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Rapha Condor - The Best of British: April 2009
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| Il Gladiatore |
Posted on 08-02-2009 19:12
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Seems like Evans ows on every Pcm game exept on mine |
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| ringo182 |
Posted on 08-02-2009 20:01
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Classics Specialist
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Tour of Wellington:
A nice 7 stage race to kick off our season. The field is a bit dissapointing with only 51 riders starting the race. It's mostly flat with a tt on the penultimate stage so Newton will be leading. Though if he gets into trouble on the hills the Lapthorpe or Cronshaw will take over. I wouldn't mind going for a jersey to boost early season moral so i might send someone like Cristian House into the breaks to try to take the KOM.
Squad: Newton, Craven, Cronshaw, House, Lloyd, Richardson, Southam
Stage 1
A flat 40k circuit race on a very short 4k circuit. Inevitably it ends in a sprint and Newton follows the right wheels and ends a very satisfactory 3rd.
Stage 2
Another flat stage, though it goes over a couple of hills. Not alot happens early on and the peleton is all together at the sprint allowing Newton to take second. As they neared the first KOM climb someone attacked and House went after him and took the first sprint.
The two stayed away until about .3k from the next mountain sprint when House was passed. But he still hung on for second and is the first wearer of the KOM jersey.
So the peleton started to shuffle for the sprint, but Newton started going backwards. He was having a bad day and when the peleton split he and half of my team were caught out and dropped behind.
Despite this we still had 3 riders in the leading group and with 3k to go they were all near the front to contest the sprint.
I wasn't sure who was my best sprinter out of the 3 so i just left them all to fend for themselves. Suprisingly Lipthorne started to pull away.
Could he take a suprise win for Rapha in there first race of the year?.... YES!!!
Lipthorne takes the win and with it the yellow jersey. A great result for our small team. House will also be wearing the KOM jersey in tomorrows stage.
Lipthorne is now our leader, but it going to be difficult to defend the yellow after the tt with Sven Tuft in the race.
But we'll see.
Edited by ringo182 on 09-02-2009 15:35
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 08-02-2009 20:08
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Nice win with Lapthorne!  Your screenshots would be nicer if you took away the names and rings.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 08-02-2009 20:09
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Great win! |
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| Il Gladiatore |
Posted on 08-02-2009 20:10
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Very good! But take away the names( Tab ) and the rings( ' ) 
Edited by Il Gladiatore on 08-02-2009 20:11
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| ringo182 |
Posted on 08-02-2009 21:06
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Tour of Welington
Stage 3
The only hilly stage of the tour will be tough for us to defend our 2 jerseys. However they are both determined to enjoy their day in there colours.
Unusually there are no attacks at all, which is quite nice for my team. It also means that House can attempt to defend his jersey when we get to the climbs. Unfortunately he finishes 3rd both times and will loose his jersey.
As we near the final climb of the day my team get to the front to try to keep the pace high and deter attacks.
However it doesn't stop Danielson. Lapthorne try's to go with him but his attack is too powerful for him.
Lapthorne is passed by another group of 4 and just doesn't have the legs to stay with them. Meanwhile Danielson is still pulling away at the front.
And Danielson takes the win and the leaders jersey.
Lapthorne finishes alone in 6th but manages to get a gap on the peleton.
Lapthorne moves down to 6th on GC and House looses his jersey. But it is still a good performance from my team and i am satisfied.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-12-2024 14:55
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| ringo182 |
Posted on 08-02-2009 22:22
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Stage 4
Another flat stage today. There are 4 KOM sprints so House will be trying to win back his jersey by getting into the break. Lapthorn is out of his yellow jersey but he still holds the white young riders jersey.
Yet again in this tour no-one is willing to attack. About 5k from the KOM sprint House attacks and no-one goes with him. The same thing happens for the next 3 sprints as House picks up maximum points before droping back into the peleton.
The peleton is all together in the last few k's as they prepare for a sprint. Again Newton is strugling to get to the front so Lapthorne takes over as our main sprinter. At first it looks like he has missed the train.
However he powers his way to the front. Does he have the legs to catch Pipp?
Not today. Pipp takes the win but Lapthorn takes another impressive 2nd.
So how are the clasifications looking at the half way stage?
In the Overall GC There isn't much change. Danielson is looking a good bet to win overall while Lapthorne will be trying to stay in the top 10.
As a result of todays stage Lapthorne has taken control of the green jersey, the third he has worn this week.
The KOM competition is over as there are no more KOM sprints left. House has won the jersey which is a great win for the team. He can now relax for the rest of the race with the red jersey on his back.
And Lapthorne leads in the young rider comp. He wants to try to hold on to both jerseys but his lack of TTing ability might make this one hard to hold on to.
