelling at everything. The actual TTT was pretty simple really. Our tactic was to let O’Neill, Wooldridge and Chadwick, our 3 strongest time trialists to do the work, and let the others sit in.
It didn’t go spectacularly, as we ended up tied 8th, 24 seconds down on a dangerous looking Slipstream team.
Stage 2
The first sprint stage, and everybody was glad of the air conditioned hotel we stayed in last night (except for me, cos mine broke down) – that was until we stepped outside again. It was 22º yes, but the wind at 71 km/h just moved about warm air, and made everything 10 times worse. Nevertheless, Tom Southam braved the heat and the bunch by attacking from the off. I’d told the riders that only one of them could go for it, and Hamish looked angry as Tom went off, he’d been telling us all morning how he’d attack. He had 7 friends, but the intense heat and strong peloton led by Slipstream put paid to their chances, and Tom went straight out the back when they were caught, and would finish stone dead last.
Onto the sprint, and I’d given very detailed and specific instructions to my team. Nathan O’Neill would lead out, sheltering behind a rider until about 5km to go, then he would lay down the hammer. Stephen Wooldridge would follow, and would take over as soon as Nathan started fading. Russell Downing would finally protect Kirk, so Kirk could unleash himself as late as possible. That was the plan.
It worked.
Now I know I’m a complete rookie manager, and some would say it was just beginner’s luck, but the whole team knew exactly what they were doing to the letter, we’d gone past the finish several times. It was perfection. Shame no-one else agreed, but if my riders know, that’s all that matters.
Kirk moves up to 5th in the GC, and he holds the points jersey! Great success!
Stage 3:
After the success of yesterday, today went totally wrong. First off, I told the whole team to work for Kirk – no 2nd agendas. So I wondered why Hamish had attacked straight away, until I saw he’d removed his earpiece.
That was open rebellion. I have to say, I was smugly satisfied when he burned himself out for 10km until he was caught – if he’d of had his earpiece in, I could have told him not to waste his time. It gave me 128 km to think up a suitable punishment.
Things got worse with 8.3km to go, when Tom Southam took a tumble – Will Elliot (who joined me after a colossal bout of diarrhoea during the prologue – don’t ask) helped him back up, no injuries, just a bit of road rash, and more time lost, making him the definite lanterne rouge.
In the sprint, the other teams had our number marked, and disrupted our perfect train from yesterday. With no alternative plan, Kirk could only claw a 7th place (also his place in the GC), which he had to fight for far harder than yesterday’s win. Angelo Furlan won, giving Credit Agricole a 1-2-4 on the stage, with Tyler Farrar upsetting the mix in 2nd and taking the overall lead and the points jersey
After the stage, I confronted Hamish, ready to give him a dressing down. But a polite tap on my shoulder, and Will was there.
“I’ll handle this boss.”
Will walked up to Hamish, who was looking a little smug, and I prepared to watch Will give him a shouting. He didn’t.
He punched him in the face instead.
Stage 4
The repercussions of yesterday were almost unbelievable. In this day and age, I was expecting a lawsuit, job loss, maybe even team closure. Instead, I got something I never expected. An apology.
Hamish actually came in and apologised to me. He said he’d been frustrated by his own abilities, and would do whatever I asked of him from then on him. I promised to give him some opportunities at breaks, but at the moment, we wanted to focus on Kirk. He still looks mighty frustrated though. He hasn’t changed. Will’s just shut him up for a bit.
Onto happier times, and stage 4 was a little different from yesterday in that the winds were as strong as stage 1 again, which made the pack look like it would snap on numerous occasions. Kirk made sure he was at the front at all times.
We went for a different strategy today. With a team train “marked”, Kirk simply stuck himself on Tyler Farrar’s wheel, and didn’t budge.
The end result was a second spot, Tyler timed his sprint perfectly, Kirk still had some in the tank. He moves up to 3rd in the GC, and is now 7 points behind Tyler.
Stage 5
Today, I knew Kirk was super focused – “I’m going to own Tyler today, I’m super focused,” gave me an inkling that he was.
Today we decided to form our own chain, but it didn’t go exactly to plan like stage 2. Instead of disrupting us, the way parted, and we were fighting a 65km/hour headwind. Needless to say, when Kirk had to go past Russell, he had too long to go, but don’t ask me how, he found something with metres to go to hurl his bike across the line just in front of Farrar…but behind stage winner Enrico Poitschke.
