The sprints in this PCM are unbelievably stupid. Cyanide have to do something major about it.
But they won't, as usual. typical goddamn cyanide...
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
completely unrealistic. what happened there is not realistic and it happens about 40% of the time.
slow sprinters being only slightly slower than good sprinters is completely unrealistic and the relative positions of sprinters and non sprinters is LAUGHABLE
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
issoisso wrote:
completely unrealistic. what happened there is not realistic and it happens about 40% of the time.
slow sprinters being only slightly slower than good sprinters is completely unrealistic and the relative positions of sprinters and non sprinters is LAUGHABLE
It does seem easy to win with average sprinters- even on hard
Must admit I've not played this version that much - this is my first 'proper' go.
Couple of things I'd say about the sprint.
Unrealistic? Probably...usually if it comes down to a sprint it's a top sprinter that wins it. As I mentioned in the story though, it was a very fast run in and the roads seemed pretty narrow and twisting. What looked to happen was the the top guys got stuck behind some of the slower guys and couldn't come around. So, unrealistic, yes. 40% of the time - I can't comment on that...yet .
Secondly, I am playing on hard, so in order for me to win the stage I needed a guy up there in that position to begin with or he wouldn't have come close to winning the stage. So, at the moment, I'm pleased to have won a stage so soon in my career with a support rider.
The team will all be working for one objective today and that is to keep hold of the leaders jersey.
Everyone is hoping any breakaway will be small, meaning we won't have to work too hard up front to keep it in range and other teams should help in the chase in the closing stages.
And Rock Racing's prayers are answered. A small group goes early (Bru, EUS; Lancaster, MIL; Gaudin, BT). Rock spend the day on the front of the peloton keeping the break within a manageable distance.
At 100k to go it's 4'22, at 82k it's 5'41, at 60k it's 5'28, and then Lampre move up to relieve us at the front. All the boys, apart from Freddy and Wisco have worked at the front for most of the day so far, looks like a job well done.
30k and Rabo and Lampre have brought the gap down to 2'39. Certainly looks like the break is doomed. With 20k to go and the lead only 50", Gaudin makes one last desperate attack in a bid to stay away.
For Rock, Creed has been huge today, spending the first half of the race working at the front and the second half up front keeping Freddy out of trouble. His job is done with 15k to go, as Gaudin is finally caught.
I can't see the sprinters messing this one up again. There's a lot of jockeying for position up front and Freddy once again has decided to follow the Gerolsteiner boys - though he has Zberg's wheel this time, and Forster has Freddy's. Not good. Wisco's inexperience in these situations is exposed as he fails to find the right wheel and is left too far back to contest the sprint.
The sprint is off, and does Freddy have the legs to hold Forster off? Is it going to be two in two for Rock Racing?
No!!!! Forster has it. Second only for Freddy.
Wisco has lost the jersey too. He just didn't have the legs today. However, I suppose he can be pleased with his win yesterday and a day in the leader's jersey.
On balance probably not a bad day for Rock. We were right there in the mix - Freddy got 2nd and is getting stronger every day; Wisco might have lost the leader's jersey, but he's still got the young rider's jersey; Freddy will wear the points jersey tommorrow, as Forster's leading the race; and we have 3 guys in the Top 10, Wisco 3rd at 6", Freddy 4th at 8", and Grajales 9th at 9".
We're doing far better than any thought we would, and Ball must be delighted with the way things are going.
At the team meeting this morning, Tyler said that he wants to try and get in a break today as he's feeling pretty good. Morris, the DS, told him no way, and that he thinks it's better for him to keep a low profile for now. Not the sort of thing Ball would like hearing, but he's still in the US, so no harm done. Creed is the guy for the break today, and he sets things off almost immediately.
Over the top of the day's only categorized climb and Creed is in a group of eight with 1'13 on the pack. Once over the top though, there is a flurry of attacks from the peloton behind and there are soon 14 guys including Creed up the road with a lead of 3'22 on the peloton.
It looks like a promising move but no one is there to really drive the break along and with 50k to go, the lead has been reduced to 2'02. Gerolsteiner have a rider up there and have played their cards perfectly. He's the best sprinter and is just sitting on so this is one break that is just fizzling out.
20k to go and the peloton have almost brought the break back. A couple of riders in the break are not done yet and try to jump away. Creed goes along for the ride, but it's clear that this one is not going to go to the line. 15k to go and Creed and his three companions up front have 36".