All thats left is a TT and 2 40k crits which could again suit the in-form Lapthorne. We'll see how they pan out. |
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 08-02-2009 22:25
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great results with lapthorne
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| ringo182 |
Posted on 08-02-2009 22:29
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can't believe it really. He's not a great sprinter but i guess the peleton is weak and he's in good shape so he dominating at the moment. If he carries on he will win the green jersey but i think he'll loose the young rider jersey in the TT unless none of the other u-25s can TT either. |
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| chrica04 |
Posted on 09-02-2009 00:08
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Good Start! |
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 09-02-2009 00:59
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Pretty good results to start with!!
but I agree with G_Larsson and Gladiatore you should take out the rings and names
Good luck to the TT with Lapthorne
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| ringo182 |
Posted on 09-02-2009 12:07
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Stage 5:
The tour begins to wind down today and the last 3 stages have less then 100kriding between them. We start off today with a 40k circuit race. Hopefully Lapthorne will still be in good sprinting form and can keep hold of his green jersey. Today he is in green, which is the 3rd different jersey he's worn this week.
A break tries to get away and i send Richardson with them to keep an eye on the situation. But nothing develops and they are easily caught. So once again we prepare for a sprint finish. The sprint is derupted by a couple of crashes which result in Svein Tuft pulling out with a broken arm.
The pack fragments a bit but both Newton and Lapthorne are still near the front.
However neither of them has the legs today and they both start to go backwards.
Danielson shows his dominance of the event by contesting the sprint and winning it quite easily. Meanwhile our highest placed finisher is Cronshaw in 7th.
As a result of the crashes Lapthorne moves up to 5th, but he looses his points jersey to Danielson, who has a chance to seal both that and the overall jersey in tomorrows TT.
Stage 6:
A 12k TT which will see Lapthorne trying to hold onto his top 5 place and his lead in the young riders comp. After the withdrawl of Tuft yesterday Danielson is now the favourite and duely delivers a fine ride to cement both the overall and the points jersey. Only a disaster on the last stage will foil him now. Lapthorne holds onto 5th and his jersey by just 5 seconds from Steve Cozza. Tomorrow it could all be decided on sprint bonuses if Cozza decides to go for it.
Our best performer on the day was Newton who finished 9th ahead of Craven in 11th and richardson in 13th.
Here's the overall GC. There are a number of riders who could nick Lapthorne's 5th place with a win in the last stage. We wil have to be on our guard.
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| ringo182 |
Posted on 09-02-2009 12:08
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p.s about the rings, i do keep meaning to do it but i just forget. personally i think it helps you to see what is going on and where my riders are. |
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| ringo182 |
Posted on 09-02-2009 12:54
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Stage 7:
The 3rd 40k circuit race of the tour and our goal will be to hold onto Lapthorne's jersey and 5th overall. 2 riders try to get away but they don't stay out for very long. So it comes down to another sprint finish. Rather odly the train that Lapthorne jumps onto begins to rapidly pull away from the peleton. The only problem is that Cozza is right on his wheel. he obviously wants the jersey and 5th overall.
As they hit the 3k to go mark the sprint starts and Cozza and Latham both ease past Lapthorne and the 2 Colavita riders. Lapthorne is forced to go the long way around and so looses even more ground.
1k to go and Lathem and Cozza can't be caught. All Lapthorne can do now is finish 3rd and hope that Cozza doesn't win. (PS ignore the columbia rider, he's being lapped)
Latham takes the win from Cozza while Lapthorne takes 3rd. How will the judges time the gaps and will the time bonuses go in Cozza's favour>
The first bit of good news is that no time gaps are gven at all. It will all be decided by the time bonuses.
Lapthorne has done it by 1 second!!! He holds on to 5th overall.....
.....and keeps hold of his white jersey all by 1 second.
Lapthorne also manages to finish 2nd in the points comp. A great weeks riding by the young Aussie, and a great start to the season for my team.
Up next Dean Downing will lead my team in Qatar. Obviously the field will be much stronger so i'm not expecting the same success but i will be looking to be represented in the breaks on most days. |
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| Il Gladiatore |
Posted on 09-02-2009 13:23
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Well done! |
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 09-02-2009 15:23
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Great racing in Wellington! 
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 09-02-2009 15:45
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Great Results
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| Halvor |
Posted on 09-02-2009 16:24
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Superb Looking forward to the next races
Calendar? |
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| ringo182 |
Posted on 09-02-2009 16:28
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I think my only 2 races in feb are in Qatar and the Tour du Haut Var (is that how you spell it? ) i'll be able to let you know in more detail when i play it again tonight hopefully. |
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| lagetcher |
Posted on 09-02-2009 16:30
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Nice start |
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