Across the line, and Kirk was all smiles. “I told you , I told you.” I looked him in the eyes, all serious.
“And I never doubted you.”
Stage 6:
Going into today’s stage, it was plain to see Kirk was shattered. The heat, the lack of fitness, and the superhuman effort of yesterday had taken their toll on him. Today would be a struggle – we could only really lose today, with Furlan breathing down our necks, and Farrar looking so stupidly fresh, just 3 points ahead.
To try and guide Kirk in, we set a blistering pace to make sure we wouldn’t have any disruption to our chain, with the full team in it. Farrar though used all his cunning to move in next to Kirk, and Furlan was right behind him. Bugger.
It just went wrong. All wrong. Furlan streaked past to win, Farrar took second, and Kirk was left in 3rd, with absolutely nothing to show for it. He’d lost his second spot in the GC by 3 seconds, he’d lost the points jersey by 7. I punched the steering wheel as I worked out the final placings, setting off the airbag. Just fantastic.
It was a hard hit to take Qatar. My first race, and it started so fantastically. But that last stage, that last bloody stage was a real kick in the teeth. Kirk was hit hard, but I’ve got the team to forget it, and now concentrate on California.
Speaking of which, I still haven’t decided on a final team. We’re looking at trying to get involved in as many breaks as possible, a GC win is just unrealistic. Kirk is a definite as he is the fittest guy at the moment, and a dangerous sprinter. After that, I’ve got no idea
Tour of California Team Leader: David George Mountain Jersey: Moises Aldape Sprinter: Kirk O’Bee
3 team leaders has been a bold move by me. It took a lot of thinking, but I decided we may as well split the team 3 ways and see how it goes. After all, this stage race is all about publicity, and the whole experience of a race that is well organised, well supported and well sponsored. Looking at the line-up makes me nervous – these are the people a few months ago I hero worshipped, the guys who were more than people to me. Schleck, Rogers, Schumacher, Bettini – I’ve got to talk to them
Stage 1
A 6km sprint through the streets of San Francisco, we were hoping to ride tempo up until the 5.3% climb, then absolutely sprint up it. We were hoping for a top 10, but that isn’t what we got. WE WON! Nathan O’Neill was our first surprise, he isn’t in great form at all, but he stomped in a time of 7’08 to go 3rd. I think Will using some extremely unusual and loud tactics may have motivated him, they are already the stuff of legends with my riders. I then followed our last rider off, Glen Chadwick. He took a good pace up until the hill, so I was thinking maybe a top 20 would be good for him. I just don’t know what happened then, he didn’t get out of the saddle, he just put his head down, and turned those pedals as quick as he could. One climb later, he was the stage winner with a time of 7’06, a second quicker than second place Stefan Schumacher
After the race, plenty of congratulations from the Barclays board, who’d all turned out for today, and couldn’t be happier. They even had a stand out today, and said they’d done surprisingly well from it. But today was all about Glen, he enjoyed all the press attention – the media couldn’t believe he’d done it, and quite frankly, neither could I!
Stage 2
How much can things can change in just a day. From the glory of yesterday, to an absolutely torrid day today. Glen lined up in the morning looking good in the leader’s jersey, but he knew he would just be a domestique today. We sent along Moises Aldape to rack up the mountain sprints, and he’d be in the climbers jersey at the end of the day – more publicity, more exposure for the team.
But on the final climb, it all went wrong. David got stuck at the back of the pack just as the break was caught – which was the same time everyone who mattered made their move. He had no helpers left, and could only watch as his hopes of a decent GC finish vanished. He pulled as hard as he could for 25km, with Moises Aldape and Chadwick putting in some hard turns, but he finished 3’09 behind the front group of 21, led by Mori.
After the stage, it was a hollow celebration as Moises put on the climber’s jersey. Man had we messed up.
Stage 3
We were determined to make up for yesterday, but it didn’t start so well at the start today. Most of that was my fault today, and I really felt like the rookie. As the stage began, Kirky reported he was feeling good, so I let him join the break which was given a total of 8 minutes – shame he was in the second chase group and destroyed himself chasing. That was the end of our main sprinter for the stage. We missed the crash with 11km to go, and I decided to make Downing our leader in the sprint. He was led out by Stephen Wooldridge, who surprised us all – he followed the green jersey of Mori, looked around with metres to go, and realised he was 2nd! Aldape still has the climber’s jersey, and another podium is more good exposure. Let’s hope for even better tomorrow
Stage 4
The mountain stage of this year’s Tour, and I told the lads today would be our day. I tried to slip in Aldape and George into the first break, but the pack was having none of it, as Schleck decided he may no longer be in the GC hunt, but he sure could take away our KOM jersey.