At 10k though, it's all over and it's now time for Freddy to try and work some magic. He's been sitting comfortably in the peloton all day and looks strong. It's a nervous last 10k with the sprinters battling for position. Freddy has to change wheels a few times and as the sprint goes under the 1k banner he's in with a chance.
Does Freddy have the goods?
He puts his head down and drives hard for the line....but so too does Freire, who somehow manages to find his way thru' the group battling it out it the middle. The old fox takes his second win of the Tour and regains the overall lead.
Still, not a bad showing again for Rock Racing and so much better than we were expecting coming into the race.
Freddy is now 4th on GC at 6", Wisco 5th at 6" and Grajales 10th at 9". Freire leads Freddy by 3 points in the points competition and Wisco still has the young riders classification.
Morris has been saying for days that tommorrow will be decisive. If Freddy can get over the final climb with the leaders he might even be able to snag the overall....
The big question today is just how decisive will Willunga Hill be? It's easily the most difficult climb of the whole Tour, 4.1km at an average gradient of 8.8%. Coming just 20km from the finish, its inclusion this year is likely to shake things up on GC. One or two of the sprinters may find themselves falling on GC. Freddy hopes he isn't one of them, and is optimistic going into the stage that he'll have the legs to go with any moves. Hamilton seemed genuinely surprised with how steep the climb was when we drove up it early this morning.
Grajales has been given carte blanche to get himself into a break today and he chooses to go with the first break of the day. It's sparked off by Hagen, a Norwegian on Team Columbia, just after the 10k mark. It seems a lot of riders were waiting for it and there are soon the best part of twenty riders up the road trying to get away from a fast moving peloton. The break once again is too big to be let go, and Rabobank put the squeeze on to bring it back.
Then all the good work of the last few days is thrown into jeopardy as absolute disaster strikes Rock Racing. 116k to go and there's a touch of wheels in the pack. Freddy is down!
Still at least those two motorbikes managed to avoid him...
Fischer of Liquigas is involved too, and Freddy is able to hitch a ride back to the pack with the Liquigas boys sent back to help him. It's not good though, he tells Morris that he's taken a bang on the wrist and is in quite a lot of pain.
70k to go and everyone is together until Rolland (CA), McGee (CSC), Florencio (BT) and Verbrugghe (COF) jump away. Their lead climbs very quickly to two and a half minutes and Rabobank then begin to really put the hammer down. Today is definitely not going to be Freddy's day, he's really feeling the pace in the peloton and his heart rate is up over 170.
36k to go, the break is falling to pieces and the peloton is really motoring, but Ballan somehow manages to find the legs to jump away.
Rabobank string the peloton out and there are guys are the back having to dig deep to keep in contact.
Race situation with 30k to go is Ballan 3rd@24", Florencio 2nd@44", and Verbrugghe 1st@1'17".
The pack hits the bottom of Willunga Hill at speed and it's Terpstra (MIL) who's the first to try his luck.
The Rock boys are in all sorts of trouble going up the hill as attack, is followed by attack again and again. Freddy is blown out of the pack and settles in to his own pace. He tells me later that he was in so much pain with the wrist at this point that once the road went up he couldn't grip the bars properly, so was the very first to go out the back.
It's Mori who proves the strongest, though Duque's 2nd place means that he will take the overall lead heading into the final stage.
Everyone at Rock Racing is very low. They had hoped for so much more from the day - but Freddy's crash really knocked the wind from their sails. Grajales used up to too much energy in his early breakaway attempt to challenge on the final climb and Tyler said he simply didn't have the legs to react to any of the attacks on Willunda Hill, though I notice he did end up the best placed non-ProTour rider.
The only positives were that Wisco managed to hold on to the best young rider jersey and is now our best placed rider on GC - in 11th position @42". It also looks as if Freddy will be OK to ride tomorrow - his wrist has swelled up a bit, but there doesn't seem to be any kind of break.
Only a very short stage today and the odds are heavily stacked towards a sprint. Freddy's wrist is badly bruised but he's going to try and bag a stage win anyway.
The race gets underway, and Creed decides to go with an early move from Zubeldia (EUS). There follows a lot of attack and counter-attack, and when things settle down Creed is in the lead group of twelve riders. The pack keep a pretty tight rein on them and with 43k to go the lead is only 1'46.
There are two Aussies in the lead group, Lancaster from Milram and Clarke, Toyota's breakaway specialist. They get a fair amount of encouragement from the roadside, but with Cofidis, CSC, Rabo and Caisse pulling the peloton along, things don't look good.