Up the 3rd climb, the major climb, I sent off Aldape to try and bridge up to soloist Geslin. I also sent O’Bee who reported surprisingly good recovery after yesterday’s failed escape to pace him as long as possible.
He never did quite bridge up, and doubly bad, he lost the climber’s jersey. Both Geslin and Schleck overtook him.
But today, David George was always alert at the front, and stepped up the pace as soon as a dangerous attack formed, so by the end, it came down to a pack sprint. In a tight finish, he took 5th, but it really looked like had 4th, but our claims were waved away.
Damn that was a bad day. We’ve been looking to make amends in the last 2 stages, and it hasn’t gone to plan. I suppose that’s cycling, you can’t always be the top, especially against competition like this, but we’ll keep trying.
Stage 5
Hilly with some real tough climbs today, the plan was normal – slip Aldape into the break to rack up the mountain points. But the pack wouldn’t let him go, so we let O’Neill cover the break that did. Up the first climb, Moises went off solo, and I told Nathan to wait up then pace him. It never worked, the pack was too strong, the break to good – no mountain points, and only David George in the pack of 35 as the sprint began. He tried again, and got 1 step closer to a time bonus, but only managed 4th – he moves to 23rd in the GC before the TT. Geslin won today.
Stage 6
After the prologue success, I saw today as a day to try and get a good finish. But it was just a very average performance, the lads are tired, and O’Neill could only finish as our best placed rider in 12th, 51 seconds behind stage winner Botero. Schumacher now leads the GC, 11 seconds in front of Brit David Millar. Nice to see him do well.
Stage 7
Last chance saloon for our climber Moises, he was determined to give it everything to try and scrape the 7 point needed for victory. But whilst his heart was in it, the circumstances were against him. Every attack he launched was immediately clamped down on, and by the time he could do no more, a break went – he just couldn’t answer it. Did the pack chase that down? NO! It’s almost like there is a conspiracy against him, it was ridiculous. The break stayed away, and High Road’s Hansen won. O’Bee came 3rd in the bunch sprint, but that only gave him 9th on the stage. Tomorrow he should do well, the whole team will work for him.
Stage 8
Back to the total flat, in a race we were used to from Qatar, we were looking forward to a good sprint. But we were completely jinxed, after the capture of the break, we had a good chain of O’Neill-Wooldridge-Huff-Downing-O’Bee. Then with 7km to go, winding up to sprint, a crash, which took down ALL our sprinters!!! You’d of thought the peloton has something against us. O’Neill found himself leading out no-one, so went for it himself, but he was shattered from leading out, and could only manage 18th, behind winner Geslin. Fortunately no injuries from our guys, a bit of bruising and road rash, but more disappointment than anything. Stefan Schumacher wins the final GC, ahead of Millar and Pinotti, with David George our best rider in 24th.
Beverbeek Classic
I’ve been thinking after the Tour of Cali that we focussed far too much on the negative – we went in with pretty much no expectations, but after the success of the first stage, we got caught up, and set unrealistic expectations in a very strong field. It’s something that I’ve got to change quickly, we’ve got to be focussed on the positives.
Onto today’s race, and only 62 riders were lucky enough to brave the absolutely dreadful conditions – wet, cold, miserable, lucky there wasn’t a wind to make it feel even colder. With such a small pack, there were only 2 teams strong enough to control it, us and Rabo Ct, so as soon as they sent a rider into the break, we sent in Stephen Wooldridge. After that, the break easily stayed away, and the rest of the team treated it as a training ride.
Back where it mattered, and there was only ever going to be one winner in the sprint – that’s right, Stephen Wooldridge took his first win of the season!
Le Samyn
With morale higher after the good win from Stephen, we saw this race to prove ourselves against some tough ProTour opposition. Unfortunately, the race was tougher, and only Kirk O’Bee was in the front group which finished over 2 minutes down on the 6 man breakaway – but Kirky won the sprint for 7th, and he was pleased with that, which is good