The break is swept up with 20k to go and peloton is flying towards the finish. Freddy is hurting, but he's determined to try for something and the team are committed to doing all they can for him.
Under the 10k banner and Rock are well placed to set Freddy up.
Freddy has his head down and his teeth gritted as he tries to ride through the pain and help Rock finish on a high.
It's no good though, the pace is just too high for a guy in Freddy's condition. He can't stay with the fast men today and along with the guys up there to help him, he's blown right off the pace as the race comes down to the final 5k.
As expected, things come down to a sprint. O'Grady finally makes a showing in this race, but inside the final 100m it looks as if Freire is about to grab his 3rd stage win.
But, no, Vaitkus comes storming by him right on the line.
Wisco is the best placed Rock racer in 23rd position, but he's absolutely gutted when he realizes Vaitkus will take the Young Rider Jersey off him due to the bonus seconds he's gained today with his stage win today.
What a dissapointing way to finish a race that had promised so much...
Still, as Morris explains to the team back at the hotel that night, they've done very well here. They took a stage win, wore the leaders jersey, almost captured the Points and Young Riders Jersey and were involved in most of the key moments in this race - the sponsors must be very pleased.
There's no point dwelling on what might have been, the team now have to focus squarely on the Tour of California in just over 3 weeks time. The next step now is to bring the all action Rock Racing style to the CdM and the Vuelta a Mallorca in February.
The Tour of Qatar is won by Tyler Farrar of Team Garmin. This year, looking down the final positions the field looked significantly weaker than the one in Australia. Garmin won the TTT on the first stage and Farrar bagged himself stage 2 in a sprint on his way to winning a race normally the preserve of Quickstep, who strangely were not present this year. I guess this is a direct consequence of the Tour Down Under now being a ProTour race.
The only real news over the last week or so, on the Rock Racing front is that the bruising on Freddy's wrist is going down and he looks alright for the GP La Marseillaise. Rock, have also declined to submit a wild card application for Paris-Nice, as Morris doesn't think it'll help the team achieve its season goals.
Feb 3rd
Grand Prix Cycliste La Marseillaise, 127.1km, 1.1 event.
Well, here we are in France for the first real race of the European season. As you'd expect the field is dominated by French teams and riders, so we'll be looking to rain on their parade a little bit. Our team consists of Hamilton, Rodriguez, Creed, Grajales, Wiscovitch, Clinger, Bahati, Curry. After his performance in Oz, Freddy finds himself one of the favourites here.
It'd be great if we manage to win today.
Moinard (COF) is first to go on the long drag that starts the race.
Three other French riders from Continental teams go after him and as they go over the top of the first climb they have a lead of over a minute.
Once over the top though, Hupond (SKIL) decides that he want some of the action and jumps after them. He's not the only one though, and Agritubel and Credit Agricole decide to stamp their authority on the race and bring everyone back.
With a 109k to go, things are all back together. The peloton rides along under blue skies and just when I think everyone has gone to sleep, Wesoly (CCC-Polsat), Portal (COF) and Tschopp (BT) make a move and power away from the pack.
They work well together and their lead maxes out at about 3 minutes, before Agritubel up the pace at the front of the pack and begin to reel them back in.
The gap is down to 2'21 near the top of the Col de l'Espigoulier with round about 45km to go, when a group of three French riders attack from within the peloton. Rock's moment has come we move up to chase them down the other side of the Col.
The final climb of the day with 14.5km to go is the Col de la Gineste. It's not a hard climb by any means - 9.6km at 2.7% - but the peloton hits it at speed chasing the group of four who are 45" up the road. They are rapidly brought back and Grajales decides to have a dig. He gets a gap, but can't maintain the pace and is quickly swept up again. Over the top and everyone is together again. The Rock boys are nicely positioned to set Freddy up for the sprint.
What we haven't planned for though is the descent being as hard and fast as it turns out to be. There is a crash in the pack behind Freddy as Tyler tries in vain to work him up closer to the front. This is as close as they get though.
The road flattens out just inside the 3km mark and the sprint goes off. Freddy is further back than he would like to be, but he's feeling good and begins to tear thru' the riders in front of him.
Unfortunately, he runs out of road. Preben Van Hecke of Topsport Vlaanderen takes it from Kevyn Ista of Agritubel. Freddy is 5th and is gutted as he knows another 700m and he'd have had that....
The French are not overly pleased either - the best placed French rider is Jimmy Caspar (Agritubel) in 8th.
Still, if we're here again, we'll know exactly what is needed for victory.
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